Tyson had gotten to know how much of a light sleeper Kai was in his week-long morning stay with him. Without the usage of medication, he could barely sleep for two hours straight. Even the pettiest sounds like that of a spoon falling to the ground could wake him up instantly. Even when injured, Kai's reflexes were so good that he had sat up upright the first few times, wincing to himself in pain the next second. 

This had compelled Tyson to stay out of the room most of the time, sitting just in front of the door, keeping an eye on Kai. After a lot of observation, he had learnt the difference between a sleeping Kai and that of a Kai pretending to be asleep, for Kai was capable of sitting still for hours together.

Yet, the stance in which he found Kai wasn't either of those. One side of the curtain was only half drawn, the blanket was unevenly drawn till his thighs, he was slumped on his stomach as though he had just collapsed.

Tentatively, Tyson nudged Kai's right arm, hoping to meet those furious crimson eyes. "Kai?" But Kai didn't move. He felt like dead weight, breathing heavily.

Tyson panicked. He almost screamed. "Kai! You okay? Wake up!!"

******

 Ray and Max were on their feet at once. "What's wrong Ty?" They asked urgently. But Tyson could barely form the words when a nurse entered the room, shortly followed by Hillary.

The nurse politely asked all of them to leave and wait in the lobby. But none of them listened. They all silently stood in the corridor just outside the door, the very place where the bey-battle took place minutes ago.

None of them talked. After a long time, or so thought Tyson, when it has taken only fifteen minutes, the nurse came out, poker faced.

"Is it true that you let the patient inside exert himself physically? Let him out of the room?"

Max and Ray glance at each other guiltily. That must have been enough of an answer for the nurse to start her rant. "What were you boys thinking?! He could have seriously hurt himself. Do you have the slightest idea about what could happen if the stitches had come out completely? The boy has enough complications as it is, being such a light sleeper, to hinder his healing. Last warning to both of you. If you break this rule one more time, I'll make sure both of your visiting cards are blacklisted." Max and Ray nodded silently. 

Then she turned to Tyson and Hillary, her expression softening instantly. She must have apparently assumed that these two had nothing to do with it, and Max didn't bother correcting her. "Nothing to worry, dear. Your friend will be fine. He must have withstood a lot of pain, but I don't think it would leave a permanent damage. But he'll have to rest a lot from now on." And on turning towards Hillary, she said,"Thank goodness the wound had just started opening. You did the right thing by calling for me, dear." patting her shoulder.

"And you boy, come with me. That cut looks real nasty." Tyson, who's face had lost all its colour by then, just numbly nodded before following her, without a glance towards the others.

Max and Ray collectively sigh in relief. "Kai really did give us a scare for a moment there." Ray said, smiling tentatively. "The Blade Breakers would really be goners without you,-" Max said, genuine gratitude in his voice. "And the way you took control of the situation was just awesome!!" he exclaimed. 

Hillary just shrugged, a smile slightly tugging at her lips. But then it disappeared. 

She felt conflicted at the moment. She really wanted to know what had happened here, before she had come. But the timing felt terrible. And she also felt that she should start keeping her distance from the team's business. Starting from now. 

But her conscience wouldn't agree to leave Ray and Max, both looking  exhausted as it is, due to the lack of proper night's sleep. She found herself saying, "I guess you guys should head home. I'll keep an eye here until Ty comes."

******

Ray was certainly surprised by the offer. It wasn't a tactic one who was planning on breaking ties would adopt. But nonetheless, both he and Max passively protested, carefully threading on lines without actually mentioning the last time a similar situation had arisen. And due to their lack of the strongest point,  Hillary had won. 

Not that she wouldn't have won with that, but it did seem like a valuable reason to lose for him. 

And he was glad that he did. As Ray stepped out of the shower, his body had never felt this relaxed. Soon, he mixed the boiled noodles with the veggies and gravy he had prepared earlier.

Max had earlier pointed out to a fast food restaurant on the way as it was already late for lunch. But he had refused, for Ray firmly against restaurant food. 

The health defects people later suffer due to regular consumption of these foods was something a sportsperson couldn't afford. He reminded Max, who followed him without any questions, but pouting all the way home.

Then, Max had offered to help him in the kitchen. All the lopsided veggies were his courtesy, of course. And now, they both were sitting on the table with their food ready, just half an hour after reaching home. 

The bath had intensified how exhausted they were feeling, Ray realised. Max was barely keeping his eyes open, and looked like he could drop asleep any second. And judging the looks he was getting, he didn't think he looked any better. 

Both of them silently had their food, waiting for the moment they could feel the soft bed below themselves. They both had somehow reached a silent agreement to not talk about today's events until they were heading back to the hospital. 

But before going to bed, he had a job to do. He took the receiver of the old telephone in the hallway and called Hillary.

******

Hillary had checked up with her mom's well being by calling her. When she had enquired about the urgent matter, she had airily laughed and said that it was just Tyson being his dramatic self and had just needed some help with the holiday homework. She had ended the call by informing her mom that she would have her lunch at the dojo itself. 

A doctor had come along with a nurse and had looked quite amused when she had demanded their Hospital IDs, but she was taking no chances. She didn't leave the room unattended for even a second until she was absolutely sure that the two were really helping Kai. 

When she finally sat in the room after the doctors had left, it was way past two thirty. She had last had food more than six hours ago and was really hungry. She wondered what was holding Tyson back, so that she could bring their lunch while he waited here. 

She did not plan to leave Kai alone. She tried calling him, but his mobile wasn't reachable. Just when she was trying to reach him the second time, Tyson had entered the room with a bag in his hand. 

He blinked at Hillary twice, as though he didn't believe she was actually sitting there. "I thought Maxy had stayed back.'' he stated, looking both relieved and unhappy. But before she could reply, he sourly continued. "Well, given today's episode, I don't think either of them would want to be with me either." 

Hilary frowned at this, "Why would you think that way? They heavily protested," a total exaturation, Hillary knew that their argument was weak even for their rather standards, but Tyson  didn't need to know that. "-that they would be with you, but I forced them home. And just to remind you, they have been here since yesterday evening." Tyson didn't bother replying, but he did look a bit ashamed. 

"I brought lunch from the cafeteria, but I bought Maxy's favourite veg noodles. I didn't expect you would stay back. I could go and exchange if you want,-" he volunteered, but Hillary was so hungry that she barely had time to dismiss the suggestion before grabbing the noodles. 

Tyson ate with his usual vigour, and for once, Hilary nearly matched his. Only when Tyson was throwing the parcel boxes into the trashbin did Hillary realise that Tyson was limping. "What happened to your leg?" She asked,  worried.  "Oh... That. I must have pulled a muscle or sometime during the battle. Nothing too serious, the nurse applied some ointment and told me to not move around too much. 

And," he hesitantly continued, "I also bought some painkillers, for you know... the usual." 

And Hillary knew sat he meant by usual. This happened to Tyson a lot of times these days,  courtesy of his high emotional attachment with Dragoon. 

Whenever he felt his dragoon was threatened, he would take a majority part of the beating, increasing dragoon's durability in the bey-dish. This often reversed, such that when dragoon felt it's master was threatened, or was in a vulnerable state of mind, dragoon would take the majority part of the beating, helping both of them to victory. 

And from what Kenny said, this quality of theirs had saved Tyson a lot, including Tala's Ice-Trap he had gotten himself trapped into in the previous Finals. But since the past few months have mainly been focused on the 'dragoon-threatening' type, Tyson had been taking a lot of beating, and he hadn't bothered to mention this to any of his teammates. 

He had gotten a good number of cuts and bruises silently cleaned from Hillary, and had since become slightly addicted to painkillers which she didn't approve of at all. 

Hillary pressed her lips into a thin line. "You should tell the others." She started, and Tyson rolled his eyes. This had been the start every time she mentioned anything related to this subject. Then he sighed, as though he knew where the conversation was heading. "I know Hill, but the time just isn't ri-" he started, but Hillary cut him off rather sharply. "This is exactly the right time, you moron. The next World Championship isn't happening in months. There is no one on your backs, threatening your bit-beasts." 

Tyson frowned, as though this was outside the usual script. Hillary continued, "The others can help you in controlling this tendency of yours, Tyson. If you leave it this way, you will end up seriously hurting yourself." Tyson didn't respond, so she changed tactics. 

"How many?" she asked. "Three. The one he did was physically done, one medium sized bruise on my stomach, as though he had punched me and a cut on my right shoulder blade from the back. And the strained calf muscle, maybe." he finished, unsure. 

But something just didn't quite fit into all this. Hillary found herself thinking, before it clicked. 

******

"Wait Tyson. Didn't you say that this happened only when you felt your dragoon was threatened?" Tyson nodded, having no clue on where the conversation was heading, "Then, why did it happen today? You seriously couldn't think Kai was behind your bit-beast!"

Hillary couldn't have been more wrong in her entire life, Tyson thought gravely. The question filled his insides with guilt within a fraction of a second. Tyson was subconsciously reminded of Kai's betrayal in Russia and, of course, of their match at the lake. The cold fury Kai showed on being under Black Dranzer's effect. 

Of course, he knew that Kai would never do such a thing now, but in that tiny fraction of a second, he had believed he could. And that was all it had needed for him to enter 'save-dragoon-mode. "Of course not." Tyson replied quickly. 

Way too quickly, from the look he was getting from Hillary. He tried elaborating. "Look. Some things happened way before you met us, alright. Some really nasty things. And all of us have sworn never to talk of it again. It will hurt him the most." He said, indicating the person behind the closed curtains. And involuntarily he found himself repeating Ray's line. "What happened at the lake, will remain at the lake only." 

All this secrecy had only spiked Hillary's interest, Tyson worriedly noticed, so he tried to control the damage he had done. "And this has been happening at every battle I've been playing these days. Even when I was playing with the local amatueres today, before you came." he directly lied. 

He couldn't place it whether she believed him or not, but she let thankfully let the matter drop. 

He sank into the only three seater couch in the room, next to Hillary, and before he even realized it, he had fallen fast asleep. 

******

Before she could press Tyson for more information, her mobile started buzzing again. She recognized the number to be that of the dojo. "Ray's calling," she said to no one in particular, before receiving the call. 

Ray questioned her whether everything was okay there and had she left the hospital. She patiently replied to all his questions and informed him that she was just leaving. At the end of their four minute twenty-six second call, even Ray realised how much like an overprotective parent he sounded. Hillary informed him that she could understood the concern, and was very much touched by it before ending the call. 

Hillary picked up her half torn purse, before saying, "Now that you're here, I'll leav-" she stopped mid sentence, for Tyson had fallen fast asleep. 

Annoyance was what she felt at first. She had a good number of places to be, than waiting there. She had almost woken him up before withdrawing her hand. He could use the sleep, she found herself thinking, he did take quite a beating. Hillary sighed. She hated herself for being so considerate of others. 

Noticing how his head was kneeling frontwards, straining his neck, she gently pushed his head back. His head lolled frontwards within a minute. She sighed and shifted his position so that his head rested on her lap, half hoping that the disturbance would wake him up. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it didn't. 

She slowly removed his cap, and loosened the band holding this hair in a low ponytail at the back. Cautiously moving her hands through his hair, she was surprised by how managable they were, considering she could never imagine Tyson wasting a second caring for them. They slightly smelled of shampoo. No specific fragrance like honey or something. Just normal shampoo. And she liked it, original in a way. 

She took hold of Tyson's cap. It looked like any ordinary one, a combination of red and deep blue. At a corner, the letters Dragoon were engraved in red, and the bit-beast itself was coiled around the word in light blue. On the strap at the back, the letters BBA were written in black.

 The simplicity and the thought behind the cap amazed her. She wondered who had given him that, for it was surely a customized one. Then,  she finally spotted the cut that had increased Tyson's anger to a tenth-fold in today's battle. 

It had happened at the red side, and thankfully hadn't touched any of the designs. She took out the small reel of thread she kept with herself at all times, in case of an emergency,  curtesty of her mother. 

And thankfully it was just the colour needed,  red. For majority of her dresses were red in colour. She pulled out her earphones, and plugged some music on,  and slowly started stitching the cap. 

******

Tyson had no idea how he had ended up where he was present at the moment. When he first opened his eyes, he thought he was in some dream. In his direct vision was Hillary, who was wearing a plain white round necked top with dark blue jeans. She was also wearing the jacket with the letters TSA and its logo engraved at the right. It was given to her by the Tokyo Swimming Association after she secured the first place in the regional championship, he remembered. 

Hillary had not yet noticed that he was awake, all her concentration was on her phone, or rather on the conversation with whoever she having via chats. With her eyebrows scrunching at the text, her teeth slightly biting into her lips, she looked rather worried. He wondered what worried her, and that was the moment their eyes met. 

Hillary's eyes slightly widened. Tyson could suddenly feel her hand stroking his mess of a hair and the soft thighs on which his head was perched upon. He immediately jerked upwards, and at that fleeting moment Hillary bent down to take her purse, and their heads collided. 

Tyson slowly sat up, rubbing his forehead, all the time willing his cheeks to not turn as red as Hillary's were turning. 

"It's already evening," he started lamely. He immediately wanted to smack himself. "Yeah, it is." She replied, not meeting his eyes, roughly throwing all her things to the purse. "I'll leave now. It's getting late." 

"Why didn't you leave earlier?" 

"Because you fell asleep, why else? Bye now." she hurriedly said, rushing out of the room.  Tyson sat down baffled after a few moments, hoping some scientist would soon find a way to understand the female species..

******

"Was Hillary here the whole time?" Max asked him. Wiping his face with a towel, Tyson replied "Yeah,  I accidentally fell asleep and she didn't think waking me up was an option. By the way,  You guys are here early today."

"Yeah, we have a surprise guest with us today. So..." Ray said, gesturing at a very familiar figure claded in pink from head to toe. 

******

Words:3921

******

A/N: Hey guys!!! I'm glad to inform you that this chapter officially marks the end of the 'How Things Changed Forever.. :Part 1' !!! Congratulations to all of you guys for making this happen!! 

Not to worry though, I'll be starting the second part soon. How soon, don't ask me, most probably within a month. I really want to edit a few chaps, and add a few more plots,  but don't worry,  I'll inform you of all the changes I'll do in an A/N before starting Part 2.

I would love to have your input over the story. If you find some part  to be a bit rushed up,  or if something doesn't add up much,  if the writing was a bit mediocere at times , or downright bad at some chapter,  I want you to inform me. To be honest,  I would love it if you could give me two negative remarks for a positive one,  because the jist here is to improvise. 

For all those kaihil, tyhil,  maxium, rariah shippers, you'll love Part 2, which is all about romance, fun and unraveling the truth of the past.