WEB OF FEELINGS

Hey, there! Here I am with a new story. This time it is about the really sweet boys from Beyblade! Please be kind to me, because English is not my native language. But I thought I would give it a try, because for my other english-written story "Arc of trust" (about Voyager) I have received some wonderful encouraging reviews.

Disclaimer: The boys don't belong to me (what a surprise!) Really, nothing of that that awesome show is mine. (sighs mournfully)
Warnings: This will be Shonen-Ai (means: two boys in love), so don't like don't read.
more Warnings: Fluff, Romance, Angst…and more
Rating: PG-13
Feedback: Yes, please!

Chapter 1:

„I can't believe we are late!", a voice panted. "It's the first day of the new year in school…and we are late!"

"Don't waste your breath with complaining, Chief", another voice could be heard, sounding clearly not as out of breath as the first one. "Run faster instead and hopefully we will be only some minutes too late and nobody will take notice of it!"

"As if…", Kenny began to speak again, but was silenced by the look his friend was giving him.
Instead of completing his sentence the brunette tried to speed up his pace of running, but failed horribly. Therefore Tyson, who realized that his younger friend couldn't hold their fast pace on his own, took his hand into his and almost carried Kenny behind him.

Ten minutes later the two boys arrived at their school and raced up the steps to the doors. Inside they ran towards the stairs at the other end of the hall and up to the second floor, where they moved - as fast as Kenny was able – to the door where their first lesson of the new year would be held.

Skidding to an abrupt halt in front of the door Tyson breathed in and out two times to slow his breath and then straightened up. Looking at his panting friend the bluenette smiled slightly.
"Here we are, Chief", Tyson said and, looking at his watch, added: "And we are only five minutes too late. That was a nice morning sprint, don't you think?"

"I…don't think…it…is something…to be proud of…to be late…on the first day of school, Tyson", Kenny gasped, desperatly trying to slow his racing heartbeat. "Even…even it's only…five…minutes." Tyson smiled even wider, totally unpertubed.

Running his hand in a calming motion over Kennys back, he said: "Breath slowly, Chief. In…out…in…out", he coaxed his smaller friend to regain his breath. As he saw that Kenny had calmed considerably, he straightened again and turned to the door.
"Ok, here we go. To a new and exciting year of school torture. Oh what a joy", he said with humor in his voice. With that said the bluenette opened the door in front of him and slowly stepped into the class room.

Several pairs of eyes turned to him and Kenny, who shyly hid behind his friend at seeing the attention directed towards them. Tyson instead let his gaze calmly sweep over his curious class mates and came to a stop as he saw the rest of his friends seated in the back. Max waved cheerfully, Ray smiled while shaking his head and Kai gazed at him without showing any emotion.

"Oh what a pleasure that you decided to grace my class room with your presence at last, Tyson", a female voice could be heard as Tyson smiled at his teammates. Turning to his teacher the bluenette bestowed her with a cheerful grin and answered: "I'm glad to meet you again, Mrs.Tanikawa."

The elderly woman doubtfully shook her head and said: "I had hoped you would have matured a bit over the holidays, Tyson Kanimoya. But as I can see you didn't. To be late at the very first day of school is not something I expect from my students – and to make another student late, too. When will you finally grow up?"

The barely hidden contempt in her words made some of the other students cring, and let Max and Ray openly scowl at her, while Kais posture didn't change. Only his eyes narrowed dangerously at the teacher.

Kenny instead was now moving to get in front of Tyson to defend his friend. But before he could utter a word, the bluenette bowed apologetically and said: "I'm sorry. I promise to try better next time, Mrs.Tanikawa." His voice was smooth and didn't show any reaction to the blame his teacher had put on him, but his eyes had darkened in silent hurt.

"As if", the woman muttered, but waved him and Kenny away. As the two teammates moved to the back to seat themselves next to their friends, the voice of Mrs.Tanikawa could be heard once again.
"Before I was disturbed by our usual latecomer", she began which made Tyson stiffen a bit before he rolled his deep blue eyes, "I wanted you to welcome some newcomers into the class. They moved to the town and will be going to school with you until the end of term. Tala, Bryan – please present yourself."

After hearing these well-known names Tyson who had been quietly rummaging in his bag, looked up in surprise. Even Kai and the rest of his team seemed to share this feeling, because each of them turned their attention to the front of the class, where two people were standing which they knew very well.

Tala looked like two years ago as Tyson had beaten him in the World Champion Ships in Russia. His iceblue eyes scanned the people in front of him with an indifferent look while Bryan seemed to be nervous because of the undivided attention the two of them were receiving. The lavender-haired youth squirmed a bit, but managed to remain composed to most of the students. Only the Bladebreakers and Tala could see how uncomfortable he felt. That could have been the reason why Tala suddenly spoke.

"My name is Tala Ivanov. My friend is called Bryan. Nice to meet you", he said curtly. Bryan managed a small smile, gratitude flashing through his blue eyes momentarily because Tala had introduced both of them. Most of the students studied the two for some more moments curiously, but the Bladebreakers had started to talk among themselves. Ok, Max, Ray and Tyson had started to talk.

Kenny had opened his laptop instead and was quietly tapping on the board. And Kai had closed his eyes and seemed bored. So it was the rest of the team which shared interested and slightly stunned looks at the news. They hadn't expected to meet members of the former Demolition Boys at their school, intending to go to class with them. But that would definitely be interesting.

After Tala and Bryan had chosen a seat far away from the Bladebreakers the first lesson of the first school day of the last year at high school began. And time seemed to slow down considerably for the friends which were close to 'I'm-bored-to-drop-dead-because-of-her-droning-on'-induced sleep after half an hour of their teachers' continous speaking of the content of this years' schedule.

After fifteen more minutes of fighting sleep the torture of this class ended and the five friends hurried to leave. In the hallway Max moaned: "I can't believe she had nothing better to do than telling us every boring detail of our schedules! She has robbed me of hours of desperate hoping for something interesting in even one of the classes! That's not fair!", the normally cheerful blonde exclaimed.

While Ray smiled brightly at his friends' distressed behaviour, Tyson laughed outright. Patting his best mate on the back and messing his hair up, he grinned: "Aww, poor poor Maxie! All the fun out of the window…now we will be leading a useless life in classes with no bright beam of sunlight to rescue us from dying of a terrible doom!"

There was a moment's silence as Max blinked, before he burst out laughing like the bluenette had intended with his speech. Clutching his stomach the blonde youth giggled uncontrollably while Tyson smiled at the sight. Even Ray had trouble to contain his laughter at their antics, while Kai shook his head with an amused glint in his crimson eyes and Kenny merely smiled.

Moving down the hallway the friends chatted about nothing and everything at once, missing the glances they received from the students. The Bladebreakers were well-known at the high school…and most of the students really liked the five boys. But they often wondered how such different types of character could be such a formidable team when it came to beyblading.

Kai who seemed indifferent at best when it came to 'normal' activities and hardly ever smiled even a bit.

Ray with his Asian heritage clearly presented in his style of clothes, who seemed calm and collected at first but was often as mischievous as Max and Tyson.

Then there was Kenny, the 'Chief'. Shy, studious and glued to his laptop. A boy with an obvious love for sciences and an incredible ability to solve any problems related to technics.

Max was the always cheerful and enthusiastic type, dragging his friends to everything that screamed fun. The blonde often presented himself as easygoing but could be really scary when someone tried to mess with his friends.

And Tyson. Winner of the last World Champion Ships. For most of the people the bluenette with the equally deep blue eyes was the leader of the Bladebreakers, even if Kai officially held this rank. But Tysons endless energy and open-mindedness made him a person which was really hard to dislike.

The five teens made it through the next three lessons without being too much bored and met at their lockers to go to lunch together. Ray and Kenny, who had had the last class together waited patiently for their three friends to arrive.

Five minutes later Max and Tyson came down the hallway from their chemistry class, laughing about something. To the chagrin of Ray, who was very curious what made Max clutching at his best friend to stop from falling over in his laughter, they didn't elaborate. Tyson was a bit better off than Max, but couldn't help but grin from ear to ear each time he looked at his blonde friend who couldn't stop giggling.

As Kai stepped up to them, the dualhaired teen raised an eyebrow and calmly asked: "How much sugar did you have today, Max?" That set off a new round of light-hearted laughter in which Tyson soon joined in.

Grinning at each other, Tyson and Max deposited their books in their lockers and joined their friends who looked at them in differents states of curiosity. But the two best friends wouldn't say what had them in such a good mood and after some minutes of trying to coax it out of them and not getting an answer, Ray gave up.

The group of friends moved to the roof where they seated themselves at a far table. As they ate their lunch, Kenny suddenly asked: "Have you seen the notice at the black bord in the hall?" Curious gazes met his after this statement and he hastened to explain: "There is that notice for students of our year to meet at half past two in the assembly hall – as far as I could see it is about a new extracurricular activity this year."

"Oh joy", Tyson sighed, laying his head on the table. "As if I haven't enough to do with Gramps…and school… and homework…", his friends could hear him mumbling.
"Don't forget our beyblade-training", Ray added with an amused smile.

Tyson sighed once more.

"Hey, what's up with you, mate?", Max wanted to know. He could feel that Tyson didn't exaggerate his reaction, but was really a little bit overwhelmed. His blue-haired best friend lifted his head from the table and shrugged before answering.
"I don't really know, Maxie. Gramps' insisted last week to step up my training saying that I had missed too much pratice because of our travels during the Champion Ships last year. Since then he has me training almost nonstop and I can assure you…he drives me crazy."

Max looked concerned now because he could hear the wearyness in Tysons voice and the sparkling in the depths of oceanblue had diminished. Kai opened his eyes which had been closed during the chattering of his friends before and pools of crimson red glinted with a touch of worry.

Ray leaned over the table laying his hand over Tysons and said: "Don't work too much, Ty. If you do that, you will endanger your health…say Gramps that you don't want to train so often with him. He will understand that school and homework will need much of your time." Tyson doubtfully lifted an eyebrow, but smiled nonetheless to ease the visible concern of his friends who now looked at him a litte bit anxious.

"We will see", the bluehaired youth spoke quietly after some seconds of thinking about his eccentric grandfather. "But I understand why Gramps wants me to learn Kendo. It's tradition in the Kanimoya family to practice the martial arts. It goes far way back to my ancestors. Gramps is a respected master of the arts and he wants to make sure the next generation is firm in the way of the Kanimoya style of fighting. But sometimes…sometimes I wish Hiro wouldn't have left. Now all of Gramps' hopes concentrate solely on me and that is quite…stressful at best."

"I didn't know your family has such a history in the martial arts", Max confessed a bit awed at the revelation. Tyson smiled and now pride shone from his eyes, as he answered: "Yes, it goes a long way back, Max. It's a honor to be one of them, as Gramps tells me day by day. But thanks to him this ancestry is not an easy one, I can tell you. If you want to know more ask him, I am sure he will be delighted to explain the whole damn web of relations to you." Tyson rolled his expressive eyes heavenwards as he remembered the lessons about family history his grandpa had given him as he had been a young boy.

"You should be glad to have a family history like that, Tyson", Kai interjected at this time with his deep voice. Crimson eyes bored into midnight-blue ones, as the teamleader of the Bladebreakers made his opinion clear.

"I am glad, Kai. But sometimes it is an awful lot of responsibility which comes with it…Gramps' expectations are not easy to fulfill. And you should know how hard it can be to reach the goals our families want us to achieve. They often forget to ask us if we want the same things for our future as they have planned."

With that quiet and seriously spoken words, Tyson stood up and grabbed his bag. With a little bit strained smile he looked down at his friends and added: "We will meet later for this thing which Kenny has told us of, ok? I have a double period math now and I don't want to come late again today. Bye."

Nodding Max smiled up at his best friend and said: "Have fun in math, Ty. I will reserve you a seat, ok? I know how Mr.Mathison likes to forget when his lessons are over and makes everybody late for the next ones because of that." Tysons smile brightened a bit and he messed up Max' hair in a friendly 'thank you' before leaving.

Ray, Kenny, Kai und Max watched him striding to the door and exciting downstairs. Grabbing their own bags the four boys were quiet and thinking about what they had heard some minutes ago. It was unusual for Tyson to complain – aside from his normal whining, which was only to annoy his grandfather. The serious way in which he had told them his worries about not reaching the expectations of Mr.Kanimoya senior made them think about their usually optimistic and cheerful teammate.

Kai sighed mentally. He hadn't wanted to deepen Tysons uneasyness. All that he had tried to make the younger one see was the great gift his family was – Kai knew how much Gramps loved his grandson and how proud he was of him.

That was a thing Kai had wanted his whole life – love from the only relative he knew. But Voltaire had painfully made clear what he thought of emotions – and Kai now only slowly opened up to his friends after realizing that his grandfather had been wrong about substituting feelings for weakness.

Friendship had made him strong enough to stand up against Voltaire and do what he thought was the right way for him to be. The warmth and loyality of his friends had made him see how friendly and beautiful the world could be.

And now he had made the mistake to reprimand Tyson for being unsure of being able to reach the goals his ancestry set out for him. Even if the blame he had put on the bluenette had only been small, Kai now felt guilty.

"Kai, are you coming?", Rays voice sounded into his musings. The dualhaired teen's head snapped up and he nodded wordlessly. He fastened his bag and walked up to Ray, who waited for him. Together the two teammates followed their friends down to their next classes.

What do you think of that first Chapter? Good? Or bad?

Give me a review! (puppy dog eyes)

geministarlight