Disclaimer : don't own beyblade.

Ugh... FINE... I don't own Kai either...

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READ... as the fate of max will be decided after I'm done judging your reviews... :P

Chapter 7

The driver sitting inside the car picked up the phone.

"Go. Now." The man ordered from the other end of the line.

The driver cut the call and took off at full speed, hitting the highway in no time. He drove for five minutes. A boy with slate hair, almost doused in blood, was trying to stop vehicles. Another blond teen lay on the side of the road, in an unattractive heap. The man slowed down and hit the breaks as the slate haired boy jumped right in front of his car. The boy almost dragged him out and led him to the blond kid.

"Oh! My god!" the man faked the concerned tone. Pulled out the cell phone and punched in a number, "I need an ambulance. There are two injured boys in the city highway. I think it's an accident." His voice sound urgent and at the same time low. Just low enough so that the words did not reach the boy grey haired boy standing behind him.

He pressed the end button on his phone and turned, "What happened to him? Where did you find…" an inward smirk released the tension inside him. Good, now it can definitely pass off as an accident.

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Kai closed his eyes, more out of fear that was consuming him from inside than anything else. On the outside he appeared to be calm, but inside, he was shivering uncontrollably, what if my lack of speed cost Max his life? Tyson, Kenny and Rei were sitting on the chairs that lined the white walls outside the Operation theater. Kai stood next to them hands crossed across his chest as if in an attempt of stopping himself from falling prey to reality. His own breath coming in long gasps, going completely unnoticed.

The merciless silence was killing them all. It had been almost forty minutes since they had arrived at the hospital. Max was there. There. The doctors had not told them much. They just knew that their friend was hanging in the void between life and death.

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A sudden change in the climate had forced all the children to stay inside. The chatter and cheer in the village was replaced by howling cold winds. Kai sat by the window, looking out, lazily tapping its glass with one of his tiny fingers.

"Are we bored?" it was the first time the man had spoken since his arrival at Kai's home. His voice was raspy, hungry as if ready to consume everything.

Kai jumped. He had not noticed the man enter the room and stand beside him. He turned to look at him. He had never liked the man, there was a strange, unholy like energy that seemed to spread around him every where he went.

"Should we play a little game?"

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"Are you Max's friends? Is there any family?" a nurse had stepped out of the operation room.

"Yes, we are. His mother is in the US. She will be here in a day's time." Rei answered the questions. "Please can we know what is wrong with him?"

"Please follow me"

"But we would like to see our friend." Tyson started to argue. "We have been waiting here for a long time..."

"Yes, I know. But..."

"... without ANY information..." he pitch raised.

"Yes, If you could just come with me..." the nurse looks slightly taken aback by the sudden change in the atmosphere.

"...I want to see my friend. NOW!"

"You can't... ", the nurse said, fumbling to find some words.

Rei was trying to stop Tyson from yelling and Kenny was just looking at the two of them, not knowing what to do. They too wanted to see Max, know how he was doing.

"Tyson!" Kai interrupted in a frail voice. "I think we should follow her and we will get our answers faster." Kai already knew a part of the answer, it was the other half that his ears were longing to hear 'your friend is out of danger'.

The nurse gave Kai an appreciating nod and walked down the long passage, followed by the group of teenagers. She led them to a conference room and opened the door to let them in. There was already someone inside. Kai recognised him right away. He was the same man who had helped him on the highway. He looked at the lot of them entering the room. He casually glanced at everyone and gave a weak smile. He did not seem to recognise Kai at all. Good.

They waited in silence, anxiety growing inside of all of them. The glass door opened with a soft squeak and a man in a white medical coat holding a blue coloured file in his hand entered the room followed by Mr. Dickenson, who appeared to be in a shock. Their wait was over.

"Did your friend have any enemies?" he said, without bothering to introduce himself. His expression was a mixture of an confusion, concern and curiosity.

"Wha-? What do you mean?" Tyson was the first to reply.

"Your friend was brought here in a bad shape and as far as my knowledge goes those injuries have come from torture. He had several internal injuries, many cuts and bruises..."

"What do you mean torture? We were told that Max had had an accident." Rei cut the doctor off.

Kai looked at the doctor and then the man. ACCIDENT? He had had no time to ask Rei what exactly was wrong with Max. Also in a way he did not feel the need to, cause he knew.

The man was looking intently at the doctor.

"Yes, that's what it looked like. That's what this gentleman here thought too, because of the circumstances in which he had found your friend. But our diagnosis and tests clearly state torture. An accident cannot cause such surgically clean cuts. Your friend has suffered a lot."

"Yes I have seen the wounds and they are too precise to be a result of an accident." Mr. Dickenson still looked slightly dazed.

"But how can it be torture?" Tyson was looking at the doctor, unshed tears sparkling in his eyes.

"There was a lot of blood loss and clotting. He had also been administered with a small doze of poison." He said looking into the blue file. "... and I am very sorry to tell you that he is in a coma. We cannot tell you for certain when he would wake up. It can be tomorrow, three years or maybe even..." he trailed off, unable to contain his own emotions anymore.

The doctor broke the long silence that his words had created. "You can go and see him, now" he said, his voice sounding steady. He picked up the phone on the desk, "Please come in."

A minute later the glass door squeaked again and the nurse who had led them to the conference room entered. "Boys this is nurse Yuki. She will take you to Max."

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The machines beeped at regular intervals. The low and heavy sound of Max breathing filled the room which was otherwise completely silent. The five people present in the room looked like ghosts looking down at the blond boy lying in the hospital bed, his injuries completely concealed from view.

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How could I have been so naive? I almost gift-wrapped Max and gave him to the bastard...! Kai had stepped out of the room. His mind was thick with thoughts. He needed to think of what he was going to do next...

"... if there is anything I can do to help..."

"Its not me who is going to need the help, its those children. I think you should be around for them."

Kai snapped out of the disarray of his thoughts, the doctor was walking down the passage towards him, accompanied by Max's 'saviour'. They spotted Kai looking at them and stopped near him.

"Doctor? About that other kid," the man said, looking at Kai, then at the doctor, "the one who stopped the car. Did you find him?"

"No the search parties have not found any one. But they are looking for him around where you found Max and..."

"Could you care to describe this, boy to me?" Kai's tone was challenging, he looked directly at the man.

"Yes, he was about your height, same skin colour as yours," the man pretended to think hard, "but his hair was red, and I think he had blue eyes." The man looked at Kai challenging him back.

Tala! Kai pushed himself off the wall that he was leaning on. His eyes widened momentarily, before the neutral expression fell back on his face.

"Do you know this boy?"

Kai realised that the doctor had been looking at him closely. "No. No, I don't think so." The doctor was still looking at him, "well I do know someone who fits the description, but he is back in Russia, I spoke to him just yesterday evening." The doctor seemed to relax a bit.

The intercom announced 'Doctor Hutaru you are needed in the emergency ward on the ground floor, Doctor Hutaru kindly come to the emergency ward on the ground floor'

Kai watched as the doctor rushed off towards the elevator, he did not even wait for the woman to repeat the sentence.

"Well you know, that boy looked very much like you" the man was watching Kai closely. A smirk had replaced the concerned mask on his face. Kai walked off and turned left to follow the path that led to the washroom, which was completely deserted. The man followed, "... You know, slate hair just like yours, blue tattoos on his face and I bet you have two massive cuts on your bo..."

Kai moved so fast that the man had no time to react. He swiftly punched him hard in his stomach and pinned him to the wall opposite the washroom door, the blade of his swiss knife pressing hard against the man's neck. "Where is Tala?" he saw fear grow in the man's eyes. "Where is he?" little beads of blood had started to erupt where the blade rubbed against the man's skin.

"If you do anything to me, your friend will die!" the man tried to threaten Kai in a desperate attempt to save his own life.

Kai' eyes narrowed, fury burning behind them. He clenched his teeth and pressed the knife harder on his neck, turning the red beads into a tiny river of blood.

"Please! I don't know wh-where he is. There is a note in my pocket, I was only asked to deliver it to you."

Kai reached for the man's shirt pocket and retrieved the note, pressed the blade against his throat yet again and then very reluctantly let go, leaving him gasping for breath. He scrambled to his feet looking at Kai like he would explode any minute.

"Your boss will kill you if you go showing that blood to the world." Kai's voice was full of hate and anger. He saw the man run away from him, then steady himself as he reached the end of the passage.

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Kai was holding the note in his hand, staring at it. He did not want to open it. He did not want to read what was inside...

The silent passage enhanced every little noise by ten folds. Even his thoughts seemed to echo adding chaos to the silence. The crisp white paper made a loud crunching noise as he opened it, not at all longing to see the words it held...

This note reaching you is proof that you have passed the level. Congratulations. I am throwing a little party to celebrate your victory. Everyone from your old team has come to celebrate. They are DYING to see you!

TBC

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Yesss.. so what do u'll think..!

Hope it was not too draggy...

Well and i have nt killed Max totally. He is currently hanging between life and death... so i can kill him whenever i want in the future... Mu ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... (I just LOVE being evil...!)

Don't forget to REVIEW...