Author's Note

Writing this thing is taking a bit longer than expected. I had to go back and watch a few episodes to get dialogue but the next chapter shouldn't be as long a wait.

xXx

Of Boys and Blades

Part One

Chapter 2

Snow outside the window; the only light in a dark room. And then he was next to me. His lips against mine. Dry and chapped but pleasant nonetheless. It seemed I had memorized every detail of that night, replaying it again and again in my mind. I could still remember the warmth of his—

"Hiwatari! Care to join us?"

Snapping out of my reverie I turned from the window to stare at the teacher, an unpleasant woman who wore too much makeup named Mrs. Tota. "Sorry," I said softly. "Guess I got bored and drifted off."

Detention. The first in this school. I seemed to have some trouble keeping my mouth shut. I'd always hated school but these private schools my cousin had chosen for me were a new form of torture. I think I would've taken the Abbey over entitled rich snobs who when I wouldn't perform for them like a circus animal had decided to make my life miserable. I'd retaliated and gotten kicked out of one school. I lost my temper and beat a kid to a bloody pulp at the other. This was the third school in nine months. Lidiya had been dropping threats that it would be the last. After this my ass was being shipped off military school. Yeah, right. Like I'd agree to that. I had a way of not doing things I really didn't want to.

I had made a promise that I would at least attempt to stay out of trouble but this place was pushing me. I'd only been here a few days and already everyone was talking behind my back. Some large guy by the name Dunga had thrown a brick through one of the windows, calling me out for a battle. I hadn't complied. No, I was done with blading. Now I was the talk of the school. Everywhere I went there were whispers and hushed conversations. And to top it off, I'd even gained my own personal stalker. Wyatt Smithwright didn't know how to take a hint.

I took my time going to my next class, not minding that the masses cleared a path to let me through. It had always been like that, at every school I'd ever gone to. Even at the Abbey, as I was now remembering. Nobody ever wanted to cross my path

Only then did I allow Tyson to pop back into my thoughts. This was happening too frequently now. So what, we'd kissed? Well, Tyson had kissed me and I'd sat there like an idiot as he had run away. So? It meant nothing. I never really like him all that much, I kept telling myself. He got on my nerves. So why was it I couldn't get Tyson Kinomiya out of my fucking head?

It had been nine months since I'd last seen him at the airport. The last time I'd spoken to him had been a curt goodbye with him unable to look me in the eye. And more and more often I was finding my mind drifting back to him. Maybe I should've done something differently. Maybe I should've talked to him. Slowly, I was coming to terms that the kiss had actually meant something to me. Hell, I was even dreaming about him now.

I could feel my cheeks redden with the recollection of my most recent dream. I had woken up covered in sweat with my shorts wet. Very annoying.

I'd never had friends before the Bladebreakers, not really. In the Abbey there had been no such thing as loyalty and I'd held on to that ever since. I kept people around me, but at a distance. The Blade Sharks were pawns to do my bidding and they were the closest anybody had gotten to me before. The more time I had spent with the Bladebreakers the more protective I had become of them. Watching out for them when they went off on their own, saving Max inside the PBB building, reaching out for Tyson on the ice. Tyson had changed me in profound ways, and I still wasn't sure that was a good thing.

Did I like Tyson? Or did I just like the fact that he liked me? He must like me because he kissed me, right? Tyson was loud, obnoxious, and he snored. But he'd always intrigued me. From the start he'd beaten me. I'd never been beaten, not since the Abbey. And then this no-name rookie had come along and turned my world upside down. I'd disintegrated the Blade Sharks. I joined the Bladebreakers and they made me captain. As much as I complained about them I'd grown to care. And Tyson had never given up on me. He knew exactly what to say to me at Lake Baikal.

I thought about them a lot. I missed them, though I'd never admit it. I'd quit blading—my heart just wasn't in it anymore. My classmates had spread rumors that it was because I thought I was the greatest and didn't find anybody to be a challenge. That wasn't true. What was true was that there was only one person I wanted to battle, and he was the one I was currently obsessing over.

Lunch time finally arrived and I took a seat at a lone table, content to eat by myself. Wyatt Smithwright joined me, the only one of my classmates I hadn't succeeded in completely alienating. He was determined to be my friend. Sort of reminded me of Tyson in that respect. That may have been why I hadn't shoved him into a locker yet. But Tyson wasn't so...desperate.

"You're always spacing out in class, Kai," he said brightly, setting down his lunch tray.

"Her lectures aren't very interesting."

"I bet I know what you're thinking about."

"I doubt that." I couldn't help but smirk.

"You're thinking about blading. You miss the rush, the cheers and applause. I don't know how you could ever give that up."

Ignoring him, I continued to eat my sandwich.

"I think if you took me on as your student you would remember how much you love it—"

"Enough," I cut him off. "I'm not teaching you anything. End of story. Quit bothering me." Grabbing my tray, I took my lunch to eat in solitude.

xXx

I needed a break from the school. It had been a week and I felt like I was being suffocated. I missed freedom. At my Grandfather's, as unpleasant as he was, he'd given me almost complete freedom. As long as I showed up when he told me to he didn't care where I went, what I did, who I was with, and I missed that. I hated all these rules.

I'd set it up earlier in the week, a secret hideaway in an abandoned building filled with all my blading stuff. I needed something to do with it. I didn't want it all over my dorm room. I'd always loved exploring abandoned places and I'd taken a liking to this one. According to a nearby worker it was under a pending contract and work wouldn't be done on it for another five months. I'd probably be moved on to a new school by then.

I had just entered when I heard something behind me.

"Oh, wow! This is where you keep all your trophies and stuff! This is your secret training stuff!"

I felt my back stiffen in anger. Dammit he was stealthy! I hadn't heard him at all. "Sorry, but blading's all behind me now," I said curtly.

Looking back at me with an earnest expression Wyatt went on, "I didn't mean any harm by following you." His eyes wandered around the room and widened when he saw my blades. "All right!" he shouted, running over to the display I'd made. "It's you're Dranzer! I don't mean to be a pest, but is it true you retired because there's nobody good enough to fight against? At least, that's what I heard."

I was tired of this. "Listen, I hear a new rumor every day."

"But there's one name that keeps coming up. Who you'd like to take on. You know, Tyson from the Bladebreakers."

I caught a glimpse of the photo taken of our team last year. "Yeah, I guess I would like to face Tyson one last time," I admitted. "That battle would be...interesting. Now that would be a real fight. But it would never happen." No, if I could help it I'd never see him again.

Wyatt's eyes lit up. "Hey, I just got an idea. What if I said I would help you set up a battle?"

Shattering glass cut short our conversation. A rogue blade entered the room, tearing it to shreds. I didn't have to be a genius to guess who was behind it. Practically throwing Wyatt out the window I followed behind him, landing in a fortunately placed pile of empty boxes on the ground below.

Fleeing the site, I led Wyatt away from the industrial buildings to an underpass I'd found that had reminded me of the one back home. Near where I'd met Tyson. Damn he was in my head again! I just had to hide Dranzer for now. I'd be back for him later.

"Hey, Kai," Wyatt started. "I'm sorry. I guess I really messed things up for you back there. Who was that guy, anyway? And how come he was trying to fight you, Kai?"

"No clue."

"Well, there's got to be a reason, right?"

I didn't answer. After hiding Dranzer, Wyatt and I returned to school and to our dorms.

I spent a sleepless night staring at the ceiling. My mind was restless. Who was that guy? What did he want with me and Dranzer? And then there was Tyson. Wyatt had brought him up. Yeah, that would be the most incredible battle, of that I was sure. I'd felt it when we'd battled at the qualifier. We'd both gotten so much better since then I couldn't imagine just how that match might go. I honestly didn't know if I'd win. With Tyson on my mind I finally drifted off to sleep amidst a sea of pleasant dreams I'd never describe.

xXx

The following afternoon I caught myself staring out the window once again determined to keep my mouth shut this time when I was accosted by a couple of Wyatt's cohorts. They couldn't be right. Wyatt couldn't be that stupid. Rushing out of the classroom I headed to where I'd hidden Dranzer.

Gone! I knelt on the ground, finding a crumpled up note. It was from Dunga, telling me to meet him at three on the roof of the Atkins building. It had been a long time since I'd been this angry. How dare he! How fucking dare he! What right did he have to Dranzer! He hadn't earned him, he hadn't kept him safe. I crumpled the note back up after I'd read it. "I'll be there."

Close to three I arrived at the rooftop of the Atkins building. From the stairs I could already hear the two of them bickering.

It didn't take long for Wyatt to notice me. "How come you're here?"

"Give me my blade."

"Sorry, I can't."

"Okay, kid," Dunga cut in. "Give him back his blade."

"No way!" Wyatt yelled. "I challenged you to a fight! Now use it or lose it!"

My gaze ice. "Knock it off!"

"You think there's no one good enough to fight you, right?" he questioned. "Well I'm about to show you someone who is."

I hope he doesn't mean himself. "Suit it yourself. But when you lose, don't come crying to me."

"Make up your minds!" Dunga was getting restless. "I need a victim here."

Wyatt readied the launcher. "Enough yapping. Let it rip!"

"You're the one out of your league, runt Let it rip!"

They launched the blades and it was immediately apparent just how out of his league Wyatt was. "Show 'em whose boss, Dranzer!" he cried.

"What's the matter?" Dunga taunted. "A minute ago you were trash talking me."

Dunga wasted no time, but he was careless. His final blow since a shockwave that actually knocked Wyatt off the building. On instinct I reached out my hand and caught him. "Hang on!"

Pulling him back to the roof top I glared at Dunga, fire searing in my blood. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because I felt like it," he boasted "Besides, your Dranzer is as washed up as you are, Kai."

Shit, was this what I used to be like?

I stood at the dish, Dranzer in my hand. Wyatt lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. For the first time in months I wanted to battle someone. I wanted to put this douche bag in his place.

"You ready to take me on or what?"

I readied my launcher. "It's winner take all."

"Ready whenever you are."

"If I win, that means you split, got it?" My eyes never left him.

"I don't plan on going anywhere."

We launched our blades and the battle began. He was tough, all right. My mind was churning with different strategies, how to most effectively use my blade. "Is this it?" I mocked.

"You wish. I'm just getting warmed up for the grand finale. So you'd better get ready to hand over your useless blade, understand? Attack!"

His blade seemed to move with a mind of its own.

"Look at that?" Wyatt cried. "Where's his power coming from?"

"Yeah. No kidding." It was almost as though he had a bit beast, but I didn't see anything.

A final burst of power knocked me into a wall. Did I lose? Opening my eyes, I could see Dunga with his blade in his hand. But where was Dranzer? In a flash he fell at my feet. A tie? The roof top was a mess. The bey stadium had been completely demolished.

"Amazing," I heard Dunga say. "That was wicked. I guess we'll call it a draw, huh. See you around chumps." With that, he was gone.

I couldn't help but laugh. The rush! I hadn't felt that in so long. I actually wanted to blade again.

"What happened?" Wyatt asked me.

"Looks like I finally found a worthy opponent," I said, more to myself than to him. "And it's time to take Dranzer out of retirement, Wyatt."

xXx

It felt like I had woken up from a long sleep. I was done with the dull monotony of prep schools, endless homework, and childish vendetta's. I was going home, back to Bay City, back to Tyson. I packed my belongings and left the school under the cover of night.

xXx

AN 2022: The boarding school is in Japan, a couple hours away from Bay City. Wyatt is English. He's the son of a visiting ambassador. He's loved blading for a couple of years and really got into following the Bladebreakers during his first year in Japan the year before.