''I must be hallucinating... I must be hallucinating... I must be... " Max could hear Tyson murmuring, trying to convince himself this was all his imagination, as we made our way to Kai's room. Hillary was on the lead, the both of us following her from a distance as Tyson's palm continued to stay firm on his cheek.
"What were you both actually talking about? " Max asked, overpowered by curiosity. "uh?" Tyson said, not giving him much attention.
"Uh-huh, indeed." He sighs, rolling his eyes at Tyson's current lack of vocabulary, more pronounced than usual. He just shrugged his shoulders. "I think it was payback." Max suggested.
Tyson stilled, turning towards him, a frown on his face. "What?" he whisper-hissed. "I think this was payback for the stunt you pulled at Mr. Dickerson's office." Max whisper-hissed back, as though the snake was quite satisfied after a huge meal."Oh" he simply stated. Max tried hard to sniffle his giggles.
They both reach the door to find Hillary holding the doorknob, frowning. "I think you guys should go. I'll be ri-" she started but Max cut her off. "You'll be fine Hil, there's nothing to be worrying so much about. Kai should be thankful. You saved his life." Max says firmly, pulling in a rather struggling Hillary in.
Coming in next, Tyson closed the door and without a moment's delay,
'CRACK!'
The ceramic saucer in Kai's hand went swishing through the air like a frizbee, hitting and shattering into the wall missing Hillary by inches!
Hillary stood shell-shocked. Max and Tyson exchange a glance in alarm. Even Ray stood up suddenly, looking slightly put off at the sudden change of events.
"Bloody hypocritical you are, hope you know that!" he screamed. "Telling me all about being there for each other, teamwork, friendship, utter bullocks! Had me nearly believing in your fantasy, and that's saying something!" None of them had ever seen Kai this angry before, and none of them knew the reson this time.
"Are you really sure you are fine, Kai? I could fetch you a doctor..." Max asked tentatively just as Tyson yelleded, "What the hell is wrong with you?" as he made his way to stand beside Hillary.
"I'm fine." He snapped at max and glared at Tyson "Don't you dare take another step towards her!". Tyson was very much tempted to dare kai,but Hillary was pleading with her eyes to not make things worse. Tyson stood back, but not before throwing kai a enormous look. Kai continued.
"And what were you thinking by keeping it all a secret from us? Things could have gone worse way worse Hillary, you know that don't you! Your mom could have died! You could have been murdered!! That your strong? independent?!! Don't need our help? My foot." he spat in disgust.
Hillary had her hands balled into fists by her side, her head hanging low, refusing to speak, looking rather ashamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Tyson had never seen Hillary looking so vulnerable before. She was the bossy one. He couldn't see her being so badly humiliated for doing something good!!
He couldn't take it anymore. ''What the hell are you on about Kai?! You should be thanking her for saving your arse, not just once, but twice!!" Tyson shouted.
Kai turned back to him in anger. "I wouldn't have needed saving if she had been honest with us in the first place!"
Kai screamed louder than him. He was already panting, his face flush with anger.
"What are you really talking about Kai?" Ray intervemed, his eyebrows furrowed, looking thoroughly lost. Max nodded with Ray.
******
Kai glanced at the rest of them, as though really seeing them for the first time. Taking in their expressions, he started again. "You still haven't told them, have you." Kai's voice was cold, monotoned and controlled, completely opposite to the tone just a moment ago and somehow, the brunette found this to be more frightening than the first one.
She tried approaching him tentatively. "Kai please... Your hurting yourself. Calm down." she pleaded. This further fuelled Kai's anger. "You want me to calm down! After everything that's happened!! After everything you have done or rather 'not done'?!! What were you even thinking? Keeping secrets of our own game from us? Recklessly jumping into the fray when you didn't need to? And that too with a pair of scissors!! When you ought to find help. Ought to-" the Phoenix weilder, who gave no heed to her advice, broke into a fit of rather nasty coughs, his breathing getting slightly laboured, his entire body shaking violently as he tried his hand in controlling them .
She was immediately at his side, closely followed by Tyson, who filled the glass in the brunette's hand. Kai refused to take it. Hillary, who had been rather patient with him until then, snapped. "Damnit Kai. Just drink it. You don't want to die after all that we've done to save you!"
Kai drained the cup in a go, still looking like a furious child who had just been refused his favourite sweet.
She continued "And not another word from that mouth of yours, if you know what's good for you. Fine! Yes!! I have been blackmailed from from a day before the tournament started. Yes, the threats became more serious as the days progressed. Two days before the semi-finals, my mom met with an accident, I wasn't able to contact papa but she's completely fine now, so there's nothing to be worried about, everything is fine, stop making such a fuss about it!!"
"But why didn't you tell us?!" Max asked, his voice sounding hurt. "We could have done something, we could have helped you, protected you!!" Hillary gained her calm surprisingly soon. "And that's exactly what he wanted, Max. To create a distraction. He wanted you all to lose focus on your game, to take away your bit beasts for whatever grand schemes they were planning. You all were working yourself to exhaustion, stretching yourself beyond your limits, all because you wanted to save your bit beasts from those guys. I didn't want to break your focus..." she tried explaining uncertainly.
"Then, why didn't you tell us after the finals?" Ray added, a bit of a challenge in his tone. "I thought the threat was over. The threats stopped suddenly. I didn't see the need to rush to you with the information. And God knows you all deserved a break! The reason I came three days after the finals was to tell you guys about this, but then... Things didn't add up and I had to leave abruptly. I was sure to tell you guys after the talk show but... We all know how well that plan went."
"Why didn't you tell us here then? You do know that we would help you in whichever way we can, don't you?" Max asked. Hillary faltered, "I...."
"Cease the excuses, Hillary. I think I now know the exact reason for this mess." Kai said abruptly. Hillary raised a pointed eyebrow at this, but stopped. "What are you doing here?" Kai asked. All of them look at Kai in confusion. He takes in a deep breath, and drawls out each and every word as though explaining something to a group of kindergarten children. "What are you doing here, in this room, at such a late hour?"
"I'm here to make sure you were well." Hillary replied, careful with her words. She didn't want him to use them against her. "And what am I to you Hillary?" Hillary was biting her lips now, her involuntary response to nervousness, not knowing the reason for such unimportant questions, hoping against hope that she was answering it correctly, "You are my... peer, my friend?" A pause follows. "What are we all together to you?" he further questioned. "You're all my friends, my.... Teammates."
"What's Tyson's role in the team?"
"He's the Vice-Captain of the Blade Breakers."
"What's Kenny's role in the team?"
"He's the mechanic and strategist of the team."
"What's your role in the team?" He finally asked, a look of triumph on his face. Tears were already streaming down her face as rays of understanding shone in her eyes. But she continued answering the questions, "I... I'm your coach... help Kenny whenever I can, a-and... take care of the non-beyblade related arrangements for the team?" Hillary gritted her teeth for what she knew would be the final question.
"Can you beyblade?" Hillary winced, as though physically wounded by her question. "No." "Then how are you a part of a beyblading team, and that too, the two time world champions?!" Kai asked her rather bluntly. "I-don't-know." her voice was barely a whisper now, she was visibly trembling now, but Ray wasn't sure whether it was from trying to control her grief or out of anger. She shakily wiped the tears trailing down her cheeks and immediately rushed out. Kai didn't try to stop her.
Tyson was quick to follow her. Before leaving though, he gave Kai another angry scowl. "You better have a good explanation for making her cry so senselessly." before slamming the door shut.
*****
Hillary was rushing past the last of the visitors in the hospital, closely followed by Tyson. But she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to see anyone. Her hands were trembling as she wiped her face off the tears.
She was hurt by the stinging words, true. But more than that, she was furious!! 'What the hell does he think of himself?!' Was all she could think 'What did he think he was doing?!! Publicising my insecurities in front of all of them... and worst of all, in front of Tyson!!'
She didn't want Tyson to think of her as weak. She hadn't told him the reason she wanted to part ways with the Blade breakers, and she wanted it to be that way. She wanted to keep the affair as quite as possible. And of course, Kai had to ruin it.
The hospital was long gone before Tyson finally caught up with Hillary. "Holy dragoon Hillary! Wait up!!'' he called out completely winded out. A week's lack of practice and stress could do that to the fittest of the people.
She at last stopped and hastened to wipe away the last of the tears before turning around to face Tyson. When he looked up, he found her looking at him with irritation, "Why are you still following me?" she demanded.
"I promised to keep you company until your father came, didn't I? So you aren't getting rid of me so easily!" He grinned ant her and winked, before moving ahead of her, whistling to himself.
Hillar couldn't find the will to not laugh at his antics, even after the heated discussion just a few minutes ago. She was glad that he hadn't brought up the topic at all.
They came back home quite late. As soon as they entered, Tyson made himself at home, without even being told to do so. He grabbed a packet of chips from the kitchen closet before lounging on the sofa, grabbing the remote and started flicking through the channels, finally settling to watch some cheesy action movie.
Hillary shook her head. Tyson had been to her house so many times the past few months, he knew where things were as good as his own house. So there was no need for the plesantries. She headed to her room to freshen up.
Much to her surprise, she found a hot cup of chocolate handed to her from Tyson as soon as she returned. "I just made it. Drink it when it's still hot. I don't fancy heating it again." He said before launching himself on the sofa again.
Not interested in seeing the telly, she brought a book to keep herself occupied until her father returned. The only reaction she received was a raised eyebrow from Tyson, but he didn't press further.
It was almost one in the morning when Hillary heard the soft snores from the sofa beside her. She looks up to find Tyson fallen asleep in the couch, the telly still playing the movie. She went up to him to wake him up, but after a closer look at him, she couldn't help but notice the dark circles under his eyes looking prominent than ever. Instead she grabs a blanket from a wardrobe to keep him warm.
Pushing back the few strands of midnight blue hair blocking his face, Hillary couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked, with his slightly tanned skin, his button nose, his light brown lips, and a small lightening shaped scar near his left ear which is almost invicible until a closer look. Tyson shifted his head as she traced the scar. She abruptly pulled it back, slightly worried she had woken him, but he settled down again.
'Would it be wrong of her to wish to know how those lips felt against hers?' She wondered. 'A small peck, before she left his life. He wouldn't even know. And what he doesn't know wouldn't hurt him, would it?' Bravely moving closer, her heart beating harder than ever, she made her move.
But at the last moment she changed her mind. It felt wrong to get her first kiss from a sleeping boy, even if he was the one she loved. She wanted her first kiss to be mutual, not invading the other person's privacy. She pecked his forehead. She still felt happy for that. "I love you, I hope you know that", she whispered, before gathering herself from the floor to fetch herself a glass of water.
Not a second had passed since she gulped her glass of water, the door bell rang. Tyson woke up with a start. "Who's there?" Hillary shouted as she peaked through the eye-hole. Her father stood before her, a tired smile on his face.
"Hello sweetheart, sorry to keep you up so long. I couldn't help but see Tasha for myself first. She looks way healthier than I had expected." He supplied. She immediately ran upto him and hugged him. "That's fine. I'm just glad that your back." She replied, struggling hard to reign her emotions.
"And who do we have here?" Her father asked, his tone slightly guarded now. Tyson, who just came out through the door, was oblivious to it. "I accompanied her back home, sir. To keep her company." he answered yawning.
Hillary decided to pitch in right there. She snorted, "Yeah, sleeping on the sofa through some cheesy action movie as soon as we stepped in, while I read a book was a great way to keep me company. I'm really glad, Ty. Leaving behind a messy sofa for me to clean up, which I know you wouldn't do, is just an added bonus. "
Mr. Tachibana's lips quirked a little, seeing Tyson turn as red as his hat in embarrassment, sticking out his tongue at Hillary as she laughed. He did like their banter, he realised. Though it didn't show on his face, he did trust Tyson to treat his daughter right, but would love to keep him on an edge whenever he was around at least. But Tyson rarely realised this. He always remained his oblivious self.
Mr Tachinbana addresses Tyson this time. "I think you should head back home Tyson. Thank you for keeping my daughter company. Take the cab at the gate. It's quite late and unsafe for adolescents like you to roam about alone. I've paid him." Tyson looked surprised, as though he would allow him to roam about freely in the dead of night when all his teammates were ending up was targeted by someone unknown. "Thank you sir. I... I'll head back home now. Bye Hil, bye sir."
Making sure Mr Tachibana would not hear them, he whispered "I'll go back to the hospital first thing in the morning as Max and Ray would need a break. I recommend you to not to meet us, especially Kai for some time now, he takes a lot of time to cool down. Bye." Hillary nodded in understanding. Kai really was scary to face when he was extremely worked up, like he was today. "Stay careful." she said to him in turn. All she recieved as a reply was a goofy grin as the cab moved on. She shook her head, furiously muttering to herself. "Why did I have to fall for such an idiot?"
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A/N: exactly a month from now, I posted the last chapter. I'm so sorry, but the updates won't be that regular until June 2nd. I'll have my 10th cbse boards until then. The second wave of corona has started in India and has been raging around the world for weeks now. Stay safe!! And seriously guys, I see about a hundred reads to more or less all the chapters, please show your support to the story by voting if you are lazy to write comments. They really are wonderful determination boasters!!