Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Running Scared ❯ Weight of the World ( Chapter 6 )

Authoress' Notes: Wow! I can't believe you all seem to really like this fic! O.o Sorry, it's just that its still weird when I write something that people actually seem to like. ^-^;; If anyone who reads this likes Digimon (01/02) or Yu-Gi Oh! then maybe you'll like some of my other works… Yes, that's a shameless plug. Anyway…

Warnings: Same as Chapter 1. See chapter 1 if you're that concerned about it.

Disclaimers: Nope. Still don't own them. Don't own the song Weight of the World, either. That's Chantel Kreviazuk's.

Reviews: Thank you my wonderful reviewers! @ FF.Net - Flamable_Devil (aka Jen!), Bloody Mary, Dannee-san (x2), Kiina, Genna, Kai-lovr, loki-sash, & Weeping Angel; @ AFF.Net - Xzanayu, & Dragonblade; @ Mediaminer - Dreamers, Rav Rev, & Jen (x2!); & @ my group - kirei_16. Thanks so much y'all!! *huggles*

blah - normal speech, blah - thoughts, {blah} - telepathy, blah - electronic speech (com-links, computers, etc.)

Chapter 6: Weight of the World

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"Mmm…" I sighed and felt Tyson's smile on against my skin. I was lying on my back on the bed, Tyson half on top of me, his face tucked comfortably into the curve of my neck and shoulder and my arms wrapped loosely around him.

While we were certainly turned on enough to have had a quick, hot bout of sex, we didn't have the time and we hadn't come prepared for it. And neither of us wanted our first time together to be just a frantic race to get off, either - especially after being so long apart.

So instead we were cuddling, basking in each other's presence and reacquainting ourselves with the other's closeness, rediscovering how well we fit together, remembering the small things about each other that brought us happiness, contentment, pleasure…you get the idea.

I felt so light now. And if I'd had wings I would have been soaring. Sounds sappy and corny, especially coming from me, but it was true. My life was back on track and it felt so good. I'd been like Atlas, the Greek god, carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders for so long now and that heavy burden of my decision had been lifted.

All because of the love I shared with this beautiful, stormy eyed, blue-haired man in my arms.

"You think too much." He complained, kissing the pulse in my neck softly.

"Sorry." I apologized, trailing a fingertip lazily up and down his spine. "We should get dressed, you know."

"You mean there's a world beyond us here and now?" He lifted up and propped himself on his forearms. "What a disappointment."

"No kidding." I raised my hand to run my thumb pad over his bottom lip. "The hazard of being the team leader on a mission. I've got to go make sure Rei made all the right decisions." I frowned thoughtfully. "We're essentially heading into enemy territory and you mean too much to me to take any risks that might put you in harm's way."

He pouted at me. "I'm not completely helpless, you know."

"I know, love." I gave him a slightly wicked grin. "You realize, of course, that at the first opportunity we have I want to battle you."

Tyson blinked and laughed. "I figured that, yeah." He sighed and went all serious on me again. "I want to help, Kai. I don't want to be kept out of the fight again, to have to watch you face this alone. But…at the same time, I don't know how much help I'll be."

I shook my head, gently pulling his wrist to my mouth where I placed a light kiss on his scars. "Never again, Tyson. I won't leave you behind, this time. I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again." I tilted my head at him curiously. "And what makes you think you wouldn't be much help?"

"I don't blade much anymore, Kai. I'm out of shape and out of practice." His smile was sad. "I just didn't have the heart to play anymore when I lost you. Besides, no one else but you was challenge and competition enough."

In an effort to cheer him up, I grinned and lightly tweaked his nose. "My ego thanks you for the supreme compliment."

He rolled his eyes at me. "How sad that it's the truth."

I chuckled and he got up, tossing the covers aside.

"I'll go yell for Rei. I don't know where he stashed my bag or where yours is." He padded to the door.

I watched him, taking in the view and admiring the way his muscles contracted and rippled with his movements. The slight golden tint to his skin was making me itch to run my hands over every inch of it.

"Rei! Hey, dude! Come here for a minute!"

The neko-jin came in with a questioning look. "Everything okay? I don't have to heal him again, do I?"

Tyson shook his head and actually bounced back over to the bed where he flopped down next to me. "Nah. I think we've figured everything out for now." He glanced at me and winked. I smiled at him.

"Well, I'm glad. Really, really glad." Rei grinned at us. "So what's up?"

"Can you bring us our bags, Rei? We'd get them ourselves but…" I pointed at my scars. "I don't want to scare Hilary and the Chief doesn't need to see them."

"And I wasn't paying attention to where you put mine and Hil's bags earlier." Tyson added.

"Oh yeah! Sure, just hold on a minute." Rei ducked out.

Tyson turned to look at me. "I don't know about you, but I'm really hungry." He grinned sheepishly and rubbed his stomach when it growled. I blinked at him then started laughing. I couldn't help it! He was the Tyson I remembered all right. Oh, there were differences but at least some things hadn't changed.

I stopped laughing when he crawled over me and looked down at me with those beautiful eyes of his. "You know you're so gorgeous when you smile and laugh like that?" He murmured and I felt my body tighten with sudden desire.

Reaching up with one hand, I gripped the back of his neck and drew him down. He complied eagerly and pressed his mouth to mine. One of us made a needy little sound that was between a mewl and a purr - or maybe it was both of us. I don't think either of us cared.

As I opened my mouth slightly, my tongue darting out to teasingly flick against his, I wrapped my arms firmly around his shoulders and the middle of his back and I rolled us over until I was hovering over him. He moaned into my mouth, clutching at my shoulders as I attacked his neck fervently, leaving a wet trail of kisses as I moved until I found a good spot and sucked on the skin, hard enough to leave a mark.

Unfortunately, we'd completely forgotten we'd asked Rei to get our stuff. When I marked Tyson as mine he gave a little yelp then growled and rolled us over again - right off the bed, and just as Rei came in with our bags.

"Ack! Ow…" I groaned. "Damn it!" I rubbed my elbow trying to get the tingly feeling out of my arm where I'd landed on my funny-bone.

Tyson, the little minx, was sitting on my legs, straddling my waist and smirking down at me with an evil, considering glint to his eyes. I glared up at him but the glint just got…glintier.

"You didn't expect me to just be submissive, now, did you love?"

The neko-jin in the doorway smothered a laugh. "Oh, you two are so perfect for each other! I wondered how long it would take before you found something to argue about!"

To my horror, I felt my face heat up and I squirmed under Tyson trying to dislodge him. It wasn't working though. "Shut up, Cat." I growled, embarrassed.

"Now, Kai, that wasn't very nice." Tyson chided, easily pinning my arms down and using his body weight against me to hold me immobile.

"I'm used to it, Tyson." Rei shook his head, still grinning. "Get dressed, guys, and quit making out before you destroy something. You've got about five minutes until we begin our final approach and descent into Moscow." He left our bags by the door and walked out still chuckling.

Tyson got off me and went to his bag, pulling out some clothes and another pair of wristbands. Which gave me an idea…

I rolled to my feet and grabbed my own bag to set on the bed so I could dig through it for the wristbands I'd bought in Athens. I'd had this thing since I started working for the Spirit Squad, you see. I'd missed Tyson so much that in an effort to cope on one mission, I'd picked up a little souvenir for him, pretending that I'd give it to him when I got home. It ended up becoming a habit. Whenever I went somewhere I would buy him a little something. It wasn't always jewellery or expensive, of course, just something I thought he'd really like.

I'd acquired quite a collection in seven years and I don't know if Rei had ever really figured out why I seemed to turn into a compulsive shopper all of a sudden.

I found the box with the wristbands and turned to see Tyson already dressed and about to slide on a pair of black cloth ones onto his wrists.

"Come here for a second before you put those one, love." I said.

"What's up?" He sat next to me on the bed and I handed him the box.

"Wear these instead." I don't know why I felt so nervous giving him the accessories but I was. I watched him give me a look of surprise and pry the lid off the box.

"Oh!" He gasped, taking them out and staring at the design of the silver dragon and the gold phoenix entwined together on each one in awe. "Oh wow! They're beautiful, Kai…" He lay one aside and undid the clasp on the other, setting his left wrist into it and redoing the clasp. "How did you…?"

"Know? I didn't." I picked up the other one and clasped it around his right wrist myself. "I just got these in Athens yesterday - before I even knew I was going to see you again." The wristbands fit him well, just tight enough that they were hugging his wrists without moving. "They're okay? Not too heavy or anything?" I looked up from his wrists into his eyes.

This time I could tell he was in my head by the way his eyes got distant and a bit blank. Then he sighed and gave me a soft smile, his hand coming up to cup my cheek.

"They're perfect. Thank you, Kai." He leaned in and kissed me slowly, nibbling on my bottom lip gently before pulling back.

"I love you." I said.

"I love you, too." He replied, stroking my cheek lightly with his thumb.

We quickly replaced our stuff and tidied the room up. I tossed my ruined clothes in a garbage bag with a wistful sigh. That shirt had been one of my favourites.

The landing went smoothly and after we'd stopped moving and plane's engines went off, Max came sauntering in, stretching and yawning widely.

"So…what's the plan?" He asked, flopping down next to Rei and Hilary across from Kenny, Tyson, and I. "I could use a nap, to tell you the truth."

I was busy reading over the notes Rei had jotted down and the suggestions he'd come up with, Tyson hip-to-hip with me and following along.

"We can't stay at a hotel." I finally stated, looking up at Rei. "Sorry, but you'll have to cancel these reservations you made."

"Why not?" He actually pouted at me. "I was looking forward to a hot tub."

I rolled my eyes. "Because Boris will be watching the hotels. By now he knows we got to Tyson first and that we've left Japan. And depending on whose side Tala's really on, he might also know we'd come here to look for him." I explained.

Rei frowned. "You've got a point, I suppose."

"I'm the team leader. I'm supposed to think of these things, Rei."

He scowled at me. "Yeah, yeah." He propped his chin on his hand, elbow resting on the table, looking thoughtful. "There's just something bothering me, though."

"What's that?" Max inquired.

"When we were being shadowed by Spencer and Tala. Tala knows that I know who he is, what he looks like, so if he has defected or gone undercover on his own, wouldn't he be smart enough to try and avoid me spotting him? If he's playing double agent on us then he'd have to keep us from finding him until he's ready to come back and bring us whatever information he's after. And if he's switched sides then wouldn't he hide to keep us from taking him in?"

You're right." Max tapped his fingers on the tabletop. "That is kind of suspicious, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but maybe it was deliberate." The Chief spoke up. "Maybe he just wanted us to know he's alive and okay."

I held up a hand. "Whatever. We don't know, and there are too many possibilities at this point to try and guess. I don't like guessing much. So until we do know," I stressed, "We act as if Tala's an enemy - or at least neutral."

"Alright. But what about the hotel thing? Where will we stay?" Hilary wanted to know.

"I have a place." I reassured her. "And Rei, you'll get your hot tub tonight."

The surprise on his face was comical. "Seriously? Hey, I was only kidding before, you know."

"Whatever." I shrugged. "Here's what we do: Max, I want you to call in and get another pilot up here to fly this plane back to Athens - and make it sneaky. We won't be taking it because Boris has probably figured out that this is a BBA plane and we have to assume Tala's told him the Spirit Squad is BBA operated. That, and he'll have the plane watched. While you do that, I'll phone ahead and make our arrangements for our stay here."

"You got it, Phoenix! I know just the pilot for the job." Max gave me a salute and I rolled my eyes.

"Phoenix?" Hilary inquired.

"Oh. That's his code name, Hil." Rei explained. "We agents all have them. But some of the elite - like Kai, here - go only by their code names for various reasons. You can guess what his is." He gestured at me and I groaned.

"Rei, you moron!" I glared at him. "You just broke that rule, too!" His eyes went wide and he held up his hands hastily.

"Shit! Sorry! I'm sorry!"

Max was staring at me with a combination of awe, horror, and disbelief on his face. Kenny just looked at me, adjusted his glasses, and shrugged, saying, "I knew there was something weird going on with you. Now I know exactly what and why."

Tyson patted my knee sympathetically under the table. "They weren't supposed to know, were they?"

"No." I sighed. "Well, there's no help for it now." I gave Max a hard look that made him shrink back into his seat. "How much have you figured out now, Max?"

"Ah…from clues I've picked up in all the times we've worked together and put together with your first name just now? Enough to make an educated guesstimate that you're Kai Hiwatari. The Kai Hiwatari." He leaned forward in eagerness, stars shining in his eyes. "You're a blading legend! Probably the best blader ever! Story goes you won the Worlds when you were fifteen and then a little more than a day later this place called the Abbey blew up in an unexplained explosion. After a long investigation it came out that at least three people died in it: Boris, a guy named Voltaire Hiwatari…and you."

I felt Tyson stiffen and move closer to me, his arm slipping around my waist. I laid my arm along his and laced our fingers together, holding his hand over my stomach. "Okay, so you know. Fine. But if you or the Chief ever tell anyone…" I left the threat hanging.

Kenny whimpered and nodded his head so fast I thought his neck would snap. Max paled considerably and swallowed hard, nodding once.

"I won't tell anyone…Kai. I swear. You can trust me." Max promised. It was so strange, but I suddenly knew and believed that I could - and the Chief, too.

I wasn't aware I'd voiced that out loud until I noticed the expression of pleased surprise on Max's face and a smug grin on Rei's. Tyson smiled at me, a happy, knowing look in his eyes.

"Well finally!" He exclaimed. "Rei and I have been trying for a very long time to show you that not everyone in this world only wants to use and abuse you, Kai. Some of us just want to be your friend."

I think I flushed in embarrassment. I stared down at the tabletop, unwilling to meet anyone's gaze. "Yeah, well, I couldn't afford to have friends back then." I reminded him. "I'm not sure I can now, either." I gave Rei a friendly scowl. "However, since the neko-jin, here, follows me around like a pet cat - whether I like it or not - and always has, he's an exception."

"And me?" Tyson asked, quietly. I heard the hurt and a bit of fear in his voice and I hurried to erase that.

"You, Tyson, are stuck with me." I pulled him into my arms and hugged him tightly. "I won't let you go again, love."

Content with that, he snuggled up to me and sighed, resting his head on my shoulder and playing with my shirtsleeve.

"I take it you two got together, then?" Max grinned and bounced in his seat. "Awesome! Congrats, guys!"

"Uh huh. Thank you, Max." I pulled out my cell phone and waved the blonde away. "Shoo! Go get that pilot!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" He went back to the cockpit to make the call using the equipment there that was specially designed to keep others from listening in on our Spirit Squad frequency.

"Rei, take Hilary and Kenny with you and go find us a car, would you? Or maybe a van."

"Yep. Let's go, you two." They left and I dialled a number, waiting for the person who would see to the arrangements for me to answer. Tyson stayed curled against my side, studying his new wristbands.

A voice in my ear drew my attention from my beloved's interest in the jewellery. "Enrique speaking."

"Enrique it's me." I said. The golden-haired, well-tailored young Italian had been one of the first recruits to the Spirit Squad, just as I had been. He had oceans of his own money, too, and had joined up with the Spirit Squad to offer his considerable talent in economics. But since that area provided little challenge to him on at the best of times, he took on law school - just for the hell of it. When I turned eighteen and came into the bulk of my inheritance from my grandfather's estate, Enrique became my solicitor and personal manager. He watched over all my money, my real estate that I'd kept when the rest of Voltaire's properties were sold off, and made sure I had what I needed when I needed it on my missions.

"Ah…hey, kid." I heard rustling and a giggle in the background and I scowled - partly at the name and partly because it sounded like he was currently…occupied. "How's life? You've got lousy timing you know."

"And you're a satyr." I returned, dryly. "Which bimbo model did you snag off the runway this time, Enrique?"

"Shove it. Liana is very intelligent. She's a student at the University here."

"Uh huh. I'm sure it's her brains you're attracted to."

"Did you call for a reason other than to insult and interrupt me?" I could hear the scowl in his voice.

"Actually, yes. Work." I told him, getting serious once again.

"Hmm…heard some rumours about that on the grapevine. Hold up and I'll move to my office." He put me on hold.

"He'd better come back on and not get distracted." I grumbled. Tyson glanced up at me.

"Who?"

"Enrique."

"The Italian blader? The one who hit on every female within city limits?"

I laughed at the accurate description. "Yeah, him. He's my solicitor now. And my banker, my accountant, etc. I guess you could call him my personal manager."

Tyson made a face. "I guess you trust him, then. Why, I don't know. He's so arrogant! He always thought he was better than me."

I kissed him lightly. "Ty, he's upper class and Italian. He thinks he's better than everybody. Don't take it personally."

"I heard that." Said Italian's voice spoke up. "And I am better than you, Hiwatari, or else you'd be handling all your own affairs and leaving me alone to handle mine."

"The only affairs of your own you worry about have breasts." I retorted. "Without my shit to worry about, you'd be bored stiff and you know it."

"I was stiff before you called." He said. I was sure he was smirking into the phone. "But since you've gone and wrecked the moment, what's up? Where the hell are you, anyway?"

"Moscow. We're here to pick up Tala's trail and find out whose side he's really on." I ignored the innuendo of his comment.

"Fabulous. I was hoping that was only a rumour I'd heard. What about Boris? Please tell me that's a rumour?"

"Sorry. He's next on our 'things-to-do' list."

"As my good friend Oliver would say…Merde."

"Ditto."

"So what do you need me to do?"

"Have the place here in Moscow habitable in a couple of hours. Can't use the hotels since Boris is probably watching them."

"That I can do. Don't you think he already knows you're there?"

"Oh, probably. We've got Daredevil with us, though, and I plan on losing any shadows we may acquire before heading to the house. And Max is getting another pilot to come get this BBA plane out of here."

I could hear him typing on his computer. "And I suppose you want your jet sent there?"

"Not yet. Just have it fuelled and on stand-bye for when I call."

"Sure. Anything else?"

I thought for a moment. "Yeah. Want to go real estate shopping?"

"Oh, goody!" I could practically see him rubbing his hands together at the thought of spending wads of my money. "What are we wanting?"

"A beach house on some tropical island - someplace quiet. For Rei. I owe him big time after this mission." I paused. "Besides, the mission interrupted our vacation."

"You'll have to tell me about that, later. I'll start prospecting, Kai."

"Do that. Call my cell when the house is ready."

"Will do. Ciao."

"Grazie, Enrique."

I hung up and pocketed my phone as Max came back and got his bag.

"Pilot's on his way. Everything's set."

"Let's go then. No doubt we'll acquire some more admirers and have to ditch them before we can get anywhere."

Max's eyes lit up and Tyson laughed. I had to smile at the sound. I'd missed it so much.

We met up with the others at the carport. Rei had rented us a van rather than getting us a BBA vehicle, and I loaded our bags into the back, then got in after everyone else.

I sat with Tyson at the very back, so that I could keep an eye out for tails. Hilary and the Chief sat in the middle talking quietly over something he was showing her on his laptop, and Rei was up front with Max, who was driving.

"Okay, Max." I said. "Drive around for an hour and we'll see if we pick up any friends."

"It's five by five, Phoenix." He said gleefully and sped out of the parking lot.

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Authoress' Notes: I bet you weren't expecting Enrique, huh? LOL I'm so bad throwing people curveballs like that. Anyway, hope you're still enjoying everything so far! Please R/R!