Chapter 6
Tori turned over exhaustedly in bed, staying on her side she blinked a couple of times and the white and black splodges in her vision faded and the room became clear to her. She looked at her alarm clock that sat flashing on her bedside table; it flashed 11:32am. She groaned painfully, rolling over onto her stomach as she realized how late she was for practice…and school!
She pulled the pillow over her head, probably silently wishing that she could suffocate herself in her own bedroom. She practically dragged herself out of bed a few minutes later, getting straight into the bathroom for a freezing cold shower that she hoped would wake her up. When she got back out of the bathroom she gathered her things and quickly made her way out of the apartment to go to the Dojo.
She walked inside, surprising everyone who ran to her, except Kai of course who just opened his eyes and watched the seen before him. "What are you doing here? Doesn't class finish at 1?" Ray asked.
"Yeah, I slept in though." Tori replied, blushing slightly.
"And you showed up early anyway? Strange…I would have expected you to stay home till school finished." Kai interrupted from the porch.
"I can even surprise you, Kai." Tori told him in a commanding tone.
"So are you going to train us this morning?" Max asked cheerily.
"Nah, I think I'm going to leave it to Kai for most of the day." Tori answered, her eyes moving from Max to Kai for a second. Tori smiled and walked past them to the porch and sitting down to watch for a while.
Kai got up and walked to the other others, eyes still cast on the ground with only one sentence going through his mind, 'What are you up to, Tori?'
Tori sat there quietly all through training, a sly smirk never leaving her face. She watched intently for her only opening of the day to launch Denzelle's plan. The loyal tiger had given Tori the news of a plan early that morning while Tori was changing and since then, Tori had a spark of hope burning inside her.
She pulled her silky auburn hair back and sat up, beginning to get a little impatient. 'You really mustn't be so impatient, Mistress. This may not even be happening today.'
'And what if it doesn't happen at all?' Tori asked.
'It will.'
'But what if it doesn't?'
The argument between the two continued till yelling was heard through her thoughts. Her eyes snapped open again, focusing on the huddled teenagers by the dish. Tori shot up and ran over to the team, eyes widening on the collapsed team captain. 'It did.' Denzelle finally said with a victorious tone. "Take him inside." She ordered quietly.
"Shouldn't we wake him?" Tyson asked confusedly.
"No, leave him. Just take him inside." Tori repeated. The others nodded and carried Kai inside, Tori followed close behind them and watched as they set him gently on the ground as they couldn't take him upstairs. "So what happened?" she interrogated.
"We don't know. He just collapsed half way through the battle." Max answered her, sitting on the ground next to Kai.
"Well maybe he didn't get any sleep last night." Tori suggested, sitting down too and placing two gentle fingers on his wrist to check his pulse.
"I woke up twice last night and he was sleeping just fine then." Ray objected.
"Did he have breakfast?" Max asked Ray quickly.
"Yeah." Ray nodded.
"Maybe he's bleeding." Tori suggested quietly, "You check on that Ray, I don't think Kai would appreciate us being in here." She said getting up, "Come on, guys." She called while leaving.
The two male bladers followed her out, both glancing back at Kai before going outside. "I hope he's alright." Max said, sitting on the porch. A worried and scared look on his face as he thought back to what had happened.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." Tori said, placing a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort the youngest team mate.
"Yeah! It's Kai after all." Tyson said, also trying to comfort the younger teenager.
"Yeah but that's the thing, this is Kai and this never happens to him." Max added disappointedly.
"There's a first time for everything." Tyson said.
"Look, I'm sure he's fine. Maybe he just wasn't feeling too well and Dranzer's power was just too much for him. I'm sure it's nothing so all we can do is wait here and hope he feels better when he wakes up." The auburn-haired trainer said, her voice never changing its strong and supportive tone.
"I guess." Max agreed, his own tone not changing either.
'Now's your chance.' Tori called in her mind.
'I'm already on it!'
---Half an Hour Later---
Tori battled both Tyson and Max twice and one both times but she was cutting it close. She took her wins and sent the other two to battle each other without her. Ray walked outside and Tori ran up to him, "Nothing." Ray answered before she could even ask her question.
Tori's brown eyes widened, "How is that possible?" she asked urgently.
"I don't know. You'll have to ask him." Ray countered, shrugging.
'We're working on that.' Tori thought. "Yeah, maybe I will." She nodded.
'My Mistress is greatly concerned about your Master, do you know what has happened to him?' Denzelle asked Dranzer politely.
'He will be fine. Though I would advice your Mistress to wake him up as things may only get worse.' Dranzer replied.
'What will get worse?'
'His mood if you keep him like this.'
'It's a risk she is willing to make for his own safety.' Denzelle said sternly. 'But honestly, what is wrong with him?' she asked.
'I have my loyalty towards my Master, what he tells me is none of anyone else's business but I assure you that it is nothing serious.'
'How are you willing to do this?'
'Excuse me?'
'You may have your loyalty to your Master but how is it you are willing to sit back and watch him suffer through bitter torment when you have the chance to help him.'
'More than anything else in the world, I'd like to help him but I'm not about to talk about him to some strangers without his permission.'
'Strangers? Maybe we haven't known each other for very long but I think my Mistress and I have earned the trust of the team.'
'Earning the trust of the team is not the same as earning the trust of my Master.'
'Apparently.' Denzelle shot rather angrily, 'But in case he needs the help, you may want to convince him into talking to my Mistress. It's only for his own safety.' With that she quickly left to report back to her Mistress.
'Well it goes to show Dranzer is loyal to Kai.' Tori thought after hearing what happened.
'Yes. Yet, sadly, it may be his downfall.'
'We can't predict anything just yet. Hopefully in time Dranzer will realize that Kai needs some help with whatever's going on with him and will decide to talk to us about it.'
'Maybe. But like his Master, he is loyal and stubborn; it won't be easy at all to get through this.'
'Well we learnt that a very long time ago but maybe there's hope for him yet.'
'Maybe you should go and check on him.' Denzelle suggested.
'Yeah, maybe I should.' Tori said, thinking again, 'What about the others though?'
'Well what about them? Just tell them to run laps and go inside.' Denzelle said, laughing a bit for the first time that day.
'Yeah I guess I can do that, right?'
'Of course.'
They both laughed at that till Tori decided to get off the porch and go inside to see Kai. She sat on the ground next to him; she picked up his blade that was on the ground between them. She stared at the bit-chip long and hard, gripping the cold metal in her hands, "How and why are you willing to do this to him?" she whispered. Hear a quiet groan she looked past the beyblade and towards its owner, smiling when Kai looked up at her. He didn't say a word but tried to sit up, wincing slightly he gave up and lay back down. "What do you want?" he asked her, his voice raspy and if it weren't for her sitting so close she wouldn't have been able to hear him.
"Just to check on you. How are you feeling?" Tori asked, brushing a strand of hair away from his eyes.
"Fine." Kai answered simply.
"Oh a friend told me that there's some weird code to that but I'll save it for when you're in a good mood."
"How long have I been out?" Kai asked, wincing at the throbbing pain in his skull.
"A little more than an hour." Tori replied. Kai looked down at himself, seeing his gloves, shirt and jacket were off. Tori noticed the look and was quick to tell him, "We thought you were bleeding, so I told Ray to check." She explained.
"Where do you get off thinking you have the right to give him such an order?" Kai asked angrily.
"He was the only one in here, its not like I was looking or anything and I'd much rather have you feel uncomfortable for a few minutes than have you bleed out on Tyson's clean floors." Tori said, her tone serious despite the slight humour at the end.
"Well did you find anything?" Kai asked, it being a bit more of a rhetorical question.
"No." Tori answered.
"My point exactly." Kai said, trying to sit up again.
Tori rolled her eyes and pushed him back down again, "Well you need to think of a plausible excuse." She reminded him. "When the others and I were talking we ruled out you passing out cause of the lack of food or exhaustion so I said you may have been sick now Ray has already been here and said that nothing seemed to be wrong."
"So where are you going with this?"
"We lie. I can say you have a fever and that's probably why you weren't well and all you have to do is go along with it."
"Since when did you become such a liar?" Kai asked.
"Well I don't lie too often but when I do turns out I'm really good at it."
"Yeah, apparently you are."
"And I will use my evil power of lying to get the others off your case. Till I get back, rest up." Tori said, getting off the ground and walking back outside to leave Kai alone.
Kai turned over onto his side, picking up Dranzer from where Tori had left the blade on the ground. He gripped it tightly before pushing himself up, he rested his head in his hands for a few seconds till the dizziness subsided. 'Master maybe you should lie back down.'
'I'll be fine.' Kai assured, standing up. The dizziness only got worse and he leaned heavily against the wall for support, staring at the ground as he tried to focus his eye sight again. 'Or maybe not.' he reconsidered, sitting back down.
'Rest for a while Master, it may do you some good.' Apparently Kai didn't even have to be told twice and he instantly lay back. After a few minutes of silence Dranzer decided to interrupt, 'Master…May we discuss something important?'
'Sure, I guess.'
'Well while you were out Denzelle and I had a conversation. She asked me to explain to her what was wrong with you so that…'
'You didn't say anything did you?'
'No of course not. But I sensed something, it seems as though they really do want to try to help you.'
'That's no reason to let them.' Kai lashed out angrily.
'And I'm not saying it is but it is a reason to consider talking to Tori about what's going on.'
'I'm not discussing anything with her.'
'Though you shouldn't dismiss the thought just yet, she may actually be of some help to you.'
'I can't ever say I can fully dismiss anything, even if I wanted to but I'm not willing to trust her with anything just yet.'
'Understandable, Master. Thank you for the talk but please get back to resting.'
'To be honest, I think I will.' Kai thought, resting back into the pillow.
'Good, I'll leave you to it.' And Dranzer actually did, leaving Kai alone to relax in the silence.
Tori peered into the room, watching as Kai slept peacefully. She smiled, feeling Denzelle's presence in her heart once more, 'I think he just may consider talking to you sooner or later.'
'Yeah, I'm starting to think the same but I think we should give him some space. Help him out but not pressure him into anything just yet.'
'Sounds like a good idea to me.' Denzelle agreed happily.
Tori walked back outside to the others, "I think I should go, I'm going to go home and get some homework done and I might be working a shift at the café later. Is that ok with you guys?" she asked, smiling.
"It means we have the rest of the day off right?" Tyson asked hopefully, standing right in front of her.
"Yep."
"Then of course it's ok with us." Tyson answered her.
"Ok well I'll be at my apartment in case you guys need anything. Kai's resting at the moment so just leave him alone for a while and I'll check up on him later. I'll see you later on tonight or if not, then tomorrow. Bye guys!" She ran out on them, hurrying back to her apartment. She really had no reason to get back home, she was in just a bit of a good mood and wanted to relax for a while and seeing as Kai was resting and she had a chance for a break of her own, she thought that the team at least deserved a break of their own.
Jumping onto her bed, she turned over and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. A light white light shone again and Denzelle appeared next to her on the bed, lying on her stomach but resting on her elbows to keep herself sitting up right. "What you thinking about?" she asked her Mistress.
"Oh not much."
"Do tell."
"Well I'm wondering if this will turn out right this time." Tori said quietly, staring at the ceiling for a minute.
"What do you mean?"
"Every single time we see that he's being nice and things are getting better something bad happens and everything goes wrong from then on, that's all our hard work down the drain."
"Yes of course but that's a risk in life like all the others."
"I'm fed up of risks. Can't life be nice to me for once and give me a break?" Tori asked exhaustedly.
"Apparently not." Denzelle answered with her usual smile. "Well cheer up for the night! You can worry about all this later."
"I guess you're right Denzelle, thanks."
"I live to serve, Mistress." Denzelle smiled happily; glad she helped her Mistress in some way.
"You live for a number or reasons, I'm sure. But right now instead of arguing I think I'm going to take Kai's wonderful example and get some rest of my own." Tori said, laughing as she got up to change.
"Yes, that may do you some good too. You know where to find me if you need anything." Denzelle said, getting off the bed too.
"Yeah, on my bedside table in my beyblade. You've been in there for years, its not going to be changing just yet apparently." Tori called from her bathroom as she changed.
"I'll talk to you later, Mistress." Denzelle laughed, returning to her blade the next second.
Tori walked out of her bathroom, jumping onto her bed and crawling under her covers. She cuddled into her pillow, lying on her stomach as she tried to sleep. Exhaustion overtook her quickly and she fell asleep in a matter of seconds, promising herself that she wouldn't sleep for too long in case she had to work her shift at the café later that evening.
She woke up with a start just over an hour later, waking up to the sound of her mobile ringing by her blade on her bedside table. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes while she picked up her phone and quickly looked at the message…from Kai;
'Spare me!'
Was written in the text, making Tori laugh hysterically, lying back in her bed. Now either he really did want to talk about something that was wrong or the others where trying to torture him. The second being the most likely she answered back, 'What's up?'
She waited patiently for an answer and quickly it came, 'The idiots don't let me out of my room!'
'I don't see how that's so bad!' Tori replied, though laughing as she typed it. Obviously having to stay in his room to rest wasn't the highlight of his day.
'They wont stop checking up on me!!!'
Tori lay down properly in bed, holding her phone up into the air as she replied, 'Now is that so bad?' Now to be totally honest, she was starting to mess with him, she just found it funny at the time and couldn't help herself.
'YES'
'Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.'
'Actually if you don't remember right, I woke up on the right side of the bed, literally and metaphorically.'
'Whatever you say grumpy. Anyway, I'm off need to do some work. Feel free to have fun being tortured by your team mates though. :P' Tori joked, sending the message and putting her phone next to her on the bed. She didn't really have anything to do, she just wasn't in the mood for talking to much anymore, that and she wanted to mess with him a little.
'Well have fun doing home work.'
Tori smiled at his failed attempt, the joke truly was on him because she really didn't have any homework. "Don't worry…I will." She whispered with a smirk, pullying the file with papers out from under her bed.
A/N: Ok so I got working on this earlier than usual and seeing as I may not have much time on the weekend to put it up I thought I should put it up now. Consider this my little Christmas present. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave me a review telling me what you thought of this chapter. Bye and Merry Christmas//gives everyone chocolate//