I know I took a reaaally long time to update this chapter, and I'm reaaally sorry, but what can I do? I had a bit of writer's block, but I got over it and hey, at least it's finally here! Anyways, some reviews have been asking for no Mako/Tyson moments. I hate it too, but I need it for the story, so bare with me, please? But I have a feeling this chap. will be satisfying, not perfectly, but, satisfying (hopefully).

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So Close, yet So Far

"Tyson," I say, kneeling down beside him. If it wasn't for the fact that I hadn't seen or spoken to him in days, I wouldn't have tried to wake him, because he looks so peaceful, sleeping there, looking so innocent…

"Tyson, wake up," I repeat, giving him a little shake. He stirs a bit, but still not fully conscious. So, I bring my face up to his ear, and yell.

"Tyson! Wake up!"

He scrunches his face up in a frown. I muffle a laugh, and lean my face closer to his, just to examine his features. I've never had the chance to really look at him closely before, because every time I did, I'd zone out until he'd notice, and then I'd look away, blushing. And, apparently, I was zoned out right now, because I was late to notice that he was slowly opening his eyes.

I can't help but grin as he looks up at me, eyes wide, clearly surprised. And that's how we remain for a few seconds, him looking up, me looking down; until I notice that our faces are mere inches apart. I move away, my face beginning to feel warm.

As I stare at the grass, I hear him say, "Hilary…?" and the next thing I know, Tyson's arms fling around me and I flinch when I hear his cheerful voice, ever so close to my ear.

"Hilary! It's so damn good to see you!" he exclaims. He breaks our embrace (although I didn't want to let go) and looks at me, both hands rested on my shoulders. "When and how did you get here? I thought your parents wouldn't allow it?"

I feel paralyzed for a few moments, before returning to myself. I smile. "It's good to see you too Tyson," I say, as he leaps to his feet, looking pleased. "But as for your questions, they're gonna have to wait; I'm seriously tired right now, and, I'd like to see the guys and Mariah."

He grins. "They're gonna be shocked."

I roll my eyes. "Oh please, it's not like they missed me…"

"That's what you think," he says, holding out his hand. "Now shut up or I won't help you up."

I hold on to his hand, and, as he pulls me to my feet, I give his skin a little pinch with my nails. Big mistake. Tyson, feeling the slight sting, lets go of my hand, making me topple over, and he trips over my leg and falls, too (not on me, thank goodness).

"Sorry," I say, trying to hide my laughter.

"Next time, tell me when you're gonna try clawing my skin off," he says reproachfully. But then he begins to laugh, too. "C'mon, let's go."

As I stand up, I notice that we both have grass stains all over our clothes. But I push that thought from my mind as Tyson leads the way out of the clearing. We begin in silence, which makes me feel uncomfortable, so I start talking.

"So…how do you like it here?" I ask.

He ponders on the question before answering. "I guess you could say…it's been…like nothing I expected…"

"Really? Like how?"

"Well," he begins slowly. I guess he's not used to so much thinking. "I expected to see all the White Tigers, I didn't think I'd meet anyone new, and…I expected you to be there…"

I feel myself blush. Thank goodness I'm walking behind him, or he would've noticed.

"Oh…well, um, so…how is it so…unexpected?" I ask.

He grins mysteriously. "Big story. You're gonna have to wait."

Obviously he has forgotten that I can be very, very curious. For the next few minutes, I keep begging him to spill the beans. But, no avail; Tyson is enjoying my struggle.

"I told you, I'll tell you when we get there!"

"But I can't wait that long! Its not--" before I can finish my complaint, I feel something dash past my left ankle. Tyson, realizing my silence, turns to me questioningly.

"What's up?"

"Something just zoomed past my ankle!"

He eyes me skeptically. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" as I say this, I wonder if it was a beyblade. It could have been, considering how fast it had gone. But, I can't deliberate this a moment longer, for Tyson has just abruptly grabbed my arm, and he pulls me out into bright sunshine that stings my eyes like cheap shampoo (A/N: I know, very stupid simile). Once I get my focus back, I blink as I look at this enormous house (was it a house?) that is standing powerfully before me, and I can just see it say, I am mighty and authouritative. Fear me.

Then my gaze lowers to the house a few yards away, where a group of girls are doing something, though I can't tell what. I was slightly startled to see them look at Tyson and me, but I'm even more surprised when one of them walk up to Tyson, smiling, and says brightly, "G'morning, Tyson!"

"Hey, Mako! What's up?" he replies, as if they had known each other for ages.

"Oh, nothing…" says the girl, smiling hard. Seriously, it looks as if a long stick is stuck horizontally in her mouth or something.

And, so, I'm obviously lost. I was hoping to see Mariah and everyone else, and now some pretty girl, who is clearly not Mariah, has come up and has started flirting with Tyson. And it seems she doesn't even notice me standing here, like an idiot. Yup. I am so lost.

After about two minutes, I begin to get annoyed, feeling out of place. And Tyson still hasn't introduced me. I give him a sharp nudge with my elbow.

"Ouch! Hilary, what--" he stops mid-sentence, looking at me, then turning to the girl. Then he realizes. The smartass.

"Right, uh, Hil, this is Mako Tatsuya. Mako, this is Hil," he says.

"Hilary Tatibana," I correct him, looking at Mako with a smile painted on my face. She giggles, finding it somehow funny. I'm not trying to be egotistical or anything, but, am I the only one here with a sense of mental maturity?

"Oh, of course! Hilary!" Mako cries in realization. "Mariah's told me a lot about you."

Has she now? I wonder what else… "Well…I never I knew I could be a topic of conversation," I say, still wearing that fake smile.

"Of course!" she cries, as if I had stated something of shock. "Geniuses like you only come around…once or twice in a lifetime," she holds out her hand. "It's really nice to meet you."

Genius? Did she just…? My heart suddenly softens and all the negative thoughts of her vanish from my mind. Nobody has ever called me a genius before. Sure, maybe smart, intelligent, clever…but genius? I've only heard that used to describe Kenny…

I shake her hand. "It's really nice to meet you too…and thanks…"

She smiles, before turning to Tyson. "Your friends are all looking for you…they have murderous looks on their faces," she pauses. "I think they said something about you ditching them yesterday…where'd you go, anyway?"

Tyson looks extremely uncomfortable. "Uhh, just wanted to…take a walk…guess I was too tired to turn back…hehe…,"

Mako seems to have bought it, but I still eye him suspiciously. But before I can do anything about it, Mako says something that brings my attention back to her.

"By the way, have you seen my beyblade? It seemed to have just vanished into the trees, where you two just came out of."

I give Tyson an 'I told you so' look before saying, "I think so…I did feel something race past my ankle…"

And as if on cue, I feel the thing speed past my ankle again, this time more harsh, so that it makes me give a little cry of pain. I look down to see a small cut, blood slowly oozing out.

"Hilary! You cut yourself…" Tyson exclaims, looking really concerned. I feel myself colouring up.

"I'm okay, its nothing," I reassure him. He relaxes a bit, but he's still looking at my cut.

The beyblade spins in a few more circles, before flying into Mako's hand. "Sorry," she says to me apologetically. She tucks it safely away into her pocket. "I hope it doesn't hurt too much…here, let's go inside…"

Both me and Tyson agree to that; me because I want to see everyone else, Tyson because he was hungry (how typical).

XxX

Its 12:46 a.m. as I flop down on my comfortable bed, lower the light so it makes the room look dim and romantic (for no real reason; I just like it that way) and close my eyes. The temperature is just perfect and I feel so cozy. I've always loved the rural way of living, not too urban and noisy. I could easily call this village home.

I'm in Mariah's room. The guest house is already filled with the guys, so she brought me to the White Tiger home (which is very comfy and nice) and we had a long, girl-to-girl conversation about, naturally, ourselves. She was telling me about all the mushy stuff with her and Rei, which was really creepy in a way, considering I had never seen a soft Rei before. And then I told her how my feelings for Tyson have blossomed even more (which resulted in a bit of teasing), and lastly we discussed the events of the day.

When Mako took Tyson and me inside to their house this morning, Mariah had quickly jumped up and had given me a hug. I got one from everyone, actually. I had told them how my parents had felt sorry for me, and had surprisingly let me come. I also said how I was in a taxi on my way up, until it broke down and I was wandering about until I had found Tyson snoring away in a beautiful clearing.

"Taxis do that a lot these days," Mariah had commented, with a roll of her eyes.

Then, Tyson and me were interrogated on why our clothes were so dirty and what we were doing, which made both of us turn red and blabber out explanations until everyone began to laugh and say it was a joke. Mako only smiled, which makes me believe that it's hard to make her laugh, like Kai (but she's a lot warmer). After breakfast, I met all the Tatsuya's and had quickly grown fond of them, especially Jade because we both share the gift of taking authority. I learned about their beyblades and how the girls came to own them, which really fascinated me, and also the answer to where Lee and Kevin had gone to. Later that day, I took a nap at the guest house, and when I woke up, everyone was there and we all shared a few laughs on this and that while they updated me on where they had gone so far and Tyson's little experience with escargot, which brought tears of laughter to my eyes.

A knock on the door breaks me away from my thoughts. I stand up to get it, and my heart jumps when I see Tyson, grinning down at me.

"Hey!" he says cheerfully.

"Aren't you tired?" I ask incredulously. He shakes his head. "You've had too much caffeine, then."

He shrugs his shoulders, which surprises me. Usually, he would retaliate, but instead he simply walks into the room. I decide to just shrug it off myself; no need to get worried about every little thing.

"So, what'd you forget?" I ask, as he seats himself comfortably on Mariah's bed.

"What makes you think I forgot anything?" he says, obviously confused.

"Well," I think of how to narrow it down for him to understand, "I don't think you'd come barging in here when everyone else is in bed for no reason, so, I thought of the possibilities as to why, and, I came to the conclusion that you left something in this room earlier today, and you came get it."

He blinks. I sigh. "Forget it," I say, exasperated.

"No, its not that I didn't get what you said," he says, then crosses his arms, putting on a childish frown. "It's that you have such little faith in me. So little that you'd jump to the conclusion that I forgot something here…"

"No-I didn't mean-I just figured-" I start blabbering nonsense, until I hear Tyson laughing.

"I was kidding," he says, grinning, "Jeeze, who knew you were such a worry-wart about my emotions."

I try to defend myself. "I just didn't want to hurt your feelings…" embarrassed, I look at the floor.

"You could never hurt my feelings, Hil," I hear Tyson's soft voice saying, and I feel my face growing hot, so I change the subject.

"Um…so, why exactly are you here then?" for a faint moment, I thought he would say, 'you', and I push the thought from my mind immediately.

"Uh…I actually did forget something here…" he says stupidly. I roll my eyes.

"And you accuse me of jumping to conclusions."

He sweat-drops. "Hehe…Uh…yeah, I left my blade here somewhere…" he says, standing up to look around. I notice he looks a bit nervous, but then, I probably do, too. I eventually find Tyson's beyblade on the table across the bed.

"I found it," I say, and I turn around to see Tyson standing right in front of me.

"Thanks," he says, smiling.

"How'd it end up here, anyway?" I ask, out of curiosity.

"I was bringing your baggage up here, and it was pretty heavy, so I took a lay down on the bed for a couple of minutes, but the blade was in my pocket and it was poking me, so I put it on the table."

"What a story," I say, unimpressed.

"It's true!" he cries, and I laugh.

"Don't worry, I believe you." He smiles, and I smile back. "Great, now you can leave."

"Aww, you don't really want me to leave, do you?" he asks, making that face again, which is so annoying, yet so cute.

"That depends," I say, grabbing his hand and placing his blade on the palm. "What would you entertain me with if you stayed?"

He keeps a hold on my hand, and says in a soft voice, "What would you want me to do?"

"I dunno…whatever you think would make me happy, I guess…" I say, feeling warmth spread through me from the touch of his hand on mine, and I notice how scarce the light is in the room.

"Well, then," he whispers, running a hand through my hair and resting it on my cheek. Wow, he is good. "I guess I'd do…this," he leans in, and for a moment I'm unable to move. My heart seems to have taken up my entire chest, and, as I close my eyes, I feel the slightest touch of his lips on mine, and…

"Tyson!" yells a voice from another world that makes the both of us jump. It's Mariah, calling form downstairs.

"Tyson, get down here right now, I'm tired and I want to go to bed!"

"Um," I say, looking at him. But Tyson seems to be in some sort of trance; he looks lost in my eyes. Gently, he lets go of my hand, but I grab it back. He smiles, and shakes his head. His smile enchants me, and this time I do let go. He walks toward the door, and, looking back, says, "G'night…"

"G'night," I whisper, not wanting him to go, not when we were just about to…

I hear the click of the door, but I'm rooted to the spot, mind racing. I can't believe it. I just cannot believe it. Am I dreaming? I pinch myself to make sure, and feel the sting. So I wasn't dreaming. Tyson had actually wanted to kiss me…

I walk back to my bed, weak-kneed. As I lie down, I smell the scent of Tyson on the sheets, and I let it embrace me. So he wasn't making up that story after all.

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Well, I hope you liked it!

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