Disclaimer: I have a blanket, two pillows and one huggie ... but they're not evil.
The One Blanket.
"I'm tired and hungry- "
"SHUT UP, TYSON!" The other four BladeBreakers yelled at him simultaneously, feeling the stress finally getting to them. Tyson became quiet in a second.
"We'd better find shelter before it gets dark, guys." Kenny spoke up finally after a few minutes of silence. At this rate, we'll never get to Moscow, he sighed exasperatedly.
Their bus had broken down on the way to the train station, and they were due to catch the two o'clock ride tomorrow.
"You guys," Max jogged back to them. He and Rei had gone scouting for a cave or something for them to rest in for the night. "We found a cave." He waved to them happily and ran back to where Rei was waiting for them.
"Good job." Tyson looked up at the cave entrance when they reached the destination.
Kai sighed in relief. They had been walking for two miles, through the thin layer of snow that blanketed the ground, the rocky parts and – from Kai's personal experience – quite a few thorn bushes. His eye twitched in irritation when he remembered the incident.
==Flashback==
"Hurry up!" Tyson yelled to them in the back.
They were only ten minutes into their walk when Tyson – in a sudden burst of adrenalin – started running.
"You'll tire yourself out faster if you run, Tyson." Rei advised him, but he was out of earshot and didn't hear him.
They walked for a few more minutes and suddenly heard a loud yell coming from somewhere in front. Max, Rei and Kenny rushed forward, while Kai just kept his steady pace.
When they reached there, they found that Tyson had gotten himself stuck in between two thorn bushes and couldn't move in the fear of getting nicked by the sharp thorns.
"Hey, Tyson. Do you know that you look like a stuck pig?" Kai said suddenly, earning rounds of laughter from the others and a scowl from Tyson.
Another few minutes passed by as the three had to stop themselves from laughing before they could help him out. Kai watched from the sideline as they carefully cut some of the branches to get to Tyson.
"How 'bout a little help, Kai." Rei said turned to Kai.
"No thanks." Came Kai's monotone reply.
"What he means is, 'Get your butt over here and help me!'" Tyson shouted to him.
He shrugged his shoulders and went over.
At last, they had managed to cut the surrounding branches and were now in the process of pulling Tyson free. Unfortunately it seemed, Tyson's pants had gotten caught in a branch, and they had two things to worry about now.
One; Get Tyson free and Two; With his pants on.
Rei and Kenny grabbed a hold of his left hand and Max and Kai took his right. The pulled with all their might and finally, the branch gave away. The four fell to the hard ground with a thud and Tyson fell to his freedom right on top of them.
As butt met ground, they didn't realize Kai's eyes became wide and he inhaled painfully, feeling extreme pain shooting up his body.
He had gotten a thorn stuck in his butt.
==End Flashback==
Kai winched at the memory, and at the pain he's currently feeling in his rump. Talk about pain in the – he was broken out of his reverie when Max called to him from inside of the cave.
"Well ... it's not great, but it'll do for the night, eh?" Rei looked for approval from Kai, who just nodded his head.
"And there's already a fireplace." Max said enthusiastically.
They had split up the shifts, so Tyson and Max went to look for wood to make a fire, Rei collected leaves to sleep on, and Kenny typed on Dizzi, trying to find out where they were, and if possible, call for help.
Kai had given them the orders and now stood glaring hatefully at the ground.
"You alright, Kai?" Rei said suddenly when he passed by with a bunch of leaves in his arms.
"Fine." He said irritably. Rei, getting the message left without another word.
Kai turned his attention back to the ground, still scowling. To sit ... or not to sit?
==
As the night came, the temperature dropped low and it was freezing. Even the fire they had started couldn't keep the cold air away.
The five of them dreaded going to sleep, in fear of freezing to death.
"I wish I had my blanket." Rei sighed.
"Yeah ... good idea of sending our stuff ahead, Kenny." Tyson looked at him with half-moon-eyes.
"I-I –"
"Lay off him, Tyson." Max said. His eyes twinkling with something that looked like guilt?
"But I'm cold." He whined and started banging his fists and legs on the ground like a spoilt child.
"I'm cold too. But you don't see me flopping around like a fish out of water." Rei said exasperatedly at his behavior.
"I'm also cold." Kenny shivered and turned to his laptop. "No snide remarks now, Dizzi?"
"Are you kidding? This cold air does nothing for my complexion. I'm getting out of here." The laptop automatically turned off.
"What about you, Max?" Kai said suddenly. He sat slanted to the left while leaning heavily on the rock.
"W-what? Y-yeah ... I'm cold too." He laughed nervously.
"Then why are you sweating?" he smirked and thought for a moment. "How much do you weigh, Max?"
"Huh?" his eyes became wide with confusion. "Umm ... about thirty kilograms, I guess. Why?"
"Nothing ..." he smirked. "Judging from the size of your clothes, I'd say you were at least forty. This could mean either one of two things," the others leaned over to listen to their normally silent captain. "One, you have a wide waist ... or two, you're hiding something," Max started sweating profusely. "Something like ... a blanket maybe?"
Three heads snapped in his direction and he coward in fear.
"Is this true ... Max?" Tyson said, eying Max eerily.
"I-I ..." he didn't get to finish his sentence when they jumped him.
"AHA!" Tyson shouted victoriously as he held up dark blue blanket.
"Give that back." Max made a jump for it, but missed Tyson and fell right on top of Kai. He choked back a cry and, with tears threatening to come, pushed Max off him.
"So ... you were going to use all by yourself ... weren't you?" he gave Max the evil eye. "I got it, so that means I'm entitled to use it." He hopped around, and then stopped when the blanket was ripped from his hands.
Kenny held it behind his back. "I'm the youngest. And everyone always says the young are our future, so there." He grinned, his unseen eyes sparkling with delight.
He was too preoccupied with the promise of warmth that he didn't notice Rei creep up behind him with the stealth of a cat and grabbed the blanket.
"I'm the second oldest and part cat; cats hate the cold. So it should be mine. And, don't hate me for saying this, the most good looking one on the team –" Kai's eye twitched at that comment.
Max ran up, grabbed the blanket and climbed on to the rock Kai was leaning on.
"Watch it, Max." Kai said fearfully.
"One, the blanket is mine. Two; the blanket is mine, and Three; the blanket is mine. So ... it's mine." He yelled hysterically.
"No ... mine."
They started bickering loudly and closing in on Max ... and Kai, who backed away in fear of being squashed again.
"MINE!!" Rei, Tyson and Kenny ran up and grabbed Max. So it started the pulling of the blanket.
Tyson' foot all of a sudden, tripped on Rei's. He grabbed the back of Max's collar to keep from falling. Max accidentally elbowed Rei in the eye and he backhanded Kenny off the rock. All four of them fell, in a jumble of arms and legs, on Kai. Poor Kai, he didn't even manage a no, when they landed right on top of him. Driving his sore behind into the ground.
This time he couldn't stop the tears from coming, and as they got off him, he looked away, biting his lip in silent agony.
"Sorry, Kai." Rei said, sensing their captain's distress.
"H-Humph!" he forced a non-caring answer, but inside he was weeping.
"Ok, ok ... we're a team, and teams are supposed to be equal right?" The three nodded at Tyson's comment, but Kai was too preoccupied with his own misery to laugh at it. "So ... let's share."
"I guess you're right," Rei said sheepishly. "Sorry, you guys."
"It's ok, Rei," Max put his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry too. I should have told you about the blanket."
"That's alright, Max. C'mon ... let's go to bed. We have to start our journey early so that we can still catch the train."
They four lay on the ground next to each other. Rei was far left; next to him were Max, and then Kenny, and finally, Tyson, who had been kicked to the other end so that he wouldn't take up– or as Kai had said – hog half the blanket.
"You won't join us, Kai?" Rei leaned on his elbows and looked at their captain, who, he noted, looked a little worse for wear. "Are you okay? You look a bit ... pale."
"Fine," he gritted his teeth. "Besides, someone has to keep watch incase the owner of the cave comes back." He closed his eyes.
Rei took it as a hint that the conversation was over, and went to sleep.
==
Kai watch as the wood burned in the fire. He would glance back once and a while at them when Tyson's inane grumbling comes to ear.
"Mmm ... macaroni and cheese ..." he snorted as he pulled the blanket to cover him, leaving Rei bare. "Chicken ... pizza ... sardine ... peanut butter and tuna ... mmm ..." he rolled onto his side, facing away from the others.
Kai watched as the blanket was being pulled back and forth.
Rei would purr once, and grab the blanket to cover him. Then Tyson would do the same after reciting the entire Chinese menu. Max and Kenny slept on, oblivious to the happenings.
Kai shifted a little and moaned as the pain started coming back. I hate my life. He sighed and looked up as he heard Rei growl. On second thought ... I hate them.
He noticed when a bout of cold suddenly hit, he shivered as his hair stood on end.
He glanced over to where his teammates were sleeping, and grinned evilly.
==
The next day, at five o'clock, they all woke up sneezing and sniffling.
"Hey. Where's the blanket go?"
"No wonder everything was so cold last night."
"Guys, I had a terrible nightmare last night. I went to the fridge to get a snack, when suddenly a giant octopus ball came up and knocked me into the fridge and a flying fried chicken wing which teamed up with a bowl of spaghetti, shut the door and locked me in." Tyson shuddered at the memory, and hugged himself.
Rei laughed for a moment before choked on his laugh and sneezed on Kenny.
"Maybe the wind blew it away." Kenny reasoned.
"What?" Max became teary eyed. "My favourite blanket."
"I'm so cold." Tyson rubbed his nose.
This went on for a few minutes and none of them realized the absence of their captain. When they did, they automatically assumed that he had woken up early and gone for a walk.
But if they had ventured a few meters deeper into the cave, they would have found Kai, sleeping peacefully behind a boulder. Half the blanket covering his upper body, and the rest of the blanket having been bundled up and now acted as a cushy pillow for his sore buttock.
His face showed peacefulness, and for a moment, and smirk passed over his face.
==
They four remaining BladeBreakers waited for an half an hour before venturing out to look for their captain. They failed. It was only two hours later that Kai made his appearance, much to the dismay of his team.
The BladeBreakers continued on with their journey to the train station. Tyson bugged Kai as to his whereabouts; Max mourned the loss of his blanket. Rei stopped once near a puddle to look at his reflection and Kenny was still trying to get Dizzi back online.
They managed to reach the train station a few hours later, just in time to catch their train. Kai stopped at the entrance, being last to get on. He smirked and patted his left pant leg, where something was apparently being hidden, before getting on.
After all the hardships and pain, the BladeBreakers were finally on their way to the world championships.
And until this day, the four of them still wonder.
'What ever happened to that one blanket?'
End.