Three days later, Kai had arrived in a small town that he didn't even bother remembering the name of. Of course, as long as he had been in New York, it had been important, if he was ever going to find Tala. But now that he was in the town that the redhead had moved to, more important thoughts filled his mind. For instance, how was he going to find out where his childhood friend lived? It wasn't like Tala had given him an address or anything. If he had, then Kai would have been here years ago.

He didn't even know the surname of the family that had adopted Tala. If he had had that information, then everything would have been a lot easier. But there were thousands of citizens here, and Tala could live among any of them. Kai swallowed, trying to gather his thoughts. He needed to focus.

He remembered that the man who came to pick up Tala had driven a brand new car. Expensive as hell. He had even had a personal driver. So they had to be rich. That would narrow the search a little. Tala had probably kept his surname too. Just to state and example of… something. The redhead had always loved that kind of thing. Being everything but ordinary, saying it was to state and example, even though no one could understand why.

Kai smiled as he sat down by a table in an outdoor café. Sometimes he was sure that he knew Tala better than the redhead did himself.

A waitress made her way over to his table with a sweet smile glued to her face. Kai studied her closely. She couldn't be older than twenty. She didn't look half bad either, with red hair put up in a pony tail, dark brown eyes, and pale, flawless skin. "Would you like to order something, sir?" she asked politely, and Kai noticed her slight blush when he smiled at her.

"I'll have a coffee," he said warmly, bringing a sincere smile to the girl's lips.

"How would you like your coffee? Milk or sugar?"

"None. I'll have it black."

The girl bowed slightly, before returning into the café to get his order. Kai smiled to himself, blowing a dark brown bang away from his face. He couldn't afford hair dye after he was thrown out of the orphanage. It was sad, though. He had started dying his hair when he was just a little kid, and he had gotten so used to the dual toned hair that it felt like a part of him.

The girl soon came back with a cup of coffee. Kai was about to pay, but she shook her head, smiling. "This one's on the house," she said, receiving a smile from the eighteen-year-old. The waitress turned to leave, but she stopped when Kai spoke.

"Wait," he said, and the girl turned around, a questioning look in her brown eyes. "I was wondering if you could help me with something." He reached in his pocket for something, and the girl moved closer to him. He finally pulled out a worn-out picture. "I'm looking for an old friend of mine," he said quietly, handing over the old picture of Tala. "I know he moved here a few years ago. His name's Tala Ivanov."

A confused smile appeared on the girl's lips. "Sure, I'll help you. He goes to my old school. If you can spare a moment, then I'll take you to his house. My shift is over in ten minutes."

"Thanks…" Kai frowned slightly. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't," the waitress smiled. "It's Salima."

Kai returned the smile. "Thanks, Salima."

---

Tala had just gotten home from school, and he was sitting by the kitchen table with that spoiled brat of a brother he had. Tyson was stuffing his face with some cereal that consisted of nothing more than sugar and preservatives. The redhead growled quietly, making the younger boy look up.

"You want some?" he asked, with his mouth full of food. Tala shook his head heavily. He would give anything to be out with Bryan or Hilary instead of being stuck with Tyson. He was supposed to help his adoptive brother with his homework, but the bluenette didn't seem to be especially preoccupied about the English assignment.

"Seriously, Tyson, if you don't intend to do anything but watching cartoons and stuffing your face with cereal, I really don't see the point in sitting here, when I have a pile of homework of my own."

Tyson's eyebrows furrowed, as he focused his dark, brown eyes on the redhead. "I thought you were just going to do them for me," he mumbled, before he took another mouthful of the cereal.

Tala rolled his eyes, and was about to go up to his room to start on his homework, when he heard the doorbell ring, and he suddenly stood as frozen. The butler opened the door, as always, and after a few minutes, the man stood in the doorway, his colorless eyes focused on the redhead.

"There is a visitor for you," he said quietly, and gestured for Tala to follow him. And so he did; out of the kitchen, along two hallways, before they were finally in the entrance hall, where the door was left open with a boy with long, brown hair standing in the doorway.

"Hi," the boy said silently. His eyes were focused on the tips of his shoes, so Tala wasn't able to tell the color of them. When the boy finally looked up, though, his eyes were a dark shade of red.

Tala almost didn't believe his own eyes. "Kai?" he whispered. The boy nodded. "I didn't recognize you," the redhead muttered. "What happened to your hair?"

Kai shrugged his shoulders. "Couldn't afford hair dye."

"You shouldn't have come here."

"I had to." Kai frowned. "I turned eighteen long ago. I was thrown out of the orphanage without anywhere to go. I had to see you."

Tala's heart skip a beat. What? Did Kai really think he had the right to come here, after everything he had done? Well, he didn't! Tala had a life now. Who did Kai think he was, to come and ruin everything?

"Who is this?" a familiar voice sounded from behind Tala. The redhead spun around, staring at Bruce Granger, his adoptive father. The dark-haired man took a step towards the door, looking at Kai with curiosity in his eyes.

"Um, Dad, this is Kai Hiwatari, some kid from the orphanage where I used to live," Tala mumbled, annoyed when he noticed that his father's interest in Kai only grew bigger by being told that the boy was an orphan.

"I'm sorry if you think I'm intruding, but I've just turned eighteen, and I didn't have anywhere to go, so…" Kai ended the sentence, letting the thought of him not having anywhere to go linger in the air. Bruce's eyes grew wider, and Tala held a hand up to his forehead. This definitely wasn't good.

"That's terrible!" the dark-haired man exclaimed. "What the hell do you think you're doing out there in the cold? Get in here, you idiot. You're more than welcome to live with us, Kai."

"Thank you, Mr… Sorry, I didn't quite catch your name." Kai looked down at his shoe tips, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Bruce Granger," Tala's adoptive father replied. "Just call me Bruce."

Kai nodded, and stepped inside when Bruce gestured for him to do so. Tala was burning with rage. How could this happen? The part of his life that included Kai, or anyone from the orphanage for that sake, was over! How could Kai just come here and tear all that apart? He had put everything behind him to come and live with the Grangers, and now Kai was… intruding. Intruding his perfect, happy world, that was so much better than the life in the orphanage, in every single way.

"We have a spare room, anyway," the man said friendly. "Let me take you there. You come too, Yuriy." With that, he started walking, along hallway after hallway, with Kai and Tala behind him, sending each other glances. Kai's were soft and begging forgiveness, and Tala's were glares that were no less than deadly.

"Here it is," Bruce finally said, stopping in front of a door. "It's just across the hall from Yuriy's room, so you won't be lonely." The man received a nod from Kai, who in his turn received another glare. Not that Bruce noticed. "God, Kai don't you have any things? You know, clothes or something?" he suddenly asked, when he noticed that Kai's only belongings were the clothes he was wearing. Kai shook his head silently. Bruce frowned. "I'll let Hiro take you out shopping for clothes later. And we have to get you enrolled to school as well. Well, there's no need to wear that old shirt for any longer. You can borrow a T-shirt from Yuriy for now." Kai nodded again, following Tala into the redhead's own room.

As soon as the door was closed, Tala turned towards Kai, his blue eyes burning with rage. "What the fuck are you doing here? When I cut all the contact with you, I meant for it to stay that way. I never wanted to see that stupid face of yours again! So tell me Kai, why didn't you understand that?"

"Oh, I understood well enough," Kai replied. "But I didn't want to give you up that easily. You're my entire life, and I won't let you go just because of… of… of whatever the fuck it was I did! Damn, Tala, when you left, you might as well just have killed me."

Tala's eyebrows narrowed. "Why?"

"Because then I had no one to get me through all the pain that every day brought." Kai sighed, studying his shoe tips again. "Not that I expected you to care. No one else did. But I wanted you to fucking care, Tala!"

The redhead didn't know what to say, so he quickly turned away from Kai and pulled a black T-shirt out of his closet. "Here," he mumbled, throwing it at the red-eyed male. Kai nodded, muttering a faint 'thanks', before pulling off the shirt he had been wearing.

Tala ended up staring in shock when Kai's chest and abdomen were uncovered. One single, pink scar stretched from just between his nipples, straight down to his waist. It only took a turn around his belly button, but except for that, the scar went in a straight line.

"What happened?" he whispered, tears emerging in the corners of his dull blue eyes.

Kai shrugged his shoulders, like he did every time Tala asked that question. "I think I've told you more than enough times, Tala."

The redhead swallowed. "Your parents did this to you?"

"The scar? Indirectly, yes." Kai received a confused glance from Tala, and continued, "My dad got drunk as usual, and decided to beat me up, so he went crazy with a knife. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I had to undergo surgery."

Tala listen with wide eyes as Kai told his story. Just like before. When he was finished, they stood in silence for a while, and Tala suddenly felt warm tears running down his cheeks. Kai gave him a questioning glance.

"Why are you crying?" he asked tonelessly. "It's not like you care, or anything."

"I… I don't want to care," the redhead whispered. "I want to hate you. Why can't I fucking hate you?!"

"How should I know? I'm not you." With that, Kai walked out of the room, leaving Tala crying to himself.

---

Kai hadn't expected it to turn out this way. He had planned on finding Tala, burst out with his feelings, and then go kill himself or something. It wasn't like he had anywhere to go, after all.

What he had not planned, was for Tala's adoptive father to take him in. But of course, he wasn't going to let go of the chance to be friends with Tala again. He only had to regain the redhead's trust, which really couldn't be that hard. They had become like brothers, even after the horrible first impression Kai had made. Attacking anyone who entered the room you were in didn't exactly make them trust you. But Tala had trusted him. He would trust him again.

By the way, what was the thing with Bruce calling Tala Yuriy? His name was Tala, right? Or was that just some weird nickname he came up with? Now that he thought about it, Kai had never talked to anyone about Tala, so he wouldn't know what other people called him. All he knew was that the redhead had introduced himself as Tala when they met.

"Damn that redheaded brat," Kai muttered. "I hope he rots in hell."

That wasn't true, though. He would never wish for anything bad to happen to Tala. The redhead was the one person that he cared about, cherished, treasured… loved. How he had ever let Tala slip away, Kai just couldn't bring himself to understand.

But he was going to make up for it. He was going to catch up with the five years that he had missed out on. He was going to make Tala love him again.

Okay, so, vacation time = lots of update-time. Plus, I just love this story.

Yay, I'm so happy! Tala doesn't actually hate Kai! He just really, really dislikes him. But he still cares! That's so sweet. -wipes away tears- Anyway, I'll stop babbling, and let you guys do the reviewing. Oh, and in case I forgot to mention, please review. -angel face-