"Do they always have to fight?" Max sighed tiredly and eyed the two arguing back and forth. It had been hardly an hour since he arrived in Tokyo for the reunion, and new girl gave Tyson quite a competition in being temperament.
"Yep, pretty much" the shorter boy besides him replied, focussing on his laptop without a care. "This has been going on daily since the school started. But trust me, it was way better than last year. You won't believe it but Hilary has kinda softened."
"That's what you call 'softened'?" Ray rolled his eyes, "Man, I feel for Tyson. We already are dug in this Saint Shields mess, and the poor guy has his own probs."
"Tell me about it." Kenny sighed.
"He even Googled 'How to shut Tyson and Hilary up.'!" Dizzi added.
"Isn't there something we could do?" Max slumped his shoulders, watching Hilary strangle Tyson's neck.
"What is she doing here in the first place, anyway?" Ray inquired.
"Beats me," Kenny sighed, "But ever since those people kidnapped us, Hilary's been with us to us like nail on a wall. I think she's just trying to help."
"Yeah, I can see how helpful she's being right now…" Max droned, finding Hilary lock Tyson in an armbar.
"But I think these two have a different story to them," Ray smirked, "Just look at them. They are like two peas in a pod. I don't think she's ever gonna be separated from him anytime soon. They have a long way to go. I figure they'll just make up and settle their differences."
"You sure about that Ray?" Kenny tiredly lamented.
"Of course!" Ray mewled, lifting a finger for emphasis, "I have never been wrong."
Five years later…
"I can't believe you, Tyson!"
"What are you biting my head off for, Hil?! You told me I had to take my medicines; I took it!"
"I never said you can take it with a frappe! You know what! I am starting to think Brain Freeze wasn't the problem!"
The guys switched their gazes back and forth between the two, their brows were drooped and lips pursed.
"Well, you were at least right about 'not leaving his side', I'll give you that." Kenny groaned, while Ray rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"I can't believe we made it five years through this," Max droned.
"You!" Kenny shot him a harsh glare, "Only I have been enduring this for so long! You were in the States, Ray was in China for a brief period, Daichi's been with us for just two years now, and I am confirmed this bickering is what drives Kai away every now and then."
"Well…did you ever come up with a solution?" Ray sweatdropped.
"Well, one might say it's because Tyson is so dense or Hilary has anger issues, but I think it's all just sexual tension" Kenny stated confidently.
"Uh-sexual tension?" The two blinked incredulously at the smaller teen. "You sure about this Chief?"
"Yeah." Kenny missed Max's questioning tone. "After all those years together, it's just been building up. I think this is the only way they can express it." Kenny made a face and sighed. "Pitiful, eh? It'd save us hours of listening to their mindless yelling if they just admitted it!"
"Sure" Max agreed hesitantly. However, the sixteen-year-old mind is not very adapt to solving these types of things, and after some time Max conceded defeat. He looked up to question Kenny more closely, only to see he had lagged behind the team while wrapped in his thoughts. Hilary was leading the way, pounding the earth as if she was stomping out her aggression. Tyson was behind her, scowling at her back every once in a while. Kenny and Ray strolled peacefully behind them, chatting about something.
"Hey, what's Sexual Tension mean?" Daichi poked his head besides the blonde, scaring him off to a good distance.
"Daichi!" Max whipped around, finding the small redhead brat hanging upside down by a branch. "Where were you all this time?"
"I couldn't stand Tyson and the hag at each other's throats so I wandered off to find something to munch on."
"Well, come on. I don't wanna lag behind, let's go." Max chided. Daichi righted himself by flipping himself off the ground and started walking besides his compatriot, studying the blonde's face.
"What are you looking at?" Max sent a dirty glare down at Daichi.
"You didn't answer my question," Daichi swelled a cheek. "What does sexual tension mean?"
"What?!" Max snapped. "Where did you hear that?"
"I heard what the Chief said. It's something that makes those two lock horns all the time" Daichi answered, slightly perturbed by Max's intense gaze.
"Oh…well, it's…umm…when a boy and a girl…." Max stuttered in understanding, then smiled mischievously. "Go ask Hilary, I'm sure she can explain it better. Besides, I'm trying to come up with some names for my new technique so I appreciate some alone time."
"Well, let me know how that works for you," Daichi brightened his face, intrigued by the suggestion and he sauntered off ahead, completely oblivious about the mess he was going to get into. If this 'sexual tension' thing involved Hilary, then why wouldn't she know about it?
Daichi trotted quickly up to the front of the gang to speak to the irate brunette.
"Hey hag, there's something I wanna ask ya!"
"Daichi!" Hilary bared her teeth, blood immediately rushing into her fist, "I am already in a foul mood. If you call me a 'hag' again, I swear I'll rip your intestines and strangle you with it! Now state your business and piss off!"
"Well, hello to you, too!" Daichi fired back. "I ain't that raring to talk to you either, but there's something I wanna ask you!"
"What is it?" Hilary huffed.
"What's sexual tension?" Daichi questioned.
"What the!" Hilary barked brusquely, leaning out towards Daichi's face, "Just who told you about that!?"
"Kenny did!" Daichi pointed an incoherent, mildly accusing finger towards Kenny, who was oblivious to their conversation. "He told the boys that you and Tyson have so much sexual tension build up, you fight all the time!"
"WHAT?!" Hilary yelped, yanking Daichi out of her way. She shot a death glare over her shoulder to Kenny, who was being fantasized by different recipes of mochi Ray promised to offer.
"Watch it!" Daichi grumbled, watching Hilary snort air from her nostrils. "Why are you so worked up?"
"It's not your fault" Hilary hissed, knowing perfectly well Daichi didn't know what he was talking about. Seeing Daichi's anxious face she forced a smile and sighed, "Kenny's an idiot. Don't believe what he tells you."
Sensing the conversation was at an end, Daichi slowed his pace to put a safe distance between him and the even more irked manager just in case something else set her off again. Because of this, he found himself next to Max once more.
"She didn't tell me!" he complained, throwing his arms in the air. This whole sexual tension thing was really bugging him. Why wouldn't anyone give him a straight answer?
"Then go ask Tyson!" Max reached out and flicked his head. "I am sure he'll put it in a way you understand…"
"Ow! I'm going, I'm going!" the boy whined and scampered forward. Daichi set his sights on the signature red hat and ran to ask Tyson about this 'sexual tension.'
"Tyson!" he called, puffing a little. He wasn't used to running back and forth this much.
Tyson grunted in response. "What's up Daich?" he asked rather gruffly.
"Just wanted to say hi!" Daichi chirped.
Tyson gave him a side long glance that clearly said 'Yeah right. You want some extra bucks don't ya?"
"Okay, I want to ask you something" he conceded grumpily.
"Yeah, what about?" The beyblader, still sceptical, interrogated.
"What's sexual tension?" Daichi asked bluntly.
Tyson snorted, slightly taken aback and amused at the same time. "Why do you want to know?" The teenager asked back.
"Because," Daichi sighed. This was the third time he had to say this. "Kenny said you and Hilary fight due to sexual tension."
"What?!" Tyson's reaction mirrored Hilary's, except he appeared more stunned than angry. "Why would Kenny say that?"
"I don't know! That's why I'm asking you!" Daichi complained. "All he said was sexual tension is the reason why you guys fight so much, and it's just built up over all the years you've been together!"
Tyson contemplated this for a few moments before he too shot a dirty look at his oldest friend. "Jerk" he muttered. "Kenny's just a jerk who likes to assume outrageous things" Tyson bit dismissively to the boy next to him.
Daichi groaned as Tyson lengthened his stride and left the kid to walk by himself.
"This is so stupid!" Daichi roared and clutched his head. "Why will no one answer me?! I hate traveling with a bunch of teenagers!"
"But that band sticks together, right!" Max came up and tousled his hair. "Hey guys, it's getting kinda late, maybe we should stop for the night."
"Good idea" Kenny agreed. Hilary and Tyson made noises to show their assent then gave Kenny disgusted looks.
"What?" the blading expert asked in a hurt tone. Both looked away and started into the woods to find a clearing to sleep in.
An hour later the six of them were sitting around a campfire enjoying dinner. Actually, only Max and Ray were the only ones enjoying their stew. Kenny was silent, shifting uncomfortably from under the glares Tyson and Hilary threw him. Daichi sat glumly, mad at everyone for not letting him in on the secret that was sexual tension. Hilary and Tyson alternated glaring and Kenny and shooting quick glances at each other. Max saw the directions of the small flicks of their eyes and grinned.
"Thank God I slipped the hook," he thought. "Sorry to get you in this mess, Chief. But we were just dumb enough not to notice Daichi eavesdropping. Besides, it's you who came up with sexual tension theory…"
The rest of the evening wasn't much different. Everyone cleaned up and got ready for bed. Hilary proclaimed she wanted to go for a walk, even though they had been walking all day, and left accordingly. Tyson watched her leave, but eventually joined the others in getting into their sleeping bags and whispering sleepy good nights.
Daichi awoke sometime later with a dry throat and a desperate need for water. He dimly recalled there being a stream nearby and got up cautiously as to not wake any of the others.
The boy slipped out of camp and off in the direction he believed the stream was in. It wasn't long before he heard the gurgle of moving water and ran towards the noise. Just prior to getting there, however, a new noise stopped him in his tracks. Someone else was going to the river. He hesitated, then crouched behind a low bush to peer out between the branches.
His eyes met a interesting sight. Hilary was sitting on the ground by the water, arms curled tight around her knees. He shifted to see Tyson enter the scene and sit by the girl.
"Hey" Tyson greeted softly.
"Hi" she answered in the same hushed tone and then they were silent.
Daichi was about to enter and ease his parched throat when Tyson spoke again.
"You'll never guess what Daichi asked me about today" he began rather tentatively.
"I can try." Hilary sighed and rested her forehead on her knees. "He asked you about sexual tension, right?"
"Yeah" Tyson affirmed and they were quiet once more. Daichi's ears had perked up at his name, and now his full attention was focused on the two in front of him. Maybe he was finally going to learn what this 'sexual tension' was!
"Kenny's being an idiot, off course" Hilary bit lightly.
"Of course" Tyson repeated.
"I mean," she snorted contemptuously. "There is no tension between us, of any kind."
"Nope, none" Tyson agreed.
"And we only argue," Hilary went on. "Because our opinions differ, a lot."
"Exactly" Tyson agreed, his voice faltering only a little.
"We're just-friends" Hilary forced out, uncurling and turning to look at Tyson for the first time. "Nothing else."
"Nothing but friendship between us," Tyson confirmed.
The two continued to stare into each other's eyes, expressions the exact same. A strained silence ensued, but it seemed that they were frozen in place, captivated by the other.
"There's no tension between us" Hilary reiterated softly. "So I can do this," she leaned forwards to close the already small gap between them and gently pressed her lips against Tyson's. Daichi sat still, stunned by what he was seeing, What were they doing?! He thought they were mad at each other!
Hilary slowly drew away, eyes opening to stare back in Tyson's brown ones. "And feel nothing" she finished in a murmur.
"Kenny's wrong" Tyson croaked, unable to look away. They both drew closer so that there was barely a centimetre between their noses. "Why would we argue cover up that we really like each other? How could I like you? You're loud, proud, and a runt."
"And how could I like a boy who's dense, annoying, and over-confident?" Hilary responded.
Now Daichi was really confused. They were insulting each other again!
This time, Tyson's lips moved and connected with Hilary's. Despite what they said earlier, Daichi could feel tension rising in waves from the two teens who were now resting head to head, eyes closed and breathing deeply.
"Did you feel anything?" Ask asked, his voice cracking.
"No," Hilary answered in what was almost a whine. Then her eyes flew open and she smiled. "But you better try again, just in case."
Tyson's eyes opened as well and a surprised look adorned his face. Then a grin appeared to match hers, and suddenly he grabbed her waist and brought Hilary into his hold, kissing her passionately.
Daichi watched, horrified, as her arms snaked up to let her hands trail through Tyson's hair and his settle for tugging her close to his chest. The girl was practically in his lap now, and the little redhead could hear little sighs of happiness escape their lips in between kisses.
The boy slapped a hand over his eyes and closed his mouth while turning to sprint back into camp. If this was sexual tension then he did not want to see or know anything else about it.