Disclaimer: You know the drill. Stop, drop, and don't copyright. I know I'm not. Why? Because Beyblade does soooooo not belong to me. cries These things are so depressing!
Author Notes: I never gave up on this fanfic thanks to you lovely reviewers. In the past five days, I have written more than I have in the past few months to finish just for you. This sudden "writing splurge" happened when I was reading all of the reviews for this and was given the shove I needed to write. Everyday after school, I came here to my basement, into the computer room, and typed away for this story. I know, this is now different from what I had first told you. I am sorry if you feel mislead. However, only so much has changed. It is a lot like the original but differs in very good ways. Please give this a chance. It is still a Tala/Hilary and it is still connecting to the abbey and what happened there. All of the answers still lie in Russia.
This took me four longs hours to rewrite. Then an hour to reread. Heck, you better review and tell me what you did like! I need to know what I should do more of and what I should do less of.
Lets see. This was a full seven pages on size eleven font. I'd say this is nearly double the size of chapter one! You deserve it too after this long wait. I WILL continue this and finish what is going to be the first Tala/Hilary with mulitchapters and completed.
Chapter 2: A Hint of Confusion
"Get up! I wasn't trying to scare you", Tala's voice told her, clear and insistent on her awakening. He had just given an order to get up from lying down, but to Hilary it didn't make sense. She was clueless as to why she was on her back and Tala, of all people, was ordering her up. It then dawned upon her drowsy mind that she was asleep, taking nearly half a minute to realize the obvious.
Her ruby eyes shot open and quickly closed at the sudden burst of fluorescent lighting that met her sensitive retinas. A groan escaped as she rolled on to her cold side, burying her face deep in the pillow as she tried to recollect a few memories. Something had happened, for sure, but no logical reason came as to why was Tala there.
"You are not going to sleep here", Tala's commanding tone said out of nowhere. It was almost like he was nowhere despite there being no echo following. Hilary felt a hand on her shoulder and she was shoved on to her back. With her body still stiff and waking up, the force hurt while her brain recovered to proper working order.
Hilary sat up, leaning on one arm for support, and yawned before looking up at the stoic red-head. "Tala? What are you doing here?"
Surprise. Surprise! That was the emotion that she was experiencing just as she stumbled onto the fact that a boy she knew little to nothing about was in her room. But like most girls who had the displeasure of being body conscious, Hilary found herself more uncomfortable about how she looked at the moment. It was hardly presentable. Her short brown hair was no doubt a terrible mess, clothes ruffled from lying down, and the large shirt was hanging off of her left shoulder to reveal more skin. Hilary immediately pulled the shoulder of her shirt back up to its proper place and pulled up the sleeves so they no longer hid her hands. Fingers didn't make a good comb, but she did what she could to fix her hair in any way possible.
Tala stared as Hilary did various things to better her appearance. It was no shock to him because he already knew that girls were absorbed in their outer exterior and those around them, which was mainly the male population. Hilary, of course, was no different. He didn't really care, however, and was feeling slightly annoyed at having to wait as she groomed herself.
Her attention snapped back to Tala, making him wonder if she had just realized he was there beside her. On the contrary, Hilary had never felt more his presence at her side. It was chilling and seemed to go through her like a cold wind. It was almost as if Tala were the very source of the cold radiating through the room.
"I uh how did I get, well, here?" she asked, suddenly recalling her discovery of being in an alien room that belonged to the infamous Blitzkreig Boys. "Wait! Was that your beyblade I saw?" The colors did match up.
He rolled his eyes. "Of course." Tala wondered how dense this girl had to be. Why else would he become so mad at her for touching the white beyblade?
"Then it was you beyblading in the hallway!"
"What are you talking about? I've been here the entire time", Tala explained to her, giving his alibi. "I've been working on my be launcher."
Hilary tried thinking back to the beyblade she had seen. It had looked just like the wolf bit beast, she was sure of her assumptions. The same gray-ish white and bit of green in the center. Or was it blue, she wondered. No, it was green.
"But I'm positive! It had to have been yours", she argued back, believing that he was lying to her.
"Look, I already told you-"
"Don't think I don't know about your team's dirty reputation!"
His eyes narrowed and expressed winter's fury, his pale face darkening with shadow as he automatically realized who had been telling this insolent little girl all they thought they knew about him. She had never even said a word to him, let alone actually have the smallest clue as to what his life had been like. Apparently, Hilary had been too busy being a tagalong to the ex-Bladebreakers plus Tyson Granger's nanny and clichéd cheerleading girlfriend. He strived for a better reputation! She was nothing.
"Let me guess, Tyson told you about me." Tala was wordlessly daring her to reply. She took the bait.
"No, Kenny told me!"
Like that was better.
"You mean the nerd with no eyes. He's got a phobia for everything! That kid freaks out when people look at him."
"Well he was right!"
"I could have just left you in the hallway", he reminded her.
Hilary tried glaring back but gave up and sighed in compliance to his words. True, he was right and could have left her freezing on the hard tiled floor of the hallway to be found in the morning after being tripped over by some random beyblader. In a way, Tala was like Kai; both bladers were fierce, self-confident, and antisocial to the core.
A pile of pieces and components were suddenly discarded on to her lap, Tala tossing her the ripcord last. Hilary had worked on Tyson and Daichi's beyblades enough to know the parts of a launcher and these were it, only this appeared to be a custom model.
"But I just saw it on the…"
There was no launcher on the bedside table.
Frightened for her own sweet sanity, Hilary frantically looked for something to reassure herself with. She just had, had to make sure that nothing was wrong. Maybe this was just a dream? But if that delightful little spark of hope was true, then how could her mind conjure up such frightening eyes as Tala's?
Wait. Tala. His hand!
Hilary snatched Wolborg back out of his left hand, which had loosened its grip on the powerful beyblade. She turned it over and desperately searched the details of the bit chip. The ice wasn't green, but instead a very light blue.
Before she could scream at her discovery, another change, Tala seized her wrist in a vice-like grip. This caused her to instantly drop his precious beyblade and to try pulling her arm away, but to no avail. Her grabbing Wolborg had gotten his anger to flare after having firmly told her that his prized object was off limits. Flinching as it became worse, Hilary took his hand with her free one and tried pushing his off. Metal on her palm informed Hilary that Tala was certainly different. There were few caring people who went around with metal on the knuckles and on the back of their gloves.
"I told you never to touch him again!" Tala reminded her sternly. How rapidly he did become possessive of his beyblade.
"It's blue!"
"What?" Her reply was unanticipated.
"The last time I looked at your bit beast, those things coming out of its back were green! But now they're blue!"
Tala rolled his eyes impatiently at the stupidity girls all too often possessed. "Those things are ice and ice is blue." It was almost as if he were talking to a very dense child.
His mocking words laughed at her, making Hilary fall a bit into denial at her own beliefs. "But it was green and you launcher was put together and-"
Her bruised wrist was released and his other hand came up to her forehead. Due to his gloves, he touched her forehead only with the tips of his fingers after brushing chocolate brown hair aside. From what he could tell, there was no sign of a fever. Chicken pox? It would have shown by now. The girl didn't have a cold either due to lack of the symptoms.
"What are you doing?" she asked, a faint blush blossoming on her face. It was undeniable that the youth before her was terribly attractive to the smallest physical point. Very few girls could possibly have the ability to control themselves from turning flushed at his mere touch, though at the moment it felt like a seemingly impossible task.
"You're not sick, so it must be a mental problem", he bluntly informed her of his opinion.
Hilary sat up straighter. "I'm fine! I'm just tired."
The Russian crossed his arms. "You don't black out when you're tired."
"I'm not crazy", she told him firmly.
He raised a red eyebrow, giving her a very questioning look.
"I'm not! I'm just as sane as you are."
A short bitter laugh escaped Tala, finding that to be laughable in a way that lacked any humor. He wondered sometimes how sane he was compared to everyone around him. His mind was clear, missing not a single thing that others else easily overlooked without a second thought. He could identify what was worth the effort and what was not. But the abbey, however, scarred him. Was it a scar on his sanity as well? If there was one, he denied its existence entirely.
Tala opened the door leading out.
"Hm?" she looked at him, not understanding the gesture. Feeling silly, Hilary figured out what he was insinuating; Tala wanted her to leave the Blitzkreig Boys' room and return to her own, which happened to be several long, spooky hallways away. As unwise as it was to disobey Tala, she quickly made up her mind to stay and figure things out. In truth, she would probably stay there until Tala physically forced Hilary out while swearing in his native tongue at her.
She crossed her arms stubbornly, not making any effort to move. "What are you up to?"
"Not this again."
"I saw your beyblade and there was green on it! And you launcher wasn't, well, apart!" It had to have been the weakest argument she had ever given, to say the least, but Hilary kept pushing for an answer. She refused to believe that her own eyes had deceived her.
"I heard you collapse outside and brought you in here until you woke up. Whatever you saw, it wasn't Wolborg." Tala controlled the impatient growl that threatened to rise from deep in his throat.
"Then what about the launcher? I saw it completely put together just before you got here!" Hilary continued with her argument. The components of Tala's beylauncher still on her lap forgotten.
This girl really did think he was behind all of this, that he was scheming just how to get under her skin to make her miserable. It was always about them and no one else. That was just how self-centered girls were. That was how Tala figured the opposite gender to be, anyway. The worst part was that they ogled him wherever he went. He'd get no peace and still can't escape their large staring eyes. Such treatment was especially hard to deal with in Russia because everyone adored their home team to begin with. It was hectic before him and the rest of his team left for the Tag Team championship, everyone literally screaming their encouragement for them to win and bring honor to Russia.
Tala walked over to her, closing the door with his foot first, and leaned down to bring their faces closer. He looked dreadfully wolfish with a smirk and a slight mischievous grin on his lips. It was so intimidating yet so…teasing, Hilary slumped back a bit out of some fear but more out of marvel at this new attitude. She told herself that if he had in mind what she assumed he was, Hilary was ready to be resistant. Boys were such perverts that way. Truthfully, a small part of her questioned her resistance idea. If he did kiss her, would she willfully let him only because of shallow physical attraction? It was unlike her but still a possibility. Heck, she had realized that he was different the first time she had seen him when the sports channel had featured the Blitzkreig Boys arriving in New York. The media were always ready to jump on anything happening to his team, and she'd be lying to deny out loud that it wasn't for their looks. There was just something in the little things Tala did to make him seem so wolfish and so much better than all the other regular guys. The strangest thing was that this intriguing appearance was completely natural. She blushed.
"So…you think I'm a Russian spy?"
Hilary slowly swallowed those words and picked up what he meant. He was laughing at her! Not aloud, but is words were cruelly mocking and jeering at her reaction to their closeness. The jerk had played off of her emotions for is own amusement!
"Get away from me! Since you're being so rude, the least you can do is walk me back to my room!" she courageously yelled heatedly in his smirking face.
Tala stood up straight, keeping a glare from forming on his face. "Look, you can walk back on your own. Now get out."
Hilary glared as fiercely as she could at him and growled angrily at his unaffected gaze. Putting the pieces of the beylauncher on the bedside table, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and climbed off. Her feet tingled at the sensation of the cool floor under her feet, but Hilary tried ignoring that and went towards the door with stiff, angry steps. It turns out that the bed had been warmer than thought now that its comforts were gone.
"You really don't have to be so foul about it!" she yelled back before opening the door and slamming it shut behind her.
Tala rolled his eyes. Girls.
Hilary hurriedly strode back to her room in hopes of going back to sleep and forgetting about Tala and hoping that he would forget the recent events. That jerk was just so-
'Like Kai.'
Once again, she found that the two beybladers tended to mainly differ in their elements and little else. Yes, the enigmatic one of the ex-Bladebreakers definitely spoke far less than Tala, his team captain. Both could infuriate Hilary to the point of her throwing a fit, or something similar to what she had just done. They somehow know what to say to make her furious, while Tyson knew her the for a longer period of time and still struggled in arguments. Only Kai knew what to say and how to act to make her understand that it was all right; he could make her see that there was no need for her to get worked up. But Tala, he just kept going and going; he mocked her and silently snickered in his own special sadistic way.
'Russian spy. That…ugh! I'm just so MAD at him! I hope we beat him in the finals! He'll deserve it more than anyone else!'
Hilary refrained from running up and kicking the door to her room. She held on to the part of her that was sensible and took the door knob, making sure to keep herself relaxed. There was no way that the human-wolf was getting her angry. No. He wouldn't do that, not to her. Tala whatever-his-surname-was wasn't getting under her skin, or so she told herself. Denial kept her from seeing that he had done just that in less than ten minutes.
She turned the door knob, but found a minor problem: it was locked.
It hadn't been locked when she left! It was closed, but unlocked because she hadn't brought her room key with her. It would have been unreasonable considering that she was in her pajamas and there were no pockets. Why would there even be pockets on pajamas? Nothing was making sense anymore.
Hilary pulled harder and began jiggling the handle in a more desperate fashion. The door didn't budge one bit, leaving her stuck on the outside of her room. Now what?
'Oh great.'
Not there, she mentally begged. No other person came to mind to go to for help. Didn't people like him know how to break locks anyway? Maybe he wouldn't mind helping too much, just to get her out of his hair.
Tala opened the door at hearing a knock and looked down, his eyes instantly becoming icy at seeing Hilary standing there before him. She looked ridiculously shy and couldn't meet his stare, watching the floor. He briefly wondered if she was too scared to go back, but rejected that idea considering that she couldn't have been standing outside of the door the entire time.
Seeing that he wouldn't be the first to speak, Hilary informed him of her predicament. "My door is locked."
This truly had turned into the most embarrassing night of her life. She yelled at him and then came back for assistance. Yeah, now he'd respect her for sure.
Tala desisted from yelling harsh words. "You locked your door and didn't bother to bring a key." It wasn't a question. He was just pouring salt in the wound and watching her twitch and writher.
"I didn't lock it!" Hilary defended herself, finally looking up at Tala.
He crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you expect me to do?"
The wintry look Tala gave her left Hilary with a lack of words. "W-well, I was hoping…"
"That I'd help you?" he asked with a hint of amusement.
"Yeah, I do expect you to help me", she told him more boldly, irritated by his tone.
He made a sound that resembled a snort, but she couldn't tell because it was so subtle.
"You're wasting my time." Now Tala was making an effort to be callous towards her.
"What are you doing up in the middle of the night anyway?" Hilary asked, very suspicious of him. She wasn't about to accuse him of a plot to take over the world, but something weird was going on if he was up at what had to be around three in the morning.
"I'm waiting for the rest of my team to return. They're training right now."
"Training?" Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow in question of the other, only she put her hands on her hips along with it. "And in the middle of the night?"
"It isn't any of your concern why we're awake", Tala hissed at her.
Hilary understood that this subject was closed unless she wanted him to get angry enough to perhaps strike her. Would he? Then there was still the fact that her door was locked and she needed the only help that was awake. If only it was someone other than Tala. She'd rather it have been Kai, who would at least help her after she stated her problem instead of standing in the doorway ridiculing her.
"Whatever! Can you at least help me?" Hilary brought up the earlier question, accidentally adding a tone of desperation at the end. She was exhausted, after all.
Tala caught that and sighed, closing his eyes thoughtfully. "You're Tyson's girlfriend, right?"
"No way! Like there's a chance I'd ever date that selfish, arrogant pig!" Memories of all those times he had frustrated, embarrassed, and annoyed her came to mind right away. She didn't dislike him, no, Hilary just didn't find him to be a boyfriend.
He opened his eyes fully to look at her, entrancing blue orbs absent of any kind of cruelness. Tala actually looked a little tired. But still, his eyes were gorgeous. No one had eyes like that. No one.
"You're with his team, right?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you go to them instead of me?"
All words fled and her ruby eyes widened in realization. She could have just gone to the guy's room and gone through the connecting door. Heck, it was the first place that Hilary should have thought of instead of going to Tala for assistance. And for him to comprehend it first instead of her, she felt more embarrassed than before.
'It's not like he had to go on and on about how stupid I was before telling me!'
Not even looking at Tala, Hilary quickly turned and walked hastily down the hallways to the BBA Revolution's room. Her mind was too far into thinking of how much like a fool she looked instead of the creepy atmosphere.
Hilary wrapped her fist on the door to the room twice, her knuckles hurting from the impact. Several seconds of Tyson and Daichi snoring harmoniously were all that followed. She tried again and was depressed to find the same results. Ready to give up, she froze as a familiar hand reached right over her shoulder and hammered fiercely on the door, making her flinch. Tala's knocks were loud and incredibly demanding of entrance. What was truly surprising was the fact that he came with her. Hilary had assumed he'd let her sleep in the hall if her friends didn't wake up. Then again, he hadn't left her in the hall the first time.
'Maybe he's nice on the inside.'
WHAMWHAMWHAM! Tala's knuckles hit the area of the door right across from her ear.
'Or maybe he's just some impatient, cocky little-'
Tyson opened the door not even half awake and still clad in only his blue boxers. He saw Hilary first mainly because she was standing right in front of him, but his attention quickly shifted to the red-head standing directly behind her. The wolf's reaction turned from surprise to a look of pure disgust.
"T-tala!" Tyson all but squeaked grabbing a blanket and holding it to cover himself in a girl-like fashion. His eyes went wide in sheer humiliation of having one of his greatest opponents (the only greater one being Kai) seeing him look like this. Whatever respect Tyson might have received from the blader was now surely lost.
Hilary blushed crimson, but not because she was seeing a boy in his boxers. Sadly for Tyson, he was too…him to be attractive in this near naked way. Red sprouted across her face because now the BBA Revolution would really be the laughing stock among beybladers as soon as Tala spread word to his teammates, who would taunt relentlessly.
"My door is locked", she nearly mumbled, averting her eyes from the laughable so-called world champion. Making matters only worse, Daichi appeared next also only wearing his boxers. Oh, but this time was far, far worse. His boxers were pink with faces of bears on them.
The midget yawned. "Tyson, stop hoggin' the blanket. I'm freazin'!"
Tala, wide eyed, looked from Tyson to Daichi. His following laugh was harsh.
"I always had a feeling that you weren't straight, Tyson!"
The bluenette glared, but there was no effect due to his eyes still looking unfocused. "Say what!"
"Huh?" Daichi caught on quicker and gritted his teeth. Tala looked down at Daichi, making the boy become aware of his current wardrobe choice. The boy hastily joined Tyson to be hidden by the blanket.
Kenny joined the group next, yawning. Whatever Kenny was wearing was thankfully hidden by the blanket which was being stretched between Tyson and Daichi.
"Why did you two get u-TALA!" Kenny panicked and also clutched on to the blanket. All three beybladers of the BBA Revolution team were terribly self-conscience that night.
Tala looked at the three cowering before him and gave a look of contempt. Oh yes, everyone would know of this by mid-afternoon tomorrow.
"A three-way?" He closed his eyes, smirking. "I guess that would be the only way that he made it on the team." Tala's heartless jest was, of course, aimed towards Kenny. Sadly, the timid boy was unable to come up with a clever reply. Hilary would have come to her friend's aid at once under ordinary circumstances. This, however, was far from the average every day events, so she kept her mouth shut in absolute humiliation.
"What do you want anyway, Tala?" Tyson demanded, trying to save face. Unfortunately, his efforts were futile by that time.
Hilary interrupted. "My door is locked and I can't get into my room. Tala was just helping me out."
Tyson, Daichi, and Kenny moved aside as a group to keep themselves safely concealed by the blanket as they moved aside to allow Hilary access inside. In a way, they had moved like an opening door.
Hilary turned to face Tala, forcing herself not to avert her eyes anywhere else besides his face. Hilary knew that it was too late for her friends, but she still had her own dignity to uphold.
"Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it." It was a sincere statement. He may have been rude, but he hadn't turned her down. That was all she could ask for from him.
Tala didn't give her the same look he had frozen the others with. This was unreadable, stoic, with whatever his thoughts were on the brunette well hidden.
"Goodnight", Hilary told him, her voice returning to a whisper that was commonly used when tired in the middle of the night.
Tala nodded.
Review, of course. I'd like to give a big thanks to angeLhearteD, Carzla, and Chibi-Lothlen. A group of the greatest Blitzkreig Boys writers. Their fanfictions really helped and inspired me with my own.
A special thank you to Enigmatic Eel. Talking to you, my friend, helped me without even going on to the subject of my own fanfictions. Though I do know I'll be writing a Kai/Mathilda thanks to the conversation we had the other day. Heck, that scene with Tyson, Daichi, and Kenny in their "sleepwear" would have never been written had I not done all that bashing in our chat.
Ciao For Now Everyone!