Show me the meaning
By EpitomeOfMisery
Chapter II: Christmas lights
Max reached out for the mayonnaise bottle and squirted it over his bowl of noodles, smiling at his father opposite him.
"So Max, excited about Christmas?" Mr Tate asked.
"You bet. I can't wait. Especially since mum is coming home tomorrow, I'm so glad she comes to see us at Christmas." Max replied, spooning noodles into his mouth.
"I am too, Maxy. So what are all your friends doing for Christmas?" His father said.
Max put down his chopsticks, wiping his mouth. "Well, Tyson's staying at home with his Grandpa and Hiro, Ray's going back to his village for a while with the White Tigers, Kenny's at home and so is Hillary."
"What about that mysterious lad, Kai?"
Max blinked. "Oh, I don't know, actually. He hasn't said a thing about what he's doing for Christmas." A thoughtful look crossed his face. "I wonder who he's spending it with? His Grandfather's in jail and he doesn't have any other family that we know about."
"I'm sure there's someone there for him." Mr Tate said, noticing Max's saddened expression.
"Yeah." Max muttered. "You're right, dad."
It was a cold night and it was snowing even more. Kai pulled his thin blanket right up and over him, curling up against the icy winds that wormed their way into his so-called home.
Dranzer glowed a warm red, warming him so he managed to drift off into a light sleep.
Max sat at the desk by the window in his bedroom, staring out thoughtfully. His eyes shifted to the big picture on his wall, the one of all the G revolutions. He stared at the tall figure of Kai, his arms folded, he stood slightly away from the others, looking a little detached.
He remembered what his father had said, that he was sure there was someone there for him. But Max couldn't help thinking who. Christmas was a time to spend with family, but what family did Kai have?
He had no one.
What if he's spending Christmas alone? Max thought. He found the thought so sad he started thinking that it couldn't be true. No one can be alone on Christmas.
He would see Kai tomorrow morning, they had all planned to meet up at Tyson's house. Then Max was going to go and meet his mum at the airport. He'd ask Kai tomorrow what his Christmas plans were.
Sighing, he stood up and got ready for bed.
The morning of the twenty first of December was cold and windy. When the rest of the team arrived at Tyson's house they found him and Daichi not even up yet.
"TYSON! DAICHI! GET UP! INCASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED YOU HAVE GUESTS!" Hillary yelled, successfully waking both boys up.
"What… oh, hi guys, what's up?" Tyson mumbled, still half asleep.
"Tyson, we arranged to meet here at ten. It's not very good hospitality for your guests to arrive while you are still sleeping." Hillary lectured.
"Okay, okay, sorry. I'm up already."
"You're such a lazy pig, Tyson." Daichi grinned.
"HEY! You were sleeping too!" Tyson yelled, raising his fist in anger.
"Tyson, stop yelling and get dressed!" Hillary barked, scaring them both so much they were dressed in ten seconds.
"Right." Kenny said. "Now we're all up and dressed, what shall we do?"
"I thought maybe we could play some Christmas games." Max suggested. "Or make Christmas cards to send to all the other teams."
"That sounds like a cool idea to me!" Tyson said as the others, minus Kai, nodded.
Tyson got out a load of coloured paper, glue and scissors from the cupboard and they all started cutting and sticking.
Kai sat silently away from everyone, of course not joining in the fun. Max glanced at him with a slightly concerned expression. He stood up and made his way over to the anti-social Russian.
"Hey Kai."
Kai opened an eye at the American. "Hn."
"Don't you want to make Christmas cards with us?" Max asked.
"Not really. What's the point?" Kai replied, closing his eyes again.
"Well there's more thought in it if you send homemade Christmas cards and most of all its fun." Max tried.
"Well sorry, but I don't do Christmas cards."
Max raised a hand to his blond head. "Oh… well you can help me make mine if you like."
Kai blinked at him. What's the point? It's not like anyone sends me anything for Christmas. He thought, turning away.
"Hey Max, leave the sourpuss alone. He's too scared to have fun." Tyson yelled over.
Max cast a last glance at the stoic blader before slowly walking back and joining the others.
Kai watched him leave with a thoughtful expression. Max was even more cheerful and happy at Christmas, they all were, they were all so excited.
He told himself he didn't care. He was used to spending Christmas alone. It didn't matter. It didn't. It didn't. It didn't….
But it did.
He did care.
Sighing he pulled himself to his feet and left the Dojo.
"Huh?" Max blinked as he heard the door slide closed. He turned to face the wooden exit before turning his gaze to where the Russian teen previously sat. "…Kai?"
Max stood up, heading toward the door.
Tyson looked up. "Hey Maxy, where you going, buddy?"
Max stopped, realising he'd just got up without a reason. "Oh… just to the bathroom." He lied, following Kai out the door.
The others shrugged and went back to what they were doing.
Max ran up the path and made it to the entrance to the dojo grounds. He looked right and left but saw no sign of Kai. Sighing, he turned on his heel and headed back inside.
Kai crawled back into his 'house', pulling with him a white carrier bag. He knelt up, tipping the carrier bag upside down and emptying the contents onto the dusty floor.
He couldn't believe his luck on what he had found. Well most people would not consider themselves lucky in Kai's place, but to Kai it was luck. He'd come across a string of Christmas lights someone had chucked in a dumpster, just because a couple of bulbs had burnt out. He'd stuffed them into the carrier bag along with a few small items of food he'd brought with a little loose change he'd managed to collect. (A/N: I don't mean to make Kai sound like a beggar or anything, because Kai is definitely not a beggar, just that he doesn't have much going for him.)
He had a small supply of electricity he'd wired himself from the shop next door. He linked a single extension cord to their electricity box and trailed it back to his 'home'. He had one plug socket and he sacrificed it for a string of old Christmas lights.
Kai draped them round the walls as far as they would stretch and plugged the socket in. Little coloured lights danced all around him. A small smile crept onto the young boy's face.
I know I said I'd have this up in an hour, and well, I had it finished and ready to put up in an hour… but my lovely laptop decided to be oh so kind and freeze and delete the file. So I had to type it out all over again.