Of Boys and Blades

Part Two

Chapter 12

xXx

Kai

xXx

I drifted in and out of sleep, tossing and turning in a vain endeavor to find a somewhat comfortable position. I don't know how long I'd been laying there, but I'd woken up again. I could feel the beginnings of a hangover. I slipped my arm beneath the pillow to pull it closer but my fingers came into contact with something hard.

Opening my eyes, I pulled a small hardbound moleskin book from beneath the pillow. What is this? Flipping through a few pages, I found they were covered with Tyson's messy handwriting. And my name. A lot. A journal?

I didn't hear him enter. I just saw the book being roughly snatched from my hand. "Are you going through my stuff?"

"That's a shitty hiding spot." Moving to my back, I turned to face him. He was pissed.

"Did you read it?"

"No. I found it. I looked at it. And then you came in here. I didn't read it."

He looked unconvinced. "This is private," he told me, holding up the book.

"I didn't read your fucking diary."

"It's a journal!"

I grabbed my duffel bag. Pulling a plastic bag out of it, I threw it at him.

"What's this?"

"Your birthday present."

His anger evaporated into a smile and his eyes lit up with happiness. "You got me a present? Really?" He pulled it out of the bag with a grin. I'd gotten him a new red jean jacket. I don't know what possessed me to do it. I guess I saw it and he was the only person in the world I knew who liked red jean jackets.

He eyeballed the price tag. "Kai."

"I'm obscenely rich, remember?"

His anger forgotten he tried it on and struck a pose. "How do I look? Handsome? Sexy? Am I the man of your dreams?"

"You're an idiot."

"So why are you hiding in here? Still thinking about Wyatt?"

I glanced at the clock, surprised at how late it was. "Were you gone that long?" I asked instead of answering.

"Hilary wanted to talk."

"So you've kissed nine people?" I asked.

Tyson smirked at me. "You don't know all my secrets," he said again, letting out a laugh. "What about you? How many have you kissed."

"Just you."

He looked surprised. "Oh, well if it makes you feel better you were my first kiss."

"Were they all girls?"

He smiled teasingly. "There was one other guy."

I was dying of jealously. He was enjoying this. He was fucking enjoying this. "Who?" I finally said.

"Zeo. He kissed me. I didn't kiss him back since you and me were kind of a thing at the time. He had a big crush on me."

"You didn't tell me that."

"Well, last I checked, you weren't my boyfriend." Crossing the room, he turned his stereo on, leaving the volume low. "Come here. Allow me to distract you for a little bit longer."

Begrudgingly I got off the bed. I really wanted to sleep. I was at that stage of drunk where things were moving at the wrong speed. He took my hand and pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around my neck. "Dance with me."

"I don't dance."

"It's not hard. Just do what I'm doing."

Sometimes it took less energy to just do what Tyson wanted. My fingers trailed around his waist as he pulled me close, our bodies swaying slowly to the music. The intoxication of the alcohol, the heat of his body, the feel of his pelvis grinding against mine. I just wanted him. I wanted him more than I'd ever wanted anything, Black Dranzer included.

"Can you believe we've known each other for two years?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's been a long two years."

"Not for me. It's gone by fast. At least, when you're around it does. Kai, no matter what happens in the future, I'm happy I met you."

"Why are you talking like that?"

He kissed me instead of answering. My fingers slipped under his shirt, to feel the warm smoothness of his skin. I guided him towards the bed. He straddled me and I fell onto my back. Tyson moved his mouth all over my face and neck and I lost myself in the sensation.

"Dudes!" I heard a voice yell. "If you want to keep it a secret don't forget to close the door." Grandpa poked his head into the room.

I couldn't imagine how red my face must've been.

"Tyson, remember what we talked about."

"I know!" he yelled, hopping off of me and slamming the door. He locked it.

"He knows?" I finally found my voice.

Tyson took a deep breath. "Umm..yeah. He figured out a while ago. Does that bother you?"

"He's ok with it?" That was surprising.

Tyson sat beside me on the bed. "He's pretty open minded, you know."

"What was he talking about?"

It was Tyson's turn to blush. "He keeps telling me to make sure to use a condom." He kissed me softly, crawling back onto my lap. "He seems to think you're a whore," he giggled.

"Why?"

He shrugged, a knowing smirk on his face. "I don't know. It could be the face paint." He kissed me. "Or maybe the piercing." He kissed me again. "Or just the way you dress." He moved back to my neck. "Are you a virgin, Kai?" he murmured against my skin.

"We just established that you're the only person I've ever kissed. What do you think? Yes. Aren't you?"

"Yeah. I keep telling Grandpa we haven't had sex but he doesn't believe me."

He'd just brought it up three times. "Do you want to?"

Pausing, he straightened up so he was sitting on top of me. "I don't know. Do you?"

"Yeah," I said simply. It may have been the first straightforward answer I'd ever given him.

"I'm scared," he admitted after a moment.

"I thought Tyson Kinomiya wasn't afraid of anything?" I teased.

He didn't smile back. "Kai, what are we?"

I opened my mouth to reply but he cut me off.

"No. I know. No labels, no titles. So what does that make us to each other? Friends with benefits?"

"Is that a problem now?"

He pulled himself off me so he was sitting next to me. "Look, don't get me wrong. I've thought about it. A lot. And part of me wants to. But this—" he gestured to me and to himself. "This is not enough. I want more. If you want sex with me we need to renegotiate terms."

Letting out a groan I stared at the ceiling. "Do you have to do this now? You were doing such a great job of distracting me." I pulled at his his long hair.

He laid down beside me, his fingers unzipping my pants. "I can keep distracting you," he whispered into my ear. He kissed my neck, working his way down my body. Pulling my pants down, he took me into his mouth, and I was in ecstasy.

xXx

I awoke to a world that was spinning and a stream of knots exploding in my stomach. And Tyson sprawled a crossed my chest. His hair was down and everywhere. His bed was so fucking small. This hangover was worse than the last one and I knew I was going to be sick.

Peeling Tyson off me I hurried to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before my stomach released its contents. I pressed my head against the coolness of the wall after the waves of nausea had finished running through me. I'm never drinking again.

I rinsed my mouth with water and went back to Tyson's room, where I quickly dressed and grabbed my backpack.

"Are you leaving?"

Looking over to the bed I was met with the sight of Tyson rubbing at his eyes. "Yeah." I felt him watching me as I packed. Before I left I leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Distracting me."

Wrapping his arms around my neck he pulled me on top of him. "You don't have to leave," he whispered. "I could keep distracting you."

I let out a small chuckle. "I know. But there's some stuff I have to take care of. I need to go. And we don't want the guys to know I spent the night in your room, do we?"

"Fine," he sighed, dropping his arms. "But don't ignore me anymore."

I headed home. It was early, the night had only just started to lighten and the sun hadn't yet peeked over the horizon. Once there I sat before the computer, determined to finish it this time. Opening the message from Tala I'd practically memorized, I hit reply and started to type.

A box flashed open on the screen and it looked like I didn't have to.

I'd installed the instant messenger that came with my email in order to talk quickly to Lidiya when needed. It seemed that Tala had been added to my contacts, and I to his.

Kai?

I stared at my name for a moment with growing hesitation. Taking a deep breath, I finally typed back a measly Hi.

How have you been?

Alright. You?

Things are getting better. We have a lot more freedom at the group home than at the Abbey. It's taken a lot of getting used to. They have us in therapy and stuff.

Does it help?

More or less. There's good days and bad days.

I don't remember much. I blocked out everything when I left. I don't know how but I did. For the last two years memories have slowly been coming back to me.

So you remember me now?

I stared at the keyboard for a long moment.

Yeah. But things are still pretty fragmented. I have to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth.

What?

Did I kill anyone when I stole Black Dranzer?

It was Tala's turn to take his time. I was pretty sure I knew the answer but I couldn't tell the difference between nightmares and memories anymore. I wasn't sure what was real. After what felt like an eternity an answer appeared on the screen.

Yes

How many

Another pause. I couldn't breath.

Kai, nobody blamed you. No one knew what Black Dranzer could do. It was Boris's fault. He brought that thing in there. And it didn't end with you.

How many people did I kill

Five

And Wyatt made six. Six people dead because of me. Something broke inside me and I was inundated with images. The Abbey, the bodies, the cats, Tala being hurt. I remembered crying, watching them hurt Tala. Being locked in the darkness of solitary, wondering if I'd ever get out of that hell alive.

I have to go

Kai

We'll be in touch. I promise

I ripped the cord to the computer from the wall and screen went dark. I could feel my hands trembling. I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths, attempting to keep myself under control. I fell to the floor, my back against the bed. Rubbing at my temples, I felt the warm trickle of tears sliding down my cheeks. I was broken. I was alone. And I hated it.

xXx

Balkov Abbey, 1997

The unconscious body of ten-year-old Kai Hiwatari was taken immediately to the medical bay. The worker carrying him laid him on a cot before running off to help fix the damage the child had inflicted. Dr. Kozlov, the doctor in charge of caring for the injured boys, hurried to the cot to look him over, stethoscope in hand.

Boris bolted into the room while she was checking his vitals. "How is he?" he demanded. "I can't afford for anything to happen to him. It's bad enough I already had to call Voltaire because of the damage."

"He's alive," Dr. Kozlov told him. She let out a small sound of surprise as she examined his body closer. "It's incredible, really. There's not a scratch on him."

Boris narrowed his eyes. "How is that possible? The lab was decimated. Half a decade of research completely gone."

"Look for yourself. He's in shock. But other than that, he's completely healthy."

Gazing at his young student closer, Boris's face lit up with realization. "She protected him. She actually protected him."

"But sir," Dr. Kozlov protested. "The tests were pretty conclusive. She destroys anyone that touches her."

Boris shook his head, excitement in his features. "Not him. He's different, somehow. This is big, doctor. This is huge. We'll start with the next phase of Black Dranzer immediately. Will he be able to start training tomorrow?"

"I'd advise against it. He's just undergone a huge shock, to put Black Dranzer back in his hand so quickly is pure recklessness—"

"You don't tell me how to do my job! Will he physically be able to start training tomorrow?"

Dr. Kozlov lowered her gaze to the floor. "Yes."

Kai drifted in and out of consciousness that night. He became aware he was strapped to a hospital bed, he could hear the soft blip of the heart monitor, and watched the steady drip of the IV. At one point he saw Tala move into the room, watching him with a concerned expression on his face. But then he was gone. Taken away. There were no windows in the medical bay. He only became aware of the shift from night to day through the amount of lights that were turned on.

He was barely conscious when Boris approached him with Voltaire. He closed his eyes.

"How is he?" Voltaire asked.

"The doctor said he's in shock but he's perfectly fine. Black Dranzer reacted to him in a completely unexpected manner. She destroyed the lab but protected him. We need to move with this. We finally made a breakthrough after all this time. We need to continue his training."

"Not yet," Voltaire decided. "He's not ready."

"What are you talking about?" Boris screeched, incredulous. "This is what we've been waiting for!"

Voltaire shook his head. "He's still just a child, he's not ready for Black Dranzer."

"Sir, he's shown amazing skill with a beyblade. He's incredibly intelligent. He not only evaded our security and broke into the lab, he's escaped from the entire complex in the past. He's ready."

"He escaped? You never told me that."

Boris realized his mistake. "He was quickly recaptured so I didn't see the point in bothering you with trivial details."

"That's not exactly a trivial detail, Boris. He's top of the class, you said?"

"Yes. In both studies and blading."

"I'm taking him."

"What?" Boris was astounded. "But sir, he's what we've been working towards—"

"Exactly. I can't risk you destroying him. He's only ten. He's not ready for Black Dranzer. When he is, he'll return to complete his training."

"But, sir—"

"My mind is made up. Don't question me."

The trip to Japan was uneventful. Kai was oddly quiet. He didn't respond to the news that he would be returning home. He merely gathered his things and accompanied his grandfather without question. He stared at the mansion as it came into view through the window of the limousine. It looked smaller than he remembered.

As he exited the car he stopped to stare at a dark stain marring the pavement of the drive. He quickly looked back to his home. "Grandfather, why does it feel like I've been gone for years?" It was the first sentence he'd spoken aloud since the Black Dranzer Incident, as it came to be known.

Voltaire stopped. "Because you have."

Kai watched him with large, confused violet eyes. "Where have I been?"

Voltaire watched him for a long moment, trying to gage whether or not his grandson was serious. "Around. But you're home now."

Kai went into the mansion.

Voltaire never brought up Balkov Abbey in front of Kai, all the while marveling at the way the human mind worked.

xXx

AN: I have too much fun writing Tyson and Kai. So thus ends the year between V-Force and G-Rev. Next chapter: the Bladebreakers break up! So...I have to rewatch G-Revolution to figure out where my chapters are going because though I made notes on what I wanted to include last time I went through it, I unfortunately did not include what episodes said scenes were from or even what order they're in, so I'm going to have to rewatch the whole damn thing for dialogue and stuff. It may be a while between chapters from here out. Sorry. I'm pretty sure there's going to be at least eight more chapters. Thanks for sticking with me!

Things to look forward to in the G-Rev World Championships arc: Tyson angsts, fun adventures with the Blitzkrieg Boys including Tala embarrassing the crap out of Kai, Kai making pancakes, and Judy catches Max and Kai drinking together.

AN 2022: I don't know why, but the song they're dancing to is Dani California in my head.