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Kai woke up the next morning, slightly tired but far calmer and more relieved than he had been the day before. That argument with Tala had clearly wound him up more than he would've usually allowed, but that alone couldn't have been the reason or the beginning of the turning point that led to why he felt the sudden need to storm off and leave Amy alone the day before.

Last night had been oddly tense too. He had returned to the hotel room, only to find that the one person he really wanted to see wasn't there when he had got back. He had supposed that maybe she herself had gone off to clear her head and think about what had happened. But that didn't stay the slight sense of worry that she had wandered to somewhere in the vast expanse of New York City, out of his sight and out of where he knew she was safe - with him.

She did however return as she always did, but not until much later when he had gone to bed, still half-awake to keep an ear out for her. When he had heard her creep silently through the door, he did not move, instead he pretended to be in a deep sleep as she crept past to the bathroom to prepare herself for bed and soon after climbing gently to the far side of it.

Afraid that she might shift away from him further, the Phoenix blader had resisted the urge to pull her back to him and disturb her with questions as to where she had gotten to whilst he was away - giving her the ammunition to possibly call him a hypocrite was not how he wanted to broach the topic, and so he then waited for sleep to claim him, in the hope that the slightly guilty feeling inside him would just disappear.

Sitting up now in the bed where the light was streaming in through the curtains, he looked over and relief flooded him when he indeed found his petite brunette friend was still there, her legs curled up towards her chest and her body turned towards him rather than turned away like she had done when she first got into bed. The young Hiwatari then leaned over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, shaking her a bit to see if she would wake up.

Amy's blue eyes fluttered open drowsily as she felt his warm hand upon her skin, blinking when she saw Kai's handsome face staring at her through the curtain of her eyelashes.

She wanted to know what had been going through his head when he upped and left without telling her so much as where he was even going, let alone what had set him off - but she wasn't quite sure whether he had totally come out the strange mood he went into yesterday after their little - incident - where they had a few moments to themselves where they were completely themselves around each other.

Slowly, she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him properly, before greeting him with a quiet, "Hello."

Feeling his mood drop slightly when it was clear that his abrupt departure had not been forgotten, the Phoenix blader moved closer towards her and said, "Morning."

The pair said nothing for a moment, only staring at each other in the hope that one or the other would break the silence and establish where they were at - whilst the blue eyed tomboy had been worried that she had caused upset, the young Hiwatari on the other hand was now feeling the guilt that plagued him the day before rapidly returning to him when he saw something more guarded and steely in his friend's eyes.

"You really worried me yesterday." The dark haired female finally stated, her voice low and slightly hoarse as she looked away when her chest began to constrict. She hadn't realised it before, but his disappearance and lack of explanation had left her confused, and furthermore the prolonged time she had to go without hearing or seeing from him turned her puzzlement into something of a rare anger and annoyance towards him.

Sighing heavily, Kai dropped his head and attempted to untwist his tongue so that some form of intelligible words might soothe the tension that had now sprung between the two of them.

"I don't know what happened to me yesterday." He murmured, hesitating slightly before reaching out a hand and placing it gently on her shoulder, his fingers almost wrapping themselves in her soft hair.

Feeling the same tingle she got from his gentle touches as she had felt when he found her only a couple of days before, Amy shivered and shifted to sitting up as though she wanted to get up out of the bed.

"Are you mad at me?" She heard him ask, his voice just above a whisper - it was a sound she was not used to hearing from him and in all honesty, she didn't like it. She wanted to hear him get angry with her for questioning him; she wanted to see him riled and annoyed as usually would be for the fact that she had stayed out and probably left him just as worried as she had been.

It drove her mad to hear him tread carefully around her as though she would strike at him and leave him wounded.

"You don't have to answer to me, Kai." Amy replied tonelessly, pushing back the covers and pulling her now bared legs towards her chest. With the look he was sending in her direction, her heart was the complete opposite of her outer calm as it thumped unnaturally hard in her chest.

Deciding that before he could protest against her word any further, she promptly got off the bed to leave the room - though she only got as far as planting her feet on the ground and standing up before Kai suddenly bolted over to that side and grabbed her, turning her body around so that she was facing him again, even as her eyes were cast elsewhere other than his face.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked her for the second time, his grip on her arms tight as he looked up at her, willing her to move her face back so he could see her expression where she was now sending it at the floor.

The dark haired female slowly raised her blue eyes and let them stare into his blazing amethyst ones, shaking her head as she said, "No, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at what you did."

The Phoenix blader believed her when she said she wasn't at him, but he knew her too well to know that there was something more than his actions that were bothering her. Was it about yesterday alone, still? Or maybe, now that he thought about it, was it the palpable tension between them that brought that much closer that it was no longer on a friendly level, yet not one with a basis for anger?

It was only then he realised that he had done it again: brought her physically close to him again - as near enough as they had come to yesterday that he could smell her. Yet this time, he wasn't hesitant about it. There was no fear or inhibition about having her so that her legs touched his own where they dangled off the bed. It was a distance that suggested that something had developed between them.

Something almost natural - yet teasingly obvious now that it was right in front of them.

"Is that why you're about to run away?" The young Hiwatari finally asked, watching as Amy visibly froze on the spot.

"You did yesterday." She whispered, as though she were frightened to speak the truth of what was close to heart, or tipping the balance of the conversation onto unknown ground that both of them knew they would not be steady on if they wanted to try and keep their feelings and thoughts to themselves.

Loosening his grip on her, Kai sighed as he stubbornly admitted, "Yeah, I know…"

"Then why did you?"

He saw the steel in her gaze, the imminent interrogation for him to be honest with her that he suspected would come sooner rather than later - it was the important question of what had brought up his barriers of pride and stoicism, even before her - the girl he had let in the closest to his true self. The Phoenix blader knew he would have been a fool to think that she wouldn't see past it all, that she wouldn't go directly to the heart of the matter.

And he would have been an even greater fool to deny her the answer he now knew, which she knew he had.

"I…wasn't sure of what was going on between us. A lot has changed." He uttered in a low voice, his breath hitching in his throat when he saw an eyebrow twitch on the dark haired female's face.

"What isn't there to be sure of, Kai? It's not like we haven't been that close before," Amy blurted out, her gaze searching his to see if she could find the reason behind the one he had just given, "What did you think we were going to do?"

Then it dawned on her.

The moment when she remembered having felt his arms not far from her sides and the fire of his breath on her face. It was as though he would -

"You thought we would end up kissing?" She gasped slightly, stepping back as far as the young Hiwatari would allow with the hold he still had on her arms. She cast her eyes away rapidly, knowing that the truth of what she had concluded was sat there in his stare. Like her own blood, she could feel the warmth of his now quickened pulse even in his fingertips.

Sighing, the dark haired female shut her blue eyes as she said, "I'm sorry…I should've thought first - I shouldn't have put you in such a position…not after…oh my God…"

She made to pull away from Kai, but once again he yanked her back to him possessively this time so that she was almost sat on his lap. He could've laughed at her startled expression, but he didn't. Instead he remained determined not to let her go. Not this time.

"Look at me Amy." He commanded quietly.

Nervously, Amy's eyes met his once more and she knew that her resolve to stay cool and collected was melting away under his will.

"You mean a lot to me, you know that?"

"And you to me, also," The petite British girl whispered back, "But you don't hold any obligation to me, Kai - just because we've been friends for so long, doesn't mean I expect anything from you. I want you to be comfortable with me."

"I am comfortable with you," The Phoenix blader stated confidently, pausing for a moment to prepare himself for his next words, "And I do have every obligation to you - no one else has stuck by me like you have."

He raised a hand to brush Amy's hair out her face, his thumb straying across her cheek and gently stroking the soft skin of her cheek where it was now red with her deep blush.

"Nothing has to change for us, Amy. Not if you don't want it to."

The dark haired female tried to hide her surprise, but was clearly failing miserably as the young Hiwatari's lips tugged upwards into that smile that gave her heart wings and her brain jolts of electricity.

She couldn't get her head around it: the greatest blader of Russia, her long-time friend and supporter, was saying - she dared not voice it in her mind, the assumption. His words she knew were sincere, his intentions every bit as honourable as he was in the deepest core of his character. But she needed to be sure they were on the same understanding. She desperately needed to be sure that if she was about to put her heart in his hands, that it wouldn't be crushed again.

"I wasn't sure what was going on between us either," She murmured, moving to sit on the bed as the Phoenix blader let her go and then shuffled close to her so that his chin was near leaning on her shoulder whilst gazing at the side of her face, "I thought I'd upset you."

The young Hiwatari was silent for a moment as he took her chin and pulled it in his direction so that ocean blue once more clashed with dark amethyst.

"I think we've already established that is nowhere near the case, haven't we?" He stated, smiling again when she chuckled and accepted his arm around her waist. The two of them became quiet once more as they stared ahead through the gap of the curtains, seeing only a slither of the buildings that reached the sky and the clouds that were bright with reflecting the light of the sun.

"I'm not sure about this, Kai. It's what we both want, yet we're so unfamiliar to these feelings that it's almost…scary." Amy said honestly. She couldn't say no…but she couldn't say yes either - it seemed too much like a dream that the cold Russian boy she had met all those years ago was now the gorgeous, sexy, dark and mysterious Beyblading Champion, who was bringing out larger emotions in her heart that she wasn't sure she could handle.

"True. So what do you think we should do?" Kai asked, his expression remaining still for a moment. In truth, he was nervous to hear her answer, especially as he could tell that she was really at odds with herself about what she was feeling - though he couldn't say he didn't know where she was coming from, and therefore he did not press her.

The petite British girl thought hard as her legs began to swing back and forth, biting her lip in concentration.

"Find out our answers together. Take it slowly. Let it be what it will be." She concluded slowly.

Pausing himself to think, the Phoenix blader then nodded in agreement, shifting back when the dark haired female pulled away and looked at him, her features finally relaxing into a relieved smile. A sly thought came to his mind and he then smirked.

"Now about that kiss that never happened."

Amy blinked as she raised an eyebrow, her smile never faltering as the young Hiwatari's eyes sparkled with mischief.

"Oh there's a kiss is there?" She responded, playing along with his teasing.

"Well I'm quite sure that is part of this whole thing with relationships, if I remember correctly."

"Part of it? So there's more than just kissing, too?"

"There can be, most definitely."

Kai's tone had gradually shifted from being playful to almost seductive, whilst the petite British girl before him feigned a look of innocence - though her eyes said otherwise as she moved closer to him than she had ever done so before.

"There'll be plenty of time to explore later," She said flirtatiously before placing a quick peck on the Phoenix blader's lips, "But now, I have to call Mummy Dearest and let her know that I'm not dead."

The pair of them stood up and went to go their separate ways, though the dark haired female halted suddenly in her journey when she felt a firm smack on her backside. She immediately whipped round to give the young Hiwatari an indignant look as he carried on walking towards the bathroom, knowing that he was smirking in triumph even though his back was turned to her.

"Seriously, Kai?"

"Just testing. Looks like I might have plenty to hold onto in the future." He stated, turning back and laughing when he saw her put her hands on her hips.

"The only thing you'll be holding onto is for dear life if you slap my arse like that again - you wouldn't do it in public!" Amy spluttered, trying to contain her own laughter with great difficulty at the thought of the Russian rushing up daringly behind her and smacking her whilst everyone would watch in shock. Now that would be funny to see some vivid expressions on some faces!

"Not in public, no. But I'm definitely going to have a hard time resisting the temptation after finding out how soft it is." Kai replied cheekily, striding into the bathroom whilst catching a glimpse of the petite British girl rolling her eyes as he went.

"I'll bear that mind." She called out, smiling joyfully to herself as she grabbed her phone off the dressing table and went into the living room to call her mother. She knew that the upcoming conversation would be serious and that she would have to bring herself back to some hard hitting memories that needed addressing - but even that didn't quell the swelling sense of contentment in her heart when she thought of the one person next door who had been and still was completely on her side.

Trying to stay her nerves as the dial tone began to sound on her phone when she had pressed the call button, she thought of the Phoenix blader: the smell of his hair, the warmth of his skin, the feel of his lips when she had kissed him for only a moment….her heart's wings began fluttering again and she could've laughed out loud with delight.

She loved him. And she would tell him that one day - maybe soon, she didn't know, she was not ready. But she would.

xXxCometxXx: Finally, I have managed to get somewhere with this next chapter! Thank you all for your patience and for seeing me through the last several chapter edits that have recently taken place - your support for this story has been amazing and I am so grateful to you as my readers having kept it going where it has needed the improvement. Now, if you have any feedback for me, please - as ever - leave me a comment, a review, a PM or whatever; I would love to hear what you have to say and anything you say is greatly appreciated! Please also check out my profile page for links to follow me and my updates as they come if you would like =) Cheers!