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15

I stared blankly at the pale hand outstretched in front of me, and then up to the amused aquamarine eyes of its owner, then at the awaiting nurse on my right and then back again.

"What? I'm not going to bite."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the teasing comment, and Tala smirked when I put my hand into his. It was warm. Or maybe I was too cold? I couldn't tell.

"I doubt I need to take this precautionary measure, though." I spoke as I adjusted myself to the right, with Tala's help, and managed to land my feet off the bed. The nurse moved from her place, and put a hand against my forehead, craning my neck in response and forcing me to look up.

"I doubt that you don't." I narrowed my eyes at the amusement in Tala's voice, but he continued, "You've lost too much blood. You need to-"
"Learn how to walk?"
"—Check your limits." He finished, rolling his eyes at my interruption. Thankfully, the nurse removed her hand from my face and stepped back; I glared at Tala but I wondered how I looked because he only raised his eyebrow in an amused gesture.

"Why do we need to 'check my limits' anyways?" I attempted after a while, staring down at my toes when they touched the floor, and I straightened up. I knew I was weak, I could feel it; the smallest of gestures were taking a lot of energy than they would normally have taken. My head felt heavy, shoulders were aching and I was struggling just to keep my eyes fully open; I was exhausted and felt somewhat…warm, as if I had a fever. But, I refused to let it show. And while I knew that Tala was right in implying that I was a bit 'fragile' right now, the thought of accepting it made me cringe; I wasn't going to show any weakness.

"Am I being moved somewhere?"

I was completely up by the point, standing with my arms outstretched on my sides in an attempt to balance my weight. I felt slightly dizzy, I had to admit, but I thought I was doing okay. Triumphantly, I looked up at Tala when he let go of my hand, leaving me to stand on my own; he was looking down at me as if I'd slip any moment. That kind of made me uncomfortable…exactly how weak did I look?

"Hmm." He said in affirmation when I took a step towards him. Then another. And another. "Back to the suite, yes."

And then I tripped.

It happened a bit too fast for me to catch; Tala raised his arms to stop me from falling, but maybe the gesture was so sudden that he couldn't take the abrupt extra weight of my body colliding into his. So, before I knew it, Tala and I were both on our knees on the floor with my hands on his shoulders, supporting the weight that my knees had refused to, and his hands were encircled around my arms from when he'd tried to balance me.

And we were close. Too close. Our noses almost touched. That was the position I was in when my mind became fully aware of what had happened.
"Moron." Tala instigated, pushing me away before I could react. Both of us leaned back, and I pushed my palms on the floor behind me, craning back my neck to hide the blush that now tainted my cheeks.

What the hell was that? I wanted to scream, but all that came out was a small mangled little gasp.

"The suite." I breathed, closing my eyes against the blood that rushed painfully through my skull at the sudden previous movements. I felt faint, "Why?"

It was silent for a while, and I began to wonder if Tala had heard my question, so I parted my lips to repeat again. Surprisingly, I couldn't hear my voice. I gasped at the cold hand that met my closed eyes, at the familiar arms around my waist.

"Hardly your concern right now." Tala whispered, trying to help me up. But the slight motion made me nauseated and I stayed put.
"Don't." I protested when his hold tightened around my waist, "Just wait."

I didn't know how he reacted to me, but I hardly cared. The rush of the blood that as it passed through my wounds at the rapid motions before was getting more painful by the second, the intensity of it left me panting. I could feel hands, smaller ones, push against my skin at different points, I felt something cold—glass?—against my lips as someone tried to get me to drink something, I could feel Tala's hands rub my back in a soothing gesture but it took a while for me to come to my senses.

"Better." I mumbled after a few minutes, as I finally opened my eyes to see a concerned-looking Tala, bent on his knees in front of me, an arm still around my waist. His eyebrows were furrowed as he studied my face. "Blood rush." He gave me a sarcastic stare and my attempt at nonchalance.

I breathed deeply and turned my head to reply….and froze.

"Hillary?"

Standing there at the door, half-way in, his expression a weird concoction of shock and concern, was none other than Kai himself. "What's going on?"

Tala tensed, instantly moving his hand away from around me as if I'd burned him. But Kai stared down at us, eyes moving from Tala, to me, then narrowing at the small gap in between, then right back at me. I didn't dare move, but I had my reasons. Right then, as Kai stared coldly at Tala—who wasn't that much far from me—I was wondering what were Tala's.

"I…" I tried, watching as he walked across the room to stand over us, "….tripped?"

And then he froze, eyes widening as he stared down at me. "What?"

"She's a moron." Was all Tala said, earning him another stoic glare from his best-friend. Tala merely shrugged, and finally, moved away, "A rather heavy moron."

I narrowed my eyes at the red-head, "You shocked me into tripping!" Tala raised an eyebrow at my futile attempt at an angry tone.

"Stop talking." Kai snapped when I opened my mouth to speak, sitting down in front of me. I glared over his shoulder at the triumphant expression on Tala's face. Had I the energy, I'd have bruised his play-boy face by now. Tala Ivanov, I came to a conclusion, is an asshole.

"What did you say to her?" Kai took note of my position, sprawled on my knees on the floor, leaning against the side of my make-shift bed, before putting an arm around me, easily lifting me up on my feet in an instant. Kai turned to look questioningly at Tala, who –too—had stood up, as I struggled to catch my breath. Note to self, no sudden movements. Period.

"Told her we're moving her." He replied simply, unaware of the uneasiness his words brought back to me. I wondered…
"Because," Tala stressed, as if reading my mind, "Kai doesn't think its safe here for you." He looked entertained, when Kai tensed, "He has to have you under constant eye, and the nurses here don't exactly allow that."

I sat down on the bed, lowering Kai as I did so—as his arm was still around me. Thankfully, he was too busy glaring daggers at Tala- giving off silent undertones that even in my hazy state-of-mind looked deadly- to notice my blush.

"Overprotective much?"
"Just go away."

There was a scoff, clearly from Tala, but Kai decided not to answer; he turned on his heels, landing his gaze upon me.
"How're you feeling?" He asked as his arm let go of my waist and he moved a step back to look at me. I opened my mouth to answer, but found Kai looking away, at the nurse besides him. I had forgotten, in the entire mess of the last few minutes, that she was here.

"Not good." She pursed her lips under Kai's gaze, before turning towards the notepad in her hands. "She's lost a lot of blood and the slow pace at which her injuries are healing isn't exactly helpful." She clicked her tongue as she stared at the notepad, "The blood loss has rendered her weak, she can barely walk. I suggest you move her quick so we can reattach these-" she pointed with her pen, at the inverted bottle of blood on a stand and a bunch of wires, "—and continue with her treatment." She looked directly at me, scrutinizing my state, "The sooner, the better."

Kai grunted, clearly not pleased. The playful expression on Tala's face was wiped off as soon as the nurse stopped speaking, and he threw Kai a meaningful look, but he had already turned towards me, his forehead creased with a new sort of apprehension.

"You heard her, Hils." Was all he said, as he stretched his hand in front of me, waiting for me to take it. I didn't fail to notice that his other one was coiled into a fist, shaking uncontrollably by his side.

That night, I lay in my bed back at the suite, contemplating. It had been a dull day, and I had spent most of it lying where I was. I'd been moved here within half-an-hour, the equipments already around the sides of my beds, bringing in the sickening feel of the hospital that I dreaded so much. I tried to comfort myself with the fact that I would be off of blood in just another day…and the equipments will be gone. At least that's what the nurse had said when I'd asked, adding something about taking the supplements right. I promised I would.

Thankfully, when I'd arrived, the apartment was empty; indicating that the guys were out for training. They came around by night, when I was ready to go to sleep; I had heard footsteps—more than just one—echo outside my room, heard Tyson's somewhat angry voice, before everything went quiet again.

I had guessed they'd gone to sleep. Though, I did hear the door to my room open, and then close again. I was too sleepy to look when it had.

As for Kai…I was actually glad that he hadn't stuck to his word of sleeping in the same room as mine tonight. Not only would that have been awkward, considering our little 'exchange' after I had oh-so-dutifully fallen asleep into his arms, but it would've led to me strangling him in his sleep. For some strange reason, he'd been exceptionally distant today. Aside from our little exchange in the hospital—which I was sure now, was more out of shock rather than anything else— we hadn't spoken at all the entire day. After everything that had happened, to think he'd have something to say, but really, no, he didn't.

Had I not known Kai better, I'd have thought he was feeling…awkward. And I wouldn't have blamed him if he really was. After all, our last 'encounter' was something I –too—was having difficulty wrapping my head around. But, Kai wasn't someone to get so worked up over something as trivial as a kiss. For all I knew, even though the realization hurt a bit, it was just a spur-of-the moment thing; his actions couldn't have meant much. Bitter truth. Though, I couldn't deny that they'd meant a lot to me.

But, Kai was a composed person. Clear-minded. And the carefully hidden anger in his eyes, the small clenching of his fists now and then, him staring off into space, leaning against the same damn wall the entire morning, too deep in thought to even look at me…No, something just wasn't right. And that something had happened when I'd been unconscious…because Kai had been perfectly fine—comparatively, at least—yesterday.

I had asked Tala if everything was alright, and he had tried to blame it on the fact that Kai had barely slept an hour in the fourteen hours that I'd been unconscious. And I myself knew that he'd been up long before even that….ever since his match with Tala. What was it, twenty-four hours now? Not only was it a gruesome match, and Tala had given everything that he had, but all the events that had occurred afterwards were just about enough to send someone into an array of uncontrolled fits. The entire day, he'd stayed put in my room with me, refusing to leave even for training—there was no need for him to neglect his duties as a team captain, really—without even a single hour of a nap or a single word of conversation. His usual 'Hn's would've sufficed…they'd have been something. I don't think he had met my eyes all day save in the hospital. To say that Kai was extremely upset about everything was an understatement.

But, honestly, I was glad that he had gone to sleep; I was finally alone. There were some things I needed to think of without being under all the protectiveness that Kai had been unconsciously offering me.

I had to tell everyone the truth. That was my top priority right then. Drew had done what he'd wanted to do and left me to deal with the consequences. There was no point in hiding anything from anyone anymore; he had screamed our relationship—whatever it was—by making that final move…everyone who did not know, now knew. So, what was I going to tell my friends besides the damn truth? How was I going to do it without breaking down? They'd be angry, Tyson hadn't exactly reacted in a way I could handle; they'd be downright furious if they found out everything….and Kai….what about him? He already knew the truth…half-the-truth, as our last conversation yesterday had revealed. How and when he'd found out, I didn't know, and it hardly mattered; he still had many a questions left. Questions that I would have to answer….The time of confrontations was arriving, and it scared me because I wasn't prepared.

What's the worst that can happen? I questioned myself. But found that the answers were much less than assuring; Tyson would yell, Max and Ray would be disappointed, Kenny would be…Kenny, and try to stay out of it…Kai would…I wasn't even sure what Kai would do. All I knew was that I'd be helpless. My guilt would stop me from yelling right back at Tyson, it would stop me from meeting anyone else's eyes, it wouldn't be able to bear any unexpected outbursts.

I wasn't ready, I was sure of it.

And what about Drew? He would try to get to me, that much I was sure of. He was up to something. I'd been right in assuming that a long time ago. He was here, at the tournament, for a damn reason, and the reason was not me. Why else would he stay away from me for so long? Why else did it take an actual reason for him –that I'd known that he was cheating—to hurt me? By now, I had realized that he would do whatever it takes to win the tournament—fairly or not—and it disturbed me that I'd gone and thrown myself into the entire equation on my own, when –really— I wasn't supposed to be in it. Now that I'd had found out and had proof, that Drew was cheating, there was no way he was going to spare me. I was safe before…there had been no reason to worry before but now, thanks to me, there were many.

Unconsciously, my gaze landed on my small schoolbag that sat on the study-table across my bed, inside of which rested the very object of my thoughts. I had to be careful, Drew would want his beyblade back….What was I going to do if he did? I hated the idea of asking for help again…I hated that I was so vulnerable right now. And I hated Drew for dragging me into a position that required me to depend on so many people…But, really, if I was to tell the truth—and the guys were bound to ask how I'd met up with him anyways—then that blade was going to strike up into the conversation one way or the other.

And I had to be prepared.

The truth….Just close your eyes and bite it all out.

But I wasn't prepared.

"So, what was up with you the other day?"

I asked the next day, speaking for the first time in the morning. My gaze landed from the pile of laundry on the bed, to Kai, who was currently in the midst of a series of pushups, right in the middle of my room. He had told me he was just warming up, but I knew he was just waiting for Tala to arrive before leaving for his training—after all, the BladeBreakers still had a match in less than two weeks—and he was uncomfortable leaving me alone. I knew nothing would happen in the short span that he left and Tala arrived, but if it made him feel better, I wasn't going to argue.

Kai grunted, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the strenuous exercise that he was doing, or if it was a response to my question. Heatedly, I grabbed a shirt off the bed, rolled it up and threw it in his direction. It landed on his face, blocking his sight and instantly, he rolled up on his back and, taking the shirt off his face, threw it right back at me. I managed to catch it before it hit my eye.

"What?" He snapped out irritably, propping himself on his elbows to glare up at me.
"I asked you a question."

He scoffed.
"So you finally decided to speak, huh?"

I glowered, throwing my shirt on the bed and looking away, irritated despite the well-deserved spite in his words. I had actually—childish and rather ironic as it may sound—been giving him the 'silent treatment' ever since he'd come back from training last night.

But really, I had my reasons.

"I did not appreciate you sending Mariah on me last night." I crossed my arms, staring at the pillow of my bed instead of him. He scoffed.
"As I recall, you were mad at me before that." I heard him say pointedly, "You all but threw me out of your room before Mariah arrived two hours afterwards."

Again, I glowered, but this time, I directly looked at him.
"I had my damn reasons!"

He merely cocked an eyebrow, as if I hadn't just yelled at him, but said a rather confusing remark in a normal, little voice. I didn't reply, and finally—looking concerned—he raised himself from the floor and came to stand in front of me.

"Really?" He questioned, "I'd like to know them, then."
"You-" I started accusingly, before stopping myself, going back over in my mind and rephrasing my sentence, "hit him. You…went and picked a fight with him."

My teeth clenched at his shocked expression.
"You talked to him!" I yelled as if talking were a curse, and he flinched at the loudness of my voice. "And you didn't tell me! You moron! What were you freaking thinking?!"

Had I the ability to stomp my feet or push Kai –like I would've done under normal circumstances—I'd have seriously committed the act a while ago. But right now, with a bandaged shoulder that ached every time I moved, and an injury to the head that would render me lightheaded if any sudden motions are made, I found that it wasn't wise to do so.

"I see Tala and you've been talking." He said with a nod; I noticed how he wasn't meeting my eyes. Yes, Tala had told me. Right when he was, as he had oh-so blatantly put it, 'babysitting' me while Kai had gone training. Somewhere between asking him why Kai had been acting strange and why he himself had gotten a weird expression on his face when I asked that, I'd managed to find out what Kai had done behind my back…and the entire consequences…and what Spencer had heard Drew tell him.

And I wasn't happy.
"And I'm not happy." I mumbled, crossing my arms and lowering my voice at his slightly uneasy expression. "I'm angry and…"

Hurt, I completed the sentence in my mind, but found no need to voice it. My incomplete words hung in the air, making Kai's lips purse.

I breathed deeply, contemplating. Okay, so Kai –and Tala, and the Blitzkrieg Boys, and Mr. Dickenson and all my friends—knew the 'relationship' between me and Drew, but not the actual extent of its direness. Drew was staying; two more weeks in hiding. And there were things that he'd told Kai—things that I would have to answer to, things that were to remain strictly between me and him; the bastard!—like how I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about him, and how I had something of his…

I guess, if I were to be honest, each of these things was inevitable. Everyone was bound to find out someway, and what's another share of confrontations? It was better this way, I thought, it saved me of some unpleasantness. I was safer at the suite than I was at the hospital….Right now, though, none of it mattered. What Kai had done…his actions had consequences. It wasn't before, but now Kai had gone and made it personal. This was exactly what I had been afraid of. When Kai got angry, he let things slip out of control….I doubted Drew would hold back. Everything else was a part of the past, Kai's attack on Drew had consequences that were yet to come. And I couldn't bear the thought of any of my friends getting hurt…by Drew, of all people.

This was exactly what I had been afraid of. And it angered me that Kai had—what, in the act of helping me? Trying to help me?—dragged me and him into the entire situation.

"What were you thinking, Kai?" I muttered softly, looking away, afraid that my face would give away my hurt. I heard him sigh.
"It doesn't matter. It happened, and it's over now. Let's just-"
"It isn't over. And we both know that." I said firmly, stepping back when Kai reached out for me. "He's going to want payback for what you did-"
"Hillary-"
"—and I swear it to you, it won't be the greatest thing to witness!"

Kai merely blinked at me, looking down with a rather patronizing stare.
"Is that what you're mad about?" He said, "That I put myself in danger? Hillary-" He almost smiled as if it were the most ridiculous thing to say, "That's stupid. He's not going to do anything."
"You don't know that." I pointed out, "You don't know what he's like."

That made Kai halt whatever motion he was about to do, his lips parted as if to say something, before pursing together. I, too, froze in my spot, cursing inwardly at uttering something so ridiculously revealing-
"What is he like?" Kai said, flexing his fist, looking direly angry now. That kind of irritated me, and I looked up again.
"He wants revenge for everything." I tried to keep a straight face when I spoke, "He wants everything to work his own way, or he really doesn't hesitate in hurting anyone."

His eyes narrowed, and I could tell that, again, I'd said just the wrong words. A series of curses passed my mind again, but I just stared at Kai as he closed his eyes, breathed, and opened them again.

"Nothing will happen to me." He muttered in a calmer tone than I'd expected, inching closer, "Or you. Or anyone else. I promise you."
"You can't guarantee that."

His eyes narrowed at me words, before –exasperated at my childishly scared behavior—he let out a sigh.
"Is that all?" He sounded kind of irritated. "I'm sorry I put myself in danger. I'll take care starting now, okay?" He clearly wasn't taking my words seriously; I pursed my lips, when he paused for my response. "Is there something else that you want to say to me?"
"Yes."

He waited, but I didn't respond. His eyebrow raised in question at my hesitation, and I found myself looking away. There had been a reason to Kai's silence yesterday…
"I need to know everything that he said to you." I finally muttered, still not meeting his gaze. I wondered what his expression was right then, but didn't dare look up to see. His feet shifted on the ground, I heard him breathe deeply again and just when he was about to say something, the door to my room slammed open.

"Sorry I'm late." Tala stood there, hands on the doorknob as he hesitated at the door, watching the two of us carefully. It was only then did I notice how close we were standing, and gingerly, I turned myself completely towards the bed, turning my back on the redhead and hiding my blush from both of the boys in the room. There was a slight shuffle coming from Kai as he turned around too, his back towards me.

"Me too." He responded to my earlier sentence, "I think it's about time everything is out in the open air."

We're talking about this later.

Something in the authoritative tone of his voice told me that the conversation would tilt towards a rather unpleasant avenue, and I gulped unceremoniously. A few seconds later, Kai was out of the door without a word, slamming the door rather loudly behind him. Footsteps neared me and I blinked myself into focus, bending down to pick up a long rectangular box from underneath the bed.

Scrabble time.

AN: Aaahhh! Haven't posted in a while. Feels VERY strange! O_O Good strange, though :)

Found this in my drafts :P Thought I'd publish it. To KHL, as per usual, because I wuv her and I wanted to do something nish ^_^

And, I'm shick.

Anyways, hope you guys liked it. You BETTER, cuz I know it cost me a LOT to get this done. Had it done last year, actually, but I was so insecure regarding this fic that, according to KaiHillover, I hated this chapter and didn't post it.

Aside from that, finals nearing soon, and then I'll be back to writing for a dead fandom -_- Everyone is gone. It's, like, sooo weird. Really. Reminiscing the older times! T_T

Anywhoo, I'd appreciate a review if anyone's still following this :)

Signing off. Love ya all :P