Chapter 18.

Disclaimer: I don´t own anything in Beyblade.

Warning: Yaoi story, harsh language and violence.

"Talk"

´Thoughts´

On with the story!

When Kai woke up again, the same beep sound came to his senses. At first it was annoying but he soon caught the sound of soft breathing besides his own. As quickly as he could, despite his throbbing head, he glanced around and found his favorite person in the chair beside him.

Ray was sitting with his legs bend up and he was hiding his face in his arms that was supported on his knees. Kai tried a couple of times before he found his voice.

"Ray…"

The raven head looked up quickly like a cat, and the golden eyes fell upon him. "Kai, are you alright?" he asked and left the chair to lean over him slightly.

"D-o you have w-ater?" he asked with a dry voice.

Ray reached for the glass and carefully held it to Kais lips. When he was done, he put it back on the side table and jumped up on the bed beside Kai and sat down with crossed legs.

"So…" he started and took one of Kai´s hands. "Care to tell me what that last stunt was about?"

"It's so good to see your face." He whispered and held their eye contact. The raven couldn´t help but to smile. "Don´t avoid the subject. I´m mad at you, Captain. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking; Don´t let Ray leave town."

Ray´s face fell. "And I guess who had given you that idea." He looked away to glare at the wall because glaring at Kai would make things worse. It was so frustrating, his new anger was like the old anger. But it was anger towards Wyatt.

"Why did you doubt me, and believed him?" he said and even though he kept the tone back, it still sounded harsh.

Kai didn´t answer at first. He was feeling bad about it know, but back then… everything was pointing that Ray would go home and not visit him…right?

"Yes I believed what Wyatt told me. And I thought about the last time I saw you. We were fighting…"

Ray shook his head. "You know me better than that. I would not just leave without talking to you. It hurts that you think that, because you know me."

"Yes I do. But to my defense, I had just woken up at a fricking hospital. The worse place in the world besides the Abby." Kai answered. "Ray… Is it possibly that you told Wyatt something harsh, that he could use to get back at you? Did you use your famous sarcasm?" he asked and tried to smile a little to light up the air around them.

Ray wanted to answer with all kind of things. Like Wyatt is always off the hook, the kid can do nothing wrong, and when he do, there always an excuse.

"Look at us. We are fighting again." He whispered and lowered his eyes to his knees. He tried to pull away from Kai´s hand but the Russian held him firm.

"I'm sorry. You are right. Let´s not talk about it." He said quickly and moved his thumb back and forward on Ray´s hand in a comforting manner. "The nurse said that you had not left my side."

"… You gave me quite a scare." He confessed. "The feeling of losing someone like that is so overwhelming." He looked at him. "It´s like… being a Beyblader, we train to gain full control. And then we face death possibilities like this and we really get to feel useless and without control."

Kai nodded in understanding.

They sat in comfortable silence. It was like a quiet conversation. They both felt the same way.

How close it had been. How they had missed each other. How grateful they were that it had turned out okay. That they were together now.

"I have something for you. It guided me, and told me that you were alright." Kai felt the warm feeling when Dranzer was handed over to his hand and the Phoenix glowed as if greeting.

"How did you find him? I hide him so well." He said with a snicker making Ray laugh. "Yes you sure did. But I'm kind of a ninja and you were outsmarted."

"So that´s where you was? I didn´t need to worry at all." He said and lay down and pulled the cover up as much he could while Ray sat on the bed.

The Chinese hesitated for a while, be decided that he would be honest.

"Actually, I got Dranzer the other day. A couple of hours ago I was meeting up with Seth."

Kai got silent for a while as his eyes left Dranzer to look at him. "Ok, keep talking."

"I wanted to talk with him. Tell him that I was sorry for everything bad I said to him before, and he responded very well. We decided to put everything beside us."

"That´s good. Only wish he could pay my surgery bill, it would be a good revenge."

"It´s no need. Wyatt already took care of that." Ray said and tried to block out the memories of the money situation.

"What did you say?"

"I'm sorry. I don´t have that kind of money and…"

"Ray stop it!" he said and tried to sit up again but Ray held him down gently. "I don´t think…I don´t want you to, don´t think that." He said babbled. "It must have been hard for you."

"Everything Wyatt does is hard for me." Ray stated firmly. "I don´t want to be aggressive, but he rips that side out of me. I hate the person I´ve become."

"Don´t say that."

"But it´s true. Look now we are back to Wyatt again."

"You started it." Kai smiled.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. He always around us. His name is always hanging in the air. We can´t get away from that, until we have solved it."

"You sound like we are going to hire a hit man."

"Don´t tempt me… damn I sound like you." He said. The Russian looked really proud for a moment. He pulled his partner down next to him and held him close. "I think… that you should talk it through. It worked with Seth. Let all of your feelings come out and then we work it out from there."

Ray pulled away from him and left the bed. Kai noticed that his teammate had gotten angry very quickly. "Yeah well, that´s not going to work for me." The angry irony was a typical trademark.

Kai tried to be patient. "I see… and may I ask why not." This was also a trademark. Kai got ridiculous polite when he started to get mad.

"Let all of our feelings come out and then we work it out from there?" Ray imitated. "What is it that you want to work out Kai? I don´t see anything that needs to be. This is the situation I see; Wyatt is trying to steal my boyfriend. If I were to use your words, I´d say: He is trying to take what´s mine! And you just want me to work it out with him, like, offer a compromise? Maybe he settles for sharing?" He made a face. "I don´t want to think about that."

"Now you are being silly."

"You see. Now we´re not connecting anymore! A moment ago you wanted to solve everything, and now I'm silly because I don´t want to compromise with Wyatt?"

"I'm not asking you to compromise with him. And you will not share me with him, damn don´t I have a say in this? I want you to talk about your fights. I want both of you in my life Ray. You as my partner and him as my friend. You both mean so much to me."

"I want you to be happy Kai. And I would like if we could have it like that too. But how am I supposed to relax when I know his intentions. I'm afraid to turn my back to him, because the moment I do, he will try something. He had tried before."

"Wyatt´s affection will pass. He is young."

"I'm not so sure."

"I am."

The old silence were now gone, and trade for a heavy one. Ray shook his head when he saw that Kai would not back down. Kai spoke when he headed towards the door. "I will ask Wyatt to meet us here later. And I hope you will come. For my sake." The tone was firm as usual when Kai wanted something really bad.

Ray just sighed. "You don´t understand Kai, I'm already sharing with him." With that the door was closed.

"Why are you yelling at Kai? He needs his rest." Wyatt said as he came out from the room. Ray smiled. This kid always appeared at moment like this. He deserved a medal for being the most annoying kid in town. It took all his willpower to just lay a hand on his shoulder and continue his walk down the hallway.

"Thank you for the news Ray. We were really worried when you didn´t call us sooner."

"I understand that. But he recently woke up so. Are you guys okay?"… I miss you.

"Yeah," Tyson said and a noise was heard in the background, revealing that the champion had dropped something. "It has been a couple of ruff days since your last call but now I'm feeling much better. Max will be here any minute, can´t wait to tell him the news about our tough Captain!"

Ray smiled as the noise of a pan was heard. "Tyson are you cooking?"

"Why?"

"I'm not sure that is a good idea if Mr. Granger isn´t home. Should I call the fire apartment?" He teased and leaned back in the chair by the payphone. He had only been talking to Tyson for a couple of minutes but he felt much better already.

"Ray I know you are a great cook, but you are not the only cook…OWW mother of-"the curses came out like an open tap.

"Put the finger under cold water." He instructed.

"You don´t even know what I just did!"

"Well even if you burned yourself or cut yourself, it´s the same treatment." He said and then his good hearing picked up the sound of the door open. Tyson´s call out to their blonde teammate confirmed his guess.

Max was quick to yank the phone from Tyson´s hand. "Tyson, what are you doing, put that under cold water…Hey Ray!" he yelled a little too loud.

"Hi Maxie." Was the only thing he got to say before Tyson yelled in the background, he wanted to tell Max the news.

"Oh thank god, that great! Kai is the strongest person ever!" The blond said.

"Hey!" the champion growled childishly. "You know what I mean." Max murmured back before putting the phone to his ear again. "How are you now Ray. Feeling better too?"

Ray smiled at the happy voice. Max had always cared about everyone involved. He was a great teammate. "Yeah buddy…I'm fine." He half lied.

"So when are you guys coming home?" Tyson called in the background, the noise of fried food was clear now.

"Um…Kai has to finish school first." He said. Max passed the message to Tyson. "What about you, "he asked himself.

"I…I don´t really know at the moment. The school wasn´t for me." No matter how this little Wyatt episode turned out he would not return to the school. But he wanted to stay with Kai. It was a dilemma.

"But Ray, pack your stuff and come to us. We will have fun until Kai comes back." Max said. Tyson agreed.

"Thank you, but I think I will stay with Kai. He still has to stay here a while before he can go back to school so…"

"Ok we understand. I´ll talk to you later Tiger, bye!" Tyson yelled and the line went dead. Ray laughed out loud. Tyson´s dinner was ready.

Wyatt splashed some water in his face. Kai had asked him to come back and talk some more right after he had freshened up a bit. It was a wonderful feeling that his crush wanted to spend more time with him. Kai had changed during the coma, he was more present now. He was listening when Wyatt talked, really listening and it was great. With a smile, he put his hand on his chest and felt his own heartbeat. This was the best feeling in the world, it couldn´t be better.

Yes is could. Kai could take his hand and tell him how special he was instead of Ray. And he could admit his feelings for him. Leave the tiger and choose him. Leave the fame and let Wyatt give him a rich but normal life. Wyatt really did want that for him.

He dried his face with his jacket-arm and left the bathroom. He walked down the corridor towards kai´s room: exited about that Kai wanted to talk about now.

The tension in the air was so thick, that you wanted to cut it with a knife, at least Kai and Ray wanted to cut each other.

They were both angry about the situation and didn´t want to talk to each other at all, no matter what Kai said.

Kai had explain the task, that he wanted them to talk about their bad relationship and that he thought it would be best for all of them if this could be solved. He had asked them to start but nothing happened. After fifteen minutes and still nothing he lost his patient.

The Russian looked between them, Wyatt was sitting in the chair next to him, and Ray was standing on the other side with crossed arms and a sour expression.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, there are no rules about this stuff, but if you want me to stay in his bed, don´t fight each other."

Nothing changed the heavy atmosphere.

"C´mon how old are you two?" He decided to start the discussion himself.

"Wyatt, how do you feel about Ray?"

The boy´s eyes, that were empty suddenly lit up and he put his stare into Ray´s back until the raven turned around and met his glare. They both wanted to speak their mind now.

"I hate him." The kid attacked with.

"Oh, what a loss," Ray counted.

"Wow, here we go." Kai said as the tension was broken.

"You deserve so much better Kai!"

"Where did you find this kid? How desperate for a friendship were you!"

"He is a violent person!"

"Not even a big bubble of meditation can help me to shut him out."

"He has done nothing but hurt you since he arrived"

"He is like a little annoying bee, that won´t stop buzzing in your ear"

"And the worst thing of all…"

"I'm saying this with honesty…"

"He is not good for you!" both of them said together which caused a heavy silence.

Kai couldn´t help but to smile a little even though that this was serious. He couldn´t help but to think that Ray and Wyatt could be very similar sometimes. But he would never dare to say it out loud.

Both of them was still glaring at each other so they didn´t notice his amusing reaction.

"Ok…but hey, at least you agree on something." He said almost carefully.

"I want to hear it from you." Ray said and walked up to Wyatt who met him half way, a new courage the boy hadn´t shown before. "Why don´t you give up kid?"

"It´s you who should." He answered.

"I made this clear before. Kai is with me, and that is not going to change. So back off." He growled out the last part.

"You can´t be that steady if you feel so threatened by me. If it´s not me, then it is something else. The thing is; you will hurt Kai in the end and I will not stand by and let that happened."

Wyatt felt his anger boil inside of him when Ray smiled at his face. "I can only laugh at your pity attempt. Even if I would agree to your ridiculous demand, and step aside, Kai would not choose you. He thinks of you only as a friend. Tough call."

Kai frowned at this. It was going out of hand already."Calm down now, you are going too far." He warned.

Wyatt exploded and shoved Ray back from himself. "I HATE YOU!"

Ray didn´t push back. "You are not even worth wasting anymore breath!"

"You are not communicating anymore, stop trashing each other."

"You are aiming to high Wyatt. This is something you can´t have."

"At least I'm worthy of Kai´s time, unlike you; you are poor, simple and unintelligent to attend in our school or even live in the same area as us. You will always be a shadow in Kai´s presence."

"This isn´t even about your hate for me. You are just bitter because the only feeling Kai ever is going to feel for you are pity and you know it."

"Stop it!"

The room fell into a new silence. This was not going well. Kai needed a new strategy. He was going to try one when a low voice was heard.

"No Kai…" Ray murmured. "You stop it."

"What?" The Russian looked at him questioningly.

"I said you stop it; I'm done with him." Ray turned his back to Wyatt and looked his partner dead in the eye, even though the brown-haired boy shouted that he would not be ignored.

"I can stand here defending us to him all day. But there is no point if you don't."

Kai´s eyes widened a little when he figured out what his partner meant.

"Ray don´t…" he tried.

"Tell him Kai. I´m asking you now to tell him that you want to be with me."

"Ray, I just want us to talk…"

"Then talk! Tell him where you stand and what you feel!"

"Please….don´t ask me…"

"I´m serious! I'm done fighting for this relationship alone. It´s time you tell him how it is! Make this ridiculous fight to END!"

"Don´t yell at him like that!" Wyatt yelled but was again ignored. Ray was too angry to notice him anyway. He was frustrating with Kai´s lack of response. If his partner really wanted to talk and solve things then this was going to be brought up now.

"Kai…if I mean anything to you; you do this for me now." He said as a last blow. It was now or never.

... But the reaction he saw was not something he had expected. Kai was looking at him with a shocked expression. You couldn´t even tell if he was still breathing. But slowly a sign of life came through and it was in a way Ray hadn´t seen since the lake incident in Russia. Tears came through Kai´s eyes and started to fall down his cheeks. It was too shocking to be for real.

Kai Hiwatari was crying right now. Right before them. And they could just stare at him like an animal on the Zoo.

After what felt like an eternity Kai whispered something. "…F-fine."

Reluctant and very slowly his Rubin eyes turned to Wyatt who froze on the spot. "Kai?"

"W-Wyatt….I'm..s-s-orry. Ray is right. You and I will never have a future together. I will never love you in the same way, so forget about me."

If it was possible, the next sound would have been the sound of Wyatt´s heart breaking, because that was the exact thing Kai had done right now. Not bearing the pain Wyatt ran out from the room leaving the two partners alone in silence. It turned out Wyatt wasn´t the only one who had gotten a blow emotionally.

Ray looked at him in shock. "Kai…Y-ou are not even sure."

"Of course I am!" the Russian screamed at the top of his lungs, but the tears kept falling.

"No, you are not. I can see it in your eyes…." The raven was trying to hold back his own. "You are in pain… h-how.. h-ow long have you felt this way?"

Kai tried to answer but nothing came out. This was not happening to him. Where did these feelings come from?

He was not surprised when he heard the door close for the second time and he was left with his own sobbing and ruin world.

End of Chapter 18

OMG I HAD TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER TWICE! It got deleted by mistake. I'm so tired. Had to write it all over again while it still was in my memory.

Only two chapters to go. I post the next chapter soon! Merry Christmas everyone!