So here's the second chapter. For all the Ray/Kai romance fans, I apologize in advance for the Ray/Mariah stuff. This is the coupling I support, even though I think Ray and Kai could be great friends.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Beyblade or any of its characters.

WORD COUNT: 1030

I couldn't sleep. I just don't fall asleep easily. Mr. and Mrs. Kon had taken the second guest bedroom, so Ray had been moved in with me. It was well past midnight, and he was still tossing and turning in bed.

The door slowly creaked open. Ray half sat up, while I kept still. It was Mr. Kon, and he didn't seem too happy. Ray got up and out of bed, long black hair covering half his face. I doubt either of them knew I was awake as they exchanged fierce glances. Even in the dim light, I knew Ray was giving his father 'The Look'.

"What do you want?" Ray's tone was low and dangerous, something Mr. Kon apparently didn't pick up on. He stepped all the way in, beefy hands curling into fists.

"You no-good, rotten brat," he snarled, "First you run off, then you waste your time learning to fight with a spinning top, and now you're spreading the useless habit to other kids. I'm ashamed to say that you're my son."

"It's not usel-Ugh! Agh!"

The huge fists came into direct contact. The first one buried itself into Ray's gut, while the other one smashed into the left side of his head. Ray dropped to the floor, holding his hand to his face and gasping for air – his father had knocked the wind out of him. Mr. Kon spat, then turned and left, shutting the door behind him. Ray stood up eventually, groaning, and stumbled towards the adjoining bathroom. As silently as possible, knowing Ray is very hard to sneak up on, I got up out of bed and crept after him.

As he flicked on the light, the damage was revealed. His left eye had quickly swollen shut, and he had a bloody nose. He grabbed a facecloth and tried to wipe away all the blood, but more trickled down. Suddenly, Ray's good eye caught sight of something – my reflection in the bathroom mirror. He spun around to face me. "K-Kai…" he stuttered, "You saw that?"

I nodded, not knowing what to say. I found it hard to believe that a father would beat his own son. Sure, my own grandfather wasn't the nicest guy to me, but I never thought Ray had such a problem in his own family. He never seemed angry or depressed or anything like that.

He was staring at me now. I got the feeling that I should say something. "You might want to put some ice on that." Well, I probably didn't make him feel any better with that comment, but maybe it would ease the swelling in his eye. Ray nodded, but didn't move. "So how long has this been going on?" I asked.

Ray sighed. "About three weeks before I left home," he admitted, "I told all you guys I was just trying to learn more about Beyblading, but that wasn't the only reason. I was running away from my father."

"Anybody else know?"

"Mariah. She caught me trying to cover up a few bruises and got the whole story. She swore she wouldn't say anything, though."

"Hey, Mariah, you mind going to find Ray?" Lee asked, crossing his arms impatiently, "He's running late." Mariah shrugged and stood up. She'd known it would be only a matter of time before she was sent to look for their friend. Lee hated waiting around, much to everyone's chagrin.

Mariah ran up the dirt road towards the Kon house. Going in the front door would be a stupid idea, considering how much Mr. Kon disapproved of Beyblading – and therefore, all of Ray's friends – so Mariah opted for Ray's bedroom window on the second floor. She was up the tree within two seconds, easily balancing on the branch right outside the window. No one was inside, so she pulled it open – Ray never locked it – and jumped in.

There was only a slight rustling noise from Ray's bathroom. Mariah crept over and peeked in. Ray stood in front on the mirror, looking miserable with an ice pack pressed against his face.

"Ray?" Mariah whispered tentatively. Ray jumped nearly a foot in the air. Mariah now had a perfect view of the dark bruise on Ray's cheek. She gasped and ran over to him. "What happened to you?"

Ray placed the ice pack back over the mark, as if he was trying to hide it. "Nothing."

"Don't think I'll buy that for a second. It's obviously not 'nothing', Ray." She pried his hand away and took a closer look. "Tell me, how did you get that?" He said nothing. "Ray, please. Don't you trust me?"

Ray sighed and set the ice pack down on the counter. "Fine. You remember how I blew off that festival to practice yesterday?" Mariah nodded. "Well, my dad kind of found out, and he was pretty pissed about it. So last night, he…"

"Oh, Ray, that's terrible. You should tell somebody."

"No! No one can know about this. It's not like it'll happen again, anyway. I'll just play sick today. All you have to do is cover me, alright?"

"But Ray-"

"Mariah." Ray was serious, yet pleading at the same time. "Please, I need you to do this for me. I promise, I'll it up to you."

Mariah had a nagging feeling that this wasn't over yet, but she nodded anyway and hugged him. "All right. But you'd better come tomorrow, okay?" At Ray's nod, she turned and left, back out through the window.

"Well?" Lee asked as Mariah returned, "Is he coming or not?"

"Not. He, uh, caught a cold, or something."

Lee sighed, but shrugged. "Then let's go."

After hearing that story, I knew Ray would ask of me the same thing he asked of Mariah. "You mind not telling the others?" he begged me, "This isn't really something anyone else should get involved in. Why do you think I never told you guys in the first place?"

I nodded. "Yeah, fine. But you're going to have to tell them something tomorrow morning when they see your eye."

"Thanks, Kai." He turned back to the mirror and continued dabbing at his bloody face.