Summary: Kai comes back with some unfinished business for Bryan, with Rei in tow. Are the domesticated Blitzkrieg Boys too much for Rei to handle? As well as a certain something going on between his captain and a certain icy Russian blader.

Pairings: Kai/Bryan, dabbles of Tala/Rei

(p.s anybody who reads It's All in the Smile, I have nearly finished the next chapter so look out for it in a week or two)

"Bryan….Bryan….Bryan….Wake up….Kuznetsov…now."

Bryan's eyes snapped open, an instant glare firmly printed in seething dark lavender irises.

"What the hell Tala?"

Tala, hanging over his older friend, let his lips curl into a lazy smile and he leant in close. Bryan physically froze, a small frown touching his expression as he watched the redhead very, very carefully.

"Guess what?" Tala said, in a low, promising whisper.

"What?"

"No…you have to guess."

"I don't know Tala, and I don't care. Tell me or I'll throw you across the room."

"As your captain I could punish you for that."

"As your better I can pummel you for this. Tell me."

Tala's smile grew and he leant in closer, "Kai's back. He's sat in the kitchen. With his bag. And a certain someone."

Bryan blinked.

"What?"

"You know, one day you should flick through the dictionary, Bryan. Extend your vocabulary."

Bryan lifted an arm and swept Tala out of view, sitting up in the same motion.

"What's Hiwatari doing here?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should go and ask him."

Bryan pulled back the covers and lifted his tired body from the bed; a medley of popping joints following. The sunlight poured in a great white arc through the flimsy curtains, white-washing the bare wood floors. Bryan curled his toes; inwardly wincing as he stepped across the drafty, unprotected floor.

'God this house is freezing,' he thought, standing in the centre of the room as if not quite knowing what to do. He looked down at himself. Did he go down and greet Kai like this? Clad in only a pair of boxers and a scrappy old grey t-shirt?

He snorted. He doubt that it mattered; the way Kai looked at him always made him feel naked anyway.

Still, Bryan grabbed his jacket from the bottom of his bed where it was tangled with Tala's, and slipped it over his shoulders.

"Have you talked to him?"

Tala nodded, folding his arms as he crossed to the door, "I left him with Spencer and Ian."

"Why is he here? And whose with him?"

"You've already asked that. And anyway, search me. I thought he was off with Fatso, Blondie, Kitty and the Nerd, but he's obviously not…seeing as him and the cat are sat downstairs."

"The cat?...you mean Rei?"

Tala smiled placidly, his usual calm manner barely rippled by this new guest, "Come downstairs Bryan. Say hello."

Bryan paused, hands curling at his side, his gaze fixed to the floor. This was…unexpected, to say the least.

"And Bryan?..." he looked up at his captain, whose eyes danced with a well-hidden excitement and early morning brightness, "…Play nice. Make him stay this time."

Tala brushed open the bedroom door and padded downstairs, the creak of the slowly rotting staircase cutting into the thick white noise whirring through Bryan's ears.

His hands turned into fists as he strode towards the door, following Tala with purpose. Dammit if he was going to hide upstairs like a scared child. Although that was exactly how he felt.

Something had changed about the Blitzkrieg Boys. Rei was too exhausted to try to figure out what, but there was something. Something so calm, relaxed. It was new to Rei; these guys always seemed to be stringed up on their own determination, high on fierceness. Tala, for example. At every tournament Rei had seen him, his jaw had been set, his eyes hard stone, his posture defensive. Now he lounged back in one of the rickety kitchen chairs, arms loosely folded, amusement apparent in those bright eyes looking out from under blood red hair. He wore a thin white jumper that sagged a little at the shoulder, showing creamy bare skin, and red trousers on his slender legs, barefoot despite the iciness of the drafts whipping at floor level. Spencer was cooking pancakes, obviously trying to keep his grin under control as he listened to their conversation.

Ian was leant forward in his chair, legs crossed, gripping his feet, trying not to get too much into Kai's personal space through his own excitement.

"Why are you here Kai? What did you bring Rei for? Thought you guys were all in the Seychelles or something?"

Kai opened his mouth to reply but halted when a newcomer entered the room. Rei had been surprised to see Tala in this new…state. Nevermind Bryan Kuznetsov. It had taken Rei a while, but he'd found it in him to forgive Bryan for the thrashing he'd received during the first world championship. His scars had healed; Bryan had never given him reason to suggest it had been on a personal level. He was just doing his duty. A duty he had thrown away with the rest of his team mates. Although somehow Rei doubted the shackles of Boris had been entirely broken from these teens' minds. Kai included.

"Can you believe it Bryan?!" Ian cried, pointing and gawping, "And after you said he'd never come back! Ha-ha. Told you there was no reason he wouldn't."

Kai looked from Ian to Bryan, but didn't say anything.

"What are you doing here?" Bryan asked, not unkindly. He seated himself next to Tala, giving Rei a sideways long look, "And you, Kon."

Rei shuffled in his seat, his nervous smile flickering, "I…met Kai at the airport. I had nowhere to go. He suggested I came with him."

"I thought you and your team were in the lap of luxury on a holiday?" Bryan enquired, picking up an apple from the sparsely filled fruit bowl.

Kai tilted his head to the side a little, studying Bryan under his bangs, "Tyson got food poising. We had to cut the holiday short. Except Rei had no way to get back home. I said he could come with me."

"And why would you come here?"

"Do I have to answer to you now, Bryan? I thought Tala was our team captain."

Bryan grunted and Tala rolled his eyes, sighing something in his mother tongue before turning completely to Rei, "I'm guessing you're staying with us then, Rei. Come on, I'll show you where you can sleep."

"Th-thank you," Rei said, jumping up quickly, "I'm really sorry about this. It's just…my flight wasn't for the end of the month. Mr Dickenson is on his own holiday; I can't get anyone at the BBA to get me another. I can't afford one myself."

Tala jerked a head towards the stairway, indicating the way to go, and the two disappeared through the doorway and upstairs up the groaning staircase.

"Be honest: how terrified was Rei when you suggested he came with you to see us?" Spencer asked with a smirk, spinning the pancake mixture around the pan.

"I thought he'd had a seizure," Kai conceded.

Ian laughed, rocking forward on his chair, "Wow he must have been freaked. Your team are terrified of us."

Ian gushed on about their arrival, probing Kai with questions. The phoenix didn't crack. He watched Bryan out of the corner of his eye. Bryan's long, pale legs stretched out before him, half under the table. His strong, slender back slightly arched against the back of the wooden seat; his hands working the knife to peel the skin from the apple. The curls of bright green falling to touch the soft skin of his forearm, stark against his pale skin. His lavender-hued hair spiky at the back from sleep, although Kai could tell he kept it mussed and unkempt as always still.

"Kai? Kai? You listening?"

"What, Ian?"

"Tell me. Why are you here?"

Kai paused. He knew Bryan was listening, even though he kept his eyes fixed on the long trail of green sliding onto his lap.

"I thought I should see the place. I wanted to see you all domesticated," Kai said with a slightly mocking smile.

"Hey, we're pretty good at it. Look, Spencer can make pancakes. He's a great cook. So is Tala. And he's got an order; you know, for who's going to do the washing up and stuff for the day. And I do the food shopping; its pretty crazy at the market so it helps that I'm small. And Bryan…" Ian smile twisted and turned to look at Bryan, "Bryan is Bryan."

"Shut up Midget," Bryan snarled. He snapped the apple skin with two slender fingers and threw it at Ian's head.

"Oi!"

Bryan stood up, gripping his apple in his hand, and shouldered his way out of the front door into the morning light.

"What's up with him?" Spencer asked, frowning.

"Dunno," Ian shrugged. Spencer fixed his eyes on the back of Kai's head, looking as if he might actually know the answer to his own question, "Ian, help me with these," he said, rattling the pan.

"Oh yeah, sure."

Ian jumped up and trotted to his friend's side, eyes fixed hungrily on the whisk dripping pancake mixture.

Kai waited a moment, listening with an inward smile to the sound of Rei and Tala talking upstairs. He could just imagine the Chinese blader's disbelief. It must be a shock for Rei to see a more…'human' side, to his old team mates. All he had seen of them so far were The Demolition Boys – Boris' tools. The Blitzkrieg Boys – attempted championship title stealers.

He stood, sliding his hands into his pockets and exciting through the front door. He might as start on the main objective of his stay.

"Avoiding me?"

Bryan ignored Kai, crunching down onto his apple with a little more ferocity than was needed. When Kai let the pause drag on, he growled and snapped, "No. I'm not."

Kai joined him on the veranda, curling his legs underneath him. The wind battered at his hair and face, and he narrowed his eyes against its powerful drive.

"What do you want, Hiwatari? Why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Why?" Bryan snorted, "Couldn't you have just talked to us on the phone? Tala's always yakking on that thing. It's ridiculous. We can't even afford our heating bills nevermind his bloody phone bills."

"I didn't mean talk to you as a team," Kai said, turning to align the centre of his back with one of the white posts holding up the porch roof, "I meant you, Bryan."

Bryan took another bite of his apple, chewed tensely, then turned to look at him.

"Shit," he grunted. He stuck the knife into the wood beneath him.

"Thanks," Kai smirked, "That's a great help."

"Well what do you want to talk about anyway?" Bryan snapped, tugging the blade back out of the wood and then slamming it back in, "Thought you didn't want to talk to me at all."

"I didn't."

"But you do now?"

"Exactly."

"About what?"

"What the hell do you think?" Kai's voice started to hum with irritation. The pause lasted longer this time, the wind buffeting at the ancient wood around them. Discerning groans and creaks rose from the aching joints of the old house. Kai wondered how the hell a winter could be survive in this house.

"I wanted to know something, actually," Kai conceded, watching Bryan carefully.

"What?" Bryan asked, not looking up from the knife quivering where it was dug into the wood.

"Whether you still hated yourself for that night."

Bryan gripped the knife in one hand and smacked the apple down onto the floor with the other. He glared down at the yellow-chewed grass of their dirty front garden.

"Why?" he finally managed to force out.

"I thought I'd get you as close to apologising as you are ever going to."

Bryan bit down on his lip, and turned to catch those blood red eyes looking right at him. His chest felt like the air had been suckered punched from it, vacuumed into nothing. His heart squeezed tight.

Upstairs, Tala had frozen still.

"What?" Rei asked, alarmed.

"Sh. I'm listening."

"To what?"

Tala grabbed a surprised Rei by the front of his shirt and dragged him to the window, leaning close to the glass. Listening.

"What?"

"Can't you hear them?"

Tala positioned Rei where he was, "Can you hear them now?"

"Kai and Bryan?"

"Yeah."

"But I don't understand what they're saying, they're speaking in Russian."

Tala leant over Rei, listening, placing one hand on the small of Rei's back to steady himself. Rei's eyes widened like saucers as Tala's chest touched his back, the redheads' breath breaking over the back of his neck. He felt the delicate touch of Tala's hair behind his ear, where the blood was pounding so loud he could hardly hear the conversation he was meant to be eavesdropping on.

"They're talking about what happened."

"What happened when?"

"What happened the last time they were together."

Tala leant closer to the window, straining to hear. In the process, leaning more against Rei, his other hand now on Rei's side.

"Ha-ha," Tala chuckled, eyes fixed downwards, listening intently, "You have much to learn Rei."

With a grin, Tala straightened, and headed towards the door, "It'll all be explained in due course, I expect."

Rei felt his knees buckle, his breathing hitched slightly. Following, he had to take stock of the situation at hand. Two of the strangest things had just happened.

He had a) been practically felt up by Tala Ivanov and b) found out that there was something harbouring between Bryan and Kai.

Shaking slightly, he followed Tala back downstairs.

He had no idea what the hell all of this meant.

Don't worry guys, it's going to be Bryan/Kai centric, but of course there will be a little Tala/Rei on the side because I love that pairing too:D

Sorry if it was a bit slow, its very late at night and this is just how I'm writing right about now.

Now….who wants to review?! puppy dog eyes