Me: Sorry if this chapter sucks but I wanted to get it up for you guys...

Kai: She's been having a bad week.

Special thanks to everyone who reviewed and the character pairing (Tala and someone) is for Elemental Gypsy who was the only one who answered my question, so hope you like the pairing.

Disclaimer: I no own


"I've got to pick Ren up from school," Kai mumbled as he parted from Miguel's lips.

"Right…we wouldn't want her to think that you forgot her," Miguel smiled. "She'd be running into things to try and find you- Kai, you okay?"

"You don't think she'd actually…" Kai paled considerably as he thought of all of the trouble that his foster daughter could get into- walking into things, falling into larger quantities of water- could she even swim?!

"Kai?" Miguel asked.

"Can she even swim?!" Kai voiced out loud. "I really gotta go- I'll come back and check up on you." He gave Miguel a quick peck on the lips before grabbing his overcoat and practically ran to his car. Miguel was slightly dumfounded by Kai's enthusiastic leave but he chuckled. Until he had seen the man with his foster daughter, he probably never would have taken him for the parenting type.

"So Ren, who's picking you up?" Hikaru asked.

"Kai," she said simply.

"Who is Kai?" Daichi asked. "I hear Kai this and Kai that but I don't see him-"

"Ren!"

"Hi," she said as the detective jogged up to her. "Were you in a rush?"

"I came from the hospital," Kai panted.

"Why?" she asked immediately.

"It's nothing serious- Miguel, do you remember him? - Well, he got in a little accident," Kai said. "Who're your friends?"

"Um…" Ren said, not sure how to introduce people to her foster father.

"I'm Hikaru, that's Kennosuke, Zeo and Daichi-"Hikaru winced and glared at Daichi as the younger boy pulled hard on his hair. "Ow, Daichi, knock it off!"

"I can introduce myself, you know!" Daichi glared.

"Well I didn't see you doing it!"

"Ow!" both boys said as Kennosuke hit them on the head with a stick. "What was that for?"

"Quit acting like babies," he yawned. "I'm going now- I have to pick up Tenmaru from school now."

"Oh, I have to pick up Mamoru up too," Hikaru remembered. "See ya guys tomorrow, bye Mr. Hiwatari." Kai raised an eyebrow and looked at Ren.

"They know our last name?" Kai asked. She nodded, blowing her bangs up because it amused her. "Well c'mon; we gotta go check on Tala and Rei."

"Bye guys," Ren said. "Who's Rei?"

"Bye Ren!" Daichi said.

"See you," Zeo smiled. Ren nodded and tugged on Kai's hand.

"Who's Rei?" she repeated as Kai opened the car door for her.

"He's living with Tala as his roommate. You'll like him," Kai said. "I don't think I've met anyone who hasn't liked him."

"Oh…"

"So how was your day in school today?"

"It was pretty good…I wasn't the only new student today,"

"That's good, who was it?"

"You know Zeo?"

"The one with the green hair?"

"Yeah, he's the new student," Ren said.

"Zeo…I've heard that name before…" Kai said.

"We sang War,"

"Really? That's weird, I did too," Kai chuckled. "Did you do well?"

"I guess so…everyone kept telling me that I was good and asked if I was taking lessons or something," Ren smiled.

"Do you want to?"

"Huh?"

"Take lessons, I mean," Kai said. "Wait- you remembered the lyrics?"

"Yeah," Ren said. "I mean, they just came to my head and…"

"Well that's good," Kai said. "You can remember some things, like song lyrics…some people can't even remember one song."

"Why not?"

"It's some complicated science," Kai responded. "Something about the brain and the memory…"

"You can take lessons for singing?" Ren asked.

"You can take lessons for just about anything- karate, ballet, swimming- do you know how to swim by the way?"

"What's a…'swimming'?" she asked.

"Swimming is where you get in the water and…move without using your feat to touch the ground," Kai said. "When it gets a little warmer, I'll take you."

"Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"What is a 'calendar'?" Ren asked. "The teacher said something about it being… important if we want to know the date?"

"That's right," Kai said, "it's how we tell time and keep track of how long it takes for the earth to orbit around the sun."

"How long does it take?"

"Three hundred and sixty-five days," Kai said. "Unless it's a leap year, then its three hundred and sixty-six days."

"Oh…when are leap years?"

"On the numbers that have to do with four…so like eight and twelve."

"Okay," Ren said. "What's a birthday?"

"The day you were born," Kai said. "The teacher didn't ask you for your birthday, did she?"

"Yeah…I didn't know what one was but Hikaru interrupted me before I could say anything," Ren said, "and then the bell for the end of the day rang and they made us leave fast."

"Who made you leave fast?"

"Hikaru, Kennosuke, Daichi, and Zeo," Ren said. Kai nodded, taking a hand off the steering wheel to pat her on the head.

"Well how about this, we make the day I found you your birthday until further notice?" Kai asked.

"When was that?" Ren asked.

"Well, it was…April eighteenth," Kai said. "So your birthday is April eighteenth,"

"When's your birthday?"

"August second," he said. "Why so interested in birthdays all of a sudden?"

"I dunno," she shrugged. "I guess I just got curious… so what're singing lessons?" Kai chuckled a bit and began to explain to her as he pulled up into the parking lot for Tala and Rei's shared apartment.

"I don't know if Tala will be home but Rei is," Kai told her. Ren nodded and followed Kai up the stairs, stumbling over a step. "You okay?" she nodded, suddenly feeling shy again. Kai knocked on the door and it was answered by a Chinese boy with cat like features.

Rei smiled at the two, his eyes finally landing on Ren. He had been waiting to see her for awhile since Tala talked about the foster father daughter duo constantly and a stranger named Miguel who he had met up with once but had said he and Kai had hit it off pretty well.

"I see London and France, now where's Paris?" Rei teased.

"Who's Paris?" Kai asked.

"Who's London and France?" Ren asked, blinking cutely.

"It's a joke, Ren," Kai said. "Ren, this is Rei Kon, Tala's roommate."

"Paris is this 'Miguel' who I hear you've it it off with quite well," Rei winked at Kai who blushed and looked away. "Well come in, Tala's well...I don't know what Tala's doing but I think that it has something to do with work but he seems kinda pissed."

"I'll check up on him," Kai said. "Get to know her, will ya? She'll warm up when she gets to know you." Rei raised an eyebrow with Kai's change of behavior since the last time he saw him. Whatever this kid was doing, it sure was working. Before he would have just asked how school was going and if his grades were good and then gone to see Tala.

"Come on in, Ren," Rei said. "I take it Kai doesn't cook that well?" Ren shook her head, still remembering when they had to call for pizza.

"Well how about I teach you how to cook? That way, you can keep yourself and Kai alive when you can't spend money on take out," Rei asked, smiling. Ren nodded and smiled back shyly. Rei nodded and took the little girl's hand, leading her into the kitchen.

"So Tala, Rei tells me that you're frustrated," Kai announced, walking into Tala's room.

"Yeah... those little brats keep vandalizing things and I can't proove it this time because I wasn't around to catch them in the act and no one else was around either," Tala sighed. "Those brats are giving me a run for my money."

"What money?" Kai joked. "Why don't you just set up a camera or something?"

"You know, I might just do that," Tala sighed again. "You wanna do a stake out? I got a pretty good tip that they're gonna strike again."

"Who's this 'pretty good tip' from?" Kai asked.

"Hiro Granger, Claude's boyfriend,"

"Boyfriend?" Kai asked. "Didn't think the Granger had it in him."

"Well aparently he does," Tala said.

"Okay what's up with you?" Kai said, frowning. "Are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Of course not, Kai. Don't be ridiculous. I'm just mad that these punks are vandalizing property," Tala sighed. Kai sighed along with him and plopped down on the bed.

"I don't know if it'll be a good idea," Kai said. "Ren's never been away from me at night yet."

"Well Rei can watch her. If they call, we can just go home," Tala said. "She can stay in my room and you can get some of her clothes. It'll be her first sleep over."

"Sounds good-" they heard a thump and Kai rushed up and into the kitchen.

"And who didn't want to take her in at first?" Tala said, rolling his eyes and following Kai out into the kitchen. Ren and Rei were covered in flour and both sitting on the floor. Rei was laughing and Ren was giggling.

"What happened to my kitchen?" Tala asked, looking around. "Heck, what happened to my roommate?"

"She dropped the flour and tried to catch it but ended up slipping on some water that she spilled earlier that we didn't get the chance to clean so I caught her and the flour but I threw the flour up in the air and this is what happened," Rei grinned.

"Great...Ren, how do you feel about spending the night with Rei?" Kai asked. "Tala and I wanted to do a stake out but if you're uncomfortable-"

"Okay," Ren said.

"You sure?"

"Yep,"

"You can call me if you get scared,"

"Okie dokie," she said. "What's a stake out?" Tala chuckled and Kai sighed. He hoped she wasn't this clumsy when her memory was restored.

That night...

"Its been awhile since we've been on a stake out together," Kai noted.

"Agreed, so how was your and Miguel's date?" Tala asked, taking a bite of his donut.

"He got shot," Kai said.

"He what?!"

"Got shot," Kai sighed. "He's fine but...I tried to get him to stop seeing me but-"

"Kai, if he wants to stay with you, he's a keeper," Tala sighed. "You just gotta accept that. Hold up- who's that?" A male with platinum hair stumbled out of the bushes, holding his side and stumbling. Blood stained his white shirt and he looked pale.

"Shit...he needs help," Kai said but Tala had already sprung into action, sprinting over to the man and catching him just before he hit the ground. "Uh oh... someone's got a crush," Kai muttered, getting out of the car himself.

"Hey, you okay?" Tala asked.

"L-let me go!" he said, struggling but in his weakened state there was no way he could get loose from Tala's strong hold.

"Do you think he's related to Claude?" Kai asked. "The hair?"

"Nah, different shade," Tala said. "Hey what's your name? Kai, go check and see if you can find what injured him or who injured him." Kai nodded and went into the bushes where the young man came out of.

"Hey, you gotta stay awake," Tala said. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Th-they call me K-King," he said, struggling to sit up in Tala's arms. When a shot was let loose he began to panic and thrashed in Tala's hold. Tala did the only thing he could think- he kissed the person called King. King stopped thrashing in surprise. He didn't break the kiss but he didn't respond either.

"Well King, I'm Tala," the detective grinned wolfishly. "And I'll be your savior tonight."


Me: Sorry again if it sucked...but that's up to you so if it didn't, please let me know...

Miguel: In other words, please review...and will I be in the next chapter more then just that little scene at the hospital?

Me: Yes, Miguel