So, updating early as I'll be going off the grid here soon for the release of Kingdom Hearts 3. I'll update one more time the day I get my copy in the mail (sometime around the 28th to the 1st.) After that it'll just depend on how long it takes me to beat the game and come out of whatever hell it's gonna put me through.
As always, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, faved, and all that good stuff.
Season 1, Episode 14.
Kai gripped his arms and bit his tongue the whole bus ride home. Despite sitting himself at the back as far away from them as possible, their annoying voices carried to the back, praising themselves on their victory against the Blade Hunters. They finally arrived back to their accommodation. He let them go first and trailed behind to get a few moments of much needed peace before taking himself in with them. They'd gotten Ray on the futon and popped some pillows under his sprained ankle before they sat around him, continuing their ramblings in their post win high. He stood against the wall and could feel himself stewing, trying his best to keep the bubbling rage down to a simmer.
"We absolutely killed it!" Tyson screamed with a dopey toothy grin on his face, "Not that they were much of a threat... I mean, kudos to those guys for putting up a fight with plywood blades, but I sure hope the next round is a bit more of a challenge..." He gloated.
Kai's brow twitched as that one annoying voice in particular screeched in his ears like forks on a plate, and suddenly, the rage pot boiled over. Glad that Mr. Dickenson had left them to their own devices, he didn't need the old man getting in his way.
"I don't see that it matters who we're up against if you can't get your lazy ass out of bed in time to even show up!" He spat out viciously.
Everyone's heads snapped towards the boiling teen hiding away by himself, his face contorted with his anger. Ray felt his stomach drop, not another screaming match, could they go one day without him blowing his top at them? He sat back, he wasn't about to butt in this time. After all, Kai was right. His ankle was shot because Tyson didn't get up on time, so he let him get the brunt of it all, if he felt like he needed to jump in he would.
"Hey, we made it! I don't see what the big deal is here Kai." Tyson fought back.
He felt himself boil up more and walked over to the edge of the futon, towering over them, not able to control the volume on his voice and not wanting to anyway.
"The big deal is this is the second time you guys have nearly blown it for me! How many 'close calls' is it going to take before you pathetic excuse for humans start getting your act together!? Especially you! On top of coming in with seconds to spare, you being such a lazy sack of shit caused a player to get injured!"
The younger boys crowded back, falling around Ray like he would protect them. Ray heaved in a sigh, glancing at Kai and holding his stare. He really wasn't up for arguing with him, but he wanted him to know that yelling like he was wasn't the way to go about this. Tyson opened his mouth to speak then turned his attention on Ray and looked at his wrapped up ankle.
"I'm really sorry about that Ray..." He said apologetically, rubbing the back of his head.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Tyson!" He yelled before Ray had a chance to answer, "Its time you woke up! In more ways than one!"
"Well no need to scream in my ear about it man, I get it alright? I'll do better now, geeze. Can you be happy, even a little? We won, and you got to play! Why are you so uptight all the time?" Tyson fought back, placing his hands on his hips.
"Tyson." Ray said in a warning tone. "Kai is right." He sighed shaking his head, dammit he wanted to cut out his own tongue for even saying that.
Kai's next hurl of insults stuck in his throat as he got caught off guard… This was a first. He glanced at Ray and met his eyes telling him to tone it down. He hesitated. These chumps needed tearing into. Clearly. How else was he going to wrangle them in? He squared his shoulders.
"Of course I am..." He said snidely, "The sooner you start listening, the sooner we'll have a team capable of winning the championships. If you can't get out of bed, Tyson, then you'd better go to sleep earlier. Lights out at ten, even if it means 'tucking you in' myself..." He said sternly, but more calmly.
Max couldn't help snicker behind his hand at that last comment, while Tyson's cheeks flushed red. Ray was just thankful he didn't keep screaming, his ears were starting to hurt a little.
"If that's it then, can we go get something to eat? I'm starving." Tyson whined out, rubbing his stomach.
Kai growled in annoyance and turned on his heel, scarf swishing behind him as he walked out without bothering to answer him.
"Guess that's a yes, alright men to the dining hall!" He shouted, throwing a fist into the air as the other three clambered off the raised portion. Stopping at the door, turning around and looking at Ray.
"Oh... Forgot you can't walk... We'll bring you something though!"
"Thanks guys, have fun." Ray said, snuggling down onto his futon to rest.
It was quiet, too quiet now that everyone was gone. He waited a little bit, playing with the ends of his hair before dropping it onto his lap and over his shoulder, god he was bored. He had a book in his bag, but it was all the way over on the other side of the room. Did he dare try to get up and get it with a busted ankle? Of course he did. It was easy scooting himself to the end of the platform, reaching out and grabbing the table that sat in the middle of the room to steady himself, trying to balance his weight off his bad foot as he stood. He smiled at himself, quite proud that he made it off the bed when the door opened.
"Hey... Kai..." He said, a sloppy grin on his face as he froze.
Kai looked him up and down and narrowed his eyes. Why couldn't any of them be sensible!? "What do you need?" He asked bluntly, pointing back at the bed to tell him to go back.
Ray's smile didn't waver, just falling back onto the platform since he really hadn't made it that far. "There's a book in my bag…"
Kai let out a huff and scanned the floor, looking for his bag. When he spotted it, he bent down and grabbed it before lazily throwing it on the bed for him.
"Thanks..." Ray said, picking it up and scooting himself back on his futon as he propped his leg back up. "You feeling better?"
Kai scowled at him and ignored him as he stepped up and shoved a white take out container at him.
"What's this?" Ray asked, taking it from it and opening it to see it was full of food. He was a little lost for words, he wanted to thank him but his words got caught in his throat so he just smiled at him as he watched him sit at the table across from him with his own takeout container.
"Gotta eat, don't ya?" He replied dryly as he opened his own.
Ray rolled his eyes at the snippy comment, even when he was being nice he was still a jerk. "Guess so... What'd you get?" Ray asked, looking over and seeing they had something different.
He sighed. He couldn't even eat in peace. "Same as you."
Ray looked again, it didn't look like they had the same thing but maybe they did, he really couldn't see over the table that well and Kai's arm was in the way a little.
"Well thank you, you didn't have to." Ray said, breaking his chopsticks as he let the container rest over his legs, digging into the food quietly.
He tensed. Why he even did it, he wasn't sure... For the second time that day. "Hn."
Ray rolled his eyes, that damn noise again getting to him, he decided to ignore it and just eat in silence. For once it was nice being alone with him, without the others around Kai seemed less tense; as long as he kept his own mouth shut. They finished their meals, the sun starting to go down behind the hotel and Kai grabbed up their empty containers and threw them out in the waste basket by the door before grabbing his own book from his bag and crawled into his futon beside Ray's.
"Thank you, by the way." Ray said quietly, eyes scanning over his book in his hands.
"Mhm." Kai muttered before settling on his own bed with his own book. He tried to start reading, enjoying the quiet, but his eyes kept straying from the page to the bandaged ankle next to him. He ignored it and went back, trying to finish the sentence. He almost made it, but his eyes ran off again. He huffed to himself again.
"...What happened exactly?"
It took Ray a minute to register that Kai was talking to him, noticing that he was looking at his leg and he set his book down on his lap. "Well, we started our way to the stadium and caught a bus going up the mountain. It made it probably two or three miles before it stopped because of a backup... It went all the way around the mountain and there was no way we were going to make it waiting for them to clear the road of what ever happened so I suggested that we climb the side instead." He explained looking like he regretted ever suggesting it.
"Half way up this boulder came out of nowhere rolling at us, I pushed Tyson out of the way and when I did I slipped and twisted it."
Kai turned his head to listen and felt his respect level go up, ever so slightly... At least he took some initiative, even if it did backfire. Tyson would have probably still been out there left to his own devices.
"...Should have let it squash him."
"That's not nice." Ray said, giving him a disproving look.
Kai let a small smirk crack as his eyes were back on his book, licking his thumb and turning the page. "Take a joke, Ray."
"I would, if you were better at telling them." Ray smirked back.
"Hn." He huffed out in a slight laugh.
"Do you not realize you do that?" Ray asked, trying hard not to smile.
Kai bothered to turn his head and arched a brow. "Do what?"
"The 'hn' thing you do... Obviously you don't if you had to ask though."
Kai blinked. This was the second time he'd brought that up. He wasn't doing shit! He frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about. But too bad if it bothers you."
Ray shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sure I'll get used to it... What're you reading?" He asked, eyeing Kai's book.
"A book."
Ray reached out and smacked him in the arm. "Can you be nice for once?"
Kai startled, not expecting the slap. What now!? He brought him dinner, didn't he!?
"Don't ask stupid questions, then."
Ray rolled his eyes, quickly snatching Kai's book from his hold in almost a blur and held it away from him. "Stop being such a dick." He smirked.
Kai went wide eyed as his possession was snatched from his hands and glared at him. He didn't like people touching his things.
"Give it back..."
"Only if you say please." Ray said as his smirk widened, showing off his fangs.
Kai glared daggers. No one toyed with him like this. He would just wrestle it off him, but then he'd be the asshole that hurt his ankle more.
"That's not how robbery works... Now give it back."
"It's not stealing if I give it back, but all you have to do is be nice and say please." Ray teased, ignoring the hardened glare he was getting. His own golden eyes gleaming mischievously at his captain, the guy really needed to lighten up.
"Take a joke, Kai."
His glare softened in intensity but remained strong. "...I would, if you were better at telling them."
Ray's smirk turned into a full blown smile, fighting the urge to laugh. "I'm actually pretty great at them, thank you. Now, do you want this back or not?" Ray asked, waving the book around in the air.
He felt himself getting more riled up. Not seeing the funny side. No, he wasn't going to say 'please' or beg.
"Fine. Keep it." He huffed as he folded his arms. He wasn't going to let this asshole belittle him.
Ray frowned, the dude really needed to lighten up a little. He shrugged his shoulders, opening the book to look at it. It was written in a different language that he didn't recognize, well there went that.. He didn't let it stop him from staring though, pretending to read it as he could see Kai shifting uncomfortably beside him with his arms over his chest as if it didn't bother him. Kai shifted hard as he saw Ray dare to open it and panicked. The last thing he needed was for any of them to know anything personal about him.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing!?" He snapped as he leaned over and tried to snatch it back out his hand.
Ray shifted just out of his reach, with his nose still stuck in the book. "Nuh uh, that's not how you say please." Ray teased again, smirking behind the book.
Kai let out a growl. He'd had enough of this and needed it back before he asked questions. He pushed himself on to his knees, turning to face him, and grabbed his shoulder before reaching for it again. Ray jumped at the sudden touch and fell over on his left side, Kai coming down with him as he held the book above his head away from Kai's reach as a laugh erupted from his throat.
"C'mon, I promise to give it back if you just say please."
"I'm not fuckin' around! Give it back or you'll have more than your ankle to worry about!" He growled as he pinned Ray's shoulder and tried to reach over Ray's head.
Ray could only laugh at him, his face spelled murder but he didn't care, this was too much fun. "Just say please." He said again through his laughter, the book dangling between his fingers as he stretched his arm out as far as he could keep it from Kai's reach.
"To get my own stuff back!? Dream on, cat-boy!" He hissed through grit teeth as he struggled to grab it.
Ray went to speak again when the door to their room slid open and they both paused, Ray pinned below him and he had to stretch his neck to see the others standing there staring at them.
"Whoa, guess we should have come back a bit later. Sorry guys." Tyson said, wiggling his eyebrows at them and Ray felt his face burn.
Kai snapped his head up and felt his heart stop. He couldn't afford to have them see him like...THIS! He scuffled off Ray, snatching his book back harshly before straightening himself up.
"What time do you call this!?" He barked at them, holding his vicious look he'd been giving Ray.
"What? There was a long line to get the food." Tyson barked back, holding out a container for Ray. "Got you some by the way." He said, winking at Ray and Ray's face flushed redder.
"I… I already ate..." Ray said, pushing himself up properly to sit, feeling awkward now. Kai might not have enjoyed his teasing but he was having fun and the others just had to come in and ruin it.
"Ohhhh, so you already got the main course?" Tyson said suggestively, his eyebrows wiggling again as Max held back a laugh behind his hand as Kenny looked scared for Tyson's life as Kai shot daggers at them.
Kai felt his face warm up and stormed towards him, raising his hand and clobbering him round the head with his book.
"I said bed at ten and I meant it! Get moving!"
"OW!" Tyson squeaked, rubbing the top of his head as he glared back at his captain before marching into the room and sat the container on the table. "Well what about this? We can't let it go to waste."
Max and Kenny rolled their eyes, the real reason they had come back late was because Tyson had eaten almost the entire place bare, but they weren't going to tell on him.
"Just hurry up and eat it and brush your teeth, it's late. You guys knew what time to be back, so don't start giving lip." Ray barked out at him causing Tyson to look at him with wide eyes, what was this? It was like mommy and daddy jumping down his throat.
"If we had come back sooner I'm afraid of what we would have walked in on." Tyson said back in a sarcastic voice.
"Grow up!" Kai yelled with an ever so slight crack in his voice as he thwacked him again.
"Yeah Tyson, we all know Ray has a thing for Mariah." Max piped up and Ray's ears turned pink along with the rest of his face.
"Wh-WHAT?! I do not! Now will you two stop being dumb and just get to bed already?" Ray huffed, why did they feel the need to start making fun of them?
"Ohhhh sure you don't." Tyson said, a wide grin on his face as he dangled a noodle between his chopsticks.
"Mariah and Ray sitting in a tree." Max sang out between laughs and Ray groaned, putting his face into the palm of his hand.
"Kai... Kill them, please..."
Kai smirked. Finally. He got it. He cracked his knuckles. "My pleasure..."
Tyson and Max gave each other looks of pure terror and then back to Kai. Tyson dropped his chopsticks and ran towards the bathroom, dragging Max with him.
"Right, brush our teeth, then in bed. We got it!" He shouted as he ran away, slamming the door behind them and locking it.
"And you better hurry! I want to take a shower!" Ray called after them, smirking as he heard Tyson yell back 'yes mom!' at him. Ray turned his attention to Kai, looking quite pleased that they had gotten the two to get moving and he smiled at him.
Kai's eyes narrowed at him as he caught the smile. After that childish and... Gross play Tyson just gave them, he thought better than to be overly friendly. He walked to Ray and snatched his own book off him and lazily slid it along the floor across the room.
"Go get it..."
Ray's mouth dropped, that was low. He reached out and knocked Kai's book out of his hand, watching it as it hit the floor. "Asshole." He bit out.
He smirked at him and bent down to pick it up again, going to his bag and burying it to the bottom... For some reason he didn't feel like reading it anymore. Ray watched him go, the other two coming out of the bathroom and quickly jumping under their covers as if it would save them from Kai's wrath.
Ray sighed as he started to scoot himself towards the end of the platform, doing exactly what Kai had said to do. He wobbled a little, getting a good balance as he used the table to support his weight off his bad leg until he got to where his book sat on the ground. He picked it up and chucked it at Kai's head, it unfortunately missed his intended target, hitting the wall beside his head and falling beside him.
Kai didn't so much as flinch. Instead, his eyes twinkled. "I would have got it for you... If you'd have said please."
"Hn, guess your bad attitude is rubbing off on me." Ray said with a smirk.
Kai frowned slightly, getting the dig at the apparent 'noise' he made… He did not sound like that.
"Betchya that's not the only thing that got rubbed off." Tyson whispered to Max under his covers.
Kai snapped and grabbed his pillow before climbing over them and pressing it over Tyson's face. Tyson began to struggle, arms flailing as Max was thrown into a fit of hysterics, obviously not ready to jump in to save him.
"Ray, help!" Came Tyson's muffled cries as Kai pushed the pillow down onto his face harder.
"No can do Ty, you brought that one on yourself." Ray said, pushing himself off the table to head for the bathroom to take the shower he desperately needed. "Don't forget to let him breathe a little Kai, we do need him for the tournament." He said once he reached the bathroom door.
The second Ray left, Kai pulled the pillow off and grabbed Tyson by the front of his shirt, lifting him up a little, eyes blazing. "...Call me a fag again, I dare you..."
Tyson could only swallow hard as he stared back, if he hadn't already used the bathroom he would have wet himself. Max reached out, carefully putting a hand on Kai's arm.
"I don't think that's what Tyson was saying, you know how he is. He's got too big of eyes and a bigger mouth with a small brain." Tyson didn't even have it in him to argue with his friend, just nodding his head frantically as if he agreed.
"Also, the politically correct term is homosexual." Kenny piped up on the other side of Tyson's bed.
Kai's eyes shot to the little nerd. "Whatever you wanna call it... I'll break your face if you call me one again, got it?"
Kenny grabbed up his pillow, hiding behind it as he nodded. Max and Tyson following suit, not really understanding what his problem was. Kai felt satisfied he'd made his point clear at the terrified looks on all their faces. That was more like it... He roughly shoved Tyson back down and climbed off him before storming outside. He didn't want to be in the same room as them right this second.
The three boys all looked to one another before shrugging their shoulders, throwing their covers back over themselves around their shoulders as they settled down for the night. The moment their eyes closed they were out. Ray came limping out of the bathroom in a towel, his hair falling around his back as he hadn't bothered to wrap it again; he'd fight with it in the morning. Not having taken his clothes with him before he went into the shower he went to his bag and dug through it for a pair of soft pants and a shirt. Once he finished fighting to get himself dressed he realized Kai wasn't in his bed and he huffed out a sigh, having heard the commotion when he had gone into the bathroom. He limped towards the door, getting better at it, and slid it open to find Kai standing right outside, leaning against the fencing that separated their room from the courtyard.
"You okay?" He asked, limping up to stand beside him. Leaning against the railing, to keep his weight off his leg.
He snapped his head around. "Fine! You shouldn't be walking on that if you don't wanna make it worse." He snapped,
"You're not fine, so don't lie to me." Ray snapped back, "It's fine, it doesn't even hurt anymore."
He rolled his eyes and let out an irritated growl. "My only problem is you bunch of clowns!"
"You shouldn't let them get under your skin, they're just kids... And so are you." He reminded. "I'm sorry though, I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to embarrass you." He apologized, even if he had only been playing with him earlier he hadn't wanted him to feel like that.
Kai's eyes burned as he glowered at him. "Oh great! I'm as gay as a maypole and a child!"
"So what?" Ray asked, looking unfazed by the outburst.
He got even more riled up. "I'm not either! You all need to watch your god damn mouths!"
"I didn't say you were, but even if you were, what would it matter?" Ray asked as he flicked his wrist. "As long as you can blade and win a match we shouldn't care what anyone's sexual preference is on this team."
He clenched his fists. "It doesn't! I couldn't care less about any of you, especially that kind of crap! I'm just tired of not getting any respect around here!"
Ray crossed his arms over his chest, he could tell it did bother him but he felt like it was just best to drop the subject for now. "Have you given them a reason to respect you?" He asked.
His eyes darkened. "I'm the god damn captain!"
"Just because you're put in a position of power doesn't mean you automatically get respect for it, you have to earn it." Ray said, not believing he really needed to spell it out for him.
"Pfft! Bullshit! That's not how this works, princess!"
Ray narrowed his eyes at him. "Yes, it is. You know that but you're too stubborn to admit it. Relax a little, quit hiding in the shadows and show them that you do care to be a part of this team. I know you hate it, for whatever reason, but you agreed to it."
Kai scoffed. "I did not agree to this! I agreed to lead the team, that's exactly what I'm trying to do, but you're all too busy acting like amateurs and like this is some kind of bonding trip to notice! Get your heads in the game and maybe, maybe, I won't have to be so hard on you all!"
"Because we are amateurs when it comes to a world tour. This is our first time, give us some slack." Ray said dully.
"Slack!? You guys have almost had us knocked out twice and you expect me to pat you on the back and give you all gold stars!?"
Ray rolled his eyes. "No, I don't. I expect you to analyze our faults and give us feedback to help us learn what to do and not do for the next match without screaming at us every damn time." Ray answered, his voice getting colder as he felt his anger bubbling up. "Were you perfect through your first world tour? Have you always been able to blade perfectly? And if you dare say 'yes' I'll smack you in the face for lying. So, yes. Give us some slack and help us be better bladers as per your job, captain." He sneered out.
Kai went quiet for a second, looking to be in thought. It wasn't the threat of being hit that caused him to pause, but the earliest memory he had of ever holding a blade was only a few years ago and he was already pretty good at it. He squared up to him. He was sick of this constant battle between them.
"That's exactly what I'm doing. You know how I got this good? I had some self-discipline. I got my ass out of bed on time. I got to the stadium on time. I practiced constantly. Not getting distracted. I learned from my own damn mistakes, because I have fuckin' eyes. I'm not here to hold your hands. I expect you to all stop being so damn useless and listen to me and that's final. Got a problem with that, so be it! But don't come crying to me when you get trashed and you realize it's your own damn fault!"
"And you don't think our opponents have done the same? The closer we get to the end the harder it's going to be Kai. We can't win them all, specially not with how you want to run this shit show. You want their respect then earn it, because right now both you and I know you don't have it. If you haven't noticed I'm willing to stand beside you, but I won't when you're like this." Ray said as he stood his ground, the guy liked to try and throw his weight around but he wasn't going to let it faze him.
"I tried it your way, Ray! That little ape in there could have cost us everything because he couldn't wake up like a toddler! I wanted to beat him in to next week but instead made him go to bed earlier and he still didn't listen!" He yelled back.
"He's asleep now, and I'll make sure he gets up on time for the rest of the trip. Okay? You can only do so much Kai, you're just one person... I'll do what I can, if you want me to help that is."
He scoffed. "I don't need your help! I need you all to practice basic common sense!"
Ray held his hands up, "Okay. Fine. Have it your way." He sighed.
"Hn..." He huffed as he folded his arms. God he hated them all so badly, he was tempted to quit...
Ray looked at him for a moment before he ran a hand through his hair. "Should get to bed ourselves, I left some hot water if you wanted to shower though." He said, taking his leave for the door limping towards it.
Kai watched him go and stayed outside a little longer. He doubted there was quite enough hot water to scrub off the despair...