Disclaimer: Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me. No profits are being made off this story.
story written by: Glay
LOSING KAI AGAIN
"Mr. Dion?"
"Y-Yes?" Kenny's father bravely stood from his chair and followed the nurse to the reception desk.
The Bladebreakers, Kenny's mother, and Tyson's father all sat in the emergency waiting room. Varying levels of sorry, worry, and even anger were present on their faces.
Kai had been rushed into the hospital, Mr. Dion being the one to be in the ambulance with Kai had gotten there first and filled in whatever information he could to the paramedics.
The tall man came back into the room with a distraught looking Mr. Dickinson beside him.
The Chairman sat down, wiping his forehead in stress.
They waited.
By the middle of the second hour of waiting, a doctor and nurse came into the waiting room and called all of the adults to talk to them in another room.
Max was biting his nails as he sat curled up in the uncomfortable chairs that littered the room. Kenny, for once, was not even touching his laptop – it wasn't even there. He kept taking off his glasses and rubbing them clean with the end of his shirt, a nervous habit. Ray was outwardly calmer than the rest of them, his eyes closed and arms crossed.
Tyson wasn't any of those things.
Anger, a pretty dominant feeling of his whenever he didn't understand a situation or when he felt helpless was overtaking his mind. He sat ramrod straight in his chair, clenching the armrests.
"Tyson –" Max tried to say, but was cut off by a pained look that the World Champ shot at him. His mouth was in a thin line.
The adults came back into the room with Mr. Dickinson. The usually jovial old man called the boys to come with him into the next room.
They all stood up hesitantly, except Tyson.
Feeling their stares, the pony-tailed teen looked the other way, hiding the tears pooling in his eyes at his fear of finding out why Kai was in the hospital.
Max gave the teen a helpless look as he, Ray, and Kenny, followed the Chairman into the next room.
The sirens of an ambulance rang in his ears.
The flashing blue and red lights seemed like a memory so far away as Tyson sat in the cheap tweed waiting room chair.
How long had he been sitting there? It was like the hands on the clock in the emergency waiting room seemed to magically do 360s without him realizing. One hour, two hours, three…
Tyson couldn't stand by any longer. The waiting was what hurt the most. The feeling he got when he'd turn around and expect to see the scowling face of his former team captain… The feeling he got from the not knowing… of being too late…
He just couldn't go on in the darkness. He wouldn't. He thought he could, but…
Just as he was about to get out of his seat, his teammates, Mr. Dickinson, and a nurse came back into the waiting room. The parents stood up, and Tyson did as well knowing he was the only one who didn't know what Kai's problem was.
The dark-haired boy looked around at his friends. They were devastated by the news, he could tell. All around him there was a stricken silence that seemed to pound despair into his heart.
Before anyone could open their mouth Tyson walked up to the nurse. "Just… tell me the simple yes or no answer." His voice was pleading. "Is he okay?"
The nurse looked hesitant before uttering, "No."
Slowly swallowing an invisible lump in his throat he ventured hopefully, "Will he get better?"
At her silence, and the silence of his friends and family Tyson's fists clenched and he gritted his teeth in restrained anger.
"There… There must be some way…" He tried to say rationally.
The nurse looked at him for a long time with a calculating look. With an inexplicable reason he felt a rage towards the woman like none he had ever known. Her mousy hair and wrinkled face made him want to hurt something in return for being hurt.
For Kai.
"I'm sorry, but Kai's situation is a very complicated one. There seems to be nothing that we can do. I'm sor –"
"NO!!" Tyson let out in a sharp cry.
The sound of his voice echoed off the sterile white walls of the hospital and several people looked in his direction. Their faces held deep sorrow and pity.
Ray looked at his teammate, sadness evident in his eyes, but he was staying calm for their friend. He tried to put a reassuring hand onto the other boy's shoulder, but it was shrugged it off angrily. Ray bit his lip.
"Please! Calm down Tyson, I know you –"
"NO! You don't know. Kai's NOT going to die! He's not! He can't!!"
"I never said that," The nurse said patiently, a touch irritated, "just… just try to think of it as –"
"I don't have to take this. I don't. I c-can't believe you," The dark-haired boy said coldly, "you and those doctors. You don't know anything about Kai. You don't know how strong he is!"
There was a note raising his voice that sounded like fear, nearly hysteria. A few nurses edged closer in case something happened.
His eyes were a little bit blurry. "And I-I…I just can't stand here and let you lie about him!"
"TYSON GRANGER!" His father took him forcefully by the shoulders and shook him. "Stop it right this instant! Just stop!!"
"W-What! How dare y-you –"
"Listen to me son." The man said gravely and furiously. "Were you trained well?"
"What a-are you talking about? What d-do you," Tyson was shaken again more powerfully.
Every word was carved in stone. "Were You Trained Well?"
Not knowing what else to do, Tyson nodded silently. His voice was beyond wavering now. His eyes were so blurry that he couldn't even see. The man's grip was painful and all of a sudden he could feel wetness begin to spring to his eyes.
Mr. Granger continued more softly, "Then you should know that yelling will not solve your problems."
Everyone looked on in sorrow.
The remaining Bladebreakers spared each other glances. They knew that Tyson loved his friends and family with all his heart. After everything their leader had not done to gain Tyson's friendship, he still had it. All of it. But…it was Kai. And, somehow this fact had made Tyson go ballistic. It was true that they were all unbearably sad…
But what could they do?
No one can change the fate of someone just by believing. The truth was, that there was nothing that could be done, and maybe that was what was tearing Tyson up inside.
Kenny shook his head sorrowfully. He knew that it had been the wrong choice to tell their usually cheerful friend last. He took bad news the worst out of all of them.
"Sometimes, bad things happen to good people Tyson. You know that – you've known it all your life… And I know you'll miss Kai… He's your friend. We all feel this way too. But," The man's expression turned pained. "You can't become selfish like this."
The dark-haired boy opened his mouth in uncontrolled outrage but his father prevented him.
"Tyson. Do you think that yelling at Kai's doctors will help him? Do you really believe that your stubborn, selfish behaviour is going to help him? Do you?"
'I don't need your help!'
Something cold formed in Tyson's body.
"Answer me." His father's voice was so distant. As if there was a freezing wind that was sweeping it away before it could reach his ears. "Do you think that being selfish is going to help Kai?"
'You shouldn't have come looking for me, Tyson.'
The cold grew and froze him over until it reached his heart. Tyson bowed his head, his bangs of midnight hair covering his face.
'Don't worry… It'll be all right!
'He's gone… Kai… He's gone.'
'Don't lose yourself too…'
'Don't lose…'
'Don't lose…'
The distant voice warned him fiercely, "TYSON!"
Slowly, he raised his head to look at his father and friends.
"Yes." Tyson whispered.
There were tears glittering down his face from his deep blue eyes. "Because love is selfish…and I love him."
Mr. Granger, shocked, took a step back. "T-Tyson…"
He knew what the cold was. It felt like Russia.
Mr. Granger ran a hand through his hair. He made a frustrated sound.
After Tyson's bitter explosion he had ran clear of the hospital and out of sight. Suddenly feeling tired the man didn't try to follow.
"Don't w-worry Mr. Granger," Ray said awkwardly.
"Y-Yeah," Max agreed though definitely not as chipper as he usually was. "We all love Kai. We're the best of friends."
Ray nodded. However, after seeing Tyson's outburst it was getting harder and harder not to break down. He just wanted to see everyone's shining faces again. Like the look on Tyson's face when he had seen them all in Mr. Dickinson's office…
Kenny was glad that his hair covered his eyes for once. The tears pooling in his eyes were obscuring his vision as he talked.
"Tyson usually takes things so hard… We shouldn't have waited to tell him. B-But, but…" His voice began to waver. "We just got Kai back, and t-they might not act like it, but they're so close! To tell Tyson that K-Kai might not make it… I was too scared to do that to him."
The man looked uneasy for a moment before nodding. He blamed himself, for what he had said to Tyson, and also for not being around enough to even know his own son's reactions.
Max, Ray, and Kenny were left staring at each other with saddened expressions. The blonde tried to quietly zip up his jacket keeping his eyes down to the floor.
"M-Maybe we should go…"
"I think that might be the best thing, boys." Mr. Dickinson said. He had been silent throughout the whole event but his old face was creased with worry. He had never wanted to outlive one of his own team.
"Okay…" Kenny and Ray agreed solemnly.
Together the three friends left the hospital. It was raining heavily outside, so they walked along the walkway that was protected by an outcropping of the building. As soon as they were out of the stifling environment Kenny let out a sigh.
"We should find Tyson. He's not taking the news very well."
Ray grit his teeth almost painfully and said bitterly, "Well neither am I, you know."
Kenny looked up guiltily because he had forgotten to be sensitive to Ray and Max's feelings too. Kai's situation was affecting them all so deeply. Who would have thought that mean old Kai, the guy who was the toughest on their team, could be cut down this way?
And how had he, the one who hadn't seemed to care about anyone, been able to make them all feel such sorrow?
Max began to sniffle loudly. He wiped at his eyes but it was useless.
Ray and Kenny noticed this and without saying anything they rubbed the blonde's back sympathetically.
They could only imagine what Tyson felt.
Tyson ran blindly through the streets. Rain was pouring down like a million needles, shooting him full of adrenaline. The sky was almost pitch black as his waterlogged sneakers pounded against slick pavement. Lightning flashed overhead as he rounded a corner, and thunder clapped as he passed by the numerous shops that littered the street his dojo was on. There were many people scurrying to get home, their multicoloured umbrellas nothing more than scenery as Tyson ran.
The blader slammed into a streetlamp's poll, collapsing with ragged breaths as he squeezed his eyes shut. Tears streamed down his face in invisible tracks.
"Kai…" Tyson's voice cracked and another sob escaped his shuddering body. It was so unreal; it was almost like yesterday Tyson had walked into that room with Mr. Dickinson and they'd all been reunited again.
Wasn't it just yesterday that they'd been in Max's room, and he had completed his dare…
Tyson shook his head, pulling his team jacket around himself more tightly. Why did that memory seem to make everything worse?
"Tyson??"
Startled, the drenched World Champ looked across the street to where Hilary Tachibana was standing.
"Oh… it's you, Hilary…" His voice didn't sound like his own to his ears as he tried to put on his usual mocking voice when he talked to the girl.
The brunette looked both ways before sprinting across the road. Her bright pink umbrella came to cover them both.
"Tyson! I went to Kenny's home and no one was there, I thought you said that…" She stopped short as Tyson's soggy midnight blue bangs revealed red-rimmed eyes. "What's wrong, what happened?" She asked quietly.
The blader opened his mouth as if to say something but no sound came out. More tears spilled over his cheeks and Hilary covered her mouth in shocked concern.
"It's… It's K-Kai…" He stuttered, voice watery. "He's in the hospital, he's not going to make it. He's… He's not going to –" Tyson's words came out jumbled and Hilary grasped his shoulder to try and steady him.
"Tyson… Tyson! Calm down, why is Kai in the hospital? Why aren't you there?"
The teen shook his head, choking back a sob. "I ran, I… I couldn't take it. They told me he's going to die!" His deep blue eyes stared into hers painfully. "I told them that I…" He squeezed his eyes shut and started to shake his head miserably. "I told them that I love him!"
The girl's heart stopped in disbelief. She swallowed. "Do you?"
Tyson shook his head dully and wiped his face. He looked back at Hilary, confusion written all over his face.
"I d-don't know." He clenched his teeth together. "I…need to know. I just… Dad was talking to me – telling me that I shouldn't be selfish… to let Kai g-go…"
Hilary shook her head pulling Tyson into a one-armed hug. "How did you feel?"
The blader wrapped his shaking arms around Hilary's middle, looking over her shoulder as the rain kept pelting down.
"I just… I don't know…" He struggled to make sense of his mixed up feelings. "I… When my Dad kept yelling at m-me, I just kept hearing all these things Kai had said to me a long time ago – When we were in Russia."
Hilary just nodded, letting Tyson continue.
"A-And then… I remembered all these things I said to Kai."
"Did you feel warm?" She asked.
Tyson shook his head stiffly. "No…"
They pulled back from the awkward hug, and Tyson noticed Hilary was crying too. She let her umbrella drop away.
Silent tears and loud rain slid down his damp cheeks as he closed his eyes. "I felt cold."
"I felt cold, like I was dying." He cried, his face screwing up in pain. "I still feel that way. Losing him… it makes me feel… like I'm the one who's d-dying."
The rain came down harder, soaking them both deeply as more thunder crashed across the sky.
"Then don't lose him again, you idiot." Hilary said hoarsely. "Promise me you won't."
Tyson stared at Hilary before a quivering smile washed over his features. "I promise." He nodded, his confusion melting away into nothing. "I won't be losing Kai again."
Tyson won't let Kai die! And I will make sure you guys read about it =D Dun worry, I'm still updating.