Tala Taking a Shot
Disclaimer: I don't own the original characters and don't make money with this.
Chapter 1
"OUCH!"
"Oh my, not again!"
"Maybe we should try getting him into one of our enemies' training-camps? He sure would be of greater use to us there."
"You might be right."
Bryan and Spencer were leaning against the fence of the shooting range. They were enjoying themselves watching a snorting-with-rage Tala trying to get a hold of Tyson.
"Should we interfere?" Spencer asked Bryan.
"Nah, leave it alone. It's the third time this week that one of us is getting shot at by Tyson!"
"You got a point there," Bryan smirked.
"He just sucks so bad!"
Tyson, still screaming like a girl, hid behind his friends Max and Raymond. Lucky for him, Tala's attention was now captured by something else. Mr. Dickenson was entering the shooting range, accompanied by a young man. Mr. Dickenson was their boss and chief of the training program for agents, which they all were going through. As for the other guy, neither Tala nor the others knew him.
"Isn't he cute?"
"A sight for sore eyes."
Bryan nodded, "And did you see his ass?"
"Hey, slobs! Stand to attention!" Mr. Dickenson barked.
The young men hurried to toe the scratch. No messing around with the boss.
Mr. Dickenson let his gaze wander over the men, pausing at Bryan and Spencer's bored faces, Tala's bleeding arm and finally Tyson who was still holding on to his pistol. Wasn't this pathetic!
Out loud he said, "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you Mr. Kai Hiwatari. Starting today he will be part of your unit and go through the same training as you."
The young men curiously looked at the new team member.
"I trust you to show Mr. Hiwatari around. Good day, Gentlemen!"
And with that Mr. Dickenson was gone.
"Well, well, well..." Bryan purred, taking a good look at Kai.
And Spencer added, "What do we have here!"
Kai only raised an eyebrow.
"Oh shut up, both of you!" Tala said. And to Kai, "Come, I'll show you the training facilities."
Together they walked about the premises - track field, gym, martial arts studio, pool, science building et cetera - until they returned to shooting range. The others were still trying to do target practice while keeping an eye out for Tyson's stray bullets.
"How about you have a try? You got a gun?" Tala asked.
Kai nodded. He opened his jacket and pulled a gun from a shoulder holster hidden underneath. He released the safety catch and shot at the target, barely pausing to aim. The bullet hit the target. Bullseye.
Bryan and Spencer, who were still enjoying themselves watching Tyson fail, started clapping. Ray's eyes went wide, Max' mouth fell open and Tyson blurted out, "Wicked!"
"How come Mr. Dickenson puts someone like that into first year training?" Ray said to Max. The other guy just shrugged. He had no clue, but this was super exciting!
They focused their attention back to Kai, who put a couple more bullets into the bullseye and then put away his gun completely straight-faced. Just who was that guy?
Right next to the training facilities were the houses in which the different units lived.
They were three-story buildings, with a kitchen and a common area on the ground floor and small bedrooms and a bathroom on the first and second floors.
On the way back Tyson asked the others, "Anyone know when Hero is coming back?"
Hero was their unit's trainer. He wasn't very dutiful, tough. He'd suddenly disappear for a couple weeks, and then return just as sudden.
"Ty, he's your brother. If anyone should know, it's you!" Ray said.
Before their conversation could turn into a quarrel, Kai loudly cleared his throat and asked, "Where may I sleep?"
"Oh hon, there's always room for you in my bed," Spencer winked, and Bryan nodded in approval. How he would love to shoot them right now. Not to kill them. Just a nice flesh wound to shut them up. Instead Kai gave him a cool look. "I will pass."
"Your loss. Second floor, first door to the left, then."
And without another word Kai walked away.
The night passed without disturbances and already a new day was dawning.
The agents in training had gathered around the large table in the kitchen for breakfast.
Suddenly the door opened, and a young man with blue hair walked in.
"Yo, what's up, guys!" he greeted and smiled at them. "How rare to see all of you up so early!"
"Hero!" Tyson, Max and Ray exclaimed in unison. Bryan just nodded, Spencer lamely raised a hand, and Tala decided to ignore Hero completely. As did Kai.
"So," Hero, ignoring Tyson clinging to his back, turned to Kai and slapped him on the shoulder. "You're the new guy, huh?"
Kai slowly brushed Hero's hand off his shoulder. "Who's asking?"
"I'm Hero. I'm your coach!"
"I beg your pardon?" Kai couldn't believe his ears. This had to be a joke. Or a giant mistake! Hello, he was supposed to be trained to become a secret agent. So why was there a guy in this house, tanned and dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, who claimed to be his supervisor?
Hero chuckled.
"I know, I know. We may seem like a weird group of people, but everyone here has his specialty and is not be underestimated in this area. Before you ask, we figured them out during recruitment tests."
Kai gave him one of the two reactions his team mates had discovered so far: he raised an eyebrow.
A specialty? Really? Those guys?
Hero gave another chuckle. "Let me shed some light onto this," he said. "Our Max here is an expert in building and defusing bombs. Ray wants to be in control later and believe me, he has a way of making people follow orders. You'll see soon enough. Tyson is our chemist – trust him to detect any kind of poison. Bryan and Spencer here are excellent spies; blend in like chameleons. And last but not least Tala, our best shot, deadly with whichever weapon you hand to him."
Kai remained silent.
"Oh," Hero beamed. "And I brought souvenirs!"
Hero was curious about Kai's abilities and decided to put Kai through a series of tests today.
First up was shooting at the shooting range.
Hero handed Kai a pair of ear defenders and pointed towards the targets.
"Show me what'cha got!"
He watched as Kai put one bullet after the other in the bullseye.
Hero scratched his head and wondered why Mr. Dickenson would put someone like that in a first years training unit… Either the old man had lost it, or young Kai had a big-ass weakness.
It really wasn't hard to find out Kai's weakness. Only half an hour later it was obvious to Hero why Kai was with his unit: Kai was absolutely incapable of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense.
He was quick and athletic and throwing knives seemed as natural to him as breathing, but even a baby had better self-defense than Kai.
Tala was thinking the same as he watched Kai trying to stop his nose-bleed. Silently, he handed Kai a tissue. Kai glared at him, but then decided it would be better to accept the tissue than have blood running over his face and clothes.
Hero walked over to the young men and said, "Honest to god, I've never seen anyone with a worse self-defense, Kai."
Kai snarled a little.
"Listen, you're quick, you're athletic, you're tall… All you need is technique and practice. We'll have to start with the very basics. Tala will be your training partner. He's really good!"
"I have noticed that," Kai said, his face – if possible – even more sour.
Hero laughed and Tala smiled slightly.
Before they could get started with practice, Tyson burst into the gym and yelled, "LUNCH IS READY!" To make sure he really got everyone's attention he was banging a ladle against a large pot.
Kai barely managed to keep his hands from covering his ears. What a nasty sound!
They all hurried to follow Tyson back to their living quarters.
The lunch tasted as bad as Kai had expected it from that annoying brat Tyson.
For the afternoon, Hero had scheduled self-defense practice for Kai and Tala and endurance run for the rest of the group.
Hero turned to Kai and said, "Alright Kai, clench your fingers into a fist like this." Kai did as ordered. "Good. Now try punching Tala."
Kai shrugged, raised his fist and punched toward Tala's nose. He had a score to settle. Tala caught his hand with ease, and before Kai could do anything else, Tala's fist was only millimeters away from Kai's own nose. Damn.
"Hm. Every been in a fist fight, Kai?" Hero asked.
Kai shook his head.
"Hm. Not good."
The next hour, Hero and Tala showed Kai how to hold his arms for and attack or a defense and some ways to punch. By the end of the afternoon, Kai had actually made some progress. Hero was very happy – if only his other students would learn as quickly as Kai did!
As if he'd heard Hero's thoughts, Tyson came crawling into the gym. He was all sweaty and huffing and puffing.
"H-…h-…How much…longer…do we…ha-…ha-…have to run?"
"Whoops! Totally forgot you guys where still doing lapses! Haha, my bad," Hero laughed and scratched his head. "Well, you can stop and go shower now, Ty!"
"Heeeeroooo!"
Tala and Kai closed up the gym and then followed the others.
While walking back, Kai pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up.
"Put that cigarette out!"
Kai looked at Tala straight-faced. "And why would I do that?"
"Why? Dude, it's totally unhealthy, that's why! What's an agent without a lung?"
"The same as everyone else without a lung," Kai said coolly and tapped the ash off his cigarette.
"Oh ha ha, aren't you the funny one. You know, they're kind of serious about health here. Hero won't tolerate it, if he finds out."
"You're gonna tell on me like a little girl?"
"Oh shut up, of course I won't. But seriously, this is some poison you're feeding to your body. And it smells. Now hurry up and finish, I wanna take a shower before dinner," Tala said making a rushing gesture with his hands.
Kai slowly took one last drag on his cigarette and then put it out.
"Quit whining," he said and then turned to walk towards the house.
After taking a nice long and hot shower Kai felt his muscle relax. He got dressed and went into the kitchen. Everyone had already gathered around the table.
Kai wondered if they had waited for him? It almost seemed like it. He couldn't remember the last time someone had waited up for him with dinner. This could possibly be the first time.
"Hey Kai," Rai said and gave him a big smile. "You hungry?"
Kai looked at him, a little surprised. Then he nodded slightly. Ray started to shovel mountains of food onto a plate and then handed it to Kai with a "Here you go, Kai. Hope you like it."
The second Kai sat down the others started shoving food into their mouths, as though they hadn't eaten in days. Kai examined the food on his plate. It was lasagna and seemed to be eatable. It smelled eatable, too.
Max, sitting next to Kai, watched Kai and laughed. "Ray made this lasagna – it's real yummy! You can eat it."
Sounds of approval from the others.
Ray smiled.
"Thanks, you guys." The smile widened as Kai put a piece of lasagna into his mouth and, after short verification of its taste, took a second bite.
"So Kai," Tyson said with his mouth full of lasagna. "Heard you got beaten up by Tala?"
"Argh, Tyson!" Ray and Max yelled in unison.
"Whaaaat?"
Spencer chuckled.
"Stop wasting your breath, guys. Tyson's never gonna learn good behavior."
"Yeah, he'd need, like, brain cells for that," Bryan added.
"Heyyyy! I can hear you guys, y'know?!" Tyson complained.
Kai kept silent and just watched the group of young men with growing disbelief. Really, they were not at all as he had pictured secret agents in training to be…
Back in his room, Kai stretched out on his bed. He was replaying the day in his head, when someone knocked on his door and entered.
"Kai?" It was Hero.
"Hn."
"Oh good, for a second I thought you were asleep. Haha, but how can anyone sleep with all that noise from the kitchen? You got a minute?"
"Hn."
"Perfect." Hero dropped a small notebook and a pen onto Kai's stomach. A very muscular stomach, it seemed. Kai opened his eyes and glanced at the objects.
"What's this for?"
"A dairy!" Hero beamed. "I want you to write down your own progress or setbacks and your thoughts." Kai didn't seem too happy.
"It doesn't have to be much, but I must insist on daily entries. Everyone here is keeping a journal. This way you can evaluate your overall progress and your strengths and weaknesses and adjust your training."
Compared to Tala Kai was taking the news quite well. Tala had ripped the book in two pieces and thrown them out of the window, claiming he would never to "some girly shit like that". But now, even Tala was writing something down every day.
Kai took a deep breath. Really, this man was nuts. What was up with this training program? Come on, a diary?
"Well, I'll leave you too it. See you in the morning, Kai!" With a big grin on his face, Hero walked out of the room.
Kai watched after him with disbelief. Then he picked up the notebook and the pen and wrote:
"Property of Kai Hiwatari. Read it, and I will kill you." He turned a page.
"Day one: This program is ridiculous!"
There, he'd written an entry. He shut the book and tossed it onto the desk, across the room from his bed. Again there was a knock on the door and the sound of someone entering the room.
"Kai?"
Kai looked up. It was the guy with the long black hair, the golden eyes and the girly face. Ray.
"What is it?" Kai asked and closed the diary.
"I'd like to talk to you. May I come in?"
Funny question, regarding the fact that he had already come in, Kai thought. Out loud he said, "Yes, you may."
Ray gave him a smile - he sure smiled a lot - and closed the door behind him. He moved across the room, sat down on a chair by Kai's bed and then focused his cat-like eyes on Kai.
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"How may I help you?" he asked.
Even though the words used were quite polite, it seemed to Ray as if he'd been rudely asked to leave. "Well", Ray said. "I just wanted to ask you if you like it here-…"
"No."
"…or if you need anything-…"
"No."
"…and if you'd like to watch a movie with us tonight?"
"No."
Kai thought he'd rather die and wondered just what this place was?
Ray exhaled deeply. "Fine," he said. "I suppose you don't wanna tell me something about you either?"
"Correct. What is there to tell?" Kai responded.
Ray was this close to slapping his hand against his forehead. What was Kai's problem?
He gave it one last shot.
"Family, hobbies, your favorite food? Anything, really."
Now Kai was really starting to worry. He was here to become a secret agent, wasn't he?
"This is none of your concern!" Kai answered coolly.
"Fine!" Ray said again. He jumped up and stomped out of the room, banging the door shut behind him.
Kai yawned. Finally some peace and quiet.
Bryan looked up, moderately interested, as Ray busted into the living room.
"Hey Ray, who's got your knickers in a twist?" he asked.
Tyson shushed him and cranked up the volume of the TV. Seriously, it's not like he was watching a silent movie!
"This guy!" Ray said, trembling with anger.
"Considering we are living in an all-male household, this is a damn detailed description. Don't you think so too, Spence?" Bryan commented.
Spencer was stretched out on the couch next to Bryan and didn't even bother to look up from his magazine as he replied, "Oh, definitely, hon."
"Who exactly are we talking about, Ray?"
Tyson shushed again, louder this time.
"Kai, who else?" Ray hissed and set down in a free armchair.
"Shush!"
"Oh for heaven's sake, Tyson!" Ray yelled. "Shut the hell up!"
Tyson pouted. Then he took the remote and turned the volume even higher.
"What's he done?" Tala decided to join in the conversation and simply turned off the TV.
Tyson pulled sulky face but decided to accept the defeat and retreat. He didn't want to mess with Tala. Especially not having accidentally shot at him just yesterday and all…Maybe Max was up for some video games.
Ray looked at Tala and complained, "He doesn't talk to me!"
"Ou, yeah, that's a felony aright," Spencer grinned.
Bryan nodded and agreed, "There should be death-penalty for it."
Ray decided he had had enough for this day. There was no point in talking to this idiot couple anyway. He gave Tala a nod and went to his room.
Tala watched Ray leave the room and couldn't help but smile a little.
Yes, Kai was most intriguing. His behavior, his personality… and of course his looks. Whatever the next days would bring, they certainly weren't going to be boring!
A/N: Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you liked or didn't like about this Chapter.
I'll be back with the next chapter in a week or two.
Until next time,
NoEarlyBird