When I finally uncurled, Kyoya was waiting. He didn't say anything, didn't do anything, just stood with his hands in his pockets and hard, diamond-like eyes that stared down at me.

"You remembered them again."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. I scrunched up my nose and immediately tried to cross my arms to look tougher as I stumbled to my feet, about to do so when Kyoya reached out and stopped me from doing just that with a hand on my arm.

" Yeah."

"C'mon."

With that, Kyoya turned sharp on his heel and started walking down the alleyway. After a raised eyebrow and a call of 'what?', it was clear that Kyoya wasn't going to answer me, so I jogged after him.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you home."

"What, you care about me now?" I made a show of brushing off my shirt. "Lovely. I still haven't got you to smile, by the way. I bet you a couple of yen that I'll do it before the tournament ends."

I received a snort in response and kicked a rock in his direction. It bounced off his shin and went flying in the other direction while Kyoya didn't bother to provide me with an answer. Instead, we just walked. We walked quietly with our minds apart. Sometimes our wrists bumped but Kyoya didn't even offer a 'sorry' while I just strayed away from him.

"We still haven't battled."

"What, you're asking me for a battle now?" I quipped. "Last I checked, I'm just... I'm just someone in your way to defeating Gingka, aren't I?"

"... yeah. There's nothin' more important than defeating Gingka!"

It stung. 

It really did. 

It whipped hard across my shoulders and back, and I had to bite down on my lip. Uneasy started to coil tight around my stomach, and I quickly squashed it down.

Why, why, why? Why was I getting upset? I didn't care about Kyoya. After all, he said it himself- all I was, was an obstacle. 

"He's strong, you know."

"I'm stronger."

We turned a corner and I could see the hill up to where Shaun and I live winding around. "... uh. I can take it from here, thanks."

Without a reply, I dashed forward, leaving Kyoya behind me. The sand moved underneath my feet until I reached the door, and then I pushed the door open. It was unlocked, so I immediately kicked off my shoes. My left shoe, a worn blue one with a hole near my pinky toe, flew and hit the wall, while the other one was near the shoe rack.

"He's so infuriating!"

The couch seemed comfortable, so I swung my legs up and over the arm rest and fell on my side and lifted an arm to cover my face, groaning. "Gingka, Gingka, Gingka-! Can't he even give me a chance?"

"Who? Kyoya?"

I shrieked in surprise, sitting upright. 

My brother was leaning on a doorframe, an unfinished peanut and jelly sandwich in one hand. He held a knife in his other hand with slight smears of jelly on it, lifted it and pointed it at me. "That a yes?"

"No!" 

"Infuriating," Shaun noted. "Harsh, brash, single-minded... all describe him."

"He's more than just that. He's more. He's so much more. Beyblade is his passion but he likes watching the sunrise and when he does, he gets all quiet and stuff and he can be really playful, like he threw sand at my face-" a breath. "And he helped me up when I was thrown back and there's so much that he's hiding and I'm wondering what the hell happened to him that made him so closed-off-"

Shaun held up a hand. "Calm down. So it was him."

I groaned and lifted my hands to press it over my cheeks and eyes. "... yeah."

Shaun spared a look outside, then took a bite out of his sandwich. "All right. C'mon. Go take a shower, I'll prepare a meal. You haven't slept here in the past day,  by the looks of your cover since you never make your bed, but you need to rest."

Once the odd thrum in my fingers subsided, I pulled my hands from my face and nodded. As I stood, Shaun disappeared back into the kitchen and I walked up the stairs, grabbed my PJ's (which was really just a grey tank top and some shorts that hugged my thighs). I stripped down, turned on the shower, and stepped in. 

As the water washed and dripped down my hair and shoulders, I released a sigh and felt around for the soap.

Shaun had been able to guess that Kyoya was on my mind. 

The soap fell from my hand and skirted across the floor of the shower.  I cursed as I felt it brush by my foot, a pellet of blue shooting by. Scrubbing one hand through my hair, I picked it up, but even then, my mind went immediately back to Kyoya.  

He was helping me. Even though I lost to him twice (three times, maybe?), he was giving me a chance. Kyoya was the type of person who fought those who gave him challenges- if he defeated you, you should be left in the dust. 

But I wasn't left in the dust.

Metaphorically, Kyoya was helping me along (not physically, I would think that he would refer to eat a spoon of cinnamon before he did that), coaxing me, holding a reward out of my reach. 

The reward of finally beating him, at one point. If I ever do beat him. 

"Goddammit," I complained to no one in particular, letting the water fall over my hair again. "Why the hell am I thinking about him?"

I stayed in the shower for another few minutes before turning it off and stepping out, rubbing a towel down my body and throwing on my PJ's. Shaun, by the looks of it when I popped downstairs, was making scrambled eggs, a nook open on the kitchen counter next to him with Skype opened.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Mom." Shaun shoved at the egg with a spatula. 

"Hey, Mom!" 

"Tess, sweetie!" Mom's voice floated across the room, voice lighting up with excitement. "How are you? You and Shaun are doing okay? Right?"

"Yup. Shaun, don't burn the eggs!"

In response, he made a face and shoved at the eggs again, gathering them in the middle. The fizzle was really distracting my senses, so I picked up the nook and took it to the living room, flopping down on the chair and dangling my legs over the arm rest, my hair spilling off the end of it. 

From the nook there was a hiss and something being knocked over, my mom's voice fading away to speak with a masculine voice on her side, but then it came back into hearing range. "How's... beyblading?"

"Good, good! Dunno about Shaun but there's this... super important tournament that I'll be watching soon. I think one of my friends, if not most of them, are in it, so..."

Kyoya's in it. 

"Do you think you could send me some school work digitally? Don't want to become an idiot, after all."

"Of course!"

"Right. Okay. Thanks."

Judging by the plop off something hitting a plate, Shaun was done. I glanced at the nook again. "I think Shaun's done with dinner. I'll call you in fifteen minutes."

"Whenever you want, dear."

"Okay. Love you," on the last syllable, my voice cracked a bit and I hit the red button that told me that the call was over.  

Leaving the nook there, I dragged myself to the kitchen where Shaun shook several bits of salt over his pile of scrambled eggs then offered me the salt shaker. I took it, but before sitting down-

"Shaun, what do you do if someone's constantly on your mind?"

Shaun blinked once. Twice. 

"You bring them as close to you as possible."