Web of feelings

Chapter 7:


The next day found Kai walking down the hallway towards his locker after his last class. It had been a long, quiet day and Kai sighed to himself while depositing his books. Neither of the other four Bladebreakers was currently with him, because each of them had different schedules this day. Normally Kai would be glad not to hear his teammate’s incessant chattering around him. But today the absence of the other four teens troubled him – the ache in his heart only partly surprising the captain of the Bladebreakers.

Turning around after closing his locker, Kai’s crimson eyes came to rest on the door to the classroom Tyson had dragged him into the other day. Without meaning to Kai sighed again at the pain he experienced while remembering the scene that had taken place there. The dual-haired teen frowned and contemplated what to do. After his talk with Ray he had decided he owed both Tyson and Tala a sincere apology for his lack of trust – but all through the day he hadn’t even seen a hair of either blue-eyed teen.

His reaction the other day troubled Kai. He hadn’t meant to hurt Tala – not conciously. It had been an instinctive reaction to protect Tyson by fending the other teen off. But in hindsight Kai remembered the barely hidden hurt in Tala’s ice-blue eyes at being told to back off. And Tyson and the rest of his team had been right – he should know how perceptive the bluenette was at reading other people’s behaviour the right way. How good Tyson was in seeing the real person even under a thick layer of animosity and uncaring.
‘I really messed up yesterday’, Kai thought with a twinge of guilt. ‘It’s no wonder Tyson reacted the way he did. I’ve never seen him so furious before…and I hope I won’t ever again. Especially not directed at me. His temper is a deadly thing – yesterday he was the very definition of a thunderstorm. Quick like lightning and striking down straight to the point of the matter.’

Deep in his contemplation of the bluenette’s reaction the other day, Kai failed to notice Max, Ray and Kenny coming down the hallway with Bryan in their company. The lavender-haired had had the last class together with Ray and Max. The three of them had met Kenny on their way and together they wanted to leave school with their friends and teammates.

Four pairs of different-colored eyes centered on Kai, who leaned against his locker in his usual pose – but each of the teens could feel the captain of the Bladebreakers was not his normal cool, collected self. Kai’s crimson eyes showed that he was deep in thought – and by following his gaze the four teens knew about what, too.

Kenny cringed slightly in rememberance and even Max’ sunny smile dimmed. Ray sighed to himself and looked sideways at Bryan to see the lavender-haired blader’s reaction. Even if Bryan hadn’t been present, Tala surely told him about the cause of yesterday’s argument between the captain of the Bladebreakers and the World Champion.

As if feeling Ray’s inquierung gaze on him Bryan turned his head to look at the neko-jin. He raised his eyebrow in silent questioning, but knew exactly what Ray wanted to find out. Quelling the last remains of anger he felt on Tala’s behalf, Bryan sighed inaudibly. He couldn’t really blame Kai for his actions, even if it had been wrong to assume that Tala would want to hurt Tyson. Remembering the other day’s evening, the lavender-haired teen couldn’t help the fond smile which flitted over his face.
Tyson was a loyal and fierce friend. Perhaps Kai would understand in time that these characteristics could be used to describe Tala, too. If the dual-haired teen understood that the past should be exactly that – past.

Bryan nodded slightly at Ray to show him that he held no grudge and the other teen relaxed a bit before giving Bryan a small smile in return. Then the group of teens reached Kai and started depositing the books they wouldn’t need for homework in their lockers.
Kai was a bit startled by their sudden appearance and sighed mentally. It wasn’t like him to be so inattentive. The argument with Tyson had unbalanced him in more than one way, he realized.

The dual-haired teen turned to his friends and when his eyes came to lay on Bryan he decided to start apologizing for his behaviour as soon as possible. Perhaps Bryan knew where Tala would be now, so he could start with the redhead. Better to have the more difficult apology out of the way before attempting to reconcile with Tyson.

“Bryan?”, the teamcaptain of the Bladebreakers tried to get the other teen’s attention. Green eyes turned to him, showing slight curiosity at being adressed. “Do you know where I can find Tala?”, Kai asked the younger blader.
Bryan remained quiet for some moments, contemplating if to tell Kai. But then the lavender-haired teen decided to not make things even more complicated by refusing to answer Kai or hindering the older one at what he hoped would be the start for a better understanding and perhaps even friendship one day. As a result to this thinking, Bryan nodded finally and made a gesture to Kai to follow him.

The dual-haired teen frowned slightly at the nonverbal answer, but fell in step next to him, wondering where Bryan would lead him to. The rest of the Bladebreakers looked at each other in varying states of worry and hesitant hope before hurrying after Kai and Bryan.
The five teens left the school building and Bryan led them over the courtyard towards the near park where he knew his best friend would be waiting for him. Tala loved that park, especially the small forest situated in the middle of it. Bryan knew the redhead spent much time there in between classes, sometimes training or simply relaxing in the quietness of the clearing in the forest.

After some minutes of silent walking the Bladebreakers and Bryan arrived at the edge of the woods and after receiving questioning looks from the teammates the lavender-haired teen showed them the hidden way Tala always took when going to this place. When they had nearly reached the clearing, they could hear furious spinning, crashing and other noises which indicated at beyblade-match. Curious the five teens walked faster and finally reached the clearing.

What they saw then made their eyes widen a bit. Each of the five knew how powerful and skilled the two teens in front of them were, but until now they had only seen Tala and Tyson battle in the controlled area of a Beystadium. Right now the blue-eyed friends weren’t bound to rules of space or fear of damaging a stadium – and they obviously enjoyed it greatly. Dragoons blue-white blade dogded and weaved expertly out of the way of Tala’s attacks, often only a blur of motion. It seemed as if Tyson only defended himself this time, which was not his usual style of blading. But his redhaired friend’s blade was almost as fast as Tyson’s – and attacking furiously over and over again.

Making a move to his friends to remain quiet, Kai leaned against a nearby tree and concentrated on watching Tala and Tyson. He enjoyed watching his teammate battle, even if he never said so. But in his heart Kai knew that only Tyson matched his skill in blading, perhaps sometimes even being better than the captain of the Bladebreakers. Tyson’s unbending will and his love for this game powered the bluenette until nobody could even dream of defeating him.
But if Kai was really honest with himself, Tyson’s skill in blading was not the only reason he loved to watch the younger blader battle. It was the expression in his eyes, alight with an inner fire – or better, a whirling storm. A storm of emotions, Tyson always used to his advantage.

In a beyblade match Tyson was storm inpersonated – passionate, powerful and unpredictable. Quick like lightning and never even considering to give up. Tyson loved to blade and it showed in his battles – making him (almost) unbeatable.
It was for these reasons Kai now frowned slightly when he registered that his bluehaired teammate seemed to be loosing. Tala was a powerful contrahent, Kai knew from experience – but Tyson had shown in the Worlds that he could defeat the former Demolition Boy even when outnumbered one to more than a dozen Bit-Biests.

Why was Tyson only defending? It wasn’t like him not to be the one attacking – but perhaps Tala and the bluenette only trained attacks and the best way of defending against it. It would make sense.

Then suddenly Kai was pulled out of his silent musings, when a particular forceful attack by Wolborg partially hit Tyson’s blade and sent it hurling towards a nearby tree. But a short command by the bluenette prevented the crash at the last second when the dragon’s blade glowed a darkblue light before the wind picked up. The use of Tyson’s favorite element slowed Dragoon down and enabled the Bladebreaker to guide the blue-white blade into a graceful arc in midair.
When it seemed it would come down unharmed, Tala attacked again. The redhead used the mere seconds Tyson had needed to prevent the crash with the tree to gather the power to make his final move. And Wolborg’s ice-attack was a really destructive force, one of it’s most powerful moves.

A stream of liquid crashed onto Tyson’s blade and within seconds it was enclosed in a thick hull of ice, stopping it in midair. Blue-white ice gleamed beautifully in the rays of the afternoon sun, which peaked through the canopy of trees. It could almost be considered a work of art, how the ice reached up in a column from the ground into the air, entrapping Tyson’s beloved blade in one of its spikes like a treasure behind glas for everyone to see but not being able to touch.
Silence ensued when Kai, Bryan, Ray, Max and Kenny waited what would happen next. The battle seemed to be over, but nonetheless neither of the five teens moved a muscle, instead remaining where they were.

Tyson had centered his midnight-blue gaze onto the ice-column where he could see his frozen blue-white blade enclosed in the result of Tala’s attack. Turning his head towards his older friend, he pouted openly.

“Meanie”, he accused the redhead.

Tala merely grinned, obviously quite satisfied with the outcome of the match. “That would be me”, he nodded with a humorous smirk.
Tyson’s pout doubled, then the bluenette sighed deeply as if giving up.

“Oh well”, he said, nodding to himself, “that’s what you get when battling a big, bad meanie.” A sudden gleam entered his midnight-blue eyes, unnoticed by Tala. Kai, who was still watching his teammate closely, was more observant of Tyson’s secret smile. Crimson eyes narrowed in anticipation of the bluenette’s next move – even if the Beyblatte seemed already over.

Kai knew better.

Straightening imperceptibly, Kai concentrated on Tyson’s body language. The captain of the Bladebreakers had gotten quite perceptive in regard to reading the nonverbal signs of his friend’s behaviour. To see some sign what the bluenette would do next.
Tyson instead really seemed to think the match to be over because he sighed again and sniffed before glaring lightly at his smirking friend. Then his dark eyes locked onto the frozen blue-white blade and Tyson called: “Come on, Dragoon. Time to leave your iglu or you will catch a cold, my friend.”

In reaction to Tyson’s humorous words, his blade started to glow a blue hue. It could be seen through the ice-barrier Wolborg had created around the dragon’s beyblade, becoming brighter with each second which went by. Suddenly, when the blue glow had reached an almost blinding intensity, cracks appeared in the ice. Breaking noises grew louder and louder, when the cracks deepened and multiplied, creating a grating in the formerly seamless surface of the ice. The light from Tyson’s blade seeped through these cracks and finally caused the teens to shield their eyes against the brilliance.

They couldn’t see what happened next because of that fact, but each of the teens heard the shattering of the ice, when Dragon managed to free himself from the trappings of it. While the lights slowly dimmed again, the winds formerly circling lazily around the column of blue-white ice now seemed to gain strength before with a sudden gust they sent Tala’s blade hurling towards the redhaired teen and dropped it at his feet.

The source of this sudden outburst of power growled lightly in satisfaction, before winding its way over to Tyson, who smiled in greeting. The emittance of Dragoon’s bright blue light had stopped by now and therefore Tyson’s six friends were able to look again at the now drastically changed scene from mere seconds before.

Tala took in his own blade now laying motionless in front of him, before switching his gaze at its lazily spinning blue-white counterpart at Tyson’s feet. Finally his eyes came to rest onto the majestic darkblue dragon curled lightly around his human partner. Shaking his head in mock-frustration, the redhead asked his younger friend: “And you call me a meanie? I’d say it would be better used to describe your battle-style, Ty.”

“I aim to please”, Tyson grinned openly, his expressive eyes sparkling with a delighted humour at his friend’s exaggerated distress.

“Leave it to you to find a way to spoil my fun by defeating me again”, Tala tried to growl, but couldn’t help the tiny proud smile on Tyson’s behalf. He was once more impressed by the bluenette’s power and skill in blading. Add to that the astonishingly strong bond Tyson shared with his beloved bit-biest – then you simply knew you had almost no chance to win. But it was the passion of a battle against Tyson which drew every other blader to try again and again to defeat the World Champion. The bluenette was a very good person to measure your own level of skill.

Kai smiled inwardly. Trust Tyson to have a surprise up his sleeve. But he hadn’t really expected anything else from his teammate. It wouldn’t be like Tyson to give less than his best – even in a friendly training match.

The enthusiastic clapping suddenly shattering the silence caused Tyson and Tala to end their friendly bantering and look over to the edge of the clearing where the sounds were coming from. Their blue-eyed gazes came to rest onto their five friends, four of whom were showing without restraint how awed they were by the furious battle they had seen taking place moments before.

Kai meanwhile was leaning against a tree near his teammates and refrained from showing to much of his own feelings, but he couldn’t help the pride he felt for Tyson’s victory over Tala again. On the other hand he was a bit astonished, that Tala didn’t seem to mind to have lost the battle… instead he appeared even proud of the World Champ. Kai could see this feeling quite clearly in Tala’s ice-blue eyes and wondered, how much of the redhead’s real character he could recognize in that silent gesture. It certainly seemed as if Tyson was right again – if Tala was able to loose a fierce battle against the bluenette and than even be proud of the winner…then there was more to the personality of the Russian than Kai had thought.

But the teamcaptain of the Bladebreakers didn’t have more time to ponder the new traits of character he had registered in his former teammate. He could feel Tyson’s eyes laying on him and turned his head to look at the younger blader. Instantly a twinge of pain and guilt flashed through him as he saw the guarded – but nonetheless sad – look the bluenette was giving him.

Tyson’s eyes, which had been alight with happiness and fierce determination mere minutes before, were now trying to hide the different emotions inside the teen, as he waited for his captain’s reaction to yesterday’s happenings. Tyson hoped Kai wouldn’t be angry at him or threaten Tala again – inside the bluehaired blader longed to be at peace with his older friend again. He needed Kai’s friendship and he would do almost everything to reestablish their companionship, which had grown almost unnoticably since the World Champion Ships. But at the same time Tyson knew that Kai had to understand – and apologize for his behaviour the previous day. Tala was now his friend, too and therefore Tyson would defend him the same way he would stand up for everyone of his friends.

Seeing all of this in Tyson’s expressive eyes – even if the bluenette managed to clear his face of his troubled emotions – Kai sighed to himself and decided to forgo his former plans and better start apologizing with Tyson instead of Tala. Frankly, Tyson was more dear to him than any other person… even if he wouldn’t for the life of him express that statement aloud. He wouldn’t live it down, if his friends knew how much the World Champion – and each of them, too – meant to the seemingly cool, independent dualhaired blader.

Steeling his resolve Kai started walking towards Tyson and felt more than seeing it, how his other friends tensed immediately. They knew about the importance of the next minutes. Would Kai really apologize for his behaviour? And even if he did – would Tyson accept his words? Would Tala?

The former Demolition Boy had picked up his blade and unconciously clenched his hand around it, as he saw Kai walking towards Tyson. Tala hoped to clear the issues of distrust with the other blader…but all the more he hoped that Tyson and Kai would be able to reconcile. Tyson relied on Kai for guidance in some matters, Tala had found out in his long talks with the bluenette over the last weeks. On the other hand Tala believed, that Tyson’s cool captain relied on the bluenette’s forgiveness and friendship much the same – Kai’s behaviour now would show if Tala’s assumptions were right about that.

When Kai finally reached Tyson and stopped in front of his teammate, he at first didn’t know how to begin to apologize for his behaviour the other day. He was no expert at being emotional or explaining the reasons for what he did. But looking into Tyson’s wary and at the same time hopeful eyes, the dual-haired teen felt the need to express his feelings of remorse to the younger blader.
With an inaudible sigh, Kai started. “Tyson, I want to…”, he faltered slightly and almost started to fidget. But then Kai scowled internally. He had always prided himself with being a strong and honest – even if as a result to that not always very polite – person and he wouldn’t start now to be a coward. Not when it would mean he would loose something so precious like Tyson’s friendship.

With renewed determination Kai looked directly into Tyson’s eyes and said: “I’d like to apologize for what I have done yesterday, Tyson.” The hopeful glint in the oceanblue depths in front of him started to gain more strength and alighted the bluenette’s eyes, when Kai continued: “I don’t really know exactly, why I reacted so aggressivly towards Tala – all I can say is that feel sorry now for doing it. I’ll try to talk to him later and apologize, too.
I think our shared past in the Abbey”, Kai’s eyes dimmed in rememberance of that horrible place, “made me think of him as a possible danger to my team – to you. I wanted to protect my team. But Ray made me realize that probably Tala and Bryan are trying to make themselves a new life without being under Boris’ orders. They should be encouraged for that – not dismissed as unworthy. Like you said yesterday, Tyson, I should know how it feels to be regarded as a friend…as a person worthy of trust and friendship.
I certainly know it”, Kai smiled faintly, but with a serious expression in his eyes, which spoke of the sincerity of his words, “and I will try to prove to Tala – and to Bryan, too – that I am able to learn to be a friend like you or the other Bladebreakers are. Even if I will need to more time for that, it seems.”

Tyson regarded Kai silently for some moments after the end of his little speech. The bluenette was inwardly a little bit stunned at how much emotion he could feel behind Kai’s words – his captain was really feeling remorse about his words towards Tala the other day. Therefore Tyson finally couldn’t help the smile which lit up his face and his voice contained his usual warmth, when he told the older blader: “I am happy you said that, Kai. And I am sure Tala will not hold your behaviour yesterday against you anymore, if you explain to him what you told me now. He is quite understanding, if you know him better.”

Kai relaxed his slightly tense stand and breathed an inward sigh of relief at the forgiveness in Tyson’s voice. He could still hear the iciness in the words his younger friend had spoken to him the other day and was happy to now be the recipient of warm words of understanding.

But as Tyson made to move past him to go to their friends now gathered around Tala, obviously thinking their argument solved, Kai suddenly needed a more direct way of knowing to be forgiven. He didn’t know why he suddenly craved to hear the words, but he did.
Therefore his hand closed around Tyson’s wrist, stilling the younger teen’s movement past him and without looking at the bluenette Kai asked quietly: “Are we still friends?”

The words were spoken so low, Tyson almost couldn’t hear them. But being so close to his teamcaptain, he understood them and blinked for a moment in confusion. He had almost forgotten his threat – because for him it held no real power. He couldn’t even think about not being Kai’s friend. It was something Tyson would never allow to happen…he had fought too hard, gaining inch for inch of Kai’s acceptance and friendship to ever end that companionship.

But of course the older blader couldn’t know that. And it seemed important to Kai to hear him confirm their friendship. Tyson felt his heart clench at hearing the hesitancy in his teamleader’s voice and he knew of the strength it had to cost Kai to even ask this question. It spoke volumes about the way the dual-haired blader felt about their team.

Now him being the remorseful one, Tyson turned and wrapped his arms around Kai in a loose hug. He felt the older teen stiffen in surprise, but Kai didn’t shove him away. Tightening his embrace, Tyson whispered fiercely: “We will always be friends, Kai. I will certainly be angry at you some times in the future – even be mad as hell like yesterday…but please don’t think for even a second again, that I will ever stop seeing you as one of my friends. That won’t happen, I swear.”

When he felt Kai relax a bit in his arms after that sincere promise, Tyson sighed quietly and continued: “I want to apologize, too. What I said to you yesterday was unneccesarily harsh – even if the content of my words was justified. But I didn’t have to be so cold to you…I could have explained it more calmly. I am sorry, Kai. You know me – I often speak before thinking about my words.”

Kai’s mouth twitched slightly at hearing the last sentence, but he remained silent. He felt more at ease now that he knew his friendship with Tyson still intact – the uneasiness he had felt the whole day, left with the bluenette’s quietly, but emphatically spoken promise. Lifting his hand to shortly squeeze Tyson’s hands wrapped around him, he showed his acceptance of the younger teen’s words. He could practically feel Tyson’s smile after that.

“Thank you, my friend”, Tyson’s warm voice whispered, before the bluehaired blader tightened his hug for a moment before letting Kai go. The crimson-eyed teen turned around and smiled faintly, gaining a more brilliant one in return.
Side by side they returned to their waiting friends, who watched them coming nearer with satisfied, relieved expressions. Now that the clouds of anger had cleared, the Bladebreakers could go back to their normal way of acting around each other. And Tyson knew, that Kai would really try to accept Tala and Bryan – not as close friends right away, but as two young men who were worthy of a chance.

Yeah, next chapter done! I know, I really needed a long time to update, but real life demanded much of my attention!
Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Please R & R!

GeminiStarlight