This chapter came out easier than I first imagined, but I'm not quite sure I'm loving the whole 'love at first sight' thing, though it sort of isn't that really.

Anyway, Id like to thank AJ and souleaterned for reviewing since I couldn't reply personally. As always your support is much appreciated. Also, sorry to darkblackshadowangel11 since I didn't reply to your PM. I have no idea how to:P I've not sent one in so long, you see. I hope this chapter's long enough for you.

Disclaimer: Seriously, no matter how many times I right this Beyblade will never be mine.

Chapter 4

The doctor worked silently as he examined Kai's battered and sleeping body and worked with the careful precision of a master artist as he removed the bullet from within the flesh of Kai's leg. Hilary felt her eyes widen as she studied it. Such a small thing, really. Yet for something so small it could do so much damage. It was strange that given enough power behind something, no matter how small, it could transform into a thing much greater. Take a bullet for example. The thing on its own was perfectly harmless but once you provided it with propulsion it turned dangerous. Dangerous enough to kill or gravely injure a person. Chain reactions like those were something ot be feared.

His nimble fingers worked over Kai's naked torso, so finely sculpted it looked like the sculptor had made Adonis in the image of Kai. Her eyes wandered up to his face which was peacefully sleeping. He truly was handsome, like the way a prince in a fairy tale should be. Looking at him made her hurt with every heartbeat with a feeling she had never felt before. Slowly, her fingers smoothed his hair away from his face in a motherly gesture.

She felt the doctor's eyes on her and she tried not to meet them, pretending that she wasn't even aware he was looking at her. The man – Dr. Kazoki, one who she had known for many years as she grew up and the only person she could think on to trust – hadn't been happy at all when he understood just who this house call was for. The consequences for harboring a fugitive in Hilary's case would be bad but to aid in his recovery would possibly be seen as worse. Still she had to give the man some credit. Even if he did have reservations he had done a great job and had given in in the end. Anyone else would have said no and turned away. He had said no but remained to help anyway.

He dressed the wound and left a few bottles of painkillers and disinfectant and beside them placed bandages. "You'll need to change them everyday and clean them out too," he told Hilary in a grim voice. "I won't be back. You've involved me with him more than what you should have."

"I was desperate."

He looked at her with sorrowful eyes and shook his head. "This is a dangerous game you've become a player in, Hilary. God knows what Brooklyn would do to you should he discover his enemy recovering in his fiancé's bedroom."

"Only three people know he's here and neither Mariah nor I am going to tell. You're under oath not too, don't forget. One that binds you to your job. You've done nothing wrong and if it comes to it I'll take full responsibility."

"Four," Kazoki corrected, gesturing towards his sleeping patient. "When he wakes make sure he knows the severity of the situation he's unknowingly put you in. Let's hope he has savvy enough to behave himself while in your care. He owes it to you not to put you into anymore danger than what you already are. And for God's sake, make sure Brooklyn never discovers he was here. Nor I to help him, for that matter. Keep those bottles hidden beside Kai and when it comes to disposing them give them to Mariah to put them in her own disposal outside of here. If Brooklyn should ask why I was here...?"

"I'll tell him I was having serious migraines and you were prescribing me painkillers to deal with them. Don't worry. I won't implement you in any of this because he will never know Kai was here."

Kazoki took her hands gently into her ageing ones. "One more bit of advice. When Kai wakes up and the two of you begin to get to know each other as he recovers be very, very careful. You don't want something to spawn which would be deadly for the both of you."

She frowned as she tried to interpret his meaning. "I don't understand."

"I hope you won't have to. I'll go now and give you time to hide your charge. Be careful and take the greatest care."

"Thank you," Hilary gave him a grateful smile but it wasn't returned. He barely looked at her when he left her room and with a dull thud, he walked away for the last time in her life. He didn't need to tell her as much since it was perfectly obvious from the way he was acting like she wasn't even there and to Hilary that was possibly the worst punishment he could give her. If only he could understand it was for the greater good. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made in order for things to get better and in all honesty there wasn't much of a sacrifice there. Surely some one with the intelligence required to be a doctor would be able to calculate how unlikely it was that Kai would be discovered? After all, among the many things Brooklyn was, he was also arrogant. He didn't think Hilary would be brave enough to cross him in the room that they quite often shared, though not physically.

Panic arose slightly as there was an exchange of voices a distance outside her door and she remembered Brooklyn promised he would visit her that morning to see how she was feeling. Hurriedly, she pushed Kai's makeshift bed under her own until it was completely out of sight and in a swift gesture she sweep the other things under the bed with her foot. She had a few seconds to compose herself and picked up a book, feigning happy surprise when Brooklyn strode in, looking as pissed off as she'd ever seen him. He immediately moved to the window and looked out onto the street in disgust where a massive clean-up was being carried out after the previous night's battle between what he'd refer to as 'them and us'.

"Is something wrong?" Hilary asked, moving towards him and reluctantly putting her hand on his shoulder.

He noticed the gesture with curious eyes with still held a glint of irritation. "I could ask the same question. For one thing I just saw your doctor leave and apparently he's leaving the city to travel to pastures new. Another, since when have you ever had the initiative to make any kind of contact with me without me doing so first?" Hilary licked her lips. On the spot this this, her mind blanked. She didn't know why she did that either, except to act normal and this apparently wasn't normal. Luckily, he continued, not expecting an answer from her. "What is it thats wrong with you anyway? He said something about a headache." From his tone he sounded concerned but Hilary saw in his face he was just going through the motions.

"Yeah, I'm having these really bad migraines," she explained, letting her hand go to her head for emphasis. She found Brooklyn was looking at her with sternness and didn't understand why. She quickly added, "But it's nothing serious." He nodded approvingly. "What happened last night in the parade?"

Again the highly irritated Brooklyn came back and he was glowering darkly again out of the window. "Just as expected Hiwatari showed up and caused a scene. I don't know how he's got the people fooled but he has."

"Fooled?" She questioned innocently. "What do you mean?"

"He seems to think that I shouldn't be ruler to the kingdom. But let's face it if it's not me, who could it be? Him? One of his little sidekicks? If they were so fit to rule, why is it that they hide in the city like rats, only coming out when they think its safe enough." He laughed harshly. "Hiwatari's no more fit to be king than I am to be anything less."

"I don't think he's trying to be the new ruler."

This seemed to amuse Brooklyn. He snickered at Hilary to which she crossed her arms indignantly. "What do you know? You've never met him, you're never seen him on anything other than television or in the newspapers. Your opinion is about as worthless as fool's gold, except even with that you can play some children's game. Don't look at me like that, Hilary."

He cupped her chin in his hand gently and brought her face up to meet his almost leering one. It turned Hilary's stomach to be caught in a game such as this one. He was toying with her. He could see through her image of false affection and deep into the loathing. He could see it and he was enticing it to come out, knowing she would never be brave enough. It turned her stomach because she was too much a coward. The only time she had courage enough was when it was behind his back. He kissed her lips softly in a gesture but she wasn't going to play along.

"Well maybe my opinions wouldn't be worthless if you didn't keep me in here like a prisoner in some dungeon-" Her words were cut off by the sudden loss of breath when his hand grabbed her throat.

"What did you say?" He hissed darkly, leaning in close to her, his eyes deadly. Hilary felt herself tremble under his strong grip and her hands went to his fingers to try and pry him off but her attempts were futile as pushed her into the wall behind her and pinned them both above her head with a single hand delivering one simple message: she was his and he owned her. "That sounds very, very familiar."

She took a wheezy gulp of air and, is if he was just realising what he was doing, he removed his hand from her neck. "It's just a figure of speech!"

Keeping her hands pinned, his body was now pressed against hers and his other hand was gently running up and down her waist. "Well just figures of speech can get you into a lot of trouble. You'll be smart to watch your tongue when you speak to me or you might find that next time I don't let go." He let her go and walked a few paces away from her, fixing his army uniform in the mirror. "Oh, and since he's fresh on my mind Hiwatari was injured last night. I shot him. Unfortunately he's now missing but I have ever hospital and medical station under very strict surveillance. I'll find him, Hilary. Then you can kiss whatever little image of this hero goodbye because when I'm finished with him he'll be begging me to let him join my side." He smiled maliciously at her. "But it'll be too late for that."

She waited until he was out of her room before she let herself begin to cry silent tears; silent because she was afraid of what he would say or do if he should hear her. Her fingers tenderly rubbed her neck where she could see red finger marks in the mirror. Even now it hurt slightly to breath. It wasn't the pain that was causing the tears. It was the helplessness of being stuck with him forever, stuck with obedience and stuck with being less than what she should be. Challenging him was impossible. He was stronger than her and with him that was all that mattered. He could control her by his own strength or the strength of his army against her people. The only thing she could really do was pray things would get better but so far even that didn't seem to be helping.

"Man," Kai Hiwatari said as he climbed out from underneath the bed, wincing slightly as he put weight on his injured leg and then taking it off again. "He was in high spirits."

"How long have you been awake for?" Hilary whispered, glancing nervously at the door.

Kai smiled gently like he knew what just happened but wasn't going to cause her the embarrassment of mentioning it to her. "Don't worry, he's gone. I wouldn't have come out unless I was certain. And long enough. I think I woke up midway during your little conversation. I almost panicked when I thought he'd captured me until I realised what was going on." He lifted up the leg of his jeans, took a look at the bandage which had a bright red circle of blood on it and shook his head. "I shouldn't be here, you know," he said, looking at Hilary.

"I know," Hilary said, trying to discreetly wipe her eyes. "But Mariah and I didn't know what else to do. If we would have left you they might have took you instead and that would have been a disaster."

"Yeah," Kai agreed. "For me."

"No, for the people." He looked up at her puzzled and crunched down two tablets of paracetamol. "Brooklyn was right. You're a hero to them. You're the only thing keeping their hopes alive. They look to you to lead them and to tell them things are going to get better."

Frowning, Kai limped over to the window where Brooklyn had stood only minutes before. The thought sent a brief shiver down Hilary's spine. "Believe me, things are only going to get worse before they get better, especially now that I'm pretty much out of the game. My men don't even know if I'm alive or dead."

"Mariah went away to tell them this morning. She's letting them know you're alright and just need to spend a little while recovering."

"Bah! I may as well be dead." He was silent for a second as he scanned the image before him. "That was some mess we made last night. Do you know if anyone was killed?" In his eyes there was worry that his calm voice didn't convey. Hilary wished she could give him an answer but she could only shrug helplessly. To this he sighed. "It was them who wanted a battle, mutinous bastards that they are. And they call themselves my friends!" He smiled affectionately as he carried on his monologue. Hilary felt as if she might as well not have been there for all the attention he was giving her. "It was one hell of a night, though wasn't it? Little by little, that's all it is." His attention once again turned to Hilary with renewed interest. "I still shouldn't be here though I suppose leaving's going to be a bitch on this leg. I don't suppose you've been told just how dangerous this is for you and for your kingdom?"

Hilary rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. I've been told. And it's not my kingdom, nor will it ever be. As much as I admire what you're doing to overthrow Brooklyn it's going to be next to impossible."

"Yeah?" Kai questioned, looking at her with eyes that seemed to pierce her thoughts. "If you truly believed that you would have left me for dead. Out of interest, how long will it be before I personally let everyone know that I'm not?"

"I would say at least a week but even then you won't be fully recovered. You'll be able to walk on it but it will still be painful and don't even think about doing anything as strenuous as leading a rebellion."

"We've been talking like we're know each other and its just occurred to me that we've not even met." He held out his hand with a charming smile. "I'm Kai Hiwatari, leader of the only resistance to be truly feared by Kingston. Pleased to meet your acquaintance."

Smiling back, Hilary said, "I'm Hilary Tatibana, heir to the throne and the reason Brooklyn will be king in less than three months."

"Three months, huh?" Kai asked. "Not even three months. That seems like an awfully short timescale in which to overthrow a dictator. Stranger things have happened. Like Kingston even becoming a dictator." He was silent again, like he was thinking inside of himself somewhere deep down where no one else could penetrate him. It was then Hilary realised that this Kai she had just experienced was his public facade and that the Kai she was seeing now was a lot closer to his true personality. Although his alter-image had clips of himself mangled up with it, he was clearly hiding the part of him he thought would be less likely to be loved by the public. "I have to hand it to you, I'm impressed by your bravery."

"I'm not brave..."

"No? Believe me, it takes guts to defy Brooklyn by sneaking out underneath his nose when you're in such close proximity. Plus you were able to say to his face what I could only say when there was plenty of distance between us."

"But that was only because there were people in front of you."

Kai cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at her. "Believe me. There's a fire burning inside of you that is powerful enough to rule a kingdom. You just need to keep it burning." Hilary turned away from him and the sunlight caught her hair at such an angle Kai was momentarily breathless. For just a second he had been been frozen solid in a moment of breathless delight, more so when she turned back down to face him and his eyes met hers. They seemed to be full so full of light that it was from them that the sun was shining yet at the same time there was a sadness there that Kai wanted to share with her, only so he could turn it into joy. It was crazy. He had barely even met this girl.

On her lips a sorrowful smile tugged. "You'll find that with me to be soon married to Brooklyn any fire will be quickly put out."

Not quite aware of what he was doing, he took her hand. Surprised, she looked up at his face and found herself lost in his eyes. "I promise you, with everything that I am, that you will never have to marry Kingston. Whatever it takes, I won't let that happen. You'll become the rightful queen you were supposed to be."

"Don't you think its a bit soon to be making such promises to a girl who've only just had your first conversation with?" She didn't know why, but her voice was a whisper and it held something unknown, almost like longing but she had no idea what she was longing for.

"I don't think I'm the only one of us who feels like it isn't."

Taking them both by surprised alarm, Mariah brushed into the room all business and firmly closed the door behind her. She saw Kai awake and well and the grim look on her face suddenly changed into relief. Kai noticed that her hair was slightly askew and her cheeks red, indicating that wherever she had just been she had rushed back here. He also noticed that the formality he expected between her and Hilary didn't exist. In fact, it was like being in the room with two friends instead of a Lady-in-waiting and her charge. He was glad of that. It meant things would be much easier for him if they didn't have to have formalities. After it, it was much easier to accept help from his cousin's friend than the woman she was a servant for. He assumed it would also make it easier for Hilary to help him, albeit there were probably some kind of fantastical delusions about nursing an outlaw back to health so he could stop the bad guy and save the day.

This reputation he seemed to be building for himself just getting harder and harder to keep up with.

"Kai!" Mariah said quietly, her joy clear in the small tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. "I'm so glad you're awake. I've just been back from the underground. You have no idea how riled up everyone is after last night. Especially now that they feel they have some kind of vendetta to carry out on your behalf."

"Take back orders from me not to do anything until I'm fully recovered," he replied immediately. The charm being displayed for Hilary had instantly evaporated and he resumed his usual stature of command. "I'll return in around a week or so. Until then tell everyone to lie low. Kingston's going to be sniffing us out for the next couple of weeks so I suggest no one does anything stupid but continues with the training. Until I get back, Tala's in charge. Pass on those messages."

She nodded. "There's another thing. Brooklyn requests your presence in the palace, Hilary. I think he's intending on you staying the night there." Hilary quickly glanced at Kai and then back to Mariah. If she was to leave, who would take care of him? More importantly who would keep him out of trouble? Without her there to keep an eye and keep him in line she didn't fancy how well behaved he would be. Would he be able to resist the temptation of screwing around with Brooklyn? She didn't want to count on it, not with the risks involved both for herself and for Kai. Another thing to trouble her was the nature of Brooklyn's request. I.e, it had never been made before. "When he was talking to me he sounded really mad. What happened between the two of you?"

"I said something I shouldn't have and he reacted badly."

"She said something that spookily reflected what I said last night," Kai expanded. "Kingston caught on and overreacted. He then stormed out of the room and is probably now wanting to make some kind of amends so that he can carry on with this little public image of the perfect relationship that he and Hilary are sharing that fits in oh-so-well with his whole usurping the crown. Funny that."

Mariah detected the bitter tone in his voice but chose to ignore it. "In any case, he's waiting in the courtyard for you Hilary. You'd be wise not to keep him if he's already in a bad mood." Nodding silently, Hilary made for the door, but Mariah's hand on her arm stopped her. She softly said, "Take a couple of minutes to clean yourself up first. Your resilience is one of the only weapons you have against Brooklyn, even if it is pretend."

Mariah's amber eyes followed Kai's gaze as Hilary left quietly and then settled on her own. For a full thirty seconds they stared each other other, challenging the other to say something first. Mariah had seen the look in his eyes and Kai had been aware of its presence, though being as inexperienced in such emotional matters as he was, he didn't quite know what it meant. Physically he knew he had a desire but he put that down to being a man. Emotionally he didn't quite know what it was he was feeling. Only that it felt good.

"Don't be an idiot," Mariah chastened sternly. "No good would come of it for either of you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Sighing, Mariah folded her arms. "Don't you? I saw the way you were looking at her. Take my advice and leave this one be. There's plenty more available women." Kai shrugged and turned over on the bed, letting his back face her. "Don't turn away from me. I can read you like a book. Her too. I'll be saying the same thing once we get a second alone. Just take my advice. Don't become one of those lovefools who sees a pretty girl and falls head over heels."

Sitting back, Kai raised an eyebrow. "If it was a pretty girl I was after I could have ten lying at my feet by now." Mariah scoffed at this blatant exaggeration. "I'm just grateful to her for helping me out and she's grateful for me giving her a feeling of rebellion."

"Oh really?" She asked, treacly sarcasm dripping from her tongue. "The two of you certainly have a funny way of showing your gratitude. Look, listen to me. Be careful with Hilary. Don't fall into the net so easily because its more difficult than you could ever imagine to get out."

Kai tried to give her what people thought of as a winning smile but found that when it was just him and her with no crowds of people it was impossible to slip into the other persona. Instead he gave her one which he would call reassuring. "I wouldn't worry, I've only met the girl."

"Sometimes that's all it takes; meeting a girl," Mariah replied almost dreamily. "It would be quite romantic, though, wouldn't? You and her, I mean. Hilary, soon to be wedded to the tyrannical Brooklyn Kingston, and you, the resistance leader whose trying to stop him. Unfortunately it also sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"Mariah..." Kai said, trying his best not to laugh. "I think you're confusing love with lust."

"First one then the other, Kai. Believe me, I know. Love at first sight does not exist but grows from lust. You just be sure to keep your pants on around this one, you hear? I mean it, Kai. Don't hurt her. She's too good a person to have her life screwed around anymore."

Watching as Brooklyn led her (hand in hand, no less, as a way to please the flashing cameras who were desperate to capture the first public image of the couple) to the waiting black limousine, Kai felt his heart lurch when she cast a lonesome look at her bedroom window. He made sure he was at a safe enough distance that he wouldn't be seen but the sight of her desperation made him want to run to the window and...well he didn't know what exactly, but something. Thankfully, Mariah did that something for him. A simple gesture, but one that made Hilary smile gratefully and turn back to Brooklyn. Kai had never known a wave to have such a big effect.

He turned to Mariah and feeling his eyes she glanced at him casually. "If there's one thing I'm never going to do, I'm never going to hurt her."

Mariah touched his arm lightly with her fingertips and shook her head ruefully. "I was afraid you might say that."

Please review!

jellybean-kitty