Morning came and Rei was welcomed by a blinding ray of light. Looking to his side, he noticed Kai was already out of bed. He dragged himself to the washroom and washed up. He then searched around the cabin to realize that other than Kai everyone was asleep. Looking through every corner, Kai was nowhere to be found, so Rei decided to go outside and see if he was by the lake. Lo and behold, there he was.
"You're up early this morning." Rei greeted him with a smile.
"Mm." Kai replied. He was seated by the shore staring out onto the lake with that cliché lost look. "As are you."
"I guess so." Rei gave a little chuckle before joining Kai by the shore. "Anything wrong?" Kai gave him a concerned look.
"Why would you think that?" He looked back out onto the water.
"Ah, you just being you I guess." Rei commented with a laugh. Kai didn't look pleased with his reasoning, but didn't bother saying anything about it. Just then a bird flew in, startling Rei. The pure white bird then perched on Kai's outstretched finger. Rei looked on mesmerized at the sight before him. A gentle, peaceful little bird was perching on Kai's finger. Kai's.
"Just me being me." Kai replied Rei's shocked expression. Rei calmly collected himself after he had been found out.
"Hehe..." Rei laughed awkwardly. The bird took flight once again as Tyson shouted from inside the cabin.
"Where are they?" Tyson shouted at the top of his lungs. He quickly ran outside, finding the two sitting by the shore. "Found them." His frantic behaviour soon turned back to his hyper-active self. Max peeped out from behind him.
"I told you. You didn't need to worry at all." Max said matter-of-factly. "How's breakfast sound though you guys?" Rei nodded in response. Tyson and Max returned indoors leaving the other two still outside.
"I guess you're still a mystery." Rei told him getting up. He brushed off his pants and started for the door.
"A mystery that can be simply unravelled." Kai replied walking past Rei. He disappeared into the cabin.
"He got the last word again." Rei commented with a chuckle. He too, went into the cabin.
They soon finished up with breakfast talking heartily amongst each other. Kai was of course at the side seemingly locked in his own world while the others enjoyed their conversation.
"Great cook, Kenny." Tyson complimented him. He patted his stomach, satisfied at his now finished meal. Max just nodded quietly in agreement.
"Thanks you guys, but it wasn't as great as Max's dinner the night before." Kenny told them shyly.
"No worry, Chief. It was still good!" Max exclaimed. This got the three of them into high spirits.
"So what's on the schedule today?" Tyson asked. The five started thinking about their next move. Max suddenly ran into his room, leaving the others dumbfounded at the table. He soon returned soccer ball at hand. "Yeah! That's the idea, Max!"
"Hehe. I brought it with me just in case we needed something to do." Max explained. He started bouncing the ball back and forth between his hands. "Now who's up for a game?" Everyone raised their hands high up except for the silent grump. The four piled out onto the field of grass in front of the cottage. Kai slowly followed from behind. Instead of joining them on the field, he made himself comfortable by leaning against the outside of the cabin.
"So how do you want to play it? Teams? Or should we do a free-for-all with one goalie?" Max questioned. The four thought it out and came to the conclusion that they should play with teams. "I call Tyson!" The two ran onto the far end of the field, laughing away.
"Then it's you and me, Kenny." Rei told him. They bumped arms before going into the forest to grab some goal posts. The other team did the same, and both returned with objects in hand. They placed them down the same width apart.
"You guys ready?" Tyson yelled.
"Kenny, do you want to be goalie?" Rei asked him.
"Sure thing. I wouldn't be too good at running around anyways." Kenny answered slightly embarrassed. "I wished I was better at all this physical stuff."
"No worries!" Rei told him. "We're ready, Tyson!" The other team had Tyson in the goal and Max on offense. The two met in the centre of the field.
Max dropped the ball in front of him. Despite Max having the upper hand of having the ball, Rei stole it quickly and raced for the goal. Max wasn't far behind, however. He ran his hardest and took the ball from his opponent. He then ran the opposite way holding his arms out wide to protect his possession. Kenny was frantic in his position pacing back and forth praying that the ball wouldn't hit him in the face. Kick. Off the ball went towards Kenny. The ball came closer and closer and closer, until it his Kenny square in the face. They ran to him worried.
"Kenny! Kenny!" Tyson shouted shaking the boy in his hands. "Kenny!"
"I think... we should take him inside." Max suggested. Kenny was carried in and placed on the sofa.
"One point for us!" Tyson exclaimed lifting a finger into the air. "Best three out of five!"
"But I'm down one teammate, that's not fair." Rei complained.
"I guess I could play a round." Kai said from the doorway. They looked at him suspiciously.
"On what terms?" Tyson questioned, cautiously walking towards him.
"None. Do you want to or no?"
Max and Tyson cheered as they left for the field once more.
"Kai do you want..."
"Stay goalie, I'll be offense." Kai told him. Kai headed for the centre of the field, while Rei slowly made his way to the goal.
Max dropped the ball once more and was quickly outplayed by Kai's quick reflexes. He led the ball down the field before kicking it as hard as he could. The ball went straight through the goal posts and burned a hole in the tree behind Tyson.
"This game has gotten... dangerous." Tyson muttered shivering. After he calmed down a bit, he pulled the ball out of the trunk and threw it back to Max.
The game started again with Max unhanding the ball in the centre of the field. Kai took the ball once more only this time, he was quickly stolen from. Max hurried to the opposite side of the field. Scared of the aggressive aura behind him, he kicked the ball hard not caring too much for the accuracy. In a matter of seconds, the second victim felt the wrath of a ball to the face.
"Rei! Rei!" Tyson shouted running towards him. "Rei! Speak to me, Rei!" He fell to the ground, his eyes spiralling. Kai sighed and headed towards the incapacitated player.
"I'm so sorry Rei! Kenny, Rei! I'm so sorry!" Max mumbled between heaves of his chest. The sorry tears spilled down his cheeks like waterfalls. "Kenny, Rei! I didn't mean to!"
"We know, we know. Calm down, Maxy." Tyson reassured him.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Kai once again picked Rei up and carried him into the house. He carefully dropped the boy on his bed before sitting on his own.
"I'll take care of him... It was my fault..." Max told him from the doorway.
"It's fine. I'll do it." Kai said.
"Oh... okay." Max murmured. He left the room and went back into the living room where Tyson continued to comfort him.
Kai pulled out a chair that was in the room and sat himself next to Rei. Slowly, laughter erupted in him, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud. Hit in the face. Really, Rei? He made sure that he didn't laugh so that the others could hear. After laughing for a minute straight, he slowed down. In the face...
An hour passed, and Rei didn't wake up. Kai was growing more tired by the minute. The other two outside had calmed down and decided to play around a little more outside. "Wake up..." Kai muttered annoyed. He yawned and slowly his eyes felt droopy. He slowly succumbed to sleep. No longer in control of his body, it fell forward onto Rei's bed. Tired, he didn't awaken to the soft fall.
When Rei woke up, the sun was already setting. Was I really out for that long? When he looked down, he gasped in shock. Kai was peacefully sleeping at the edge of his bed. He was even snoring softly. Since Kai's face was masked in his long hair, Rei pushed it to the side. Handsome... Rei shook his head furiously. He slowly got up and out of bed. Moving into the living room, he noticed Kenny was still quietly sleeping on the couch. Tyson and Max had gone to sleep as well. They were probably tired from the day's workout. He decided to tip-toe out of the cabin and take a seat outside. The sun was setting over the horizon. Somehow, the natural beauty of the scenery made the sun seem even more magical than usual. He took a deep breath and threw his head back. He closed his eyes as he bathed in the sunlight. When he re-opened his eyes, a familiar face came into view.
"Woah." Rei threw his body forward, startled. "What are you doing?"
"Haha, nothing." Kai replied taking a seat next to him. "It's your own fault for spacing out." He looked to his side meeting eyes with the yellow-eyed boy. "Sunsets are supposed to be romantic, huh?"
"Well, y-yeah..." Rei stuttered. He pulled his eyes away and looked towards the water. He felt an arm fall on his shoulders.
"You've become so worrisome." Kai told him. "I thought you were stronger than that."
"How about I kick a ball in your face?" Rei asked him jokingly. They laughed when they tried to picture it. "I didn't know you laugh too."
"Seems like you don't know much about me then, huh?" Rei stayed silent at his comment. "That's ok. You can learn more... if you want." He carefully pulled his arm away and brushed himself off as he stood up. "Let's wake them up. I'm hungry."
"Okay." Rei replied happily. As Rei looked at Kai's moving back, he couldn't help but feel his heart beat just a little faster.
