Hillary didn't sleep much after the early morning talk. Her mind kept wandering to her mother, who was just two floors above.

  How was she? Was there any improvement in her condition? Should she secretly visit her?What would she do if she ran into Dr Anderson without a moment's preparation? Will her plan really work out? Should she try contacting her father one last time? 

All in all, her morning was no better than the previous night. She checked the clock, it was six in the morning. Tyson was still fast asleep beside her. No matter how many times she reminded herself how angry she was with him, she couldn't help smiling at him. Dark circles marred his eyes. She just hoped she wouldn't be the reason for darkening them...

She still couldn't believe that Tyson didn't even think it was worth informing her. But her guilty conscience whispered back "So did you..." She ignored it. She knew it was a stupid reason to leave the boys, but that's not the only reason she wanted to part ways with the Blade Breakers.

She understood that she would never be a part of the Beyblading World. She also knew that her friends couldn't live without it. So they just didn't go together. She really didn't blame Tyson for not informing her. The fact that he didn't only made her accept the truth she had been trying to deny for a long time now. And just as he felt from the very beginning, the risks weren't worth it.

The day before yesterday, she had gone to a bank pledge the necklace. She was shooed out after the manager kindly ridiculed her that her necklace wasn't precious. The same happened at the jeweller's place, when she persisted, the owner of the jewellery shop threatened to call the police and inform them that she was trying to cheat on them. Hillary had no other choice but to leave then. 

This is what happens when you trust an utter stranger's words, she reprimanded herself. Yet she couldn't forget his silky voice and grace, and though she couldn't believe it herself, the stranger had looked so familiar to her. Yet, she was sure that she had never met him. All of it unnerved her to no end. At least till now, she had the blade breakers for back up support, but now when they themselves were in need of money,  what other choice did she have? 

Going alone was risky, she knew. But asking Tyson to accompany her wouldn't work if she wouldn't tell him why and where we were going. Though Tyson could be thick, Hillary knew he wasn't that dumb. 

Enough stalling, her reminded herself. Any later, she may miss the deadline. She freshened up in one of the restrooms, went to the receptionist, requesting for a sticky note. She wrote her message to Tyson,

Have gone to bring the money. Will be back by ten.
Hillary

cautiously stuck it to his forehead and left the hospital.

******

Ray got up early the morning and prepared breakfast. Kenny did try helping him, but he had dismissed him.

"You know what Kenny, I'm fine here. Could you help me by checking out what's going on with the media and book a cab for us? Well leave at 9:30."

"Uhhh.... okay, but where to?"

"Oh. I completely forgot about informing you guys. Tyson called yesterday, I mean today, early in the morning. Kai has an operation at Ten, so thought of being there. Besides, Tyson and Hillary need rest."

"Yeah..."

"By the way Kenny, can you check out Max's savings?"

"Yeah sure but why?"

"I'll tell you at the breakfast."

"Okay." Kenny accepted, though he looked hesitant. Kenny didn't like being kept in the dark. But Ray didn't fancy explaining everything twice today.

"I'll go and wake Max up. Then, I'll bring the breakfast to the hall."

Ray made my way to the guest room where Max had slept the day before. His head still had the bandage on but he looked healthier, his cheeks more full and flushed now. He slowly shook him awake. "Hey Max, you awake?"

He moaned in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes, "Why am I her-ugh-How's Kai? "

"He stable for the time being. Does your head still hurt?" Ray asked, his concern rivalling even that of a mother. Max pouted, and stubbornly answered, "I'm fine."

"This statement seems to worry me more than I previously was." he chided Max. Max softly chuckles at him. "It's not as bad as yesterday. Why?"

"We were planning to go to the hospital now. So thought of asking you whether you will be coming with us or would you want to take some rest?"

Max's answer was immediate. "Of course I'm coming." Ray at first started to protest, but on remembering the previous night, just sighed. Max must have guessed what he was thinking, his smile brightening when he sighed.

"There's one more thing I have to ask." Ray continued.

"Shoot it." Though he tried sounding cheerful, his voice hinted at worry. "Can we borrow your savings?" his answer was once again immediate. "Of course you can but..... Is it for an operation?" Ray nodded.

"Why didn't you inform me earlier." he demanded. Ray raised his hands in surrender. "You woke up like, just now." Max wasn't happy with the answer. "Never mind... Password is JudyTate. No space, capital J and T."

"Thank you" Ray says, getting up.

"I really think we should bring a rule for not saying thank you and please." Max said, getting up too.

Ray smiles in understanding, "We'll talk about this after everything is over." As Ray left to serve breakfast, he couldn't stop thinking of his last sentence.

******

Hillary arrived at the eastern port's entrance a few minutes after seven. Given the fact that the Eastern port wasn't the busiest ports in Tokyo,  it was sparsely occupied. A ship worker here, a few loaders here and there, and none too vigilant to ask a teen girl what she was doing there. 

The younger labourers were what made her feel highly uncomfortable and insecure. She had of course heard the rumours, the black market of all of Tokyo flourished in the eastern port. From illegal coal and gold trafficking to child trafficking, prostitution and sex slave's trading, everything occurred here. A few of them whistled at her while the rest of them said such vile comments about her and her character that it brought her close to tears. 

She pulled the grey overcoat closer to herself, she was already second guessing her decision to come here alone. It was when one of them grabbed hold of her waist from behind and tried lifting her did she make up her mind. She was done with this. She got out of his hold by struggling and went straight to the exit. She would have slapped him and kicked him too, if she was somewhere else, but here,  she didn't want to anger them in a group. Their laughed still ringed in her ears. 

"My, my, my... sweetheart, what a pleasant surprise! I had already lost hope that you would come to me, and that too without your Prince Charming accompanying you. I didn't know you trusted me so much." said the stranger form the other day. 

Hillary was so shaken that she stuttered at first "Let's get to what our deal was, alright." she managed. "In a hurry, are we now? I thought we could have a chat." he pouted, gesturing at a makeshift table. "No thanks, let's just get down to business." she repeated herself. The stranger shrugged and took a seat anyway. 

Hilary stood her ground and stood, keeping an eye on her surroundings. But there wasn't much to watch out for, for they were in the middle of an empty space just a few meters from the main entrance. 

"Antique master, you come out now." he called out. A withering old man came in view then. He was shorter than Hillary and most of his teeth had fallen off. Yet the most intriguing aspect about him was his glasses. They were the thickest glasses she had ever seen,  almost thrice as thick and twice as big as Kenny's. If not for the gravity of the situation, it looked almost comical on him. 

"Tsk, tsk, the chain please sweetheart." the stranger tsked Hillary impatiently. "Firstly, stop calling me sweetheart. Secondly, What's the guarantee that I'll receive the money promised?" she questioned. He grunted in annoyance. "Then what would you have me calling sweetheart, lady love? Paramour? My dearest? Or just Hill, like Prince Charming?" He innocently asked. Hillary had no answer for him. 

"I know am your last chance sweetheart, you have no way of procuring money for yourself. The only reassurance you'll get is that I'm in a wonderful mood today and may make a fair trade for it, if you let my good mood persist, that is." he said, stretching his hand out in expectation. "You can walk out from the deal at any time." he further added. 

Hillary had no choice but to comply. The old man carefully observed every nook and corner of it. He finally concluded, "It's a bit dull around the corners, having been used for so long without a polish, but it is the one we were searching for. The motto is present on it." "What 'the one's you guys are searching for?" Hillary asked, slightly intrigued by the mystery. 

"Nothing to worry your pretty little head about sweetheart. The chain may look like steel, but it's an alloy of platinum and ferric oxide, giving it that reddish look. It was made commonly in Russia during the eighteenth century. And the stone in the middle,  it's no artificial stone. It is a red diamond, one of the largest to be ever found by mankind. It was transported to Russia form Australia after being made especially for the empress Elizabeth Petrovna, one of the best empress to have ever ruled over Russia, with a dark history afterwards, it was lost over times of war and had somehow made it to the hiw-." he paused there, slight confusion in his eyes. 

"Are you your father's only daughter?" he questioned suddenly. She nodded in agreement, not seeing how this information could hurt her. "His only child." she further added. The stranger threw his head back and laughed at this,  "Oh, the irony of it." he muttered, shaking his head. He continued "Anyway, thank you for giving us your necklace. I've already got the money transferred to your account. Shoo now sweetheart." he said, shooing her like a street kitten. 

Hillary didn't bother though. She went straight to a bank in the vicinity and waited for it to open. She checked her account to see that the amount discussed had been transferred. She took a cab from there to the hospital. 

The loss of her necklace surely saddened her. Her neck felt strangely empty without it. She could not remember a time when she wasn't with it. It had been her source of luck through all these years. 

Yet, she couldn't help but feel perplexed by the sudden revelation she had about it. The history behind it seemed questionable at best to her. Her father was of Indian origin, though brought up in a Japanese orphanage all his life. Her mother was from a well-off family of Japan origin. 

How could they come upon the necklace the stranger claimed it to be? Obviously they didn't know of its worth, otherwise they wouldn't have let a five year old child wear it all the time, would they? And what would a necklace made for a Russian empress be doing in Japan anyway? 

Obviously the stranger had mistaken her necklace for someone else's. Hillary just hoped that he wouldn't come around asking for the money after he realized it was fake. 

But mostly, she felt relief to have found such a lumpsum of money for such a tiny thing. And anyway, no jewelry, nothing,  was worth more than the lives of her mother, her parents, her loved ones, she reminded herself.  

******

Max, Ray and Kenny left for the hospital at nine-thirty. Ray explained Kenny about the savings on their way. "I wish I could help too....." Kenny said, bitterness towards his inability to help. Ray consoles him. "Hey, that's fine, we understand. We are sorry to have not given you a good share of last year's price. We all came to an agreement to give you 10% from this year's share. Though we agreed to keep it a surprise..."

This cheered Kenny considerably. "Really!!" he exclaimed. "Yep" Max confirmed. He continued, "What's up on the news Kenny? About the um-incident yesterday...."

"Oh... I completely forgot about it! You may not actually like it...." Kenny's smile falters at this. "What's so bad?" Max asked, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

"They already assumed that Kai is dead! Because he was hit in the chest... The media is searching for the hospital he is at present. So, we have to stay inconspicuous..." He explained. All their faces looked solemn at the arisal of this new problem. Max tries lightening the mood. "They at least got one thing right!!" The others shook their heads in exasperation, though their lips did twitch in amusement.

"Oh, that's why you made us take these hoodies,.uh?" Ray asked.

"Yes. Now you better wear it". Dizzy said.

"Ooooookay ma'am" Max drawled, teasing Dizzy. They all laughed as Dizzy used some colourful words expressing her fury.

******

They reached the hospital fifteen minutes before the operation. Max and the other pulled on their hoodies as they went inside. As usual, it wasn't that difficult to spot Tyson. Tyson was impatiently pacing the floors of the reception. His hair was a mess. His usual warm brown eyes looked dull. He already had dark circles under them. By his looks, anyone could say that he was the one who was most worried about Kai. Never had they seen him this tired. He didn't even notice the new arrivals until Max hugged him suddenly from behind.

Tyson stiffened at the sudden contact, but when when he realized it was Maxy, he gave him a wide, yet tired smile. "Hey Maxy! How are you? Ray said your head was hurt, so sorry I didn't talk to you sooner..."

Max dismisses the apology before it even left Tyson's mouth. "I'm fine Ty. It's okay. To be honest, I just got up today at nine or something." he suddenly felt guilty to have slept so comfortably when Tyson struggled the whole night. He lamely ended, "Anyway I understand you were busy..."

"Yeah... " Tyson had no idea how he should have answered that question. Kenny saved them all from the situation "Tyson, I have transferred fifteen thousand to your bank account."

"That's great." he said, though his face showed anything but relief. Ray is worried by this. He places his hand on Tyson's shoulder and asked, "Hey, is everything okay? You did get the rest of the money from Mr D right?"

Tyson rubbed the back of his neck, "About that.. Mr D has some Sponcer issues so a No."

Max, Ray and Kenny tensed up at this. They all demanded at the same time, not letting Tyson to even finish his sentence. "What?! Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Tyson raises his hands, "Guys!! Patience. Let me at least finish my sentence! Everything's fine though... Hillary said she could give me the rest."

"That's a huge sum, Tyson. Where will she bring the money from and now that you mentioned it, where is Hillary?" Kenny asked.

"She...she said she had some savings after winning a few swimming tournaments and after qualifying for the 'National Championships'. Coming to the second part, I don't know." he suddenly exclaimed. "When I woke up today, she had left me a note saying she has gone to bring the money. She hasn't even picked my call since then. I even called her home, but no one picked it up either. The operation is at ten and it is already nine-forty-five!!"

Max hands him the red colour hoodie in his hand while telling, "Calm down Ty. And wear this, we'll explain later. Hillary must have got held up somewhere, you know that she never backs up from her words. You should have faith in her. "

"Yeah , you're right." Tyson acknowledges, letting himself steered away with Max and Ray.

******

Words: 2814

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A/N: Hey guys, hope you are liking the story. This is my first fan fiction, so a bit anxious. Could you please respond in the comments frequently , I don't care whether it is negative or positive, just comment so that I would know that there are people reading this story and keep me motivated to post more.

I know today's post seems like less but if you have noticed, my posts usually have 2100-2200 words. Just telling!!!