Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Beyblade (sadly) and don't make money with this.

A/N: Hi guys! :)

Wow, I don't think I ever had this many people wanting to punch me! I must have really hit a nerve here. Many thanks to Sensless, kehkr, CRSWoodferns, Droplets of blue rain, Rapunzelle, Yuliya89, Coffepills, Skyfire2507 and mazaliam64! Not for wanting to punch me, obviously, but for the amazing feedback. It really helped me to get through the next chapters - writing Drama is definitely a challenge for me, so thank you, thank you, thank you, for giving me a boost of confidence!

So, the next chapter isn't going to be as dark as the first. I'm trying to give this story a good balance. Please, give it a read and let me know what you think?

Have a lovely night,

NoEarlyBird

A Promise Is a Promise

Chapter 2

Coping

Tyson knew that Tala recognized these emotions in his own eyes as well and they silently made a promise: Kai was alive and they were going to do everything humanly possible to keep it that way!

Present Time

"Oi, care to move your ass? There are other people in desperate need of caffeine, you know?"

Tala's snaring voice and a slap to the back of the head brought Tyson back to the here and now.

"Ouch," he complained and instinctively stepped aside.

Tala ignored him and pulled a coffee from the vending machine. He blew on his hot drink and looked at Tyson indifferently.

"How are we doing today?" Tala asked without taking his eyes off of Tyson's face.

Tyson stated to fidget uncomfortably under the keen look.

"I'm fine," he said. To prove his point he did a couple knee bends. "See?"

"Not what I meant."

Tyson thought there was something about the way Tala glared at him that reminded him a lot of Kai. It must best a Russian trait. He sighed.

"I'm fine," he said again.

"Yeah, because it's completely normal to stand frozen in front of a vending machine for ten minutes!"

"I couldn't decide," Tyson mumbled. He kinda had the feeling that Tala wouldn't buy this… Admittedly, not his greatest excuse. But he just wasn't ready to talk about … that.

"Bullshit!" Tala said. "You also keep avoiding eye-contact and judging by the dark circles around your eyes you haven't slept much last night. That doesn't look like you're doing fine."

Now Tyson glared at him.

"Even if I wasn't, it's my business."

"It's okay not to be fine, Tyson! This is a hard thing to cope with. It's okay to ask for help."

"I don't need help," Tyson yelled. "I'm fine! There's no reason to worry. Kai will be up and bossing us around again in no time, you'll see!"

"Open your fucking eyes Tyson! Kai might never wake up ever again and you gotta accept that!" Tala yelled back.

A nurse stormed out of the nurses' station.

"Gentlemen, please," she hissed. "This is a hospital. Keep it down!"

Tyson glared at Tala for a little longer. Then he turned to the nurse and slightly bowed.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance, Ma'am."

She nodded and with one last stern look at them she left.

Without paying attention to Tala, Tyson stepped over to the vending machine and finally got his coffee. Or at least something that was supposed to be coffee.

He then walked down the hall, back to Kai's room. He could hear Tala slowly following him. Tyson sighed. He turned around and waited for Tala to catch up with him. In silence they continued their way together.

Then Tyson said, "You know, you really should listen to your doctor."

"So should you. You're discharged - go home and get some rest."

"Like you are, right?"

"Shut up and open the door, Granger."

Tyson rolled his eyes but did as told. He waited for Tala to limp past him, then followed him inside and shut the door.

"Hey man, what's up," Tala said as he sat down by Kai's bed. "Oh, look how colorful your bruises have become. Purple suits you."

"You sure have an interesting way of coping," Tyson muttered.

"Would you rather have me cry?"

"No…"

Tyson looked at Kai. Tala was right; the bruising on his face had slightly changed in color. It seemed this was the only change though. Depending how one looked at it, this was a good or a bad thing.

Tyson felt his stomach convulse again. He hadn't gotten used to this sight yet. Maybe he never would. The sound of the door opening made him look up.

"Gramps!" Tyson said, surprised to see the old man.

"Thought I'd find you here, homeboy!" his grandfather said. "Hello Tala!"

Tala gave him a nod.

"You look like shit ma man, Imma thinkin' you should be in your bed restin'."

Tala rolled his eyes and looked at Tyson.

"What's it with you Grangers?"

Tyson shrugged.

"What are you doing here Gramps?" he asked.

"I'm here to take you home. The Doc said you should get some rest today and you'll be good to go to school tomorrow."

"Aw rats! I totally forgot about school. Oh please, Gramps, can't I be excused from class a little longer?"

"Absolutely not, lil' dude! You've already missed too much. Besides, it's gonna be good for ya. C'mon now, you can come back tomorrow - after school."

Tyson sighed and admitted defeat.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow Tala."

Tala smirked.

"Be a good boy and work hard, Tyson."

Tyson stuck his tongue out at him. He took one last look at Kai and then followed Gramps out.

"There are two types of cells, called prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotes, for example bacteria cells, are built much simpler than Eukaryotes, like cells from plants and animals. Today we will…"

While the teacher went on with her lecture about cells, Tyson's thoughts wandered. He wasn't able to focus on biology right now. As a matter of fact, he hadn't been able to follow any of his classes today. Every time he tried, his thoughts would just drift off again. All he could think about was Kai.

Yesterday, after Gramps had taken him home, he'd taken a bath and gone straight to bed. He'd been sound asleep as soon as he'd hit the mattress and slept all through the day and night until Gramps had woken him this morning. The first thought that came to his mind was that something had to be wrong with Kai. His grandfather had quickly assured him nothing had changed and told him to get ready for school.

Here he was now, his thoughts still circling around his former team captain.

Traumatic brain injury.

Tyson still didn't really know what this actually meant. He decided to ask the chief later. It sure didn't sound good. But hey, Kai was though, right? Tyson still refused to accept the fact that… well, that. Not Kai.

He just had to keep his hopes up and do everything to help him. Surely if Kai felt his friend's presence, he'd have the will to fight his way back. After all, Kai never gave up. Tyson nodded to himself. That's what he'd do. He would visit as often as he could to keep Kai company and then Kai would soon get better and wake up from his coma. Coma patients needed someone to be there, someone close to them, to help them fight through it. And Tyson would be that person for Kai, because they were friends and being there in times of need was what friends did. At least Tyson thought they were friends. He really liked Kai a lot. And he was almost sure Kai liked him, too. Even though Kai was mostly a grump and hardly ever had nice things to say, Tyson knew he cared: he'd proven it by always being there when they needed him. And now that Kai needed him, Tyson would be there as well. Even if that meant he'd have to spend weeks in that hospital. He wasn't going to let Kai down! Some of that had to reach Kai - it just had to! After all, Tyson had felt Kai's presence, too, when he needed his friends' support in battle.

The school bell interrupted his thoughts. Tyson looked up, only to see Hilary and Kenny eying him with worried faces.

"Hey guys, what's with the gloomy faces?"

"How are you doing, Tyson?" the Chief asked.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm great! Especially now that Daichi went home and I finally have my room to myself again. Gosh, hard to believe such a little dude can snore so loud!" Tyson laughed.

Kenny and Hilary exchanged quick looks. Tyson could see they weren't buying it.

"Guys… I'm doing okay, I promise. It's just …we can't give up hope."

They nodded.

"Of course we won't," Hilary agreed. "Listen, Kenny and I were thinking we could all go the hospital on Saturday."

"Sounds great! I thought I'd stop by after class, too."

"Are you sure? I mean, Max and Ray already went to see Kai this morning on their way to the airport, so Kai won't be lonely today. You could go home and rest," Hilary suggested.

"Rest? Who needs rest? Not me, that's for sure." Tyson did a couple knee bends. "Just look at me, I'm so full of energy, I don't know what to do with all of it."

"Well, you could always use it for your training," Kenny said.

"Or homework," Hilary added.

"Gee Hilary, give me a break, it's only my first day of school!"

The bell saved Tyson from what was going to be a long lecture about the importance of education.

With one last stern look Hilary returned to her seat. Tyson leaned back in his chair, his smile fading quickly. His gaze wandered out the window.

Hope.

Hope was good, but hope also meant things were bad – really, really bad. And they weren't… right?

After school Tyson went straight to the hospital. He took the elevator up to the intensive care unit and quickly walked towards Kai's room. In front of the door he hesitated. What was waiting for him inside? He listened for a moment. No, nothing. No yelling, no growling. Kai wasn't awake yet. Tyson guessed he shouldn't be expecting a miraculous cure overnight. Earlier he'd asked the Chief what exactly a traumatic brain injury was. The Chief had told him that, simply put, due to a heavy impact the brain was bruising and swelling like any other body part would, only that there was no room for any swelling in the skull… Hearing this, Tyson had thought he was going to be sick.

Standing here, in front of Kai's hospital room, he'd rather not know the things he knew now. But there was no going back. Just as Kai's accident was something that couldn't be undone. What had happened had happened. It seemed that this was a lesson in life that he had to learn the hard way.

Tyson felt his heart twinge. He fiercely blinked away the tears that had appeared in his eyes again. Then Tyson shook his head and went inside.

The only change Tyson could make out was the color of Kai's lighter bruises that had started to change from purple to green. Besides that, everything looked the same way it had yesterday and the day before.

"Hey Kai!" he said as cheerful as he could. "Did you miss me already? Yeah, you probably did, because hospitals are boring and your room must be the most boring of them all. Maybe they should make Tala your roomie."

Tyson paused and looked at his former team captain. A thought crossed his mind.

"You know, this is actually not very different from our previous conversations. You've never been a man of many words, Kai."

Tyson smiled at the thought. Somehow, finding familiarity in this unfamiliar situation made him feel a lot more comfortable and calm.

"So, Gramps forced me to return to class today. It was such a drag. After all the excitement with the Championships and Bega, school was even more boring than I remembered. And the homework –man, I have to do tons of homework. It's so much that I won't be able to copy everything from the Chief tomorrow morning before class starts. Looks like I have to do some by myself. Haaa. Why don't you wake up and help me? I bet you would be done in the blink of an eye, wouldn't you, Mr.‑know‑it‑all?"

Tyson opened his bag and pulled out a couple books.

"What would you like to do first: math, Japanese literature or history?"

"I'd say Japanese literature."

Tyson looked up, to see Tala standing in the doorway and smirking at him. Tala limped over and sat down across from him.

"Hi Tala! Did you sneak out again?"

"Sure did. The nurses are on their coffee-break now."

"Well, since you're here you can help us with the homework!" Tyson said with a big smile.

"You're very cheerful. Have you come to terms with this already?" He gestured at Kai and the numerous machines.

"Kai just bumped his head a little. He'll be up again in now time."

"Yeah, and that would be the understatement of the decade."

"You'll see."

"What I see is that you've made great progress accepting the facts."

"Thanks."

"You are familiar with the concept of sarcasm, aren't you?"

"Counter-question: how much do know about this thing called optimism?"

"That's a big word for you, Tyson. Was it in your calendar today?"

Before Tyson had the chance to reply, the door opened and Bryan and Spencer strolled in.

"Oh, hello," Spencer said and smiled. "I didn't expect Tyson to be here."

Bryan just casually raised a hand to greet them.

"Oh, Kai is helping him with his homework," Tala snarled and leaned back in his chair.

"Seems like you've hit your head as well," Bryan muttered.

"Hello Spencer, hi Bryan," Tyson said. "I just came to keep Kai some company, and while I was doing that I wanted to get some homework done."

Spencer chuckled. "And I take that was when Tala barged in and kept you from it?"

"I was just … never mind," Tala growled.

"So, how's Kai doing?" Bryan asked. "Any chance he'll be fit for the Russian Christmas Tournament?"

Tala rolled his eyes.

"Does he look fit to you?"

"Honestly? He looks better than you, Valkov."

Tyson started to wriggle about his chair, highly uncomfortable. He'd always found the tall Russians kind of intimidating. On a good day, Tala could be surprisingly nice. Today wasn't one of these days. Today Tala was in a really foul mood and like this, he was a bit scary. Now that Bryan was here, obviously not in the greatest of moods either, Tyson really didn't want to get involved in this. To be fair, Spencer seemed like a nice guy. However, this didn't seem like the perfect opportunity to get to know him better.

Tyson needed to get out of here. Now!

He quickly grabbed his books and shoved them back in his bag. Then he got up.

"Totally forgot, Gramps asked me to be home early today. I, err, I guess I'll see you around. Bye!"

And Tyson fled from the room.

As he walked home Tyson cursed his cowardice. He should have stayed there and told those grumpy Russian to shut the hell up because he couldn't imagine them arguing was good for Kai's recovery. Patients needed a friendly and calm environment.

He sighed.

Well, it was too late now. He'd just have to return tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow. And the day after that, too. And someday Kai would open his eyes, look at him, and tell him to shut up and go run some lapses. Yes. For Tyson, there was no alternative. He believed in Kai's strength and his fighting spirit. No matter what people said, Tyson would never give up on Kai. He would never give up hope!