Wow, you would think I've forgotten about this story, what with not updating it in a long time. But don't worry because I haven't. I blame it on my lack of time and laziness. I'll try to post the next chapter sooner than it took to post this one so please hang in there with me. I will finish this story. Okay so on with the disclaimer: (1) Beyblade isn't mine. I just love using the characters especially Tyson. He's my favorite. (2) Please read and review as well as enjoy this chapter. I guess that's all I have to say for now. Again, thanks for all my readers who have been very patient with me.

"Wait a second. You're saying Tyson and Kai are dating?" Rei asked out loud, surprise clearly in his voice.

"Well that's what I thought until Kai flat out denied it, but I still have my suspicions." Max answered as his chin rested on the palms of his hands in thought.

Rei contemplated this for a minute and then asked, "So how long do you think they've been hiding this?"

"I'm not sure." Max replied as a loud voice broke off into the hall. Max and Rei looked towards the door and saw Hillary and Kenny. Hillary was going on about how rude Tyson was being for not allowing her into his room while Kenny appeared to be on his laptop typing loudly as if trying to miss half of what she was saying. Hillary stopped talking to Kenny when she noticed Rei and Max and asked them, "What is Tyson's problem? You all were supposed to meet us at the park today at seven and none of you showed up."

Max and Rei looked at Hillary with confused faces. Hillary continued, "Kai did tell you about it, right?"

Both Max and Rei shook their heads sideways in a no as Hillary's mouth dropped. "Kai never told you. That's not even possible. Where's Kai?"

Max and Rei looked at each other with uncertainty before Max turned to face Hillary. "We don't know. Kai and Tyson have been acting weird all morning and something happened between the both of them."

"Something happened? Like what?" Hillary questioned as Max continued.

"Well, Kai woke us all up this morning for practice but then he abruptly cancelled it. Then this morning I found Kai's scarf in Tyson's room and brought it up. Tyson didn't really say anything until Kai stated in his own words that they weren't together."

"Pretty much Max thinks Tyson and Kai were dating in secret." Rei clarified as Hillary's eyes grew wide and jaw dropped.

"K-Kai and Tyson…d-dating…" Hillary uttered what few words she could at the moment as Kenny's loud typing died down.

"Right, that's exactly what I was saying." Max smiled while nodding, unbothered at all with such an idea.

"For how long?" Hillary asked, grasping onto Max's arm and squeezing it tightly.

Max winced before pulling Hillary off him with Rei's help. Kenny set his laptop down on the counter, finding the conversation much more interesting than what he had been researching.

"It's only a speculation, relax Hillary. Max only thinks that Kai and Tyson had that sort of relationship." Rei added, helping Hillary sit down in a chair before she fainted from Max's assumption of Tyson's and Kai's strange attitudes.

Hillary glared towards Rei as she settled in her seat. "That's hardly a speculation. What you're saying is that you have evidence to prove that Tyson and Kai are… are…"

"Homosexuals." Kenny stated bluntly before turning a deep shade of red.

"Exactly. That's something huge." Hillary replied as Max broke in saying, "It's not as big as you think…"

"Oh really, Max. How do you think your fans and the other teams are going to react after finding out the World Champion and his male teammate are in a relationship? It'll be over for the whole team, that's what!" Hillary stood up, shouting as Rei and Max cringed backwards.

"I didn't really think about it that way…" Max replied, shielding himself behind Rei.

"I had a feeling you didn't." Hillary signed before dropping back in her chair. "Now what do we do?"

"It's Tyson's and Kai's lives and if they chose to stay together, I'll support them." Hillary looked up in surprise towards Rei.

"You can't be serious?"

"I am. We've been teammates for a long time. I'm not going to let something like this be the reason for ending our friendship. I can always play Beyblade whenever I want but I can't replace those guys. Right, Max?" Rei stated firmly before turning behind towards Max with a small smile.

"Right!" Max beamed towards Rei.

"Now the only thing left is to find out the truth from Tyson and Kai and handle the issue carefully. The media will cause an uproar with a story this big so we'll have to talk to Mr. Dickenson to make sure we're able to make the adjust easier." Rei added, nodding.

"I guess you're right, Rei." Hillary joined in. "I may have overreacted and I might not be so sure of what's going to happen but I'm also here for Tyson and Kai even if I'm not totally okay with their relationship."

"Thanks Hillary," Rei smiled and Hillary signed.

"Yeah…"

"Now that we've gotten over that problem, I guess I won't be collecting any data today what with the rest of the team missing." Kenny signed as he grabbed his laptop and took a spot at the table as laughter followed after. Max and Rei followed Kenny's idea, filling in two more chairs. Conversation echoed into the hallway where a tall figure leaned against the wall, listening in.

"So Kai and Tyson are dating, huh?" The silky voice replied as a thin smile formed on his lips. "This'll be interesting."

The figure with cherry colored hair placed up into two pointed cones made his way towards the front door. His muscled figure moved quietly as he slipped outside, closing the door behind.

Loud yelling echoed around as two blades rammed violently into each other, their collision heard loudly over the crowd's own shouting. Two boys stood opposite of each other while being surrounded by an audience of both boys and girls. The one blond boy glared fiercely at the other with two-toned grayish hair who stood stiff and emotionless.

"Damn it! Fight me!" The blond shouted towards the stranger who ignored him. "Fine! But you'll be sorry…"

Before the blond boy could finish, his blade was bumped high into the air and spun limply on the ground by his feet and out of the battle dish. Disbelief laced his face but the two-toned haired blader only picked his own spinning blade up and turned to leave.

"Wait… I just started. I'm not done yet!" The blond boy awakened from his disbelief and yelled towards his opponent who ignored him and keep walking.

"Stop!" The boy yelled as the other boy walked further away surrounded on both sides by spectators. "I'll fire my blade! I swear!"

Yet again ignored, the blond blader aimed his blade toward his two-toned haired opponent and pulled his launcher cord. His opponent reacted swiftly by reaching his left hand up and catching the blond's beyblade. Turning his head with one eye towards the blond boy, the blader dropped the blade on the ground and stepped on it, smashing it into tiny pieces.

"You're not even worthy to be a blader," the boy answered before stepping over the shattered pieces and left.

"Wasn't that Kai? You know from the BladeBreakers?" A boy whispered in the audience to another.

"Yeah… I wonder what his problem is." A girl answered as the mysterious blader left the building's door to close behind him.

Walking with his head down, Kai studied Dranzer, rolling her around in his hand before safely placing her back into his pocket.

"Looks to me like you've got the blues," a silky voice replied joining in step with Kai.

"What do you want, Tala?" Kai asked looking up to see a smirking redhead.

"Not much. Just wanted to confirm a little rumor I heard about you." Tala winked, folding his arms against his chest. "That is if you'll even tell me whether or not it's true."

Kai glared towards Tala who appeared to be having fun bothering the troubled blader.

"It'll depend on the question." Kai replied bluntly.

"Why not grab something to eat and talk a bit? It's not like you're that busy right now anyway what with having the time to battle weaklings."

"You saw that?" Kai eyed Tala suspiciously.

"Everything," Tala smiled teasingly. "See, there's a small café across the street. We don't even have to go that far. So what do you say?"

Kai glared in Tala's direction but replied with a small "Hn" before following him towards the small café. After ordering their drinks (a black coffee for Kai and a vanilla latte for Tala) which Tala had paid for, both grabbed a small table farthest away from the other customers.

"What do you want to know?" Kai asked getting straight to the point before taking a sip of his coffee.

A wider grin formed on Tala's face as he took a mouthful of his own drink and savored the taste. "I love coffee. It really warms you up, you know?"

"Don't play games with me." Kai answered standing up.

"Okay, okay I get it. Sit already." Tala stated as his smile faded and Kai re-took his seat.

"Well…"

"I came by Tyson's dojo this morning to find a very interesting conversation taking place in the kitchen about Tyson and you. It seems your friends think that you two are dating each other. They're waiting for you to get back to the dojo for your answer. I couldn't wait to find out so I decided to look for you."

Kai's eyes widened a bit before turning away from Tala and replying, "It's a misunderstanding."

"Really now?" Tala teased, watching Kai's response.

"Even if it was true, Tyson deserves someone better and a woman at that. It doesn't matter now, I already handled it." Kai stated standing up. "If that's all, I'm leaving."

"Kai, wait... Are you saying it's true?" Tala looked surprised as Kai turned his eyes away. "No way! Wow, Kai Hiwatari is settling down."

Kai glared towards Tala, stood and was about to leave until he heard Tala's voice turn serious. "You're lucky. At first, I only came to tease you about this but if you're serious, why give it up? I know I've got no business to pry into your life but you might regret not doing anything about this later. If I had someone that wanted to be with me, I'd never let them go." Tala looked up and caught Kai's eyes with an unexpected seriousness.

Tala thought he saw Kai's guard lower and a sad softness often hidden behind his impassive face escape for a moment before turning expressionless again.

"No point in regretting something that will never happen again," Kai stated coldly, grabbing his coffee and leaving Tala sitting alone.

Tala chuckled while smiling sadly. "I don't believe that."

Grabbing his own drink, Tala left shortly after Kai did.