We watched the sun rise, angry tendrils of fire curling across the canvas that was the sky. It boiled the darkness away, darkness turning red, yellow, orange, pink, and a gold that froze the sky for more than a few minutes.

Kyoya didn't utter a word the entire time, glassy eyes locked on the side. I glanced at him every couple of moments but he never moved until blue streaks started to appear in the sky.

"I've never watched the sunrise before."

"I watch it every morning," Kyoya rose from his crouch, stretching one arm across his chest, then one over his head. "Mom never told me to go to bed, so I usually just stayed up throughout the night. Once I saw it for the first time, I wanted to see it again."

A thought rippled through me: you have a mom? But I immediately squashed it down, regret cooking in my chest. Of course, Kyoya had a mom; he was human like I was. He had memories of days where he wasn't obsessed with beyblade, days where he didn't strike off on his own, days where he didn't enjoy his own solitude.

Instead, I took a stab at trying to learn about Kyoya's past. "And what about your dad?"

He shrugged. "Didn't care about either of us, or my younger brother. He left us, and I'm pretty damn glad he did. Can't remember his face."

Pressing my lips together, my dad's face flashed in my mind: when was the last time I called them, let them know that I loved them? I should be grateful that I had a family that was together- as far as I knew, I thought that Kyoya had always been alone, no siblings. No family. Alone.

"I... Uh, sorry."

"For what?" Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

"Invading. In your... Personal space."

"All that's behind me now," the Leone blader shrugged again. "I doubt my family even knows where I am. S'nothinh I care about."

"But they're your family, Kyoya!" I said.

"So?"

"So?! They're your family, someone who is supposed to be there-"

"Family blood means nothing!" Kyoya barked. I flinched. "Similar genes... a shared family... that means nothing in the wild... if they abandoned you, they abandoned you...! Real family is based on experiences that you lived through together- and sometimes, family blood doesn't live up to that."

I stared at him for a moment, almost shaking with brittle rage. My heart quivered in my chest with memories of Shaun- my brother, looking out for me, watching my back. That, all up in flames.

"Anyway," Kyoya started, inhaling. "Conditioning."

"But Kyoya-!"

"Conditioning. Run across the sand, down to that tree, and back. Three times."

I protested, "You're-"

"Do you know the only reason why I'm doing this, Tess?!"

"No, why?"

Kyoya lifted one hand and pointed at me, irises hard as diamonds.

"Because you're one of the only people who can offer me a challenge around here! During Battle Bladers, when I went to get my points, no one could even get close to my level! It bored me, but you... you have the chance to give me the battle that I want. A battle of spirits, of fierceness, something that Gingka himself can't give me! You're different from him, and my Leone must crush you, bite you apart, and completely dominate you before it's satisfied!

"When you're crying and acting like a little baby, that's nothing compared to the Tess I know. You're an Eagle blader, why the hell aren't you using him? Kick up dust, be an irritation, give me something that'll entertain me!"

With that, he ended with a jab straight into my collarbone, sending me stumbling back. "You wanna face me again, Rixen? Then fight for it! Fight stronger bladers that'll bring everything to light!"

I landed hard on the heel of my palm and pushed myself back up, grasping for support and my fingers curling into Kyoya's sleeve until I ripped away from him.

Then, I went down to jog to the tree and back- three times, just like he had said. My hair kept plastered to my face during the entirety of it, damp with sea water. When I returned, Kyoya stared at me for a moment, took one step forward, then flicked his fingers clean across my forehead.

"Ow!"

"You had seaweed in your bangs," he replied.

I rubbed the spot where he had cleanly flicked. "All right. Jogging, done, what now?"

"Fight me."

"What?"

Kyoya rolled his eyes as he repeated the words. "Fight me. Hand on hand. You gotta train your reflexes."

Opening my mouth to protest, I was stopped in my tracks as a gloved fist, clad in brown, came hurling towards me, knuckles adorned with metal. I yelped, moving my hand so that it protected my face and that metal rammed against my hand.

"What's the big idea?!"

"Fight!"

Kyoya's foot lashed out against my legs and particles of sand scattered against my ankles, knocking one of them off-balance. He followed up by a quick up-cut but his knuckles froze before he could take it out on me- metal just barely brushed my chin, and I swallowed, a metallic acid flooding my mouth.

"If you're not going to fight, you're nothing."

Kyoya took a step back, and his eyes are fierce, brittle with anger, like he had been expecting something and been given something disappointing. 

That look coiled a string of rage in my stomach. 

Treat me like I'm worth something. 

I threw myself at him, ramming my elbow into his chest. The Leone blader recovered quicker than what I expected, and he was already throwing punches. Kyoya released it with a grunt, and my ears were ringing and it hurt when his fist connected cleanly with my palm. 

"That's more like it!" The bark came with another punch, and I gritted my teeth while I blocked. A portion of my wrist was throbbing now, but Kyoya was relentless. This... this was his training, how he worked, how he lived.

And if I'm going to beat him, I first have to go along with how he works before going against.

Kyoya's knuckle scraped cold against mine, and I fired one back without thought, about to land one on his collarbone before the world whirled around me.

"Wh- oof!" 

Sand. In my mouth. Ew. 

Kyoya released me, removing his elbow from where it was pinned underneath my chin, then let go of where he had a tight hold on the fist I had lashed out on him with.

"What... the hell... was that?"

Blinking, he pulled himself up, eyes glittering. "Come at me again."

"What?"

"Again," Kyoya repeated, and there was this gleam in his eyes. "Again, again. This is what I want to fight! You're disappointing otherwise!"

Disappointing. 

Are you calling me disappointing?

The entire world seemed to sway before my eyes, but I had gotten up, still a bit dizzy but glaring hard from underneath my bangs.

DON'T CALL ME DISAPPOINTING!

The words ripped out of my mouth without my realizing it, screaming in my mind and in the air. With that, my hands slammed flat against Kyoya's palms, weaving my fingers together with his and pushing against it. 

I didn't miss the sharp grin that seemed more sinister than anything on his lips, life, and spirit sparking in his eyes because he thought he had found my weakness when he had actually set the trigger into play.

Both of us tumbled in the sand in a heap, and I wrestled hard against hs hands, trying to pin them against the ground, and one of my knees dug a deep hole on one side of his waist, while the other rested on the other side, supporting me. 

"You wanted this?" I said, breathless. 

Kyoya grunted in response. I could feel the creases of his skin underneath my fingers, burning and intense, wild, everything Kyoya Tategami. I could feel his bones, the tendons on the back of his hand as they stood stark against the skin. With that, he forced upwards, shoving me off him and into the sand. 

The Leone blader sat up, and for a moment, I saw hints of a smile: the teasing way his lips seemed to draw up, even for a second before it got wiped off.

"All right, c'mon, let's go."

I sat back, resting on my folded legs. My heart whirled and hummed in my chest, like a machine that couldn't stop working even after the creator had turned it off. And I was just getting into it, too!

"Go... where exactly? And you're ending earlier then I expected."

Kyoya shrugged. The wild lion that fought with all his heart on his line was gone, but I wanted to see it again. I wanted to experience it again, I wanted to see him smile, for god's sake, because he's Kyoya, the King of Beasts. 

"I doubt your body can hold up much longer. 'sides, I got everything I need."

Now that he mentioned it and the ringing in my ears had died down, I registered how much I was sagging, how I had to fight to pull myself to my feet. 

"I'm going to see if any bladers at the tournaments are worth battling. I've blown them away one by one, it's like it's nothing. I want an actual battle, one that I can fight with all my might..."

With that, the Leone blader left, shoes leaving imprints in the sand. 

I was left with sand in my hair and wind on my face, staring at my companion leaving the area.  In the pocket on my right side, the one that I had stored Eagle in, I could feel warmth through the fabric. As if my beyblade was calling out to me once again.