A/N: Hey everyone? How was your week? Good I hope! I'm sorry this was late. I got sidetracked with a couple of oneshots so give them a read! Well this is Chapter Six of Ghosts of the Past and I hope it was worth the wait. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, they really make my day! So I hope you all enjoyed last week's addition to the play list as I said before a new song shall accompany each chapter. Each song will in some how reflect the state of someone's mind or the events that transpire in the chapter. It's up to you to interpret who's thoughts it follows or what part of the chapter it reflects (it might also just be that the over all feel of the music suits the chapter!). But it's up to you to figure it out. Have fun! Also some extra stuff in the ending note. Thanks for reading!
This week's play list addition: Ain't No Mountain High enough by The Temptations ft. Diana Ross
Ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough Ain't no river wide enough To keep me from getting to you
If you need me call me no matter where you areNo matter how far
Just call my name; I'll be there in a hurry
You don't have to worry
This song is awesome! Give it a listen when they're out back during the last paragraphs. It's the soundtrack to my inner montage as I call it. This song has the power to make everything seem inspirational! If you haven't seen the movie Step Mom it might not hold the same meaning to you. But if you have you have got to know what I'm talking about!
As Kai drifted off to sleep in the arms of his current and future friend he couldn't help but feel happy. Sure, soon enough he'd have to go back and face the horrors of the Abbey. Of Boris and his grandfather. He would once again become a scientist's play thing and be forced to live out his days in his cramped cell. He'd be beaten and broken, like he had almost been before he'd been spirited away to the future. But, for the time being he could stay there and enjoy the company of the people who would look out for him, protect him.
There he was safe.
There he was finally at peace...
Kai had woken in the early morning after a coughing fit and found himself tucked into his bed not remembering how he had gotten there. The last thing he remembered was sitting with Bryan at the kitchen table.
He sighed as he failed to remember and quickly regretted it as his throat throbbed terribly. He was sick again...that was just great. His head was pounding and his limbs aching but he ignored them as crawled out from under the covers.
The sky had turned a mix of blues and pinks as the sun slowly rose through the trees and the crows were cawing annoyingly.
Stupid birds.
He set his feet upon the cold floor and headed from his room and made his way to the kitchen to get something to eat. He hoped someone was up because he couldn't even make toast without burning it.
Actually, he couldn't even reach the toaster on the counter. It was just his luck that when he entered the kitchen and Ray happened to be sitting at the table eating some tuna from a bowl.
The neko-jin looked up at him and smiled,
"Morning Kai! How are you feeling?"
The boy shrugged as he took the seat across from him. "Can I get you something to eat?" Kai frowned for a moment as if thinking,
"Grilled cheese and orange juice."
Ray looked at him; grilled cheese and orange juice wasn't exactly breakfast material.
"How about a peanut butter sandwich?"
"Grilled cheese and orange juice."
"Well what about some French toast?"
"Grilled. Cheese. And. Orange. Juice." Apparently this guy was more of a moron then Kai originally thought.
Ray sighed as he got up, Kai could be so stubborn sometimes. Grilled cheese was not something one ate for breakfast and in the past few days that's all he had really eaten.
'Oh well better then nothing,' he thought as he pulled the cheese from the fridge and retrieved the bread from the corner of the counter top.
Kai sighed as he put his head in his hands. His throat was aching as was his head and now the room had begun to spin ever so slightly. Then there was the fact that he had to cough badly but, if he did Ray would be all over him telling him to go back to bed.
Truthfully all he wanted to do was have his grilled cheese sandwich and go outside into the fresh cool air. Over night the entire area had been coated in a blanket of white.
Although he would have thought he'd be sick of the snow by now after spending so long in Russia. But here the snow was...calm. It seemed to deaden the noise of everything and instead of making the area look foreboding like back in Russia, it seemed to call out to him.
To welcome him out into the frosty morning air, and how he longed to hear the crunch of it under his feet as he traveled through the trees like when he was younger.
It was then that Ray placed a plate of grilled cheese in front of him along with a small glass of orange juice. Now that he actually had the sandwich in front of him Kai wasn't sure he could eat it all.
--
"COME ON JUST TRY"
"I TOLD YOU NO!"
"YES!"
"GO AWAY!"
"NOT UNTIL YOU EAT IT ALL"
Tala growled as he pulled a pillow over his head. It was too freaking early for all this yelling. They'd better shut –
"EAT IT!"
"UGH. FINE!"
Everything was quiet for a few moments and Tala breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Kai had really pissed Ray off, although he had to wonder how Kai had managed it.
Ray was normally so calm and patient, but then again Kai had the ability to make a Nun start screaming profanities. For people who supposedly never swore, they sure were good at it. Tala began slipping off back to sleep only to be jolted from his bed and onto the floor
"I told you!!," Kai's voice was becoming somewhat hoarse.
"CAN SOMEONE GET A MOP!?" Apparently Ray was still going strong.
That was it!
Tala gave up on the idea of more sleep all together as he pulled himself up from the floor and searched for a shirt. Someone had better have a good excuse for waking him this early.
--
He arrived in the kitchen to find Hilary mopping the floor, Ray sitting on the counter frowning stubbornly and Kai sitting at the table looking extremely pale except for a pink flush to his cheeks.
"What the hell happened?" He asked turning to the Neko-jin.
Ray hopped down from the counter, "All he will eat is grilled cheese and orange juice Tala. Grilled cheese and orange juice! Does he want toast? NO. A peanut butter sandwich? NO. So I go out of my way to make him some and does he even eat it all? No he does not," he rambled on.
The Russian sighed, "What's with the mop?"
Ray now looked slightly sheepish as he cast a glance at the sickly looking Kai.
"Well...I told him to eat it all even though he said he didn't want to and once I got him to I guess it was too much for his stomach so he got sick."
Tala pinched the bridge of his nose; he really couldn't blame Ray. After all he was just trying to look after Kai. Kai was just being stubborn about eating, like he always would be.
The boy needed to gain weight and nothing seemed to be working even after the past four days of eating...somewhat regularly.
"Alright then. Kai how are you feeling?" The tiny Russian gave a shrug with a look of discomfort on his face.
"Hey are you alright? Is something wrong," he asked worriedly as he walked over to the boy.
Kai again shrugged with a pained look
"Kai will you answer me?" he asked, starting to get annoyed with the boy's silence when there was clearly something wrong,
"Now."
Kai opened his mouth to answer only break out into large painful sounding coughs. He tried to stifle the sound with his hands but nothing could block out the loud noise.
The fit seemed to last for a full minute, leaving Kai breathing raggedly and looking paler then before.
"Next time Kai," Tala sighed "Don't try to hold it in; it'll only make it worse."
Ray set a glass of water in front of the boy to help ease his most likely raw throat,
"Maybe we should go into town and get him some stronger cough medicine?"
Tala nodded, coughs were never good for Kai's breathing. They also made the kid one hell of a grouch.
"I'm fine," Kai practically whispered hoarsely.
"Oh yeah that's why you can barely talk, are coughing your lungs out and," Tala reached over to lay his hand across the boy's forehead "Have a fever."
Kai slapped his hand away with a huff. Ray walked off and began rummaging through one of the cabinets
"Here," he said as he pulled out a bottle of cold medicine.
"Take this for now and once everyone is up we'll head into town and get something stronger...hm. Maybe we should pick you up a refill of your puffer too."
"I don't want to go into town. I wanted to go out in the...white stuff and I'm not taking that," Kai said weakly.
Tala frowned,
"It's called snow in English. You're not going outside like this and yes you are."
"No. It looks gross and there's no way in hell it's getting near my mouth forget in it."
Tala sighed, this was just like Kai. He refused to take anything for his colds and that was part of the reason why they always wound up getting so bad. He bent down and picked up the boy who gave a startled yelp
"Where are we going?"
"You are going back to bed."
"No! I'm fine I want to go outside."
"Well maybe if you had taken the medicine I would have let you go out once it kicked in," He lied.
There was no way he would let Kai go out when he was sick. Plus that medicine had the lovely side affect of knocking who ever took it out for several hours.
He sighed; it would have been too easy for Kai to have agreed to take it and slept the day away. No, he would be up and about coughing every few steps and being shorter tempered then usual.
It was going to be a long few days.
"Put me d-d-dow..." Kai was interrupted as he let out a large sneeze into his sleeve.
Tala winced, that had sounded painful and by the look on the younger Russian's face, it had been.
"See you should be in bed." Kai gave a sniff as he glared up at him,
"Jus' shut ub"
Tala raised an eyebrow, "Sorry what was that?"
Kai glared even harder at him, "I saib jus' shut ub!"
Tala had to work had to hold in his laughter. The boy seemed to notice this and turned away from him with a huff. Oh it might be a long few days but by the looks of it he'd get a lot of laughs out of it.
--
Kai was quiet for the rest of the trip up to his room. As Tala lay him down in his bed he put his hand on the boy's forehead, feeling the head radiating from it.
"I'll wake you up when we're going to head out." He said as he headed out of the room.
He stopped to take one last look at the boy before he shut the door only to see Kai was already fast asleep. He shook his head as he shut the door softly behind him and headed across the hall to wake Bryan.
After a lot of shouting, swearing, and arguing Tala finally gave up on talking to his friend and kicked him out of the bed and onto the cold floor.
"Up," he said forcefully as he threw a pair of pants and a shirt at his fair haired friend.
Bryan gave a grumble as he disentangled himself from the bed sheets and pulled himself to his feet.
"What the hell is your problem Tala?"
"We're all going to head into town later to get Kai some stronger cough medicine and some stuff for his breathing. He's sick and it'll only get worse from here."
Bryan gave a grimace knowing the hell they were about to go through. A sick Kai was not a happy Kai. Hell he was down right vicious at points.
He pulled on his shirt and pants and headed down to the kitchen to find Max, Ray and Hilary sitting at the table together.
Max gave a loud yawn, "Where's Kai?"
Tala sat down across from Ray as Bryan stocked into the room and threw him-self down into a chair as well.
"I put him back in bed; I don't want him running around when he's sick."
Max nodded "So Ray said we're going into town later to get him some medicine and I was thinking it might be fun to walk around for a bit. We could get some lunch and shop around a bit. I'm sure it'll be easy to get Kai some grilled cheese!" he laughed.
Tala pinched the bridge of his nose as Hilary sighed,
"You know it's not good for him just to eat that stuff. If you really want to get him up to a healthy weight he needs vegetables and meats not just half a grilled cheese sandwich and juice."
Tala glared at her "No really? Why I never would have guessed all that!" he said sarcastically.
It was then that a half asleep Tyson came shuffling into the room and sat down next to Hilary. Bryan glared at the world champion who he had not yet forgiven for telling Kai about his time skip.
It had been his entire fault that Kai had run away and was now sick. If Tala hadn't said he wasn't allowed to 'deal' with him the 'world champ' would have been buried somewhere out in the Acers of land behind the house.
He sighed; it would have been a lot of fun. Tala looked over at him
"What's wrong with you?"
"Just thinking it would have been fun if you'd let me take care of the moron. You're going to have to pay me back later you know."
Tala laughed, "Whatever. We both know Kai wouldn't have been happy, especially after all the hours he's spent training that glutton."
"He would have understood, he of all people knows what a pain in the ass he is," Bryan grumbled.
"English, please!" Tyson whined.
"Oh shut up!" Bryan snapped "Like I give shit if it bugs you."
Truth be told sometimes he spoke in Russian just to tick the moron off. Bryan then picked himself up from his chair and headed out into the entertainment room to watch the morning news, leaving the others to have breakfast and talk about their plans for the day.
Soon everyone went off until it was just Tala and Ray.
"Well I was thinking we can't go to Kai's regular pharmacist. The same woman has owned the store since before he was born so she's known him his whole life. She'll realize something is up if we walk in with a five year old version of Kai." Tala said as he picked at some toast.
Ray nodded,
"Well I saw another one in town owned by an old man. He seemed nice enough but I'm worried if we'll need his heath card or not. Even if we found an old one of Kai's lying around the years and the expiration date on the card would give it away. But, this guy might not ask. I was in there before Kai took off to Russia buying some headache pills for him and the guy didn't ask anyone for any I.D. Hm..." he said thoughtfully,
"It should be fine. He seems really nice too." Tala nodded, this could actually go off without a hitch.
--
Around eleven thirty Bryan went to go wake up Kai so they could head into town. He found the boy curled up under the covers shivering slightly.
"Come on Kai," He said as he picked the boy up "We're going into town."
The boy latched onto his shirt and tried to burrow into his chest, trying to keep warm. Bryan sighed as he grabbed some jeans, a long sleeved shirt and a knit sweater out of the pile of clothes.
It would be best to keep the kid warm if he was sick. Kai was still half asleep as Bryan pulled off his pajamas and tugged on the warm clothes and socks. When he was dressed Bryan picked him up again and headed down into the living room where everyone was waiting for them.
"How is he?" Ray asked as they walked in.
"He's still asleep, barely woke up while I changed his clothes." Ray gave a thoughtful 'hm',
"Well I guess that's normal right? I mean whenever Kai got sick when we were on tour he slept a lot. He got pretty out of it at times too." Bryan nodded in agreement.
"Well should we get ready," Max asked as he stood from his spot on the couch "The van should be here soon."
Everyone headed out into the entrance hall to pull on their coats and sweaters. Tala found one of Kai's in the closet and slipped it onto 'little' Kai.
"Where'd you get that," Tyson asked. "It's Kai's he must have forgotten to take it when he was made his great escape."
Tyson nodded as he wrapped a scarf around him neck and a beep was heard from outside.
Everyone piled into the van, Bryan holding Kai in his lap. The ride into town was a rather loud one as Max and Tyson argued over one thing or another and Tala was surprised Kai wasn't woken.
He reached over to place a hand on the boy's forehead and felt the heat radiating from it. If he'd taken the medicine Ray had offered him earlier that morning Kai would probably be up and alert.
--
The driver dropped them off a few blocks away from the pharmacy like Ray had recommended and they all climbed out.
"You should wake up Kai," Ray suggested as they began walking down the shoveled walk ways.
Bryan nodded, "Kai time to wake up," he said in the boy's ear as he shook him gently.
Kai grumbled, "Go away" as he swatted at Bryan's face gently.
"Now Kai come on, up!"
He shifted Kai up right and the boy blinked blearily as he looked around.
"Where are we?"
"We're in town. We're going to pick you up some medicine and get you a refill for your puffer."
Kai nodded as he tried to lie back against Bryan's chest and go back to sleep.
"No Kai. You've got to stay awake for the pharmacist and then we're getting lunch. You need to eat something."
Hilary could have laughed at the confused expression Kai had. The kid seemed to always take a few minutes to fully wake up.
"I want grilled cheese," Kai said as he blinked repeatedly before coughing lightly.
There was a collective sigh from the group as they stared at the small boy.
"Kai," Max started "Why don't you try something else? Grilled cheese is good and all but there's better things to eat."
The small Russian looked at Max as if he was spouting blasphemy and the small blond immediately backed down.
"He's right Kai," Tala sighed "There's so many other things out there to eat and you settle for melted cheese on bread. Do you see my point?"
Kai gave a huff "I don't want anything else, I want grilled cheese."
Tala pinched the bridge of his nose
"Kai, no grilled cheese today. You can have anything you want except that. Anything."
The small Russian smirked, "Anything? Fine I'll have Kotlety." (A/N: it's a Russian food. It kind of looks like a meatball)
Tala groaned inwardly, there was no way they were going to find a restaurant that served Kotlety. The chef that normally worked back at Kai's manor could make it but there was no way they'd find someone in this area who could.
Tala sighed, "Fine grilled cheese it is then."
A devious smirk spread across Kai's face as the red head admitted defeat.
They all went to cross the street and Kai had to swipe away Hilary's hand as she went to hold his while crossing. He shot a glare at her and continued walking quickly trying to put some distance between him-self and the annoying woman.
--
Although the pharmacy was only a few blocks away Tala noticed that Kai was already tiring and slowly falling behind. He slowed his own pace until he was beside the boy,
"Tired?"
Kai looked up at him as he rubbed one of his eyes with his fist.
"No."
"Really? You sure seem tired to me."
"I am n-not," the boy answered as he failed to stifle a yawn.
Tala sighed as he bent down and picked up his small friend and quickened his pace so he could catch up with the others.
"Is he tired already?" Ray asked as Tala appeared beside him.
"Yeah, he gets tired really easily when he's sick. He normally winds up staying in bed until he's well."
The neko-jin nodded as they continued down the street along with a dozing Kai.
After a few minutes they could clearly make out a store with the sign "Wilson's Pharmaceuticals" (A/N: Like Wilson from House!). It was a small building that barely stood out from all the other stores surrounding it.
When they entered a bell hanging above the door rang telling 'Wilson' that they were there.
After a few moments Tyson and Max had disappeared off into one of the aisles leaving everyone else waiting at the counter.
Right before Tala was about to call out a rather tall, kind looking man appeared from a door way to their right.
"Why hello there folks. How may I help you today," the man asked with a large smile on his face.
Bryan seemed a little annoyed with the man's cheerfulness but said nothing.
"Well my brother is sick. He's had a high fever and a cough and we were hoping to pick some medicine up that is a little stronger then the stuff we have back home. We'd also like a refill on his breathing medication as well," Tala said pulling the puffer off from around Kai's neck and placing it on the counter.
The man took it in hand and examined the label,
"Ah yes, I can get you a refill of this from the back."
He looked up to examine Kai
"I don't think a three year old would need very strong medicine though- Tala cut him off
"Kai is five."
The man's eyes widened in surprise
"Really?"
Everyone nodded as they looked over to the now asleep boy in Tala's arms.
"May I see the boy for a moment?"
Tala looked extremely hesitant but eventually handed Kai over after a nod from Bryan.
Kai opened his eyes groggily as Tala handed him over to Mr. Wilson. The man's eyes widened further
"Why he's much too light! He must be at least fifteen pounds lighter then other boys his age."
The tiny Russian looked up at the man and it seemed to hit him that the man was clearly not Tala
"Who the hell are you?"
"Hm. A bit of a tongue for one so young."
Tyson snickered from the comment from his hiding place within the aisles.
"Put me down." Kai said seething.
He couldn't understand why people were always carrying him around! He was not some child that couldn't get around. He was perfectly capable on his own. The man looked down at him with a surprised look.
What did he think he couldn't speak either? Did this man suspect him of being completely stupid?! The moron of a man set him down on the counter still staring at him.
Just before he was about to tell the man to go to hell Tala quickly spoke up as if suspecting what he was about to say.
"Why don't you go grab that medication for us?"
The man nodded, reluctantly taking his eyes off of Kai and disappeared through a doorway. The red headed glared down at the small Russian sitting on the counter. To any person who didn't know the boy they would have thought he was the picture of innocence.
Oh, but Tala knew better; it was that type of thinking that got you hurt or worse when you hung around Kai.
"For once can't you just act your age? Seriously, do you know how weird it is for a five year old to go around swearing at people? Its not exactly common and we attract enough attention without it thank you."
Kai glared up at him and the temperature seemed to drop several degrees. Tala cringed; believe it or not the sixteen year old version of Kai was actually a calmer version of the boy in front of him, his temper had calmed slightly over the years. It also didn't help that Kai's temper flared easily when he was sick.
They were in for trouble.
"My age? Fine," Kai said simply as he shoved a glass jar filled with mints off the counter, letting it smash on the hardwood.
Small white mints were sent rolling everywhere
"Young children often break things you know. They're quite clumsy actually."
He leaned over and pushed a large glass vase filled with flowers to the floor, more glass, water and tulips joining the mints. The group stared at the boy in shock as he grabbed some medicine bottles from behind the counter and popped off the caps then threw the pills everywhere,
"Opps," he said innocently as he pushed a container of business cards from the counter.
"K-Kai!" Ray stuttered
"What? I'm just a little kid after all, we break things all the time. We love to get into things we shouldn't be in," He said with an innocent smile as he swung his legs back and forth.
"We just can't help it."
He pulled off a shoe and threw it across the room and Tala heard the crash of bottles falling to the floor.
"Oh no my shoe. Oh well kids don't care whether they wear shoes or not. They're happy to go around in their bare feet."
Tala had no idea if it was the fever or if Kai had gone insane, but the boy was out of hand. This was the closest thing to a temper tantrum he had ever had.
"Small children spit a lot too," the boy said as he spat at a shocked looking Tyson.
The dragoon wielder gave a shout as the spit hit his shirt.
"They draw on walls too so I'll have to that when we get home."
Just then a confused looking Mr. Wilson reappeared in the door way carrying the puffer and medicine he had gone to retrieve. The man looked shocked as he surveyed the damage.
"What in God's name happened?!"
"It was him! He did it!" Tyson shouted as he pointed at Kai who was still perched on the counter.
Kai turned his large eyes on the man, "I didn't do it," he said innocently "It was him! And he stolled my shoe!"
Bryan snickered, Oh Kai was good.
The kid was pure evil.
Tyson looked out raged "I did not!"
Kai turned his crimson eyes on the navy haired blader "Why are you lying like this? I didn't do anyfin'"
Bryan was having a hard time holding in his laughter. The look on Tyson's face was absolutely priceless as were the shocked looks of the others.
Hilary had a hand over her mouth while Ray stared wide eyed and Max's jaw was practically touching the floor. Tala was pinching the bridge of his nose trying to come up with a plan to get them out of this.
Mr. Wilson looked shocked
"How could you try and blame this on an innocent child? And a sick one at that, you should be ashamed of yourself," the man said as he went and retrieved Kai's shoe from across the room.
"Here you go little guy," he said as he slipped the shoe back onto Kai's foot.
As the man bent down he missed the smirk the boy gave the rest of the room. Tala was caught between being proud of Kai for getting Tyson into trouble and being angry for him trashing the store.
There really was only one way out of this,
"I'm equally shocked sir," He said as he went over and picked up an angry, yet smug Kai.
"I thought Tyson was an okay guy but he just went mental and started destroying everything. We met him at a restaurant down the road you see, and I felt sorry for him because he was sitting alone. My friends and I took pity on him and let him hang around with us for the day. I guess he had us fooled. My brothers and I should get going; Kai really should be in bed resting."
Bryan snatched the medicine out of the pharmacist's hand before he rushed from the store (A/N: Just saying this: no he didn't steal it but in Canada we don't pay for prescriptions and I'm writing this so they're doing it that way)
Tala grabbed Ray by the arm with his free hand and dragged the Neko-jin from the building while Ray grabbed onto Hilary bringing her too. Max followed after her, leaving Tyson alone to deal with a very angry Mr. Wilson.
--
They made it three full blocks before Bryan burst out laughing.
"Kai that was great, the look on that idiot's face was priceless!"
Tala failed to hold in a chuckle that quickly turned into full blown laughter. Ray was the next to join in on the hysteria as the laughing grew louder. Kai sat in Tala's arms with a satisfied look on his face.
Max stared at the four guys as if they were insane while Hilary breathed deeply as if trying to calm herself.
"Ray tell me exactly what you find so funny?"
Ray turned red faced to look at the girl,
"I'm not sure, I know Tyson is in trouble but I just c-can't s-stop laughin-ing," He got out between chuckles.
Max looked worriedly at everyone "But what about Tyson? Mr. Wilson didn't look happy at all and he thinks it was all his fault!"
Bryan recovered from his laughter and straightened his shirt,
"He'll be fine. That moron is like a cockroach, he's hard to get rid of."
Tala cleared his throat and looked down at the boy in his arms
"You know Kai that was uncalled for."
Kai gave a huff as he looked in the opposite direction of the red head.
"You could have gotten us into a lot of trouble. But...I guess its partly my fault. So I'm sorry for making you feel bad in there. You should be able to speak however you wish."
Hilary thought about telling Tala he was doing exactly the opposite of what he should be doing in the current situation, if he wanted to correct Kai' behavior but quickly dismissed the thought.
It just wasn't worth the trouble.
"Look why don't we go and get some lunch, I'm sure Tyson will catch up" Ray suggested.
Everyone nodded and they headed down the street towards a near by restaurant. As they were about to enter the building Bryan stopped suddenly making Ray slam into him and fall to the ground with a thump.
"What's the matter?" Tala asked, staring at his friend oddly.
The fair haired youth turned around and scanned the area.
"Bryan?" Ray asked from the ground.
"Nothing. Just thought...never mind."
The group seated themselves in a booth towards the back of the dinner and grabbing menus that were already set atop the table top.
Of course Kai already knew what he was getting so he left his menu where it was.
"You know Kai you're not getting off scot-free for your little stunt back there," Tala said as the laid his menu down in front of him.
The small boy looked up with a smirk,
"What are you going to put me on a time out?"
Tala laughed "No, how about no grilled cheese tomorrow huh?"
Kai made a face "Then what am I going to eat?"
Tala pretended to be deep in thought
"Oh I don't know...how about fruit or some vegetables? Or maybe even meat?"
Kai shot him a glare and quickly turned away much to the amusement to the other occupants of the table.
There was a loud bang as the door of the restaurant flew open and Tyson came stocking in.
"Kai! You are so dead you scrawny little twerp!"
Bryan glared at him "You go ahead and try it moron and see how far you get. I'd love to put you in the ground so just give me a reason."
Tyson hesitated slightly before throwing himself down into the booth beside Max.
"That guy was so mad he made me clean everything up! I had to talk him out of calling the cops and on top of that there's still spit on my shirt."
Bryan looked down at Kai who was sitting between him and Tala as he chuckled. Even the boy had a small smile on his face as he looked up to meet the older Russian's gaze.
It only took a moment until both of them had burst out laughing as Bryan gave Kai a pat on the head. Tala stared over at the two of them shaking his head to himself. Those two would be the death of him, but he still sat there and enjoyed hearing the laughter of his friends.
It was rare to hear Bryan laugh so care freely and Kai's child like laugh was something he hadn't heard in years. The two continued laughing until Kai broke off into a coughing fit.
Ray pushed over a glass of water and the boy took small sips.
"Maybe you should take some of that medicine now huh," Ray suggested as Bryan pulled the bottle of medicine from his pocket.
Kai shook his head
"I'm al-ri-," he broke off into several more racking coughs.
Bryan cracked the seal of the medicine and measured some of the green liquid in one of the spoons that were lying on the table. Kai stared as Bryan held the spoon up to his mouth.
The 'medicine' looked like some sort of poison and smelled strongly of old socks.
"I don't think," Kai began weakly only to have Tala cut him off
"You're taking it Kai."
The boy made a face but took the spoon in hand and quickly popped it into his mouth.
Kai sat there gagging for a moment before swallowing
"That tasted horrible," He said with a shudder.
Hilary laughed while Bryan gave him a look
"It can't have been that bad."
The older Russian poured out a bit of the medicine onto the spoon and put it into his mouth.
Tala stared at his friend as his face changed from curious, and considering, to absolute disgust.
He grabbed his glass of pop from the table and quickly chugged it down.
"That was awful," he said in distain. "It tasted like a cross between pennies, old socks, and the smell of wet dog."
Tyson frowned "Stuff can't taste like a smell."
Bryan shot him a glare
"Yes it can moron. (A/N: It so can.) Do you want to try some and confirm it?"
Tyson sat back with a huff.
"Here Kai," Ray said as he placed the puffer in front of the small Russian.
"You should take some; your breathing has been off all day."
Kai took the puffer in hand and inhaled the medicine before placing it back on the table.
He'd had enough of medicine for a while.
A waiter soon came by and took their orders, Kai much to Tala and Bryan's annoyance got grilled cheese and orange juice and the others ordered after the small boy.
--
Tala glanced over to Bryan while they were eating to see his friend scanning the room.
"What's with you? You've been on edge ever since we came in here."
Bryan's eyes stopped on him
"Someone's been watching us. I can feel it. And don't say I'm being paranoid," He added after seeing the look on Tala's face.
The red head gazed around the room
"Well now that you mention it…Who do you think it is?" the fair haired Russian sighed,
"I have no idea I don't think it's the Abbey."
Kai switched his gaze to his two older friends at the mention of the Abbey.
"We wouldn't have noticed them if Boris had sent them but whoever it is, is good. It took me a while to notice them but I'd say they probably followed us from the house. There's also a safe bet they've been watching the house for who knows how long."
Kai finally cut in, "Boris is still around now?"
Tala smiled sadly, "Unfortunately. I'm afraid he's been giving us grief even now that we've escaped Russia .Its likely we'll never really escape him."
Kai nodded, it was extremely unlikely to escape the Abbey's compounds, but to escape Boris was bordering on impossible.
He knew; he'd tried and it was hopeless.
Boris had people everywhere that would call him in a heart beat. He himself had walked for miles until he was out of Moscow only to have a cop pick him up after Boris had called the police chief who happened to be a friend of his.
Others hadn't been so lucky and were shot on sight as punishment for their desertion. He carried a heavy guilt with him that out of all the others who had tried to escape over the year he'd been there so far he was the only one spared.
What made him so special?
Even if in this time he had escaped the Abbey's clutches there would likely come a day when Boris decided he belonged in Russia and he'd be taken back.
It was a grim fate but it was most likely his own.
He only hoped his older self was making use of this time when he was able to roam around and taste the freedom that had eluded him for years while he could, because there would come a day when that was no longer an option.
"Well on that note," Tala said switching to English. "What do you say we head home and go out back for a while? I think Kai should be okay now that he's taken some medicine."
Everyone nodded and threw done the money for their bills while Ray called the van to come and pick them up.
(They all had to desire to walk past the pharmacy again.)
The van drove up as they left the building and they all piled in. Kai sat beside the window leaning against the cold, frost covered glass.
The medicine seemed to be helping seeing as his throat was no longer throbbing and his head wasn't pounding.
It would be nice to go and play around in the snow like he had when he was younger. The only time he had been out in the snow in the past year was when Boris had wanted to work on his tolerance to cold and left him in the middle of no where in the dead of winter.
Needless to say it hadn't been one of the best experiences in his life.
He had wound up with frostbite on his finger tips and toes and a severe case of hypothermia. It was a miracle they hadn't had to cut off any of his fingers or toes.
Tala watched Kai as he leaned against the window resting his forehead against the cold surface.
He seemed to be deep in thought and he couldn't help but wonder what Kai was thinking about.
If only the boy would look over at him.
Kai's eyes were like two crimson windows into his soul. No matter how expressionless his face was Tala could always read his 'younger brother'. It was something all of the Demolition Boy's had the ability after all these years.
None of the Bladebreakers seemed to posses the skill, but maybe they would acquire it with time.
Kai had always been annoyed by the fact that they found him so easy to read, but Tala thought that secretly he enjoyed it.
It was a sign of their closeness, their bond as a family.
It showed just how much they cared about him.
Bryan too was easy to read, he wore his heart on his sleeve. (Although he would always deny it) Ian would bite at his lip if something was bothering him while Spencer would crack his knuckles.
Tala had no idea what they used to read him, but he once recalled Spencer saying it was something about his face. He'd have to ask one day.
--
The van pulled up the drive and they all piled out. Everyone was already dressed for the weather so they headed straight out to the backyard.
Tala was caught off guard when a large snowball smacked into his back making him almost topple over.
He whirled around to see Kai and Bryan standing side by side trying and failing to look innocent.
Hilary laughed lightly as she shoved Tyson into a snow hill while Max dumped a pile of snow onto Ray's head.
Before Tala knew what was happening everyone was throwing snow left and right. It turned out Tyson couldn't it the broad side of a barn as he tried to hit Kai and wound up hitting Hilary, who had been ten feet to the right; in the face.
Teams soon formed and it was Bryan, Tala, Kai and Ray against Max, Hilary, and Tyson.
Kai let fly a large snowball that smashed right into Tyson's face.
The small Russian received a high five from Bryan as the two laughed hysterically at the look on the world champion's face.
"What do you have against me Kai? What did I ever do?"
Kai only laughed harder and Tala soon joined in friends.
Ray stared down at them before breaking into laughter too.
Tala wasn't even sure what was so funny, but he couldn't stop laughing. Tyson taking advantage of their momentary weakness ran up and dumped an armful on snow on top of Kai who sat there spluttering and trying to shaking the white from his hair.
"You're ours now," the boy said as he grinned evilly and Bryan tackled Tyson down into a snow hill.
"Cold isn't it?" The small Russian asked as he shoved a large pile of snow down the neck of the dragoon wielder's shirt.
Tyson let out a howl as the cold snow slid down his bare back and tried to shake it out from his shirt. It looked like he was trying to do an interpretative dance.
Tala watched as Kai laughed and Bryan picked up the small Russian and threw him into a snow drift. The boy disappeared for a moment before his blue head appeared again along with a large snowball.
He looked so innocent, and child like; words that Tala had never thought he'd apply to Kai of all people.
It was amazing to see him so happy and carefree. Right now there was no Abbey or Boris, no dead parents or uncertain future.
There was just now.
There was just this one perfect moment.
Dear Readers,
Yeah I know this chapter was pretty useless, think of it as a filler chapter, I just thought there needed to be a break from all the drama. I would like to wish everyone a happy late Thanksgiving. So I finally get my math! Now I've just got to get my French project under control and I'm set until my procrastination gets the better of me once again!
You know I've been wondering, when they were doing the voices for Beyblade why didn't they do the accents? I think Kai, Bryan, Tala and the rest of the guys would have sounded so cool with a Russian accent. I get them not doing a Japanese and Chinese accent in the English dub (they might have been hard to pull off) but I think they should have done the others. I just think Kai would sound badass with a Russian accent, it even might have made some of the lines seem alright. I don't know about you guys, but some of the dub lines make me cringe.
Like when he said 'loser babies' I sat there like Kai would NEVER say that. But that's a lot of dubs for you. Like if you've watched the English Yu Gi Oh gx then watched it in Japanese there's a huge difference. Turns out 4Kids cuts out all the blood and swearing and they censor all the good stuff! Seriously if you've ever watched something dubbed by them and thought it was stupid it'll be like 30x better subbed.
Plus the names are better. I don't know about you but once my wireless is back up and I'm off dial up I'm going to watch Yu Gi Oh 5D's subbed! Hmmm that reminds me the new Gundam 00 should be out dubbed so right? Gundam dubs always have a great cast! I tried watching it subbed and I discovered while all the technical stuff is cool while people are saying it and you can understand it but if you have to read it, it takes away from the show. At least that's my opinion. ALRIGHT! I got sidetracked again!...So
Okay! So some facts about Ghosts of the Past
1. Have you ever noticed that Tala, Bryan and Kai have never actually said Hilary's name?
Truth be told Hilary kind of bugs me, she always has and I've made their addressing of her reflect that.
2. Ever noticed that after the first chapter Kenny seemed to drop off the face of the earth?
To me Kenny is...well I don't know annoying I suppose. Sometimes he fits well into a story and others he's just another Character you have to keep track of. This is one of the later.
3. Have you ever noticed that Bryan, Tala and Kai have never said anything really ending in an –ie sound? Except for pretty- and that was for 'pretty bad'
To me anything ending in that sound just shouldn't come out of their awesome, kick ass mouths. Never in my writings will you hear Kai asking for a cookie. Nor will Tala and Bryan ever say that word. Just like when Max made Kai that smoothie. Tala and Bryan thought of it as a fruit blend. Most people wouldn't call it that but can you really imagine them saying that word? I can't.
4. Ever notice that up until this chapter the number of days Kai had been there was never mentioned?
That my friends is because truth be told I had no idea how long he had been there. So instead of people saying the number of days I had them say 'the past few days'. It was kind of embarrassing I mean I can't remember such a basic fact about my own story. But my friend helped me figure it out after he read it. Turns out you just take the number of the current chapter ex. Six; and take away one and that's how many days Kai has been there, so he's been there five days! At least that trick works for now it might not later.
So there are some basic mildly interesting facts about the writing of the story! See you all soon! Thanks for reading.
Yours truly,
ForeverFalling.
PS. Don't forget to R&R!