The cherry blossoms of Tokyo were always a beautiful sight. Pink painted across the whole city. It would come as bridesmaid-boughs in soft-pastel dresses. Life became so sedentary during that time of the year. The cherry blossoms came as a serenade to the softer side of mother nature, reminding us of the beauty that is there for eyes that seek it. The cherry blossoms came as a serenade to the softer side of mother nature, reminding everyone of the beauty that is there for eyes that seek it but for Hilary Tachibana it brought nothing but painful memories.

"Why… why did I let him go?" she sighed. It had been a few months ago that she had let Tyson Granger, boy who held the title of World Champion, and the key to her heart, leave on what he called the most dangerous adventure yet. And what made it worse was that he forbade her to come with him. Of course that didn't go over well with her, as she remembered…

"What did you say, Tyson?!" Hilary yelled, grumpily folding his shirt and tossing it in the suit case. She and Tyson had been going out for a few months after G-Revolution Team overthrew the BEGA for good and sealed Boris's evil dreams. They had had a few ups and downs but nothing too serious. That is, until right now.

"Please, Hilary. Don't do this," Tyson begged, still with his back faced towards her. "Not again."

"It almost sounded like you said you didn't want me to come with you!" Hilary yelled.

"I did," Tyson replied.

"Well you had better have a good reason for wanting me to stay behind!" Hilary replied.

"You saw, right? You saw what Brooklyn's Bitbeast could do, didn't you? Hil, we don't know how many such Bitbeasts are out there. This world is still a giant mystery. If any of these beasts fall in wrong hands, I am not sure if we can go up against it again." Tyson explained, "Which is why me and Hiro are gonna join our dad in this dangerous expedition to seal off such beasts."

"Well if it's that dangerous then you'll need all the help you can get, which is why you need to take me along!" Hilary argued.

"The fact that it's that dangerous is the reason I don't want you to come," Tyson replied. "Haven't you been listening?"

"Don't give me that, Tyson! You know full well that I can take care of myself!" Hilary yelled. "You just want to have all the glory for yourself!"

"No, Hil that's not it!" Tyson replied.

"Then what's the real reason?!" Hilary asked.

"It's dangerous! That's the real reason!" Tyson answered.

"I don't believe you!" Hilary yelled. "Now why don't you want me there?!"

"Because I'm scared!" Tyson answered.

"You're scared?! Of what?! What can scare you so much that you'd want me to stay behind?!" Hilary asked.

"I'm scared I'll lose you!" That response froze her. Here was Tyson Granger, preparing to go on a mission that left him too scared to bring along the one person who was his pillar of strength… his girlfriend Hilary.

"What do you mean… you're afraid you'll lose me?" Hilary asked, her voice a much softer tone now.

"Hilary…" Tyson took a seat on his bed, "You know how much I am grateful for you being there for me these past years. But let's face it, my recklessness has been exposing you to danger. Those kidnappers, Team Psykick, those possessed kids on the island."

"But Tyson…I knew that if anything were to happen to me, you'll always be there to save me." Hilary breath with a soft mumble, her eyes passionate and water, a hand close to her chest.

"And I always will, Hil. But something tells me, that journeys now is just gonna be more aggressive, so much that somebody could get seriously injured." He exhaled, "Hil, I know that your parents have entrusted you with me. What will I say to them if something happens to you?"

"Oh Tyson… I never knew," Hilary said, finally understanding where Tyson's fear was coming from. Tyson just nodded.

"Now do you see why I'm against you coming along? If anybody somehow managed to get their hands on you I… I don't know what I'd do," Tyson feared, before standing up and walking to her. The two teens were now face-to-face. Hilary looked Tyson in his eyes, and that's when she saw it. Right there was an emotion she had never seen from him… fear.

"Tyson, you… you really are scared," she gasped.

"More scared than I've ever been of anything my entire life," Tyson replied.

"But then, if it's so dangerous then why are you going?" Hilary asked. Tyson reached up and brought a hand to her cheek. In response Hilary rested her face in his hand, closing her eyes.

"Dad mentioned he needed strong bladers that had some experience dealing with such evil," he explained. "I'm not the only one he's calling for help."

"But you're the one who I care for the most," Hilary answered. "I just… I don't want to wake up one day and hear that you are…you are…." She began to well up.

"That won't happen," Tyson assured her, placing a hand on her cheek.

"But how do I know that? I don't want to doubt you but…" By now a few tears had formed in Hilary's eyes, a few of them sliding down her cheek. She was just as afraid of this as Tyson was, even though she wasn't one of the people going off to fight. In an effort to comfort her Tyson pulled her into a gentle hug.

"I promise you, Hil… I will return to you," Tyson promsied. There was something in his voice, a confidence that seemed to put her mind at ease and made her feel confident that Tyson would return to her no matter what.

"Promise me… you'll be careful… and come back to me safely," she pressed. Tyson pulled out of the hug and looked Hilary in her eyes.

"You have my word… and you know that I never go back on my word," Tyson grinned, wiping a tear from her eye. Despite her worry Hilary managed to smile.

"I love you, Tyson," Hilary said.

"And I love you, Hilary," Tyson replied. Realizing that this would be one of their final moments together for a while to two shared a passionate kiss.

Hilary sighed as the memory went through its course in her head. Though she had agreed to let him go she was still worried. Over the past few months she avoided watching or reading anything about the incident out of fear that she would hear about Tyson's demise. She even tried to put her entire focus on her studies to try and keep her mind off of Tyson, but everyone could see it was taking its toll on the girl. Finally her mother convinced her to stay with Tyson's grandpa for a while, sensing that the old man would also be in need of some emotional support. Of course, the old kendo expert was more than happy to have Hilary stay with him, which is what Hilary had been doing for a while now, gazing at the cherry blossom tree. About three weeks ago news got out that the some of the mystic bit beasts have been discovered and an evil organization had gone down in a definitive defeat. Hearing this Hilary knew it would only be a matter of time before Tyson would come back to her.

"Tyson… you promised you'd come back to me… you said you'd return to me… so then… where are you?" She knew that many good people from crime bureau, beybladers and Bitbeasts had been killed during this battle, but she refused to believe that Tyson was one of them. He had survived worse than this plenty of times.

"Where are you, Tyson? I need you… I need you to be here with me," Hilary pleaded. "Every day that you're not here is torture. I… I want you to hold me… to tell me that everything's okay… to tell me that you love me… I just want you by my side again…"

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be, Hil." Hilary froze, her face a mix of shock and hopefulness. Slowly she turned around, almost afraid of what she might or might not see. There, standing there with his backpack hanging by his shoulder, was the one person she had been waiting for, the one she had prayed would return to her.

"Ty… Tyson?"

"It's me, Hilary… I'm home," he said. Hilary stood there and stared, too overcome with shock to either move or speak. He looked the same as he did the day he first left.

"It's… it's him… he's come back to me…" Tears began to fill her eyes as the fact that Tyson was standing there in front of her set in. Finally, unable to control herself anymore, she ran to him and threw herself into his arms, tears of happiness flowing freely.

"Tyson! I… I waited for you to come back! Everyday I prayed that you'd come back to me safe!" Hilary cried. Tyson held her as she cried in his chest.

"There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think of you," Tyson laughed.

"I waited for you for so long," she wept.

"I'm sorry I made you wait. I would have gotten here sooner but I stayed behind to help with the injured," Tyson explained. "There were heavy losses."

"I can imagine," Hilary replied. "What about others? Did they make it back alright?" At the question, Tyson's head dropped, letting Hilary know that what she was about to hear wasn't good.

"Miguel and Tala… didn't make it," he said. Hilary gasped in shock, her hand flying to her mouth.

"Oh no," she stuttered. "That's horrible."

"I know, but what makes it worse is the fact that Miguel was engaged," Tyson said.

"He… was?"

"Yeah, to Matilda no less," Tyson replied. "In fact they had been engaged for a few months prior to the incident. They were to be married a week from today, but now…" Tyson didn't need to finish, for Hilary knew the outcome.

"I stopped by their city… to tell her the news," he added.

"How… did she take it?' she asked.

"I've never seen her so broken before," Tyson replied. "It was like the life just left her body once I told her." Hilary lowered her gaze as her heart went out to the grieving beyblader. She could only imagine what Matilda was going through. She wondered if she would have acted similar if it had been Tyson and not Miguel.

"You know, Hil… seeing all this made me realize something," Tyson said.

"What's that?" Hilary asked.

"It made me realize just how close I came to being taken from you," he answered. "At any moment I could have been killed… and it would have been someone coming to tell you that I didn't make it instead… and I don't ever want that to happen. That's why…"

"Why what?" Hilary asked, wondering why he suddenly paused. Tyson looked into her eyes, almost as if he were trying to gather his strength. Seeing this Hilary took hold of his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Whatever you have to say just say it," she urged. Her words seemed to do the trick as Tyson finished his earlier statement.

"That's why I decided… to retire." She gasped. That was not what she was expecting at all.

"Your last… but why, Tyson? I thought one of the reasons you became a beyblader was so you could travel the world," Hilary mumbled.

"It was, but only with you by my side," Tyson replied.

"Then I'll come with you from now on," Hilary said. "We could travel like we did in the old days… just us and our friends."

"I don't know, Hilary. Things aren't as simple as they were back then, what with me being the World Champion and all," Tyson argued. "I'm going to have a lot of bad guys aiming for me to take Dragoon away and they'll do it by any means necessary."

"I don't know what you're trying to do but you have no reason to stop traveling." Tyson opened his mouth to respond, but Hilary gave him a look that made him think otherwise.

"Alright, Tyson… why don't you want to travel anymore?" Hilary asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this. Tyson took a deep breath and sighed.

"I guess… it has to do with this war," Tyson hung his head. "After seeing all those people die… it made me think… about me and how I've lived my life up to this point."

"You, think? That's a new one," Hilary joked, earning a laugh out of herself. Seconds later Tyson joined in on the laughter.

"Still cracking those same jokes from our early years," Tyson chuckled

"They never get old," Hilary smirked, her laughing slowly subsiding.

"No, it doesn't… and that's what I want to protect," Tyson said, his demeanour becoming serious again.

"What do you mean?" Hilary asked.

"Back in my early days I was reckless, jumping into every situation I came across, never considering how dangerous it was," Tyson explained. "Now that I've gotten older I've come to realize that I can't take those kinds of risks anymore. I've got more important things to think of other than myself… like you."

"Oh Tyson…" She had no idea just how badly affected he was. But still…

"Listen to me, Tyson. You can't let your fear of 'what if' control your life," Hilary said.

"But I don't want to put you in any danger," Tyson argued. "If something ever happened to you I…"

"You'd come to my rescue like you always do," Hilary said, interrupting him. "I have faith in you, and I know that you would never let any harm come to me."

"But what if I can't protect you? What if something happens and I'm powerless to do anything about it?" Tyson asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Hilary said. "For now let's not think about the 'what ifs'. We've got too much time to make up." She put her arms around the back of his neck and pressed her lips to his. Seconds later Tyson responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close, deepening the kiss. They pulled away seconds later, each one with a smile on their face.

"Well now, what brought that on?" Tyson asked.

"A preview of things to come," Hilary replied. "After all, we've got our whole future ahead of us."