This is dedicated to everyone who read this fic up to know. Thanks!

Note: I know I know, took me so long to put it up. And I am fucking going against the agreement me and Kuroi had so I will get killed but… you know, inspiration for this one comes easier than inspiration for 'Recover'.

MasterFranny: thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I wuv you all! So, here it is, the next chapter. Let's see what comes out of it ne?

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Rating: T

Summary: Takes place after G-Rev. Kai still has some 'grudges' against Brooklyn, but the older teen is determined to erase them… Yaoi BrooklynKai and GarlandTala, ReiMystel.

Warning: this contains Yaoi so if you don't like stop reading right now. Any flame regarding yaoi use of pairings will be handed to Hiei and Kai to be disposed of.

Disclaimer: I don't own. Otherwise there wouldn't be a second season like the one we had and there would be a side season filled with yaoi...

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"(Talking into other languages)"

–Dreams sequences, flashbacks, memories–

……………………………………………

Alluring Darkness

Chapter 11: Explaining and Sorrow

When Garland and Tala entered the house again, to their great surprise they saw Brooklyn standing in front of the door with a haunted look.

A purplish bruise was rapidly forming on his cheek, right under his eye, was the only explanation the two received of what had happened in the library, since the orange haired teen was so lost in his thoughts he didn't even react or yelp as Tala placed a cool raw steak on his swelling cheek.

Tala and Garland shared a look, both perplexed and worried at the same time for their friends, not understanding what could have happened.

"Brooklyn…" Garland tried one more time, but again got no reply.

Sighing, the fighter teen decided to drop the matter, knowing he would get to know eventually, because Brooklyn trusted him enough to confide in him.

Waving at a contented –a word that he would never had put next to Tala's name– red head Garland and Brooklyn walked back towards their house, both deep in thought.

One was mentally analyzing the battle he'd fought, enjoying it completely, the other was musing about a certain slate haired blader whose comprehension was always a step too far.

He knew that even if he now had the approval of Tala and even Rei –in some measure– Kai would never become less a mystery to him if he didn't start from an easier subject. Kai would never speak to him again so he needed to find out what was wrong with him by using the next best shot –who at the time was not Tala, neither Rei.

Again, he had to resign using a much lesser tool that could be identified as Tyson.

"I'll be back in a while," were the first words he spoke to Garland before simply turning around and walking away, much to the resent of the teal haired teen who had believed Brooklyn would at least explain. But he couldn't be helped, Brooklyn was the way he was.

'I just hope he will get Kai to understand and that he will understand what's with Kai,' he thought before turning and resuming his walk back home.

His sister would surely wonder where he was, since he forgot to tell her he was going to Kai's.

As Brooklyn walked at a fast pace towards Tyson's house, he tried to put in the right places all the things he knew about Kai, to form some kind of scheme in his mind that could help him understand what was going through his mind at the moment, and why he'd reacted the way he did when touched.

Brooklyn was determined to understand him.

He had to admit that Kai was really a mystery, because apart for what he could see by himself, nothing about him was clear. He kept his past hidden, and all in all, that interested and caused curiosity in Brooklyn.

Each moment passing by, he wanted to reveal what was hidden, and understand.

That was why when he knocked at the door and it was Tyson that opened it, he smiled sheepishly at him. That was why, when Hitoshi appeared behind his brother, Brooklyn hid the growl from his lips and smiled at him as well.

Because right now he needed anything he could get.

"Brooklyn, so nice to see you!" Tyson and Hitoshi smiled at him –one heartedly, the other rather unwillingly. "Come in, we were up to play poker!"

Brooklyn blinked but did not comment on the strange choice of games the Granger family liked to play, this was not of his concern, not now and certainly not ever. He followed Tyson inside, glaring at his older brother from above the bluenette's shoulders, being glared back by the older of the brothers with just as much displeasure.

Hitoshi did not like at all Brooklyn's arrival, more so because he was planning to winning Tyson some money this day, but he merely shrugged and decided to go play with the PlayStation2 in the sitting room, leaving the two younger bladers alone in the kitchen with Grandpa Granger.

Brooklyn smirked inwardly, thanking whatever god was up there that he would be able to speak with the Dragon alone. The last thing he needed was to have Hitoshi breath on his neck because of Kai, threatening to take the slate haired teen away from him the moment he let his attention slip.

Grandpa Granger, remembering what Garland had said about Brooklyn liking the company of people that would not treat him like a freak, smiled and poured out three cups of hot, steamy tea, wondering if the orange haired teen would join them in their poker play now that Hitoshi was gone.

The old freak was no stupid –even if he did make people think that all the time– and had noticed that after the BEGA tournament his grandson and the wielder of Zeus were not as nice to each other as they were before; a better word would be, they were still civil, but secretly threw mental daggers against the other every time they met.

Placing one of the cups before the teen, he received a warm smile and a nod from him and hummed to himself happily –he was such a collected and educated boys, not at all like his younger grandson…

"So, Brooklyn, tell me, what takes you here?" Tyson gulped down half of his cup of tea in one go, together with four or five cookies appeared from nowhere.

Brooklyn let his smile widen slightly, taking everything with calm so nothing would be too suspicious. "I saw Kai today," and to add to the speech he pointed at his cheek.

Even after a cool steak being applied on it for fifteen minutes, the swelling was still rather evident –so he wondered why no one of this family noticed until he pointed out the fact.

"Man," Tyson whistled, "I can understand how you feel! I got a few hits by Kai as well, mostly because I would not wake up when training was scheduled and such, but once… well nothing nice to remember anyway" the bluenette shook his head and beamed at Brooklyn, "so your plan isn't going too well ne? Garland said you were trying to flat things out with Kai".

Brooklyn shrugged, grimacing and looking rather downcast –and at least the emotion wasn't put up just for the sake of it. He really was depressed and actually upset he could not understand what was wrong.

"I don't know what happened, really," he shook his head. "But I am here to ask something I have been wondering for a while now… it is related to Kai and I want to understand how to make him realize I am really sorry for all that happened".

Tyson smiled sceptically, "to get into Kai's skin is not that easy, man," he sipped his tea and inhaled some more cookies, offering one to Brooklyn as he did so.

The orange haired teen refused politely, hiding a grimace of disgust at the horrible sight of Tyson's mouth. "It took a whole lot of time to make him at least accept we were there, let alone be friends with him, seriously, but I can understand why he's this way".

For once, Brooklyn saw in Tyson a glimpse of the person that defeated him at the BEGA tournament and that was indeed worthy being a champion; he was not smiling anymore, and he was looking serious and almost… sad.

This was a part of the bluenette Brooklyn had only saw once, and he had to admit that, even if the picture was quite ruined by him inhaling food like it was air, he could even come to… respect this guy.

"What do you mean?" he asked calmly as he looked away from Tyson and concentrated on his own tea.

Tyson sighed. He really looked serious for once, and Brooklyn took this sign as good –that meant this guy was really caring towards his friends, and he considered Kai one of them.

"I think that since you started your beyblade career in the last two years you know nothing of the World Tournament we had three years ago," Tyson gulped down the last bit of tea and finally wiped his face clean, thank god, so Brooklyn could look safely at him again. Not even realizing the discomfort of the other teen until few seconds before, the bluenette continued with his heated speech. "It was then our team was formed –the BladeBreakers".

Grandpa Granger, while the two spoke, took out the cards and started shuffling them, before placing five cars before both teens; Brooklyn sighed, it looked like he had to pay a price for the information he wanted…

"At the time, Kai was even more close and distant than he is now, can you believe it or not," Tyson laughed sheepishly. "We fought our way to Russia against the Baihutsu, that were once called White Tigers, and the All Starz, and obviously against the European Team, the Majestics. When we reached Russia however, things started getting complicated".

Brooklyn sipped his cooling tea, his mind already memorizing the information –until now pretty useless– and waiting for more.

"Kai started acting… strange. Well, stranger than he was already. He had never been close to any of us, no matter how much we tried –and I can assure you, we tried".

Tyson started milling his arms around madly, and Brooklyn almost frowned. Almost. "Calm down little dude, you're not helping dude here," Grandpa Granger commented, picking up a card and starting the game.

Tyson mumbled something about old nuts and tried to collect himself; Brooklyn sighed, this was harder than he thought, and easier all the same.

"When he disappeared, we tried to find him and poof! We were informed he had joined the opponent Team!" Tyson was kinda rambling now. "But we got to know the truth only later, when he fought with the Demolition Boys… the team Tala was in before he created the Blitzkrieg Boys. The other two teens you saw that Garland defeated, well, they were part of that team as well".

Brooklyn was startled by this. So that was when Tala and Kai met?

No, this was not possible; Tyson was very persistent in making friends, and not even Kai was able to block him away when he wanted to piss off people. So if Tyson and the rest of the group had not made friends with Kai up to that moment, it was rather impossible for Tala to manage where the three failed, more so since Tala himself was not that people–lover.

"When we saw Kai again, he was evil," Tyson's voice held a strong emotion within it, and Brooklyn was surprised. "He didn't want to speak with us again, and he was fighting with another beyblade, and another BitBeast…"

Brooklyn's eyes widened hearing this.

Kai had another beast! Then… it could be possible that the other beast was what he had called Black Dranzer?

"Another Beast? But it's not possible," he commented.

Point to him, he show nothing of his inner turmoil.

"It is," Tyson replied.

Brooklyn took two cards from the deck without even looking at them.

"It was… another Phoenix," Tyson's voice trembled. Something passed through his eyes, and the orange haired teen recognized it as fear. "A dark one… completely back, but with red eyes. It was evil, Brooklyn, completely evil, and in a way, I think it was controlling Kai. Because he was thinking only about power and how to get it, and fighting our friends he stole away their beasts".

'He what!' Brooklyn would have never thought something like this to be even possible.

"Yeah… we felt betrayed…" Tyson sighed again. "But we went to the Abbey… because it was there he was kept… and we found out he had a horrible past –he was trained as a BitBeast stealer and was taught not to feel emotions. His beast was something completely evil… but we managed to help Kai out of it, he returned to us willingly, and we defeated the Demolition Boys and their boss!"

Now, Brooklyn could see a lot of things clearly. He recognized in the description Tyson did the reaction Kai had with him.

He was finally finding an answer about Kai… something that he feared. The story that Tyson was telling him caused a deep fear in Brooklyn, but he refused to stop listening, because Kai was worthy it. He wanted to find the bottom of the pain he'd seen in Kai's eyes to take it away, even if that meant facing with his own hidden fears.

Tyson helped with this, he showed Brooklyn the way out of his misery and grief, and he showed him the light. It looked like Kai was still living a step away from the darkness that once had consumed Brooklyn, and thinking this, the orange haired teen felt he was one step closer to his Kai.

Because now he could understand what he was going through.

Kai… he saw the same darkness that had once controlled him in Brooklyn and Zeus. So he viewed them as a threat and not as friends, he would always see something to hide from. Because his past was still unresolved.

What could have caused the darkness to feel attracted by Kai? Brooklyn had a bad past, and the darkness felt attracted by that; that's why he fell in the bottomless pit of nothingness.

Because he felt he was nothing. He felt there was nothing that could help him, and he went down.

Away from reach.

But he was reached.

Brooklyn was caught in time and helped. Since when Kai was drowning? Why couldn't he be saved as well? Why was the darkness still hurting him, if Tyson said he was helped out of it?

Tyson knew nothing more.

Only Kai now could explain, and Brooklyn had another reason to find out the truth. Kai had helped him out of his darkness, and now Brooklyn would help Kai out of his own.

Brooklyn cared enough to really manage this feat, he cared more than Tyson ever could.

……………………………………………

"Kai, please, let me in," Tala was feeling worried now, because it had been three hours since Kai had closed himself inside his room, refusing to come out, and he was starting to doubt about Brooklyn's possibilities in ever befriend Kai.

If this was what happened every time the two met, maybe it really was needed to stop Brooklyn from seeing Kai. It hurt too much.

Kai was almost closing himself up again, like in the past, and the red head hoped this would not be the case. They had thought the pain had left forever, in the end, but what was clear now was that it was not true, at least not for Kai.

Tala sighed as for the fifth time, no one answered him from the other side of the door, and resigned himself to the fact that his friend would not come out of his room anytime soon.

He made his way down to the kitchen, and was surprised to see Rei and Mystel there, the former preparing something and the latter staring at him with an adoring look on his face. The red head would have said something sneaky and smug like, 'oh, you two are finally out of the bedroom, I thought I would never see that day again,' but he was too depressed.

The excitement of the battle against Garland had evaporated the moment he realized Kai was hurt again –and this time it were not his hands.

He felt a bad friend, a really bad one. He kept on hurting his best friend, the only one that was still around, the one that had offered him a place to stay and the one that had always been there for him. And what was he doing for him? Absolutely nothing.

Was he this worthless that he couldn't even find a way to show Kai he was there?

"Tala? Is there something wrong? We heard there was Garland here before, you had a battle right? How did it go?" Rei didn't even turn to look at the red head as he cooked, but Mystel did and he noticed immediately the dark look on the Wolf's face.

"It was good," replied Tala emotionlessly. He then shook his head, "but that's not the problem. Brooklyn was there as well, and he spoke with Kai… but their speech didn't go as well as planned, because Kai punched Brooklyn and is now closed in his room, and he doesn't want to come out".

"Jeez, Kai's really messed up… I wonder why he's so tense around Brooklyn… I mean, Brooklyn is a nice guy, and apart some slips, he's not a bad person" Rei shook his head as well, before turning back to cooking. "Knowing Kai, he won't come out in a while… it's better to just let him be and wait because there is nothing else we can do".

"Kai sees darkness in Brooklyn, and it's clear" spoke someone.

Rei and Tala turned in shock at who had spoken, that was Mystel, who had until that moment been completely forgotten by both.

Mystel was not good at orientating around; he was not good with words either. And he liked to wander with his head on the clouds. That was obvious, he had admitted it himself.

But for how much he could be out of it sometimes, he was a good observant. And it didn't matter it was Kai they were speaking about. To him, it was clear enough.

"Brooklyn holds darkness inside him, just as much as he does with light… and that's what saved him," Mystel fidgeted under the stare of both amber and icy azure eyes before looking away. "But… Kai… he does not look like he has any light in him… I don't know how to explain myself, but that's it. Kai doesn't want to be near Brooklyn because he thinks he's too similar to him, in some way I can't understand" he smiled sheepishly.

Tala's eyes widened.

Hell, anyone was better than him at figuring Kai out. And he was supposed to be his best friend. Brooklyn first, then Mystel, both had seen something that neither could explain or understand fully, and the only one that should have known what was going on was the one that had been completely blind to it all.

"I'm going back up," he said determinately.

But as he walked towards the stair, feeling a dire need to just look at Kai and tell him it would all be ok, that now he knew, the phone started ringing. Tala cursed and went to pick up.

"Yeah?" he replied, before realizing he would need to be a little politer since it wasn't his home. "Moshi moshi?" he corrected himself quickly.

"Is that Mr. Hiwatari?" asked a clear voice from the other end.

"No, I'm not Kai, but… he can't answer the phone at the moment," Tala frowned lightly, eager to shut the phone down and go upstairs to his friend. "If you need to speak to him, you can refer to me, and I will tell him".

The voice on the other end of the phone was silent for a split second, then, "I am the secretary of the hospital, the results of Hiwatari's tests are ready, and he's needed here. Can he come later in the afternoon?"

Tala felt a hand clutch his heart painfully, his throat constricting, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Of course, we will be there in a hour or so".

With that, he shut the call and with a uncertain gaze at the Neko–jinn that had exited the kitchen and was staring at him in worry, he went upstairs.

Again, the feeling of tightness in his chest returned, at the sight of the closed door that to Tala looked like a wall he could not climb over. Kai was behind there, shutting himself away from his friends, and he felt he could not let this happen.

He cared for Kai, he really did, and he'd once promised to himself he would protect his friend.

He wasn't going to back away from his promise.

"Kai," his voice was steadier than before, eyes flaring with determination. "I am going to come in even if you don't want me to, and if you don't open this door now, I'll knock it down –on the count of three".

Tala prepared himself.

"One…"

He clenched his fists, tensing the muscles in his shoulders so to brace himself from the hit he was going to take.

"Two…"

He lowered his head and shoulders, readying himself.

"Thr–"

With a soft creaking sound, the door opened.

Kai's crimson eyes stared at him, holding so much pain Tala felt like he'd gone back in time, to when they were still at the abbey. It was wrong. It was not something he wanted to face again, nor let Kai face either.

"Tala…" Kai's voice was clipped and low.

"Kai, listen carefully now" the red head's tone was hard and left no room to disagree. "I can't let you face this alone. We are friends, we went through worse than this, and we can overcome anything together. If you can't face Brooklyn, I will do anything in order to not let you meet with him anymore".

Kai closed his mouth, eyes widened, but said nothing, and Tala continued.

"But this wouldn't be you. I know it is painful, and I know Brooklyn holds the same darkness you once felt with Black Dranzer. But that was in the past, and he won't hurt you. I won't let him, no one of us will. You are too strong to let this control your spirit, and I know you can solve things out…"

Now blue eyes were sharp, but Tala was not angry. He was just resolute. He knew he had to prove a point there, or nothing would change.

Without warning, he stepped forwards and hugged Kai, fiercely, his hands gripping the other's shoulders not making him squirm away, even if the slate haired teen was trying hard to do so.

"Kai, no. I trust you to be able to realize how foolish you are acting, by letting a memory control you this much. I know you are in pain, but you are too strong to let yourself down so much!"

Kai gasped in shock, biting his lip.

"You are going to calm down, then face Brooklyn once for all. It doesn't matter how long it will take for you to do it, or what will come after that, but you have to realize Brooklyn is not Boris, and that he is not up to harm you in any way. I expect you to work out everything with him, even if afterwards you won't speak to each other anymore, I think you both have to".

Kai closed his eyes, finally relenting and leaning to the embrace.

He knew Tala was right.

It was hard nonetheless, knowing Brooklyn, and having the memories of Black Dranzer and her darkness fresh in his heart and mind. Taunting, haunting him.

But Tala was right.

He was better than this.

He had to clear things out with Brooklyn, because he could not let the orange haired teen to control his life, nor to have such power over him.

He could not let Brooklyn affect him this way, because he was strong enough to refuse the darkness again.

"Tala…" Tala, not removing his arms from Kai's shoulders, stiffened and listened to him. "Thanks".

The red haired teen smiled.

……………………………………………

The three in the room were silent as they stared at each other, the tension in the air so thick it could be cut with a knife.

There is was, not even a week later, the results of the tests. Kai was glad he would have the answer to his problems so soon, but at the same time he felt vaguely uncertain.

Kai felt unsure about the outcome, but he was certain he could take both good and bad news; there was no problem, he'd enough courage to have either.

He just hoped it was nothing serious.

He was only started trying to put the pieces of his life back together, trying to find the guts to face Brooklyn, but at least he knew he had Tala at his side. He had all his friends at his side.

Kai had realized what a control the orange haired blader held over him, so much he hadn't noticed up to now due to the ghosts that were haunting him.

He still could not understand how could someone like Brooklyn be so imposing over him, not counting the similarities he had with Black Dranzer. Kai knew there was something different in him, and he really wanted to see where they stood. But for the present moment, he simply could not concentrate on it enough.

Because, no matter how hard he tried, the mere thought of seeing Brooklyn again filled him with fear and dread.

Shaking his head, Kai stared at the doctor in front of him, the same woman that had helped him –Mrs. Kobayashi.

"I am glad you could come, Kai," she said warmly, her smile making him feel at ease.

"So…" he cleared his throat. "What are the results?"

Mrs. Kobayashi's smile never faltered. In situations like this one, she knew her patients would be not just worried, but afraid of what they could hear, and despite what the news was, she knew the best way was to smile while speaking,

Fortunately, this time the news were positive.

"The results showed us there is not arthritis," she said to him, and saw his shoulders drop in relief. Next to him, the red haired teen's face brightened up considerably, and once again, she wondered how those two could go on like this without parents.

She had seen Kai's form, compiled by his friend while he was unconscious; he was an orphan, and by the information Tala had written down without hesitation, they had lived in the same place. That, and the fact that his name was too famous to not know anything about his family and the disastrous happenings some years before, led Mrs. Kobayashi to the conclusion that the two had been caring for each other since children.

She was glad the slate haired teen had such a close friend.

"Your pain, although for the most part caused by mental strain, is to be blamed to an overuse of the muscles, tendons and the connections with the nerves. The combined effect of all those factors is what caused your sharp pain" she looked seriously at him. "Fortunately, it's nothing too serious, if you keep taking the painkillers and the cream I gave you, plus another medicine I am going to prescribe to you now, it will take no time for you to be healthy again. just keep in mind, you absolutely have to evade any kind of physical strain to be forced upon your hands".

Kai stared down at his hands, knowing he would have to be really careful, even more than usual, from now on.

But he was relieved, and he did nothing to hide it. Tala smirked, feeling just as relieved as his friend. Finally, it was looking up for Kai, now the only thing that was left was to confront Brooklyn… which would come with its own time.

"I will need to take you monitored though, you should return here every two days," Mrs. Kobayashi filled out the prescription for the new medicine and handed it to Tala, who took it and looked at her gratefully. "And remember, no physical strains. It's been a pleasure to meet you two".

Saying that, she hushed both of them out of her office, smiling as she closed the door behind her back.

Kai smiled at Tala, "I am glad it was nothing serious" he commented.

Tala smirked back at him, seeing his mood was brighter than before.

He was glad to have the old Kai back.

"I am, too," he admitted. "Come on, let's go back home, I want to see a movie tonight!"

Kai grimaced lightly, "I hope you are not going to add popcorn!" he commented slightly disgusted.

Tala laughed.

"No way in hell!"

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MasterFranny: took me long enough, but I got back my interest in BeyBlade. Watch out then! And review! Make me know that you are still reading, kk?

Oh, and to make out because I didn't post sooner, I am going to add another chapter soon. You will see things develop between garland and Tala, and some more about Brooklyn and Kai! I was getting frustrated about the slow going of this, after all.