Thank the following people for all your generous reviews!
[[Kroskull russle, maiden-of-dreams, Shawnee, Alita, Jennifer, Eidolon Fenrir Skylander, Raymond's-Chick, Chibi-Kari]]
Ok everyone, remember to keep reading and reviewing!! Here's chapter number 2...
As Hillary wept deeper and deeper into her soft white pillow, more and more thoughts clouded in her mind; nothing was clear anymore and she knew that as long as so many secrets were being kept, people would remain in the dark but live their lives to the full. But what if everyone knew? What if the young girl revealed the one thing she knew could change so many lives...including hers?
"No..." she whimpered, "There's too much to lose..." another tearful sob left her and she only felt weaker and weaker as time progressed. She suddenly bolted up as she heard a ring at the front door, upon heeding a gradual thud up the stairs she swiftly wiped her tear stricken face and straightened out her clothes and bed sheets. She sat upright and reached to her bedside table, grabbing a magazine and opening it immediately to look at the first page exposed.
"Hillary?" a voice murmured from behind the door, following a light knock. The door handle slowly turned and Hilary sniffed before looking up from the glossy magazine, noticing a familiar face peer round the corner as she did.
"Tyson..." she muttered, crest-fallen as she turned her head away so a few strands of hair fell in front of her crimson orbs; she didn't want to face him, she was frightened of confessing the truth and she definitely didn't want Tyson to uncover her secret.
The young teen slowly walked in, studying Hillary's face carefully as he gently shut the door behind him; he struggled to find the right words to say to his friend, as he wasn't sure whether the brunette would kill him, forgive him or simply scream in his face.
"Hillary...for what I said before-"
"No, no it's ok..." she whispered, not raising her head to look Tyson straight in the eye.
Tyson was of course struck with confusion; he tilted his head to the side in a warp of bewilderment and tried to fathom Hillary's sudden change of heart, he really did think she would strangle him for even trying to apologise, yet she hadn't even let him finish before she suddenly forgave him.
"Uh...well, ok then. Thanks," he managed to stutter, sheepishly adjusting the cap atop his mop of navy tresses. A small nervous laugh passed his lips as Tyson strived for something new to say to finish the not so popular topic of conversation, he scratched the top of his hat thought provokingly and his chocolate brown orbs glanced from one side of Hillary's room to the other. He hoped he could find something of interest to talk about, but just as he was going to strike up a tête-à-tête on the subject of pink he was quickly interrupted.
"Well, everything's fine now so-" Hillary suddenly stopped, she raised her head and panic overcame her facial expression; her eyes widened before clenching tightly shut once again and she let go of the magazine in her hand to let it fall to the floor, grasping the sheets of her bed in her clammy palms a small whimper escaped her mouth and she didn't know what to do.
"H...Hillary? Are you alright?" Tyson asked, edging a little closer to her and watching her body motions in concern; it was a brainless question but Tyson felt that was the only thing he could say, Hillary began to tremble abruptly and this caused a wave of fear to evolve into a surge of terror.
"Get...mom!!" she growled, trying not to scream as she looked to Tyson for the first time since he entered; her eyes were innocent, frightened and even the deepest sincerity wasn't enough to calm the brewing storm erupting in her body. Tyson nodded and sprinted out the door, running down the stairs he called for Hillary's mother.
"Mrs Tachibana!! Mrs Tachibana!!" he yelled, running through the whole of the downstairs of his friend's home with the glisten of tears welling in his terrified eyes. Meanwhile, Hillary gasped and she felt that someone was constricting her, cutting off her air supply ever so slowly.
"Ty...Tyson, get...m..." she tried repeating her plead, falling sideways onto her bed as her body shuddered uncontrollably; somehow the adolescent believed that if she kept repeating these words the pain would end, all the pain would be drained from her at once.
But she was wrong.
A pair of weary crimson pools unchained gradually, blurry white figures surrounded the fragile body of this young girl and mumbled something inaudible as Hillary began to awaken; she knew where she was, the place she had visited for the past week every day after school. She hated this place, she told her parents she never wanted to come back but they wouldn't listen.
The shadows made their way to the side of the brunette's bed, probing her head and her arms, but seeming to focus most of their attention on her stomach that had been uncovered by one of the shorter shapes; a huddle of murmurs emitted from each hazy figure as they turned away from Hillary and drifted over to the door where they could leave the girl to rest.
Locks of light brown bounced around her pale face, a fringe of russet playing gently around her eyes as a few short gasps flowed past her rose lips and she glanced down to her abdomen; various wires and patches seemed to control her and she hated this feeling of inferiority and vulnerability, all she wanted was to be better again. She wanted to go back to school and be class rep, she longed to be the best in class and always get the best grades and all the teacher's praise.
She also wished to tell Tyson her feelings for him, but she could never lay the burden of her illness upon him and watch as he tried to be strong for her; No, that would be worse than death itself. And what if he didn't even feel the same way? Hillary knew that Tyson and herself were always on rocky ground, they never seemed to get along and when they did it wasn't anything special.
'Tyson, all I want really is for you to know how I feel, but what can I do?! There's a chance I won't be around for much longer and if I did tell you how I felt and you felt the same way...you would be watching me die...That's the last thing I want but at the same time it's the only thing I want...what can I do...?' she prayed silently, letting a tear slide down her ashen cheek.
Come to think of it, what had Tyson done after Hillary's fit? Had he just left saying nothing more? Had the brunette's mother told the beyblader of her illness? Or something else? There were too many questions that couldn't be answered and too many answers to even begin questioning...
"Hn."
Hillary suddenly looked round her room, finally letting her eyes fall upon a figure standing by her window to the left of her bed. She squinted as she strained to see who it was, she could vaguely make out a tall figure but her vision was less than perfect at that moment.
"Who...who's there?" she whispered into the shadows, well at least the surrounding area was shadows to her.
"It's me. Kai."
"Kai?" she repeated, confused as she tried harder to focus her eyesight. She could just about make out his figure, the large slate bangs and indigo cargo pants, black shirt and long white scarf trailing behind him with a sense of elegance about it.
"Yes."
Kai had never been a world-renowned speaker, but Hillary was still none the wiser as to why he was here; she waited for something, an explanation perhaps but received nothing from the un-sociable blader. He kept his toned arms traversed across his chest and his eyes were casually shut, he sat by the half open window on the ledge and felt the occasional summer breeze sweep past his face, brushing locks of greyish-blue away from the emotionless expression of the Dranzer-weilder.
"Wh...why are you here?" she mumbled, furrowing her brows and awaiting a suitable response from the shadowy teen.
A pair of scarlet orbs opened gradually and Kai slid heedlessly off the windowsill, walking slowly to the edge of Hillary's bed and his shoes slapping against the cold white floor before he stopped to look down on the girl in front of him.
"To see how you are, I guess," he replied, glancing his emotionless optics to the bedside table where an un-opened piece of paper sat. It was addressed to Hillary rather scruffily and he reached one hand down from its folded position to grab the note and open it, Hillary wondered what he was doing but stayed silent as Kai read.
"Hillary..." he began, reading aloud from the letter. "I'm not sure what happened today but I hope you feel better soon, I guess it was something you ate. I wouldn't worry; it happens to me all the time..." although this part should have been read with more enthusiasm, Kai refused to interpret this into his own voice. "So anyway, get well soon and I'll see you later...Tyson."
Hillary heard the words; she sighed soulfully and turned her head away from Kai so he couldn't see a cluster of tears swelling in her sparkling ruby orbs, the slate haired teen carelessly threw the note back onto the table and folded his arms across his arms once more.
"Hn."
"Something I ate..." Hillary mouthed, she knew no one could see her but she thought just how ironic it was; Tyson didn't realise the full extent of her visit to the hospital, he witnessed the fit and he even new she was in hospital, yet he assumed it couldn't be a disease or anything remotely dangerous. He was so wrong it made Hillary smile, strangely but truthfully.
"So, why are you here?" Kai asked, his monotonous voice echoing through the cubicle walls as he looked to the back of Hillary's head.
The young girl paused, something didn't quite add up here; Ok, so Kai said he was here to see her but he had never cared before, why now the sudden about face? And why, out of everyone she knew, was Kai here? Was this something to do with Tyson and Kai's demand for a rematch? There must be something going on behind the scenes but she just needed to figure out what, and at the moment her thoughts were clouded and she just couldn't think straight; she needed to answer Kai's question anyway.
"Why am I here?" she repeated quietly, wiping her watering eyes with a slightly shaky hand before turning her head back. "It's nothing..." she muttered, not wanting to reveal her illness to anyone.
"Oh. I see. If that's the case, why is there a clipboard here that says 'Hillary Tachibana. Stomach cancer, treatment-'"
"Ok ok, don't go on..." she interrupted, feeling embarrassed, annoyed but somehow relieved that somebody beside her parents could understand her now.
"So it's serious?" he queried, suddenly seeming very talkative.
"Well...yeah..." she paused and wanted to shuffle her legs, but was afraid in case some of the wires came loose and so just lay still. "But the doctor's are giving me treatment...that'll, that'll work..." It was almost as if she was trying to convince herself she'd be ok, but she was having doubts and was feeling depressed at the thought of never being able to express her true feelings.
"Hn," was a good enough response as any according to the mysterious beyblader, he sat into a chair beside Hillary's bed and crossed his legs, sighing. "Well maybe I should tell you the real reason I'm here..." he muttered, never letting any emotion come into contact with his facial features.
"What?" countered the ill brunette, glancing her blurred vision to what seemed to be Kai's face, as she felt more puzzled every passing minute.
"I want to fight Tyson. You know it, I know it, and he knows it." Well he'd always been good at stating the obvious, and closing his garnet orbs he continued. "And I have the power of Dranzer X now...I have a strong feeling that I could beat him and take back the title of the World Champion..."
And with that he reached into his pocket, before pulling out a glimmering deep blue blade with fiery orange and silver tribal patterns embellishing its surface; in the midst of the metal sat the bit chip Dranzer, gleaming in full glory and illustrating its superiority. Hillary however could hardly see this and to her it looked like the same old Dranzer to her, yet she was still confused.
"What has this...got to do with me?" she asked in a soft voice.
"Well, I also have something to offer you..." he began, letting the faint breeze brush away the odd strand of slate before progressing. "As you probably know, I have my own property and training grounds for beyblading. There's just one thing missing, a personal trainer."
"A per...personal trainer?"
"Yes. I need somebody who can help me perfect my training skills before I challenge Tyson...and I think that this could be an...opportunity for you..." he explained, looking back to Hillary's scarlet optics.
"How is that? I really don't understand all this-"
"Lets put it this way...I know about your illness now; I could, well...help you tell Tyson...because from that letter I can see he's concerned about you, and your reaction gave me the impression that you have some kind of feeling-"
"No. I mean, well..." Hillary was feeling flushed and didn't know how to answer. "So you want me to...be your personal trainer? But...my illness, I wouldn't be able to-"
"Don't forget, I would pay for all your treatment and keep you in very good condition. As long as you do this for me, I will help you," he elucidated, wondering whether Hillary would accept his proposition.
"But...I can't..."
"Why not? You can do anything if you think you can," he retorted, staring intently at the girl who lay in front of him. He saw the cords leading to and out of her body, he noticed the uneven rhythm in which she breathed and saw the vulnerability in her eyes; he pitied her, he knew that she was in a weak position and he could take advantage of that.
"Well...I guess, if you would be able to help me..."
Kai smirked as if there were some hidden meaning to his plan, he didn't give this away however and stood from his seat. "So, can I take that as a yes?"
Hillary paused. Was this really what she wanted? If Tyson found out, he would blow a fuse. She was risking her chance of telling Tyson her true feelings but at the same time this could be her chance...making decisions was never going to be easy, especially now...
'What do I do...?' she thought. -Why do we keep secrets?- Well, that was the end of chapter 2! If you would like another chapter then please R&R, every review is greatly appreciated so thank you!
Ja!
