Kai wanted to check in on Tyson. The match had been draining, sure, but it didn't seemed as much of a challenge to Tyson as he'd feared.

Not that he wasn't happy that Tyson had won, but this kind of put Kai in a loop. He knew Tyson's strength, his weaknesses, his endurance...everything. There was no way he could have packed such power in his last two moves after enduring that many powerful hits, he thought.

Of course, this was Tyson they were talking about. He was born to break the norms, achieve the unexpected. Yet, uneasiness gnawed at his chest. He just wanted to take a quick glance at him, he rationalised, quietly climbing up the roof.

His side tugged a bit as he stretched, but other than that, the bullet wound had dulled considerably in the last month. He could climb up Tyson's window with barely any difficulty.

But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw there. Tyson lay curled up on the ground, his chest bare. A roll of bandages lay around his hand, half bound. His school shirt, the one he'd been wearing when he'd left them, lay crumpled beside him, stained red.

Kai fumbled with the windows, his hands trembling slightly as he slid the window open. Of course, he knew something was up, that's why he was there after all, but he definitely had not been expecting this.

Tyson had his priorities straight. He didn't push himself like the others. His bond with his bit-beast was strong. Dragoon definitely wouldn't allow this to happen.

A cold wind blew into the room as the window slipped open, making Tyson shiver. Kai immediately got down on his knees, shaking him. "Tyson!" he whispered, checking his pulse. He relaxed a bit when he felt it, strong and regular. Just asleep then, he told himself, trying to bring his own heart rate to normal.

Tyson's eyes fluttered open, his gaze tired and unfocused. "Kai?" Tyson mumbled, his voice weak. He blinked a few times, recognition settling in. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," Kai snapped, his worry bubbling over into frustration. "What the hell happened here?"Tyson tried to push himself up, but his left hand gave out under him. He winced, collapsing back onto the floor. "It's nothing," he said through gritted teeth.

"Enough of this. Get up now." Kai's voice was sharp, leaving no room for argument. He grabbed Tyson's good arm, pulling him up with more force than necessary. Tyson groaned, but Kai didn't relent. "If you're fine, then get up."

Tyson barely had any energy to protest as Kai dragged him toward the bathroom, Tyson leaning heavily on Kai with each step. Without a word, Kai turned on the faucet, filling the bathtub with hot water.

The steam rose quickly, misting up the small room. Kai glanced over his shoulder, his expression brooking no argument. "Get in," he ordered.

Tyson hesitated, his gaze darting between Kai and the steaming water. "I don't think—"

"Now," Kai cut him off, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Tyson sighed, his body too weak to argue further. He slipped into the water with a sharp intake of breath. The heat stung at first, but as he adjusted, his muscles began to loosen. The tension in his shoulders eased, and a tired sigh escaped his lips.

Kai crouched beside the tub, watching him carefully. "Start talking," he said, his voice quieter but no less firm.

Tyson hesitated, but knew he was trapped. It was midnight, and he lay in a bathtub, tired and bruised. When he'd been procrastinating about telling his team abut his new problem, this was not how he'd thought it would be "It's a bit complicated." He started.

"You know how beyblades work. You give your energy, emotions, strength, stamina... everything to your bit-beast. They fight other bit-beasts using both of their energies. But they mostly take all the blows too." He explained. Kai didn't understand where the conversation was heading, but didn't interrupt him either. 

"I didn't mean for this to happen... I didn't even realize I could do that until it started happening." He beat around the bush, before finally admitting to something, "I accidentally learnt how to take the majority of hits for Dragoon..." He mumbled the last part, not meeting Kai's eyes.

"What do you mean, take hits for them? " Kai asked confused, not sure he wanted to know the answer. "It must have started when Ray lost Drigger to the saint shields, but I didn't notice it then. I grew tired a bit sooner, and had a few nicks and bruises with no explanation." He continued, his voice growing thick.

"But when all three of you lost your bit-beasts to Zoe, I grew extremely protective of Dragoon. I saw what it did to you guys. I knew I had to win that match, no matter what. I needed to win back your bit-beasts, but more importantly, I didn't want to lose Dragoon, no matter what. So, I started taking hits for Dragoon whenever I felt he was being threatened. This conserved his energy and gave him more leverage while he was facing that many bit-beasts together. That's how I defeated Zoe." He admitted.

"Are you out of your mind?" Kai asked, shock evident in his voice. "Do you realise how dangerous it could have been for you? You could have been seriously injured, or worse!" He thundered.

"It's not like I did it consciously! It just started happening every time I panicked! I couldn't control it, or hadn't tried to control it until today." Tyson tried defending himself, even though he knew his argument was weak.

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his frustration in check. He didn't want to wake Tyson's grandpa. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" He asked."You guys were stressed with your bit-beast's loss. This sounded silly in front of everything else that was going on. I did tell Hillary though, but it was more like she caught me like you did today. But it wasn't this bad then! And after the tournament... you know what happened. I just didn't know when to bring this up."

"You could have told us today! After the match!" Kai demanded. Tyson shot back. "I didn't know how bad it was! I thought it was just a backache. I didn't know about the cuts or how bad the bruises were until I came home. And seriously, I am fine! I just slipped when I was bandaging and hit my back hard. I must have blanked out then." Tyson explained.

Kai stood still for a moment, his mind racing. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Tyson acted impulsively a good deal of times, true. But this? This... was pure recklessness. "Do you have any idea about how bad this could have turned out? Did you think for a moment how this would affect your own health? Imagine for a moment, that it was your grandpa who found you like this tomorrow morning? How do you think he would react? You are more important than all our bit-beasts combined! We are a team, Tyson. We should have each others back!" Tyson hung his head low, acknowledging his mistake.

Kai softened then. "If I were find you hiding anything like this ever again, I swear on all gods, you'll regret it. Now get out and put on some clean cloths. I'll bandage you up, and both of us can be done with this day." He said, exiting the bathroom. Tyson cracked a small smile at this and changed into his pyjamas.

Tyson was right, Kai realised as he bandaged Tyson's arm. The wounds weren't as bad as he'd feared they would be. But still, he couldn't keep this up forever. "I will not push you Tyson, but you will have to tell Max and Ray soon. We'll get to the bottom of this and help you solve it together, no matter what" He promised.

Tyson met Kai's eyes, the weight of what he had done finally settling in. His exhaustion and guilt weighed heavily on him, but for the first time that night, he allowed himself to let go of some of the burden. He wasn't alone in this, he didn't need to be, he thought snuggling into his blanket.

Tyson nodded in understanding, but was already growing sleepy. As Kai finished packing the first aid kit, he glanced back one last time at Tyson, already snoring softly. Tomorrow, they'd face it together, he promised himself. But for now, he let Tyson rest.

*****

Ahanaa had been right, thought Hillary. Royson did ask her if she would accompany him to the Halloween party Friday morning, as friends of course. Given that she had no legitimate reason to decline his offer, she'd agreed to go with him.

Ahanaa was thrilled. Hillary suspected it had more to do with Ahanaa having a tiny crush on him than anything to do with her, especially since Ahanaa was also an aspiring singer.

That day, during lunch, they were discussing what each of them planned to dress up as, given that it was a costume party. "I'm twinning with Mariah. I'll be Catwoman while she's gonna be Pink Panther!" said Aubery, munching on biscuits. Aarushi and Ahanaa were twinning too, planning to be a pair of witches.

Luke hadn't decided yet, and all of them were teasing him to become Superman. "You would look wonderful in red boxers!" Aubery teased, ducking when Luke shot his hand out to smack her. They all had a wonderful time laughing about it.

"Maybe I'll be Sherlock Holmes," he said, sitting up straight. "Yeah, I can do that. I have the coat and the hat it needs!" he added, looking smug about finally being able to shut them up. "That's actually a good one," Hillary said, looking around their table. "You may have the coat and hat, but you're slightly lacking in the brains department!" Hillary teased, causing another round of laughter while Luke threw a rubber at her. "Not you too!"

"What are you going to be?" Ahanaa whined next. Ever since she'd become a prefect without even telling them, Hillary teased them on an everyday basis, hiding random things and making them wait in suspense. She just smiled back.

"I hope this is worth the hype," Aarushi huffed, being put off by not being able to guess her costume even after multiple guesses. Hillary grinned. "I promise you won't be disappointed!"

*****

Hillary was surprised to find herself not being the first one at class on Saturday morning.

"Didn't expect you to be here so soon, Kai. I thought you'd want to spend some time with your new girlfriend..." She teased lightly, sitting beside him.

When he didn't respond, she continued. "Or did you guys finally decide I was worth having over for the party?" She huffed.

Kai paused at this, looking surprised. "I thought Max invited you," he replied, brow furrowed. "He obviously didn't," she countered, rolling her eyes.

"Why would you need an invite anyway? You were part of the team."

"Well, everyone doesn't know that. I don't want to look like I'm gate-crashing it."

"Alright. Here you go. You're officially invited to the party," he snapped, sounding annoyed.

Hillary didn't understand. What did Kai think of himself? They seem to have obviously messed up on who invited whom, given that they had no one to organize it for them, a.k.a. her, but the least they could do was apologize properly.

"I'm so honored, but I don't need it anymore. I found other ways to attend your party." She snapped back, slamming her book onto the desk.

"Good for you," he drawled.

She would have made some witty comment if he hadn't continued.

"You knew about Tyson," he called out instead, his tone accusing.

Hillary froze at this, caught off guard. The statement had come out of the blue, leaving her unprepared, yet she knew what they were talking about now. She looked at Kai again, noticing the subtle signs of distress that she'd missed the first time. She'd been rather busy in her own bubble of annoyance and pity when she saw him that morning.

"What happened?" She asked, knowing something must have gone terribly wrong for him to reach out to her.

"His subconscious ability to take complete hits for his bit-beast... He tried to control it, succeeded at it, and pushed himself too far."

"Is he alright?" She asked, worried. If something had happened to him because of this, especially when she'd had multiple chances to bring it to the boys' attention and help him with it, she could never forgive herself.

"Hmm. It looks worse than it really is. He'll most probably come to school," he informed her.

Hillary relaxed at this, sitting back in her chair. Tears prickled her eyes, relief giving way to frustration then. "I told him to tell you guys so many times!" She muttered, looking furious. "But you know how he is, stubborn olf! He always brushed it off, telling me it was nothing."

"It really wasn't much when he used to show me. Just a few scrapes and cuts here and there. It got a bit serious when he battled you at the hospital that day, but still, it never reached the stage of alarming!"

Hillary realized her slip as soon as the words left her mouth.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, leaning forward. She'd gotten his undivided attention.

Hillary knew there was no way he would let this slide now, his intense gaze making her squirm.

She hesitated, trying to come up with an alternative story, only to draw a blank.

"Please don't get mad at me—or Tyson for that matter!" she pleaded instead. "We were only discussing why this could be happening when he battles you alone and not the other boys, and he mentioned something about 'What happened at the lake, stays there.' I'm guessing it has something to do with your time in Russia during the previous World Championships? You had... switched sides then, hadn't you?" She asked tentatively, trying hard not to overstep.

Of course, thought Kai. Tyson had all the rights to be scared of him. He'd done more than just switch sides. He'd abandoned his friends and embraced the dark allure of Black Dranzer again, in spite of being very familiar with its consequences. He'd broken blades and stolen bit-beasts. Wasn't that what Tyson feared most? Losing Dragoon?

"I needed to know this," he said quietly as he got up .

"Tyson does trust you, Kai. You're one of his best friends, you guys are practically family." Hillary tried telling him, standing up herself .

"I know, " he answered before walking out .

He came back in only after the class had started, and didn't speak a word with her during class. He left as soon as the bell rang .

*****

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