For disclaimer and warnings, please visit chapter one!

A.n.: I'm really, really sorry, that I am this late to post this chapter. But all the real life stuff happened at ones: sickness, friends visiting, flat-mates deciding that my room should be used as the living-room and University being really demanding. I'll (try to) do better next time!

Hope you are still interested and on with the story!

Chapter Four

You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you

Tyson woke up first early in the morning. He felt bad for having fallen asleep at all. He knew he should have slept last afternoon and stayed awake the night in case of emergencies. Gladly nothing had happened as far as he could tell.

A look at the clock told Tyson that it was only 4.30am. So there was still some time left until everyone would get up. Including the boy who was currently sleeping on the other side of the table. Kai was breathing evenly. A small hair strain moved up and down regularly with his breath. He had his arms crossed on the table, his head resting upon it, with his face turned to the left.

Tyson thought about waking him, but there wasn't a bed left to make Kai more comfortable anyway, so he just let the other boy sleep. Instead he got up and went to the kitchen to start his first brew of coffee for the day. With his cup filled to the top, he made his way back.

His glance fell onto the counter he passed by, lying there he saw his still untouched homework. He knew, that in just a few hours he would sit in front of his teacher and headmaster, trying to explain to them just why they should let him pass, since he hasn't stepped into the school building for weeks and obviously wasn't bothering too much with catching up on the stuff he missed.

Tyson threw the papers on the table and sat heavily down back onto his chair.

The thing was, that he really wasn't bad at school. Sure he came late quite often and he forgot about his homework from time to time, but most of the stuff he did, did come easily to him. He would have passed this grade without a problem, but since he didn't visit the lessons anymore, the homework exercises seemed more and more foreign to him. And how could he do anything, if he didn't understand the tasks anymore?

He smacked his head down on the table. It was all so bloody unfair.

Kai felt the table vibrate beneath his head and carefully opened one eye. The way he lay all he saw was the window. On the other side of the glass it was still black, but inside the lights were turned on. From the other side of the table he heard some mumbling. With both eyes open now, Kai decided to look what was up.

There with the head on the table sat Tyson, the boy he had only met yesterday. Kai calmly watched as he repeatedly smacked his forehand onto the table. Left on the moving mob of black hair stood a filled coffee pot, brown liquid spilled out of it every time the table moved. On the right side some pieces of paper were piled into a stack. Kai looked at those a moment longer.

He should have thought of that. Tyson had been down about his school problems yesterday and all Kai did was keeping the other from this much needed to be done work. Like he had kept Tyson from cleaning the shelter yesterday and like he had... Oh stop it. It wasn't like that. Tyson had been the one eager to battle, hadn't he? And instead of sitting there doing nothing but bruising his forehead, he could simply... Okay, so it wasn't completely like that either.

After one last hard smack. Tyson let his head finally just rest on the table. The screeching of the chair on his right, made him look up. His eyes met Kai's staring back.

"Did I wake you?"

Kai ignored the question, instead he nodded towards the slips of paper in front of him. "You still got to do these?"

Tyson gulped. "I've got this meeting with my teacher today.", he said, not really answering.

They stared at each other for a while longer after that, both not really comfortable with the situation.

Suddenly Kai stood up. "I get myself some coffee and you better get started with these."

Tyson started to reach automatically for his pen and homework, but stopped in midway. He turned around. Did the other just order him to do his homework? Oh hell, he would think about that later. At the moment Kai was right, he should get started with his exercises.

He looked at the tasks in the different subjects. Start with the easiest or leave that for the last? And which one was the easiest anyway? If he could figure out what he was supposed to do on any of these tasks, he might be able to figure that one out.

"You know, it's still the same as the stuff you've already learned. They just add little pieces to make it look more difficult, but it is basically the same as before."

Tyson looked around. Kai was making his way through the room, cup in hand.

"Are you finished with school?"

The question seemed to surprise both of them. Kai looked uneasy and Tyson mentally smacked himself. No questions like that! No matter how much he wanted to know.

Kai took a sip out of his cup. The coffee was still hot. It felt good. He reached out and took the piece of of paper on top to look at it.

"I can help you with this, if you want?"

xxxxxx

In the end much help wasn't needed. As soon as Tyson was sure what he was supposed to do, it really wasn't that hard. Still they weren't finished any time too soon, for the first people were already waking up and breakfast should soon be served.

Tyson and Kai worked together in the kitchen again and when everyone else was finished and got ready to move out for the day again, they sat together on the table again to eat something themselves.

A few minutes later Tyson watched Kai fumbling with the few remaining buttons on his jacket. He hadn't given Kai's homelessness much thought during their day together. Only now when he was about to leave with nothing to shelter him from the cold but that worn cloak, reality seemed to catch up with him again.

Tyson would have asked Kai to stay, if he had stayed himself. But like it was he had to leave himself in a few minutes. The question, if he trusted the other enough already to let him stay alone in his home steadily knocked against his forehead. Tyson pushed it back. He had grown up with the shelter and during that time, he always had had people he wanted to stay and to protect. His grandfather's voice still echoed in his head. 'You can't take care of everyone. Just do your job as good as possible.' "Yes", Tyson thought, "do your job and make sure Kai comes back, so that you can continue doing it."

"Wait a sec, okay?" Tyson didn't wait for an answer, but ran down the hallway. Only a few minutes later he came back. Kai had moved over to the window meanwhile, staring out at the winterly neighborhood. He turned around, when he heard Tyson's footsteps approaching. Something warm and soft was immediately pushed into his hands.

"Take these."

Kai unfolded the bundle in his arms. It was a matching pair of hat, scarf and gloves. His fingers traced over the expensive fabric.

"Does everyone get stuff like these?" Even Kai wasn't sure, if he tried to sound angry. Perhaps it was just to keep his dignity.

"I borrowed them Kenny, another friend of mine, last year too. These belong to my brother." Tyson pointed towards the winter clothes. "So you better bring them back later."

Kai wasn't sure what to say. Had Tyson just called him his friend? But how would he himself define their relationship? He decided to just leave, before he could say something that he would call himself stupid for later. Putting the woolen accessories on, he made his way to the door, opened and closed it behind him without saying anything else.

Tyson stared after his new maybe-friend. "You're welcome.", he murmured after the retreating figure. That guy definitely was some work. Now he could only hope, that he would really come back in the evening.

xxxxxx

"Tyson. Hello, I am glad that you could come by."

"Sure, Mrs. West." Tyson shook his teachers hand and then stumbled to the one unoccupied chair in the room. In front of him stood a plain but big desk. His headmaster and one strange guy sat on the other side of the piece of furniture, his teacher had taken the place to his left.

It was quiet for a second, which Tyson used to grab a map from his bag and pass it over to his teacher.

"That's my homework." He commented when stared confused back at him.

A kind smile was the answer. "So you were able to do these? That's great Tyson."

"Piece of cake", he smiled back, "I've faced more difficult tasks. Once I got started it wasn't too hard."

"Well, that's quite good Tyson," the headmaster cut in, "I'm sure Mrs. West will give you some feedback in a couple of days. However beside you're academic results we've got the matter of your attendance to consider today. In your file it says, that you haven't been here much recently."

"Yeah well...", Tyson fidgeted on his seat, "You see, there were something like family emergencies."

"You don't need to explain yourself, Tyson." The headmaster cut in and Tyson was glad, that he needn't try to come up with coherent sentences that explained the situation. "We know about your grandfather's unfortunate accident and we welcome your social engagement, however this can't interfere with your education."

Tyson nodded, not knowing what else to do. The man liked what he did. That was good. He didn't like his not being at school though. That was bad. So what the hell did the guy want to tell him exactly?

"This is Toby Anderson." The headmaster introduced the man sitting next to him. Tyson nodded to the man. He had nearly forgotten he was there.

"You should thank Mrs. West, Tyson. She insisted that in your special situation it was our job to help you, so that you can continue your carrier at our facility."

The young blader was really confused now. Was he expected to actually thank his teacher now? He wanted to know what all this was supposed to mean first. Who was the strange guy? And on a side note: Who on earth called attending a school a career on a facility? Okay, that question could wait, Tyson decided. But how this Mr. Anderson came into the picture he'd still like to know. In the end he just waited. He could thank Mrs. West later, if he then still thought he should.

The headmaster stared at the boy in front of him. "Mr. Anderson is a social worker. He has already been in contact with our school in the past, when we encountered problems like this. He has agreed that you need help and offered his aide." He cleared his throat before continuing. "If you agree with this, then Mr. Anderson will take control of the shelter as long as your grandfather is absent and you could resume your normal routine at school."

Tyson gaped at him. He completely hated the thought of anybody but family running the shelter. They handled things with a special philosophy. That was why the people trusted them and came there and didn't went to one of official big ones.

"What's the alternative?"

The headmaster's eyes narrowed. "Your case would be given over to the youth welfare office. They would probably put you in an orphanage until one of your relatives came back to act as your guardian. If you don't start attending school regularly again we would be forced to expel you."

Tyson fumed. His father, brother and grandfather had all good reasons for not being here, but the man made it sound like like they were complete irresponsible. And it wasn't like he was a child anymore anyway. He was able to take care of himself, thank you. He didn't need a social worker, a headmaster or some office to stick their noses into his business.

"I wouldn't come in there and change everything, Tyson." Mr. Anderson spoke for the first time. "I'd just be there to help you. Only so much, that you could sleep at night, go to school in the morning and had the time to do your homework and as soon as your grandfather comes back, I'll be out of there. It's the best offer you'll get at the moment Tyson, think about it."

How on earth was he supposed to decide this now? It wasn't like he really had a choice. He had to admit though, that the thought of leading a normal life again, sleeping at night especially, sounded more than good to him. He heard Mrs. West's soft voice tell him to accept the offer, he felt three pairs of eyes on him all expecting the one decision, he felt tired, he felt under pressure and he felt totally over-burdened. Finally he nodded, still not sure if he had made the right decision.

xxxxxx

Kai had spent the day walking through shopping malls as long as possible. Since he had been able to shower and change clothes at the shelter, he was able to blend in with the crowd. It had been a nice day he decided. He hadn't frozen the whole time, he tried to remember when that last happened.

Now that shops were closing however, he had to step out on the street again. It was cold, but he still didn't freeze. He pulled the scarf up higher into his face. The material felt good, but at the same time reminded him of the question he had pushed away the whole day.

Would he go back tonight?

He mentally made a list of all the reasons he had for not wanting to go to the shelter the first time. The list wasn't long, but still impressive. No questions, don't get caught, it warned. Tyson probably knew already that he was underage. Could he really trust him? And what about everyone else around? He shouldn't mingle with people. Okay, there had only been other homeless, who really weren't interested in him and those two stupid students and Tyson's strange friend. All of those not very threatening. But he didn't trust the peace.

The pro-shelter-list was definitely longer and the longer he kept walking outside, the more reasonable those reasons sounded. He would be warm there, he would get food there, he would be able to sleep there. And Tyson would be there. Well that last one didn't sound that reasonable or did it.

Kai snuggled deeper into his clothes. He had to make a decision since he now literally stood at the crossroad. Turn left or turn right. Left to the abandoned house, right to Tyson and the shelter. He automatically turned right.

He pulled the had deeper into his face and pushed the scarf higher up again, so that only his eyes could be seen. He should have thanked Tyson for lending him this stuff. This was just another point to be on this route. He had to hand the winter clothing back. Tyson had said...

Kai stopped dead in his tracks. Sneaky little bastard. How could he have fallen for that! Tyson was manipulating him to come back. Why would he do that? Kai shook his head. He didn't know, but he knew, that he hated it to be toyed with.

Kai turned around and walked in the opposite direction again.

Tbc...

Well don't worry. If they wouldn't see each other again, the story would be over by now. Kai just seems to need a bit more motivation. I'll see what I can do.

Comments would be wonderful and will definitely be answered through the reply system. Hope you all liked this chapter!