FicWad

Chapter Six

I watched Hilary closely as she waited for all of us to gather around her. She was nervous, I could tell. I think we all could.

Her lips were set in a firm, determined line and her face seemed calm enough. The thing that gave her away were her hands. She couldn't keep them still. It's a habit I remember her having when she was on our team...before she got pregnant.

I have to admit, finding out that Hilary and Tyson had a child was a huge shock. I mean, I had known that she would be one of the girls on the opposing team, I had sensed it. But a daughter...now that was unexpected.

I knew it would take something big to make a girl like Hilary just run away, but her being pregnant was the last thing that came to mind. She had seemed so determined to wait until she was married to even think about sex.

"Kai?" the sound of Tika's voice brings me out my thoughts.

I look at her and lift a brow. "What?"

"If you want answers you're going to have to pay attention."

I just grunt and turn my attention towards Hilary.

She pushes a brown strand of hair behind her ear and smiles shyly at us. "So, what do you guys want to know?"

Tyson doesn't even hesitate before answering. "Everything."

A look of surprise crosses her face, but only for a second. "Everything," she repeated softly. "Well then, I guess we all better sit down because we are going to be here for a while."

She lowers herself to the ground and pulls a sleepy looking Tyler into her lap, we all follow suit and sit in front of Hilary.

She gives a shaky smile and sighs. "I don't know where to start," Tyson opens his mouth but Hilary doesn't give him a chance to speak. "Don't tell me to start from the beginning. I'm not exactly sure where it all began."

"Why don't you start at when you found out that you were pregnant," Marti suggests after a few moments of silence.

Hilary nods. "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea," she pauses and clears her throat.

She closes her eyes and I can almost see the wheels turning in her head as she tries to remember. We all wait silently for her to start speaking.

"I was probably about three months pregnant when I finally went to a doctor and found out that I was pregnant. I was scared out of my wits. Here I was, a fourteen-year-old girl, still a kid myself, and I found out that I was pregnant. It was strange, because I hadn't really gained any wait, but I had been having morning sickness. I waited another month before I told my parents, and when I did my father went ballistic."

Her face is white now and I can't help but wonder what it is that her father did. She pauses and finally opens her eyes. They have a sort of far off look. It takes a few seconds for me to realize that she is not longer sixteen-years-old, she's reverted to the fourteen-year-old that found out that she was pregnant.

A wry smile touches her face. "He yelled and...did some other things and made some threats. He didn't need to ask, he already knew that Tyson was the father. He told me to get out of his house, that I could move in with you, Tyson, and we could raise our 'bastard' child together," she looked lovingly down at Tyler and I noticed tears gathering in her eyes. "Mom tried to stop him from kicking me out, but he wouldn't be persuaded, so I left."

She paused and looked at Tyson, Ray, Max, and me and I realized that she was waiting for one of us to tell her what happened after that.

Ray spoke. "So, you came to the dojo and said that you would be staying there for a while because you and your father had gotten into a row and you didn't want to see him for a while. Why'd you lie?"

Hilary pulls Tyler's fingers out of her mouth and replaces them with the baby's blue pacifier before answering. "It wasn't a complete lie. Daddy and I had gotten into an argument...sort of, and I didn't want to see him for a very long time. Besides what was I supposed to say?"

"You could have told us the truth," Max said softly.

She snorted. "The truth? Oh, yes, I'm sure you would have loved it if I had come to you guys crying because Daddy kicked me out of the house because I got pregnant because I decided not to wait until I was married to have sex."

Jo glares at Hilary. "You're the one who offered to tell them everything. You don't need to get all snappy."

She sighed. "I'm sorry, but I can't help it. This is just a sort of touchy feeling for me," she closes her eyes again for a few seconds before starting the story up again. "Well, anyway, like you said, Ray, I moved into the dojo for a little while, for a month actually. I tried to tell you guys the truth so many times, but every time I got the courage to, I would just freak out. So, I wrote a short letter, hid it under Tyson's pillow on his bed, and left..."

I remember that letter. Tyson had found it a few hours after Hilary had left to 'go to the store'. I can still remember the look on Tyson's face and the sadness and I anger I felt at hearing the letter read to us.

Hilary had been like a little sister to me. She was a bit aggravating at times, but I always trusted that she would be there no matter what. She was something, or rather someone, that I could count on to cheer us all on when we were in a tight bind. And suddenly, just like that, she was gone.

I can still remember what the letter said. Every single last word or it.


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Dear Tyson,

When you read this, I'll probably already be on a plane to only God knows where. I'm leaving, and I won't be coming back, at least not for a very long time. I can't tell you why, all I can tell is that I have to leave. I don't have any other choice, at least I don't think I do. Maybe, one day, I'll look back on this day and think how stupid it was for me to just run away. That maybe I should have, could have stayed.

I'm sorry for just leaving you and the others like this. I know that I should have said a proper goodbye, I should have told you that I was leaving, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I want you to know that I love you, all of you, with all of my heart, and that it breaks my heart to have to leave. You have every right to be angry with me, to hate me even. I'll understand if you do. Just please, please, don't try to find me.

With all my love,

Hilary


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That's all she left behind her when she left. To this day, I'm still surprised she managed to get all her stuff out of the dojo without me, or one others, noticing.

Tika pinches me, bringing me out my thoughts and hisses, "Pay attention."
I send her a glare, but do as she's told.

"...one day I walked into a Diner," Hilary is saying now, "and I was hungry and tired because Tyler, who was two months old, had been crying all night and hadn't gotten a wink of sleep," a slow smile makes it's way across her face as she glances at Tika. "As soon as I walked in, a bubbly brunette with red bangs and directed me to a table---"

"Hey," Tika interrupts her happily, "that's me!"

I can't help but roll my eyes. Is this girl sixteen or six?

As if she can read my thoughts, Hilary shoots me a glare. "Be nice, Kai."

I give her a cool look. "I didn't say anything."

"But you were thinking something," she replies in a cool tone that matches my own before turning to look at Tika. "Yes, Tika, that is you. Anyway, Tika walked over to Tyler to me and led us to a table. We did a bit of talking and she managed to get the owner of the Diner, Dimitri, to give me a job and she made it so that I could move in with her, Marti, and Jo. I would worked from three to six in the morning, take an hour of sleep, and go to school. After school I would do my homework, spend time with Tyler, and then head off for work again seven to twelve at night. I hardly ever got any sleep, what with balancing raising a daughter, going to school, having a job, and pretty soon I added beyblading to that mix..."

She went on to tell us how she got her beyblade through a mysterious package in the mail and she told of her and the girls' training to become good bladers and their unanimous decision to come to Japan to battle the World Championship team, the Bladebreakers. She also told us the names she was called and how she was looked down upon, and the number of fights she had gotten in because someone had said something cruel about Tyler.

All in all, I think that in the two years that Hilary was away she went through a lot. Not many girls at the age of fourteen would have been able to handle being pregnant, homeless, and jobless, but it doesn't surprise me that Hilary was able to. She's always been able to do things that most girls her age aren't able to.

We all sit silently, watching the sunset as we wait for Hilary's story of the past two years sink in. The only sound is everyone's breathing and Tyler's occasional yawn. "I feel like killing everyone that called you all of those names," Max blurts out suddenly, after the sun had set and a blanket of stars covered the sky.

Hilary looked at him for a few seconds before a she gave a soft giggle. "My, my, Maxie, I don't remember you being so violent."

He blushed and looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Hilary just smiles and closes her eyes.

A few seconds later, I find myself speaking to her, without being addressed, for the first time today. "He's right, about wanting to kill everyone that said those things about you."

I'm not looking at her, but I can feel her eyes on me and can sense her soft smile. "I almost forgot how protective you guys are. I always did feel safer when you were all around. Like nothing bad could happen to me. It was kind of like having a bunch of older brothers and a...Tyson."

I couldn't help but smirk at that comment as the others laughed. Hilary never had been able to put Tyson into words.

I'm not sure how long we all sat out there, under the moon, but for me it was like starting over and meeting the guys and Hilary all over again along with a few new people. I had feeling that things were going to be like before Hilary ran away...only a lot more hectic.