A/N: Finally! Long time, no see. Sorry for that. But I have been so much out of myself I haven't been able to enter into the Beyworld for months (just some family issues, nothing too serious). Besides, this chapter is almost solely about Kyoya (via Benkei), and he's such a strong person I found it impossible to write about him when I felt too downcast and hollow myself (even though the chapter isn't so very bright anyway…).

Thank you so much to all you dear people who have read, followed, favored or reviewed this! Without you I've never got this far.

Benkei knew that being clever wasn't his strong point. Since his first meeting with Kyoya, he had found it better to leave all the scheming to him, and just try to learn as much as possible from him.

"Someday I'll be like him!", he had thought, "And then I'll surely win him!"

But Benkei also knew he got another skill, a skill which sometimes could be as useful as cleverness. When facing situations he had to manage by himself, he didn't trust his brains, but his – stubbornness.

By sheer obstinacy he had got through many difficulties: He had tamed the spirit of the Dark Bull, he had found his way to the substitute member of Team Wild Fang, and above all, he had made Kyoya to accept his friendship.

Benkei knew he meant more to Lion than a mere nuisance nowadays. But why had he disappeared like that, without a word? Didn't he trust him anymore?

The last weeks the bull-blader had wandered up and down the city, checking every place they had used to train and trying to find some tracks of his friend: A broken wall, a scattered rock, certain kind of scratches on the mark... Nothing. The only result of his efforts were aching feet and infernal hunger.

The day after his discussion with Kenta he had been desperate enough to go back to the Lion's den – i.e. Kyoya's apartment to meet his neighbors.

An elderly lady, living alone beneath Kyoya's flat, eyed him suspiciously.

"So you are a friend to that green-haired rascal, young man?", she asked. "I haven't seen him for weeks, which is lucky, because the mere sight of him gives me creeps. Are you sure he hasn't done anything illegal and got paid back for it?", she asked hopefully.

Benkei squirmed.

"No, I'm sure that... he just... I'd like to know if...", he stammered, stretching his cap in his hands. The piercing eyes of the lady seemed to read his most secret thoughts.

"Well, as I said, I haven't seen him. But there is somebody in that apartment, creeping there every night at unholy hours, muttering words and doing things I don't want to have anything to do with. And you shouldn't have either!" The stern look she gave to the bull-blader made the boy feel like she had caught him at the cookie-jar. Maybe he managed to look guilty enough, because her next words were surprisingly friendly.

"You're a decent young man, I see. I tell you this, because a wrong kind of friend may cause you more trouble than an enemy. Oh, if you only knew what happened to my left-door neighbour last year..."

Benkei thanked hastily and hurried back to WBBA to escape to hear any more gossips.

He climbed straight to Tsubasa's room. Ryo had recently given his right hand man an office of his own, despite the fact the house was over-crowded with employees already. The room wasn't more than a cabinet, but it had a big window that could be opened wide, and a firm door that could be shut tight. In Tsubasa's opinion it was perfect.

"Tsubasa, do you have a map of the city?", Benkei panted. The Eagle lifted his eyes from the monitor.

"Sure." He opened a drawer. "It's quite new. I prefer these old-fashioned paper prints, even though you can find everything in the internet nowadays."

Benkei snatched the map and stood there now hesitatingly. He had expected some questions and prepared several more or less lame answers, but Tsubasa didn't seem to need any of them. On the contrary, he was tapping his computer again, quite lost in his own thoughts.

Benkei coughed.

"Tsubasa, where would you go if you wanted to find a good place to train... alone? Not too near the centrum area?"

Tsubasa understood immediately. He had had his suspicions when Benkei had arrived, and now he knew he had been right. He gave his hand towards the map again.

"Let me see."

They spread the big map on the desk and bent their heads over it. Benkei tried to look calm and not-too-enthusiastic, but found it hard to keep his feet still. If Tsubasa couldn't help him to find Kyoya, then nobody could. Why, wasn't the Eagle almost as clever and strong as the Lion himself!

"That could be worth trying."

Benkei bent forward to see. Tsubasa's long fingers had flied over the paper, and stopped now to point a gray spot on it. He breathed quickly. But of course! Why hadn't he remembered that before! It was an abandoned factory area, a bit out of the city. They had visited there once about a year ago during the factories shutdown to check out the place, but it had been so far from their apartments they had forgotten it. Or, Benkei had.

"Thanks, man!", he breathed and rushed out of the room. Tsubasa stared after him for a moment.

"So that's the way things are going just now", he thought. "I hope he'll find him. But does he want to come back, that's another question..."

Through his window he saw the big boy run headlessly over the street, the map flapping in his hand.

The factory area was enormous. Benkei had run by the chain-link fence for a long time to find a place to creep through or over it.

"It's too quiet there", he thought. "Maybe he isn't here today. But if I could get in I could find some tracks..."

The chain-link fence turned to plank one, but Benkei still continued his run. After another corner he had to stop for breathing. Through his huffing he thought he heard a distant sound. He tried to hold his breath to hear better.

Could it be… it was so far off, but still… oh yes, there was somebody beyblading there!

He started to run again.

"Kyoya-pal...", he whispered. Now he was sure of it, that kind of roar couldn't belong to anybody else but Leone. But what was that another voice he heard? A tiny, meowing sound that almost drowned under the noise of the spinning bey – no, beys. At least two of them.

Like a hunted rabbit, Benkei rushed back and forth along the fence. He had to get in there! What if Kyoya was in trouble and needed a friend to help him!

The fence was firm and flat, not a toehold to catch. For a cat-like climber like Kyoya it wouldn't have been a problem, but for Benkei it was a mission impossible.

The noise of the battle was now very near, he could hear Kyoya's voice.

"Left, I told you! Left, not right! Go round it, to the other side!"

Benkei stopped. What was happening there? Usually his companion didn't need any words when directing his bey. So why did he shout like that?

"Leone, I told you not to… Move, you little bastard! Get out of his way, don't you see..."

Benkei listened, completely shocked. Never, ever before had Kyoya talked like that to Leone. Something was really amiss over there!

Right then he noticed a tiny knothole on the fence, about on the level of his knees. He knelt down to see a glimpse of the battle.

At first he didn't see anything but dust and sand because of the zig Leone had made just in front of him. After some seconds he noticed Kyoya's boots only some metres away, standing on a box. Benkei didn't see his face but by the sound of his voice – he was still shouting some very incoherent instructions – he suddenly realized his friend was near his limits.

"Kyoya-pal...", he whispered again. Who on earth could have pressed Kyoya this far?

Benkei tried to catch the other blader with his narrow view but didn't manage. Why didn't the opponent say anything? Was he so sure of his skills there was no need for words?

Benkei was just about to shout and reveal himself when a curious sight caught his eyes. A tiny, yellow-and-white bey came wobbling towards Kyoya, veering round the box. Not far from it circled Leone, waiting for orders.

"You got this one more change!" Kyoya's voice was hoarse and quiet. "You, from the left. You, form the right. Hit that spot together! Not too hard, Leone, he's too weak. And you," his voice grew angrier, "keep out of his way! Now, go!"

He waved his hand. Benkei heard a whoosh when Leone shot out of his sight. The little one did its best to follow. He held his breath. Then – a roar, a moan (from Kyoya), a crash – and silence.

Kyoya dropped down from the box, on his knees. Benkei startled when he saw his exhausted face. He seemed too tired to call Leone back, but it came and landed beside him. The smaller bey followed, bouncing and wobbling, and collapsed finally by his feet. Kyoya didn't move.

Benkeis thoughts stood still. The empty gaze in his friend's eyes made him shudder of sympathy. He felt there was no danger anymore, no malevolent opponent to win, but something was still wrong. He tried to move his legs in a more comfortable position and understand what was going on.

Kyoya sat on dusty ground and stared the two beys in front of him.

What had he even expected? How could he even had thought it could work?

His eyes felt sandy of tiredness, every cell in his body cried for rest and sleep. He had worked like a dog these past days, and what had he got?

"Congrats, Edison!", sang a tiny, nasty voice in his head. "Now you know too how it feels to find out the 756 ways how not to create a light bulb."

Kyoya winced. In the very end, Edison had created his light bulb. He hadn't. But he still felt it shouldn't have been impossible.

He hit his fist to the ground. It wasn't impossible! At least, the failure hadn't been his fault! He had learned to "launch-and-load" - or "double-rip", as he called it – so quickly the second bey landed almost simultaneously with the first one. He knew he could make them land and hit simultaneously if he practiced some more. But what was the use of it, when the result wasn't but a disaster?

He eyed angrily the little yellow-and-white bey beside the green-and-silver one. He had tried so much to make it as nice as possible to Leone. The endless amount of beys he had presented to him hadn't been easy to find, but Leone had made it only too clear what he thought about them. Finally he had asked in despair if there was any bey in the whole world that wouldn't be so very annoying than all the rest. And by some barely noticeable signs he had picked up this one: a young and inexperienced balance type bey, connected with a constellation of some small feline.

At first he had tested it alone to learn to know it better. Of course, it was a mere toy compared to Leone. It was weak, it was clumsy, but at least it was obedient. But in its eagerness to please him it caused only more trouble. And Leone didn't make things any easier, not for the kitten nor himself. Oh yes, he still did obey him, but in such a fiendish way it didn't leave any room for the kitten to do its part. The smaller bey seemed to be always on the bigger one's way, or if it wasn't, it didn't have any change to get close enough to do what it was asked to.

Kyoya lifted his eyes towards the sky where heavy clouds were gathering.

"But why, Leone? Why?!", he whispered.

He was still sure it was possible to manage two beys at the same time. He had almost proved it, the only problem was which two. Be it which two beys you ever could find in the universe, in the very end he had to accept the fact that Leone wouldn't be one of them. He could feel the eyes of his constellation spirit on his back.

"We are stronger alone, Kyoya". The words of the beast formed in his mind. "This whole thing proves only you don't trust me – or us – anymore. You don't think we can achieve enough power by ourselves to win what we are reaching for."

Kyoya shuddered. Leone had hit exactly the point he had been avoiding to think. For a long time it had been just an unconscious, uncomfortable feeling in the back of his head. When he had first realized it, he had tried just to wave the thought aside, but now it was there, as bare and ugly as the truth ever could be.

He was losing his faith in Leone and their work together.

Sooner or later that would mean loosing Leone as well and their companionship. The proud lion spirit wouldn't stay too long with an incredulous partner.

A cold feeling tightened its grip round his heart. If he lost Leone – was there anything in the world worth living for anymore?

Kyoya bent his head to his knees and buried his head in his hands. If it was even possible for him to feel like "desperate", this was too near of it.

On the other side of the fence Benkei sat still on his crouched position, hardly breathing, ignoring the pain in his knees. Not until the gray day had turned into dusk and the first raindrops started to fall he rose on his stiff legs and stood there, thinking.

It was impossible to go to Kyoya right now. The wooden fence wasn't but a brake, there were other things that prevented him to continue even more totally than any fence could do. Even though he still couldn't understand the whole situation, he knew the Lion would never forgive him or anybody who would catch him in a moment like this.

Benkei stretched his back and tried to decide what to do. He had found his friend, he didn't want to turn back and go home after getting this far, but what else could he do?

For some minutes he just stared the fence in the thickening dusk. When nothing could be heard on the other side of it but the sound of the increasing rain he finally turned and walked silently away.