"Damnit!" Ray yelled as he banged his fist onto the wide office desk on which the phone was.
He slammed the phone back into its cradle and spun around to face Kai who was still leaning against the wall with a knowing look on his face.
"Told you there wouldn't be a dial tone" Kai said simply.
"Yes thank-you Kai for pointing that out again!"
"No problem" Kai answered sarcastically, but with a hint of coldness in his voice as if to warn Ray not to push his luck.
Ray stopped fuming and inhaled deeply sitting down in a nearby chair.
"Sorry Kai, I'm just, so worked up, and I can't think straight!" he said and exhaled while closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.
A moment later he reopened them when he heard no response, not even the usually 'hn' from Kai.
His eyes furrowed in annoyance when he realised Kai had left the room and he was talking to air.
'Now where's he gone?'
With much irritation he slowly arose from the black padded seat so as to find Kai. It was a big enough building as it is, and he didn't need to waste time looking for Kai if genuinely lost him.
He exited what he supposed was the boardroom, then paused in the hallway, pondering which way to go.
A second later he heard some things fall. Silence. Then noises sounding like more things being thrown about. More silence. Then a loud, pissed off 'Shit!'
He smirked, realising it was Kai, and that the emptiness and lack of knowledge was finally getting to 'Mr cool' too.
'Ha! Mr cool's not so cool anymore is he now?' Ray gloated to himself,
'So if he's not Mr cool, that would make him Mr Hot then?' Ray's little voice in his head responded.
'Mr Hot? How'd you work that out?'
'Hot's the opposite of cool…duh!'
"Actually hot it the opposite of COLD, not cool, duh!' Ray said mocking the little voice in head.
'Well then he's Mr Warm' Ray little voice said getting exasperated.
'That's just stupid. Now go away while I find Kai' 'Rudeness!'He put the argument in his head on hold, and walked down the extensive hallway. His feet padded softly along the rich, red, ruby coloured carpet. He couldn't help but gape at some of the paintings that lined the walls. Gigantic portraits and pictures of powerful looking people and places. Each one was rich with colour, although they were mainly painted in darker shades. There was almost something eerie about them, Ray could almost feel the eyes on one portrait follow him.
He passed about three doors, to where he thought he heard the sound of Kai. Sure enough, in what was probably some minor's office, he found him.
He stopped and gawked at the room, which Kai had made look like WW3 had hit it.
Books and other various objects were flung everywhere, cabinets, and drawers were left wide open or even on the floor. Even the table looked like it had been shifted about – and it was a very heavy table.
"Erm Kai?" He said snapping out of his stupor, "What exactly are you doing?"
"Looking" Kai said, giving up and slumping into the nearby swivel chair and resting his arms on the armrest.
"For what?"
"Something"
"Yes Kai," Ray started, gritting his teeth in annoyance, feeling his temper rise. Kai could of least have some more consideration, they were both stuck in the same mess after all, and Ray needn't even be here, "I got that part. I was asking what you were looking for"
"No you didn't. You said, and I quote 'what exactly are you doing' not 'what are you looking for'" Kai stated matter-of-factly while turning the black leather chair round to face the heavy desk and resting his feet upon it.
"God Kai! I really don't know what your problem is, but I've given up trying to care. All I've done is ignore all the rudeness you throw at me and get on with it, but now I've had it! I didn't even need to be here, but out of kindness I thought I'd come help as I figured this might not be easy for you, what with all the bad memories this place holds for you, and instead of showing even the slightest bit of gratitude or even pretend to appreciate my help, you totally ignore me and sneer at me. Go find that 'something' you were looking for but don't expect and help from me. I'll be in the room we just came from, so remember to stay well clear if you pass near there because you wouldn't want to spoil your 'Everyone else is beneath me' ego now would you!" Ray fumed and stormed off down to hall back to the first room, slamming the door hard as if to make his point heard.
Kai groaned, as he heard the slam and brought his legs down from the table.
He hadn't meant to be so rude to Ray – really. His irritation was just fuelled for the fact that for once in his life Kai was stuck and could see no way out, and that really got under his skin. And instead of dealing with it in a calm and rational way that Ray had tried to do, he had just snapped at him and tried to shift the blame onto him, when it really wasn't his fault.
It wasn't actually either of their faults, that they were where they were.
Sure they could have been more aware, and cautious, but neither of them had expected the Voltaire mansion to still be under surveillance.
In retrospect, it was actually Kai's fault that Ray was here stuck with him.
Kai had been to one to decide that he was going to retrieve his belongings from the mansion after Voltaire had been imprisoned, and Ray had volunteered to come along and help him.
Of course Kai had said no, but he was so persistent that he offer his assistance, Kai just let it go after a while and let him follow him.
It was supposed to be just a quick trip there and back to get the bare essentials, clothing, books, etc. Mr Dickinson was leaving town for a while, and the airport which he was driving too was near the Voltaire mansion, so he offered to drop the boys off there and pay for them to get a taxi back when they had got all they needed.
Getting to the mansion was fine; Mr Dickinson gave them the money and cab number, said his goodbyes and was on his way.
The problem arose once inside the mansion.
It seemed that the teens had inadvertently triggered some still active security alarms which had sealed the house down completely.
As in, doors and windows being completely locked with no way of opening them without the system being overridden.
Which couldn't happen anyway, because it had self-destructed 5 minutes after being fully operational.
It appeared that Voltaire, even after being locked up, still had some tricks up his sleeve.
Looking back, Kai really should have stayed firm and not allowed Ray to join him, but secretly, he was glad of the company, as he had never really had any real company before. Well, company he wanted to have and enjoyed.
Although he always seemed to have an invisible wall around him, like a barrier to prevent people from really understanding Kai, it was actually more a defence. A defence so that people wouldn't find out that Kai was a real person with real feelings and emotions – and was stilled tuned in to them.
And now the only person, who was willing to try and understand him, he had snapped at and been unnecessarily callous towards.
So now Kai was faced with a dilemma.
To maintain his 'wall' and just brush off Ray's hurt that he had caused, or to let his defences down briefly, and apologise.
Apologising wasn't really his style, but at this moment he felt he really did owe one. Besides, no one was here to witness him let his defences down, and once he apologised he could just shrug it off and they could both get on with finding a way out of the mansion.
Silently he rose to his feet and made the way to the room where Ray was.
He still wasn't exactly certain of how he would word it, so he took his time walking, going through all possible ways of phrasing 'sorry' without looking too apologetic in the process.
When he finally reached the room, and decided to just take a deep breath and go for it.
He opened the door,
"Ray I-" he stopped and took a proper look around the room.
Empty.
Typical. The one time in history he was prepared to show some remorse, and the idiot wasn't even there.
"OWWW!"
Kai's head snapped up to where he thought he had heard the sound of something very heavy fall– upstairs.
'Ah great' he thought bitterly and bolted up the long wide stairs, 'I leave him alone for one moment and he's gone and injured himself'
When he reached the top of the stairs he heard another 'ow'
He ran to the room he was certain Ray was in and walked through the open door.
There he saw Ray sitting on the floor, with his right leg trapped under a huge wardrobe.
Although the younger boy was obviously in pain, the look on Ray's face make Kai snicker slightly.
Ray turned his head around to see Kai standing in the doorway grinning.
"I suppose you think this is funny?" Ray accused, clearly annoyed that Kai had caught him in such a stupid position, and was laughing about it.
Kai stopped smirking.
"Did I say it was funny?" he challenged.
"You were laughing. People normally laugh when something is funny," Ray stated, turning his head away. "Just go away Kai, I don't need or want your help," he snapped, struggling to free his crushed leg from underneath the wardrobe but failing.
"I'm sure. The wardrobe is just going to be nice enough to move off your leg, so you can free yourself I suppose."
"Is their something you want Kai? Or do you just like watching other people's misfortunes?" Ray sneered.
"Well if you really want to know, I was trying to find you to apologise, when I heard your yell and came to see what happened" Kai said growing angry, "But you're right, watching other's people misfortunes is more enjoying" he snapped, leaning his back against the wall glaring at Ray.
"Oh" was all Ray could manage. He hadn't really expected 'Mr Superior' (nicknamed by Tyson) to apologise, and now just when he was about to, Ray had messed it up.
'Good going Ray' he thought bitterly to himself.
For all Kai's talk though, he could still see the look of pain in Ray's face, and wasn't really just going to stand there and watch him suffer.
In three quick steps he was standing above Ray.
He totally ignored him and bent down to effortlessly lift up the fallen wardrobe.
Once Ray could move his leg, he cautiously pulled it out, wincing in pain as some of the muscles in it moved.
Kai noticed this.
"Is it broken?"
"Huh? Oh no, I don't think, it just really hurts. I'll be ok though" Ray said bravely trying to stand up.
Kai simply pushed him gently back down.
"If you stand on it, it will only get worse. It needs to be bandaged up" he said knowingly.
"With what? From where?" Ray asked, quite confused.
Kai strode over the cream coloured carpet to a cabinet and pulled out some bandage.
"Oh yeah, heh heh, I forgot you used to live here" Ray said sheepishly.
"Don't remind me" Kai responded tersely.
He then bent down, and ignoring the look of complete surprise in Ray's face, proceeded to bandage his leg.
Ray noticed, with much relief, that he was gentle about it.
He suddenly found the oak effect bookshelf in the corner rather 'interesting' and concentrated on it. He was sum what embarrassed. Here he was screaming at Kai and telling him how much of a jerk he was, and despite that, Kai put himself out to help him, and to apologise.
After Kai had finished he put the remaining bandage in his pocket and helped Ray to his feet.
"There is an drawing room a few doors down. You'll be more comfortable there. Follow me" he said and started off.
"Hey Kai, Ray's voice called, stopping him in his tracks.
"What" He asked without turning round.
"Thank-you. For helping me just now and the apology. I appreciate it. Also, sorry for snapping earlier, I just got a bit worked up is all. I didn't mean any of it." Ray said offering a weak smile to Kai's turned back.
Kai paused, and still with his back to Ray replied in a low voice,
"It's ok. Now come on"
Ray smiled and hobbled off after Kai, realising that there was some human in him after all, and it had been reached.
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Angel_led_astray: Well whatd'ya think? It's my first beyblade fanfic ever. Please review if only to offer some advice. I enjoy reading constructive criticism comments as it helps me to improve.
I was so pleased with myself for this, 2203 words, my longest chapter I have ever written for any of my stories in my older fanfics of different anime.
I have a rough idea of where I'm going with this, so see you in chapter 2!
Bye!