Hello and welcome, dear friends! It's simply marvellous to have you back with us again! Tea? Coffee? Purple goo? Your wish is my command!
Oooh, so lemme see what I've got lined up for you today, apart from pure pointlessness. First off, a thank-you to EVERYONE who reviewed. Love, happiness, peace, and all that cool stuff.
Secondly, the disclaimer: I own nuffin, puffin. Yay, save the puffins!
Thirdly, a warning: do not put on the Ring, Mister Frodo! Um, no, wait, wrong movie: oh, right – this contains shonen-ai.
…DUH.
Four
So I had to go see the doctor a couple times over the next few weeks about bruises and cuts and whatever stuff. I hate doctors. Look, no big deal, but they freak me out, OK? Geez. Just don't ever let Daichi know that. Or Kai.
Hmpf.
Kai? Yeah, don't even talk to me about him. Turns out he had snuck out of hospital to come to see me blade against Brooklyn. Yeah, you read that right. Mr D went back with the other Demolition Boyz to see how Tala was getting on, and it turned out that everyone was going crazy 'cause Kai had disappeared from the ward where he'd been staying.
Who does that? No, seriously, who does stuff like that?
Only Kai.
Man, there's something about that guy…when we first met him…I thought he was this mean, snobby jerk who was never gonna do anything nice, who was never gonna do anything except moan about how pathetic we were.
But something drew me to him – there was something in him that I wanted to have, something about him that I wanted to know. I wanted to understand him. I wanted to knock that stupid smirk right off his face and prove to him that he wasn't the only guy out there with a cool bitbeast and a bunch of fancy moves.
Kai…when he gets mad, it's scary. When he gets determined, it's like nothing and no one can ever stop him. He'll do whatever it takes. He'll just keep right on fighting, and he won't ever quit. Sometimes he goes away, sometimes he walks out on us and switches sides, but he always comes back when I need him the most.
You've got to admit that there's something special about him. He's so cold on the outside, so pale and withdrawn and frightening, and because of that most people think he's just this weirdo with an inferiority complex or whatever, but he's not. He's so much more than anyone or anything else I've ever known. On the inside he's alive, he's on fire with power, and that's what makes him special. There's so much about him I want to know.
It's weird how different things are now to how they were when we first started out together.
We were just kids back then. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, any of us. We agreed to be the Bladebreakers. We agreed to be a team. Next thing we know, we're zooming all over the world, winning championships, toppling evil organisations, combating freaky scientists, fighting for our lives. It was like something out of a story, you know? Like this totally awesome action movie that just kept going and going, and it was crazy and scary and way too cool to be true all at once.
We were there at the middle of it all – the Bladebreakers. A team. A family.
I never had a big family. Hiro just disappeared, and my dad was always off all over the world, and my…well, you get what I'm tryin' say, right? I had Gramps, of course, but I dunno…I guess I would've liked to have a brother I could actually talk to once in a while, or maybe even a baby sister or something. Although little kids get annoying.
So when me and Kenny and Max realised that we were gonna be on a team together with this guy Ray and that other freaky Kai dude…and when we got to be such good friends…and when we met all those people and we had such amazing times together…that was my second family, right there.
I kinda liked those days.
Even way back then, I knew that Kai was special. Yeah, I know what everyone says about him – that he's done bad stuff, that's he's disloyal, that he only looks out for himself. So the guy makes a couple wrong moves, so what? He proved himself a hero in the end, and that's what's important.
OK, enough flashbacks. You get the idea.
Uh…
…what was I supposed to be telling you guys about again?
Oh, right, I remember now.
Kai was back in hospital.
And we were going to visit him.
The door was white. There was a little chart pinned to it with Kai's name handwritten on it, as well as the names of the two nurses who were in charge of looking after him. Below that was a bunch of printed stuff – rules of the hospital, visiting times, that kind of thing. The handle of the door was this dull silver colour, and the screws holding it were a bit rusty. Right at the bottom of the door, near the floor, there was…
"Are you going to stand there looking at the door the whole day, or are you actually going to go in?" Hilary asked, poking me in the shoulder.
"OK, OK, just give me a minute," I said, taking a deep breath. "Hil…are you sure the flowers are a good idea?"
"Of course they are, you big dummy," she said, impatiently. "Everyone likes roses."
I stared apprehensively at the cellophane-wrapped bunch of flowers in my hand. "Kai's not everyone," I said, and even saying his name made my breathing catch. "Kai's…different. I mean, he's…different…and…"
"Doesn't mean he doesn't like roses," she interrupted. "Besides, roses stand for love. 'Specially red roses."
"But that's the point!" I wailed. My legs were getting a little shaky. What? I was nervous. "He'll think…he'll think I'm…Hilary, this isn't gonna work."
"Sure it is," she said, encouragingly. "We go in there, you hand him the flowers, you tell him how sorry you are that he's hurt and that you hope he feels better soon, and there you go! Piece of cake."
"But…roses? Geez, Hilary, I don't love him…"
"Tyson, stop making lame excuses and open the door," she ordered.
"Can't you give him the stupid things?" I pleaded, feeling ready to run. How was I supposed to give him flowers? He'd think I was some kind of whacko stalker, and that would be too embarrassing to even think about…
"Nuh-uh, no way, nothing doing," she said, firmly. Placing one hand in the small of my back and flinging open the door with the other, she pushed me forward into the room, calling out, "Oh, Kai! We're here!"
He was lying on the bed, his eyes were closed; one hand was folded across his stomach, the other lying stretched out on the sheets. He was so pale and still you could barely even see him breathing. He still had bandages everywhere, and one arm was hooked up with one of those needle things. An intravenous, or whatever you call it. I looked away from it. Call me crazy, but I don't like seeing my friends stuck full of tubes.
Then his eye opened, slowly, and his gaze met mine. I felt like I'd been hit in the stomach; my whole body was suddenly flushed with adrenaline, and I couldn't breathe I was trembling so hard. I swallowed, feeling like a total loser. I mean, come on. What kind of guy walks around carrying roses? "Um," I began, starting to blush, my hands shaking, "we…um…y-you…"
"We came to see how you were doing!" Hilary said, brightly, grabbing my elbow and tugging me over to the bedside. Kai tilted his head to look up at us, his face expressionless. "And Tyson bought you some flowers!"
"Well, they were Hilary's idea, actually," I muttered, but she stomped on my foot to shut me up.
"Tyson said he thought they'd brighten the room up a bit!" she said, happily. "Isn't that right, Tyson?"
"Yeah! Sure!" I said, rubbing the back of my neck, trying really hard not to look at Kai. Man, he must've thought I'd gone completely loopy… "So, I'll just…I'll just put them here, then." Hastily, I dumped them down on the bedside cabinet, the cellophane making a loud crinkling sound; they rolled off the edge, and Hilary had to catch them, glaring at me.
"I think I'll go find a vase for these," she said, cheerfully, cupping them carefully in her arms and skipping out of the room. "I'll just be a minute!"
Which left me alone with Kai.
Figures. She did it on purpose, of course. She'd been bugging me about having a…a 'thing' for him for ages, and it was totally ridiculous, 'cause I didn't, of course. She just likes embarrassing me.
I dragged my foot along the ground, totally unable to say anything. My face felt way too hot. After a really long time, I cleared my throat, took a deep breath, and said, "Hey - sorry about the flowers, dude…Hil said we should bring them, so…you know…"
"Whatever," he said, sounding bored. He'd closed his eyes, like he wasn't really interested in listening to me. "I don't mind."
"Right," I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets and blowing out a puff of air, shuffling my feet a little more. "Cool. So, uh…how're you doing?"
He jerked a shoulder noncommittally, and I rolled my eyes. "Yup, you must be doing great. You're just as grouchy as always."
"And you're just as predictable as always," he countered, smoothly, not even bothering to open his eyes.
"And you're just as mean as always," I shot back. Hey, at least we were actually talking now.
"And you're just as pathetic as always."
"Yeah, well, you, Kai, you are clearly not right in the head!" I burst out.
"And why is that?" he enquired.
"Because…because, hello, you broke out of hospital! Dude, that is not normal!"
"You got a problem with it?" he asked in a cool, dangerous voice, finally looking up at me with a defiant expression, his visible eye blazing.
"Yeah, I do! You…you…you didn't tell me," I finished, lamely. What was I supposed to do, yell at the guy? He'd done a dumb thing, but it had been a nice dumb thing. I wasn't mad at him. How could I be? He was Kai.
"I didn't want you to know I was there," he said, calmly.
"Look, Kai…" I began, and stopped, not really sure what I was trying to say. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I said, uncomfortably, "Thanks, dude."
"For what?" he asked, shortly.
"For being there," I said, sounding way too serious. "'Course, it was totally unnecessary!" I added, quickly. "I mean, we would've been just fine without you. Haha, you're not that special."
"Oh, please," he said, snorting. "I'd like to see the day when I don't have to step in and save your sorry behinds."
"Oh, like we ever needed you around."
"Yeah, because you'd have managed so well with just fluke and incompetence," he smirked.
"Hey, no fair! You take that back!" I squeaked.
"Give me one good reason why I should, and maybe I'll think about it."
"Grrr…you…you…" I narrowed my eyes at him. He stared back, haughtily. "There's only one way to decide this," I announced, finally. "You. Me. Thumb war. Now."
"…I don't think so."
"Yes, you do! We gotta prove that I'm right and you're wrong! I challenge you, Kai, I challenge you! It'll be the thumb war of the century!"
"You're an idiot."
"A titanic battle for the ages! It'll go down in history! I will be crowned the thumb war champion of the universe!" I flashed him a victory sign. "But don't worry, dude – I mean, you should be used to me kicking your butt by now."
He gave a little cough of disbelief, looking up at me, his single visible eye blazing. "You're gonna be sorry you said that," he said, grinning. "Just a friendly warning, Tyson: as soon as I'm out of this place it's gonna be you and me, one-on-one in the Beydish, and I'm taking you down."
"You wanna bet on that?" I asked, swiftly, moving a little closer to the bedside. "'Cause I'm willing to bet that by the time I'm through with you you'll be crying like a girl."
He gave a little puff of incredulous laughter, and was gonna say something, but the door was pushed open, and he stopped.
"Hey, I'm back!" Hilary said, walking in carefully. She was carrying a tall, glass vase half-filled with water, with the roses arranged loosely in it. "One of the nurses found this for me to use! Isn't that nice? She said she knows people never bring vases, so she makes sure that they have some lying around just in case…"
"Hey, thanks, Hil," I said, reaching out to take the vase, but she whipped it out of my grasp.
"Uh-uh-uh! I know you, Tyson. You'll break it in about a second."
"I will not!" I said, offended. "Give it here!" I snatched it out of her grasp and set it down firmly on the cabinet, making sure the water didn't spill. "Tada! See? See?"
"Alright, alright, you made your point."
"Yeah, who said I was clumsy?" I grinned, smugly, crossing my arms. "Don't even bother trying to mess with me, Hil. I am so skilled."
She shook her head, sighing. "Sometimes I worry about you, Tyson."
Kai was chuckling, quietly. "Hey, you quit laughing," I said, and gave a huge fake sob. "I feel so alone…they're all laughing at me…nobody loves me anymore…"
"Cut it out," he said, looking up at me with a faint smile. "Act your age."
"OK! So, uh…hey, how old am I again?"
"You moron," he said. His eyes had creased up at the corners just the littlest bit, like he was all happy; and I stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed out loud. My chest tightened a little, and I blushed; and he could see I was blushing, and he just smiled, like he understood, like everything was OK…
I heard snickering in my ear, and turned to see Hilary looking very amused. "What's so funny?" I asked, feeling my face starting to get even warmer.
"Nothing's funny," she said, quickly. "Just…um, hey, Kai, we were going to ask you…"
"Oh, yeah, right," I said, remembering. "Kai, the guys said they wanted to come say goodbye before they had to leave, 'cause you know Ray's going home to China and all…is that gonna be OK?"
"Fine," he said, his eyes snapping shut again, his face expressionless.
"Cool! So they can come tomorrow?"
He nodded, silently.
"Hey, you kids!" a woman's voice said from behind us. Hil and me both looked around, and saw a nurse standing in the doorway. "Sorry, you two, but visiting hours just ended. I'm afraid you're going to have to go now."
"What? But – but it's only, like, four o'clock!" I sputtered. "We can stay here till five! I checked the visiting times and everything! Or…wait a minute…it is Thursday, right, Hilary?"
"Friday."
"…oh. Ahaha…oops…"
"I'm really sorry, but visiting hours did end at four," the nurse said, coming in and taking Kai's wrist, checking up on the intravenous. Kai ignored her. It looked almost like he was asleep. The nurse looked up at me, and gave me a quick smile. "Relax, sir…Tyson Granger, right? The World Champion Beyblader?"
"Hey, yeah!" I said, excitedly. "That's me! The one and only! Hey, you want an autograph, ma'am? They're free!"
"I think I'll pass on that," she said, laughing kinda tiredly. "Don't worry about your friend, alright? We're taking good care of Mr Hiwatari. He's doing just fine."
"You heard her, Tyson, let's get out of here," Hilary said, latching onto my arm and dragging me away. "We'll see you again tomorrow, Kai! We promise!"
"Hilary, let go!" I yelped. "Kai! We never had our thumb war! No fair!" I wriggled out of her grip, and dashed back to Kai's bed. He opened his eyes, frowning.
"We made you a get-well card, only I forgot about it," I said. "We figured you'd like it better than roses and stuff. And it's from all of us. And we made one for Tala, too! But the nurse said we couldn't visit him now, so we left it with her…and…um…well, here you go!" I tugged it out of my pocket, and winced. "Aaah, it got all crumpled up! Oh, man, I'm really sorry…"
He took it clumsily, his fingers stiff with bandages. He smoothed it out real careful, staring at the front, not opening it. "Thanks," he said, tonelessly, almost too softly for me to hear.
"You're welcome,"
It was weird to see him without his face-paint. Guess the hospital people had bullied him into taking it off. He was so pale his skin looked almost grey against the white pillow. A small, clear thought popped into my head, totally out of the blue: you could touch his cheek.
What would happen? Would he mind?
Just reach out, just put your hand against his face…
"Tyson, hurry up!" Hilary called from the door, and a strange, frightened expression crossed Kai's face.
"You're going?" he asked, urgently, his eyes boring up into mine.
"Uh…I guess," I said, my face burning. "But we'll be back tomorrow! Promise!"
"Really?" he checked, in a very low voice. He almost seemed embarrassed to be saying it.
"Cross my heart and hope to die!" I said, shakily, and gave a little nervous laugh, and raised a hand to my forehead, saluting.
He nodded, and swallowed, and his mouth twitched in the ghost of smile, and for a split second longer we stood there, kinda smiling goofily at each other…
…and all I was thinking was, I really hope my hair looks OK…
And then Hilary yelled, "TYSON!"
I said, feeling a bit jittery, "Uh…well, y'know, I better get outta here…you know Hilary, she'll murder me or something, ahahaha…"
He nodded, but he didn't laugh; he just carried on gazing up at me.
"Bye," I said, but it came out as a sort of squeak, so I cleared my throat and tried again. "Goodbye," I said, firmly.
"Bye," he said, looking down at the card again, holding it gently, like he thought it was going to break. "Bye."
I could feel him watching me as I walked away. At the door I turned, mostly 'cause I just couldn't help it. I looked back once, over my shoulder, and gave him a small smile; and he lifted his hand, and waved back solemnly.
I waved back, feeling my heart swell with happiness and pride. I stood there a second more, beaming like a reject, not wanting to take my eyes off him, and then Hilary yanked me through the door, and closed it carefully behind us.
"You've got it bad," she said, giggling.
"What? For – for Kai?" I asked, snapping out of my little daydream world. "Aw, Hil, don't go all nutty on me now…"
"Don't give me that," she said, wagging her finger in my face with a superior smirk. "'Fess up. You are hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with - "
"Shh! He'll hear you!" I squeaked, clamping a hand over her mouth. She caught hold of it and pulled it down, and finished, very loudly,
" – in love with Kai!"
"No! Hilary! Be quiet!" I yelped, grabbing her hand and tugging her away from Kai's ward, sprinting down the corridor before she could do anything else.
"Well, I'm only trying to hook you guys up," she said innocently, as we came to a halt near the stairwell to catch our breath, her cheeks pink from running. She winked, and added, like I was an idiot, "Come on, Tyson, you're so obvious."
"You don't mean that?" I asked, panicking. "Am I really? Aw, man, you don't think he noticed anything or…gah, this is so embarrassing…"
"So you'll admit it, then?" she asked, her smirk widening. "There is something?'
"I never said that!" I protested. "You're messing my words around."
"Actually, I'm reading between the lines," she said, like she was being all wise and clever. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm starving, and you are going to be a gentleman and take me out for something to eat."
"What? How come I always have to pay?"
"Because I am a lady and deserve to be treated as such," she said, sweetly, starting to walk downstairs. "Now get a move on, you."
"Fine, fine, but only 'cause I'm in a good mood," I warned her, jogging down the stairs to catch up with her. "And 'cause I'm such a gentleman."
Kai waited for the nurse to leave, and even then he looked at the card for quite a while before opening it. It was just an ordinary card, the sort you bought at a stationery store, colourful and cheery. It appeared to have a large orange cat wearing a multi-coloured party-hat and surrounded by fireworks and streamers on the front. He rolled his eyes, and decided that Max and Tyson had chosen it together.
He opened it at last. Around the printed words "Get well soon!" were handwritten messages: from everyone on the G Revolution team, and also from various other people, such as the F Dynasty and Barthez Battalion teams, and even from Mr Dickinson.
It took a long time for him to find Tyson's message, mostly because it was so short: just a huge smiley face drawn in sparkly gold ink, and underneath it the words DUDE u betta get betta RIGHT NOW! From: Tyson the WORLD CHAMPION BEYBLADA!
It was followed by a small, lumpy-looking heart.
He stared at it for almost a full half-hour, tracing over the writing with his finger time and time again, and smiling softly to himself as the light outside deepened, flooding the room with fire and honey.
Kai was at the hospital another week, and when he came out, he basically ended up staying with me. Gramps was cool with it; he's pretty much used to Kai by now. We set him up in the big empty room we always used to use for sleepovers and stuff. It made me feel a little upset, thinking about him all cold and lonely in that big ol' room. I wanted to move my things in there, too, so that we could have a kind of camp-out thing, but Kai said I didn't have to – which basically meant that he didn't want me to.
I don't know why he doesn't like hanging out with me. It makes me sad, a lot of times, because really I just wanna be around him. Sometimes it makes me think maybe he doesn't think I'm good enough for him, and that makes me want to first punch his stupid head in and then go off and cry. I mean, seriously, why doesn't he like me? Heh, that sounded vain, but what's so wrong with me? With all of us? How come he's so dead set against being friendly to us?
So having Kai stay over…well, I guess in a way, it was like a dream come true. Aw, man, how corny does that sound? It's true, though. I liked being able to see him everyday. I freak out when he's not around. I know it's pointless, but I can't help it. It's not like I think he can't look after himself. Maybe…maybe I need him. Maybe he's my strength.
Uh…
Do me a favour?
Don't ever tell him I said that.
Anyway.
It was the small things that made me happy. Waking up at the same time, eating the same brand of cereal, watching the same stuff on TV, arguing over who got the remote – all of it was forging a connection between us, however tiny. Doing normal, boring, everyday things together cemented our friendship, grounded it in reality.
That's all I've ever wanted – to be his friend. He's the most amazing guy I know. He's the coolest person in the whole entire universe. Every time I see him, I feel this huge rush of happiness, like everything's suddenly going to be alright. He's made me who I am. If it weren't for him, I'd never have won anything. I'd just be another kid, another face in the crowd.
He made me strong. He made me fearless. He made me want to fight back when I lost.
Kai's my best friend.
Kai's my hero.
Oooh, yesss, preciousss. (waves sword around and accidentally demotes Gandalf to hobbit-status in the process) D
OK. Le Plot starts to exist next chapter. Although really this is just a bunch of random snapshots all kind of strung together, so…yeah. (dances like no one is watching, which is good because if they were they'd be scarred for life) Uh, updates? By Saturday. I think.
BOOYAH, FREE RINGS OF POWER TO ALL REVIEWERS! Each sold separately, batteries not included. (runs off to rule the world)