Part Four.

Kai looks over at the digital clock on the night stand. It reads 3:13 AM in big, bright-red letters.

Dammit.

He'd been so sure that if Rei wasn't in he room, he'd have no problem not thinking about him. But no. Oh no. The fucking kitten is still on his mind. Kai has spent more than one night shouting at his libido to forget the fact that Rei is in his bed, topless, and let him get some fucking sleep. The usual message it sends back to him goes as follows: 'No, sorry Kai, your lack of a sex life has caused me to turn on you, so you can just stay up all fucking night and think about Rei Kon, and even if you do manage to fall asleep I'll just make you dream about him anyway, so ha–ha–ha!'

Thus, Kai doesn't sleep much when sharing a bed with Rei. So, when the Chinese boy had offered to sleep on the couch, Kai had nearly done a back flip, assuming that he'd finally have a nice, relaxing, full night of rest.

'Ahaha, yeah right!' His libido laughs. It's got one vindictive personality for a subconscious being. 'Just think, Kai. He's probably jerking-off and screaming your name right now, all hot and sweaty in front of a roaring fire...'

See? See? This is why Kai can't sleep! His own libido is out to get him. Yes, Rei probably put a fire on before went to bed because he likes heat, but there's no way he's masturbating. Not that he's some kind of perfect celibate angel, but he is very polite, intuitively hygienic, and a little shy. He's not about to passionately enjoy himself on the couch in the living room.

'But what if he just can't help it...'

Kai rolls over and drives his face into his pillow, trying to drown out his subconscious. His shoulder blades are sticking up a bit, back arched, and the blankets are sliding down towards his hips.

'And shoves his hands down his pants, body shaking...'

He turns his head to glance at the alarm clock. 3:21 AM. Shit.

'Throws himself onto his back, shuts his eyes...'

The Russian tries to think about monotonous things. Coffee, window shopping, table lamps, socks...

'Spreads his legs and starts pu–'

„Otva`li!" Kai rips the square alarm clock from its socket, snapping the chord in half, and biffs it across the room. It smashes against the wall with a plasticy thunk, crumbling to the floor in bits.

He puts his head in in hands, still laying on his stomach, heart thudding against his rib cage. „Chyort voz'mi..."

Emily are Mariah are sitting in the Beybreaker's kitchen at three-twenty-one in the morning when they hear a quick crash.

The bruenette jumps and looks at Mariah. "What was that?" She asks quietly.

"Takao probably fell out of bed." The Chinese girl shrugs. "Rei says he does that a lot."

Emily nods. "Are you sure about this? I've read up on your villaige. I thought he wasn't suppose to have it done until after he's married."

"After he's met his mate, actually," Mariah says, taking the small package from the other girl. "And since he's already met me, it's fine."

"Oh... interesting." The brunette smiles and pulls out her cell. "I'll go guard the hallway, then. If anyone wakes up, I'll let you know."

"Perfect."

The pink haired girl slinks off into the lving room of the cabin, tearing the package open, silent as her footsepts. She feels a little bad about what she's going to do, but Rei has already met his mate, and it's for his own benifit — so it's okay. He'll thank her one day.

Luckily, the nekojin is laying on his stomach, long, white-wrapped hair hanging over the side of the couch, when she walks in.

Then her cell vibrates against her hip. Eyes snaping opne, she scurries over Rei's body and behind the couch, breathing shallow.

A few second later, the Beybreakers' team captain walks into the room, eyes dark and looking extraordinarily sleepy. It's a look Mariah's never seen on his face before; defeat, dejection, resentment, but the second he glances at Rei sleeping peacefully in front of the fire, his face softens. As soft as Kai gets, anyway. He still looks like a grump, but his red eyes do get lighter, face relaxing.

Regardless, knowing how the Russian feels about her kitten and seeing him look at Rei so... affectionatly,by Kai-standerds anyway, pisses her off. When is he going to get it through his thick Russian skull that Rei Kon belongs to her and would never, ever, not in a thousand-million years, not even if someone threatened to take away Drigger again, not even if someone held a gun to his head, not even if he were gay and Kai was the last person on the planet, ever, ever, never really like–

"Mmm, Kai..." The nekojin mumbles in his sleep, grinning like a fool.

Mariah seeths.

Kai's red eyes snap wide open.

Rei then begins mumbeling the rest in Mandarin, which Kai can't understand. Mariah, however, comrephends her native tongue rather pefectly, and continues to glare at Kai from behind the couch, no longer caring if he sees her.

「Wo yao ni...」

The pink haired blader feels her blood run hot. Rei should be saying things like that about her! Kai must have him really confused if her kitten's dreaming about him, that sneaky Russian. Another big reason Rei can't really like Kai is the giant gaping cultural difference. Russia and China don't have much in common other than size*, and while both boys are fluent in Japanese, neither can speak the other's native tongue! You can't be with someone who doesn't speak your language! It's impossible. Mariah knows that Rei is her's, and by tomorrow morning, he'll know it too.

Kai, however, doesn't leave for another ten minutes. He just stands there, staring. Mariah thinks its kind of creepy. And when he does finally leave, she makes sure to snatch his cellphone out of his pocket and place it on the floor where the nekojin's sure to see it. She grins wickedly as Kai stomps back up the stairs and closes his bedroom door.

Then, smiling, she climbs back over the couch, wrapping a hand around Rei's ponytail.

The Kon family have a tradition that they've passed down for many years, one that Maraih always thought was a bit strange. No one in their family is to cut their hair until they've picked a mate. When he was younger, Rei used to complain to her about how annoying long hair was, about how stupid the tradition was, that hair doesn't have anything to do with falling in love. But ever since his parents died, he's made sure to keep it long. He's never cut it, not an inch, and he never complains.

Mariah knows how much this tradition means to her kitten, and how pissed off he's going to be when he wakes up and finds his tail gone. She also knows, however, that it's not going to be her he's pissed at.

"Sorry Rei..." She whispers. "But it's for your own good."

And with a prickly vriiip!, she snips his hair off.

Rei's ponytail D: Nooo!!

Thank my friend Borodovski for the Russian.

Wo yao ni = I want you.

Teehee. ;]