LV: So, CL, you liking your new partner?

CL: I like him a lot better than Mana, I'll tell you that!

Shirobon: Who's Mana?

CL: Eh, some freaky little mouse-girl… thing. Anyways, I challenge you to a Bombchu Bowling match!

Shirobon: Sure! Prepare to lose to the master! –they run off–

LV: …Hey. What about me? I need protection after this! Come back!

Mana: What about me?

Aya: No offense, but… Sonbre's not really afraid of you like he is of Shirobon.

Mana: Hmph!

Extra Note: "Janken" is short for "janken pon", the Japanese name for Rock-Paper-Scissors. "Aiko deshou" is what's called out when you have a tie-breaker.

Viper's Nest

Written by Lunare Valhart

Batuken Shoot Beyblade is © Aoki Takao

All original characters are © Lunare Valhart, and are not to be used without permission

Chapter 9: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

As soon as they had come back from the spring, several bottles of water in hand, Lina had greeted them all as enthusiastically as earlier that morning before grabbing the bottles and dashing inside. Before anyone could leave, however, she came back and insisted fervently that everyone stay for dinner.

Lina placed down a heavily food-laden plate perkily in front of a bug-eyed Bobby, who, along with several others, was beginning to wonder if the woman was trying to stuff them for other purposes. "Now eat up, everyone! After all that hard work today, you deserve a good meal!"

"On the plus side," Max commented weakly, poking the rice pile with his fork and eyeing the sticky glob that came out with it nervously, "you can't say you were starved as a child."

Kasumi scoffed. "And you can't say you didn't eat well at my place."

"Where's your aunt?" Hiromi asked, glancing around for the woman. Kasumi rolled her eyes.

"She has dinner at the hotel usually and comes home around ten," the girl explained. "She's a real workaholic."

Kenny gave the food a wary look. "This is enough to feed a small army. Ms. Lina really expects us to eat all this?"

"I'd recommend against it," Dulcea cringed. "I may not know as much about this culture as Kas or Sonbre might, but I do know that eating everything on the plate translates in their minds as, "I'm starved, feed me more!" The Asian teens blinked.

"That's…" Rei began, unsure of how to finish his remark. "…Kinda weird, actually."

"Where we're from, it's a compliment to the chef to finish everything," Hiromi blinked. Dulcea shrugged.

"Well, you know what they say," Tyson commented cheerfully as he took another bite. "You can learn a lot about other cultures from their food!"

"How true," Sonbre suddenly agreed, causing everyone to look at him with a hint (or more) of annoyance. Everyone rolled their eyes and groaned silently to themselves, knowing where this would end up heading. Kasumi glowered darkly at him, her fork-wielding hand clenching into a fist and shaking slightly with the pressure. Tyson gave him a suspicious sideways glance but otherwise ignored him.

Kai, however, also narrowed his eyes at him and regarded his schooled expression with distaste. 'He's really starting to get on my nerves. He doesn't actually think that he's going to be forgiven for that stunt he pulled earlier, does he?'

In a bizarre attempt to break the heavy air that had settled over the group, Bolero suddenly gave a strange yip and lunged at Rei's dangling hair. The neko-jin yelped, feeling the tug as everyone turned toward him in surprise. "Ow! Stupid mutt!" He swore loudly, "My hair's not one of your chew-toys! Let go!"

Bobby glanced down at the dog and sputtered, coughing up the rice he had tried to swallow with tears in his eyes. Hiromi looked as well before flushing brightly and turning away immediately, biting her lower lip. Kenny blinked and gave Rei a nervous look.

"Er, hate to break it to you, Rei," he winced, "but the dog's not chewing at your hair…" The implication hung in the air as the Chinese youth's face paled.

Max kept his eyes averted, but managed weakly, "Well, we can't say now that the dog doesn't like one of us."

"Max," Rei ground out darkly. "You're not helping. At all."

…

The rest of the meal was fairly uneventful, though Rei insisted he wanted to be nowhere near Bolero. That had resulted in Kasumi carrying the dog out to the garage with a towel so the animal wouldn't snap at her fingers and the subsequent, thinly-veiled jeers tossed in her direction by Sonbre. The dog's whimpering from the garage aside, their meal ended in silence.

A quick call to the resort later, and the Bladebreakers were now waiting outside on the veranda for their taxi-van to take them back. Rei was picking at his hair wrap with a sour look on his face. Kenny had nestled himself into one of the chairs with his laptop open. Tyson was also reclining on another chair, idly watching Max and Hiromi's rock-paper-scissors game. Kai kept his standing position against the wall, his expression pensive.

Tyson groaned as he ruffled his bangs, "Sheesh, I somehow get the feeling Aunt Cheres is trying to get even for having to put up with us in her house by ordering the taxi-van to be late."

Max shrugged in half-agreement before his face fell at Hiromi's fist over his two fingers. "Dangit, I lost again?"

"Sorry, Max," the girl laughed, buffing her fingernails proudly. "I'm just good at this game!" The blond laughed as well, not at all offended.

"Hey, let's go another round. I'll beat you sooner or later!"

Kenny gave them an odd look. "Do I even want to know why you two are playing janken?"

They both shrugged as Hiromi answered, "We're bored." She blinked when she saw they both had their hands spread out. "A tie, huh? Aiko deshou!"

"Aiko deshou!" They blinked again when they saw they both had fists. Max groaned, "Oh no, don't tell me this is going to turn into one of those never-ending stalemates…"

As they continued with their game, Rei glanced over to Kai and saw the other teen hadn't lost his terse expression since dinner. Quirking a brow at him, he asked, "Something eating you?"

"That guy," Kai grumbled, glancing inside irritably. "I don't like him one bit."

Rei scoffed, "Who, Sonbre? Don't blame you. I make a point not to be on friendly terms with anyone that seems to think a dingy wet cave is a good place to train. I nearly lost my blade a few times because of the lack of traction!" He then tapped his chin reflectively. "Huh, and now that I think about it, those ladies we saw at the spring were giving us weird looks, too…"

"They were scared of us, I think," Kai frowned, remembering the wary looks on their faces. "I have no idea what they may've been saying, but it was obvious in the way they were acting." Rei's expression sobered and he frowned, as well.

"Okay, so no joking around, then." The neko-jin sighed, folding his legs underneath him and glancing back up at his team captain. "I suppose you've also noticed that he's been rather subdued since we arrived at the spring a few hours back? And that Kasumi seems a bit more tense than usual?"

"I overheard them making quite a few rude remarks to each other when we were headed down," Kenny said, having heard their conversation and adding in his own two cents. "Honestly, their comments were really uncalled-for. I just looked up what I heard Sonbre call Kasumi – caricorta, I think – and it's a slang term meaning 'scarface.' On top of that, Kasumi started calling him Snake Eyes. I'd say they were acting like children, but children usually aren't cussing each other out."

Kai shook his head. "I'm finding it harder and harder to believe that she's Tyson's sister, much less his twin." The other two looked at him in surprise. "She looks a great deal like him, but it seems that's where the similarities end. She's ruder, she's considerably more temperamental, she's quite the grudge holder…"

"But in her defense," Rei commented, "she's also more serious than he is, she's quieter, she's not as naïve…"

There was a sudden slam deeper into the house that jolted everyone out of their boredom, and Bobby's frightened squeaking could only barely be heard over Bolero's barking. They exchanged nervous glances as Dulcea burst through the door, teal eyes wide with fear that filled with relief when she saw them.

"Guys, thank God you're still here!" She gasped as she caught her breath. "It's Kas and Sonbre – they're at each other's throats, you've gotta help us stop them from mauling each other!"

…

Inside, the earlier tension was heavier than ever. No longer was Kasumi attempting to be civil to Sonbre, nor was Sonbre pretending to tolerate her.

Kasumi's face was pressed against the wall mirror, the glass fogging with her labored breath. One hand was against into her attacker's jawbone, nails digging into his skin while the other was trying to keep her own neck from being snapped at the amount of pressure he was applying. A booted foot was pressed against his body in vain to push him away as her teeth gritted together and her eyes began to mist with tears she refused to shed.

Sonbre had one hand forcing her head against the mirror's surface, not caring whether or not he was pulling hairs as his other hand was tightly wrapped around her wrist to prevent her from digging her nails in too deep. Being considerably stronger than the girl, he tightened his grip and found it grimly satisfying to hear her whimper weakly before smothering it. In the closet, he could hear the old woman cry and pound against the locked door.

"Is there anything you want to say, Granger?" He hissed into the girl's ear. "An apology, perhaps? Or maybe a plea for your life?"

"H-heartless bastard!" Kasumi spat, refusing to let the fear bubbling in her gut show through. "Y-you don't know a thing about love!"

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have brought up that tabloid about your brother and Hiwatari," Sonbre snarled darkly. "I can show you a real Godforsaken monster if you're so interested in seeing one with your own eyes."

"I'm looking at one!" She snapped back, "What kind of lunatic are you? You can't prove anything if I get killed!"

Sonbre laughed lowly, lip curling and the light catching a growing fang that caused the girl to pale. "'Thou shall not kill' – one of the Ten Commandments, if you'll recall. I'm not a complete imbecile, Granger. Killing you wouldn't be half as much fun as seeing you suffer for the rest of your damn life!"

Bobby shook fearfully as he tugged on Sonbre's shirt, trying vainly to get him to release Kasumi. "Sonbre, stop! Don't hurt her!" He yelped and let go in time to duck Sonbre's incoming fist as the much taller male glared at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Dammit, Bobby, back off!"

"S-Sonbre, think of the tournament!" Bobby cried as he fought against his growing urge to run and hide at the murderous glint in the other male's wild eyes. "Think of what –!"

Sonbre snarled again, "I don't care what anyone thinks, Bobby! And if you don't want your neck get snapped in two next, I'd suggest shutting the Hell up!"

As a last resort, Bobby cried frantically, "Sonbre, think of who you're hurting! She's –!"

A sudden, loud crack caused the room to fall deathly silent. Kasumi, no longer having any support, dropped to the floor, brown eyes wide and terrified. Sonbre had backed away from her, staggering and with a disbelieving, hurt expression etched into his face. A hand rose shakily to the faint spattering of red beginning to surface around his eye as he stared in shock at the youth forming a human barrier between him and the shaking girl.

"How dare you." Dark blue eyes were steeled coldly, very unlike their owner's usual expressions as Dulcea rushed in and kneeled next to her teammate warily. The taller male's bright jade eyes immediately lost their ill intent, and were as shaken as the rest of him.

"Tyson…" Sonbre swallowed thickly, "Tyson, I… th-this isn't what…"

"It isn't what it looks like?" Tyson finished skeptically, voice icy. "You weren't just hurting my sister? You weren't just implying that you were going to make her wish she was dead?"

Desperately, Sonbre pleaded, "Tyson… please… I-I didn't mean…" He immediately realized this was the wrong thing to say when the younger youth's normally kind eyes became even more frigid.

"You didn't mean it?" Tyson repeated with growing ire. "You didn't mean it? Then why did you do it!?"

Sonbre quailed under the Japanese boy's anger, tentatively reaching out a hand to calm him. "Tyson…"

"Don't "Tyson" me! And don't you dare touch me!" The older youth's hand immediately withdrew, and he glanced away shamefully as Tyson continued to rage at him, "You have some nerve going around two-faced like this! You've lied to our faces, tried to get Kas in our bad books, given my friends the cold shoulder, all but manhandled me earlier, now this? What kind of sick obsession do you have?!"

Sonbre shook his head, eyes frantic, "Tyson, it's not an obsession! It never has been, it never was! Please, if you'd just let me –"

Kai stepped into the room and stood next to Tyson, garnet eyes narrowed sharply at the other teen. "He said not to touch him, Flavien. And if you try, I'll be the one making you wish you were dead."

"Kai, please," Tyson frowned, glancing up at him. "Don't sink to his level."

The other male's eyes widened marginally, flicking from Tyson to Kai and back again, before narrowing suspiciously and strains of the earlier steel began to seep back into his tanned features. "So it's true. That… that nonsense in the tabloids is true?"

Tyson staggered a bit, caught off-guard by the observation, and just barely managed to rein in his flush to shoot back, "It's just stupid gossip! And you have no right to call us out on it!"

Sonbre, however, ignored Tyson's outburst and whipped to Kai with a snarl. "Tell me, Hiwatari! Is it true you have feelings for Tyson?"

"I don't see why you have any right to know if I do or don't, Flavien," Kai growled back. Tyson's expression faltered as he looked at Kai frantically.

"Kai, please! Stop!"

"Forgive me, Tyson," Sonbre bit out as he continued to glare down at the dual-haired youth, "but stay out of this. This is between me and this undeserving, power-hungry rich-kid bastard!"

Kai flinched at the obvious jab at his past history, gritting his teeth to hold back the waves of guilt before snapping back, "Undeserving? Me? I'm not the one who's bringing up demons –!"

Almost immediately, Sonbre's face darkened and he snarled with an animalistic ferocity, "Never say that word in my presence, Hiwatari – Never!"

Kasumi reacted. With a violent jolt, she pushed away from Dulcea and scrambled for the door. In the other room, everyone watched in dumbfounded shock as the girl bolted past them. Another moment's hesitation caused Tyson to swear and take chase.

"Kas? Kas!"

Max blinked as Tyson shot out the front gate and down the street after the girl, giving the others a worried look. "Guys, what the heck's going on here?"

Rei frowned, eyes flitting to Kai as he and Sonbre stepped out and gaped after Tyson's disappearing form. "I don't know, but I don't like it one bit…"

…

After releasing Lina from the closet, they had realized they had no way of getting in contact with either Kasumi or Tyson, and thus had no way of knowing where they were. Lina had suggested they go to Kasumi's best friend, seeing as they had spent much of their childhood years exploring the area together, thus knowing which places she would most likely go if she were to run off. When asked where she lived, Lina only looked pointedly at Sonbre and Bobby and frowned at them.

Now, they were standing in front of a more modest home in the neighborhood, the upstairs clearly under rent by another family. Bobby headed the group, and nervously looked over his shoulder at everyone before clearing his throat.

"W-well, this is Thais' place," he announced meekly. "She, uh, won't maul us for letting this happen to Kasumi… will she?" It took everyone a moment to realize he was asking a question, and everyone glanced over at Sonbre.

The olive-haired youth snorted coldly, folding his arms over his chest as he tried to ignore the fact everyone's gazes kept wandering to the darkening blotch over his eye. "She's obliged not to dismember me, unlike the Guardias would if they caught wind of this, since I'm family." The Asian teens gave him an odd look.

"…You're related to the one person you can't stand's best friend?" Max asked incredulously.

Hiromi muttered under her breath, "That must be awkward for her…"

Bobby turned back to the door and winced. "Well… Here goes." He knocked before tentatively calling, "Uh, Thais? It's us."

The door opened and a teenage girl with dirty-blonde hair to her chest peered out at them. "Bobby?" She asked in surprise, "Why're you back so soon? I thought you and Sonbre had something to…" She glanced up and caught sight of her cousin, causing her to gasp in shock as she flipped on the porch light and saw the swelling bruise decorating his face. "Sonbre! What happened to you?!"

To their bemusement, Sonbre glanced away similarly to the manner he did when confronted by Tyson earlier. "…Granger and I…" He began nervously, "had a bit of a disagreement."

Kai rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to snort. 'That's the biggest understatement I've heard in ages.'

Thais' brow furrowed as a disappointed frown settled on her features. "You got into another fight with Kas? Sonbre!" The male growled.

"I know, I know!" He snapped, "I said I'd try to keep my temper in check around her, but it's not like I was the only one at fault! I have my pride!"

"Oh, yes," Kai huffed scornfully, glowering at him. "It's really something to take pride in when you make a girl cry, Flavien."

Sonbre whipped around to glare at him darkly. "Stay out of this, Hiwatari."

Thais looked at the two and groaned as things clicked into place. "Oh, sweet mother of God…" She gave her cousin a withering look. "Sonbre, I know you were upset about that tabloid, but it's no reason to be taking it out on Kas! Besides, she doesn't believe it's true – and considering Tyson's her brother, I think she's got more authority on the matter than some reporter who's next to never actually spoken with him."

Kai's brow furrowed marginally as he recalled Kasumi's comment about the rooming earlier that morning. 'So she really doesn't know about us…'

"And that still doesn't explain why you have a black eye, Sonbre," the blonde continued, giving him a suspicious look. "If you hurt Kas…"

"I-it wasn't Kasumi!" Bobby blurted out, immediately slapping his hands over his mouth when Sonbre whipped around to glare at him. Thais' expression became confused.

"But, if Kas didn't punch him – and God knows how much she wants to…" She mentally did a head-count of the other teens and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh no… You don't mean that…?"

"Yeah," Max nodded, causing her to gasp. "Tyson socked him one. And as you can probably tell, he didn't hold back, either."

As Thais eyed her cousin piteously, Kenny cleared his throat to get her attention. "Miss Thais, Kasumi ran off while Sonbre redirected his attention to Tyson and Kai. Tyson went after her, but none of us have any way of contacting them. Ms. Lina said that you'd most likely know where she could've gone. Would you help us?"

"…Kasumi does have specific places she goes when she's upset about something," Thais answered after a long moment. "However, it may be best that Tyson's the one to talk to her, not me. Give her a thirty minutes or so – if she isn't back by then, I'll take you to her spots." She glanced disappointedly at Sonbre before turning to Bobby. "Bobby, could you make sure Sonbre tends to himself here? I'll go back to Kas' house with the Bladebreakers and Dulcea; she might feel more comfortable coming back if Sonbre isn't in the house with everyone."

The boy nodded and glanced up nervously at Sonbre, who sighed and trudged inside as Thais nodded to the others. "Come on, let's go."

The secluded underpass was mostly empty, lit only by the headlights of passing cars overhead. The trickling creek murmured gently along the rocks, the tiny lapping of water against the pebbled shore heard barely over the traffic above. Somewhere in the distance, cowbells could be heard and the heavy scent of natural fertilizer drifting from the other shore made the otherwise-invisible fence apparent.

This was where Tyson finally caught up with Kasumi. He saw a curled up ball on one of the overhanging rocks, a single extended foot dangling over the edge and just shy of touching the water's surface. He bit at his lower lip and climbed up, wondering to himself why this place seemed to fit the girl's mood despite its peaceful appearance.

"Kas?" He pressed gently when he arrived at the rock's peak, shifting his own weight so that he could sit in mild comfort. "You wanna talk?"

Without looking up, Kasumi asked softly, but hurt still evident in her voice, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tyson flinched. He should have realized that she would notice his and Kai's interaction earlier – it wasn't much of a stretch to connect it to the conversation. "I'm really, really sorry about that, but…" He glanced away. "It's not just my secret; it's Kai's, too." He added lowly, though more to himself than an actual accusation, "Besides, you didn't tell me about your face…"

Abruptly, Kasumi's head shot up from her arms and she looked at him with wild, fearful eyes. "I couldn't say anything!" She stammered out, "If I did, he'd know and –!" She caught herself and bit at her lower lip, turning away and avoiding Tyson's concerned gaze.

"Kas," he pried softly, "who's this "he"?" When she didn't answer, he sighed, "Is it Sonbre?" She tensed visibly. "Kas, please. Say something."

"I can't tell you," she whimpered finally. "You don't know what he'd do to me if he found out you knew. Sonbre's not like all your other crazy-weird fanboys, Ty – he's dangerous!"

"You mean like the fact he was your opponent in the finals last year?" Tyson supplied gruffly, watching her stiffen again. "Or that it's generally believed that he's the one responsible for your scar?"

"How did you find out?"

"Having a computer geek as a friend has its benefits," he shrugged. "Was that why you were so sketchy on the details yesterday?"

Slowly, Kasumi nodded. "Yes." Nervously, she added, "Please, though, don't treat him differently that you have, even if it annoys me to no end! If he knew, the rest of my time being forced to cooperate with him will be a living Hell! I already know that for pissing him off while you were around will make him even harder on me, but it's worth knowing that I gave you some sort of heads-up on what kind of guy he is without actually telling you!"

Tyson blinked at her outburst before he frowned irritably. "Hey, I'm the older one here! If anything, I should be the one helping you! You shouldn't put yourself at risk over something as pointless as that! And besides," he calmed somewhat and heaved a sigh, "I found it out from the Chief just this morning. Did you ever see me being rude or mean to him today before he decided to attack you?" He paused, then made a face. "Well, other than the thing that happened in the caverns this afternoon, because that was just uncalled for."

"…No." Kasumi sighed herself and glanced away. "No, you hadn't been. Not until you tore him a new one back there." She looked back at her brother with a weighted expression. "I… I'm really sorry about dragging you into all this, Ty – you and your friends. It's just that… You don't know him, not like I do. What you saw tonight… This isn't as angry as he can get." She drew her bended leg closer to her torso, hugging it as she continued bitterly, "Believe me, I know. He… attacked me like this the night before the finals last year. Said I was a complete disgrace, a mockery of all he ever fought for… I didn't get it.

"Then he mentioned that my eyes were as full of muck as my personality. He then went off on some stupid tangent about somebody with "eyes as vast and beautiful as the heavens" or something like that." She snorted at the memory but sobered. "Then it hit me. He was talking about you."

Tyson gaped, staring at her in wide-eyed disbelief. "What? But, how? Why? I was barely known outside of Japan back then!"

"That's a mystery, even to me," Kasumi grumbled. "All I knew was that, the way he kept talking about you, he had to be under some sick delusion that you and he were going to live some sort of weird happily-ever-after. It was creepy – he was creepy. We were rubbing each other the wrong way from the start, but do you really think I'd let him anywhere near you when he's got fantasies like that?"

"So it is true, then," Tyson frowned, looking down into the creek. "Kai and I were kind of hoping it'd just been our imaginations yesterday when we met the guy, but considering everything that happened today…"

"Yeah," Kasumi agreed distantly as she rested her chin on her knee. "You wanna know something else? Thais – you know, my best friend that went to go blade with her cousin? Turns out he's Sonbre. That's why I don't like talking to her about these things; she's as obligated to take his side as she's entitled to defend me." She brushed away her bangs, fingers just tracing the raised edges of her scar. "So for that reason, she keeps trying to tell me that Sonbre never meant to get me in the face that day. But then… Then I remember what he said to me in the alley the night before: "When I'm through with you, no one will ever be able to confuse you with your brother again." With that, she rested her scarred cheek against her arms and tightened her grip on her body. "And it always makes me wonder if it really was an accident…"

Tyson felt his eyes prick at the helplessness in the normally headstrong girl's voice, and he leaned over to pull her into what he hoped was a comforting embrace. "Oh, Kas…"

…

Max sighed as he reluctantly sat down after checking the window for any sign of either Tyson or Kasumi for the fifth time in just as many minutes. "This doesn't feel right. We shouldn't be sitting here just waiting for Tyson and Kasumi to show up…"

Everyone gave their own mumbled agreements. Hiromi looked up at Thais curiously. "Thais… you're Kasumi's best friend, right?" When the girl nodded, she continued, "Do you have any idea why she and Sonbre hate each other so much?"

Thais looked away, sighing, "It's a long story…"

"We've got time," Rei shrugged.

"Not long before Kas moved here from Japan," Thais began slowly. "My parents and I received the news from my aunt – Sonbre's mom – that her uncle had died Sonbre had run away form home. I was devastated; Sonbre and I got along fairly well, despite the fact we only knew what the other looked like through pictures. Then we heard the news that a new girl all the way from Japan was moving into town." Thais laughed wistfully at the memory. "The next thing I knew, I had a new friend. Kas and I did everything together; we played, we explored, we bladed…"

Kenny looked up curiously at her. "You and Kasumi beybladed together? I thought you were a part of the Venomblades last year…" Thais glanced away shamefully.

"I was." She immediately whipped back to stare pleadingly at them. "But before you judge me, just listen to my side! My cousin, who I hadn't heard from for seven years, had called out of the blue and asked for my company. I explained my situation to Kasumi, and though she was hurt, she let me go off to be with him because she knew that's what she would've done if it'd been her and Tyson. But the distance… it did something." Thais sighed again and wrung her hands together. "Kas met the girls that she'd end up forming the Guardias with, I spent time with the guys that would later make the Venomblades. Being on separate teams did something to our mentality that ended up hurting our friendship…" A bit sourly, she added, "Of course, the fact that no one, other than Kas and myself, particularly liked each other hadn't helped."

Kai quirked a brow. "Oh?"

"I'm sure you've already noticed, but Sonbre's… not very fond of women," Thais winced. "At all, really. I'm the exception because I'm family. Add in his crush on Tyson and the fact Kasumi could easily pass for him at first glance, and he's already more than a little annoyed at her."

"…Okay, that makes sense," Hiromi nodded.

"Then factor in the pressure the Guardias were putting on her to not fraternize with other teams, despite the fact she mentioned several times that she wanted to see how I was doing in the months we'd been apart," Thais added flatly.

Rei froze, blinking once. "This… sounds scarily familiar." Max nodded, also recalling the events of the team's first tournament together.

"Yeah, didn't your old team do something like that and tried to make us look like the bad guys?"

"Hey, it isn't my fault Lee's got abandonment issues!"

Kenny grumbled under his breath, "You could've at least left a note, though…" Rei huffed at him.

Thais rolled her eyes and dryly asked, "Did it end with the two team captains practically hating each other's guts, and you still being scorned by the other team?"

Everyone blinked.

Hiromi frowned and her brow crinkled in surprise. "What? The other Guardias don't like you?"

"They're still convinced that I'm going to turn against Kas any day now!" The blonde explained heatedly, "I'm sorry, but it's been a year – why haven't they gotten over it?"

Dulcea made a face. "Whoa. I haven't even met them yet and I don't think I'm gonna like them."

"Won't like who?"

Everyone jumped at the familiar voice, and turned to see Tyson and Kasumi coming through the door, the latter warily keeping behind Tyson. She blinked when her eyes fell on the dirty-blonde sitting on the couch. "Thais? Not that I mind, but what're you doing here?"

Thais got up from her seat and gingerly took the Japanese girl's arm, frowning when she saw the bruises coloring her wrist. "I knew Sonbre was hiding something when I dragged it out of him that you two got into another fight. I hope that moron realizes he's going to have to go easier on you, if he wants to stay in the tournament…" She sighed and looked at the dark-haired girl worriedly. "Do you need ice?"

Kasumi stared at her for a moment before smiling wryly. "Thay, it's okay. I was kind of asking for it, myself. I should know better by now than to bait him like that." She turned to the Bladebreakers as Tyson rejoined them, assuring them himself that he was all right. "Sorry I got you guys so involved in this."

"It's okay," Rei shrugged. "We're used to being dragged into strange things by now."

Kasumi's dry smile softened. "I'm glad Ty's got friends like you; he's really blessed to have you guys watching his back."

"Hey, he does the same for us." Max patted her on the shoulder. "We just return the favor."

Tyson looked back and forth between his friends and sister before cutting in with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "Happy as I am to see you guys interacting with my sister, could you not talk like I'm not here?"

A loud beep outside caught their attention. Kasumi blinked at the vehicle parked in front of her home, recognizing the resort's logo emblazed on the side and idly wondering why it had come so late. "Huh. Guess Lina did tell Cheres what happened… I know we're not having any more meetings at my house."

"Yeah, it seems so…" Kenny sighed and shook his head. Something occurred to him and he looked at Kasumi. "By the way, did we ever catch your team's name?"

Kasumi's dry smile returned. "You mean I never told you? We're the Crossblades." The Asian teens stared at her in disbelief, causing her to laugh. "Ironic, I know. Well, you'd better head back to the resort and get some rest. You've had a long day."

"We should…" Tyson sighed before pulling the dark-haired girl into a hug. "Take care of yourself, 'kay?"

Kasumi stiffened at first, but relaxed and returned the gesture. "As long as you watch your own back." She pulled away and looked at him with a weak smile. "See you later."

The group then climbed into the taxi-van and slid the door shut. With that, the driver took his cue and drove off back to the resort.