Part Seven.


Kai had never known Lee to be so meddlesome in occurrences that are none of his business. The plan, however, did deserve some applause, no matter how deep the leader of the White Tigers is sticking his nose into his best friend's problems. Self-assertion is one of the only ways Kai can relate to Lee, and thus he does not hate it about him - despite disliking having his personal life tampered with by other people. Honestly he'd like to deal with this entire bereavemental situation all alone, but he has no idea how to convince someone as wickedly thick headed as the black haired kitten of his innocence.

He's never had to connivence Rei of much, just that he's not after their bits anymore, and that the triangles on his cheeks are real tattoos. Rei's always been the one encouraging him, telling him to explain to his grandfather where he can stick it, that he knows it's hard but your dad was an asshole for walking out like that anyway, Kai, just forget him. Forget him. Rei knocked him out of the grudge he'd been holding against his father for over ten years. With words. And maybe a cute little cat grin. Still, Kai is not easily talked out of anything - and though Rei seems to be the one best at doing so, he's more stubborn than Kai by a thousandfold.

But still, he's not sure if Dranzer and himself are exactly up for it.

"Look Kai, it's simple. All you have to do is show up. Max, Takao and I will take care of the rest."

This isn't going to end well, or at least not the way anyone thinks it will, but what choice does he have? Kai can't imagine what he would do if Rei never talked to him again, if he never woke up to that warm feeling he always gets when he rolls over in bed and sees him there, feels him sleeping. One time Kai had had to wake him up early for a match, and Rei had been so unaware of the conscious world he'd rolled away from the other man and mumbled, 'Zao shang hao.' Kai can only assume at its meaning, but he's never forgotten those word.

"Whatever," he says, and closes his eyes. As embarrassed as this whole plan is going to make him feel, he's going to do it. He has to, or he'll look back one day and realized that not only did he lose someone important to him, again, but he didn't even try not to. He just let it happen. He is never going to just let it happen, not with Rei. "I'll do it."

Lee grins at him and says, "Perfect."

Takao is busy stuffing his face, not paying too much attention.

And Max is standing beside Kai, smiling.


Doing nothing in particular in Mariah's room is starting to remind Rei of his past. Any moment now he's expecting a five-year-old Mariah to run into the bedroom and ask him if he wants to go swim, or battle, or pick flowers, or wake him up for a meeting. It's not something Rei dislikes remembering, but he has problems with trying to live in the past. What matters is the here and now. Except right here at this exact moment in his life all he can feel is viral rage. If he thinks too much about it, the irrepressibly instinctual urge to go rip Kai's balls off overtakes him and he has to shut is eyes and breathe to remain civil.

It isn't that his hair is gone. Hair is just a bunch of dead cells growing out of his scull, and he doesn't like to be attached to many material things. Partly it's what his hair represented, but the whole mating-tradition of his clan is old and just a custom; he's seen many customs after traveling so much. What really bothers Rei is that it's something his parents asked him to follow, the only thing they asked of him before they were dead. He feels like he's disgraced them. He feels ugly, but not in his appearance. His soul feels twisted. Because they're gone and he'd promised, swore to keep it long until he found a mate, and, and…

Why did Kai do it? Rei can't believe he ever trusted him. Rei is never going to trust him again. Hopefully, he'll never have to see him again either, because he's pretty sure it would result in a whole shit ton of bloody Russian-blader on the floor. The worst part, the absolute worst part of this is that Rei had liked him. He'd honestly and reverently liked him, had dreams about him and thought about doing things with him, half of which weren't even sexual. And these thoughts would happen at unseemly times of the day, like while brushing his teeth or watching Takao whine about doing the dishes. It would've been okay if Kai only hadn't liked him back. It would've hurt, but Rei would've been alright, would have gotten over it and kept their friendship as just that. But no. Instead, the Russian had stuck a cold hand into his chest, tore out his heart and dropped it down a three-hundred storey building where it fell and was pierced by lightning while seagulls pecked at it until it hit the ground with a thick, low, slimy, smack.

And what makes it even more awful is that despite how degenerate his spirt feels, despite insulting his parents' memory, despite the loud pounding in his abdomen and being betrayed like a useless piece of garbage, Rei still likes him. How could he not? The grovelling in his heart speaks volumes about it. Becoming so affected by something Kai's done… it's obvious how Rei feels.

Like hell he's going to let it control him, though. He's not some dog. His love his not unconditional. If Kai's actually this much of an asshole, then Rei doesn't want anything to do with him. Regardless of how much it-

His phone rings. With a tired sigh, he answers. "Hello?"

"Rei? It's Lee."

"Hey," he says, falling back onto Mariah's bed.

"How're you feeling?"

"Alright."

The older blader laughs, though Rei doesn't see the humour in any of this. "Well, I think I know something that'll make you feel better…"

"Yeah? What?"

"You remember that old restaurant we went to as kids? When they'd let us leave the village?" Rei hums a yes. "I'm taking you there tonight."

"No thanks."

"Ha." Lee's voice is bright. Rei wants to strangle it. "Like you have a choice. I'll be there in an hour."

And with a beep the line is cut, leaving Rei alone.


After Lee, Takao, and Kyouju exit the cabin to go initiate they're ingenious plan, Kai takes a seat across from Max. He looks fixedly at him, not wavering. It's a questioning look with a little disappointment added, because Kai doesn't want to have to say anything to get his point across.

Max folds his arms and pouts. "What?"

Kai continues staring at him.

"Stop it."

Keeps staring, folding his own arms.

"Seriously, stop."

He leans back in his chair, waiting.

"Would you quit it⁈" Max snaps, widening Kai's eyes. Then the blond slams his head on the table pathetically, obviously anxious and tired. "What was I supposed to do? He came into my room and sat on my bed and asked me what was wrong and I wanted to tell him, I was going to tell him, I kept thinking to myself Max, this is stupid, he's too much of an idiot to think you're gross or weird or whatever so just say it, but…" Pausing, Max reaches around his head, holding it and sound physically sunken in his memory. "But then he opened his big fat mouth."

When he doesn't continue, Kai finally speaks up. "What did he say?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Tell me."

The blond lifts his head up, but doesn't look the other boy in the eyes. "He started going off about some American girl he dated last year. He told me she was his favourite girlfriend. That he loved everything about her. I mean, I know he likes girl and stuff, but hearing about how amazing his ex is… I couldn't…" And he slams his head back into the table. "I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't stop talking about women, and I then he got really close to - to my face, I, I don't know why... and I pushed him away and told him I wasn't feeling so good."

Kai rubs his temples. Takao has the emotional capabilities of earwax. Likely what he'd been trying to do was reassure Max that his half-American ethnicity doesn't bother him, or anyone on the team, because that's what Rei had said was probably wrong. But all he'd managed to do is make it worse, as is typical of the food-machine. Kai believes, however, that it's up to Takao and Max to sort through these things, so he isn't going to tell Max any of it. What he is going to do, though, is force them to train together. A lot. Until something slips or Takao is too tired to use his windpipe to do anything more than breathe.

"I really don't know what you see in him…"

"Me either," Max says, rubbing his eyes. "It just happened. When we were younger, I don't know… he…" But the blader trails off. "I really don't know."

Kai sighs. "Yeah." He wants to be more helpful, but he's not good at it.

"Well, anyway…" Max sits up, apparently comfortable with Kai's inability to provide verbal support, and sends him an annoyingly all-knowing bright wink. "You excited for tonight?"

He throws a napkin at the blond, rolling his eyes. This plan isn't going to work, but what other choice does he have?