A/N: 2 months later…. Heh. Sorry for the delay. I really don't have an excuse, rather than just putting it off time and time again. I figured I should probably do something… seeing how this was just sitting around gathering dust. So here we go, the plot actually progresses. Tell me if you see any mistakes.
I must extend my thanks towards DaddysGirl81, Sony89, Christin, JuppieJutsu, Musee.Picasso, Unfunny Joke, Jess and kissedbykai for reviewing the first chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.
Chapter Two: Invitation for Disaster
Hilary was almost positive it was all in her head, but the floor boards shook with every footfall. Vibrating against her knees, she peered over her shoulder with her mouth hanging open. The room was silent, Kenny's persistent typing had ceased, and he along with Max and Ray sat with expectant looks.
"What are you doing?"
A breath of relief escaped Hilary's mouth when that question was heard; the door now opened, allowing sun to soak the once solemn room and outline the body of the boy who most definitely was not whom they were expecting.
"You're saved for now, Hilary. It's just Kai," Ray said with a wry smile, he shook his head at her good fortune.
Kenny let out a disappointed sigh, huddling himself again over his laptop. "I was kind of hoping for Tyson, you know? Get this ball of deceit rolling."
The slate haired boy's eyebrows had creased together in confusion, stepping into the room he glanced at his former team mates. "There's something going on," there was no question in his voice, he already knew.
"Oh, you don't even know," Max informed.
"Hn," he grunted in a Kai-like fashion, crossing his arms across his chest. "But do you know what I do know? Nobody's training."
"Technically…," Max said sheepishly, pointing a finger at him carefully, "You were, just a few moments ago."
Kai's gaze narrowed into a glare, shifting his head in the direction of the blond. "Where's Tyson?" he inquired indifferently.
"Uh… would you believe… not in bed?"
His eyes flickered with a slight trace of puzzlement; travelling towards Hilary in a state of brief curiosity. "Why?"
"Why?" the brunette repeated, scrutinizing him, "How would I know? Is it my job to wake him up? Was I elected to the position? Why don't you wake him up? Will you guys get off my back!"
"You'll have to excuse her," Kenny lifted his gaze from the computer screen, "Her common sense is on vacation."
Kai didn't say anything for a moment, studying the brunette on the floor. "I'll wake him up then."
"No!"
The slate haired boy nearly lurched forward as he turned towards the open door. He quickly balanced himself; shooting an unimpressed glare down at his feet, where Hilary had seized him around his ankles. "What are you doing?"
"I thought you were ready?" Ray rolled his eyes, amused by Hilary's frantic action. "Lying to us now too, are we?"
Max's eyes became sombre, "Are you…?"
"No," she chided the blond, "And Ray, Kai doesn't have to know what's going on."
"Then let him go."
"He's free to go whenever he wants."
Kai raised an eyebrow at her statement, still holding his gaze on her. She hadn't made a move; her arms remained grappling onto him. "Is this important?"
Hilary looked up at him, "It's in the name of integrity."
"Which she is saving successfully by wrapping herself around your feet," Kenny chimed in, sarcasm spewing at his mouth.
"I'm telling you, one more word…," she challenged, scowling.
"Or what? You can't touch me," the genius pointed out, fixing his glasses, "If you let go of Kai, he might run away… or, you know, just leave."
Letting out an unimpressed grunt, the female brunette peered up again at Kai. "Do me a favour and shuffle towards him…."
The slate haired boy shifted his jaw, growing impatient with her behaviour. "Want to tell me what's going on?" he asked, staring downwards at her.
Hilary reluctantly nodded, her attention flickering back to the open door. "We'll need to close that though," she decided, unwrapping herself from around his feet, "Can you do that for me?"
He frowned suspiciously, freely stepping near the door and sliding it to a close. "Why do I have a feeling this has to do with Tyson," he uttered, giving Hilary a knowing look.
"It's clearly all his fault," Ray agreed with him, answering for the brunette who lay across the floor, her arms now concealing her face. "You see Kai, he got in her head."
The slate haired boy didn't reply.
"He makes her tell lies," Kenny continued cautiously, darting his attention to the un-preoccupied girl. "Horrible, horrible lies."
"Listen guys…," Max said lightly, his voice careful, "Maybe we're being too harsh on her. She didn't have to tell us either, but she did… 'cause we're her friends. Maybe it's time we acted like ones."
Hilary exhaled loudly, peering between parted fingers that covered her face. "Thanks Max," she told him honestly, and although it was muffled, the point came across as the blond fired off a smile.
"Is there a point?" Kai spoke up, inquiring with growing disinterest.
She distinctly breathed outwards again, lowering her hands to palm against the floor boards. Her eyes were downcast, almost ashamed of the words that were again about to leave her mouth.
"I told my family that… that Tyson… Tyson was… Tyson is… sort of… my boyfriend," she confessed, her chin resting against the top of her hand.
"So they invited him to a wedding," Kenny included, smiling at the clincher of the problem. He interlinked his fingers, shaking his head in amusement, "As her date. She thinks telling him a lie is gonna help the situation."
Kai had apparently heard enough, turning on his heels back towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Ray asked out of curiosity.
"To wake up Tyson," he answered.
"Kai!" Hilary exclaimed, jumping up from the floor and racing ahead of the former team captain. She blocked the doorway, staring at him with wide eyed concern. "Why would you do this to me?"
"You can do whatever you want, I won't say a word. But it's past noon," Kai frowned, "Tell him all the lies you want, just say them when he's awake."
"Aww…," Kenny moaned disapprovingly, earning himself a few unappreciative glances. "What? I wanted to see Tyson get involved."
Hilary then flashed Kai a satisfied grin, clasping her hands on his shoulders in delight. "I knew there was a reason you were my best man," she stated, causing Kai to falter in confusion.
"I thought it wasn't your wedding…?" Max repeated in puzzlement, his eyebrows furrowed at his lack of understanding. "Hey, why is Kai your best man? What about me?"
"I got a better question, how is Kai your best man?" Kenny inquired, "Wouldn't that make Tyson your bride?"
"Are we his bride's maids?" the blond smiled.
"Max, that means we'd have to wear dresses," Ray pointed out, giving him a peculiar look.
Faltering, the American restated his question, fear in his eyes. "Are we his bride's maids?"
Rolling her eyes, she answered, "No."
"Good," was the collective response.
"I'm not even going to ask," Kai closed his eyes, moving one of Hilary's hands off his shoulder as he was about to walk away.
"You're just going to let her lie to Tyson?" Ray frowned, giving the slate haired boy a surprised glance. "Don't you think that's wrong?"
The female brunette answered for him, "Oh Ray, you're over-reacting. Just let the whole thing go."
"Let it go? This isn't very Hilary-like."
"Well, Hilary," she referred to herself, rolling her ruby eyes, "Would like for you to get off her back."
He sighed in disappointment, "When the sky starts falling…."
About to retort, Hilary was silenced by the sound of water splashing. It erupted into their conversation, taking control of the room. Blankly, she looked at each boy's face in turn, sharing sudden interest.
"How did you do that…?" Max asked in wonderment, smiling as he held Ray's gaze, "Looks like you have to leave her alone."
"I highly doubt that was the sky, Max," Kenny told him, giving him a weary look.
With his smile flickering, the blond gave the genius a funny look. "You guys never let me have fun anymore…."
The door had slid open at that moment, blanketing the room yet again with sunlight. Everyone's heads turned, staring blankly as a soaking wet figure stomped into the room; his feet squeaking against the floorboards.
"Uh… morning, Tyson," Max gave him a befuddled look, quirking his head to the side.
"Or should we say afternoon?" Kenny questioned.
The navy haired boy sighed, adorned in his green pyjamas that clung to his body. He seemed to be scanning the area with his eyes, narrowed and careful, before realizing whatever he had been searching for was nowhere to be seen.
"Why are you wet?" Ray cut to the chase.
Tyson snapped his unimpressed gaze towards his friend. "Have you seen Daichi?" he retorted, shaking his cap free head; water droplets springing off.
"Not today," Kenny shrugged.
"Fine," he growled, his eyes falling to Kai and Hilary, her hand remaining on his shoulder. "So you are here," he raised an eyebrow, "Uh… what are you doing?"
"Nothing," Hilary explained, removing her hand, giving Kai the ability to escape. Although he stayed unmoving, now staring nonchalantly at his team mate.
"Dancing," Ray answered on the other hand, a smirk quirked onto his features in amusement.
"What?" Tyson and Hilary asked incredulously, whereas Kai shot him a stern look. It merely caused Ray to grin.
"Tyson, I'm a good friend of yours whom you trust," he held a hand good naturedly over his heart, "Would I lie to you?"
Hilary glared at him, though it had not caught the attention of the world champion. Rather, he became somewhat quizzical, "Well… there's a difference between lying and joking."
"Yeah, morality."
"Oh my God…," Hilary scowled in exaggeration, making Tyson stare at her with sudden interest. "Uh…," she covered lamely, "Tyson, you're wet!"
"Nothing gets past you, Hil," Tyson smiled, rolling his eyes. "How'd you manage to catch sight of that one?"
Withholding her temper, Hilary pasted on a thin smile in return. Crossing her arms, she tilted her head in question, "May I ask how?"
"Sure," he shrugged.
Pausing for a moment, she waited for him to start. She glared at him in realization, "How…?"
Grinning momentarily, he started to answer, "Well… I woke up and I figured it must've been really, really, really early… 'cause you weren't there screaming my ear off. So I decided to go check the mail for my Grandpa."
Hilary swallowed hard, positive that the noise was the reason the room had fallen into sudden silence. "Mail…?" she chorused nervously, noting the other boys' entertainment par from Kai.
"Yeah," he confirmed with a nod, "Of course on my way around the dojo with the mail, Daichi shoots past me. The next thing I know, I'm trying to make sure I didn't hurt any of the fish."
"The mail is ruined then?" Kenny asked in disappointment, his shoulders slumping at the turn of events.
Lifting up his hand, Tyson showed them the easily folded papers that bent over his fingers like mere Kleenexes. "It's probably nothing important anyway," he stated hopefully, for the first time, considering them now.
"Probably not," Hilary smiled tightly.
"Bill, bill, bill…," Tyson read off, flipping through the fragile sheets. He glanced up to his friends, "Might as well throw these ones out, they send more if you don't respond, right?"
"That's usually how the law works…," Kenny frowned, "They're still legible?"
"I can just tell what they are," Tyson said, pausing for a second. "Hey, what's this?" He turned his attention to a smaller envelope in his grasp, flipping it over to read the address. "Aww… the ink is blurred… I can't tell who sent this to me."
"Let me see!" Kenny offered, jumping to his feet suddenly. He approached the navy haired boy, taking the letter puzzlingly into his hands. "Gee wiz," he faked a sigh of frustration, "It looks like I can't read it either."
"That's too bad…," Hilary uttered, staring rigidly at the familiar object of their attention. "What can you do though?"
"Open it," Ray answered with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe it's typed so it won't be all smudges. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Splendid," Hilary agreed with her teeth gnashed together.
Kenny returned the envelope to Tyson, and he wasted no time taking Ray's advice. "Hold these for a second," he gave the bills to Kenny, leaving the sole envelope in his grasp. He ripped open the seal messily, only really taking away half of it, leaving him to tear with his fingers.
Tyson removed the contents from the envelope, a folded piece of paper that fragilely bent from the water. Opening it carefully, a clump fell to the floor at his feet.
"I guess this teaches us that confetti doesn't bode well in water," Max deduced, looking thoughtfully at the remains on the ground.
"Confetti? Must be some sort of party invitation," Tyson stated, kicking some of the soaked paper off of his feet. "That or someone's getting married."
Hilary met Ray's gaze immediately, a silent warning of sorts. He, however, did not make a move; his expression turned serious before he reverted back to Tyson. The brunette found herself counting her blessings again, being salvaged from torture.
"It's so weird you say that," Max grinned obliviously, finding his friend's anecdote amusing.
Tyson turned to him blankly, "Why's that?"
"Uh…," Max faltered, realizing Hilary was now giving him a disbelieving, yet deadly, glare. "It's weird because I… was thinking about getting married… sometime to… someone."
"Someone?" the world champion challenged, "Who do you think you're kidding?"
"Shut-up," Max scowled.
"What's it say?" Kenny spoke up, leaning towards the letter in Tyson's hands. He stood on his toes, glancing over the top of the paper in curiosity.
"It's pretty blurry… I can't make out all the words," the navy haired boy frowned, staring intensely at each individual letter. "Uh… wait a minute, they left an address again; it looks sort of familiar…."
"You can read it?" Kenny asked, sparing a glance at Hilary. She merely stood silently, waiting for a reaction.
"It says something about being ignited to a westerning… whatever that means. Sounds pretty bizarre; everything else is basically blotched out though," Tyson sighed, "But this address… I know I've been there before."
"Really?" Max asked as Kenny took the letter from Tyson in a helpful manner.
"No wonder, it's Hilary's," the genius supplied an answer, giving a knowing smirk. "And it doesn't say you've been ignited to a westerning… you've been invited to a wedding."
The navy haired boy became perplexed; he snatched the invitation back, reading the new apparent words in disbelief. "That makes even less sense, why would I be invited to a wedding at Hilary's?"
Ray stared at him blankly, "How does that make even less sense? What kind of mail do you get?"
Ignoring his friend, Tyson waved the letter at Hilary in confusion. "What's this about? Did they send it to the wrong person?"
Struggling back an 'I wish', she forced a tight smile onto her lips. "I'm really sorry," Hilary began, her eyes wide with remorse. She slowly approached him, resting her hands on his shoulders with clear sadness. "It was horrible…."
Max and Kenny exchanged a confused look, while Ray smiled at her actions. It appeared that she had changed tactics.
"The mail man messes up all the time, don't worry about it," Tyson flashed a smile.
"That's not what I was talking about," the brunette stated, giving him a levelled look. She sternly shook his shoulders once, grabbing back his attention. "The invitation is for you."
He quirked an eyebrow, "Oh?"
"You see my Aunt's getting married…," she started, giving herself bearings to the story.
"Well that clears everything up," Tyson rolled his eyes. "You automatically invite world champion beybladers to weddings when that happens."
Hilary ignored the boastful attitude of the comment, and instead gave him a thoughtful look over. "It's funny you should mention that…," she smiled lightly, drawing her hands away from him.
"Maybe I should just stop talking," Tyson shrugged, briefly glancing at Max because of his previous comment.
"You're probably not the only one in the room who wishes they just kept their mouth shut," Kenny added, "Sometimes we all talk too much."
"Kind of like you right now," Hilary glared at him, causing him to sulk backwards a few steps.
"So… why am I funny?" Tyson questioned.
She bit her lip momentarily, "You're going to hate me."
"Hate you?" he repeated, his eyebrows shot upwards in surprise. "What am I, fourteen again? Did you do this so I'd somehow manage to get a detention?"
Hilary knew he was joking; a grin had formed on his lips in his own quirky way. "It's because of me that they invited you…," she confessed, making him tame his features.
"Back to the point… what did you do?" Tyson wondered.
She casted her eyes to the floor, her voice low and ashamed, "If you were me, you would've done the same thing. It was all for… Sammy."
Out of all the confusion in the room, Ray was the only one who voiced his. "What?"
"Sammy?" Tyson said incredulously, "Who's that?"
"He's the ring bearer, only five years old. The wedding has been really… hard on him," Hilary explained, swaying side to side on her feet.
Pulling a sympathetic smile, Tyson nodded with understanding. "Is it his Mom or Dad that's getting married?"
"Neither actually," Hilary corrected, giving a nervous smile, "He's the son of my Aunt's best friend… but they're really close."
His eyes narrowed suspiciously, "I can see why it tears him apart."
The brunette pouted suddenly, quickly clasping her hands onto her cheeks. "I knew it… I shouldn't have said anything… I'm just going to end up hurting Sammy more…. I'm such a horrible person…."
"Woah, hold on!" Tyson exclaimed, shoving the letter at Kai – who was the closest one around – before putting his hands on her shoulders for comfort. "You're not a horrible person; you were trying to help out a little kid. What did you say I would do exactly?"
"Well…," she drew out her word reluctantly, playing with the sound to seize Tyson's interest more. "He's a huge fan of yours, loves you to death."
"He has great taste then," he grinned.
Hilary's expression brightened, "And I told him… maybe… you could come. He's just, I don't know, not thrilled with the marriage."
Tyson made a grunting noise as if he was in deep thought, and then he shrugged. "Is the groom a jerk or something?"
"No, no… nothing like that," she lowered her hands, "I think he's just really shy about his job at the wedding, walking in front of everyone and all. But if you were there… he would be so excited."
"I know what it's like… I met Typhoon Louis once," Tyson said fondly, thinking of his childhood hero, "It would be etched in his mind forever."
Hilary smiled, "Mmhmm… he's your biggest fan."
Tyson took a deep breath, water droplets running down the side of his face. Shifting his jaw, he stared at her intently. "Biggest fan…," he repeated, his lips tugging into a smile, "You know what? I'll do it!"
She faltered out of disbelief, "You will?"
"Of course, he's my biggest fan after all," he boasted, "And what am I without my biggest fan?"
"You do not know how much this means to me…," Hilary stated with a sudden fear that her eyes would well up with tears.
"Don't worry about it, Hil. My pleasure," he removed his hands from her shoulders, "Do I need to call or anything? Tell somebody I can come?"
"Oh, I can take care of that Tyson, you've done so much for me already," she offered.
"Yeah," he agreed, causing her to almost roll her eyes. "But can you do me one more thing?"
"I'm not going to make you breakfast."
"Of course not, I want to be alive for the wedding."
Hilary glared at him, "What do you want?"
Sheepishly, he held his arm and kicked the floor with his feet. "You're going to think this sounds weird," he told her, "But… I don't really know anybody in your family, so maybe we could go to the wedding together? To make things less awkward."
"Did you just ask her out?" Max blurted out.
"No!" Tyson snapped, "I just want to make sure I'm with someone I know."
Hilary was flabbergasted at how well this lie was going; he had practically volunteered to be her date. "That sounds reasonable," she nodded, "Sure, we can go together."
"Great," Tyson nodded before shooting Max a glare, "In a purely platonic way. But… were you and Kai really dancing?"
"Yes Tyson, we were really dancing," she retorted sarcastically, giving him an even look. "Why would you think that?"
"Well, Ray said it," he frowned, "And Kai's rich, he knows how to waltz."
"'Cause you know those always go together…," Kenny muttered under his breath, shaking his head slowly. Kai, on the other hand, just seemed to narrow his gaze towards the world champion in his own form of confusion.
"I was joking," Ray laughed, approaching Hilary so he could snake his arm around her shoulders. Pulling her close, he grinned, "We're all just a bunch of jokers, right Hil?"
She joined in the laughter nervously, looking towards him with contempt. "You bet… we live to laugh. Thanks for bringing it up, Ray."
"My pleasure."
"I bet it is…," she murmured.
Tyson beamed, "You're in for a treat though, I look amazing in a tux." Pausing for the groans of disagreement to subside, he considered a thought that just dawned on him. "Hey, do you have any cousins?"
"None that I wish to punish," Hilary stated, causing him to roll his eyes. "You really mean this, right? You're really going to come?"
"You act like I'm going to leave you at the alter," the navy haired boy quirked his head in puzzlement.
Max smiled, "In a purely platonic way?"
"Thank you Max…."
"Tyson…," she said seriously.
The world champion sighed, crossing his arms. He merely stared at her as if he was trying to crack a safe; figure her out. With a smile on his lips, his next few words made a chill crawl up her spine.
"Would I lie to you?"
