Chapter Seven
Today, he got up with the sun. Gone jogging first thing; pounding pavement before anyone else in the world was awake. His college emblem t-shirt got him in the athletic mood. Maybe it was the last time he would wear it so proudly, if things worked out. Kai made a pact with himself – the only person he trusted would hold him to it – that he was going to give it his best shot, his fullest attention. Nothing by halves. The match with Rei, fluke though it might have been... it had given Kai hope, and perhaps that was what he'd been missing all along.
Through the mist Kai jogged the routes he knew. Dew-smell flooded his lungs. He drank from the air with each hungry breath. So long since he'd done this...
His list of familiar places was fast running out. Where was there to go once he'd reached the empty campus, the park, the only bar he liked? It was funny how you could live somewhere for years and barely know it at all. He could probably still get lost after just a few wrong turns. The radical personality change wasn't so radical, maybe. Still ended up keeping himself to himself.
Proving himself right (when had he ever been wrong?), Kai ventured off the beaten track and thus spent an hour in the navigational nightmare that was deepest, darkest suburbia. By the time he found his way back to civilisation the quiet birdsong had been replaced with traffic noise and the clatter of storefront shutters. Kai shivered despite the rapidly thawing dawn. It was going to be one of the warmest summer days yet, but he wasn't running anymore and his sweaty clothes clung to his back and chilled him.
He walked the long way home so he could drop by the corner shop. A little breathless still, and massaging a stitch in his side, he wandered down the sole aisle followed by the sleepy gaze of the clerk. Today he had time to devote to his new project. For starters; a healthy breakfast in lieu of the usual rushed slurp of coffee before lectures.
By mid-morning, Kai had completely restocked the kitchen. Bricks of brightly wrapped ramen no longer fortified the shelves – it was all about the juice, the wholemeal bread, the vegetables. Culinary culling on such a scale was certainly impressive, but it was only ten o'clock and he was already flagging. The kind of smugness that almost defined wholesome living was taking a distinct downturn, and turning, Kai suspected, into the ache of overambitious exertion and caffeine withdrawal. A headache was brewing. The ammonia fumes probably hadn't helped.
Long after he'd finished showering, he remained cloistered in the ill-ventilated bathroom scrubbing forehead, shoulders, arms, and trying not to breathe the with his nose too much. Every time his tired eyes looked in the mirror, a new blue blemish seemed to have crept down from his hairline – a drop here, a smear there. The dye stained his skin like ink, lightening up but not coming off with the repeated efforts of an expertly-wielded loofah. Enough for one morning, he sighed. Not as perfect as it used to be, but enough. You could probably draw blood and still not get the damned spots out.
He just about managed to tie his freshly coloured hair with an elastic band (though it was at that irritating stage of growth where most of the strands escaped anyway and hung in his eyes - getting too long; needs a cut, he reminded himself). From the bathroom door he could survey the almost empty house. Term had ended with a bang, but now the exams were over and his flatmates had gone home for the long summer ahead. Last night was the final big party of the year, but by the time Kai was finished with his cleaning blitz that morning, you would never believe students lived there.
Haha, blitz. How the mighty have fallen, he thought with a mordant smirk. It would've been a good joke, if there had been someone around to tell it to.
Come on now, stop procrastinating. There was nothing left to do but go over there. He picked up his backpack, gave his head a final ineffectual rub, locked the door behind him and headed out into the world.
Fine atmosphere to return to. Rei wanted to shake them by the shoulders until they all snapped out of it. Tyson was engaged in an afternoon-long sulk. Kenny had gone home without a word and his phone and online aliases had all been dead since. Max simply looked miserable. Whenever the blonde caught Rei's eye he hurriedly changed expressions, but the frown absent-mindedly returned a few minutes later. You'd think someone had died, the way he was staring off into the middle distance like that. The neko-jin's legendary patience was running out. Surely if the choice was Kai or no Kai, having him was better than not?
A clock somewhere ticked loudly, unaware of how clichéd it was being. Max sighed, stopped short when Rei glanced over, forced a smile, then sighed again finally giving up on the whole thing.
"Listen, Max-"
Tyson very inopportunely chose that moment to stamp into the room. Glaring at the wooden floor, probably imagining every inch of it was Rei's face. He took a deep breath.
"Look man, I know what you tried to do. But now we have to accept him and all his mysterious bullshit back, and that's not at all cool."
It was either a tirade or an apology. They were very hard to tell apart with Tyson.
"I don't get it." Rei addressed them both. "Didn't you guys want him back too? Even if it means living with a few questions... Would you really rather not have him at all?"
Max opened his mouth to protest – it wasn't like that, of course not – but Tyson pre-empted him.
"You know what, Rei? I actually would. And you wanna know why?"
Uh-oh. Tirade, tirade, definitely tirade. Max couldn't decide which side to back in the argument, so settled for staring in mortification at them both.
"I'll tell you: It took years, and it took effort, and it took him betraying us more than once, but we fucking got there, man. We knew the real him, or close enough to it anyways. So when you tell us we're starting again slap-bang on square one with this stranger and his bag of super-secrets...it's..." The dragon ran out of anger, and gestured hopelessly at the other two. "It pisses me off, is all." He finished limply.
The doorbell chimed in yet another interruption, cutting off Rei's loss for words.
"...That's not a Bladebreaker ring." Max said quietly.
The Granger's doorbell had a little quirk: if you held the button down, the bell would 'ding' but it wouldn't 'dong' 'til you took your finger off. That was the Bladebreaker ring – something they'd discovered on a lazy weekend when they didn't feel like training; an in-joke where you'd leave it as long as possible between 'ding' question and 'dong' punch line. It wasn't especially funny, but even standing outside on rainy days, the boys found themselves automatically pressing the button a little longer than necessary.
Kai did not know the Bladebreaker ring.
No-one made to go and answer. The three boys simply stared at each other, Mexican standoff style. A second ring, meeker (if it was possible for a doorbell to sound meek), followed.
"Answer it?" Tyson said, in a voice that he usually used to say 'Um, duh?'
"It's your house." Max pointed out.
"I'll get it." Rei rolled his eyes. "But can you guys at least pretend to be a little happy that he's back?"
Both Tyson and Max mumbled in unison, which could have meant anything but which Rei chose to interpret as two long-suffering affirmations.
He opened the door, and there was Kai. Rei didn't know what else he'd been expecting but it still seemed a bit of a shock to see him. He stood slightly away, half turned back to the street. Looked up sharply as the door was answered. Hair falling into his eyes. Blue again.
A rucksack over one shoulder – was he staying over? Rei dared to hope. To have all the team together under one roof again; made him nostalgic like a punch to the gut, but in a good way.
"So Rei..."
"Yes?"
"Can I come in?"
The Chinese boy realised that he was standing in the door, and that he hadn't even greeted his old friend yet. He fumbled to get out of the way, and could practically imagine the sweat drop that must be hanging off his head.
"Oh, of course! Sorry, yes. It's so good to see you."
"It's not that great." Tyson drawled from somewhere inside the house.
Rei pulled a face, conveying to him in the space of a second exactly how Rei's offer had been received by the others. Kai didn't allow himself to be put out.
"Play nice, Tyson." Rei said as they walked into the adjacent room. He was standing - no, squaring up - ready to deliver more ranting.
"We might not be mentioning your half-decade holiday, but you better not go thinking that you're gonna be captain again."
A smile tugged at Kai's lips. Grudging respect.
"You're absolutely right, Tyson."
"Hey, I don't care what- wait, what?"
"I said you're right. It wouldn't be fair."
"No bossing us around?"
"No. I haven't got the right. At least, I haven't got the right until I'm better than you."
A light bulb flicked on in Tyson's head. The boy could be remarkably quick-witted when it suited him, Rei thought.
"That means we've got the right to boss you around, though."
"I guess." Kai carried on, his expression completely serious. "Give being the captain a go, it might be good for you." A nod towards Rei. Kai's assumption was right on the money about who had filled his shoes. "If that's okay with Rei, I mean."
Tyson's puppy dog face aimed itself with full force at the Neko-jin.
"Uhhh...not that I think you're not up to it Tyson, but I'm not sure that's such a great idea. A lot of organisation and timetabling and boring stuff is involved. It's not as fun as you might think."
"Maybe that's even more reason why he should try it." Kenny said, standing in the left-open doorway. No-one had noticed him come in.
"Yesssssssss!"
Rei tried to stay optimistic, watching the insane glint grow in Tyson's eyes. This was role-reversal he'd obviously dreamed about but never believed would happen. The whole thing was like some improbable yet highly amusing sitcom, But at least he wasn't sulking anymore...
So Kai is finally back, but is giving Tyson that much responsibility really a such good idea? ^^; The fact that I have to ask means that the answer is probably 'no', haha! Anyways, as always hope you enjoyed the new chappie. Read, review, send me cake - it's all kosher :)
