Another Kai and Tala one-shot for the very talented, and overly sweet, Trashy!
So sorry this took forever to do, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Can find the artwork that is the basis to this one-shot at

trashyartz on Tumblr.

Seriously, her artwork is amazing!

This timeline follows the G-Rev part of the anime. For the most part, although it is Kai and Tala, there's a lot of Kai and Hilary friendship building in this because it's based on the artwork.

Thank you, Trashy, for letting me do this for you! Hopefully I don't disappoint.

'In the whirlwind of the third world championships friendships were tested, loyalties strained to the point of breaking apart such a thin and fragile line. There were nights and days everyone continued to question if it was worth the strain, was worth the pain they all caused one another; but what was done was done. There was no turning back now, their team had already been broken and torn apart and new teams were formed and it was too late to go back.

Maybe, for some, that was for the better in the end.' Hilary paused her pen against the paper, putting the end of it close to her bottom lip as she thought over her next words she wished to write and log away.

Laying on an unfamiliar bed, in another unfamiliar hotel room, her legs kicked up and ankles crossed behind her with her diary laid in front of her between her elbows which she was propped up against.

For the past month, since the third world tournament had started and she was whisked away with her team, she had been keeping a diary of sorts. To log away all that had happened, what she would do with all that she wrote she was unsure of at the moment, but it helped past the time when Tyson and Daichi were training for the next rounds and there was nothing better to do with the down time.

They were all currently in Rome now, all so close and yet all still so far apart. Other players, friends, were just outside her own hotel room door in their own rooms doing their own things. She may not have been there since the start, but she felt the pull and strain that had gone on once Max and Ray had left the team. Shortly after, Kai left too and that left her with Tyson, Kenny, and Daichi with Hiro as their coach.

As a thought hit her, her pen came away from her bottom lip and she started again to write along the paper of her diary. Her tongue slightly sticking out the corner of her lips as she concentrated, the green mud mask she wore that had hardened on her face cracking slightly as her brows furrowed.

The ink on the page began to dry as she pulled her pen away again, reading over the next, carefully crafted, lines she had written out and a sigh passed her lips. She may not have understood why the others left completely, but unlike Tyson, she didn't have any ill will towards them. To her they were all still friends, even passing each other in the halls of the hotel and on the streets when they weren't practicing or right after a round of battles. In a way, it was nice to see them still even if they were apart in a sense.

Her pen came away from her lip again, ready to write on the page once more when there came a knock on her door. With a quick glance at the clock on the table by the bed she rolled herself off, it wasn't that late into the night yet and she didn't mind the unexpected company though when she opened the door a crack to peak through, her heart skipped a beat and she slammed it shut again.

"What're you doing here?!" She about shrieked; under the thick green mask a tinge of pink was forming on her face. She looked a downright mess and he had just seen her! Then again, he was used to seeing her like that after having stayed with them all in the dojo their second year; her first.

"Bad time?" Came the cool slick voice from behind the door, where she could hear him shifting his weight as if he was uncomfortable.

Curiosity piqued within her. As often as she had seen Max and Ray around it wasn't often that she had seen him, not since he had just up and left without a word to anyone.

"It will be if Tyson shows up." She called through the door, rolling her eyes at herself and opened it again while poking her head out into the hall, quickly checking it before grabbing him by the front of his jacket and pulled him into the room. Shutting the door again quickly.

"What're you doing here Kai?" She asked with as pointed of a stare as she could through the hardened mask on her face, hands on her hips.

Kai rubbed the back of his head, why had he come to her? Were they even that close for him to come seek her out like this? Long ago, so it seemed, there were times where they sat and talked. She had helped him a few times when he needed an ear to listen to and he helped her, best he could as it was never his strongest suit.

Hilary's hands fell from her hips, she had never seen that look on his face before. It continued to pique her unsettled curiosity and with a slight huff she turned, going back to her bed to sit on the edge as he continued to stand by the door.

"Are you okay?" She questioned, cocking her head to the side slightly as she watched him carefully.

"Just felt like seeing a familiar face for the moment." He spat out, almost nervously.

"And you picked me?!" She blinked her large brown eyes at him, wasn't this flirting with the enemy now, if she allowed him to stay? To talk?

"Well get comfortable, I guess." She gestured at the chairs by the bathroom door in the corner of the room.

Kai went right to them without a word, practically throwing himself into it before pushing his bangs from his face with a sigh. There was a mess raging in his head that he couldn't get through, of all the people he could think of to talk to it would be her. She was a girl, going onto be a woman, she always had sound advice not just for him but for the team and he saw that time and time again.

Hilary watched him from afar; still looking nervous, confused, stiff, and lost. That wasn't him, not the one she always had seen before. Thousands of reasons ran through her mind, could it be he felt guilty for having left Tyson and the team or was there more going on in that head of his?

She was ready, for whatever it was, and she was intent on getting it all out of him before the night was over.

Then came the silence that always seemed to follow him, as he sat in that uncomfortable chair across the small hotel room that seemed to stretch for miles with no ending now.

This was a mistake, what had he been thinking?!

Without a word he pushed himself away from the chair, giving Hilary a quick jerk of the head that looked more like a twitch than a nod, and took himself out of her room without a word.

Hilary blinked in utter confusion at her closed door, not entirely sure what had just happened but felt a bubble of giggles form in her stomach. He looked completely mortified, for whatever reason, had come to her for help with whatever it was he needed help with and just left in a very like him fashion.

She couldn't hold it, shaking her head as she laughed to the point her sides hurt within minutes. When it subsided she rolled back to her diary, flipping through and marking the time and date on a blank page at the back of the notebook scribbling out what had just transpired.

'Kai Hiwatari, once more the ever profound mute, had just come to me, me, to talk and of course no talking ensued but it was a step; so I can assume. A step to what, or where, that will be revealed at a later date and time.'

She smiled to herself and set her pen down, bouncing from her bed to wash the mask off her face and prepare for actual sleep this time. There was a match tomorrow, one that she was going to have to keep a very close eye on now apparently.

Hilary stormed her way through the lobby of the hotel, fuming with steam coming out of her ears that caused anyone in her pathway to take a good ten steps back as she went to the elevator. Her brown eyes alight with a burning anger, her shoulders hunched with her teeth bared and clenched tightly.

The match for the day had been a win, something she should have been happy about, then again when a beyblade came hurling itself at your head at lightning speed, it would shake even the biggest of people to their core.

They had already figured it out, Kai had thrown the match but the bigger question was why and then why did he have the gall to go and make it so his blade came right for her and Kenny?! She had seen her, very brief, life flash before her eyes at that moment. After all was said and done, her boys securing another round, she was still fuming and on the hunt for one Kai Hiwatari.

The elevator dinged and she stormed out of it, having rode it to the floor she knew the Blitzkrieg Boyz room was on, marching through the corridor to the door where her fist beat on the surface with such force it was a miracle it hadn't fallen in.

As her fist raised for another strike against the door it came open in a flash, six feet of pure muscle, maybe seven she wasn't entirely sure, stood before her in the small doorway as a shiver ran down her spine.

Spencer's face fell slightly as he took in her appearance for a minute, watching the color in her face drain.

"Can I help you?" His voice brought her, and her color, back to the world.

"Is… Is Kai in there?" She squeaked, no longer looking like a woman enraged for almost taking a beyblade to the face but one who was unsure and afraid.

Spencer turned his large frame in the doorway, looking as though he may have trouble fitting through such a small entryway to begin with, as he scanned the room for a second like he hadn't been in there all along.

"Kai." He barked, the sound of the bed sheets rustling came next and Spencer stepped back to let him through.

Kai's normal expressionless face changed the second he took Hilary standing outside the hall, her anger coming back as he stepped into the hall with her and closed the door shut behind him with a curious look in his eyes.

"Hilary." He regarded her formally, maybe too formally, but then again he had stumbled to her door the night before and couldn't help but wonder if she was there because of that.

The fire that had reignited in her eyes told him that wasn't the case though, and he braced himself for a slap that never came.

"What were you thinking? I was right there; you could have hit me!" It wasn't a physical lashing, but the verbal one he was receiving made his eardrums ring.

"I'm sorry." He cut in through her tirade, hoping to calm her down before someone poked their nosy heads out of their rooms to see what was going on.

"And another thing- I'm… Excuse me?" She blinked at him a few times, had her overheated brain heard that right? Did Kai just say sorry, and to her?!

"Well… You know… Just be careful next time, okay?" She said more sweetly and he nodded, a silence coming over them that found the two shifting where they stood.

"About last night." Kai started, once more that nervousness seeping into his tone.

Hilary waited expectantly again, just like she had the night before. Watching him go stiff and unsure, into a person she didn't recognize and didn't like. Her mouth opened when the door beside them opened, Tala and Bryan strutting out into the hall past them.

"Hi boys." She waved them at them, not expecting anything back and smiled when Bryan waved at her over his shoulder.

When she turned back to face Kai, he was staring down the hall after his captain. Looking lost again but it was a different kind of lost than he had the night before, as if there was more to it than just not being on Earth at the moment with the rest of them.

She snapped her fingers in his face, drawing his attention quickly back to her. "You okay Kai, is something going on with you and Tala?"

A very uncharacteristic, very faint, tinge of pink came to Kai's cheeks that vanished the second it appeared as he shook his head rather violently.

"He's not being too hard on you, for losing the match is he? Because he lost too." Hilary jumped to the only conclusion she could think of at the moment.

"I'm fine." Kai said, short and blunt like normal. Like he was finally back in his own mind and body again.

Despite it being a normal response, there was a niggling in the back of her head that wouldn't let up. He didn't seem fine but there wasn't an answer good enough for her to pinpoint why.

"Okay… Well, I'll see you around Kai." She waved and got a nod of the head before he turned, entering his and Spencer's shared room again without a word.

That night, when she returned to her own room again, having the luxury of being the only girl on her team she roomed alone she sprawled out on her bed again with her diary laid out before her. Her pen making clean and clear strokes along the paper, writing all that had happened that day to the very last detail until she was done and the clock by the bed read off it was 9:25.

Hilary pushed herself up off her stomach, rolling her shoulders and looked to her door. The night before Kai had shown up at 9:30 but as the time passed he never showed, why she thought he would she didn't know but something within her felt sad by that.

Slowly she crawled under the covers for sleep, hoping that tomorrow night he would come back to see her for whatever it was that had been on his mind.

Through the crowd brown eyes scanned through the wild display and arrange of vibrant hair colors, trying to find the one she was looking for from the booth she was sitting in with her team. Tyson and Daichi once more thrown into an endless eating match that had no basis or reason to be going on that she was promptly ignoring, once more on a mission for the morning before the six teams were ushered onto the bus to the stadium.

Finally brown clocked dark-purple in the mess and she was out of her seat in the blink of an eyes, striding across the dining hall towards the white braid that kept walking out of her reach until she caught up to it and tugged it back to grab his attention.

Ray stiffened for a second before he turned to look over his shoulder, at first there had been a slew of unkind words on the tip of his tongue at the sudden jerk of his hair though they had been replaced with a fanged smile.

"Hilary."

"Can I talk to you?" She hoped she was doing the right thing, but she had lost too much sleep during the night that she didn't know what else to do.

Kai and Ray had seemed close last year, she hoped that was the same even if they were on separate teams now.

"Sure." Ray shrugged, "I'll catch up with you guys on the bus." He directed to his new team who had all paused when they heard the conversation behind them.

"Don't be long." Mariah called back to him and trotted off with her brother and other boys to the doors of the dinning hall without him.

Hilary found them a small unoccupied table in the corner of the dinning hall, away from the rest of the bladers that were still moving around and eating.

"What is it Hilary?" Ray asked once they were settled.

"I um…" She bit into her lower lip, fingers playing with the frayed ends of her shorts under the table. "It's Kai."

Ray gave her a questioning look, waiting for her to continue quietly. He had seen the match the day before, watched him throw the match and how Hilary and Kenny almost got their heads taken off and Hiro sitting on the bench with a knowing look. Then again, everyone had seen that.

"He came to my room the other night; I went to his room last night to give him a piece of my mind for what he did during his match with Daichi and he seems… Not like himself right now." She spewed out quickly.

Golden eyes blinked a few times, "I haven't really seen him around."

"Oh…" She visibly shrank into her seat.

"Did he say why he came to see you the night before?" Ray questioned; this was odd at best but then again stranger things had happened to them all just a year before.

Hilary shook her head, "I think something might be wrong between him and Tala, I mean Tala is his captain now and he threw his match. I don't really know Tala that well but." She paused as Ray quietly held up a hand to stop her.

"Kai wouldn't have joined Tala's team if he thought it'd be a problem, so I wouldn't worry about anything like that. You weren't there our first year, but they go back before we even knew him."

Hilary's eyes widened slightly as she stared at the boy across from her, "So they've been friends before this?"

Ray shrugged, "I wouldn't know if they were friends, but just that they knew each other at some point." He didn't have the time to lay out all that had happened their first year as a team to her, maybe another time he'd tell her.

"Why don't you see if you can just get him to talk to you about it?" He questioned as Hilary had gone quiet on him for a minute.

"Well… I was kind of hoping you would." She said almost meekly.

Ray just grinned as he shook his head, "I would but I'm the enemy now, and he came to you the other night so obviously he wanted to talk to you about whatever it is."

"Aren't I considered the enemy now to though?"

Ray continued to shake his head, "Not really, you're not a blader that has the potential to battle him. Word of advice, get him relaxed enough and he'll start talking." He said with another fanged grin, "It was nice seeing you Hilary, but I should catch up with the others. Good luck." With that he stood and left her there, sitting in her own thoughts.

How could she go about getting Kai relaxed? He certainly didn't look relaxed the other night, maybe that was the information she needed then. Get him relaxed, somehow, and then she'd learn all she needed to get a better nights sleep before they were supposed to be on another plane the next day.

That night, coming back from another round of matches and her two teammates exhausted even though they hadn't been in any of the battles, she happily bounced her way down the hall to Kai's door. With a few quick, and softer taps than the day before, she patiently waited for the door to open.

Instead of Spencer answering the door this time it was Kai himself who had opened it, looking like he had just come from the shower. His face was for once clear of his warpaint, two-toned hair damp and laid flat around his face and neck that was bare without his scarf and in a loose set of shorts and a simple blank gray shirt.

"Are you busy, by any chance?" Hilary asked quickly before he could get a word in.

"Not right now, no. But I do need to pack." He responded, arching a brow. "Everything okay?" This was the second time she had shown up at his door, this time though he wasn't sure why since he hadn't really seen her all day at the stadium.

"Just felt like seeing a familiar face for the moment, if you have the time would you mind coming to sit with me in my room?" She threw his words right back at him, hoping he'd come out of that room of his.

He shrugged his shoulders and stepped out into the hall with her, the elevator ride to her floor was quiet but comfortably so. They had passed a few others they knew on the way to her room, though hadn't stopped to talk to any of them.

"Make yourself comfortable." She sang over her shoulder, heading straight for the bathroom.

Kai watched her go with a questioning look at the back of her and remained in the doorway of the room, listening to her rummaging in the bathroom until she came back out with a toiletry bag held to her side.

She rolled her eyes, "Sit, sit." She commanded, waving him into the room with a playful smile on her face.

Kai obeyed without a word, planting himself on the corner of her bed. "What's this about Hilary?"

"When was the last time I got to play with your hair?" She asked as she joined him.

Kai's face flushed slightly, that had been a thing a year ago that he let her do just because it helped her vent out her frustrations whenever Tyson got on her nerves. Despite her being angry during those times she had always been careful not to tug or rip any hair out, and if he was honest with himself he had kind of missed doing that with her.

"And you're choosing right now to do this?" He asked as she settled behind him on her knees, her bag resting against her leg and already popped open.

"I have nothing else better to do, the other two don't need me around this time of night as Hiro has them going over strategy before they're sent to bed before ten." She said as she carefully ran a comb through his damp locks.

Kai made a noise through his throat, "Good luck to him with that." He rolled his eyes.

Hilary chuckled quietly behind him, "They seem to be following through, with the usual bellyaching of course."

She watched him carefully as she dragged the comb back down his hair, seeing his shoulders finally relax some and she smiled to herself. This wasn't as hard as she had originally thought, and she had missed this to.

It wasn't often, the past year, that she did this with him to make it into a routine of sorts but she had been the one to help him get a new face paint that didn't break his skin out as badly as the other one had. She had also given him some tips on how to wash it all off without staining his cheeks red by just scrubbing the paint with a rough and dirty towel, through that she had concluded that men should never handle makeup of any kind without learning the outs and ins more properly.

"So, what can you tell me about your new team?" She figured she'd just go and bite the bullet; she wasn't the enemy and she hoped he knew that.

Kai shrugged his shoulders, "They're the same as always." He said dryly, but she took that as a normal response and not one that made it seem like he wasn't willing to talk about them to her.

She nodded slowly behind him, setting the comb down to start a small braid. "They seem… Nice?" It wasn't the actual word she had wanted to say, but she didn't want to put him off. Remembering what Ray had told her that morning, he knew Tala and the others before he knew any of them; she had to respect that.

Kai snorted, "Something you have to get used to, but sure."

"I must say, you do fit in with them a bit better than you did with us." There went her filter, only because she had a firm hold on his hair and if he were to get up and storm out it'd rip out of his head.

"Makes it easier when I don't have to baby them, like I had to do you all."

"Oh, I wasn't that bad." She scoffed behind him; her cheeks puffed out but her concentration was on working her fingers through his hair.

"That's true." Kai mused, sounding more relaxed by the second. "How has it been, you know, without the rest of us?"

Hilary paused, going stiff as her breath hitched in her throat. She hadn't expected him to ask that, not now at least, not this far into the game now. Maybe he was feeling guilty for leaving, she knew Max had mentioned to her feeling like that but his hands were tied in going back home to be on his mother's team. Ray, she hadn't asked and he hadn't really said when they did see each other, and it hadn't even passed her mind that morning when she did talk to him.

"Well… It's fine." She settled on, going back to finishing the braid for him and sat back on her legs as she stared at his head.

"Why did you come see me the other night?" She asked, shifting behind him some and took notice when his once relaxed shoulders tensed quickly.

He went quiet but didn't get up and bolt, which Hilary figured was a good sign at the moment. Tentatively she placed a hand on his tense shoulder.

"You can tell me, Kai, I'm still your friend."

It was his turn to shift where he sat, feeling like her hand on his shoulder was keeping him trapped even if he knew better. This was Hilary; she wouldn't hurt him, couldn't hurt him, but the mess that had been in his head and long forgotten during his time there with her came flooding back in as if she took a sledgehammer to a dam.

"I…" He stopped, chewing his bottom lip for a minute while refusing to turn and look at her as his cheeks flared up in a deep red blush.

Hilary pulled away, going to stand in front of him on the bed and knelt down to get eyelevel with him. She didn't have to feign looking concerned because she felt it through her veins, this wasn't him and it scared her in a way she couldn't even explain.

"I don't like seeing you like this, Kai. It's really okay, whatever it is." She cooed, like a mother urging her child to speak through a crying fit.

Kai's eyes moved up to meet hers, intently staring back at him as if she was looking into his soul though it didn't make him feel anymore uneasy than he already felt. In a way, there was a comfort there that he saw in her eyes. One that he knew he needed, one that had brought him to her room the other night to begin with.

"I… I think I'm gay." He spat out quickly.

"I figured." She responded almost in a very, very, dry tone.

Kai's heart slowed once her words hit his ears, the tension he felt in his entire body easing away slowly. Before he could stop, it his mouth opened while finally sitting up more properly on the bed to face her head on.

"It's Tala, ever since I joined his team he's all I think about now." He spewed off with a slight shake of his head, though she wasn't sure why he was shaking it at the moment.

A very brief smile crossed her lips; so that was why he had been staring at him the day before when Tala had slipped past them in the hall. She also had to take into account what Ray had told her that morning; they knew each other before Kai knew them. In a way, that was really sweet.

"I might even love him…"

Hilary came out of her inner musings of how cute this was, based on the possible history the two had shared, when those words caught her ears. So it was that deep?!
She didn't really know Tala all that well, he seemed… Nice?

"My condolences." Was the best thing she could think of to say, though if it was because Kai seemed unsure about it himself or that it was because he was in love with Tala neither really knew.

Then it didn't stop, he didn't shut up and she didn't know where the off switch on him was. During the monologuing she had made herself comfortable on the bed beside him, him not once missing a beat as he shifted to face her and let her go through her nightly routine with him there going on about everything he liked about Tala.

When he had said Tala was all he was thinking about; he wasn't wrong. The list seemed almost endless, from his blading style to the way he handled himself as a leader. Then there was the very brief rundown of when they were children back in a place she had never heard of before; The Abbey, whatever that was, but she held onto every word he spoke until the silence hit them like a truck.

Finally Kai breathed as if it were the first time he had ever done such a thing so simple, looking as though he had trained for days on end under the roaring sun as he stared at her. What Kai was staring at her for, she wasn't sure but she felt compelled to say something just so he would stop.

"Seems you really are in love there Kai." She smiled a little at him.

Kai just nodded, pulling his bangs off his forehead for a second where they just came back down over his eyes.

"What do I do?" There came back the nervousness, that lost look in his eyes she didn't like seeing.

"You tell him."

Kai wasn't sure if she was stating that, or asking him to do such a ridiculous thing but his head went from side to side so fast he looked like it was fixing to unscrew it from his neck.

"Well, why not?!" She almost shrieked at him, part of her wanting to hit him upside the head but she had never done that to him before and didn't know if it would end her very short life right then and there.

"You can't just… Do that!" Kai almost shrieked right back at her, looking appalled and paler than usual.

Hilary rolled her eyes, palming her face. "Men…" She groaned, "Then what're you going to do about it?"

"Nothing." He said, short sweet and simple and almost in a bark.

"You sure that's a good thing?" She questioned, using the hand that had been on her face to lean her head against as she stared back at him.

Kai shrugged his shoulders, truly he didn't know. Crushes came and went, all but this one and he wasn't sure what to do about it yet but it was slowly killing him and then there was the tournament. The reason he had bailed on Tyson at the last second, in order to beat him, he couldn't lose sight of his end goal just that easily because he had fallen in love with his captain.

"The tournament comes first." Now he sounded like his old self and Hilary wasn't sure if that was a good thing, not after all that.

"Okay Kai." She sighed, glancing over her shoulder at the clock behind her. It was past midnight, had he really been in there that long?!

"You should probably get some sleep; we have a plane to catch in the morning." She didn't know what else to do for him, or if there was anything she could do at the moment but send him to bed like a child.

Kai nodded back, slowly untangling his legs out from around each other and climbed off her bed. At the door he froze for a minute, not that he thought he needed to ask her or tell her, he still turned to look over his shoulder at her still on her bed.

"Don't tell anyone."

Hilary's cheeks puffed out at him as she crossed her arms, turning her nose in the air. "Like I would do such a thing." She snapped back at him.

Kai smirked, giving one last nod to her before he slipped out of her room.

The teams were all swept up in another whirlwind of events as they reached their next destination, battle upon battle ensued and more teams climbed higher while others fell back. Though at this point Hilary was no longer caring or paying attention to them, she had another mission now that her first was complete.

She hadn't expected it though it wasn't unwelcomed in the slightest, when Kai came knocking on her door almost every night. She'd let him in and they'd sit and he'd talk while she played with his hair, a few nights she got him to wear the green face mask with him and he learned how to talk around it when it dried on his face and around his mouth.

Not all nights were the same, he was generous and let her talk over her own worries and concerns about what was going on around her and back home; something he learned she was really missing at the moment when they had finally reached one of the last legs of the tournament in Australia.

His team would be up next after F-Dynasty's match with Barthez Battalion come morning, if they won they would be knocking The White Tigers out of the tournament and one more step closer to winning.

"You nervous, about tomorrow?" Hilary asked quietly behind him, once more the two sitting in her room on her bed doing their nightly ritual.

Kai shrugged his shoulders; he wouldn't say he was nervous about it but then again he really couldn't say how he felt about the upcoming match yet. Ray and his team had made it this far already, he knew Ray's moves almost better than Ray did himself; which was why Tala had suggested he face him. If anything, it was going to be an interesting match regardless.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine." Hilary smiled, finishing the braid in his hair for the night and came around to sit beside him on the bed. "Whose going against who?" She asked excitedly.

"Tala will be against Lee, which leaves Ray and me to face off." He answered, shifting himself around to face her.

"Oooo, that's going to be amazing." Hilary beamed, "Was that your idea or Tala's?" She asked with a small smirk of her own and a wiggle of her brows.

"Tala's idea." Kai's face flushed a little.

"Well, don't want to keep you up too late tonight. So you should head to bed." She shooed at him.

"Night Hil." Kai smirked as he got up, waving at her as he left.

Once the countdown began Kai held his breath, barely watching Lee as he pulled the ripcord of his launcher. His eyes had been solely on his captain's back, feeling his stomach flip and his heart hit harder against his chest.

Even if the others had left her behind, Hilary stood there beside him. Having waved him over just before the match started into the hall that lead them back down to the locker rooms. That was the only time he had taken his eyes off Tala's back, unable to look away as the familiar whir and sound of metal clashing in the dish filled the air with the crowds overpowering cheers.

"So, you tell him yet?" Hilary asked, as she too hadn't taken her eyes off of Tala's back.

"Nope."

"You going to?" Hilary pried without looking away from Tala.

"Noooope." Kai answered in that same, dry, monotonous voice.

Hilary frowned but still didn't move her gaze away, running through what she could do to help him. There had to be something, then again she understood why Kai might not want to even tell Tala. There was a chance, a very small one at that, that Tala didn't feel the same way and the last thing she wanted was to cause Kai unnecessary heartbreak.

Based on her quiet observations the past few days, she could safely assume. She had no clue how Tala felt, or if he even did at all.

"I'll handle it, you're up."

Kai did a double take, hardly hearing her as his focus had been solely on one thing and one thing only. His heart plummeted into his stomach as he finally looked at her, what did she say?

"Go on, don't hurt him too badly." She pushed his back to get him going.

Kai just stared, like a deer in the headlights, his feet only moving because of her gentle pushing and then he was out from under the cover of the hallways opening and the crowds cheering deafened out anything else.

A small smile crept up Hilary's face as he watched him march to the dish, seeing his masks and walls go up in the face of a battle. Her brown eyes shifted to red hair, running over all she could think of to do to get them together now. This was going to be tougher than she thought, but she had a deadline and she was not going to back down.

After the battles for that day, the night saw the two back in her hotel room. Kai and his team were now safely secured in the finals. Against who, it all came down to the last two teams; hers and Max's team. Then it would be over, they could all be friends again but that just pushed her deadline closer and she was starting to panic.

"Why don't you just say something?" She pressed one last time, applying a green face mask to him now that she had washed away his war paint.

"Because I don't know how he feels about me. Sure, we were friends a long time ago before this but things change." Kai explained, watching her work carefully as she slopped the green goo on his face with delicate precision.

"Well, you'll never know if you don't ask. Right?"

Kai slowly nodded while a lump formed in his throat.

"Tomorrow, after the match. It's now or never." Hilary settled the debate and Kai squirmed where he sat, but nodded all the same.

Then it was settled, the match and the tournament was over. Their team lost, leaving Tyson and Daichi the victors, and although Kai was wiped beyond belief he still had one last battle to get through.

Hilary had found him in the crowd that had swarmed the stadium, pulling him out of there before anyone could stop them to go off and find his team.

"I changed my mind…" Kai said in one last attempt to stop her from dragging him down the halls.

"About what exactly, how you feel for him? Because we both know it doesn't work like that." Hilary scoffed playfully. "And it's too late anyways, there he is!" She pulled him harder, running down the hall to catch up with Tala who had just come out of a locker room.

"Tala wait up!" She called, throwing her free arm up to grab his attention.

"Come to gloat?" Tala asked with a slight frown until his eyes caught sight of Kai being dragged behind with her.

"Kai?" He questioned once they got close enough to him down the hall, "What's going on?" He asked, looking between the two.

"Great battle Tala, first off." Hilary panted, trying to catch her breath. "What… Oh boy… One second…" She let Kai's hand go, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

"What're you doing tomorrow?"

Tala blinked a few times at her, that was an odd question but he smirked a little nonetheless at it. "Going home, now that its over with."

Both Hilary and Kai sucked in some air, that wasn't what either had been expecting to hear.

"But there's that party, you know. You're not going to stay for it?" Hilary asked.

Tala shrugged his shoulders, "We really didn't give it much thought…" He spoke to her until his eyes shifted to Kai, "What were you doing tomorrow?"

Kai froze on the spot; this wasn't something he was used to but then again this was his chance. Maybe his last chance.

"I was going to go." At least his voice didn't crack as he spoke so he didn't have to cringe at himself harder.

"I'll meet you at five." Tala waved on as he turned on his heel.

Hilary and Kai watched him go before they turned to each other, grabbing the other by the arms at the same time in over excitement.

"I think he knew!" Hilary beamed.

"Shit he does!" Kai's face paled though still held his excitement in his eyes.

The two, still holding onto one another, bit their lips at the same time as they felt the swell of giggles in the pit of their stomachs until they burst into a fit of laughter.

"Well c'mon, we have to pick something out for you to wear!" She tugged him down the hall again once their laughing had subsided.

"Okay I think that's it." Hilary said as she stepped back from Kai, having forced him to wash his war paint off for the night and dressed in a different outfit than what he normally would wear and had actually styled his mess of two-toned hair to look not so wild on the top.

"You're going to be there, right?" Kai asked nervously.

"Yes, we're all going to be there. But you'll be fine, I promise." She flicked her wrist at him. "He said he'd be here at five, so I'll leave you to it and see you there."

Kai wanted to grab her; how could he do this without her? Yet he let her go, leaving him in his hotel room by himself for the time being until the clock ticked down to five and on the dot there was a knock on his door.

He swallowed, hard, before he stiffly went to answer the door. His breath catching in his throat as crimson met icy-blue crystals looking back at him, with an actual smile in place of the famous smirk on pale lips. Right then, right there, Kai felt himself wanting to melt and damn the party and just pull Tala into his room and lock the door and not come out for the rest of their lives.

"Ready?" Tala asked, bringing Kai back to the Earth as he was once again gone off somewhere else at the moment.

"Yeah." Short, simple, and a little squeaky but it was the best he could do given the circumstances.

Like the past few months of them being on the same team, again, Kai followed Tala down the halls to where the banquet hall was in the hotel. The silence welcomed for the time being as it didn't feel overly suffocating, but there was still an awkwardness to it all.

Hilary had tried to give him some pointers; talk to him, compliment him on anything, don't run off the first chance he got, and most importantly- don't be his usual closed off and distance self.

All good points, very good points, but then again this was harder to do than he had imagined. If only she hadn't left him to fend for himself.

After what seemed like forever but not long enough, they arrived to the banquet hall. Stuffed to the brim with fellow bladers and anybody else that had been there through everything the past few months, which meant the coaches and parents. Despite all the bodies it didn't feel too crowded, there was still plenty of open space and elbow room. Rows of tables lined the back walls with food, larger round tables were organized near the back corner.

For what it was worth, it wasn't that bad of an after party. Even more so when there were no paparazzi present and the curtains to the windows had been drawn to keep them even further at bay.

From afar Hilary watched the two just, walking through the crowd but she took it as a good sign since Kai seemed to be glued to Tala's side. She smiled around the rim of her glass, eyes locked on the two the entire time they turned and talked to one another. Her brown eyes would sparkle every time one or the other smiled and laughed about something together, finally she could see that Kai was more relaxed around him and for that she was happy and she wished them well when they finally departed the party, after being there for three hours, hand in hand and a light in their eyes.