The answer to Matt's question was answered fairly soon. "I'm having Davis take you midgets to the Park…because I have business to attend to." He said. Takeru cheered as he came back down with a donut. "Yes! I love the Park!" He said. Davis grinned. "Okay! Tai, we're heading to the one over where you live, okay?" He said. Tai nodded. "O-okay..." He said. He slipped off of the chair, grabbing Matt's hand. "Y-you want to g-g-go out to the c-c-car?" He asked. Matt nodded. "Yeah!" They then headed off, Takeru following with a slightly darkened look on his face. Davis grinned. Jealousy. It was hilarious.
"I pick that one!" Takeru was already heading to one of the swings to play. Matt rolled his eyes. "I can't believe that after what happened that kid still has his innocence." Matt said. Tai looked at him. "Wh-What happened?" He asked, his already present frown dropping. Matt shrugged.
"Same thing that happened to you." He said as Tai gasped. "That's…the o-only k-k-k-kid that I've seen come out ok-kay!" He said, his eyebrows creasing. Matt only shook his head. "He's a mystery. I'm sure it's happened on more occasions than one. I really hope he doesn't remember what happened when he gets older…" Hr bit his lip. "Takeru didn't have a clue…that must be why he wasn't affected…but still…" Matt looked off a bit distantly.
"Matt! Come push me! Please?" Matt rolled his eyes. "Sure, Takeru!" He said. He shuffled over, starting to push Takeru. Tai turned his gaze away long enough to see a pair of blue-headed boys making their way down the sidewalk. He raised an eyebrow, only growing even more confused as they made their way over to a somewhat familiar looking brown headed girl. Tai made his way closer to hear their conversation.
"Tell her, Kouichi. Tell her that we can't play." The older boy stood behind the younger one, a slight glare on his face. The younger one seemed to be…spacing, almost. "I'm sorry Kari. But Kouji said I can't play anymore." Tai blinked. The tone sounded nearly dead. Kari frowned. "But I thought you guys were gunna play hopscotch with me…" She said, slightly disappointed. Tai frowned. Kari? That name sounded familiar. The younger boy turned, his gaze now back in focus as tears collected and poured from his eyes. "Why'd you do that, Kouji…?" He asked, walking up to the older boy and hitting him in the arm.
"Because, I said you can't play with her." Kouji said snidely. Kouichi's gaze dropped. Raine came up behind Tai, nearly scaring him. "Pestigols." He said. Tai jumped, turning around. "Wh-What?" He asked fearfully. "Pestigols. That boy…he can control minds." He said. "R-Raine…I think…I know that girl…" He said, pointing to the girl that had been called Kari.
"I don't remember anything about her, but…she looks like my mom…" He said. Raine nodded. "Maybe you should go and introduce yourself." He said. Tai nodded. "I think I w-will." He said, before very subtly slipping off. Raine shook his head fondly. Kids. They could come with all sorts of mysteries…
Davis came up next to Raine. "What are you going to do about them?" He asked. "Hm…?" Raine asked, his gaze a little distant. "Pestigols. They don't look like they have a home, either." Davis mumbled. "We can't do anything. We leave them be." He said. However, he caught the younger boy Kouichi, staring at him. Raine stared back, a slight smirk making it's way to his face. Then Kouichi approached him.
"Um…you…seem…odd…" Kouichi said slowly. Raine nodded. "I may be." He said, shrugging. "So, kid. What can you do? That's pretty crafty, what your brother can do." He said. Kouichi frowned. "What are you…talking about…?" He asked. "Well," Raine paused, "I see that you two are Pestigols." He said. Kouichi gulped. "Y-You…know…" He mumbled, looking down. "I'm Raine." Raine introduced himself, holding a hand out. "Raine?!" The kid looked up. "Raine Tachibato?" He asked, a little too loudly. He saw Kouji's head snap up as Raine covered his mouth. "Easy kid, not so loud!" He said, looking around. Kouji had already started over.
"Oh shit."
"Hi, my n-name's T-Tai." Tai sat in front of Kari, a sort of nervous look on his face. "Hi. I'm Kari." The girl grinned at him. "Where a-are your p-p-parents?" Tai asked, looking around. "I don't have any. Why do you stutter like that, Tai?" Kari asked curiously. "U-um…I…I don't r-really want t-to ta-lk about it." He said nervously. Kari nodded. "You look like my brother," Kari said, "he died right after I was born, though. Momma said that he ran away after my dad punished him and he got ran over by a car." She said. "But I have pictures of him." She nodded. Tai lowered his gaze. Oh. So he did know her. "We-ll…what h-happened t-to your m-mom?" He asked.
"She died of cancer." Kari said. "So where a-are you st-staying?" Tai asked. "Nowhere actually. I live with those two boys over there." She said, pointing to the blue-headed boys. "Their mom isn't very nice, but it's somewhere to sleep." She said. Tai nodded. "Um…K-Kari…d-do you really th-think…your brother is d-d-dead?" He asked, a little upset at the fact. Kari shrugged. "I'm not sure. They never recovered a body, so I'm hoping…"
"C-can you r-read?" Tai asked. Kari nodded. "Yeah. I was able to read when I was three." She said proudly. Tai nodded. "Well… Let me show you something." He said. He pulled a card out of his pocket, handing it to her. She read over it, her eyes widening. "No way…you have the same last name as me!" She said. "Then that must mean…"
"I think s-so." Tai said. "Wa-s your mom's n-name M-Minako?" He asked. Kari nodded. "Yeah." She said. Tai nodded. "I-I thought s-so." He said. Kari's gaze widened. "Wow…I…I don't know how to react…" She said. "I know…" Tai nodded. Usually reunions were happy. It was maybe because he didn't know her all that well…and neither she know him.
"Kari…I'm g-glad I found out ab-bout you at least." Tai said, nodding to her. Raine jogged up. "Hey, Kari is it? I'm taking Tai here, but I was wondering if…you'd like to come stay with him for a while. I have the twin boys…Kouji and Kouichi?" He inquired. Kari nodded. "I think that'll give us some time to get to know each other." She said. Tai nodded along with her. "Yeah." He said, grinning. Raine stood. "Come on, then." He said, nodding to them.
"Got any six's?" Takeru was playing Go Fish with Kari as Raine and Davis went over details. Matt sat across the table with Kouji and Kouichi, but Kouji didn't appear too happy. Just then, Kouichi sneezed and Raine blinked as he lost a foot off of his height. "…" He sighed, rubbing his temples as he continued talking to Davis. However, Davis was staring at the apparent height change. Raine paused.
"What? Stop gawking, Davis. You know I was short." He fumed, crossing his arms. Kouichi flinched slightly. "Sorry, Raine, I…" "It's fine." Raine said, standing. Kouichi nodded, before placing his fingers to Raine's forehead. A zap of electricity went through, but Raine grew a foot shorter again. "Kouichi, just stop trying to fix it." Raine said, as he was now eye level with the kid. Kouichi drew back. "I'm…sorry…I haven't really learned control..." He said. "It'll wear off." Raine said, frowning. Davis coughed.
"Um…right. But, now we have our book full. It's best we all get some sleep for the night." Davis stood up, but Kouji stopped him. "Wait. So where are we going to sleep again?" He asked. "Whichever beds are empty. I'll show you." Matt replied, sliding off of his chair. Raine did as well, shuffling upstairs to his room. Matt called over his shoulder. "Takeru, Kari. Bedtime." He said. Takeru stood.
"Aw…why?" He asked, frowning. Matt didn't answer him. Instead, he took both Kouji and Kouichi down the hallway, going to show them where they would sleep. Takeru sighed. "Well…Come on, Kari…" He mumbled, holding a hand out. Kari nodded, and they both headed off after the trio.
Around five thirty, Matt awoke to a feeling that something wasn't right. He looked around, seeing Takeru's bed empty. He frowned visibly, before slipping out of bed and heading out of the room. He had paused outside of the kitchen, hearing a strange noise. Carefully, he looked out around the corner—and nearly choked. Takeru was being pinned down on the floor, a man with a gun in his hand pressing it to Takeru's ribcage. Matt pulled back. What was going on? He took a silent breath, slipping into the Kitchen and getting one of the huge butcher knives from the cabinet. He then tiptoed up behind the man, debating on what to do. He didn't have to wait long. The man started to turn his head, and that's when Matt brought the knife down on the man's neck, knocking him off of Takeru. Takeru cried out, backing away several feet and bringing his hands up to his face.
"Matt, stop!" He yelled, starting to cry. However, it was in vain. Matt couldn't stop himself as he kept attacking the man with full blows to any part of the skin he could get to. A few minutes later the light came on and Raine froze at the scene, Tai and Davis behind him.
"Matt!" Raine made his way over to Matt, pulling him off of the guy. Matt finally stopped, but Raine could tell that the man had died several moments before. Matt finally realized what he had done as his gaze came back into focus. He slowly looked up at Raine, but Raine was already wide-awake and shocked at the scene. "I-I'm sorry…" Matt said. He didn't know what he had done. He had just seen Takeru being hurt and reacted. Takeru took a deep but shaky breath and scooted forwards, feeling an intense burning sensation settle in his lungs. "Matt, I…" He trailed off. Raine finally recovered.
"Davis, call the police. Tai, follow me to get Matt cleaned up. Takeru…come with me." Raine stepped forwards and picked Takeru up, heading to the clinic room as Tai took Matt's hand to follow after him. Matt didn't try to resist, staring at the man on the floor. He didn't recognize him, but he was pretty sure the guy had some connection to his father. Tai took him in silence, his mind trying to process the situation. It was harsh. Tai took Matt into the bathroom to get him cleaned up while Raine tried to calm Takeru down.
"Takeru, please tell me what happened…" Raine said. Takeru looked like he was hyperventilating. "I-I went t-to g-get a drink and th-that guy came up a-and grabbed m-me…" He said. "H-He said that if I-I d-didn't tell him where d-daddy was, h-he was going t-to k-k-kill me!" Takeru went into hysterics again as he backed away from Raine, curling into a ball at the end of the table. Raine frowned as Davis came in, followed by a policeman. "Sir, would you mind explaining to me what happened?" The policeman asked, looking over to Raine. Raine nodded.
"I can only relay to you what this little guy told me. But from what I heard, some guy that had a possible connection to his father came in and threatened to kill him if he didn't tell him where his Father was. I'm guessing that his brother happened to wake up around then and went to go see where his brother had gone and had seen it…he attacked the man and killed him." Raine explained. "How old is the kid's brother?" The policeman asked, taking out a pad of paper and a pen. "Eight." Raine replied. The man stopped. "Eight, eh? This has to be the first time an eight year old has been involved in a homicide." He said, putting his pad away. Raine frowned as Tai and Matt emerged from the bathroom. The police looked up. "We're you the one who killed the man?" He asked. Matt took a slight step back.
"Y-Yes…" He mumbled, looking down. "I didn't want him to kill Takeru. I would do it again if I had to." He said, looking up. "Pretty brave for an eight year old." The policeman stood up. "Well…there isn't much we can do but declare it a homicide. We can't press charges against a child, as you should know." The man said. Matt nodded. The man then turned, nodding to Raine and making his way out. Davis sighed dramatically. "Now that that is over…" He grinned half-heartedly. "Sleep?" He asked. Matt shook his head. "You think I would be able to?' He asked bitterly. Takeru slipped off of the table and wandered over to Matt. "It's okay Matt, really. You were only protecting me…" He said, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't want you to feel bad…" He mumbled.
"I wish I could believe you, Takeru…"