Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and I'm not making any money off of this.
Author's Notes: For everybody who liked "The Secret" and wanted me to write something else like it… Just another weird fanfic by me, Ranma. Post season one, no real continuum. A two-part fic. Ahah... don't worry I'll update "Impossible" and "BadBlade" soon........
His Heart's Desire
It was Tyson's birthday.
And Kai knew that something bad was bound to happen. It was always that way! Every year after that first world championships the Bladebreakers had gone to, Tyson had found some way to get everybody back together for his birthday, and every time things got outta control. It wasn't like he didn't see Tyson very often other than that; actually, he did, along with the Chief, but when Ray and Max came back to Japan things just went wrong.
Lunch had been huge with Kenny's parents and Grandpa Granger having a lot of different dishes ready for the group of teens. They had finished eating the cake a while ago, with Tyson forgetting to blow out his candles before he started snarfing his gigantic piece down. That had led to Max and Ray trying to help Tyson put out the fire in his mouth by pouring pop down there. And then there was when Tyson had found some cone shaped party hats under the sink and Ray had put two around his chest in an effort to gain some bust, making Tyson nearly die laughing and Max take photos…
The team captain sighed and crossed his arms leaning back against the wall just outside the kitchen. Why did he even bother to come to these birthday parties…?
"Hey Kai!!"
Kai turned to see a cheerful Tyson walking up to him, a big smile on his face. 'Oh. Right…' It wasn't like Kai got to see Tyson as much as he wanted to…
"Hey, thanks for the new shooter, it's wicked, Kai!" The midnight haired teen gushed.
"Hmph, I wasn't going to get you anything." Kai answered, trying to end the conversation.
Tyson blinked and then put his hands on his hips. "Oh you're just cranky 'cause I got more gifts than you do on your birthday." He said teasingly.
"Unlike you, Tyson, I don't see any point in receiving all this useless junk." Kai replied coolly, referring to the potted plant that Gramps had proudly given his grandson. The team captain looked away then, seemingly disinterested in anything else.
Tyson studied Kai's expression a bit before smiling smugly and putting a hand on the taller teen's shoulder. "Yeah right. That's not what you'll be saying when you get something you really want!" The midnight haired blader proclaimed.
Kai looked down at the shorter boy in muted surprise, those blue eyes making it difficult to deny that statement flat-out like everything else. Instead the team captain shrugged somewhat, causing both of them to look at Tyson's hand still resting on Kai's bare shoulder.
A moment passed and unnerved by the way Tyson hadn't moved it yet, Kai shrugged again causing the tanned hand to slip off of his shoulder. Tyson gave the team captain a glare.
"And, how, would you know what I really want, Tyson. I don't see how that's any of your business." Kai replied, frowning back.
"Eeerargh!!" Tyson cried, nearly pulling his hair out in frustration. "Kai why do you have to be so grumpy all the time!? You're driving me crazy!"
Kai snorted and looked away. "And just what do you think you're doing to me?"
The midnight haired teen groaned and then suddenly clasped his hands together in a begging gesture, looking up at the team captain hopefully. "C'mon Kaaaaii…!! Can't you at least lighten up a little!? It's my birthday!"
"Tyson you're 15 years old today and you still haven't gained any maturity at all."
Tyson gaped at that and then squinted his eyes, pushing his face into the taller boy's. "Why you…"
"OH! Hush up you two!! Tyson, and Kai!" Kenny's mom boomed, coming out of the kitchen carrying an empty dish and looking aghast at their behaviour. "Carrying on again. With the way you two fight, you'd think you were flirting!" The plump woman exclaimed with a laugh.
Tyson went beet red and took a big step back from the team captain, out of his personal space. "What!?"
"We're not… flirting…" Kai stated evenly, a displeased look on his face.
"Yeah!!" Tyson shouted and planted his hands on his hips looking defiant. "It's just a… friendly argument, Mrs. D."
"Mmmhmm. Oh you know it's about time to open the rest of your gifts, I think!" Mrs. Dion said with an amused smile. "Gramps came back with them from the post office just now."
"Are you serious!?" Tyson asked, a grin appearing on his face. "Awesome!!" The midnight haired teen punched the air and sped away to find the others and get his new birthday presents.
Mrs. Dion laughed, gave Kai a smile, and returned to the kitchen.
Kai took a breath and let it out again, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms albeit with vague disappointment instead of annoyance this time. He felt a small pang of regret in his chest at the way their conversation had gone, but everything seemed to end up becoming an argument with the other teen. 'Flirting…' Kai thought, making a sour face, feeling heat rise in his cheeks.
The dual-haired teen looked in the direction that Tyson had gone. 'No, Tyson… I don't think I'll be getting what I really want…'
"Little Dude!! You've got mail!!" Gramps shouted from the sitting room, making Tyson bound in 0.00382 seconds later with Max right behind him. Kenny walked in a moment later carrying his laptop underneath his arm.
"YEHAH! More presents!" Tyson cheered, sliding across the wooden floor in his socks and swooping his arms to take the letters and packages from his grandpa.
"Ahhh, Tyson slow down!" The Chief scolded the teen when he fell down onto the floor and began sorting through everything.
"Wow Tyson! Who're these all from?" Max gasped in awe at the amount, watching as the other teen opened letters and took out cards containing some money for the birthday boy.
"Sweet!" Tyson grinned.
Gramps nodded solemnly and gestured to all the mailed gifts with his wooden sword. "From all my homeboys and homegirls in da hood!!"
Tyson rolled his eyes. "Yeah, his old friends."
"Awesome!" The blond grinned flopping down on the couch. "You can buy some totally tripped out beyblade parts with all that cash."
"Don't party to hardy T-man!!" The old man yelled before leaving the Bladebreakers to themselves.
"Hey guys!" Ray ran into the room, having been in the bathroom, making everybody look up to his return.
"Hahahaha!!" Tyson started to guffaw and fell flat on his back on the floor.
"Heeey there, sexy lady!" Max crowed from his spot on the couch, doing his hands like a photograph at the Chinese teen. Kai had confiscated his camera a long time ago.
"Ray, are you still wearing those!?" Kenny asked hysterically.
"Yup." Ray grinned widely and then took the party hats off, tossing them in a trashcan.
"Whoa… hey Chief, Max, Ray!! Take a look at this!!!" Tyson exclaimed while holding a big cardboard box that had been with the mail.
The others all crowded around where Tyson was sitting on the floor looking at the large box.
"What's wrong, Tyson?" Ray asked.
Slowly Tyson's stunned look dissolved into a delighted one and he jabbed his finger at the label on the box. "It's from the Dark Bladerz!!"
"Really!?" Max peered at the scribbling.
"Ahhhh…." Kenny looked uneasy.
"Yeah!! They sent me a birthday gift!!" The world champion exclaimed before ripping the box open. A shower of little styrofoam pieces fell out. The Bladebreakers watched in interest as Tyson dug around and pulled out another cardboard box.
"What the…" The midnight haired teen turned the new box around in his hands and then shrugged, ripping that open as well. After that came another layer, this time newspaper. And after that…
"Say that's an awful lot of packaging." Max commented while bending down and picking up some of the left over Styrofoam that had been thrown about the room.
"Yeah," Ray agreed, holding out the trashcan for the blond to put the garbage in. "I mean, did they have to put it in a zip-lock bag too?"
"Hmm…" Kenny adjusted his glasses and read over the labels on the shipping box. "I don't know Ray, maybe the Dark Bladerz had a good reason for packaging this gift so well." The bespectacled teen pointed to various stamps on the cardboard. "According to these, whatever this gift is, it's been to over 20 countries before it got here!!"
The Chinese teen nodded slowly and thought it over. "You're probably right, Chief. But I don't know… something gives me a weird feeling about it..."
"Aw c'mon Ray, don't worry about it!" Tyson called from on the floor where he continued to unwrap the bundled gift. "The Dark Bladerz are our friends now, and it's not like they'd send me something that'd hurt me or anything." The world champ declared with a confident smile.
Max snapped his fingers and gave the Chinese teen a cheerful thumbs-up. "Hey it could be some of that premium European chocolate!"
"Now that I wouldn't mind." Ray grinned craftily.
"Grrr…come on, what the heck is this thing…" The baseball capped teen muttered under his breath before he hit another layer. "Ooooh YEAAAH! Bubble wrap!! I love this stuff!!" Tyson hooted, grinning like and idiot and waving the plastic sheets filled with bubbles around in the air.
"Aw no, Tyson!! Come on, be a pal, share it!!" Max pleaded, lunging for the packaging but the pony-tailed teen pulled it out of the way, quickly tucking it under his bright yellow shirt so the blond couldn't steal it, and looked at the plain wooden box in his hands. "Finally." Tyson breathed.
"Quick, open it!" Max bounced back from where he had fallen.
"Okay, here goes. Thank you Dark Bladerz!!" Tyson announced and tried to pull of the lid.
It was stuck.
"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" Tyson jumped up and pulled at the wooden lid in earnest.
The fateful move that occurred was like in slow motion.
The Chief, Max and Ray watched as while trying to pry the stuck lid off the box, Tyson took a step back. The midnight teen had intended to get some leverage, but ended up stepping his sneakered foot into a discarded birthday box. "W-o-o-O-O-o-a-h…!!!" Tyson's shocked yell echoed in the slowed down time and space of the moment.
The wooden lid of the mysterious gift box came off and the item inside went flying across the room. It rotated in the air before falling in front of a familiar pair of black and red sneakers.
It was a small book.
And then Kai reached down and picked it up.
"Don't you, ever, stop fooling around, Tyson?" Kai asked, his dark eyes annoyed while he held the book in his hand. It shimmered once, but the team captain did not notice. The rest of the Bladebreakers blinked… but it must have been a trick of the light.
"Ka…Kai!" Tyson pulled his foot out of the box and hurried to take the book from Kai, flashing a quick smile up at him.
The team captain lost his stern look for a second before he replaced it with his usual disinterested one.
The Chief adjusted his glasses in interest. "Tyson!! What's that book about??"
"Yeah what is it?" Ray questioned.
"Hmmm…" Tyson looked over the title with a strange expression. "Heart's Desire?"
Kai heard those words and then shook his head slightly, frowning. He had felt weird – dizzy even – for a moment.
"Oooh man, don't tell me they sent you a trashy romance novel!" Max laughed. Ray covered his mouth to keep from bursting out as well.
Tyson steamed at that and pointedly ignored it, opening the book and reading the inside cover. " 'Happy Birthday, Tyson, that is what you shall have.' Signed the Dark Bladerz." The birthday boy continued to read, his eyebrows rising. The midnight haired teen flipped to the next page, and then flipped through a couple more in disbelief.
"Hey… they sent me a blank book!!"
Loud popping noises echoed throughout the Granger courtyard as Tyson stepped on the bubble wrap. Adding some variety, the baseball capped teen started humming and did a little dance trying to get some rhythm out of the bubbles.
It was much later now, the sky dark and clear. Ray and Max were staying over at Tyson's until they were to return to their respective countries, and they had already crashed for bed, having been a bit jetlagged. Kenny had gone home a little while ago, after his parents and Gramps had talked for hours, so Tyson had come outside to pass some time.
Kai sat on the wooden porch outside as well, watching the birthday boy's antics with wariness. 'Still not one bit of maturity in him…' The team captain thought, snorting quietly when Tyson twirled around and tried to do some complicated moves. But still, it was one of the reasons why he stuck around the other teen.
Kai preferred these quiet times with Tyson when they didn't end up arguing or end up beybattling with each other. Although, those other times had begun to be preferable too.
Big blue hair falling into big blue eyes… when had he started to notice things like that? When had that become appealing?
Upstairs in Tyson's room, the gift from the Dark Bladerz shimmered.
Kai crossed his arms loosely and sighed. "Would you stop that."
"Huh?" Tyson looked up and then stuck out his tongue, making a face. "Yeah and why should I stop?"
"Because…" Kai stressed, preparing to tell the other teen that it was annoying. "You look cute, when you do that……" The words flew out of the team captain's mouth before he could stop them. Kai's eyes widened and he abruptly became silent, a steady heat rising through his body, feeling suspiciously like a flush. He hadn't meant to tell him that!
"…C-cute?" Tyson asked in disbelief, a little bit of red coming to his face. "Did I just hear Mr. Sourpants Kai actually call me… cute?! This is just a dream…right??" Tyson exclaimed and patted his round cheeks to see if he was dreaming or not. It didn't seem to work though, so the midnight haired teen pinched himself hard instead.
"Ow!" The baseball capped teen started. Taking in Kai's soured expression though, it dawned on him. "You mean I'm not dreaming?!" Tyson exclaimed, his eyes bugging out and his mouth stretching comically wide while he continued to pinch his cheeks.
The dual-haired teen stood up stiffly, taking a look at the shorter teen and sniffed, collecting every ounce of self-composure he had left, he rolled his eyes with measured practise. "Now you just look ridiculous." Kai declared scornfully and truthfully, crossing his arms and striding out of the courtyard and onto the street briskly.
"Hey!!" The midnight haired teen complained, letting go of his face and watching as Kai walked off, until he couldn't see him anymore. "Well… You're kinda…… cute… too…" Tyson mumbled as an after thought.
When Kai rounded the corner and was safely out of view of Tyson's house, the team captain leaned back heavily against a wall, sweat beading on his forehead and body in silent alarm. The team captain's lip curled like his mouth had betrayed him. He stared hard at the sidewalk and griped his knees, his scarf falling over his shoulder. 'What… just happened there?'
End Part One of Two.
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