OH, MY GOODNESS! NINE MONTHS! NINE FREAKIN' MONTHS SINCE I LAST UPDATED…. AND WORSE I PROMISED TO HAVE IT UPDATED IN APRIL! DAMN IT! I am SSSSSSOOOOO sorry for you guys to wait for this chapter… it must be very torturing! But I did it! I hope you can forgive me.
Summary: Until the rainstorm comes to an end, Hilary will have to stay in the home of Kai Hiwatari. How bad can it be?
Warnings: KaixHilary hints! KaixHilary moments! Humor may be tough to amuse you when you are dealing with me… Ha, ha, ha…
Rating: T for Teen
Genre: Friendship/Romance, with hints of humor.
Pairing(s): KaixHilary
Disclaimer: Athena Midnight, formerly known as StarlightAngel101 DOES NOT own Beyblade in any shape or form. The only things that I own is the plot -cause it's my idea-, and the name of the bulter, in which he'll be called Edward.
Under His Shelter
Chapter Five: More Than Just Good Friends
"Ha!"
Kai sent Dranzer flying out of the launcher, landing perfectly and forwarding to the first set of obstacles.
Cylinder blocks scattered the area, spaces enough to manoeuvre.
Dranzer had no problem getting through it. It made sharp movements to dodge the blocks in its path.
It didn't have any problems getting through the others as well.
Dranzer made it through the obstacles Kai made, and the beyblade returned to him. As it moved and jumped towards Kai's hand, he glances at the beyblade.
Kai didn't know how long he was practicing with Dranzer, but it didn't matter as he was improving with every launch, technique and executing his moves.
And every time, it helped him escape reality, feeling he was the only one alone.
He was in the middle of setting up the obstacles for Dranzer when he noticed the lights in the training room began to flicker. Eventually the lights went off, leaving Kai into darkness.
Luckily, he didn't have to worry about bumping into the heavy equipment as he walked to find the light switch on one side of the wall.
His hand moved against the wall till he found what he was looking for. He flipped the switch down and then flipped it back up. He did it the second time…
The power was out.
As he went to the door – where the light-switch was next to – he saw a small light flickering in the hall. As Kai got out of the training room, his butler was the one holding the light source. It was a candleholder with a candle stick lit by a small flame.
"Master Kai," the butler said, "The storm had cut the power out. I have arranged some lighting on the main floor… Is there anything else in need to be taken care of?"
"Have the candles lit in my room," Kai answered, "I'll go and check on Hilary."
"Very well, sir."
Lightning cracked the sky follow by a loud sound that startled Hilary from her sleep.
She didn't like the thunder and lightning at all.
Looking at her surroundings, she noticed that she wasn't in her own room, or in her home.
'Where am I?' her mind asked.
But as she became more awake, she remembered where she was and why she was here. She was staying at Kai's mansion for the night till the storm stops.
Another lightning flashed followed by the sound of thunder. Even with the curtains closed, the light of it can be seen.
Hilary flinched; scared.
As a child, she didn't like the thunder and lightning. All thanks to an once-in-a-lifetime experience that got her and her friend's mother into a car accident.
It was after her friend's birthday party, in which Hilary's mother couldn't pick her up at the time. So her friend's mother was willing to drop her off at Hil's grandmother's house. It was raining hard like today, but not as severe from taking a peek at the windows in the guest room.
Nothing was mentioned about any thunderstorm warning or a watch in the area. It was a slow drive…
Lightning cracked the sky. But it was nothing much…
Everything looked alright. It's not like it's going to strike down to the ground, the chances of that were slim to none.
Unfortunately, there is that once-in-a-lifetime experience of lightning striking down to the earth.
It came in a flash too bright. Her friend's mother temporary blinded and sudden instinct made her turn the car. The car swerved, Hilary screamed, and the next thing she could remember is the car had stopped.
What Hilary can recall is that the backside of the car hit onto a tree. Hilary was bruised and got a broken arm; the friend's mother too had injuries but none of them too severe.
Since then Hilary would stay away from the windows and never go outside for anything when she heard about the weather forecasting about thunderstorm watches or warnings.
Thunder boomed, and the lightning flashed that Hilary couldn't stand being in the dark room with the lightning. Getting out of the bed, she hurried to the light switch and flicked it on. When the light didn't turn on, she tried it a couple of times till she confirmed that the electricity was out from the weather outside.
Well, wasn't this great…
And the thought of staying in the room didn't help at all. The curtains were not able to cover the light with its light fabric material.
She needed a room with curtains made thick and dark material.
Luckily, the door was right next to the light switch, so there wasn't a problem with it.
As Hilary got out of the room, she then had another problem to deal with.
She didn't know where Kai's or even the butler's room is. And it is difficult to find it in the dark, and when the doors do look all alike.
Her best chances were to check on every door, to see if there's a response, whether it be Kai's or the butler's.
It took less than five minutes to knock on every door with no success. This was starting to bug her. If there was no one on this level, then they should be in either the third floor or the main floor.
The stairs to the third floor was close to her, so she decided to see if she could find someone on the third floor.
The faded sound of thunder can be heard, but at least Hilary wasn't spooked as she was far away from any windows.
As she walked towards the staircase, a shadow in the hallway was approaching her. Hilary was distracted to find someone; it left her unaware of this shadow coming at her direction.
Just as she took a couple of steps, the shadow reached for her arm. When Hilary felt the contact, she gasps and tried to scream in fear, for help. But a hand covered her mouth to prevent the scream to erupt. Her body was leaned back against something solid and warm, but it was nothing of comfort and security. She could feel the breath of the stranger going against her bare shoulder.
Hilary's feet were still in their place; one foot at the second step, while the other is at the first one. It wouldn't be much to push the perpetrator down to the ground and try to escape, but it would be better than knowing what will happen if she didn't.
As she readied herself to push back using her feet, the voice stopped her.
"Hilary, it's me."
It was Kai.
When Hilary kind of calmed down, Kai let her go. He gently pushed her up to prevent her from falling down. Hilary was able to balance where she was standing and turned to face Kai who was at the stair landing of the second floor.
Ticked as she was, she told Kai, "Why did you do that for? You scared me half to death."
"I had no intention to scare you," Kai answered, "You weren't in the guestroom when I went to check on you. Why weren't you there?"
"I was looking for you or the butler."
"Why?"
"So I can find another room to sleep in."
"And what's wrong with the room you were in?"
Avoiding the fact that she was afraid of the lightning, she just simply told him, "I was hoping to find a room with dark-material curtains."
For some reason, Kai didn't push it further with Hilary, which was usually not Kai, their team captain.
The only words that came out of his mouth were, "Come with me then."
Taking her wrist, Kai went up past her and he lead her up the stairs to the third floor of the mansion.
As they reached to the third floor, Hilary followed Kai, even though he was guiding her to what she hoped for was another guest room with dark curtains. Down the hall, and close to the right side of the hallway, they past a few doors till they stopped at one of them. Like all the doors in the second floor, the ones on the third floor were the same. Does Kai know each room so well?
As Kai opened the door, he said to Hilary, "Go in."
Taking a step into the room, Hilary was relieved to find the one thing she needed. Windows with dark curtains closed. But then it leads to confusion when she noticed the lighting flickering. Hilary took a look at her surroundings.
The light source was candles. There were a bunch of tea candles, and some big thick candles glowing on one side of the room.
From the light of the candles, the walls were painted in royal-blue. The furniture in the room are composed of a set of drawers, a closet, a medium-size bookcase, a desk with a chair, bedside tables and a queen-size bed (A/N: A king-size is too big for one person in my opinion.). The floor is all carpeted, and grey.
The room from the looks of it is bigger than the guest room she was sleeping in, and there were more furniture.
Hilary glanced at some of the furniture.
The bookcase was almost full of books. Some books were thick as dictionaries, while others were half as thick. All the books were organized based on the length of the books; from the left were the tallest books until going down to the third shelf in the middle were the smallest ones.
The queen-size bed was neat as if no one was sleeping in this room, though it must belong to someone. The covers were a darker shade of blue, with pillow-cushions of black material. The bed was in-between two bedside tables, each holding some of the thick candles, and one of them had an alarm clock with the time at 1:26 am.
And lastly, the desk has a black laptop closed neatly in the center. On the upper-right corner was a slender lamp that can be adjustable to bend in any direction wherever the light source is needed. On the opposite side was a cup partially filled with pens and pencils, and next to it was a medium-size notepad. Looking down next to the left leg of the desk is a tool-box, and a clear plastic bin with a lid closed. What Hilary saw through the bin gave her a small guess as to where she was: beyblade parts.
She wasn't in a different guestroom. The size of the room… The furniture… And the beyblade parts stored in a bin… She was in Kai's room!
As she turned to face Kai, her cheeks flushed in a faint pink at Kai's sleep-wear. He wore a black wife-beaters and a pair of grey pants.
Shaking her blush away, she said, "I'm not going to sleep in your room. So why am I here?"
"Because it's the only room with dark curtains," Kai explained. "Unless you want to sleep in the living room, in which I am against, you can sleep here. So why do you need a room with dark curtains?"
'So this is why he didn't push it further at the stairs,' Hilary thought.
"Well?"
She tried to avoid the topic that she was scared of lightning.
"The thunder and lightning woke me up," Hilary answered. "I tried to go back to sleep but it didn't help with the curtains covered up. I could still see the 'light show', so that's why I was looking for you or the butler about sleeping in another room."
A sudden flash of light could be seen from the narrow space of the curtains, as a loud boom of thunder could be heard from the sky. Hilary, went around to face the window and slightly backed out.
When Kai saw this, he had a feeling it was something more than the 'having a hard time to sleep' deal.
Busted.
"Are you sure?"
Hilary hesitated before she blurted out her confession.
"Okay! I am afraid of lightning! Are you happy?"
Kai smirked at her, "You know, for someone who went through some dangerous times with the team, I would never believe you are the type of person who is afraid of this kind of weather. I know that at times like now, it wouldn't be a wise move to be out in this weather, but with mild thunderstorms?"
It was then that Hilary told him why she was afraid of lightning. She would have been glad to know she was strong and to leave it at that, but she didn't.
Kai's expression went into shock before being concern about what happened to Hilary as a child.
"…Hilary…I didn't know it was that bad…"
It could have explained why she didn't go to the dojo to meet the team when there were thunderstorm watches…
Another boom of thunder and lightning cracked the sky. It was so loud that Hilary ran to Kai and clutch on to his shirt. Kai went to a protective comfort as he wrapped his arms around her. He could hear the soft sniffles of sadness in Hilary; she was definitely scared to death about it from what she been through.
The thought to comfort her was the only way to calm her, and Kai felt he should of have done that when she came into the mansion this afternoon.
Why did he have to be an idiot for saying he was only doing this as a friend? The thought of what she's been through, he should of understand it, he should of cared about it… he should of….cared about her.
And it hit him hard. (A/N: PG-13! There is nothing sexual!)
"It's okay…" Kai said softly. "I'm here, Hilary."
He gently rubbed her back to soothe her fears of the weather. It wasn't long before Hilary calmed down when Kai didn't hear her softly sobbing. He brought Hilary to the side of the bed, her back away from the windows.
"I'll be back," he whispered to Hilary.
He quickly went to the windows and covered it completely with the curtains. One of the curtains was overlapping the other. Once done, he came back to where Hilary was sitting, and sat beside her.
They sat in silence for some time… The sound of thunder can still be heard, but the curtains were doing the job to block any light from the lightning. The candles softly flickered, still giving half the room some glow of warm light. It was a good thing that Edward, the butler placed the candles where his bed is, instead of putting it on the other side of the room. It gave them some comfort to be in the light rather in the darkness.
Kai was to first to spoke and break the silence.
"My mother used to be afraid of the lightning."
Hilary turned to face Kai from what he said. Her face showed her confusion as to why he brought it up.
"As a kid… before going to Biovolt, I used to be scared of the thunderstorm. When I couldn't sleep, my mother came to my room to comfort me… She told me she used to be afraid of lightning.
"She told me a story about one night several years ago, before I was born. She and my father were supposed to go out to a soiree at a home to one of my father's co-workers. A storm arrived that night, and when my mother checked the windows to see if they were closed, a flash of lightning scared her.
"She couldn't bear to go outside because it scared her, so she insisted that my father should go without her and tell them she was 'under the weather' (A/N: No pun intended.)… But my father didn't. Instead, he stayed with her. They stayed at the living room to hear the thunder, and see the lightning that flashed and go. My father comforted her the whole night.
"What my father said to my mother was, 'Don't let the fear ruin your life. You don't have to fight it alone… As long as there is someone with you, who really cares about you, they will never leave your side to your fears. They will overcome it together.' He said this kind of love will overpower any fear."
What he didn't mention to Hilary was that after the night his father eased his mother's sudden fear, their love brought them so close that his mother was conceived and nine months late, he was born.
"My mother – and my father sometime later – had stayed in my room the whole night. I felt safe and cared for. I eventually wasn't scared of it much more… this happened a few months before I was gone to Russia to attend Biovolt because of my grandfather…"
When he told this to Hilary, his hands were on his lapped, and to tell that this all happened before going to Biovolt made his blood boil. His hands formed into fists; unable to forgive that that memory was one of his last happy moments as a child before being sent to Biovolt. It became a living nightmare against his will.
Hilary touched one of his hands with her hand, and Kai looked at her.
"What happened when you came out of the Biovolt?" she asked.
"When I recovered from an incident that got me removed from Biovolt… I returned back home and my father was there. My mother… she passed away from a serious illness. Eventually, my father left when my grandfather returned… and I lost what my parents taught me of fear and facing it… I became who I was before I joined the team.
"Sometime after my grandfather was arrested, my father returned and talked to me about why he left and for me to remember what he said, because it will eventually come when the day arrives…"
It had… To show Hilary what he felt for her could make her fear of thunderstorms, and Kai's fear of showing no love at all to be gone… even if it's just for a while.
"To face the fear with those who care for you…" Hilary said.
"And those you care for…" Kai added.
Kai took a look at her hand holding his, the fists he made loosened. It was now or never…
"Hilary, there was something I wanted to do before… but it didn't work because of the bad timing."
He looked at Hilary's eyes… then looked at her lips.
…now or never…
Kai took hold on Hilary's hand; the hand that was on his. He moved it out of his lap and put their entwined hands on the bed. He then leaned down close to Hilary's body. His other hand was placed on the other side, so Hilary was in-between his arms.
As he leaned close to Hilary's face she closed her eyes, waiting for what she could recalled at the living room around the afternoon. But this time, no one would interrupt them.
Kai's lips made contact with Hilary for only a touch… Then closing his eyes, he gave Hilary the kiss.
The kiss was gentle, a test in the waters… It only lasted less than a minute before Kai pulled back.
Hilary flushed from the kiss and she opened her eyes to see Kai. Kai too opened his eyes to look at her.
Kai's heart was racing for what he did, he felt he needed air. This must be how guys felt when they were in love. He just hoped it wasn't for the worse…
A few seconds past…
"Kai…" Hilary said. But softly she asked, "Is that how much you care about me?"
Kai could just simply nod, before his voice came back from the nervousness.
"Yeah."
…Moments past, and soon Kai felt the urge to kiss her again.
And he did. Kai leaned to Hilary, closed his eyes and claimed her lips with his. Still gentle but this time with confidence and passion, it threw Hilary off in a surprise that got her to accidentally fall back onto the bed. Even more surprised with Kai now on top of her, without crushing her with his body.
As he felt himself on top of her, Kai's hand that held to Hilary's went to her waist, as his other hand caressed the side of her neck.
Hilary didn't want this to go the wrong way, so she pushed Kai's chest with her hands to try to get him to stop.
When Kai felt it, he broke the kiss and pulled back.
"Something's wrong?" he asked.
Hilary breathed for a while before she responded.
"Yeah… Kai I really, really like you…but I think we are going too far. For one thing, we are in your room on your bed."
Kai forgot about that. "Oh. Sorry."
Kai got up and sat where he was. Hilary got up and back to where she was sitting before the previous kiss brought her down.
"The other thing… even though we have been together as a team for a little more than two years… I still don't know much about you, other than what I have seen and heard from the team. Do you know where I am going with this?"
Kai didn't hesitate to answer.
"Same here. I don't know much about you too."
"So maybe we can talk instead, to get to know each other more as a start," Hilary said.
"Yeah, I would like that."
Kai and Hilary talked about themselves to get to know each other well. They didn't know how long they chatted, but they did find some unique things about each other.
Kai really liked Hilary's personality. She is determined, discipline to her work, and very helpful to those around her; her mother, her classmates, even to the people she had volunteered whenever she wasn't with the team. She is someone who spoke what's on her mind.
Hilary on the other hand was amazed at Kai. Though he had a tough childhood in Biovolt, he had really changed a lot from what she heard from him and the gang before she joined in. He had a heart for animals, especially stray ones, in which he gave them temporary shelter and food before taking them to the animal shelters. And he's the kind to be relaxed when he's all by himself at some wonderful scenery. Plus, he liked old legends.
As time ticked on…they eventually went to sleep. Kai insisted she stay at his room, and Hilary agreed. Hilary slept on Kai's bed with the covers over her on the right side of his bed. While Kai slept on top of the covers on the left side blocking Hilary's view by the window. Both lay asleep facing each other, the thunder and lightning no longer scaring Hilary or concerning Kai about Hil's fears.
Most of the candles were out, leaving them in the dark, till the next morning… where it would be the morning after the storm…and the morning after Hilary stayed under Kai's shelter.
Yahoo! One chapter down! ONE MORE TO GO! The next chapter will be like an epilogue as to what happened after Hilary stayed at Kai's home.
So what do you guys think what will happen? Will Hilary and Kai be together? Or will it be awkward for them? Or any ideas come to mind as to what will happened in the epilogue?
Post what you think will happen when you review this chapter!
As I said before the chapter begins…. I AM DEFINITLY SORRY FOR TORTURING YOU GUYS TO WAIT!
Peace Out! And review!