You can all thank Kurosaisei for bribing...I mean motivating me work through the evil monkey plothole that threatened the very life of this fic. I won't make any other excuses excpet for the fact that I am lazy. I apologize .

If you've stuck around for this update, I thank you, and I hope you enjoy it! .

Win Me Back

Part 2: Chapter 3

Kai never bother to learn much about any of his friends. In all of the months he has pent traveling with his team, the only things he had come to know about them was the obvious (that Tyson was a pig, Kenny a geek) and what was voluntarily offered up. He never once asked them anything personal, because he honestly didn't care. All that really matter to him was how good of bladers they were and whether or not they would be able to pull a win out of their asses in the next round.

After the tournament, when Kai has settled back into a so-called normal life of school, homework and Voltaire, he had seen no reason to change his ways. He didn't want to turn over a new leaf and suddenly become a social, caring person. It simply wasn't in his nature. So when it came to his friend Liam, he knew nothing that everyone else didn't already know. Namely that he was obsessed with school and maintaining his grades, and that he was almost unnaturally punctual.

Knowing this, Kai didn't even attempt to try and write back to Robert before Liam came over.

Instead, he paced around his room and contemplated what he would say to Robert when he finally got the opportunity to reply.

Besides the standard greeting and inquiry into Kai's well being that Robert put into every letter he wrote, the crux of the correspondence had been an invitation. In a slightly odd and omniscient way, Robert knew that a long break from school was coming in the next month and wanted Kai to spend that time with him in his European home. He was even offering to pay for the airfare needed to get Kai from his Japan to Europe as a kind of early birthday present.

Kai had smirked when he read that part of the latter, More and more he was finding himself in awe of the other man's intelligence. Not only did he know about the approaching break (something Kai couldn't remember telling him about), but he had remember Kai's problem with money, or more specifically the fact that Voltaire has frozen his grandson's bank accounts, even though the Russian blader had only mentioned it in passing as one of the obstacles that prevented him from seeing Tala. Moreover, he had worked around Kai's issue of accepting money from anyone other than his Grandfather by offering the trip as a birthday gift, and not an act of charity or pity.

'One hell of an expensive birthday gift.' Kai thought.

He picked up Robert's letter and toyed with it. He definitely needed the vacation. That much went without saying, but Tyson had invited him to visit nearly a week ago. Kai had already made up his mind to go somewhere, it was just a matter of where he wanted to go more.

A small part of him was tempted to go and visit the world champ, but it didn't take a great stretch of the imagination to know that the holiday would no doubt end in beybattles, yelling, and possible bodily harm. Robert's on the other hand, would be much quieter and refined. If Tyson's parties were were pizza and soda, then Robert's were champagne and shrimp cocktails, and like it or not, Kai had been raised in the champagne and shrimp cocktail world. He knew, and was comfortable with, the black-tie charity ball lifestyle. It was the side effect of having a very wealthy man as a guardian. Not that he minded. Too much soda made him feel sick anyway.

He put the letter into his desk drawer, having made up his mind and at the same time hearing the doorbell ring from somewhere downstairs. A glance at the clock on his night stand proved it was exactly half and hour after he and Liam had parted ways after school, just as he had expected.

"That guy is scary punctual." he mumbled as he scanned the room one last time for anything that might seem out of place. One of Dranzer's huge red feathers, for instance.

Satisfied that everything was in place, he opened the door to his bedroom so Liam could just walk in rather than knock when he came upstairs. He sat down at his desk and waited until Liam finally poked his head tentatively through the opening.

"Kai?"

Kai rolled his eyes and waved him in. "Yeah. Come on. Let's get this over with. I don't want to be working on his all night."

Liam stepped the whole way inside, looking around the room with appreciation.

"I think your house I bigger than mind is. I like your room."

"Hn."

"I brought the books I got from the library with me." He knelt on the carpet and began pulling books from his bag, reading off the titles as he went. Kai listened quietly, not really caring but at the very least attempting to be polite. When he finished, Liam looked up.

"That's all I have. Do you think we'll have enough, Kai? Maybe we should go down to the library and get some more."

Kai looked at the pile of books on his floor and doubted that they would have a problem, but decided to humor Liam anyway.

"I might have something we can use in the study." He stood up from his chair. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Just water please."

Kai nodded and stepped over the pile of books. "Right."

Before he could leave, Liam looked up from his books and called after him.

"Hey. Where are you going? Can't you just ask your butler to get them for you?"

Kai scowled over his shoulder. "First of all he doesn't know what we're looking for. Second, I'm not a cripple. I can do it myself. And put those books somewhere. You're making my room look cluttered. I'll be right back."

Liam felt a little embarrassed and selfish. For as much money as he seemed to have, Kai certainly didn't act like any of the rich boys Liam had met in the past. Mentally kicking himself for looking dumb around his friend, he gathered the books and began looking for a place to put them. He didn't want to put them on the desk or bed and have to move them again, so he settled on the night stand.

As he pushed the clock off to the side (all the while hoping Kai wouldn't mind that he had moved it) his eyes fell on two silver picture frames that stood facing the bed.

He looked to the door, wondering when Kai would be coming back and figuring that he would be pissed if he came back to find Liam snooping. The longer he contemplated, the worse his curiosity became, until he finally succumbed and turned the closest picture so he could see it.

The boy in the photo was laying in a bed, holding a pillow lightly to his chest and looking sleepily at the camera with the bluest eyes Liam had ever seen. A few strands of bright red hair fell across a pale face that boasted the tiniest smile. It was a nice picture, and Liam wondered who it was of. He had an idea, but didn't want to assume.

He put the first photo back and picked up the second. As soon as he saw it, he knew without a doubt who the first picture was of.

It was of the same red-haired boy, only this time he was awake and standing with Kai. The redhead, who Liam now figured must be the mysterious Tala, stood with one hand behind Kai's head, the other underneath his chin to tilt the shorts boys face up and give him a tender looking kiss.

Liam blushed. Even though he knew about Kai and his relationship with Tala, he had never actually seen two boys kissing. To add the strange feeling he got from seeing it, Liam thought Kai looked like the docile one of the couple, something that didn't fit the Kai Liam knew at all.

He was so caught up in looking at the photo that he didn't even realize that Kai had come back into the room until he spoke from just over his shoulder.

"You like it?"

Liam flinched and quickly put the frame back where he had found it. "Oh. Yeah. It's a nice picture."

"I know." Kai turned and sat down on the edge of his bed. "That's why I framed it."

A little surprised that Kai didn't seem angry at finding Liam looking at his pictures, Liam decided that it wouldn't hurt any to confirm his suspicions.

"Hey Kai. Is the other boy in that picture Tala?"

I know it leaves off in a sudden way, but it seemed like a good place to stop.

I hope you all enjoyed it, thanks for sticking with it, please review and I'll try to update soon. .

Shameless plug alert If you're interested in reading any of my original stuff, please visit www. livejournal. com/ users/ spookycereal

Just remove the spaces.

See ya'll next time! .