Thank you Amongst-Azarath, Tuti-Susi, of or on, kris the ninja pirate, Killani and Keight Ylonen for your reviews!
To clarify a few things: this is happening well before the first season, when Kai is about 11 and just left the Abbey, before he becomes a world famous blader. I don't know much about his early story so I'm making it up. The story is set in New York City, and will be a short encounter (of course three chapters has covered perhaps only a couple of hours). That's the current plan.
Kai and Dranzer © Nelvana and Takao Aoki.
………………………………………ICE………………………………………
……………………………when strangers meet……………………………
Divya stared at the boy, and he stared back. What should I do? she thought. She didn't want to get any closer until he made the first move.
Looking carefully at the boy for the first time, she realized how small and frail he really did appear. His eyes, though trained on her, were only half-open and bleary. He sat unsteadily, supporting himself with one hand on the back of the couch. After staring at her for a few seconds, his gaze darted around the room searchingly. His pale face became even paler.
That was odd. Unless he was as frightened… wary… of her as she was of him, she realized. At least I didn't just wake up in a stranger's house.
She took a step forward and the boy dropped the hand on the back of the couch, looking around again before blurting out something fast and incomprehensible.
"Um," she cleared her throat, "sorry, what?"
Even more desperately he spoke again, repeating some of the sounds he had used before and adding others. But still she could not understand what he was trying to say. He doesn't speak English! she realized, surprised. No wonder he's doing so badly; he can't even communicate.
She put a hand to her forehead, trying to think of what to do. Calling Jace was her first thought, but what could he do? He was no expert in languages, and would be just as confused as she was. Then she remembered her promise to feed the boy if he woke up. Maybe that would keep him from attacking her or something.
Feeling foolish, she mimed putting something in her mouth and rubbed her stomach, then pointed to him. He looked at her warily but was spared the need to answer as his stomach growled audibly. That finally brought a slight smile to her lips.
"Hungry?" she asked, hopeful he would at least know this simple word.
He dropped his gaze but nodded, saying something that slightly resembled the word 'please'.
Perhaps this will not be so bad after all.
Kai watched the young woman walk away, then returned to gazing blankly around him. He couldn't think straight, that must be the problem, because he could not figure out where he was. What he could see consisted of a small room with two windows on one wall and bright tapestries on two other walls, with a wide doorway across from the windows that apparently led to more rooms. A chair sat in the corner next to a low shelf crammed with books, and a rather large plant inhabited the other corner. Everything seemed to be covered in bright colors, mostly reds and yellows but also purples, blues, and other vibrant shades. All the visual noise was making his head hurt and he put both hands over his face in hopes his headache would go away so he could figure out what to do.
"Are you ok?" a voice broke into his thoughts.
Hearing concern, he shook his head. That made him dizzy, so he grabbed hold of the couch back again to steady himself and opened his eyes. The woman was standing just on the other side of the couch, holding a plate out to him. Knowing he was meant to accept it, he did, moving slowly to avoid dropping the food. He remembered to thank her before beginning to eat.
Divya walked around the couch slowly, setting a glass of juice down next to him on a tiny coffee table. She frowned in slight confusion at the small blue disk sitting there, but ignored it and went to sit in the chair by the window to watch her uninvited houseguest. After several big bites he glanced up at her again. Seeming to take her lack of motion for a good sign, he picked up the glass and returned to eagerly filling his stomach.
She considered him silently. Other than those oddly colored eyes he seemed a relatively normal kid, though she did not have much experience with anyone of his age. How old could he be? Ten or twelve at most was her guess.
Yawns had begun to interrupt the boy's steady intake of food, but he kept at it valiantly until his head was seriously drooping. Divya jumped up and caught his plate before it could slip onto the floor, setting it next to the now half-empty glass of juice. She helped the barely-conscious boy lay back down and pulled the covers up over him, tucking the edges in. It was kind of nice, she decided, like having a pet. Or a doll.
Oh, for heavens sake listen to yourself! He's a street kid! Who knows what kinds of damage he could cause!
But there was another part of her that admitted, as she watched the boy snuggle sleepily under her blanket, that this really wasn't so bad.
I'd better watch out or I'll go soft.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
A lot of the people I work with in the summers are from Eastern Europe, Russia, Siberia, Turkey, etc. But I didn't really learn anything from them, stupid me. I wanted to put in what Kai was actually saying but I can't find a translator that uses the English alphabet rather than the Russian one –sigh– I thought about using Polish instead since one of my best friends is fluent and could help me, but I decided that wouldn't really work either. Oh well.
Divya's last line is based on something Silver says in "Treasure Planet" (one of my favorite Disney movies) when he's worried that Jim is growing on him too much and the other pirates will notice – "Getting in too deep here. Next thing you know, they'll be saying I've gone soft."
Geez I quote movies a lot, heh. Please review :3
