Authors note: Yay, a quick update no? ;) Things are starting to get interesting, and Hillary might get some competition! Hope you´ll like the chapter!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW; and I´ll try and update once more before the weekend! :D

Rebelle Boss: Here you go! A much quicker update :D Thank you so much for leaving another review, it really means a lot! Yup, I feel sorry for Max´s mum, or at least a little bit :) And for Max, Tyson is a real perv! I am still not sure how I will develop Kai and Hillary´s relationship further, but like you pointed out Kai is unsure. I sort of figured he might warm up over time, but poor Hillary have her work cut out! Thanks again:)

Lioness of the fire: Thank you so much for leaving a review, makes my day! :D Fantastic that you like the fic, and particularly the prologue. Like you pointed out there is some awkwardness there with the spacing, and I was never quite happy with it to begin with, I´ll see if I have the time to go back and improve it sometime:) "hold your horses", Hahahaha, that is an awesome phrase! Ok if I use it in the next chapter? :D

SketchMomo: Thank you for leaving a response, that is always very helpful for an aspiring writer! I have gone through a few of the chapters and although I personally am not bothered by the use of …I…. I see what you mean. My experience is that when people are unsure about something they usually start a phrase in this manner, but I have perhaps used it a bit much. For future writing I´ll keep it in mind. Thank you for pointing it out! :)

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Into the void

Chapter 10

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Hillary´s POV

Sharing a room with Kai was….strange. First off because he was almost never there, and secondly, well, it is Kai Hiwatari we are talking about here. The guy doesn´t exactly give any clues as to what he might be thinking about things. Sure, I was starting to understand his moods, however you could never know with him. Sometimes I felt like I was sharing my bed with a predator….a hungry one.

It was the morning after we had arrived in New York, and apparently Mr. Dickinson had booked a trip for us to a nearby BBA facility. The guys were of course super exited, and breakfast was a messy affair, pieces of toast, breadcrumbs and all kinds of stuff literally taking over the kitchen.

When I entered it was all a hot mess. Max and Tyson shouting at each other from opposite sides off the table, while Rey was sitting gloomily in his chair munching on his toast, looking quite displeased. Kenny was off in his own little world, typing away on his lap top, and Kai was nowhere to be seen.

Just thinking about him made me blush. Last night had been wonderful and frightening and intense and everything I secretly dreamt about. I sometimes wondered how he did it, how he seemed to know exactly what to do at exactly the right moment.

He had none of the awkwardness that other guys did, he didn´t fumble, didn´t put his hands in the wrong places or touched me the wrong way; he just new. With a longing sigh I put a piece of bread in the toaster. I had been completely exhausted when we finally went to sleep last night, and this morning he was gone. Standard Kai.

"So….it sounded like you had a good time last night", Max addressed me, still not looking his usual, cheerful self.

He had still not forgiven the guys the whole I want to fuck your mum discussion, and I just stuck out my tongue at him. Ha, not my problem he wasn´t getting anything. It was a shame that I didn't have the courage to say such things out loud. Max and Tyson, they just said what made sense to them, no hesitation. I couldn´t help but second-guess myself, wonder what people would think.

Take Kai for example. He didn´t take shit from anyone, he just did exactly as he pleased, and if someone questioned him he made sure they would never do so ever again. Come to think of it there was something vaguely sexy about his attitude towards people, as bad as this may sound it turned me on. You know, there is something kind of sexy about a guy that can stand up for himself.

"I bet Kai had a good time", Rey mumbled sourly from the table.

"Where is he by the way, isn´t he supposed to come with us today?"

Max shrugged, Kenny continued typing on his keyboard.

"Rey, it is the sourpuss we are talking about here, what did you expect?" Tyson wondered, sounding almost exasperated.

I looked at him, suddenly angry. Kai wasn´t a sourpuss! Well, not really. Every now and then there was a hint of a soft side to him, and I was confident that I could get to know this part of him, given time and effort. Of course Tyson would never get along with him if he continued being his obnoxious self. At the back of my mind I tried to push away the realization that the problem was not really Tyson, but Kai himself. He didn´t want to get along with Tyson, and so he didn´t. And I couldn´t understand why.

"You shouldn´t call him that", I said in a low voice, sighing in annoyance when I realized that I had just burnt my toast.

Shit!

About five minutes later we ventured outside to catch the BBA bus that had been assigned to us, and believe it or not; at the last moment Mr. Hot stuff came strolling casually down the street like he owned it. Damn! He was sex on legs, literally. Even from affair I could make out that handsome, chiselled face, and his unusual eyes. Lately mahogany had become my favourite colour!

"Morning", he greeted, his voice holding that characteristic, sexy drawl.

He was wearing my favourite pair of ripped jeans, and his hair was windswept and messy, hot. I barely had the courage to look him in the eye, quickly looking down when he gave me a searching look.

"Where were you?" I asked him, voice sharper than intended.

I knew in that same instant that I had made a mistake, as I saw those mahogany depths narrow in irritation. Gahhh, Hillary! That was another problem with him; he was so closed off sometimes. Whenever you questioned him about something he got…..not angry, frustrated maybe, I wasn´t sure.

"None of your fucking business", he snapped, leaning back before briefly closing his eyes.

"You are sulking", I said, or rather; accused.

Shit! I just couldn´t help myself. He was acting like a prick, and he was so fucking arrogant! I swallowed nervously, oh no! For a few seconds he didn´t move, before he slowly, deliberately turned his head, dark striking eyes opening to look at me. With one look he more or less had me nailed.

Then he smirked.

I let out a strangled breath, and to my surprise he chuckled darkly.

"I had you there didn´t I?"

I looked at him, incredulous. Just then the buss stopped, and he gave me a lingering, unreadable stare, before stalking off the vehicle, suddenly acting as if I didn´t exist. He wanted to be alone, so I kept my distance, discreetly looking at him whenever I thought he didn´t see. As for the guy that was supposed to show us around I didn´t pay him much attention. As always I had other things on my mind with Kai present. Kenny was the one who seemed to be most enthusiastic, intently looking around, literally falling in love with their top of the line computer systems. The guys seemed sceptical, while Kai was completely uninterested.

"But what is the point?" Tyson asked, looking almost a bit disappointed.

"If the computers decide the outcome there is no real reason to blade anymore".

For once I actually agreed with him.

We were led further inside the building, ending up in a large training area, were several people about our age were busy practising their blading. An elegantly dressed woman was overseeing the whole thing, standing back facing us in heels and a charcoal coloured pencil skirt. Even from afar she exuded competence. It was Judy Tate, Max´s mum, and she came to greet us, a cool, professional smile gracing her features.

"Max, how nice to see you!" She exclaimed.

Somehow she didn´t really sound as if she meant it.

"Mum", Max said, voice flat.

"It is a little over the top isn´t it, all this computer stuff?" Tyson commented, sounding unusually determined.

Normally he wasn´t one to actively look for a fight, not like this at least. He was serious this time, no playing around. Kai was standing a few feet away, leaning against the wall in his usual manner, looking all cool and untouchable. Clearly he was not about to interfere.

"Over the top", Judy repeated, her smile widening.

"Why don´t you have a friendly match with a few of our bladers? See for your self how over the top it actually is?"

She said it in a friendly way, but something was still a bit…..off. Kai´s eyes had snapped open at her words, narrowed slightly. We locked eyes for a few seconds. I swallowed.

"Hell yeah!" Tyson agreed, grinning at Rey and Max.

The battle started without much delay. Tyson and Rey both won, but with a bit of a struggle, and were acting all stuck up about it afterwards, telling Max he had it in the bag and so on. Judy just stood there, smiling. The last blader from her team was a girl actually, a red head with large glasses and shrewd, intelligent eyes. I immediately took a dislike to her; she was stealing glances at Kai, and I made a point out of rolling my eyes at her. She pursed her lips in distaste, hostility rolling off her in waves when she looked at me.

"I am Emily", she said sweetly, voice dripping with poison.

"Hillary", I said, smiling just as sweetly.

Kai looked at me, then at the red head, one perfect pale-blue eyebrow quirking upwards. Damn you Hiwatari, damn you!

Max smiled at her.

"Hi, I´m Max".

"I know that", she snapped, taking him by surprise.

Max looked positively crestfallen, but quickly pulled himself together, forcing a smile. The air was now loaded with tension, and Rey and Tyson had almost subconsciously moved closer to Max, ready to back him up. Judy merely smiled, slightly amused at the scene. Again it struck me how off this entire thing seemed. I couldn´t quite place it, but there certainly was something.

"Ready?" Emily asked Max, lining up by the dish.

He nodded, and moments later both blades clashed into each other in a cloud of sparks.

It lasted for about two seconds, before Draciel came plummeting out of the dish colliding with the wall with a sickening crunch. Emily smiled. Tyson, Rey and Max looked completely taken aback, even Kenny had lost interest in his computer. Kai was the only one who seemed to have taken the sudden turn of events calmly, and strolled over to where Draciel had ended up. He picked it up, looking it over before handing it to Max.

"Bit chip is intact, Kenny will have to rebuild the rest", he said.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Tyson exploded, hands balled into fists as he glared at Emily.

She just smirked.

"It is quite simple really", she said, looking very, very pleased with herself.

"Tony and Eric here are merely recruits", she gestured at the guys Rey and Tyson had battled.

"I on the other hand, am the real deal".

"You recorded our moves", Kai stated, voice cold.

Of course this simple statement resulted in a long string of curses from Rey and Tyson. Max simply looked deflated, refusing to look anyone in the eye. What kind of mother did that to her son? Judy Tate was a bitch, a real bitch.

"I am sorry Max", she said.

"Sometimes life seems unfair".

Max shuffled his feet uneasily. No one said anything, but we were all thinking the same. How could she?

I almost jumped when I felt those graceful, familiar fingers touch my shoulder in an almost invisible caress, resisting a sudden urge to shudder. Kai slid soundlessly past me, eyes harder than I had ever seen them. He was angry, boy was he angry! And this is what you should know about Kai Hiwatari; when he gets angry, really angry, it is not an uncontrollable rage, like Tyson for example, who is all over the place. Oh no, it is like he harnesses it, feeds off of it. It is calculated and controlled, and that makes him dangerous.

He smiled at Emily.

"Perhaps you´d like to record my moves as well?"

His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but all the same his choice of words made both me and Emily blush profoundly. His moves? Oh man, was he referring to what I thought he was? Jeez, get a grip Hillary! This is serious.

"Of…of course".

Her confidence was back, although I caught the look that passed between her and Judy. They both seemed to realize that he was up to something. I looked to the guys, who were all as confused as me. Then again no one would ever question Kai when he was this angry, not unless they had a death wish.

Both blades were launched simultaneously, and this battle was even shorter than the last one. Dranzer slammed into Emily´s blade mid-air, not even touching the surface of the dish. A loud screeching sound was heard as shards of metal flew everywhere, glimmering as the light caught them. Dranzer circled the dish once, returning to Kai´s hand.

I swallowed. He had ruined it, completely ruined it. He turned to us like it was no big deal at all, pocketing his blade and leaving the room, looking completely unfazed. I looked to the others, before following him. Oh man! The guys gave the remains of Emily´s blade one last look, before hurrying to catch up. The message was clear. No one fucking messes with my team.

As embarrassing as it is to say, it really was a turn on…