Title: Slumbering Secrets
Authoresses: foxfire flamequeen and phoenixfire thundertiger
Rating: T/pg13
Categories: Suspense
Summary: The night sees but never speaks…
Disclaimer: Don't own a damn thing.
Warning: Possible spoilers.
Belongs to 'Shadows of the Past, Memories for the Future' universe. Takes place sometime before the 'Breakers get to China for the Asian Tournament, after the American one. Please read said story for guidance.
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Crimson orbs, almost black now in the darkness, flickered open at the sound, blinking on their own accord to adjust. It was the tiny click, or perhaps it wasn't so small, but the chip wakened him to call for alert even of that, if only to go back to sleep without caring in the end. It did its work nonetheless.
This time, though, he kept the scarlet depths vigilant, recalling the sound the plastic lining of the window made when hitting against the sill. A cold draught blew from his right, confirming his thoughts. No one could have entered the room without his knowledge, so the window had to have been opened either from the outside, or by the only other person already in the room. Carefully he rolled over to face the other bed. Its occupant was seated leaning against the head post, something small held with both hands in his lap, the entire figure illuminated by the silvery glow of a half-moon.
Ray must have heard him, he tilted his head back to look at his roommate. Kai closed his eyes instantly, allowing his breaths to fall steady and rhythmically. The phoenix could practically feel the golden gaze on him. At the back of his mind a vague thought arose, wondering why he was hiding from Ray. Cracking an eye open, he saw Ray had turned away. Kai heard the other sigh and lift his hand to tuck away a loose strand of ebony behind a pointed ear. A silver earplug glistened in the moonlight.
Alarm bells threw up a racket in Kai's head.
The crimson orbs caught sight of an I-pod on the other's lap, and it was a while after that that Kai relaxed slightly, vision darkening as his eyes closed, still watching Ray's lips move in words, as though talking…
Kai paused, running over the possibilities. Ray was definitely talking out loud, although Kai couldn't make out the words, they all seemed a jumble to him. So the tiger could be a) talking to himself b) talking to the I-pod c) talking to his Bitbeast or d) singing along with the music. Ray never spoke to Driger aloud where others had even the smallest chance of overhearing, never even moving his lips when conversing with it in his mind. From the movement of his lips, he wasn't singing either, leaving possibility a, safely assuming Ray was not insane enough to talk to an I-pod. Kai knew Ray often subconsciously spoke his thoughts out loud, but he seemed too alert for that now.
In fact, he seemed very alert, even tense, for someone listening to music in the dead of night.
Kai glanced at the I-pod. The silver gadget wasn't like any he'd seen before, more complicated and with many more command keys than an ordinary one. But overall, it was an I-pod, one he'd seen Ray listening to often enough, and one even he'd listened from once or twice. He turned his attention to the teen holding it.
Now and then Ray would shake his head, again and again, as though insisting the negative of something.
What is he doing?
Kai dared not voice the question, not then and not ever, maybe, for asking the tiger would mean setting up a bargain. Ray knew Kai often disappeared at night. He would probably want to know where the bluenette went.
Kai sighed, regretting it and closing his eyes again, for the other had heard once more.
Kai didn't dare look again until a soft rustle told his Ray was lying down. Scarlet peered into the dark, finding the silhouette of the neko-jin with arms crossed under a raven sea over the white pillow, staring out at the darkened sky, a wistful shine in pools of gold. The I-pod was on the bedside table, not hidden, just a casual place to keep it.
The chip still warned him of danger, but he couldn't find any. There was nothing really suspicious of the scene, minus the talking part. He could think only on the fact that he knew he had walked straight past what he had been looking for.
The phoenix wondered if Ray realized the danger.
He didn't know why he cared.
He drifted off sometime in the night, long before Ray, too, closed his eyes, both with a heavy sense of regret and confusion, though to completely different reasons, and the night was forgotten, or perhaps only never brought up, except in the two individual minds, and maybe it wasn't so important after all, for there were repetitions of such nights, only then Kai would dismiss the instances almost instantly, never bothering to find out what the 'danger' was, and every time Ray would lie awake, alone, guilt tearing at him until his mind shut down of its own accord.
Long, long later, maybe not this night, maybe other similar ones would be recalled, but maybe then it would be too late for one, too early for the other.
Destruction was inevitable.
Or was it?
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IMPORTANT A/N FOR SPMF READERS:
CHAPTER 11 OF SPMF WILL BE POSTED ON THE 10TH, NOT THE 3RD
It was a mistake on f3's part: I am really sorry!
As for this oneshot, it's quite important, if SPMF readers are willing to find out exactly how Ray got tangled into the Bladebreakers. Unfortunately the explanation comes much, much later in the story.
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