Hey! How are you?

Here, I'm listening to the rain fall and enjoying my second day as a 21 year old! YAY! This past Friday 31 was my birthday, and I have been working on this (and other) chapter as a sort of present for myself.

Sadly, I had a job interview on my birthday, so I couldn't finish on time, but here it is, chapter II!

Hope you'll like it and pray I get that job!

Chapter's warnings: Some bad words, some OOC, mentions of Yuri and hints to much bigger problems.

Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me or I wouldn't be looking for a job.

Chapter II: Those things you hate.

"Honey, I'm home!" Tyson said closing the door.

This has been an awful day, and he was angry and annoyed, and if he had sounded a little sarcastic, who could blame him?

"What's up with you?" Kai's voice came from the kitchen, and he saw her standing by the kitchen's door looking weird at him, holding a cup of tea between her hands and wearing one of his shirts.

"I just had a horrible day at work" he said dropping down on the couch. The warm, fuzzy feeling that invaded his insides when seeing her in his clothes did help alleviate some of his annoyance, but he tried to ignore it.

It has been a little more than a week since Christmas, and by January 2th the dual-blunette had taken a little bit too much liberty with borrowing from his wardrobe. It's not like he minded, it's just kind of weird seeing Kai once again in male clothes.

"How was your day?" he asked once the girl sat beside him.

"Hn" was her answer, which translates to 'bad', which means it was the same as yesterday and the day before…and all days since a week ago "I actually wanted to ask you something"

Ok, this was new. Ever since that day, the only thing Kai has done was drown herself in work –if she could have done her work while staying all day in bed, he was sure she would have done so.

"What you need?" he asked stretching on the couch, trying to forget all that had happened today.

"I'm out of clean clothes…" well, tell him something he didn't know, they both did the laundry here "And I need to pick up some things at…my old apartment"

Oh, so that's were her bad humor came from! Who wouldn't love the idea to see you ex after such a difficult break-up?

"Ok…" he didn't really need her to ask for help, plus he knew she never directly asked for help "I'll go with you" he would have agreed no matter what she asked.

The dual-blunette timidly rested a hand on his shoulder, squishing a little in form of gratitude, and if Tyson leaned a little bit closer to her touch, she didn't mention it.

"Thank you" a small smile curled her lips, and he condemned the day that smile started to brighten his whole life "Hurry up, we leave in five minutes"

What?!

/-/-/-/-/-/

Finally the clock hit 8:00 p.m. and Hilary was able to go home.

Work was exhausting, but that was just fine for her. She just wanted to go home and lay down and not thinks about things she didn't wanted to think about.

She was seriously starting to considering getting rid of all the things that reminded her of her ex, it was just so depressing to going back to an apartment that seem to smell of the dual-blunette, regardless of how much she cleaned it.

A part of her told her that she shouldn't do that, that it would just make things worse between her and Kai.

Of course, that same part was encouraging her to call her ex-girlfriend, so she wasn't sure she should listen to it.

The walk back from work was a boring as it usually was, which was annoying, because there was nothing to distract her of those forbidden thoughts.

The brunette had been trying so hard for the last week and so to rid her mind of every thought concerning the crimson-eyed women, to not remember her while lying alone in bed not being able to fall asleep, she didn't really wanted to think about her.

Hopefully, soon she'll be home and on her bed.

/-/-/-/-/-/

Kai was holding a picture frame in her hands, she was supposed to be packing some of her possession to take back to the dojo, but she had stopped as soon as she saw that picture.

This was stupid, it was just a photo. A photo of Hilary and her on their first vacation together, when they were celebrating their four year anniversary.

A picture wasn't supposed to affect her so much, not when the real memory wasn't stored in there.

But it was…

"Hey…" the voice coming from her left startled her, she didn't realize when she got lost in her thoughts "You ok?" she turned around to see Tyson's worried blue eyes looking at her.

"Yeah…" she said, trying to smile to reassure her "I'll be fine" but she knew better than to try to lie to him.

She wasn't fine. She tried to be, she pretended to be, but she wasn't. In all honesty, she wasn't sure she'll ever feel fine again.

"Come here" the blunet put the bags he was holding on the floor, and extended his arms offering her a hug.

She put the picture frame back on its place, and walked slowly to him. She still had some reservation about personal space and physical contact, but being held by her friend made her feel a lot better.

They stayed like that for a little while, till the dual-blunette broke the hug and said that it was better if they left, Hilary could be home any minute and she didn't want to run into her.

Unfortunately, fate wasn't on her side today, because as soon as she opened the door, she was met face to face with her brunette ex-girlfriend, the keys still on her hands and her brown eyes open as wide as they could go.

They stay looking at each other for some time, Kai could swear they whispered each other's name, but she wasn't really sure. It was like her mind has gone blank the second she saw the other woman's face.

"What are you doing here?" Hilary asked once the shock passed some, her eyes straying a little from the crimson-eyed woman to the other person on the room, anger suddenly overtaking her when she saw who it was.

"I needed to pick up some of my stuff" Kai said, frowning. The anger in the other's eyes making her feel angry herself.

"And what is he doing here?" the brunette asked, a frown of her own and nodding despitefully towards the blunet.

"I…" Tyson opened his mouth to defend himself, but he got interrupted before he could say much.

"He's helping me" The anger in Kai's voice was easy to notice, and it was only matched by Hilary's own.

"Oh, so let me guess. Your living with him again" it was supposed to be a question, but it was more of an statement, and the girl crossed her arms to demonstrate how mad she was.

"What did you expect? You threw me out!" the dual-blunette said raising her voice a little, apparently that was something she had wanted to throw at the other's face for quite some time.

"So the minute we break up, you go crawling back to him?" the brunette didn't raised her voice, but she was practically hissing, he eyes narrowing with anger.

"I really…"

"You shut up!" the boy tried once again to interrupt, wanting to avoid the explosion this conversation was heading to, but as soon as she hear his voice, Hilary yelled at him.

"Don't you tell him to shut up!" Kai said as loudly, pushing Tyson back a little so she was between the other two.

"I can tell him whatever the fuck I want!" the fact that she was defending him made the brunette even more furious; resorting to insults to express it "This is my damn home! You can't just walk in whenever you want!"

"I don't need your permission to get my stuff!" the anger was starting to get blinding, and she wanted to keep it like that, she didn't wanted to ponder on the other feelings this was arising in her.

"Yes, you fucking do, you bitch!" this was starting to get ugly, and both of them felt the need to just release this hate in some way.

"Ok, girls, don't…" it just happened that Tyson chose that moment to intervene, grabbing each girl by the shoulder to keep some distance between them, and the second his hand touched the brunette's shoulder, she lashed out at him.

A slap resounded across the hallway, closely followed by another. Silence fell upon the room and both hits seem to echo between the walls, but they all know that was highly unlikely to be true.

Tyson touched his sored cheek, it hurt a lot, but it wasn't important right now. The pale hand still rose in the air and said hand's print in a feminine cheek was what mattered.

Kai looked as surprised for what she had done as much as the other two, hands trembling and eyes wide open, she seem to not believe she just raised her hand against the other woman.

The force of the hit had made Hilary turn her head to the right, and it was safe to say she hadn't saw that coming. The dual-blunette had never laid a hand on her with ill wishes; it had seemed like an implied promise that she never would.

But she just had, and the brunette couldn't help to think that it made sense. Kai had hurt her emotionally after swearing that she never would, it was just logical that she will hurt her physically now.

"Get out" she said barely above a whisper and the other woman didn't wasted a second to pick up her bags and leave through the door, not waiting to see if her friend followed her.

Tyson stayed looking at Hilary for a while, he felt like he couldn't leave the girl like this, not when she was the only thing that could make Kai smile for real once more.

"Hil…" he called her, but she didn't seemed to listen to him "I'm sorry" it was the only thing he could think of saying.

The brunette held a laugh and sidestepped the man to finally enter her apartment.

"No, you're not" she said, still not looking at him "You're thrilled about this"

The girl's brown eye locked with his blue ones for a moment, daring him to contradict her. And he couldn't say he was, but he won't lie saying he wasn't either, so he just left.

Hilary closed the door behind her, and leaned against it, tears streaming down her cheek while the pain on her left one made any thoughts of having a peaceful night's sleep crash down and burn.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Kai!" he called her, running to catch her, but she just kept walking without even looking back.

When he finally reached her, he graved her by the shoulders and forced to turn around. The dual-blunette looked miserable, shaken, shocked and one second away from breaking down and crying.

"I can't believe I did that" she whispered, her hands were trembling so much she dropped her bags on the floor, her red eyes wide open and a lone tear running down her cheek.

"I never…I shouldn't…I" her voice broke and her whole body was shaking like a leaf.

Tyson hushed her and held her close, her fingers clutching to his jacket while he patted her back to calm her.

"It's ok" he whispered in her ear, her face buried on his shoulder, and he rocked her a little, as he would a distressed child.

"No, it's not ok" Kai shook her head, the occasional sob she couldn't repress shaking her to the core.

She never wanted to hit Hilary. She didn't know what came to her, her hand just acted on her own. She had never hit a woman. She should never hit a woman.

It was just wrong.

The blunet said nothing. Pretty much anything he said now was going to be a lie. This break up was going to get worse before it got better.

He just hoped that when this all end, he would never have to hold an –almost- crying Kai in the middle of a cold street ever again.

To be continued…

So, this was a pretty intense chapter, right? Sadly, things are just gonna get worse for now on.

This chap. begins a new arc-plot (which I'm gonna call "Those things...", you'll see why on the titles) that is going to look deeply into some problems that were overlooked before. Specifically speaking: the way Kai was raised, her tendencies and her gender dysphoria.

Those problems were not dealt with before in "The Heart of the Problem", for a reason you'll see further into the story, so in the next (I think) three chapters I'm gonna really get into them.

So, what you thought? If you want me to explain anything, give me any idea or advice, or just simple encourage me to keep writing, leave a review!

Reviews do help me to writhe more often, specially now that I have a hug writer's block and things don't come as easily.

Have a nice day and c'ya next time!