Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reviewing and reading. (Hey an update in like a day...)

Irn2 - It took me a while to even think of a chapter title. Yeah Ian's here and he'll be done in somewhat better detail later on... -cackles- Anyway thanks for reviewing!

kavbj - Yeah, poor Kai! I actually was thinking of maybe letting Kai just loathe his grandfather, but that would be way too simple! Heh heh thanks for reviewing!

The Goddess Azure Thunder - You can tell just by looking at that review that you are a major Bryan fan! Ian and Bryan will have some banter soon, though I'll have to actually come up with something witty... Hrm... Thanks for reviewing!

DancerInTheDark101 - Long review! Yah! Out of all of the D-Boys Kai used to be my ultimate fave though during this fic I think I'm beginning to be turned over to Tala... Who would have thought writing about another character would make you like them! I'll explain the ages to everyone at the bottom, just in case your not the only one that's being forgetful! Thanks for reviewing!

white light horizon - Yeah I know I've been kind of forgetting someone in each chapter! I guess I'll need to work on getting all of their views in... I'll keep a note of that when writing the next chapter, thanks for reviewing too!

Okay just to let everyone know. Kai and Bryan are the same age, Tala is a year old and Spencer is a year older than Tala. Ian is two years younger than Kai/Bryan. Through the past 19 chapters Kai was 5… I'm sure you can work out the rest of the ages.

Chapter 20

The redhead placed his head on the wall – his head was thundering with pain as a headache racked through his skull. He had been having headaches for a few weeks. He always had them whenever a birthday of one of his friends approached. There had been a lot of birthdays that had come and gone, they had all been fun, a highlight of that month.

Tala had remembered most days, days when he had managed to laugh his head off, for even the slightest things. Not like he didn't get punished or shouted at – though he had managed to coax Kai and Bryan to sit and talk to one another without insults or wanting to glare at each other. Then again they both did not even look at each other when he wasn't there – it wasn't as if he was blind, or deaf. As soon as he walked away then they would shut up immediately as if conversation was not required any longer.

Sighing, the-nine-year old stretched, another birthday, he would have to find something that hadn't been done, that hadn't been given. Last month it had been Bryan's birthday, and Kai had actually given him his gloves…

The fact that it had been Kai to give away gloves was one of the most shocking things that had happened. Gloves were not just pieces of material, they stopped blisters and cuts from appearing when they were all told to practise launching. Practise launching until you were too tired to even complain about doing it again and again.

Kai's birthday had come and gone, though Tala was still not a hundred percent on when it was exactly… He was sure it was some time in November since it appeared that Kai was a little less cold then. Each year Tala had simply tried to make Kai laugh – which sometimes happened, and sometimes didn't. Though he was sure Kai liked having the attention.

Spencer's birthday was coming up and being the oldest out of the group, Tala had no idea what he would like. He was certainly the wisest and smartest out of all of them, so what do eleven year olds want?

Since he was now eleven he was allowed to go outside; most people wouldn't call it outside since it was still inside the building but there was indoor heating and there was a field were you could rest for a moment without being too cold. It just depended on whether the guards had a good sleep the night before. If not they would shut the heating off and the older children would be running around trying to keep warm. The funny thing was that Spencer didn't mind the cold - he didn't even try to warm up…

There was yelp and then a whimper and Tala couldn't help but sigh angrier. The new 'Recruit' as Bryan had named him or even 'Big nose' as everyone else had taunted him. He was loud, cheeky and quite frankly had Tala in stitches whenever he opened his seven-year old mouth.

Of course they had met a while ago, two years ago in fact. Ian had been shoved into the room and the other boys that Kai, Bryan, Tala and Spencer had shared with were moved out. The small kid named Ian told them that the Abbey was the only thing he had seen, no wonder he was so hyper when they first met.

"Where are they going?" Bryan whispered over to Tala and looked over to see if Kai or Spencer had any idea what was happening. Neither of them had any idea what was happening as the boys were taken from their beds, where they had been staying for two-years.

A small boy was thrown in, and the guard left, closing the door with a grunt and walked off – away to show these other boys where they were now going to be sleeping. Since the small redhead was the most sociable he jumped off his bed to meet the indigo haired boy. He hadn't looked up he was still on his hands and knees. The guard wasn't paid to make this kid feel welcome.

"What's your name?" Tala's voice was still high-pitched but slightly deeper than it had been by a fraction. He still could squeal loudly if he was enjoying himself or going hyper like he occasionally did. Kai came along just too see why this kid was so anti-social, he still had not looked up and wasn't answering Tala.

Not another Kai! Bryan sat on his bed and watched everyone's movements he hadn't been too surprised that Tala wanted Kai and him to be friends, so at one point they had both settle to be nice to one another – just so they could keep Tala happy.

Kai crouched down, trying to look at the boys face, but he turned away and Kai was sure he knew why he wasn't lifting his head up. "We won't laugh…" Kai blankly said, though he was sure this kid had heard that many times before, in fact he too had been a victim of the hurtful things people could have said.

"You will…" Kai sighed and loud enough for the boy to hear it, then an idea struck Kai a small smirk came across his face – something that meant something bad for the rest.

"Look, we won't laugh. I have creepy eyes and a strange natural hair colour. Tala's insane anyway – also owning a very strange hairstyle. Bryan's got a girly colour of hair and eyes, and Spencer is as dumb as a plank. So you are in with the freaks I'm afraid. Now stand up." The rest simply sighed this was Kai's favourite hobby, making small jokes about each and every one though…. It was strange; the boy knew what was hurtful and knew when he should shut up. Plus all of them knew he was just trying to help the shy child on the floor, which was an unusual sight in itself.

"You won't laugh…" The indigo haired boy slowly stood up, not really wanting to believe that these other kids – voices that he had been told actually had it as bad; they could all just be lying, just so they could laugh at him.

Just to see if these other people would make fun of him or keep their promise, the smaller boy lifted his head up. Tala tilted his head, understanding why someone would want to bully the smaller, younger boy.

"You have red eyes like Kai!" Tala pointed back and forth between the blue-haired boy and the indigo-haired boy. Kai shook his head and walked away going back once again into his anti-social ways and left the rest to question the new kid.

"My names Ian…" The boy muttered, Bryan simply nodded and went back to cleaning his beyblade. Tala then decided that this Ian was now the youngest in the group and wanted to see if the boy would be any fun to be around. In other words was he like Tala or anti-social like Kai was.

"Okay! We are your friends!" Tala quickly pulled the boy closer to where Spencer was sitting, wanting them all to introduce themselves to the member. "I can't have friends." Ian stated blankly, a little worried that the kind redhead would get offended. However Tala just continued to smile, though gave a confused frown, and asked why.

"Having friends makes you weak..." Spencer couldn't help but chuckle, this Ian was similar to Kai in a way. Ian on the other hand thought that the blonde boy was laughing at him and immediately sent a glare his way.

"If you don't have friends anywhere then you'll get broken down." Bryan had jumped off his bed to stand near Spencer's bed. Kai was still on his own bed, staring into space, Tala noted that Kai had been zoning out quite a lot.

"Yeah! You're our friend now!" Kai's eyes widened slightly then looked over at the new boy. He had been welcomed by Tala and now they were all supposed to be friends? It just didn't work like that – Kai just couldn't make friends that fast.

Kai still had trouble deciding whether Tala meant things, or even had another meaning for everything he said. He would then mentally scold himself for thinking about things like that, though he was sure he would be friends with Bryan in a few years… Maybe.

Bryan didn't care how he had to be friends with, as long as he was friends with Tala. He was sure that Kai had told Tala to make sure he was included in things, since anytime the redhead had a brainwave for a new game Kai would glare and Bryan would be pulled along to play with Tala. Not like he was complaining or anything.

"Where do you come from?" Spencer sighed slightly bored at the new kid, everyone was still wondering why he had been shoved in here of all places. Though they were sure it had something to do with the new orders that Boris had given at breakfast. Teams were being made.

"I've only been in this Abbey." Ian was still being shoved around by Tala who still had not introduced anyone yet, even his own name was a mystery to the younger child.

Bryan blinked, that must have been one rather boring life he had lived. "Really? Wow…" He shook his head wondering why Kai was looking so annoyed.

"Yeah…" Before anyone else knew it the small boy was giggling, then chuckling then full-out laughing. He was in hysterics by the time everyone had turned to look at him. Tala frowned. A little worried about everything that was happening, had this boy gone insane?

"Why are you laughing?" Tala crouched down, to watch the boy who was rolling around on the floor howling with laughter that had come from absolutely nowhere.

"I have…" Ian managed to breathe out, though soon he was laughing loudly again, he wasn't sure why he was laughing himself. He had just suddenly felt huge warmth within him and now he was laughing.

"…no idea." Bryan raised an eyebrow and looked over to Spencer who was shaking his head at the crazy five-year old. Kai was watching Ian with a blank face, though inside he was wondering why he couldn't just find anything funny and be happy for a brief time.

Tala shook his head as he heard four chairs being pulled back he looked up and saw his friends. Spencer was sitting next to Bryan and Kai was at the very edge. Ian had managed to grab a chair at the side of Tala.

The redhead gave a small smile to everyone and they returned it except Kai, who was once again zoned out completely. That was what had begun to worry Tala in the first place, Kai usually was so aware of things, so cautious and now he looked as if he was so deep into his own thoughts that he wouldn't even be able to hear the regular thunderstorms.

"Earth to Kai…" Ian waved a hand in front of Kai's face wanting to gain some attention, however the boy did not even seem to acknowledge that he was in the same room as them all. This caused the rest to turn and give each other a small concerned look.

"Kai." Bryan elbowed him, a little curious himself on why Kai was just zoning out all of the time. Only Kai just simply edged away from the painful jab he got, he remained looking into space as if the jab had not happened.

"Watch." Ian looked around the breakfast table and found that there was – as he had hoped a spoon. Ian quickly grabbed it and pondered on whether to do it or not because if it was to hurt a lot then Kai may get mad and try to do the same back…

Ian flicked the back of the spoon off Kai's forehead which seemed to have taken him out of his thoughts instantly. His head snapped round to face Ian, who covered away because of the viscous glare he was getting. Without so much as a second glance Kai stood up and left the table, leaving everyone a little confused on what was going through the Hiwatari's head.

Author's Note: Another chapter! Oh yes and just so no one gets too worried about Kai… It's nothing too bad… Please review!