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Running	By : happynekojpn Category: Beyblade > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2182 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or its characters. They are the property of their respective copyright holders. No profit is being made from this story

Chapter List
- 1-Running
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 2
- 3
- 4
A/N: It's been a very long time! What can I say to make it all sound much more reasonable... Life has been hectic, I've been having difficulty with pig-headed people, financial difficulties and a string of bad luck, which has included a hideous cold, getting very sick and nearly passing out on a crowded train to Shinjuku and having to have root canal. And finding out I need to have a second one. Feel sorry for me yet? T^T It's been a rough few months, but I hope you've all hung in there! And I hope this chapter doesn't suck as much as I fear it does!

Warnings: Language, sexual content (explicit in later chapters), violence and all that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. It is owned by its respective copyright holders. No profits are being made from this, or else I would totally not be a teacher right now...

Three

About two weeks had passed since their reunion and it hadn't taken the bluenette former Beyblader long to realise what stupid thing he had done in letting Kai leave. It wasn't the act of allowing him to depart which he found so foolish, because he knew that there was no stopping Kai once he had his mind made up, but it was what had occurred between the two prior to the older one's departure. Tyson hadn't thought much of giving Kai his number at first, but when it hit him that he had happened to scribble the number down on that piece of paper, having done it earlier in the day with every intention of giving it to Kai, his heart sank like a rock into his stomach.

No one knew of the letters he had been receiving over the last year. Of course, no one would ever expect Tyson Granger, former world Beyblade champion and all-round ball of charisma, to get this kind of mail, so the bluenette had endeavoured to keep the whole affair to himself. Knowing now that he had inadvertently given his former captain a doorway into something that he didn't want anyone getting into left a bitter taste in his mouth. It took a lot to earn Kai's respect and good favour, and seeing something like that was bound to cause him to ask questions that would only lower Tyson in Kai's estimations of him. Well, lower than he already was.

It had all started because a rumour had circulated during their senior year of high school that Tyson was gay. It was a story that the bluenette had refused to entertain, neither confirming nor denying the salacious stories that were circulating about his sexual tastes. Irregardless of whether the stories were true or false, the truth was none of the business of the nosy teenagers who were rushing around asking questions and spreading even more outrageous gossip on the subject. Both Hilary and Kenny had begged Tyson to either confirm or deny the stories, to set the rumour mill to rest, but Tyson merely stated that he wasn't going to indulge in the idle chatter of silly young people, which his school mates had taken as a confirmation of it all. Of course, some of his classmates were approaching him with messages of support, but there would always be at least one or two people that would seek to make it known that they disapproved. Though Tyson had never once admitted to his own sexuality, not to anyone, he quickly discovered that allowing others to draw their own conclusions from his silence was just as dangerous as falling into their gossip and allowing himself to be swept up in it. He had inherited enemies he hadn't intended on creating, and had been receiving a steady flow of this “hate mail” ever since. And still, he hadn't openly come out as being either straight or gay, or even bisexual. That was just as probable.

Hilary and Kenny weren't aware of the letters; they thought that the whole affair had ended when they graduated from high school and had no idea that it was continuing now into their post-school lives. Tyson tried to act like what they wrote didn't bother him, but it did and he couldn't help that. All of the stories that had circulated about him were entirely untrue; he was a virgin when it came to any kind of sexual contact, including kissing, so how they could have concocted stories of his exploits with young men in fast food restaurants completely boggled his mind. Being such, he couldn't accurately decipher whether or not he was straight or gay, since he had never kissed anyone, male or female, so he remained uncertain on the subject. Regardless of that, though, he found the words starting to hurt, though he tried to bear them well enough so no one would be able to tell.

That was, obviously, until he accidentally invited Kai into his troubles.

Mentally berating himself again, worrying even more that he hadn't heard from Kai since that gathering, Tyson huffed down the stairs, still in his pyjamas despite it being 12:35 in the afternoon, and sauntered lazily into the kitchen, pulling open the fridge and casting his eye disinterestedly over its contents. He wasn't hungry, shock and horror, but it seemed like a force of habit to go to the fridge out of boredom, whether he felt like he needed to eat or not. He kept his wits about him enough to hear his brother shuffle in several minutes later.

“Are you only up now, Tyson?” a brow quirked on the older Granger's face as he regarded his brother's state of dress with some amusement. “You get damn lazy on the weekends. You should get pro-active with your training again. It'll give you something to do, at any rate.”

“I think I'm pretty past Beyblading now, Hiro...” Tyson drawled as he slowly closed the refrigerator door, knowing in his heart that he was lying to himself. “Besides, I thought you'd be glad to see me irregardless, since you and dad have been off here, there and everywhere for the past six months... Just been me and gramps...”

“Don't make it sound like we were torturing you in leaving you with him, Tyson,” Hiro berated his brother lightly. “I don't get why you seem to be even lazier than you used to be... You should contact your friends! Go hang out with them! Get out of the house! Put some real clothes on! And shower!” Tyson reached out to swat at his older sibling, managing to miss him completely despite flailing in his direction rather meaningfully. “Didn't I hear you say you had met up with Kai?” Tyson couldn't help but feel his stomach lurch at his brother's words, though he couldn't for the life of him understand why.

“Yeah, I saw him a couple of weeks back,” Tyson responded, sitting himself down at the kitchen table. “Haven't heard from him since, though. Gave him my number to call, but it's Kai, so you know...” he waved his hand back and forth a few times before resting his chin in it, pressing his elbow down onto the tabletop.

“You invest a lot of time and attention in him still, I see...” Hiro remarked, going over to the coffee pot and pouring himself a mug. “I always wondered why you were so invested in him, especially after everything he's put all of you through...”

“Guess I'm a glutton for punishment...” Tyson sighed, exhaling heavily to blow a few wayward strands of hair out of his face. “I couldn't explain it if I tried, Hiro, so I'd just drop the question there...”

“Pissy this morning, are you?” Hiro half-smirked as he took a slow sip from his coffee-warmed mug. “You still talk to the other guys, though, right? Call one of them. Hang out. Go be gloomy with them so dad, gramps and I don't have to put up with you...” His last quip earned the older Granger sibling a banana to the head, which actually impacted at his temple, barely missing catching him in the eye, causing him to yelp in surprise. Tyson got up, an apple in hand, and left the kitchen, leaving his brother to bemoan the fruit that had just been used as a weapon against him alone, and he went to get his cell phone from upstairs. He flopped onto the bed and flipped open the clamshell phone, blinking in surprise at the message that awaited him.

What's going on with you?

The number wasn't registered in Tyson's phone, and it was timed as having been sent this morning at about 10:32. He hadn't paid the device much heed so far today, so he wasn't entirely surprised that he had missed it. Not knowing the number, his mind automatically rushed to the conclusion that the message had come from Kai, no matter how much of a long shot that was. It was uncharacteristic of the Kai he remembered to take an active interest in a friend's personal life, but honestly the bluenette didn't know how much his older friend may have changed in the years they had been out of touch. He decided to send on a response regardless, allowing himself to believe that this was Kai he was speaking to.

What do you mean? Nothing is going on!

He figured dismissal would work, if nothing else, but a part of him suspected that his contact wouldn't easily relinquish the topic. He let the phone snap shut, setting it on the desk as he took his seat at it, turning on his slow computer to check his emails, groaning with slight impatience. He really needed to start saving to get a new one, or at least have Kenny take a look at this one and see if there was any way it could be “turbo-charged”, so to speak. His only emails were the usual BBA-related circulars and a few social networking notifications, though nothing that would be of any direct interest to him. His phone chimed and buzzed away briefly beside him, notifying him of a new message.

Who is threatening to kill you?

There was no doubt about it now; this was definitely Kai. Though Tyson couldn't help but wonder whether it was curiosity or genuine concern that had spurred his former captain into contacting him on the matter. Either way, this was a little unusual and Tyson wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it. He mulled over all possible responses he could provide to his older friend without actually giving anything of the situation away, but he found himself drawing blanks. The only thing that could be done would be to dismiss all seriousness of the matter and laugh it all off as a practical joke. He'd just have to hope that Kai bought it.

That's not serious, Kai. It's just a joke! Really, don't worry about it

A knock on his bedroom door caused Tyson to jolt noticeably in shock. He looked to the door as his grandfather entered, setting the phone aside with a slight tremble in his hand.

“Yo, little dude!” the elderly man greeted his youngest grandson in the same way he had always done. “Got some company at the door to see ya. Your old homies from the Bladebreakers!”

“The guys are here...?” the wielder of Dragoon looked nonplussed by this news. Dread started to ball up in his gut as he began to wonder if Kai had brought his note to the attention of the others in their group. “Is Kai with them...?” He has to ask; if the oldest one was there, then it would confirm their intentions for visiting.

“Nope, didn't see him,” Grandpa Granger shrugged lightly, heading out of the room, leaving the door open. In his exit, the old man missed his grandson's sigh of half-relief. That meant this was a social visit and nothing more. Jumping up off of his chair, he pocketed his cell phone and walked briskly out of the room and down the stairs, presenting his friends with a smile as a greeting.

“Hey! What brings you out this way?” Tyson asked cheerily, inviting his friends to come into the main sitting room to relax and talk.

“It's Saturday! Means we can drop by unannounced, if I remember correctly!” Max grinned impishly as he flopped down into a comfy chair, regarding his old friend with interest. “Still not dressed, I see!”

“It's Saturday!” Tyson retorted with a smirk. “Means I can wear my pyjamas all day without being judged!”

“Oh, you'll still be judged, Tyson...” Hilary sighed, obviously unimpressed and at the same time entirely unsurprised. “Should have expected this of you, really...”

“Come on!” Daichi whined, sitting down on the hard wood floor, prepared to start sulking if necessary. “It's such a nice day outside! I don't wanna stay in here and have to put up with Tyson's smell! Can't we go out?” Tyson's brow twitched, the vein in his forehead pulsing a little in irritation. Daichi still had a way of getting on his last good nerve.

“Well, that's why we're here to call on Tyson, remember?” Ray reminded Daichi before looking over to their friend. “You wanna come hang out? We were just gonna hit the park or the mall or something...” Tyson wasn't particularly eager about the idea of leaving the house today, but anything to use as an excuse to not address any potential concerns of Kai's relating to the note was good.

“Sure, sounds good!” the bluenette replied with enthusiasm, heading for the door. “just give me time to wash up and get some clothes on, okay? Won't be long!” He quickly left the room and rushed upstairs, pulling out his favourite pair of charcoal jeans and a white shirt, laying them out on the bed with the other necessities before rushing into the bathroom to wash and brush his teeth. Once those tasks were completed, he hurriedly dressed himself before rushing down to rejoin his companions, baseball cap perched in its usual place atop his head. “Ready!” he chirped, sliding his wallet into his back pocket as they made for the front door and out onto the street.

Daichi had been right in his exclamation about the day they found themselves in; it was a beautiful, warm and sunny day in late Spring, though they all knew that the rainy season would soon be upon them and they would be treated to days of strong winds, heavy rain and umbrellas being pulled apart every time you step out of the door. It stood to reason, then, that they should appreciate the good weather while they had it, and before the rainy season became summer, and with the summer came the humidity that most found almost intolerable when coupled with the standard summer heat. Spring and Fall were seasons that Tyson enjoyed the most. They had always been ideal conditions to Beyblade in in the past.

They chattered together companionably as they walked past row after row of cherry trees, the blossoms having long since fallen, creating a slowly-decaying carpet of varying pink hues on the sidewalk. They were so enraptured in their company and conversation that their awareness of their surroundings was dulled, thus they didn't notice the group of young men that approached them until they were toe to toe with them.

“Look here,” one young man, wearing a leather jacket with his long brown hair tied back loosely, an unlit cigarette balanced between his lips, smirked at the group. “Gay little set-up right here!”

“Say what?!” Hilary half-choked on her own words, looking the group of men in front of her over critically. “Who invited you apes to open your goddamn mouths?!”

“Hilary...” Tyson tried to reign her in, his tone warning her lowly, but the newcomers picked up on it and launched.

“Hey there, Granger!” One young man stepped forward that both Hilary and Kenny recognised as Greg Davies from school. His shaggy mop of dark hair was unmistakable, even after all of these years. “Got your posse back, I see... Told them you've had sexual fantasies about all of them yet?”

“Ugh, are you still on about this crap?!” Hilary chimed in again, her irritation obvious in her tone, though ignoring Tyson's pleading looks for silence. “This isn't school anymore, Greg, so just get over yourself and go play with your dolls...” She waved her hand at him nonchalantly, her agitation continuing to show, growing mutually with Tyson's nervousness.

“Who the hell is this loser...?” Ray asked, eyeing Greg critically, extending his gaze to fall on the other men in his company. “And why are they going on like that...?”

“Granger, you didn't tell them you're a flaming gay?” Greg half-sneered at his former classmate, looking over the confused expressions that adorned the faces of the two newer companions of the bluenette. “Yeah, bet you guys wish you hadn't come out of hiding to find him now! He'll probably try and rape you in your sleep!”

“For fuck's sake, cut it out!” Hilary bit out an unpleasant curse as she stood to defend her friend. “Tyson is no more gay than you are, so bite it!” One of Greg's companions, a young man known as Pierce Fenton, then stepped forward to join his friend.

“Don't like how that snarky bitch is talking...” Pierce commented, glancing the brunette young woman over quickly. “Hilary always was a big-mouthed tramp... What do you say, Greg? Fuck 'em all up, for good measure?”

“Well...” Greg drawled as he took a step back to examine the group before him. “There are six of them, and six of us, but we all know both Tyson and Kenny are useless in a fight... Those two could be difficult, but...” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small but sharp pocket knife “since we've got these, I'd say the odds are in our favour... Yeah, let's fuck them up...”

A great swell of dread and panic rushed through Dragoon's master. He hadn't intended on getting his friends embroiled in this unpleasantness, but now they were right in the middle of it. And Hilary, despite her best intentions, and despite Tyson respecting her for standing up for him and appreciating it, had managed to land them all even deeper in the mud than they needed to be. The bluenette acted quickly and started to hurriedly usher his friends away, all six of them picking up speed and breaking into a run. None of them doubted the severity of the situation, especially after Greg brandished his knife so easily and so casually, so none of them gave themselves a moment's pause as they ran for their lives, so they felt. They ran so blindly that it didn't take long for them to find themselves trapped down one dead-end street that they just shouldn't have turned down into.

“Trapped!” Max cried, fingers scrambling over exposed stone and masonry in a futile attempt to find an alternative escape route.

“Weren't you idiots paying attention?” the familiar snarl of Greg's voice flooded their ears as they all turned to see him, posse in tow, now blocking the only way out. “You literally trapped yourselves...! How stupid can you get?!”

“Just stop!” Tyson finally spoke up for himself, moving to place himself in front of his friends as a shield. “Look, your issue is with me; leave them out of this! Just let them go, they've got nothing to do with this! Rough me up all you want, but let them go!”

“Tyson!” Daichi shrieked, anger laced in his tone. “You don't have to stand here and take this crap from them! Stand and fight!”

“Stay out of this, Daichi!” Tyson ordered, a dark warning to his words. “This has nothing to do with you. Just get out of here...”

“Hah, I think not...” Greg flexed his fingers before balling both hands into fists. “We let them go, they go running to the cops... We fuck you all up, you'll know better than to go crying to the police... Any of you go to the cops and we'll really mess you up...”

“You could just let them go anyway!” Tyson pleaded. “They won't tell anyone! You don't have to hurt them!”

“It's more fun for us if we do, though...” Pierce snarled. “It'll teach your friends for hanging around someone like you... They'll know better for the future...” Everything suddenly passed by in the blink of an eye as Greg made the first move, raising a balled fist and lunging at Tyson with it. The baseball-capped former Beyblader froze in shock, and no matter how he willed himself to move or defend, he found himself incapable, still acting as a barrier between his friends and their attackers. The incoming fist was halted as suddenly as it was thrown, someone reaching out to grab the limb and wrench it tightly, a howl emerging from its owner.

“Kai...” Tyson exhaled in relief as their former captain moved into view, maintaining his vice grip on Greg's wrist, his attention never leaving Tyson's attacker. “How did you know where we were?!” The lack of response from the older one told Tyson that he had probably been following them for some time, unseen. It was moments like this that Tyson was actually grateful for Kai's stealth, for had the others noticed him, that blow would have most likely impacted.

“The fuck?!” Pierce growled in frustration as Greg managed to wrench free from Kai's grip, deep red marks still present on his wrist. No doubt they would bruise later. “What the fuck is this guy doing here?! Did you know he was still hovering around these guys?!”

“Just leave,” Kai ordered simply, though his tone was set to convey that they were being offered little other alternative than to obey. Tyson knew that tone well from their Beyblading days and a small flutter seemed to bloom in his stomach at the sound, and recollection, of it. “Leave and no one gets hurt.”

“What the fuck are you going to do?!” Greg barked, looking over to his comrades, who were rallying behind him, all manner of sharp objects in their hands. “You may have been intimidating in the dish, Kai, but I doubt any of that spinning top shit can translate into real life! You morons are all washed up! You wanna be the shield for your queer friend?!” Kai shifted a little, though his expression remained entirely unchanged, putting himself between Tyson and Greg, going so far as starting to shuffle Tyson back towards the others.

“One more time,” Kai's tone remained firm and almost psychotically calm. “Leave now and no one will get hurt...”

“Who the fuck does this asshole think he is?!” Pierce spluttered, shifting now to move ahead of Greg, his body language suggesting very openly that he had every intention of attacking Kai, approaching with his pocket knife in hand. The rest of the former G Revolutions team all seemed to collectively gasp as the other youth lunged at their friend with the small weapon, though Kai's reaction to the attack was so swift that it left them in wonder of what exactly had happened. As the knife had come at him, Kai allowed it to get so close before he launched any retaliation, turning sideways to avoid the blade and grabbing Pierce's attacking arm, lurching it forward. With the heel of his free hand, he slammed it hard into the other's nose before pushing him back, allowing him to fall back on the ground and contort into howls of agony.

“What the hell!?” one of the other young men seemed to startle at Kai's reaction, jolting back as he took in his injured friend. Pierce had his hands over his face as he lay doubled-over in pain, blood starting to drip out from between his fingers.

“He fucking broke my nose!” Pierce wailed, slowly starting to gather himself, keeping one hand over his bleeding nose and using the other to push himself back onto his feet, albeit shakily.

“What the hell was that?!” Max couldn't help but ask what everyone else was thinking as they gaped at their former captain like they'd never seen him before.

“You can't honestly believe that I only learned how to Beyblade at the Abbey...” Kai groaned, looking over to his friends for but a moment before returning his attention to the group of men in front of him. Tyson couldn't help but agree that Kai had a point; there was no way that, growing up in such an inhospitable environment, in Moscow of all places, Kai hadn't learned a thing or two about how to survive in a fist fight. His physical form would definitely suggest that he was experienced in some form of street fighting, at the very least. The young phoenix reached a hand out and took hold of Tyson's arm, pulling him close and whispering to him. “Stay out of this. I'll distract the neanderthals. You see a window, you call the cops. Any of you try and get involved in this and I will leave you to get your ass kicked; I will not back you up...” The bluenette was then thrust back towards the other former members of the G Revolutions, and they were left to watch.

Everything launched into fast-forward once more as an all-out brawl kicked off. Six men against Kai hardly seemed fair, but Tyson knew Kai was more than capable of holding his own. As tempted as he was, and knew he would be later, to throw in and help his friend, he and any of the others would only serve as a hindrance rather than a help. Kai had already made it clear that he didn't want their involvement, and he believed Kai's words when he said he'd leave them to get beaten to death. So all they could do was watch as five of the six men launched themselves at Kai, all with their small weapons drawn. The analytical and tactical side of Kai's thinking, honed from years of Beyblading, came to the fore here.

Go on the defensive. Aim first to disarm them to put this on a more level footing.

The attacks that followed were all retaliatory on the part of the older Beyblader; reactions to attacks received from the other men, to the point where it was starting to look like they were basically beating themselves up. Quickly and safely, Kai was able to disarm each man in turn, though not without landing a few well-placed blows to the stomach or knees to wind them or knock them off their feet. Without their knives, this was a lot more of an even playing field, and the odds that were stacked heavily against Kai from the start began to balance themselves out, though only slightly. There were still six of them, well, only five if you discounted the already-injured Pierce, and only one of him, but Kai felt he had had worse odds before. He didn't vocalise this thought, though, as it seemed too much like a horrible cliche.

The four idiots with Greg and Pierce are the weaklings. Take them down first and then focus on the other two.

He followed his own plan to the letter, moving himself towards Greg's four companions, who had said and done little to this point, and he found it relatively easy to floor and disable them, though not entirely without incident. One of them managed to land a pretty solid kick from a boot-clad foot into the right-side of Kai's ribcage, which had the holder of Dranzer gritting his teeth and tensing, especially when he heard a cracking sound shortly after, but he repaid the attack in kind, jamming the toe of his own booted foot into the other's ribs before grasping the wrist of his right arm and pulling it tense to allow the other's face to collide with the underside of the same foot that had just jammed his ribs, a soft cracking sound suggesting that perhaps a tooth had become dislodged, or worse. Kai then bent his knee, letting go of his opponents arm, and dealt another blow to his face to send him down to the ground.

It was difficult to pull off those kinds of moves with the screaming pain tearing through his right side as the result of the cracked ribs he had earned, but he went through the motions with no complaint. It wasn't in his nature to bemoan his own condition. That youth had been the most difficult of Greg's extra companions, with the other three falling with relative ease, though he did earn a painful blow to the face from one, which busted his lip and caused blood to start to trickle and spatter over his shirt. Aside from a few other bruises, he came off relatively unscathed by comparison to his opponents. Which left only Greg and Pierce. The former was definitely still eager for the fight, and while the latter was obviously already in a great deal of pain, he was standing firm regardless. A part of Kai did admire their tenacity, but it wasn't going to stop him from remaining between them and his friends. Kai shifted his position to stand between them once again, reiterating his stance to the two that remained, reminding them what he was standing there for.

“Underestimated you...” Greg remarked, his tone suggesting that he was, in some way, impressed with Kai's moves. “But the thing is I've learned a lot just watching you... You're fucked...” Kai just gave the other male an unreadable look, but Tyson and the others in his company were looking nervous. Kai was definitely favouring his ribs where they had been kicked and his lip was starting to swell and darken in colour, the dried blood like a dark red chasm between bruised areas of skin. His air, though, was unchanged and his determination remained. None of the former G Revolutions could ever call Kai's stamina, or ability to take a serious kicking, into question after how he withstood a torrent of abuse at the hands of Brooklyn in his last officially-sanctioned Beyblade match. They knew he would keep getting up and keep fighting, but what concerned them was what condition he would be in afterwards. Each former Beyblader recalled how badly injured Kai was at the end of that particular battle, and that had been fought with their Beyblades. This was going to be hand-to-hand combat, bone and muscle and flesh. The stakes were a lot higher, as were the risks. Kai didn't risk just burning out; he also risked very serious injury.

“Be careful, Kai!” Hilary finally spoke up, startling her companions a little as they had all been in such a state of shocked, silent reverie that they hadn't expected any of them to utter a word of caution to their former leader, though it would have been prudent to do so, and would have showed that they cared about him and what he was doing on their behalf.

The warning appeared to go unheeded as Greg moved forward at an alarming speed, raising his left elbow and bringing it down to collide with the side of Kai's head, sending him reeling to the floor, though he didn't utter any exclamation of pain or discomfort. He managed to catch himself on his hands, but not before his right hip crashed hard and heavily onto the concrete, flames of pain scorching up through his body, compounded by the stabbing pain already present in his cracked right ribs. He barely managed to roll out of the way in time as one of Greg's booted feet collided hard with the ground, having been aiming for Kai's head, or at the very least pretty close to that area. Gathering himself quickly, the Phoenix lunged forward and grabbed at Greg's ankle, able to feel the heated throb throughout the leg from where it had impacted so hard, twisting his foot painfully before wrenching it back hard to send the other face-first into the concrete, giving Kai the opening he needed to back away a few steps while Greg lay writhing. No sooner had he pulled back, though, than he found Pierce's hands on his throat, gritting back a gasped cry of shock as he was slammed back against a brick wall, pain now flaring at the back of his skull in rhythm with the pain all over his right side. A rasped sound of struggle barely escaped the older Beyblader's lips as Pierce attempted to choke him, his nose swelling and bruising rapidly, dried blood caked to it, flaking away slightly, obvious fury blazing in his dark eyes.

“Fucking break my nose, huh?!” Pierce fumed, his grip on Kai's throat tightening. It became obvious to the others who were bearing witness to this intense spectacle that this wasn't just a simple fist fight now; Pierce was looking to kill.

“Get off of him!” Tyson bellowed, starting to move towards Pierce to pull him away from Kai, but he caught Greg rising in his periphery vision and his attention was snapped away. The other was coming at him with a knife, and while before he had frozen in place and been overcome by fear, this time he felt the need to act, if only to follow the example his friend had already set. He didn't have the opportunity, however, as Kai had found his strength and had begun to push forward hard against Pierce, using him as a battering ram, of sorts, to collide with Greg and send the two young men crashing to the ground while Kai stood doubled over, trying to catch his breath, the red marks over his throat almost certainly destined to turn deep purple, black and blue before the weekend was out.

“What are you doing?!” Kai growled furiously, grabbing Tyson by the upper arm and pulling him back over to where the others were standing, worried looks painted across their faces. “Idiot! Just stay here!”

“I'm not incapable, Kai!” Tyson bit back in retort, annoyance starting to flare in his brown eyes. “I'm not going to just stand here and let this happen!”

“Turn off your stupid “hero” reflex and listen to the voice of reason for on--” Kai was cut off in his berating of his friend by a solid blow to the head that sent him to the ground about two feet away. Tyson's intervention had worked as an excellent distraction for the two remaining men to execute a revenge blow on the Phoenix. Kai lay there for a few moments, dazed, white spots flashing across his vision as he tried to see straight, able to feel his pulse throbbing at his temple, a cold trickling sensation down his face telling him that he had yet another bleeding injury to tend to. This was going to be a long, and rough, day.

“Assholes!” Tyson snapped, seizing his chance while Kai was dazed and their attention was on him to lash out, only to be pulled back by the Chinese youth in his company. He whipped round to address the older one, anger flaring in his eyes. “What are you doing?! Do you think we can just let these jerks beat Kai up!?”

“Calm down, Tyson,” Ray kept his voice low and calm, attempting to relax the vexed Dragon. “Kai won't forgive you if you interfere; that's always been his way. You taught us that, right?” Tyson took pause to process what Ray was telling him, his anger starting to subside. “Besides, if we all launch on those guys, it's not going to look good when the cops show up...”

“What...?” the bluenette endeavoured to keep his voice down, but feared he may have hit a few octaves higher than he had planned. “The cops?! You called them?!” He had managed to entirely forget Kai's earlier instruction to him as Ray continued.

“Max managed to slip off about five minutes ago to find someone,” Ray responded, still sounding shockingly cavalier. “Because Kai is keeping those two distracted, and the others are too busy nursing their injuries, he was able to get away without being noticed. All of us jump them now, it's gonna look like we're the attackers and they're the victims.”

“You can't be serious!?” Tyson's voice was low but harsh, the agitation starting to bubble up once more. “We're gonna make Kai a sacrificial offering to protect our own asses?!”

“Your ass, Tyson!” Ray snapped back lowly. “This is your fight, not ours! Kai is fighting for you, not for us! Whatever grudge you have with those guys, whatever you've been running from, that is to blame for this!” Tyson was a little taken aback by how forward Ray had been in his delivery, but in his heart he knew that it was all true. Maybe if he had said something before, maybe if he'd told someone, anyone, about the notes and the threats, they wouldn't be in this situation and he wouldn't have to watch Kai be attacked while biting his tongue. He hated to see Kai get abused in any situation, but the truth in Ray's words continued to ring in his ears and he willed himself to stay out of the fray. If only for Kai's sake. It already seemed obvious that he was a burden to the Phoenix in that situation anyway.

By the time footsteps began to echo down the small side-street, both Greg and Pierce were on the ground with Kai back on his feet. He looked a little worse for wear, his breathing heavy and laboured, yet he still managed to look completely dignified as a handful of cops came into view, pulling up the injured young men on the floor and escorting them out to the waiting cars. Shortly after, another cop came down the street and approached Kai, taking his arm, causing an eruption of protest from the witnesses.

“Wait!” Tyson exclaimed first, hurriedly approaching the arresting officer. “He was protecting us! It was self defense! He didn't attack them; they attacked him!”

“Let him go!” Hilary added her voice to the outcry. “You can't arrest him! He's not a criminal!”

“We're taking him for questioning,” the officer responded calmly. “First, we shall see that his injuries are taken care of, then we have to question him relating to this incident. It's protocol.”

“I'll be fine,” Kai spoke up, the eerie calm descending over him once again. He went with the officer quietly, though Tyson could see that he was carrying a significant amount of injury in every step the older man took. Another officer then approached.

“You the witnesses?” the older officer queried as he looked the group over. The nod from Ray gave him all the response he required. “We'll need to question you all on exactly what happened here...”

~~***~~

I had to be looking at him like he had sprouted a second head, because his jaw seemed to tighten as a brow lifted in critical appraisal of me. Every word he had just told me was the same as what was written on the police report for the incident. Nearly word-for-word. This line of inquiry had just been an intense waste of time. With a groan, I slumped back in my chair, running a hand through my hair in slight agitation.

“If you ask a stupid question, you'll get a stupid answer,” Kai responded tightly, his entire expression telling me that he did it on purpose because he was feeling far less than cooperative. To him, this was an inconvenience and a waste of time; to me, this was my job. I had to ask the questions as the pattern had emerged. Inconvenience or no, I had to do what I had to do.

“Mr Hiwatari, please,” I feared my voice betrayed more of my exasperation than I had intended. “I know the hard details of the police report into the matter; what I was looking for was your personal insight into the incident.”

“And I gave that to you with the police report,” the younger one responded, though it was becoming obvious that I was testing his patience. “I don't particularly care to embellish facts with sentimentality, if that's alright with you.” Another sigh escaped my lips before I could stop it. This young man was sealed up tighter than a drum. It continued to make me ask whether or not he had something to hide, something beyond what was already transcribed in front of me, that would be the connecting factor in all of these 'self defense' actions. I slowly pushed the file on the incident aside and brought my attention to his personal file. It was pretty thick, though it had taken some digging to get it that way. I'd read the file before the interview, to make sure that I was prepared for what I was entering into. Not that I'd planned on interviewing him following yet another incident; the interview had been in the works for some weeks, but since he had been brought in relating to yet another incident of violence, now seemed like as good a time as any to wrap this up.

His past was colourful, to say the least, and not because of any criminal activity. Well, none that he was knowingly involved in. Born in Russia to Japanese parents, his father left him to his grandfather when he was ten and his mother was never heard from again after that point. Neither was his father, actually. His grandfather, renowned arms criminal Voltaire, got involved in a child development scheme that was anything but innocent. He raised young boys to be warriors, robbing them of their childhood, but what he put his own grandson through had been much more sadistic. After an explosion at the facility where he was raised, he was put through a regiment designed to eradicate the ability to feel pretty much anything. And you can bet your bottom dollar he didn't get there without a certain amount of physical agony. But there was one point in his past, his more recent past, that I wanted to prod at a little. It wasn't going to be well-received, I knew that much, but it seemed tied in to the next chronological incident on his file.

“Mr Hiwatari,” I cleared my throat again, my sense of purpose and focus restored. “The next incident I want to discuss came following the diagnosis of your father, Susumu Hiwatari, with advanced stage liver cancer...”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Kai and his whole body seemed to tense, the sensitivity of the subject showing in his lavender eyes, anger rolling off him in waves.

I'd hit a sore spot alright.
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