A/N: Sorry for the wait! I was going to have this posted a few days ago night, but I had an immunisation injection and reacted badly to it. But not only did that happen, I managed to sprain my wrist at work too, so typing was out of the question. Again, sorry! I hope you all enjoy the new chapter though :)

My god, you guys are awesome! 18 reviews for chapter 2 and 32 reviews in total! Also, thanks so much for the 21 faves and 24 alerts!

Thanks to: marishka91, mimic shalle, dark-phoenix-4eva, x-Black-Dranzer-x, Kei-chan, XSilentX-XshadowsX, Pikke Wood, OnlyNotReally, Rapunzelle, Miako6, The keeper of lone wolfs, -izza-x23-, pheonix80, FallenHope-Angel, JST the Power of three, vlissan, phoenix-falling, and black angel falling.

Anonymous review replies will be at the end of the chapters.

Soundtrack: The Brithday Massacre: Walking With Strangers and Violet

Song for this chapter: Blue.

Disclaimer: refer to chapter 1

Tears Aren't Made to Fall

DancerInTheDark101

And if I try to get away

How long until I'm free?

And if I don't come back here

Will you remember me?

-Remember Me – The Birthday Massacre-

Chapter 3

Kai put the car in 'park' just outside of the pharmacy, turning the ignition off and letting his forehead rest on the black steering wheel. The pain from the headache wasn't excruciating, but rather a dull ache that was starting to annoy the hell out of him. Grabbing his keys, Kai exited the car, closing the door with a rather loud creak that had him wincing.

He locked the Buick and strode over to the medium sized, off-white building, entering through a pair of large, glass doors. Just as he entered the building, Kai noticed that a few more cars had pulled into the parking area, including a sleek, red one. Immediately his senses went on high alert, but he pushed them away, not understanding why they had flared up in the first place.

Inside, shelves were stacked ceiling-high with pretty much every medicine known to man. Prescription medicines were kept behind a large, blue counter inside a glass casing with several discreet locks. Obviously the place had some problems with theft.

Kai looked around, finding the blue-lettered sign that told him where the Nurofen was kept. Shifting through the small, silver boxes, he found a packet that directly targeted headaches and grabbed two packets. They weren't exactly expensive and wouldn't do the job of prescription tablets, but he only wanted lower strength tablets, not heavy duty ones.

Ambling over to the counter, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. After a better look, Kai changed direction and headed towards a stand at the back of the shop, the two packets of Nurofen clutched tightly in his hand.

Once beside the stand, he pretended to look through the designer sunglasses. Where instead, he was keeping an eye on the occupants of the two cars that had driven into the car park after him. It was strange. A family of four got out of the station wagon and headed into the pharmacy, but Kai couldn't see any movement from the sleek, Italian red car. He could see the silhouettes of three people inside the car, but they just seemed to be sitting there. It was like they were waiting…

After a few more minutes of 'looking at sunglasses' Kai felt the need to get out of there. The urge to get out was larger than ever and he tended to listen to his instincts when it involved things like this. He placed a pair of two hundred dollar sunglasses back on the stand and strode to the counter, pulling out his credit card at the same time.

"That'll be twelve dollars and fifty two cents, thank you," the blonde cashier spoke, her voice clipped and high, like one who lives the high life and knows it. Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Kai handed over the Visa and signed the slip of paper that was produced. After the cashier had checked his signature, she handed back over the card and placed the boxes into a paper bag.

Kai muttered a low 'thank you' as he left, walking briskly to his car. The red car was still stationary in the same spot and he flicked his gaze over to the vehicle as he entered his own car.

Come on; get a grip, he thought sardonically. Not everyone in the world is out to freakin' get you. Fuck…

Taking a calming breath, the slate-haired teen started the car, smirking as the powerful V8 engine roared to life, then purred pleasantly as Kai urged the beast of a car out of the car park at a slow pace.

Once out of the car park, Kai pressed his foot down on the accelerator, feeling the car jerk in response and roared down the road. It was only a five-minute drive back to the hotel and Kai didn't think he had felt so relieved to see a damn hotel in his entire life.

Reaching his room, Kai swiped the card through the slot and was rewarded with a slight clicking sound, as the door was unlocked. Pushing the mahogany door open, he strode into the room and immediately stopped as the scorching temperature of the apartment-style room washed over him.

"Crap," Kai muttered, dropping his wallet, keys, medication and swipe-card onto the coffee table. "I should've opened some windows before I left. It's gonna take forever to get the place to cool down now." The duel-haired teen eyed the air conditioning unit situated on the far wall, cursing the fact that he had told management that it was no problem that it was broken. Eugh.

Walking over to the large French doors that lead out onto a private balcony, Kai opened them up and let a cool breeze waft in, closing his eyes as his headache quietened down a little. The teenager leaned against the railing, his hands gripping the silver metal tightly as he gazed upon the bustling city below him.

Further out in the distance, the heart of the city was alive with people. Kai could make out tiny dots of humans as they walked among each other and freakishly tall skyscrapers. Glancing down, Kai jerked back in surprise as he saw the same red car that he was pretty sure followed him to the pharmacy, pull up into the hotel's visitor's car park.

"Fuck…someone is following me. Shit!" he growled, pushing off the railing and storming back into the living room. He quickly vacated that room as he picked up one of the silver boxes of pills and headed into the kitchen where he filled up a cup of water and tossed two of the pills to the back of his throat.

Swallowing, he felt the pills slide down his throat. Now he just had to wait for the damn things to take effect and maybe when they started working, he would be able to think properly with a clear head. How the hell had he lapsed so much, that he was allowing people to follow him!?

Sighing, Kai looked towards the bathroom, wondering if he should have a shower or not. Deciding to have one later, the crimson-eyed teen grabbed a box that was situated under the coffee table and proceeded to pull out select items.

In a matter of minutes, the table was covered in sheets of paper, folders and other official-looking documents. Thankfully, the headache had started to disperse, so thinking wasn't as hard as it might have been. He leafed through a couple of pieces of paper, crimson eyes glancing through the large amounts of text, taking in the complicated wording.

The Russian teen placed the documents into one pile and ambled out into the kitchen area and after opening the smallish fridge, pulled out a bottle of Export Gold beer. Yeah, he knew he was underage, especially in America where the legal age was twenty-one. But for once, he didn't care. It was a stifling hot day, he was stressed, overworked and now the Bladebreakers wanted to meet up with him. Crap.

Popping the cap, Kai lifted the bottle to his lips and gulped a large mouthful of the beer down. He sighed in appreciated as the imported New Zealand beer slid down his throat. Sure, the beer wasn't high in alcoholic quantity, but he didn't want to get totally smashed.

Looking into the fridge, Kai noticed that there were quite a few different types of beer sitting on the top shelf. He could see Heineken, Export Gold, Victoria Bitter and one he'd never heard of before: Mac's Gold. Smirking, he told himself that before he left America he would have tried all of them.

He took the beer back into the living room and before sitting back down again to continue with his work, he glanced back out the French doors and spotted the red car still idling in the car park. A frown settled on his features and he wondered if he should go out there and give the fuckers something to worry about.

In the end, Kai decided to leave it be. He really didn't have the time for it. There were several proposal drafts that needed to be sent out within the next few days and he was severely behind.

Knuckling down in his work, Kai didn't notice how fast time flew by until it got too dark to see properly. He looked outside and to his shock, noticed that the sun was fast going down.

"Shit," he muttered, clambering to his feet and switching on the light. Gold bathed the room as the flick was switched, bouncing off the white documents and hitting him painfully in the eye. Letting out a string of curses, the Russian strode over to the French doors and pulled them shut, locking them. Grabbing the curtains, Kai began to pull them closed when he noticed movement from the car park.

A scowl settling on his features, Kai let the curtains hang slightly open. He peered out the gap in the material, watching patiently as several figures got out of the red car and hurried over to the cover of the building, disappearing from sight. Muttering a quiet 'crap', the retired beyblader quickly closed the curtains fully and hastily made his way over to the door, flicking the knob and locking it.

He then stood in the kitchen and grabbed another beer out of the fridge and waited. If those people were actually here because of him, then he would know in a few minutes. Only then, would he relax.

It was ten long minutes before the knocking on the door started. Kai did nothing; just stood where he was, drink in hand. After a while the knocking stopped and he heard someone grab the door handle and start yanking it up and down, in hopes of it being unlocked.

"Hey, stop that!" a muffled voice shouted from the other side of the door. Confusion settled in as Kai stared incredulously at the shut door. If you were trying to sneak into someone's hotel room, wouldn't you try and be as quiet as possible? Just who the hell were these people?

"Shhh!" another voice hissed just as loudly. "We don't want him to know that we're here. If he knows that, then we'll never get in!" Kai couldn't believe it. What kind of idiots were they?

"For fucks sake, Tyson! Shut up!"

Crap.

Kai groaned as he finally figured out who had been tailing him the entire day: Tyson Granger and his lackeys. How in the world had they managed to tail him in the first place? Tyson wasn't the smartest pea in a pod and he couldn't see Ray wanting to do so. And Max? That kid was too high on sugar most of the time to do anything really productive.

Rubbing a hand over his face, he slumped into one of the chairs around the small table in the kitchen. He placed the beer on the table and leant forward, resting his head in his hands as voices continued to float through the door.

It was then, in a quick minute of silence that Kai realised who the mastermind was behind the whole thing. How could he have not have known earlier? The biggest clue was when someone had told Tyson to shut up…

Tala…

Shit. So that's how the morons managed to pull off whatever they were trying to pull off. Tala, the ever-wanting-to-piss-Kai-off person, had decided to help the Bladebreakers in tracking him down. Great, just freakin' wonderful. Now he was going to have to deal with the brats for god knows how long. And he had just managed to get rid of that damn headache too…

He decided to wait a few more minutes before opening the door. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as muffle curses and some strange clicking noises came from the other side of the door. They were trying to pick the fucking lock!

Even though the door was mostly opened with a swipe-card activation, there was also a standard key-in-the-lock system, just in case you forgot or lost the swipe card. Now, Tala, being the impatient little bugger that he was, was picking the damn lock.

Letting out a low groan, Kai stood up and strode over to the door. In one motion, he unlocked the door and pulled it forcefully open, only to be knocked backwards as many teenagers fell inside the doorway, limbs and curses being thrown every which way.

Slamming backwards into the carpet, Kai grunted as his head hit the floor quite hard. He screwed his eyes shut as a blinding pain raced through his head, before dying down. Shit. Now the headache was bound to come back.

"Oh, shit. Kai? Kai, are you alright? Kai, c'mon, say something? Kai!" Tyson's worried voice invaded this thoughts and Kai groaned. Shit, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

Pale eyelids cracked open to reveal a pair of crimson orbs and Kai stared at the gathering of people standing above him. He could see Tyson, Max, Ray, Tala and Bryan. Wonderful…this was turning out to be the best day ever. Eugh.

Tala stared in shock from his position half-kneeling on the floor, working at the lock. He watched as the door was opened and Tyson fell through the opening, slamming into an unprepared Kai, throwing them both to the floor. The redhead heard a thump as the other Russian's head hit the floor.

Getting up quickly, Tala stepped over the tangled bodies of Ray, Max and Bryan and entered the hotel room. Seeing that Tyson was trying to get up amidst the tangle of body parts, he grudgingly put out his hand and helped the world champ to his feet. It was then that Tala got his first good look of Kai Hiwatari in almost three years.

Even with Kai lying down, Tala knew that he was tall. The Russian teen was probably around 6ft 1, give or take an inch. He was thin too. He had lost a lot of weight around his face, making his cheekbones more pronounced, which did nothing to decrease his looks. Kai had always been skinny, but Tala found that he seemed a little too thin for his liking.

Slate bangs framed a pale face, his hair darkening into a dark blue/black towards the back. Tala had always been amazed with Kai's dual-coloured hair, convinced that it had been a dye job. After nagging Kai about it for years on end, Tala had found out that it was actually natural. Apparently the enigma had never touched a packet of hair dye, let alone use it.

Dark lashes brushed against the top of his cheekbones and when Kai opened his eyes, the redhead knew he would find himself staring into twin pools of crimson. Those eyes had freaked him out when he had first met Kai. He had been told since very young that red eyes were the sign of the devil and for weeks after meeting Kai, he had claimed that he was the devil out to get everyone. Luckily for him, he was wrong.

Tala could also see that Kai had changed his fashion sense in the two and a half years since his disappearance. Long gone were the baggy blue pants and surprisingly enough, the scarf was also missing.

Instead, the teen was dressed in a pair of baggy, casual but classy, black jeans. A fitted black t-shirt with a stylised skull and flame design on the bottom right side stretched taught across his chest and stomach, showing off his very ripped stomach muscles. A silver phoenix pendant hung from a chain on his neck, resting against the bottom of his collarbone.

Seeing the flash of something silver near Kai's hair, Tala peered closer to see that he had two, small, silver studs piercing his left ear. Tala let a smirk decorate his features at the jewellery. Kai had always said that he was going to get his ear pierced. Thinking about something else the boy had said when younger, Tala glanced at Kai's right arm. He let out a quiet laugh when he saw the edges of black ink that trailed up under the sleeve of his shirt. So he did get the tattoo in the end.

"Oh, shit. Kai? Kai, are you alright? Kai, c'mon, say something? Kai!" Tala turned to see Tyson standing, his dark blue eyes wide with fright at the sight of his unmoving ex-captain.

A groan left Kai's lips as he stirred and seconds later Tala found himself staring into his friend's deep crimson eyes. Only, one eye wasn't crimson anymore. The redhead felt his mouth drop open at the different eye colours, immediately wondering what the hell had happened. He felt someone's arm brush his back and turned to see Bryan, Ray and Max standing beside him, worried expressions marring their features. Surprisingly, Bryan also looked slightly worried at the sight of Kai on the ground.

Ten minutes and several heated arguments later, the teenagers were sitting around the small kitchen table. Kai held a bag of ice to his head where swelling had begun to show around the small gash in the skin. Tala could feel the anger radiating off his friend and he didn't blame him for being angry. It hadn't exactly been the best entrance they could have made.

"Are you okay, Kai?" Tyson asked for the one-thousandth time. Tala fleetingly glanced at Kai, waiting for the reply.

"Yes!" Kai growled, lowering the makeshift icepack from the gash to glare at the boy. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much. Now, shut up before I make you shut up!"

Biting back a laugh, Tala slapped a hand over his mouth. On the surface, it seemed like Kai hadn't changed at all. It was good to see him again. Truth be told, Tala had missed him quite a bit. He knew that the Bladebreakers had too. All of them wanted Kai to come back to Japan with them, but Tala wasn't so sure if Kai would warm to the idea at all. He had seen the coffee table stacked with official documents and other papers. Kai was deeply involved in the running of Hiwatari Enterprises and BIOVOLT. He wouldn't abandon his duties easily and Tala wasn't sure if he wanted him to. Kai seemed to be changing the two former-manipulative companies and turning them into something good. And if that meant giving up beyblading for good, then Tala wasn't too worried.

He just hoped that Kai wouldn't kill Tyson in the next five minutes. Sharing a look with Bryan as Kai sent daggers of fury Tyson's way, Tala let a smirk possess his lips. Oh, this was gonna be fun.

A/N: Another chapter completed! Once again, I'm so sorry for the wait. There will be a slight time jump next chapter, and then the story will pick up. The big reunion is next and the rest of the bladers will be introduced to the story! Thanks again for reading. Hope you all enjoyed it. Leave a review if you feel like it :)

Thanks again!

-DancerInTheDark101-

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Anonymous review replies:

Kei-chan: Thanks so much for the review! The info I used for the background of Kai was pretty much completely made up. I found the birth date on Wikipedia and decided to use it. There are many different theories as to what Kai's birthday is, but for this story I'm gonna stick with August 2nd. Thanks for telling me though! I checked out the website as well. My god, its amazing!