[A/N: The Italics signify that the language being spoken is Russian.]
[Disclaimer]
10000 Shades of You_ Chapter 1
The sound of heavy footfalls, as his combat boots strike the pavement, is almost drowned out by the sounds of the city street. The feint honking horns, people talking loudly over the whoosh of passing cars, music blasting from the club just down the street, the cities nightlife is thriving, completely unaware that one sixteen year old boy walking amongst them, is fighting desperately to stay afloat. But then again what's new, he's been fighting his entire life, a constant raging battle that no living being has ever seen. And he makes it all look so easy.
Kai Hiwatari walks with conviction toward the small two-story building in the distance. From his position so far down the street he can already hear the music bursting from within the walls of the nightclub he so often frequents.
He slips his hand between the slit of crimson material that is the pocket of his half zipped hoody, his long fingers wrap around the cold metal piece in the depths of his pocket, he withdraws it. The black silver of the lighter between his long pale fingers contrasts violently, making them look almost delicate in the pale light of the half moon. Bringing the dark metal to his face, he lights the black stick hanging between his lips.
Starting up the walkway to the back entrance of the building he takes a long drag, the crisp autumn air drawing the intoxicating smoke in whirls around him. Breathing in the now diluted scent of the Djarum black cigarettes he's become so accustomed to, he nods to the bouncer as he passes.
At this time of night the bar is nearly empty, though that could be attributed to the hardly significant detail that it is still the middle of the week. Garnet eyes find what he's looking for and he approaches the bar, dusting the cigarette lightly in the ash tray before taking a seat on one of the high barstools.
'You're late' the boy seated on the barstool next to his own grunts out, already slightly drunk, but it's only a passing comment, there is no surprise there, Kai is always late. 'So what'd they give you?' the boy continues almost off handedly, as if this sort of thing is no big deal.
'Probation.' Is his one word answer as he raised his hand, signaling the bartender.
'Right, as if that will make a difference in the world.' The boy chuckles, finding the idea quite comical, that a couple months probation will turn Kai.
'And their sending me back.' He continues, and the boy stops chuckling, suddenly sobering up, and his smirk disappears quicker than it had come. He doesn't reply, but he doesn't need to, his reaction is enough.
Kai stares down at the glass of vodka tonic now placed before him on the counter, the way he always drank it, with an extra shot of vodka. Picking up the tumbler he downs it in one shot before taking a drag of the now half spent cigarette between his fingers. He lets the taste of the alcohol lingering on his tongue mingle with the fresh wave of nicotine, relishing in the familiar taste.
'Tough luck.' The other finally says, Kai figured as much, he didn't expect him to say what he was thinking, he doesn't need him to. He signals the bartender for another drink and turns to face the other boy for the first time.
'Kane…' he doesn't look at him but Kai knows he is listening. 'Take care of the girls.' He doesn't need to say take care of yourself, he doesn't need to waste his breath, Kane would be fine, he didn't need Kai as much as he liked to think.
Pushing back the stool Kai moves to stand.
'Leaving so soon?' one of the bartenders leans over the counter flirtatiously. 'But you just got here.'
'Not today,' he says to her answering a different question entirely. She pouts at that. 'I'll see you around.' He turns raising his hand in a wave sort of gesture as he goes.
The nameless woman eyes him up as he walks away. 'What a shame' she sighs returning to her work. 'you gunna' finish that handsome?' She asks Kane now, indicating at Kai's abandoned glass on the bar top, and he takes it, throwing back half of it in one large gulp. The liquid burns at his throat, too strong for him to handle, and he coughs, and the other boy made it look so easy.
The woman smiles at him taking the glass from his hand, she replaces it with a shot of ale 'better luck next time sweetheart.'
It's almost unrecognizable, the pale slate tresses of the fringe that drape before his eyes being the only visible similarity. His eyes have changed, they're darker now, the deep crimson clashing with his fair complexion. His face has thinned out from its former chubby boyish self, and his hair has grown out now as well, pulled back in a low tale that falls just beyond his shoulders. He turns from the mirror, and the reflection of the boy that stares back at him, that's enough analysis.
Calloused hands wrench open the closet door, searching for a distraction in packing up what little material things he owns. A tedious task, but it needs to be done.
Reaching up to the shelf just above the metal shaft where most of his items of clothing hang he brings down a pair of dark jeans, and places them neatly in the bag that lays open at his feet. Little by little the shelves began to empty out in the same meticulous fashion.
Twenty minutes found Kai's hands reaching up to the highest shelf, further up than his crimson eyes can see. The better part of his positions have been packed leaving only the cluttered remainders of old school books and old T-shirts he's grown out of at one point or another, some with multiple holes and cigarette burns and others faded and yellowing from their time in storage. His calloused hands reach for the source of the shadow that fell just over the edge of the broad wooden board that serves as a shelf, hands faltering only for a second as they touch the smooth wood surface, thickly coated in dust from years of sitting stationary in the back of the closet. He drags the wooden case across the grit coated shelf leaving behind a trail of wood untouched by the now settling dust.
Kai closes his eyes against the flakes of unwanted dust that shower down on him from where they have collected for years. Lowering the box to his eye level he places it on his bed and with and old T-shirt seeps away the dust from the polished wood surface.
A fragment of a memory, it somehow seems familiar, but he can't remember ever putting it up there and he can't remember what was inside. The rusted hinges creak as he easily lifts the lid, opening the box slowly, almost afraid of what is inside.
The widening crack that is the opening of the box gives way to the cluttered mess inside that is a nine year olds idea of organization. Old photographs of people he no longer knows, and trinkets he can hardly recall the meaning of, small coins and medallions he doesn't know why he bothered to keep. These are components of an incomplete memory, a faded memory, if one is to be accurate. This box of trinkets is what his life had been seven years ago, a life he can't remember ever being a part of. What little memories he has of those days are like an old film playing from the eyes of someone else. This box is the representation of the child he used to be, the only things he carried with him when he arrived in this new place, and now he is to return.
Closing the box securely he slips it into the bottom of the large duffle bag he's been packing for nearing half an hour now. Scanning his room for any forgotten necessities Kai zips up the bag, wondering briefly if anyone he had known is still there, if they might remember him. Probably not he thinks shaking his head, he certainly doesn't remember them, they are part of a life he had left behind a long time ago, and forgotten.
Kai's departure from what had been his place of residence for seven years was much like the years he'd spent there, cold and uncaring. The stern handsome face of his father nods to him from behind a coffee cup across the room, acknowledgement is a great deal more than he's seen from the man in a long time. The blonde woman that sits across the room from his father on the couch before the TV doesn't remove her eyes from the display of morning weather charts, nor does she say a word. His step mother is one always difficult to please, not that he's ever tried to be completely honest, but Ellen Hiwatari is glad to be rid of him, he thinks, and knows it to be true.
Kai's eyes shift back to his father whose eyes haven't yet left him. The cold grey looks him up and down, disapproval written on his features, but Kai had stopped caring what his father thought ages ago. Slinging his bag over his shoulder Kai takes the small envelope with his train ticket enclosed from the coffee table where it had been left for him, and crosses the room to the door.
When no words are spoken he leaves, without any words of his own, closing the door of the pent house behind him, he leaves it unlocked as he crosses the small corridor to the elevator. The lift arrives quickly, having been only two floors below, where it usually is this early in the morning when one of the neighbors has returned from their early morning jog.
Kai takes the lift down to the ground floor of the complex, luckily avoiding unwanted contact with any of the neighbors. Down in the lobby the security guard looks him up and down as he always does, with a look of undisguised disapproval on his face as his eyes passed over the boy. Kai smirks at the shorter man as he passes, enjoying the grimace of discomfort that appears on his face at the others superior look.
When Kai emerges into the crisp Russian air of early fall the streets are near empty, which isn't too unusual for 7.00 on a Tuesday morning in October, and Kai finds himself thinking that that woman two floors down from their pent is absolutely insane to go jogging in this ungodly weather.
Thrusting his hands in his pockets, he continues down the street to the corner library complex where he has told the cabby to pick him up. The cab will take him to the train station where he is to board the 8.00 train to St. Petersburg. It being 7.15 by the time he reaches the cab, he is already running late, as usual.
Kai places his large duffle bag next to him on the back seat before turning to the impatiently waiting cabby. 'I'm late, could you step on it.' he nods at the middle-aged mustached man, the typical image of a cab driver, who had pulled out of his parking space the minute the minute he'd heard the door connect with its frame.
'…'
'Keep the change' Kai tells the man as he pulls his bag from the back seat, knowing that he's just given the cab driver a ridiculously large tip, but he brushes it off as the man gratefully thanks him, he just doesn't have the patience to wait for the change. Passing around the car he enters into the station, more crowded than the streets but relatively empty all the same.
People pass him by in all directions, getting on and off the steam engines lined up at their designated platforms, as Kai examines his ticket, trying to decide which platform his train is supposed to be leaving from. Four platforms to his left is the large scarlet steam engine, so accurately dubbed the Red Arrow. Passing by the man at one of the many doors without a word, he boards the train and makes his way to the front of the long line of cars where the first class compartments are located.
Finding an empty one he slides the door open and, and enters inside, stashes his baggage in the overhead compartment and settles in his seat. The train leaves shortly after that, and no one enters the compartment, which rather pleases Kai as he much prefers his solitude to the company of others.
Kai remains undisturbed until the man comes by to check his ticket and passport, and then it is quiet again besides the woman that comes by every now and then with a snack trolley, offering sweets and sandwiches and other such things. Kai isn't a fan of sweets so he orders himself a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and goes ahead to purchase a fresh back of cigarettes while he's as it, seeing as he's almost out.
The train arrives at the station four hours later, according to schedule, and Kai dismounts with the other passengers filtering into the station. Kai's heard that the streets of St. Petersburg aren't nearly as crowded as Moscow's and isn't sure that likes the idea of quiet suburban streets, he's always been more of a city person. Looking around the train station now, he finds it to be quite empty for the early noon hours, and he wonders if the Moscow train station he departed from just four hours ago has filled out more since he'd left, it probably has considering this time of day to be the best for traveling.
The station is quickly emptying out, and Kai finds himself walking with the crowd toward one of the many exits, eyes scanning his surroundings for a phone booth to call a cab from. Spotting one on the far street corner he starts towards it.
'Master Hiwatari.' The call from behind him almost sounds like a question and he stops, turning to the man hurrying towards him from where the crowd was now dispersing. He stops a short distance from the slightly taller teenaged boy and bows slightly, to which Kai raises an amused eyebrow, and lets a small smirk cross his features. 'Master Hiwatari.' He says again and Kai nods, recognizing it to be a question of identification, he doesn't know this man, and he isn't sure why he's calling him master, but there's only one Hiwatari family in Russia, and the strange man is undoubtedly looking for him.
The man reaches his hand out to take the bag from Kai, and he complies, handing it to him off his shoulder. Kai finds this all rather comical as the man nods and tells him 'this way sir.', and heads in the direction of a sleek black limousine parked on the side of the road.
He's a stubby middle-aged man with brown hair and a mustache, and he looks a little like a very cleaned up version of the cabby back in Moscow. His outfit consists of a cropped black suit with two rows of buttons down the front, and a seal with a crest he recognizes to be his own family's pinned to his breast where a pocket should have been. He wears shined black shoes and a matching hat to complete the chauffeur's outfit, and Kai thinks he is perfectly costumed to play a role in some English drama.
The man places the duffle in the back and comes around quickly to open the door for Kai, and Kai almost laughs out loud but stops himself because he doesn't want to embarrass the poor soul, because after all it is thanks to him that he doesn't have stand around waiting for some cab.
'…'
The ride into town is a long one as they are heading deep into the city, and Kai is rather board, and the driver has nothing interesting to say. Kai still finds the whole situation just a little amusing, his grandfather is more of a stuck up prick than he has ever expected. And he thinks he looks rather comically out of place with his torn jeans and piercings, sitting in the luxurious interior of his grandfather's limousine.
The limo pulls up in front of the large building 1.47 in the afternoon. The Balkov Private Academy for Boys is not a very welcoming sight to behold, and Kai finds himself eyeing the high stone structure warily. The former abbey transformed school, is a learning institution for the elite, run by none other than Voltaire Hiwatari, Kai's own grandfather.
The building plainly flaunts its former use, with its high walled stone structure, and decorative towers, and Kai thinks it looks somewhat more like a medieval castle than a catholic school. The door is opened by Jeremiah, which has learned to be the chauffeur's name, and he steps out of the car, still a little distracted by the slightly intimidating looking building.
He vaguely hears the shorter man telling him, he will handle the baggage and he nods to him, making his way up the walk towards the two security guards that stand at either side of the door, Kai thinks a moat and a couple crocodiles would have been more fitting, but doesn't comment. The men at the door seem to recognize him and they bow, tipping their hats in a show of respect. 'Welcome to Balkov Academy, sir.' One of them says, and Kai isn't sure which one but he nods either way and passes through the door.
The interior of the building isn't all that much different from the exterior, everything is built of stone. And Kai stares up at the high ceiling, he finds it all incredibly strange that he can't remember, because he knows he's been here before, he's been told he was here as a child.
He walks through the empty halls, the only sound is that of his heavy combat boots faded thudding against the carpet covered stone floor. He comes to the large double doors on his right, only a short distance from the entrance. A silver plaque by the door is engraved with the words Reception Office, and the large mahogany barriers are decorated in silver. Kai turns the knob of one of the doors, smudging the silver with his careless hands as he pushes it open.
Inside, the room is dimly lit, like the corridor he has just left behind, the golden chandelier that hangs in the center of the room casts a large shadow across the deep red carpet, similar to that of the hallway. The furniture in the room is of an old Victorian style, and Kai finds the old architecture and décor of the place to be a little too medieval for his taste, and he feels as if he's in the middle of some twisted dream where he's gone back in time.
To his right there's a lounge that Kai assumes is for the staff, and he isn't sure why there's a kid about his age, slouching against the cushions on one of the couches, blonde hair spilling over the small firm pillows. But that is irrelevant so Kai ignores it and turns to his right where the large counter labeled 'Reception Desk' is located.
Kai approaches the desk where the brunette receptionist is standing, clicking away at the computer that looks strangely out of place sitting on top of the counter. She looks up as he comes to stand before her, and she smiles politely at him. 'Mr. Kai Hiwatari, Correct?' she asks, and Kai stops for a second, he doesn't think he'll ever get used to this.
'Uh…yeah' is his undignified reply, and she only continues to smile at him in that aggravating manner.
'The headmaster has been waiting for you.' She informs, 'If you'll just take a seat over there sir, I'll notify him of your arrival,' she says, indicating to the lounge area where the blonde is still sitting.
When the woman walks out from behind the desk and down a corridor, away from the main room, Kai turns toward the lounge. Choosing an unoccupied couch Kai takes a seat on the one adjacent to the other boy.
'You must be new.' The blonde kid says, a small on his face, as he takes in Kai's appearance, the piercings in his ears in his tongue tell him that much. 'I'm Max.' he says holding out a hand for Kai to shake, and Kai does, though he doesn't say anything in return.
'Mr. Hiwatari, the headmaster will see you now.' The brunette from behind the reception desk calls from a little ways across the room and Kai nods to her.
'Hiwatari huh?' Max raises his eyebrows at Kai, impressed by his standing, and Kai nods and stands, and begins moving in the direction the receptionist has indicated the office to be.
It is at the end of a long hallway of dark mahogany doors and silver décor that the double doors are standing, proudly displaying the label of Headmaster's Office. Kai pushes the door open, as he has all the others and enters into the room, this time more cautiously than is precedent, because authority and Kai have never mixed well and he doesn't expect it to start now.
This room is different from the others he has entered, the carpeting is thicker, and the decor more grand and lavish, and sitting behind the desk in a high backed chair that looks more comfortable than it should is a man Kai knows to be both Headmaster, and his grandfather. The sight is intimidating to say the least because if Kai remembers anything about his childhood it is his grandfather, the one thing worth forgetting.
The man pushes the chair back and stands so he is towering over his grandson, and looks down at him with a critical gaze, one that Kai is far too accustomed to seeing from others. Kai doesn't move from where he is standing now in the center of the room, and Voltaire circles around the desk and advances on Kai. He as an expression on his face like he would like to crush the boy under his shoes, but he smiles a sickeningly false smile as he comes to stand just before the boy.
'It has been far too long, grandson.' The last word is spoken like a curse, and he continues to stare the boy down. A couple minutes of silent tension pass and Voltaire circles around Kai. 'You've grown quite a bit haven't you boy.' Kai tenses but doesn't answer, and Voltaire stops suddenly behind him. '…haven't you.' He says again, more forcefully.
'Yes sir.' Kai replies and his grandfather smirks.
'You can't imagine how ecstatic I am to have you here.' Voltaire speaks moving away from Kai and towards a glass show case to the left, and Kai isn't sure what it displays because he only saw it briefly on entrance, and he hasn't taken his eyes off his grandfather's desk since. 'This is quite the prestigious school young man, and you know I only want the best for my grandson.' He continues to talk as he moves back towards the desk and stands in front of it this time, leaning against it only slightly. 'I trust you to live up to your name, Kai.'
'Yes sir.' Kai repeats.
'Good. I'm so glad we've come to an understanding.' Voltaire stands strait once again, the sickeningly sweet smile still on his face. 'Director Boris Balkov will show you to your dorm' he informs as there is a knock on the door. 'Enter' he says going back to his seat behind the desk.
The man who enters had violet hair, and cold grey eyes, and he stands in the back by the door, waiting for Voltaire to finish. 'Good afternoon, Kai' he bids farewell, 'I'll be seeing at home you this weekend.'
'Good afternoon, grandfather.' Kai answers back nodding to the man he turns to leave with the other, never looking into the hard colorless eyes of the older man.