Tyson ran into the dojo and straight to the wooden swords by the wall. He grabbed two of them and threw one at Ray, which he caught, when he entered a few seconds later. Tyson held his sword in both hands and did his starting stance just like his grandpa has showed him. "You better put on one of the suites," Tyson said motioning to the outfits in a corner of the room, which his grandpa's students wore. "I don't want to hurt you." Ray laughed.
"You, hurt me?" he asked. "If anyone needs to wear one of those it's you, Tyson." Tyson glared at Ray.
"I don't need to wear one because you're not going to get a single hit on me!" he yelled charging at Ray and swinging down. Ray took a quick step to the side, and yawned as Tyson missed him.
"Are you sure about that?" Ray asked poking Tyson lightly in the side with his sword. "Because I have a feeling by the end of this you're going to be very hurt." Tyson turned and continued to glare at Ray.
"That's what you think!" he yelled missing again as Ray moved away quickly.
"Tyson, I'm not like most people you've face. I actually know what I'm doing," Ray told him leaning on his sword.
"Don't lie to me, you've never tried this kind of fighting in your life," Tyson said a little angrily, but didn't go to hit Ray this time.
"No, but I've done other things that help me, and judging by what you're doing it's not that hard to fight this way. Please go get some armour on before I hurt you," he told the stubborn boy, but Tyson just shook his head and went for Ray again. Ray let out a sigh and dodged, this time knocking Tyson's hat off as he did.
"You stupid cat, you're so cheating!" Tyson yelled kicking his hat off to the side of the room. Ray glared at him, still holding the sword in just one hand.
"Oh am I now? Because I'm sure you wouldn't care about me being cat like if you knew you could win!" Ray yelled at him. "You're such a sore loser Tyson, just admit that you can't beat me and I'll stop."
"Never," Tyson said through clenched teeth. A small smirk went across Ray's face.
"Alright, you asked for it," Ray said, his pupils going into slits like cat eyes, as he started to go full force on Tyson.
A long while later both Tyson and Ray were lying in the grass outside the dojo panting, their swords on the ground beside them. It was now getting darker out, and the sun was starting to set. The fight had moved into the yard because Tyson thought if he lured Ray outside he'd have a little more of an advantage, but he was wrong. They'd both fought hard, but Tyson's fighting hadn't done anything to really affect Ray. Ray was only tired because of all the dodging he'd done against Tyson's attacks. Where Tyson was tired from all the running after Ray he'd done, and from getting up after being knocked down so many times. He'd only started to get hits in on Ray closer to the end when they were both getting tired, but that hadn't done much to him win since he was so tired. So Ray had defiantly won, but he knew Tyson wouldn't acknowledge it.
The two boys sat up after they'd rested themselves and, to their surprise, Tyson's grandpa was sitting a little ways away from them with two glasses of water. They stared at him and waited until he nodded before going over to the glasses and drinking them quickly. When they were done they put the glasses back down and said thank you. There was a few seconds pause before Tyson's grandpa spoke. "That was a disgrace," he said direction his words to Tyson.
"What do you mean by that?" Tyson asked him a little confused.
"Not one good hit!" grandpa G yelled at him. "Now I don't blame you for that little man, that dude is good, but you could have at least dodged!" Tyson looked at his grandpa with wide-eyes.
"I was just tired from the long day and a little out of practice, that's all!" he yelled back.
"I don't think it matters little man, your home bro still would have won," grandpa G told him shaking his head. "You're really not ready to take this dojo after all, and you might never be."
"That's not true! I'll take it over for you! I'll start practicing eventually!" Tyson yelled standing up and clenching his fists. His grandpa shook his head standing up too.
"Knowing you eventually will be too late," he said picking up the glasses, turning, and headed back towards the house.
"Grandpa that's not true! I'll get better!" Tyson yelled after him. But his grandpa didn't stop or even do anything to acknowledge him.
Ray sat in the grass watching as Tyson just stood there watching his grandpa leave. He then saw Tyson loosen his fists and turned to Ray with the intent to kill on his face. He glared at Ray for a few seconds before yelling out in anger. "This is all your fault, you and your special skills!" he accused Ray kicking at the dirt. "Grandpa would have never said that if he hadn't seen how much better you are than me! He's always pushing me to be better, but can never get me to train because he always misses when he tries to prove a point by trying to get me by surprise! And now that he's seen how good you are he expects me to do better because that was only your first time fighting like that! How am I supposed to get better than you like he wants, or ever just as good? I don't have the abnormal skills you do!" Ray blinked at Tyson before glaring back at him.
"Well maybe if you had your own skills, or made your own, you wouldn't have to be jealous of my 'abnormal' ones!" he yelled back. He was sick of Tyson. They'd just had a huge fight and he was still willing to go at it.
"Jealous?" Tyson asked. "Why would I be jealous of a mangy little cat?"
"You know Tyson, you're a real jerk!" Ray yelled standing up and pushing past him towards the front gate of the dojo.
"Yeah, thanks for the update, so are you! I'll see you in an hour or two, and I will get you back for all this!" he yelled after him.
Ray sighed as he realized Tyson was right. He was back at the dojo about two hours later. He'd taken a short walk along the river, and up into the park, before the sun had gone down quite a bit and his stomach started growling. It was dinner time, or just past it, and Ray sighed as he realized that he'd have to go back to the dojo having no other place to go. He didn't want to go back and start another fight with Tyson, but he didn't know how he could avoid it if he wanted to win this bet. Ray let out a sigh and walked through the entrance of the dojo towards the smell of food cooking.
Ray fallowed the smell into the back where Tyson's grandpa was set up with a small barbeque, a table, and a few chairs. Ray walked over to him smiling. "What are you making Mr. G?" he asked taking a seat.
"Well I was making you dudes some burgers but the little man disappeared on me, Max hasn't shown up yet, and your home boy Kai just dropped off the food and left," grandpa G explained.
"Well if they don't show up that's more for use," Ray said shrugging. Grandpa G laughed.
"You're right there," he said smiling. "But I'm sure your homeys will show up, they always do."
"Yeah, I guess," Ray said with a little sigh.
"So what's up with you and the little man anyways?" grandpa G asked. Ray shrugged, thinking as he did so he wouldn't bring up the bet.
"I guess we're just getting a little sick of each other," he told him, it was the best he could come up with.
"I can understand that, Tyson can get a little too much to handle sometimes," he said laughing. "Nothing a few, long, hours away can't fix though." Ray smiled.
"Yeah, I guess," he laughed too.
A few minutes later Tyson's grandpa had finished making the burgers, but the other boys still hadn't come to eat. Ray let out a sigh. He figured this whole thing was his fault for getting sucked into Tyson's bet and scaring everyone away saying what he actually felt. He also felt like it was his fault Tyson and his grandpa had been fighting so much lately. If he hadn't sucked Tyson in, knowing he couldn't back down from a challenge, Tyson wouldn't be showing his grandpa how mad he actually got about the things he did and said. Tyson had never really fought with his grandpa before unless it was because he was joking around or really embarrassed. But now it seemed like he was fighting with him every time Ray come over, and Ray felt really bad about it.
Tyson's grandpa let out a sigh as he put the burgers on a plate and set them down on the table Ray was sitting at, beside all the toppings. He took a seat across from Ray and smiled. "Looks like it's just you and me, little dude," he said smiling and handing Ray a paper plate.
"Yeah, I guess so," Ray said with a sigh.
It took only a few short seconds for Ray to pick up the sound of someone trying to be sneaky around the corner of the dojo. Ray ignored it though, if that person didn't want to come out and have a meal with him that was fine. But apparently someone else didn't think it was fine. Ray could hear someone talking now. The voice was one Ray could always recognize, and he'd never forget the owner of. "What are you doing?" the voice asked a little coldly. And then another voice Ray could always recognize spoke. But it wasn't for the same reason he could remember the first one. He could remember this voice because it seemed to annoy him almost every time he heard it. Both voices belonged to his friends.
"I'm waiting for Ray to leave so I can go eat in peace," the second voice said angrily, but a little more quietly.
"Why?" the first voice asked sounding only slightly interested on finding out what was going on.
"Because, I don't want to end up in another fight with him, it's getting ridiculous," the second voice told him.
"Well maybe you should stop starting them than," the first voice told him, but sounded as if he was just putting it out there.
"I'm not starting them, Kai! He is!" the second voice yelled sounding very angry now.
"For some reason I can't seem to believe that, Tyson," Kai said. "Come on."
Ray looked over his shoulder when he heard Kai tell Tyson to come with him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kai emerging from around the corner holding Tyson's baseball cap. He was yelling at Kai to give it back to him, but Kai didn't seem to be paying any attention. He walked over to the table and took a seat at the end away from everyone, and then threw Tyson's hat at the seat beside his grandpa. Tyson quickly picked it up glaring at Kai, and then at Ray, before taking a seat. Tyson's grandpa smiled at the boys and pushed the burgers and toppings towards them. "About time you dudes showed up," he laughed. "Did you get stuck in traffic or something?"
"I just didn't want to come and risk having another fight with Ray," Tyson mumbled fixing his burger.
"If you don't want to fight, stop starting them," Kai told him without looking at him.
"I told you its Ray's fault!" Tyson yelled. Kai stopped what he was doing and looked up at Tyson, and then a Ray.
"I don't believe you," he told Tyson. Tyson stopped what he was doing too, and looked at Kai.
"Just ask him than, he'll tell you the truth!" Tyson told him slamming the top on his burger, squishing it. Ray swallowed hard.
Kai looked from Tyson to Ray, thinking for a few seconds, before addressing Ray. "Ray, is Tyson telling the truth?" Kai asked him, although he sounded dutiful. Ray swallowed hard again.
"Yeah, I guess, kind of," Ray told him directing his eyes to his empty plate.
"Why are you starting fights?" Kai asked him.
"Because I'm getting a little sick of Tyson and his attitude, so I've just been telling him how I feel and he doesn't like it very much," he told him a little quickly. Kai turned his attention to Tyson again.
"See, it is your fault," Kai told him plainly taking a bite of his burger now and ignoring everyone.
"It is not!" Tyson yelled standing up and slamming his fist down on his second burger.
"Yes it is!" Ray yelled back. "If it wasn't for you and this stupid...thing, we wouldn't be having these arguments!"
"Well maybe it was a good idea I started this 'stupid thing' because now we really know how we feel about each other! I thought we were good friends, but I guess not since you can't stand being around me!" Tyson almost screamed. He grabbed his plate with the squished burger and headed back the way he'd came. "I knew coming here while you were here was a bad idea!" He yelled over his shoulder directing his voice at Kai. Kai didn't seem to care. He didn't even look up as Tyson left. Tyson's grandpa let out a sigh as he grabbed two more burgers and the things to top it with. He told Ray and Kai that Tyson would still be hungry with just the two burgers he'd had, and that he was going to bring more to him. He needed to have a talk with him anyways. Then he stood up, took his plate, and left the boys.
Ray's heart skipped a beat as soon as Tyson's grandpa had turned the corner. He was alone with Kai, like he'd been when they met in the market area, and he was sure Kai had some questions for him. Ray sat there quietly eating his food, waiting for the questions to come, as Kai started on his second burger. When he was done he put his elbows on the table, folded his hands, and placed his chin on them looking at Ray. Ray could feel his icy stare as he tried not to look over at him. His heart was racing and he knew he was starting to look a little shaky. Finally Kai spoke to him. "What's up with you today?" Kai asked him. But before Ray could answer he continued. "First you walk into me at the market, acting like you're crazy, then I hear from you and Tyson that you've been starting fights, and then I actually see you starting one when you could have just let Tyson leave without you having saying anything. You've wrecked your friendship with Tyson, and you've got me questioning your maturity level," he told him, his voice completely neutral.
"I'm just not in a good mood, and Tyson's been making it worse?" Ray told him, but it took the form of a question.
"You don't seem so sure about that," Kai said coldly.
"I'm sure you can figure out why, you're really smart," Ray told him looking up now. Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Are you going to give me a hint?" Kai asked him. Ray shook his head. "Hn," Kai said standing up and walking past Ray. "I'll see you later." Ray nodded slowly, and then was left sitting at the table alone.
It got dark quickly and no one else came into the backyard, besides Tyson's grandpa to clean up the food, where Ray was. He'd been sitting with his head down on the table, in deep thought, as he turned Drigger around in his fingers. He helped Tyson's grandpa clean up when he came back, and then was left alone in the yard again to sit by the pond and think some more. Ray figured it was for the best though. If he was around people he'd only end up saying things he didn't want to. He also knew that Tyson was around the house somewhere, avoiding him. He'd heard him walk by quickly a few times, but Ray hadn't turned to look at him to show he'd known he was there.
When Ray finally started getting tired, and cold from the night breeze, he got up from beside the pond and headed towards the front of the dojo. He and the rest of his team usually slept on the floor of the dojo, but Ray had a slight feeling that he'd be the only one there tonight. Tyson had his own room in the house after all, and Max could stay with his dad while Kai could go to his grandpa's old house. Ray was really the only one on his team that had no place to go. But he was happy that even if the other people weren't there that Tyson's grandpa was nice and gave him a place to stay while he was in Japan.
Ray reached the door to the dojo and stopped. He listened closely as he ears picked up voices of people inside. They were talking about something, but the only things he could catch were his and Tyson's names. Ray hesitated as he put his hand on the door before opening it quickly. He didn't want to open it slowly and have the people think he was trying to listen in on them. Ray entered the dojo and smiled as he saw Max and Kai sitting cross legged on the floor talking a little quietly, Max doing most of the talking. There were four seats of blankets and pillows in the room too, which meant that they were expecting Tyson to show up soon as well. Nothing had really changed, except for the fact that it would probably be a slightly awkward night for everyone.
He closed the door behind him, this time making Max and Kai look up at him. Max smiled back at him, while Kai slid back against the wall with his arms crossed. "Hey Maxie, I didn't think you'd come tonight," Ray said walking over and sitting down across from Max, and to the left of Kai, making a sort of half circle.
"Why wouldn't I have a sleepover with my best friends?" Max asked him grinning. Ray shrugged.
"I don't know, you just seemed a little freaked out when you were coming over here at lunch, I guess. And Tyson said he kind of scared you away," he told him. Max rubbed the back of his head.
"Well I guess getting called, you know...cute...by both of you so randomly was a little weird. But it wasn't an insult or anything so I didn't see why I shouldn't come over here," he told him glancing at Kai out of the corner of his eyes. Ray caught it and glanced at Kai too.
"He made you come, didn't he?" Ray asked Max. Max laughed nervously.
"Well he did kind of imply that he wanted me to come over after dinner," he told him looking over at Kai again. Kai sighed.
"I told him that I didn't want to be around you and Tyson fighting, and you acting weird. I need at least one other sane person to talk to if I'm going to be able to force myself to stay here," he told Ray emotionlessly.
"A little straight forward, aren't we?" Ray asked him.
"Aren't I always?" Kai asked him raising an eyebrow.
"I guess you are," Ray said laughing.
"Hn," Kai replied.
The three boys sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few minutes after that. But the dojo door did opened again, and Tyson walked in. He stopped in the doorway for a few seconds, staring at the three people, and then smirked walking in and closing the door. Ray's mood dropped. He knew that smirk meant Tyson had come up with some kind of quick plan, and it probably involved him. Tyson walked over to the pile on blankets and pillows, picking a stack up and walking to the other end of the dojo with it to set it up. The three boys watched him before they decided that that was probably a good idea, and went over too.
Ray walked over to the stack and picked his things up watching Tyson out of the corner of his eye as he continued to smirk at him. Then he spoke, making everyone stop to look at him. "You want to sleep over here by me, Ray?" Tyson asked him seriously. Ray could tell he was now forcing himself to hide his smirk though, since Max and Kai were looking at him too.
"Not really?" Ray said in the form of a question, raising his eyebrow.
"Why?" Tyson asked him. Ray understood what Tyson was trying to do, and he didn't know how he could avoid falling into another trap of Tyson's without losing the bet. Not with the sentences that were automatically popping into his head, and no time to think.
"I'd just rather not," Ray told him trying to dismiss the conversation, but Tyson wouldn't let him.
"Where are you planning to sleep than?" Tyson asked him.
"Why do you want to know? So you can come over beside me? No thank you," Ray said turning to find a place to sleep, but Tyson kept going.
"Well the only way I'm not going to come sleep by you is if you sleep by Kai," Tyson told him slyly. Ray turned a little pink. He knew this was coming.
"Well I guess I'll have to sleep there then," Ray told him, cursing himself.
"No you're not," Kai told Ray walking over to a corner and setting his bed up. Ray bit his lip.
"Better hurry up and set your bed up, Ray, so I can come over there," Tyson said holding back a laugh. Ray turned to Kai.
"Kai please, you don't want to listen to us fighting all night, do you?" Ray asked him.
"Hn," Kai answered crawling under his blanket and facing the wall.
"Please Kai!" Ray almost yelled.
"Whatever, if it'll get you to be quiet," Kai told him. Ray went quickly over to him.
He set up his bed a little ways away from him, so there was only room for half a person between them, before crawling under the blankets with his back to Kai. He looked across the room at Tyson who was now smirking while Max set up his bed away from everyone. "I bet you would have slept close to Kai even if I wouldn't have said anything. You just wouldn't have asked him," Tyson said a little loudly now that they were farther away from each other.
"What do you mean?" Ray asked him, cursing himself again for pushing Tyson to keep going.
"You know exactly what I mean," Tyson said. Ray turned a little redder. "Or you can tell me what you think I'm referring to," Tyson added. Ray opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a voice coming from behind him.
"Tyson shut up and go to sleep. I let Ray sleep over here so there wouldn't be fighting," Kai said coldly. "Ray turned around and don't pay attention to him. If he wants to talk he can talk to Max." Ray took a deep breath and rolled over to face Kai's back. "Nothing's changed, it's still like taking care a bunch of kids." He caught Kai mumbled, and Ray let out a sad sigh.