A/N: Before I'll jump on with the story, thank you all so much for your reviews! It warms my heart to know that there are people out there who read this, you know?

And wow, you definitely got curious about the wheelchair-thing! I'm so not telling you anything much yet – it would spoil the surprise – but I can reveal that Ray isn't combined into wheelchair in the flashbacks just yet. Don't worry, you'll know when it happens.

And about the engagement-thing of Max and Bria's… Don't worry, it's one based on love. Our little-Maxie (snif) is just growing up. (I'm revealing this now because I'll be writing pretty much only about Ray and Kai from now on.)

But now… On with the story!

/ " No… Please, don't go… Don't leave me…".

The whimpers Kai had gotten accustomed to woke him up from his sound sleep, and he let out a sad sigh, turning towards Ray who was talking in his sleep. He gently stroke the Tiger's hair, then his face. " Wake up", he whispered softly, placing a kiss on Ray's tear-moisten cheek. The young man immediately woke up, and clung to him like someone who was drowning. Kai wrapped his arms tightly around the shivering form of his love and held Ray as close to him as possible as the Chinese cried. " Sh… It's alright… It was just a dream…". The soothing would've been far more convincing if he'd even himself believed in his own words. " Was it the same nightmare, love?".

He felt Ray nod against his chest. " Yeah". The Tiger sobbed. " It… You left, and… I couldn't find you… Kai, I was so scared…".

" Sh…". He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, stroking Ray's silky hair. " I am not going anywhere".

It was a promise he'd been forced to renew countless of times since he finally came back after their huge argument about Tala, after being missing for almost five days. A promise neither of them dared to believe in just yet.

After a while, Ray eventually calmed down and stopped sobbing. " Are you alright?" Kai asked gently, still holding the young man and stroking his hair.

Ray nodded. " Yeah". He gave one last sob. " Just… Let me sleep like this, okay?".

Kai smiled, tough Ray couldn't see it. " Okay". He kissed Ray's hair. " Goodnight, love. Sleep tight". He kissed Ray's cheek he could just barely see from behind the raven blocks. " And no more nightmares".

" Okay". Ray snuggled even closer to him, taking in his warmth and scent as they both knew very well. " Good night".

As Ray drifted off to sleep, Kai blinked his eyes and looked at the stars and moon shining behind the window. That night, his desperate eyes were asking only one question, but the answer wouldn't be given to him.

Would he and Ray ever learn to be together without bringing each other pain? /

Sitting in a plane, on his way towards New York, an auburn eyed young man looked at the landscape below him, vacant stare not really seeing a thing, subconsciously playing with the beautiful golden ring with leaf-engravings decorating it on his finger.

A huge mixture of emotions he still wasn't used to was twirling inside of him. Pain, sadness, love, guilt, frustration… Considering all the pain they'd been through, he understood perfectly why Ray had left. And for that, it was almost unbearable to go and ask for the neko-jin to come back and continue the tangle that had caused them both so many scars.

But Kai Hiwatari had never been a quitter. And despite all they pain they'd brought on each other, the neko-jin was the only one he'd ever loved, the only one he would ever love. He wasn't going to let something like that slip through his fingers.

The monotonous voice suddenly woke him up from his thoughts.

" Flight to New York is about to land. Please fasten your seatbelts".

/ Both Kai and Ray's eyes were filled with anger as they charged their blades onto the dish. Such anger that made their team-mates observing the practice-match extremely worried.

That morning, before the training-session, the couple had had yet another one of their fights. What made the others worried was that so far there had been no reconciliation.

" DRIGER!".

" DRANZER!".

The blades struck against each other so harshly that sparks could easily be seen. The others gasped.

" Cool it down before you'll end up braking your blades!" Kenny warned them.

" Or each other!" Hilary filled in.

Their words echoed on deaf ears.

" I am sick of hearing about Tala, Ray", Kai announced through his teeth. " I don't know what it takes to convince you, but I'm sick and tired of explaining myself".

" Well I'm sick and tired of you not being able to sort out how you feel! I deserve to know how you feel, Kai!" Ray hollered back, eyes squinting. " DRIGER, ATTACK!".

" DRANZER, DEFEND!" Kai ordered, then turned his attention back to Ray. " I can't give you answers I don't have!".

" Kai, watch out!" Hilary yelped a warning.

It came too late. Ray's blade – which had been pushed off the dish by Dranzer – was flying straight towards Kai, and as everyone watched with horror it made brief contact with his forehead, causing a nasty gash that would definitely leave a mark.

As Ray stood frozen by terror and shock, eyes larger than Kai had ever seen them, the others begun to fuss around him.

" Oh my gosh…".

" Are you okay?".

" Does your head hurt?".

" Should we call a doctor?".

" I'm fine", Kai cut the flood of questions, annoyed of the attention. At that moment, everyone else subtly backed down as Ray walked up to Kai, blinking to fight away the tears, and wrapped his arms tightly around Kai, burying his face into the Phoenix's chest. Ray immediately begun to shutter with sobs. " Ray…".

" Kai, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry… You have to believe me, I didn't want to hurt you… I didn't mean…".

" Ray, sh, it's okay… I'm fine…". He gently stroke Ray's hair, trying to make the Tiger calm down. " It's okay…".

" No, it isn't", Tyson's voice cut in. The Dragon's midnight-blue eyes were flaming with determination. " We've been watching you two fighting for a long time, but this has come too far".

" You'll have to do something before you'll end up seriously harming each other", Hilary stated. /

Sitting in a small café at the airport, Kai tried to gather courage to make the next step. Flying all the way across the world had been easy compared to what he'd have to do next.

Face Ray Kon.

Eventually he pulled his cell-phone from his jacket-pocket and dialed the numbers that had became familiar to him during the past few days.

" Hello?" Max's sleepy voice asked.

Kai bit his lip in guilt. It was three am, his friend had obviously been sleeping. " Sorry I woke you up, but… I'm here, and I had to call…".

" No, it's okay. I'm glad you called". Max gave a sigh, obviously one of relief. " Thank goodness you're here, Kai! Ray… Ray isn't himself".

Suppressing his tears, Kai closed his eyes for a short while, then opened them again. " What is he doing now?".

" Sleeping. He fell asleep about an hour ago", Max replied.

Looking out the window of the café, Kai noticed that thunder was raging outside. He bit his lip once again, his eyes becoming suspiciously moist. " Look, Max… Ray hates thunders, and…". He couldn't finish as the suppressed tears seemed to be choking him.

" Don't worry, he's in good hands. Besides, you'll be here soon".

" Yeah". Kai blinked as he noticed the circle in his coffee, caused by the single tear that had despite all struggle broken loose. " See you soon".

" See you".

Hanging up while fighting back the rest of his tears, Kai decided that he'd have to go or he'd never have enough of courage to. His legs barely supported him as he shakily got up and walked out of the café, abandoning his coffee.

/ Both Kai and Ray were feeling extremely uncomfortable while sitting on the couch of therapist Kelly Hanson, with the said woman in her late twenties looking at them.

For almost an hour they'd been flooding all their mess – Tala, Kai's inability to recognize his feelings, Kai's hard past that was probably the cause of his emotional problems, Ray's jealousy and insecurity – but it seemed that they were getting nowhere.

That was until Kelly finally asked a useful question. " Do you think you would be happier without each other?".

It was funny, actually. Before the session, neither of them had actually put a thought to that question, although the thought of breaking up had almost constantly been present. But now that it was made…

Both Ray and Kai had slight smiles upon their faces as they looked at each other. Their reply came almost simultaneously. " No".

" Then… Do you think you could be happy together?".

" I don't know", Kai replied bluntly, then looked at Ray again. " But I'm ready to do everything I can if that's what you are too".

Ray smiled, taking Kai's hand. " Whatever it takes".

Back then, neither had a slightest idea of how difficult it would be… Or how hard it would get. /

It took for ages before Kai finally found a taxi, and by the time he sat in he was drenched wet. The young male driver gave him a look through the rearview mirror. " It's a real dog's weather, huh?".

" Yeah", he replied monotonously and then rattled Max's address, hoping the man would understand that he wasn't in the mood for talking.

The driver, however, seemed to have other plans. " There are only few explanations when a customer I pick up from an airport seems that sad", the driver told him. " I'm guessing someone really broke your heart".

Kai sighed so quietly that the nosy driver couldn't hear it, looking out the window. " It's much more complicated than that".

" Did she run away with another man?".

" No". He felt deeply irritated. Why the heck was that man so interested in his business? And why on earth was he actually wanting to talk to him? " It's never been quite that simple with us".

The driver gave him another quick glance, tough it was raining so hard that the man should've kept his eyes on the road. " She's quite something, isn't she?".

Kai didn't bother to correct the man's assumption of his love's gender. " Yeah", he replied simply.

/ Both Kai and Ray had almost fallen asleep as they laid on the couch of their current hotel room, Kai holding Ray gently in his arms. Not a word had been said for a long time, but they were both content with the silence. After everything, words weren't needed between them.

Ray almost startled as Kai suddenly spoke. " Ray… There's something I've been meaning to ask you", the Russian murmured.

Ray was slightly surprised. " Yeah?".

He felt almost disappointed as Kai left the couch, moving so that the Phoenix was sitting before him on the floor. He became puzzled when seeing how nervous Kai was. What the heck was going on? Should he be worried? " I know that we've been far from the easiest possible couple, and I doubt it will get any easier from here, but…". Kai swallowed nervously, looking at him in the eyes. " But… I'm not scared or confused anymore, for I know for a fact that I love you. And I will never feel this way towards anyone else. With you, I'll withstand through anything". Taking advantage on Ray's shock caused by the words, Kai paused while taking something out of his pocket. Ray gasped loudly when seeing that it was a small box, and even more loudly as Kai opened it. Inside there was a beautiful golden ring with leaf-engravings decorating it. Kai's eyes seemed to be flaming as the young man looked at him again. " Ray Kon, do you accept this?".

A tear Ray didn't even notice slid across his cheek as he jumped on Kai, making them both fall down onto the floor, and kissed the Phoenix with all passion he could possibly find. As they had to part in lack of oxygen, he finally panted his answer. " Yes". He laughed through by then flooding tears of happiness, kissing Kai again, tough much more shortly this time. " I definitely will". /

They drove in silence for a while, and Kai already thought the man had given up on bothering him with his prying questions. Oh how wrong he was.

" You came here to get her back, didn't you?" the driver asked him.

" Yes".

" Do you think she'll go back with you?".

Funny. Kai hadn't actually thought about that question before jumping into the plane. But now that he did… Cold shivers ran down his spine. " I have no idea".

The driver paused the flood of questions to take a particularly challenging turn on the road slippery due to the rain, then gave him one more look. " I don't mean to intrude or anything, but… What did you do that was so bad she would actually leave and perhaps never come back?".

Kai felt a huge flash of pain in his heart, and he had to close his eyes for a short while to keep the tears from coming. " It's… a long story". He sighed, opening his eyes slowly. " A long, complicated story".

" Sounds that way". The driver made another turn, they were in downtown already, and Kai suddenly felt terribly nervous. He had almost forgotten about the driver when the man chose to speak again. " I see you're wearing a ring", the man announced. " Seems you two got pretty far before she left".

Kai blinked his eyes, looking at his ring. Once again tears weren't far, but he managed to hold them back. " Yeah, we did".

" Did it get messy?".

" I suppose you could say that", Kai murmured while looking out the window once again, reliving all the harsh words thrown between him and Ray.

The next question, tough the answer was an easy one, made Kai's heart jump all the way to his throat. " Do you love her?".

First time since Ray's departure, a small, slightly dreamy smile of a man in love crossed his features. " More than any words could ever say".

/ Ray frowned as he woke up and noticed that the bed was cold. Blinking his eyes in the darkness, he touched the other side of the bed, but only met a soft mattress. " Kai?".

There was no response, and as he turned around he felt something close to panic when discovering that Kai wasn't there. A deep frown upon his face, he slowly got off the bed, pretty much already guessing where Kai had gone to.

And just like so many times before, he found Kai sitting on the rooftop, desperate eyes darted towards the stars above. The Phoenix had his back towards Ray, so he was unaware of the Tiger's presence as he begun talking quietly. " Mom… I don't understand… When you talked about love, you always said that it's the greatest power of all. But now I'm in love… or at least think I am… and… I feel weaker and more scared than ever before". A sob was heard. " Why is that? Why… Why does it have to be so complicated? I don't understand…".

" Because great feelings are never easy", Ray dared himself to reply.

Obviously startled by the unexpected voice, Kai peered over his shoulder. " What are you doing here?".

" The bed was cold without you". Ray sighed, offering Kai his hand. " Come inside. It's too cold to talk up here, and you'll catch a cold".

With apparent reluctance, Kai took the hand, already knowing that their "talking" would be far from pleasant.

Fifteen minutes later, they were in a warm living-room.

" You should be talking about those things to me, not to your mother", Ray stated, sounding more than slightly offended. " It shouldn't be so hard for you to talk to me about your feelings".

" It's not that easy, okay?" Kai snapped, then sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. " I know how much you hate me being so damn unsure, I don't want to hurt you. And…". A flash of pain could be seen in Kai's eyes, for a while he seemed like a trapped animal. " I'm not used to this, you know? All this… this love… It's so new to me. How am I supposed to know what to do?".

" That's why you should be talking to me!" Ray almost shouted, irritated. He was absently aware of the fact that he was being insensitive and ridiculous, but couldn't stop himself. " If we ever want to sort out our problems and make that stupid therapy work, you are gonna have to start sharing your feelings with us who are still alive!". By then, he was fuming. " I need you to talk to me, Kai!".

" I don't know how to talk about these things!". Kai was obviously loosing his temper. " And don't you dare tell me that I'm not wanting to sort out our problems, because that's bullshit!".

" Well how are you supposed to know about sorting things out, when all you've ever done is running away from your problems!" Ray roared, eyes blazing.

Enraged by the words, Kai raised his hand against Ray, but it never moved before he realized what he'd been about to do and the hand dropped while his eyes widened with shock. " Oh my God…", he whispered, taking a couple of steps backwards. " I'm sorry". With that he turned around, almost ready to run away. He never got out of the room, however, before he felt a hand graphing his tightly, obviously not about to let go. Surprised, he turned around and found Ray's golden eyes boring pleadingly into his.

" I'm not going to let you go this time", Ray whispered, the hold on his hand tightening. " Please, stay. We've gotta sort this out".

Giving in under Ray's loving eyes, Kai simply nodded, feeling deeply exhausted all of a sudden, and took one short step forward, then threw his arms tightly around Ray. Without slightest hesitation, the Tiger returned the embrace. /

With another turn, Kai realized that they were getting really, really close to Max's place, and the nervousness he'd been feeling before grew ten times more severe.

Gods, how could he ever do this?

Once again, the driver looked at him through the mirror. " Feeling nervous?".

He surprised himself by giving a small laughter. " To make a huge understatement, yeah".

" Don't you worry. According to what I've heard, you love her tremendously. She would be a fool to turn down something like that".

Kai felt a slight bang of sadness as he realized that it wasn't really that simple. He and Ray really, really loved each other, so much that it scared them. But they had also hurt each other worse than they'd hurt most of their opponents when blading. If injuries like that could be forgiven and forgotten, he had no idea.

He gave the driver a small smile, however, to give the man an impression that he'd managed to help. " Thanks".

The driver, looking at him through the mirror, smiled. " Only doing my job".

All of a sudden, Kai felt his breath caught into his throat as he saw another car coming straight towards them from behind red light – a car his driver obviously hadn't noticed. " Look out!" he yelled a warning, but too late.

He felt his entire body jolt as the other car crushed against the taxi with a speed far higher than the speed limit.

A sickening sound of metal crushing was all he could hear.

/ Ray's eyes were closed as he leaned his head against Kai's shoulder while the Phoenix drove the car they'd rented through Californian streets. It was summer and unbearably hot outside, but thanks to the air-conditioning they were feeling relatively comfortable.

" Are we there yet?" he murmured, not opening his eyes.

" Just a little while longer", Kai replied with as much patience as could be expected after Ray having repeated the question more than twenty times.

It had been Ray's idea to go and see Disney World now that they were in America and the tournament was over. Kai couldn't understand such childishness, but had agreed to go along after Ray had persuaded him with his special skills.

Opening his eyes and yawning, Ray decided that he was bored – and that he hence needed entertainment. Kai groaned as he trailed kisses down the young man's neck. " Ray, stop disturbing me when I'm driving".

Ray smirked, revealing his fangs. " Nah, I'm having too much fun".

" We'll see how much fun you have when we drive off the road", Kai replied darkly, trying his hardest to ignore the little kisses that were driving him insane with pleasure.

Suddenly all begun to happen really, really fast. Out of nowhere came a coyote, running straight towards the car.

" Watch out!" Ray yelled, voice and eyes filled with utter terror.

With struggle, Kai managed to turn the car just in time to miss the coyote, but that was all the luck they were going to have that day. The car drove off the road, down a cliff and towards the stones below.

Ray's horrified screams and the sickening sound of metal crushing against the stones were the last things Kai heard before his world turned black. /

TBC.

A/N: Oh crap, this isn't good! Will Kai and Ray see each other again? But wait a minute… Things were just beginning to work between them, so… What made Ray leave? And the wheelchair…?

Many questions for the last chapter, huh?

'Til next time, everyone!