A/n: Another 3AM update, I learned nothing in this entire month.

This delay was because my birthday party ended up lasting two nights (lol) and I was too hungover to write.

But finally, here we are the last instalment! Thank you to Cutetyhil and Cerulean Musings for their reviews on the previous chapter! Hope you guys enjoy reading this one too.

4 – Clear Winter Skies

x

She checked the arrangement of the food around the lunchbox for the umpteenth time, nodding decisively before finally shutting the lid and taking a deep breath. There was no need for concern, Hilary reminded herself, she had already made her father taste test everything she had cooked, with only the best dishes making it into the lunch box, leaving no room for criticism or jokes about the quality of her cooking. The chime of their living room clock reached her ears and she realised that there would be no point in sitting and worrying about the taste of the food if she didn't make it to the venue on time and missed Tyson's match. Packing the box in a tiny lunch bag, Hilary called out to her mother that she was leaving, receiving an instruction to wear something warm before she stepped out.

Her mother's concerns were usually accurate, but when Hilary began to make her way to the bus stop, she noticed that today was one of those rare winter mornings, the kind people usually wrote about in novels. The sky was absolutely clear, the sun was shining with just the right amount of warmth, and the air was filled with a sweet, pleasant scent, making it easy for anyone to forget that just last night the temperature had fallen below ten degrees, marking the beginning of the chilly season. Which made it the perfect day for Hilary to make amends, and start afresh, she couldn't help but believe that this was a sign from the universe that she was on the right track.

It had been almost a month since Max's visit and she had managed to experience and process every single emotion that existed in the time that had passed.

In the beginning, she was very confused, she didn't even remember how she had managed to get home that day or what she had talked to Max about that evening because when Hilary looked back on that Saturday afternoon in October, she could only remember Tyson kissing her. She wanted to understand just why he had done that, because after a while it had started to feel like a fever dream, but by the time she could build up the courage to look at him again and demand answers, her mind had shifted from confusion to anger.

In the past four years, they'd spent more time with each other than anyone else, and of course, the topic of dating or relationships had often come up during many of their long conversations, and occasionally Hilary would let it slip how she wanted her dream first date to go or what she expected from a first kiss. For Tyson to do what he did, knowing it was the exact opposite of what she had longed for, made her blood boil. Sure, she hadn't exactly been a saint either, but couldn't he have picked any other punishment for her? Did he have to take away an important first experience that mattered so much to her?

Then came yearning. The need to feel his lips on hers again, the need to be held by him, the need to just be with him in every sense that was possible. She would close her eyes and all she could think about was how beautiful the sky had looked that evening, or how Tyson's hands still had a faint scent of the tangerines he must've eaten that morning or how she could taste the ginger ale he had ordered during lunch on his tongue. It was impossible enough for her to not think about the kiss, every single minute she spent awake, but then Tyson had started to show up in her dreams too. And that's why she made her father drive her to school for all of November, afraid that if she faced Tyson head on, she'd just fall to her knees and beg for him to put her under his spell once again.

The few times that she did run into him at school, she was surprised to see him being the first one to look away, ears flaming red as he turned on his heels and walked back in the direction he had come from. If he had been the one to initiate the kiss, why was he so embarrassed to come face-to-face with her? No matter how hard she tried, there were always things about Tyson that she just couldn't understand, and that's when she became tired.

Tired of how she had let a silly joke from Tyson get under her skin for reasons that were not under his control, tired of how she had only thought about herself on a day that was so clearly important to him, tired of how she had ignored the problem and wished for it to go away on its own when all that needed to be done was her uttering two very simple words out loud to Tyson. She didn't want to spend any more time trying to fit in or please the people around her, not when she could just be true to herself and still have at least one person by her side. The only way for Hilary to achieve that, however, was to mend things with Tyson.

The idea sounded easier inside her head but the one time she decided to take the bus again and arrived at their usual meeting spot near the stop, Tyson was nowhere to be seen. She took the bus by herself that day and by the time she reached school, all the courage and determination she had built up inside her evaporated in an instant, she started to feel small and helpless again, which led to her avoiding him for the rest of the day. She thought of writing a letter and putting it in his shoe locker, but then her letter turned into a thirty-page long mini-thesis, which she knew no one should be subjected to read unless they were up for capital punishment or something of the sort.

Eventually, Hilary became anxious. On the off chance that she did manage to get Tyson's attention, where was the guarantee that he would actually listen to her, or spend a day reading her letter? He wasn't obliged to hear her side of the story at all, she'd done nothing to redeem herself enough to even be given that chance. Her mind began to spiral more than usual, and she reached a point where she had imagined every single way in which Tyson could tell her that he wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

And after she had played out every worst case scenario in her head, Hilary finally arrived at acceptance.

Acceptance of all the mistakes she had made, acceptance of the possibility that she might lose Tyson forever, acceptance of the fact that she would not be able to move forward if she didn't act now.

Which is why she decided to start simple.

After checking up on the kendo tournaments scheduled around their city, she looked for one that would be happening soon and had the Kinomiya Dojo registered as a participant. It was a fairly easy plan, she would go watch Tyson's match, and then afterwards offer him the lunch she had cooked, hoping to arrive at some sort of temporary truce with the help of all his favourite dishes. And even if he did end up rejecting her gesture, Hilary would accept his decision with grace and not force him to listen to what she had to say. As she made her way to the tournament venue, which was different from the first match she had gone to watch back in July, she hoped with all her heart that her plan would proceed without anything unexpected being thrown her way. So when she entered this larger gymnasium and began to search for an ideal seat, somewhere that would allow her to get a good view of the players but still not make her presence obvious to Tyson, Hilary was surprised to find a familiar head of dual-toned hair sitting next to the empty seat she had spotted for herself.

"Kai?"

The tone of surprise was evident in her loud voice, and earned her a stern look from some of the people around her. She bowed her head apologetically in every direction before sitting down to divert the attention away from her.

"Hilary, hi." Kai nodded curtly at her, they were seeing each other in person after a very long time, but he seemed unbothered by that fact.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly, unable to wrap her head around the fact that despite all her wishful thinking, she had ended up meeting with something unexpected even before she put her plan into action.

"I could ask you the same thing, Tyson didn't mention you'd be coming," Kai replied, folding his arms across her chest. He raised a curious eyebrow as his deadpan gaze dropped towards the lunch bag she placed on her lap, a barely visible glint appearing in his eyes as he looked back up at her.

"I- uh- well he doesn't um really know that I planned to." Hilary couldn't stop herself from stuttering, she attempted to fix her bangs as she avoided his eyes, hoping that he wouldn't notice her ears turning pink.

"I see."

Kai turned his attention towards the front and Hilary followed suit. As the gymnasium settled down into pin-drop silence around them and the announcer took to the stage, she thought to herself that maybe this wasn't that bad a hiccup in her plan. If Kai accompanied her, then there was at least a fifty per cent chance that Tyson would accept her little peace offering and agree to listen to her. And Kai always took the rational approach to everything, with him around she'd do a much better job at explaining herself and apologising coherently. Even if she had managed to get herself here today, she still was not confident whether she would be able to talk to Tyson without feeling overwhelmed, and having a third party around might just give her the boost she needed.

"That guy's trouble."

Kai spoke up suddenly, breaking her train of thought. She followed his gaze towards where the participating players for the day had begun to line up around the ring. Despite every player having donned their full gear along with the helmet covering their faces, she spotted Tyson easily, unlike the last time he was third in line and that relieved her because she'd have seen a few matches to get used to the intensity of the sport before he went up. Although Hilary had spent the week watching re-runs of the older National Kendo Championships in order to not get blindsided by the atmosphere like last time, she realised inside the gymnasium once again, that watching a match play out on television and watching it in real-time were two different experiences altogether.

She took a deep breath and searched instead for the person Kai had pointed out, not allowing her mind to lose sight of what she was here to do today before she could even begin. There was only one player who fit the description of her friend's observation, a guy that from his build did not seem like he matched the under-eighteen requirement for this tournament. He was almost a head taller than most of the players present, with broad shoulders and a wide chest on which his protective gear hung very snugly. Even without having seen him play, Hilary could tell that he would make for a ferocious opponent just by the way he sat with his shoulders squared and chin tilted up high.

"I hope Tyson doesn't have to go up against him right at the beginning again," Kai muttered under his breath, making her shift her attention towards him instead.

"This isn't your first match?"

"No, I've been coming pretty regularly."

"Oh," Hilary said, just when she thought nothing else could surprise her today, "I thought you were very busy these days."

"I am."

Kai didn't get a chance to elaborate further as the first match began, drowning the stadium in clattering sounds of the shinais clashing and the players shouting out spiritedly. Hilary winced slightly at the sudden loudness of the bamboo striking against each other at first, but after a few hits, she felt herself getting used to it. She recalled how Tyson had been very defensive about Kai's busy schedule back when Max had visited them. If Kai was taking time out from his day to come and support Tyson during these tournaments, then it was no wonder that the latter would be protective about it. She was still a little curious about what had pushed Kai to do this for Tyson since they rarely got to witness this softer side of him, and it must have been visible on her face because when the first match ended and there was a pause while the other two players took their positions, Kai explained himself without her having to say anything.

"Tyson called me a few months ago and asked me if I'd be able to spare some time for this once in a while," he said, glancing sideways at her for a brief moment before turning his gaze upfront again. "He told me he felt lonely entering the ring by himself every time so knowing that someone was watching him would make him feel better."

Hilary felt her heart sink at his words. She was aware that she had let down Tyson by not trying to understand what practising kendo meant to him, but coming face to face with that fact through someone else's words became a risk to her confidence. She clasped her hands together and willed herself to look on the bright side of things, at least Kai had stepped up to do the right thing while she ran away, and at least Tyson had managed to find someone to keep him company while she hid from him.

"That's very sweet of you," she said, passing a small smile in Kai's direction.

"It's the least I could do."

The bare minimum, that's all Tyson had wanted from her and she'd twisted it into something that was unnecessarily bigger than the matter at hand. She wondered just how much Tyson had shared with Kai about their fight because she felt that he would have a pretty good grasp of the situation and hearing his completely impartial opinion might help her phrase her apology better. She thought of opening up to Kai, but the minute she started to talk, Tyson stepped up to the centre of the ring, and to their disappointment, his opponent was the guy Kai had warned her about.

Hilary felt the uneasiness from all those months return, and as much as she tried to calm herself, she felt a cold shiver run down her spine when the whistle signalling the start of the match blew and the giant-like boy raised his shinai high above Tyson's head. She curved her palms against her knees tightly, her nails digging into the fabric of her jeans, to keep herself from shaking her legs out of a nervous habit. When the bamboo swords finally clashed against each other and the passionate cries of the players enveloped the whole gymnasium, Hilary's eyes instinctively squeezed shut as she drew in a sharp breath.

"You don't need to worry so much, Hilary. We're not..."Kai murmured next to her, stopping midway as the whistle indicating a point had been won blew, making her open her eyes and brave a look at the scene in front of her.

"Tyson isn't a kid anymore."

"I know. I know that but-" Hilary took another deep breath, as swift movement and loud cries resumed in the centre of the ring. She carefully gathered her next few words to not sound too whiny, but she wasn't sure if she managed to accomplish that, "It's just hard because he's right there in the middle of it all, it's not his beyblade that's taking the hits now, it's him. And it scares me, that's all."

"It scares him too, that's why he needs us here. To know that someone cares." Kai's reply didn't miss a beat and it only made her feel more guilty for not being able to grasp something so simple.

"Of course, I care! But-"

"The minute you add a but to a sentence like that, it means you care more about your own feelings than his."

As hard as it was for her to hear those words, that was the truth and Hilary had decided not to run from it anymore. She stayed quiet, and fixed her attention towards the match again, willing herself to pay attention to every move, every detail as Tyson squared his shoulders and stood his ground against his fearsome opponent. The matches continued at their usual fast pace but with her concentration affixed on what played out in front of her, she gradually started to understand and differentiate between the skills of the various players, realising that Tyson was easily on the stronger side compared to the rest of them.

Kai was right, she didn't need to worry about him but she also didn't know how to stop herself from doing that, it was like second nature to her at this point. She worried about him when he was late to their meeting spot every morning, wondering if he'd gotten hurt somehow. She worried about him when he played with the food on his plate instead of wolfing it down, wondering if something was bothering him. She worried about him when his smile didn't reach his eyes as he talked about his father or brother, wondering if he was just putting up a brave front for everyone else's sake. Whenever Tyson did something out of the ordinary, warning bells would ring loudly inside her head and all she could do was worry. Every time the flag awarding a point went up in favour of Tyson, however, Hilary understood that at least while he was in the centre of that ring, he didn't need her to worry for him, he needed her to have faith in him.

His presence today was completely different from what she had witnessed a few months ago. While he still embodied the disciplined posture that this sport was known for, it did not make him look rigid or robotic anymore, rather it flowed naturally into every step, every move that he made. He was so quick on his feet too, if Hilary blinked for just a second, she'd almost miss an important moment, as strenuous as it was for her, she still tried her best to keep her eyes peeled open so she could catch every second of all of Tyson's matches. She didn't know if she was reading too much into things, but at one point she felt that Tyson's presence of mind was so strong that he could almost predict his opponent's next move, always dodging or blocking their attacks without any hesitation or delay. But what really drew her in this time, was his voice. Each shout carried with it a declaration of his passion for winning which was louder and clearer than any other player's. Before she knew it, Hilary found herself completely engrossed in the matches playing out in front of her, completely forgetting that she wasn't watching alone.

"Okay, I may have been too harsh earlier," Kai spoke up as soon as the last match for the day finished and a light applause broke out around the gymnasium.

Hilary tilted her head sideways to look at him, but in her head, she was attempting to calculate if Tyson would be the overall winner for the day before the results were announced, which made her look a bit spaced out as if she had still not accepted the truth that Kai had stated.

"What I wanted to say was that it doesn't matter what you and I think about all of this." He continued, forehead creasing with concern as he peered at her, probably hoping to figure out if she was upset with him or something, "What matters is that Tyson is out there," he jerked his thumb in the direction of the stage before adding in a loftier tone, "giving this sport everything he's got, and all he wants from me or you is that we acknowledge his efforts."

"Yes, I understand that now." Hilary nodded, her friend's somewhat raised voice broke the trance she had found herself in and made her realise that Kai was concerned over her silence, "Thank you for helping me figure things out, Kai."

"Good." He looked relieved at the sight of a normal reaction from her, but still shook his head in annoyance as he spoke next, "Because I'm tired of listening to him weep about you on the phone, so please tell me you plan to make things right today."

Her whole face turned red at the implication of his words and she could barely stutter out a response, "I - well uh actually-"

"Come on, we should go or we'll miss him," Kai smirked at her reaction, getting up from his seat and shoving his hands in his pants pockets. He didn't wait for her to get up and just started to walk away.

"Wait, where are we going?" She hurried after him, hoping that her face would soon lose the warmth it had picked up at the mention of Tyson supposedly weeping over her.

"To the changing rooms."

"Oh, you're coming with me too, right?"

"Hm. I'll help you find the way."

It wasn't exactly a yes or no, but Hilary felt like she could rely on Kai being there as her backup. If he didn't plan to stay then he would have just given her the directions on how to get from the gym to the back rooms. The fact that he bothered to accompany her all the way could only mean that he wasn't going anywhere, which is what she needed because with each passing second the deciding moment between her and Tyson was drawing closer and she wasn't sure if she could face the judgement alone. The two had gone through a door next to the big stage on the other end of the gym to enter a narrow corridor with many doors on either side. A few players were standing and chatting in the corridor, though without their gear and helmets, Hilary found it hard to recognise any of them in their casual clothes. Kai didn't stop to look at any of the doors and just kept going, as if he had been here before and knew exactly which room Tyson would be in, so Hilary obediently followed him.

Finally, he came to a halt in front of one of the doors towards the end and without a single glance in Hilary's direction, he knocked on it.

"Come in!"

A muffled voice called out from inside, which she recognised as Tyson's and her heart instantly started to beat faster. Kai looked at her at last and gestured for her to enter, but she stared back at him confused. Tyson was probably expecting Kai and not her, so it would make sense for him to go in first but instead, Kai just rolled his eyes exasperatedly at her and turned his back to her as he started to walk back the way they had come without a word.

"Kai no! Come back, please! I can't do this-" Hilary cried out after him but he just waved the back of his hand at her and kept walking, "-alone." She whispered to herself, realising that she had no other choice now but to open the door and face Tyson.

She took a deep breath and counted till ten in her head to calm herself down and build up the courage to lift her hand and grab the doorknob, turning it slowly to push open the door only wide enough to poke her head in and check how Tyson would react, in case he pretended not to see her then she could just shut the door and run out of here as fast as she could.

The protective gear he had taken off was lying on a bench next to him while his shinai was wrapped carefully in its case and was leaning against the tall locker attached to the wall. Tyson stood in the middle of all of his scattered things, currently in the middle of changing out of his hakama having untied the top jacket and removed it from one side leaving his right shoulder and half of his chest exposed. He looked completely surprised to see her, brown eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to process the fact that she had shown up instead of Kai.

With a definitive sigh, Hilary entered the room, giving up on the last chance to run away as she shut the door behind her. She found it a bit annoying, however, that despite this Tyson didn't bother to dress himself properly making it difficult for her to look at him without getting distracted by his perfectly toned chest. Praying to herself that she would remember everything she was supposed to say and not get swept up in Tyson's usual flow, Hilary took a few steps forward, stopping near the edge of the bench and managed a small smile.

"Hey."

"Hey." Tyson greeted her back, which she took as a good sign even if his voice sounded hoarse with disbelief.

"I made you lunch." She held up the lunch bag she had carried with her diligently and was happy to see a glint in his eyes as he glanced at it.

"Thanks," he said, but didn't move from his spot.

"You were really great out there today!" Hilary allowed her smile to grow wider, but when he raised a questioning eyebrow at her statement, she added in a mellowed voice, "I think." Of course, she was no expert in kendo yet to know how his performance today would be rated by people who did understand the sport well, and he'd caught onto that immediately.

"Yeah, today was a good day." Finally, a small smile appeared on his face and Hilary let go of the breath she had been holding in since he passed her that doubtful look. He ran a hand through his hair, which looked slightly damp, probably from the sweat that came with wearing the protective helmet for such a long time. His eyes dropped towards the lunch bag in her hands and she could tell he was contemplating whether he should accept it from her or not.

She realised that this was her do-or-die moment, clutching tightly onto the lunch bag to keep her nerves in check, Hilary locked eyes with Tyson determinedly.

"I came here today to apologize...for everything."

For a minute Tyson looked taken aback, like that was the last thing he had expected her to say and then let out a mixture of a groan and a tired sigh before he rambled on, "Me too, I want to apologize too. I shouldn't have kissed you like that, that was so wrong."

"What? No!" Hilary responded, immediately flustered by the mention of the kiss. Shaking her head to get back on track she added in a pleading tone, "I mean yes, you shouldn't have done that but, just let me go first?"

Tyson nodded at her and she took another deep breath before finally speaking the words she had spent days pushing down her throat.

"I'm sorry for everything."

The happy and relieved look on Tyson's face told her that she didn't really need to explain herself further, but she knew that that would be unfair to both of them, so letting his favourable reaction fuel her courage, she went on to speak in the same determined tone from earlier.

"I haven't been myself ever since that stupid doodle on the blackboard-"

"I told you back then, that if you'd just let me handle it-"

"No, Tyson. Finding out who did it and punching them or whatever would not have solved anything." Hilary felt her voice crack slightly as memories of possibly one of the worst days of her time in high school came rushing back. Tyson just scoffed at her, his face losing the softness from earlier at the mention of that day, but she decided to keep going, "The thing is, nothing needed to be solved. I didn't understand it back then but I do now. I shouldn't have let that silly prank affect me the way it did. I can't believe that instead of moving on, I let myself get consumed by this need to get everyone to like me." She closed her eyes for a moment, hoping that it would give her the chance to collect herself and keep all the tears at bay. "And that need filled me with so much insecurity that I ended up lashing out at you. I'm sorry for that, I really am, you didn't deserve it at all."

Tyson turned his gaze away from her, fists balled tightly at his sides as his lower lip trembled. Hilary was unsure whether this anger was supposed to be directed at her or not, but since she had come so far, she decided to continue speaking her mind.

"I realise now, that it doesn't matter if nobody else likes me-" she paused, hoping that Tyson would look at her so she could show him that she meant every word she was about to say, "as long as you do."

His eyes snapped towards her instantly, wide with surprise. Even though she had wanted him to see that she wasn't lying, when he looked at her like that, it was impossible for her to hold her tears back.

"You're enough for me, you always have been." She hated herself for crying so easily but at the same time she didn't know how else to express what she felt for him, "So please tell me that you don't hate me after all this, because I don't know if I can make it through life knowing that you do."

"I couldn't hate you even if I tried."

Before she knew it he had covered the distance between them with a few long strides and had taken her face in his hands once again, pressing his lips to hers without a warning, just like last time.

But this kiss was different because this time it was full of love.

His hands travelled from her cheeks, wiping away her tears in one swift gesture, to her shoulders and then slipped down across her arms to finally slither around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She was glad that he had made the first move, again, because there was truly no other way for her to tell him how she felt except by wrapping her arms around his neck and letting him lead her into bliss. She was amazed by how gentle his touch felt and how softly his lips his glided against hers, a completely different feeling from what she remembered of their last kiss.

Somewhere at the back of her mind, she was aware that any minute the door could open and anyone could walk in on them, but for a change, she didn't feel like doing the right thing, just a few moments in his arms and Tyson's influence was already rubbing off on her. She smiled against his lips and he took that chance to let his tongue slip inside her mouth, deepening the kiss with an intensity that rang true of his declaration about being incapable of hating her.

When he finally pulled himself away from her, Hilary felt like someone had dropped a bucket full of ice on top of her. She found her face leaning towards him on its own, and it was his loud laugh that made her snap back to her senses. She blushed as Tyson smirked at her, obliging her with a quick peck on the lips before he completely disentangled himself from her. Whistling in a happy tune he went back to change out of the hakama, as Hilary decided to sit down on the bench and catch her breath. She noticed that her little lunch bag had slipped out of her hand at some point and quickly leaned forward to pick it up, praying that the contents remained undamaged.

"I still feel bad about the kiss," Tyson said, as he went on to change without bothering to hide his half-naked body from her.

"You're going to have plenty of chances to make up for it now," Hilary muttered turning her eyes towards the door to avoid looking at him, feeling herself go red from head to toe when she caught sight of his hakama dropping to the floor.

"Only if you promise to never miss my matches again," he called out to her in a teasing tone, "You're my lucky charm, you know that?"

"I don't think that's true," Hilary frowned, instinctively turning to face him and letting out a relieved sigh as she saw him pull his hoodie down, now fully dressed. "Because you've been doing a good job even without me-"

"Shut up and learn to take a compliment, Hils!" He groaned as he began to stuff all his gear into his bag very haphazardly.

Watching him do that almost gave Hilary a seizure so she got up from the bench and walked up to him, shoving the lunch bag in his hand and pushing him to the side, so she could reorganise all of his equipment in the bag in a much more orderly way. Tyson was happy to just sit down and dig in, and when he let out sounds of approval as he devoured the food she had made, Hilary found herself smiling widely. And just like that months of feeling confused and angry and lonely were washed away into nothingness as they went back to their usual routine in the blink of an eye, bickering and talking over each other, laughing in sync and finishing each other's sentences, as if they hadn't spent any time apart at all.

As their hands connected on their own when they left the room, Hilary wondered how exactly would she remember this year in her life when she got older. Would she really be able to recall all the hurt and pain she had caused to herself and Tyson, or would she just recollect these happy moments? One thing she was certain of, however, was that no matter how malicious a storm raged inside her, when it would subside Tyson wouldn't hesitate to be the sun that shines a light in her heart. She was certain that if she ever got swept up into a hurricane of uncertainty again, when the dust finally settled, Tyson would be there waiting for her with his arms wide open, ready to help her find herself again.

- x-

A/n: The way Kai ended up having the best role lol. Originally this was supposed to have an epilogue which would've been some nice and cutesy shenanigans to counter all the angst in the story but I don't think I can manage that now, so will end the fic here.

Thank you so much to everyone who read this fic, I know it was not my best work for this couple so I really appreciate anyone who stuck with it till the end. I might take a break from TyHil for a few months, try and focus on other stuff and then come back to them with a fresh mind and newer ideas (let's just hope the months don't turn into years like last time lol T.T).

But worry not, because you can find all the TyHil content that was shared for the Love Countdown Event on Tumblr on the blog takaoxhiromi.

Hope you all had fun this month, and have a last great month of 2022!