A.N: Uhh hi? I am still alive?

Chapter - 9: Heavy Hearts

5 Months Ago…

"What are you capable of, Little Bird?" Teufel whispered as he stroked his prisoner's face, and the sweet song bird tugged at his chains, trying to pull away from his hands.
"Go to hell," he snarled, ever the fighter.

Teufel tsked, shaking his head.
"I don't need to go to hell to bring you there, now, do I?" He asked, moving to stroke his bird's hair and back, making him squirm under him. "Now, now - you didn't forget last night, did you?" He purred, tracing the mark on his neck he had given to his Birdie the previous night.

His Bird had gone very still.

"Why did you take me?" He finally asked, voice desperate - desperate but nowhere near defeated, Teufel noticed. But oh well, he had made progress.
"Oh Birdie," he crooned. "You are so special! How could I have not taken you? Your powers, combined with my blade, will easily put me on top of the world!"
"For the millionth time, I won't test your blade, you-"
"Language, Little Bird," Teufel interrupted smoothly. "Now, as for your powers - Know that you would have been greatly useful to me even without them. My plan would have succeeded just by having you with me, albeit it would have been a bit slower. But, when I first saw what you were capable of… Let's just say that no one has managed to make me that impressed in a long time. Your little display made me think. I had to revise and redo my whole plan. Do you realize the impact you created, Little Bird? I had to redo my whole plan."
"I don't need your help and I don't want your help," his prisoner growled, tugging away from his hands, which were now squeezing his Birdie's lean hips. "You are just a delusional psychopath, who, just like any other damn villain, wants to take over the world." He scoffed, before continuing, "Honestly, when will you guys grow up and come up with a better and different idea? Isn't it boring, always sticking with the clichéd and cringy jobs."

"You are right," Teufel conceded, making his Bird's head snap up and look at him. "I am 'clichéd and cringy', as you so aptly put it. But," he leaned forward, enjoying the way his breath hit his Birdie's ear, "the difference between me and them is that I am the only one who has you. Come on, give me some credit here," he said loudly, moving back with his arms spread wide, "your friends are supposedly the greatest bladers on earth, and yet, I have managed to keep you away from them for the past 3 months! I am a goddamn ghost in their eyes. They don't have a single lead on me," he smirked smugly.

"Now," he continued leisurely. "Either that means that you are not worth anything to them, or they are just a bunch of wanna-be heroes. Personally, I think it's the former," he finished with a sharp grin, enjoying how his Birdie was trying to put up a brave façade.

"I will leave you to think about it. The next time I visit you, I hope you will be smarter."

WIth that, Teufel sauntered towards the door, flicking his hands at his guards, commanding them to leave his caged bird alone. As the door closed behind him, he knew that he was close to breaking down the defenses of his Kitten. Now, there were only a few more days before his plan could truly be put to motion.

When the guards saw the maniacal and sheerly evil grin on their boss's face, they knew for sure that the guy inside was done for.

2 Years Ago…

"What are you doing here?" Kai grumbled when he felt a blue haired intruder climb up his temporary bed in the Granger Residency.

"I couldn't sleep."

"So? Why are you here?"

"Because I had a bad dream."

"A bad dream," Kai repeated.

"Yeah." Tyson sounded embarrassed.

"Go to your grandfather then. Why are you here, disturbing my sleep?"

"Geez, man, have some compassion, will you?" Tyson grouched, still not moving from his spot beside Kai.

"Hn. Let's see if you have compassion when I wake you up tomorrow at 5."

With that, Kai turned away from Tyson, lying on his side, resigned to the truth that his teammate was not going to let him sleep in peace. He had almost fallen asleep when he felt Tyson put his arm around him. Kai immediately snapped back awake, and he moved Tyson's arm away from him, irritated.

Tyson mumbled something in his sleep, before turning to face the opposite side to which Kai was lying on. Kai rolled his eyes, before closing his eyes, trying to fall back asleep. He almost succeeded, but he was once again woken up from the edge of sleep by Tyson changing his position. This was exactly why Kai hated sharing his bed with anyone, especially Tyson. That guy never goes still when sleeping, constantly moving.

Kai had had enough. He had to wake up early the next day, and if he laid beside Tyson, he would never get any sleep. He picked his blanket and bed, and settled down on the floor beside the bed. Finally, he was almost of the verge of falling asleep, when,

"KAI!" Tyson shouted, making Kai jerk awake and sit up.

"Tyson, what-" His frustrated comment was cut short when he saw his teammate sitting up on the bed, panting hard, as if he just had a hard beybattle. His frantic eyes searched the room until they landed on Kai.

"Kai, oh my gosh, you - Kai, man, you're -" Tyson stuttered something, trying to have some semblance of normalcy, but failing miserably.

Kai took one hard look at Tyson, before silently climbing back up the bed and lying down. Tyson looked at him, before lying down beside him.

"I am sorry," Tyson muttered, words he rarely spoke to Kai.

"Hn."

Kai didn't know how to comfort people when they had nightmares, but… he knew how it felt to have nightmares, and how he had wished for someone to reassure him when he was young. As he grew, the nightmares grew too, but he had stopped depending on people to be there. The Abbey taught him that - to be independent.

But Tyson was not like him - he was the polar opposite of him. He needed people around him. He needed someone to tell him that things would be fine. And… Kai usually was not the person to go and comfort Tyson - the rest of the team took care of that. But, the rest of the team were not there at that moment - Kai was. And Tyson had actively sought Kai out after his bad dream, trusting him to see him when he was vulnerable.

And Kai… Kai had a long, long way to go in this journey called 'Friendship', but… he was learning a thing or two about it as he stayed in the Granger Residency. Maybe… maybe he could do it too - be a good friend.

And that's why, when his alarm went off at 5, and he found himself wrapped around Tyson, with Tyson's head resting near his neck, he blinked in shock, but didn't wake Tyson up. He slowly pulled away and went down, only to find Gramps with two cups of coffee. Kai couldn't hold back the grin.

Now…

"He'll be up in a couple of minutes," the doctor informed, and everyone looked up at him in shock, and the doctor gave a smile. But, the smile soon melted off. "We don't know his mental state. We have to be careful and be prepared for anything. So, if only one of you came and saw him, then it would be better." The doctor couldn't talk anymore as a nurse came and told him he was needed somewhere else.

Everybody looked at each other, trying to decide who would go inside, before all eyes settled on one person - the right person to be beside him when he woke up.

1 Year Ago…

"I can't believe it's been 3 months since Tala last visited," Tyson mused, as looked out of the window of the taxi.

"That happens when you spend each day of the said 3 months in the same manner," Kai commented, eyes still closed.

"Hey! Meany," Tyson grumbled.

They were on their way to the airport. Gramps, Hilary and Daichi had arrived the previous night from their trip. Tyson's Dad would be back by the time Hiro woke up too.

Gramps had held Tyson close, before Tyson quietly affirmed that he was fine. Lots of hugs were shared, and thankfully, not many were shared with Kai. He had just provided silent support to Gramps and Tyson. Except Gramps, everyone had spent the night in the dojo. Tyson insisted that he wanted to stay there in the hospital with Gramps, and that he was bound to be tried after the trip, but Gramps had just knocked his head, and said that he would be more than fine with his 'Old Homie Dicky' keeping him company. So, the others had left in a car arranged by Dickinson.

Tala had called them the previous night and informed them that his flight would be landing at 6. So, Kai and Tyson started from the dojo at 5, since it took at least 45 minutes to reach the airport. Surprisingly, Tyson was up by the time Kai's alarm went off. Kai found him staring at him with owlish eyes when he woke up.

"Did you sleep at all, or did you actually, for once, wake up when my alarm went off?" Kai had asked, as he untangled himself from Tyson's limbs and the heavy blankets.

"Mm, too much stuff running inside my head to sleep," Tyson had replied with a huge yawn.

"I am not excusing you from practice today," Kai had warned, putting on a shirt on top of his under vest.

"Didn't expect you to, Cap."

They reached the airport at 6:07, and saw Tala waving at them from the entrance. Tyson immediately got down and ran to him, wrapping his arms around Tala. Tala let go of his suitcase just in time to catch Tyson, chuckling as he did. Kai discreetly shot a pic of the two idiots he had as friends, and went to get Tala's suitcase. He noticed that his Russian friends had packed light, meaning that he either planned on borrowing Kai's clothes, or this was a short trip.

They started back to the dojo, Tyson and Tala making conversation about how things had been in the 3 months, while Kai had to deal with a call. Once the call was done, he listened to his two friends talk, joining in now and then.

They reached the dojo, and hugs were passed along again. Ray handed him and Tala a cup of coffee, and gave another cup of coffee with extra sugar to Tyson. The three boys accepted it with a grateful look. Ray informed that Hiro had woken up earlier than expected. Immediately Tyson perked up, and had wanted to go to the hospital as soon as he was done with his sweet coffee.

Kai sighed, knowing he had to see the jerk who was Tyson's brother. He quickly downed his coffee and got up. Before he went to get the keys, he clasped Tala's shoulder, and a silent message passed through them. He knew that Tala had gotten it. He allowed himself a small smile - a gesture to show that he was glad to see Tala again - and Tala returned a wink, albeit a tired one, showing Kai how jet lagged he was.

"Tals, your room is ready, so you can go crash whenever you want, and don't say you're fine, I know you are pretty jet lagged," Tyson said, wagging a finger in front of Tala, and Tala conceded with a fond smile.

Kai called Gramps to ask if he should bring the car, or the bike. Gramps said that he would be staying at the hospital until Mr. Granger arrived, and that Tyson and Kai could return back to the dojo if they brought the bike.

They reached the hospital pretty quickly, and Tyson rushed to see Hiro. Once it was established that Hiro was back to his normal self, ("Tyson, why are you here instead of practicing?!" "Well, I am sorry that practice is the last thing on my mind when my brother is hurt and is in the hospital!" "Tyson, you are being irresponsible! You have a tournament coming up! You can't afford to waste time like this!" "Hiro, you are -" "I don't need you here! I need you to be in top form for the tournament!") Kai and a pissed off Tyson took off from the hospital.

But, instead of driving back to the dojo, Kai drove the bike towards the hill where Tyson and Kai usually practiced alone. When with the team, they usually practiced along the beach, or in the backyard of the dojo, but when alone, they usually used the hill.

Kai knew that Tyson needed to vent, and he also knew that he had Dragoon with him - they never left without their blades. A beybattle was just what Tyson needed. They wordlessly got down from the bike, and took their positions.

"Let it rip!"

They launched their blades in perfect synchronization. All the previous day's overwhelming emotions were catching up with both of them, and they channeled it into their blades, expertly wielding them. They didn't try to reach 'that place', or try to communicate with their bit beasts. No, they were just two beybladers who had had a very stressful day, and just wanted to let go of all the things that troubled them, with peace and a clear mind as their goals.

Dranzer won the beybattle. Tyson collapsed to

the ground the same moment Dragoon did. Kai caught his breath for a moment, sharing a look with the panting boy on the ground, before taking Dranzer into his hands, and going over to settle on the grass beside Tyson.

"I needed that," Tyson panted out, stretching out on the grass completely. "We both did."

"Hn."

They just laid there beside each other, silence washing over them. Yeah, they could deal with things now. They were calm enough to put up with reality. They were slowly drifting off into sleep, when Tyson's phone went off. He grumbled as he attended it, not even bothering to see the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Tyson Granger, it is with a heavy heart that we inform you that your Grandfather, your brother, and your team manager are no more."

A.N: Okay, so I felt that the characters were wayy out of character, and yeah, I have already explained why, but… it didn't feel right to continue like that. So, I have tried to improve my characterization of Kai here. I don't know how often I will have the time and the inspiration to write this anymore, so please, bear with me. Until next time!