XP: New chapter! :D I am in my holidays now.
Thanks to my reviewers, Kiray Himawari, kaillinne arami, tragedymaster01, Nazrita, Pheonix09, maham123, calg123 and rangerapprentice for reviewing! :D So many of you!
It's really hard to capture the emotions properly, and I think... I think the story is starting to write itself. It's going past what I originally planned for it, and some things are just spur of the moment, like Tyson.
I'm sorry towards people you like Hiro... every story needs a bad guy!
***Start***
"What? Tala, don't you recognize us?"
A blank look remained in Tala's eyes, instead of recognition.
He smiled when he saw Bryan though.
He moved his mouth, found he couldn't speak, and frowned.
Where are we?
"We're at Kino- ... a friend's house, Tala," Bryan said simply in Russian, understanding where Tala's memories were stuck at. Before the abbey.
A rich friend?
Bryan gave a worried and nervous smile. "Well, yes... In... Japan."
Japan? Tala blinked. But how? We were on the streets of Russia...
Bryan was very flustered. He was never good at lying to Tala.
What happened, Bryan?
"We're sent to Japan to live with this family!" Ian blurted out, the best at spinning lies. "You see, they came to Russia and saw homeless boys, so they... decided to help all of us!"
Tala started to smile, sweetly, brightly.
It was such an innocent, blessed smile, that they started to feel bad for the lie.
Tala started to laugh, eyes twinkling. He turned to Bryan, whispering soundless words of how lucky and fortunate they were, of how they'd never have to steal and be hit ever again.
And they all felt depressed, because they knew, Tala went into the abbey like all of them, instead of being saved. They saw, that if someone had saved Tala, took him away from the streets, Tala would live everyday smiling like a naive boy everyday, joy and laughter in his live, not plagued by the bad memories. Tala laughed, pulling Bryan to him, embracing him, whispering how they would be brothers, back then, and now.
So, who are they? Tala asked, turning to smile in a friendly manner at the rest of the Blitzkrieg boys in the room.
Ian looked like he was physically struck. And he would have stumbled backwards and fell, if not for the firm grip from Spencer on his shoulder. Spencer's face was grim. Kai looked horribly confused, and he was rushing for his laptop.
"Oh. Er, the tiny one's Ian, the big one's Spencer, the one with freaky red eyes is Kai," Bryan said awkwardly. "All Russians."
"Something bad happened?" Chiba's voice sounded in the room, just when the laptop switched on.
"Amnesia," Kai replied darkly.
"Trigger?" Chiba asked immediately, sitting up straighter.
"I have no idea," Kai said. "I think it was the appearance of Hiro."
"Hiro... Tyson's brother?" Chiba questioned, chewing on his lower lip. "He worked under cover in the abbey before right? He always wears that sunglasses or goggles thing..." Chiba thought for a while. "Perhaps he reminded Tala of something, someone? Let me see Tala."
Kai pointed the webcam towards Tala. Tala was still smiling in relief and happiness.
Chiba faltered. "You have to make a choice, Kai."
Kai frowned.
"It might be better if he never remembers," Chiba said softly. "All abbey boys are plagued with a darkness, even after I help them. Their innocence is shattered, they can never really reintegrate into society. Tala... right now, he's... whole. Take your time, discuss if the Blitzkrieg boys."
Tala was tentatively shaking the hand of Ian, who gave him a shaky smile. Tala beamed brightly at the attempt, smiling bright enough for the both of them.
Let's get along, Tala said, shaking Spencer's hand now.
When Tala looked at Kai expectantly, Kai couldn't stand it anymore and he dashed out of the house, ignoring the shouts behind him.
It's all my fault. I made things even worse. I shouldn't have asked him to come to Japan. But... is it really for the worst? He can't remember me, the Blitzkreig boys, but now... he's a clean slate. He can start afresh, in a loving place. He won't be haunted by the nightmares, won't remember the trauma that made him lose his voice...
"Kai," It was a soft sound, made mostly of air instead of vocals. But it became insistent behind him. "Kai, Kai..."
Kai stopped and waited, and Tala caught up to him.
You don't like me? Is that why you're running? Tala asked, rather hurt.
Kai's brain finally registered, Tala attempted to call his name.
I want you to like me, we'll be living together now, Tala mouthed with surprising naivety. What should I do to make you like me?
A half smile reached Kai's face, and Tala's blue eyes brightened in hope.
"Call me Kai again," Kai said.
"Kai," It was breathed out, a breathless voice, one you would have after much running. It was forced out, formed with air, as though Tala had no vocal chords. It was quiet, and could barely be heard. But it was something. It was progress. Tala was still looking at Kai with those wet, hopeful blue eyes.
"Tala," Kai called out in response, sighing. He pulled Tala closer to him, resting their foreheads together. Tala trustingly let him, eyes showing the confusion. But Kai's touch felt familiar and safe to him... it wasn't painful like those street boys he met, it was like Bryan's touch. "Tala..." Kai repeated, pressing his lips gently to Tala's forehead.
Tala chuckled as Kai's hair tickled him.
We're okay now? You don't hate me? Tala questioned worriedly.
"Silly, Kai laughed, resting his chin on Tala's head. "I never hated you."
This time, Kai swore, he would protect Tala.
Tala frowned momentarily at the surprising familiarity of Kai, but brushed it off, smiling up at Kai again. He grabbed Kai lightly around the wrist and started to pull him back into the house.
"So what should we do?" Ian asked hurriedly, as Tala was chatting with Bryan. Ian, Spencer and Kai now sat together in the room, trying to come to a conclusion.
"I think... we should leave him as he is," Kai suggested, sighing.
No one refuted him, all thinking in silence.
"He... called my name. Granted, it was soft, and had almost no sound, but..." Kai gave a half smile, perking the interest of both Ian and Spencer.
"Maybe... we should," Spencer frowned.
Hiro burst into the room, clad in only a towel.
Tala visibly flinched, squeezing his eyes shut as Bryan shifted in front of him to block the view.
"Get... out... of my room!" Hiro growled.
Kai tilted his head at the rest of the Blitzkrieg boys, who all didn't bother picking up the futons, walking out, forming a protective barrier around Tala as Hiro leaned against the door. Only Kai was left, and Kai quietly picked up his bag of personal items and laptop, before moving out.
"My room stinks of Russians now!" Hiro frowned.
In Kai's opinion, it should smell pretty darn good, what with Kai's expensive brand name cologne, Spencer's deodorant and all.
When Hiro thought Kai left he plopped onto the bed and breathed in the smell of Kai's cologne.
Kai smirked. See? Pretty darn good. And very stalkerish, Kai decided, moving away into the living room.
As he passed Tyson's room, he could hear the soft sobs, and he faltered in his steps.
"Stupid Hiro," Kai growled lowly in his throat.
"What did you say?"
Kai smirked, never caught off guard visibly, even if he was. He turned to see the challenge in Hiro's eyes. "What did you think I said?" Kai purred darkly.
"Hah, too cowardly to say it again?" Hiro huffed, now wearing black track pants and a white singlet.
"I don't like to repeat myself," Kai replied, crossing his arms, red eyes burning intensely. "It's not strange that you didn't hear me. You only like to listen to yourself talk."
Hiro frowned, leaning closer to Kai, bending down as he was taller. Kai stared defiantly up at Hiro, challenging him to do something.
"Well, I'm offering to listen now," Hiro prompted, inhaling the scent of the sexy cologne that emanated from Kai's being.
"Then listen to the sadness you've caused in your little brother," Kai snarled, pushing Hiro away from him roughly.
"He's just being a drama queen, in the stages of puberty," Hiro shrugged. Kai's face turned darker when he heard that.
"Problems, Hiwatari?" Bryan came up, dislike clear on his features. He was flanked by Spencer, and with the two tall Russians by Kai's side, Hiro seemed more hesitant.
"Yes, a rather big one," Kai said, looking at Hiro pointedly.
"Oh, the bastard," Bryan snorted, cracking his knuckles. "I say we should just beat him to the ground, send him to the hospital and be done with it."
"Stop fighting," The voice called weakly from the room. It was clearly Tyson's.
Kai moved his hand, stopping Bryan. They shouldn't be doing this in front of Tyson's room.
A click was heard, the unlocking of the door, and Max's fluffy head appeared when the door opened, his body hiding the view inside the room. "Kai, I think you should come in."
Kai nodded, giving Bryan and Hiro a warning glare, signalling Spencer to look after the two hotheaded people.
Kai carefully stepped in, watching as Tyson honked and blew his nose in a tissue on the bed, eyes red and puffy, like Max's. It was obvious the empathetic boy was crying along with his friend. Rei was rubbing soothing circles on a distraught Tyson's back. Kai sighed, and decided to do what he did best when he had no wise words of wisdom or experience for the sort of matter to offer.
He did the unexpected.
He sat beside Tyson, and roughly put his arm around Tyson, pulling Tyson towards him.
Tyson started to wail, started to mumble about Hiro being a jerk, about how lonely he felt, about how it shouldn't be like this, seeing them after so long, saying how he wished they would stay.
"Yes, yes," Kai said quietly, holding Tyson close as Tyson let everything out.
Tyson was pretty much one of the strongest person Kai knew. To see Tyson break down because of Hiro... it was, well, stupid and infuriating.
"Sorry, Kai," Tyson mumbled through his snot and tears, which stained Kai's shirt. He felt embarrassed, and moved backwards, away from the embrace. He sniffed and wiped his eyes, attempting to be strong.
"That's it, Tyson," Rei encouraged, smiling. "Be strong."
"Yeah, Tyson, ignore that ass," Max frowned, sniffing too.
"You'll get past this, like how you overcame every obstacle to become the beyblade champion," Kai said wisely.
"Thanks guys," Tyson laughed. "I look at mess now, don't I? I'm going to the bathroom to clean up." Tyson got up, with Max tagging behind him.
Rei smiled, looking from Tyson to Kai. "That was nice of you, Kai."
"Hn," Kai moved out of the room, his business was done here. He went to the living room, which became the Blitzkrieg boy's nice base. Bryan and Hiro were having a staring competition, or so it seemed.
"Tv. Ours," Bryan insisted, as Ian played his game on the screen. Bryan wanted to watch him play, but he was currently busy glaring.
"It's MY house," Hiro said angrily.
"Come on, stop fighting," Spencer sighed. "Bryan, don't be unreasonable. I'm sure we could work out a tv schedule?"
Tala sat close to Ian quietly, both watching the graphics that flashed on the screen, pretending not to hear anything.
"I paid for the electricity, our TV," Kai declared victoriously, moving over to his bag to take our a shirt to change into.
"WHAT?" Hiro raged. "Isn't Dad or Grandpa paying the bills?"
"Like what your shitty jobs send back is enough," Kai snorted, turning away, pulling off his shirt. "Those are spent on Tyson's school fees. Don't you know how expensive it is nowadays? Grandpa's dojo isn't having many students, so how could he earn money?"
"But you-" Hiro stared openly at Kai's exposed back.
"Max's mum offered to pay, but I couldn't accept that," Kai shrugged, pulling on the clean shirt. "She has conditions, which are to report whatever we do to her etc."
Bryan stole the can of unopened cola in Hiro's hand. "Our cola. Kai paid."
Ian smirked victoriously as he continued to pretend being fully engrossed in the game.
Hiro opened and closed his mouth, cheeks red from both anger and embarrassment.
"Bryan..." Spencer chided.
"He asked for it, claiming things first," Bryan shrugged, popping open the cola and handing it over to Tala for the first sip. Tala smiled sweetly and accepted it with both hands, feeling the coldness of the can with his hands.
"All your money is from your rotten, dirty cash from your grandfather anyway!" Hiro spat.
Kai froze. Everyone froze. Ian's car in the game crashed, making a loud dramatic sound.
Bitter anger burned in the fiery depths as Kai rose to the challenge again. "Oh? And you do not use your dad's money?"
"I'm helping him on his job and earning money as well now," Hiro replied smugly. "I'm going to pay him back slowly."
"Are you suggesting I help Voltaire in his work then?" Kai raised an eyebrow. "The court gave me his money when he was jailed. It is mine now. Are you sure you are not just jealous of my dirty, rotten heaps of cash?"
"Of course I'm not jealous," Hiro bristled, even as he stared at the car parked outside the house, the sleek black car that was Kai's. Bryan pointedly picked up the car keys on the table and threw it from one hand to the other.
"Your cash is earned from the expense of forgoing your family," Kai said darkly, looking pointedly at the direction of Tyson's room.
"Your cash is from destroying families!" Hiro shot back.
"We abbey boys have no fucking families!" Kai thundered. "We were taken from the streets or SOLD!"
Huffing, out of breath from all the anger, Kai and Hiro glared at each other.
"What about the guards killed? The politicians?" Hiro challenged.
"The guards torture kids anyway, they deserve to die!" Kai growled. "The politicians are corrupt, they do sick things in their spare time. They are better off not living!"
"Are you condoning killing?" Hiro asked, outraged. "Are you judging the worth of human lives?"
"Kill, or be killed," Kai replied darkly. "That is how we lived."
"Kai," Tala mumbled, reaching out to pull at Kai's hand.
Kai's eyes immediately softened, losing the harsh red glow. He tilted his head to the side, turning slightly to look at the worried and concerned Tala, as Tala gripped his hand tighter. Why are you fighting with him? Is he not part of this family which adopted us? I don't understand what you guys are talking about.
Bryan sipped his cola loudly, appreciating the argument. Spencer smacked his head, making him spill cola.
"Fuck you, Spencer!" Bryan whined, pointing at his soiled shirt.
"It's nothing, Tala," Kai explained, in a gentle tone. A tone that made Hiro bristle and growl and stomp out of the room.
"I swear he likes you," Ian muttered. "Hiro, I mean."
"...I'd rather not think about it," Kai admitted.
***Tyson***
"Dad?" Tyson called hesitantly, peeking into his Dad's room. Bruce had just finished his bath, and was sitting on the bed with heavy shoulders, weary and tired from his long trip.
"Tyson, I'm sorry..." Bruce rubbed his face with a large hand.
"It's not your fault, Dad," Tyson mumbled, going closer.
Bruce didn't look at him though.
As the seconds passed, Tyson felt his heart hurting more and more, like it was slowly being ripped apart. He paused in his steps, watching as Bruce heaved a heavy sigh.
"Sorry, Tyson, I wish I could've come home earlier..." Bruce started hesitantly.
That caused something in Tyson to snap.
Sorry? He's sorry? Like an apology can solve anything. He could've come home, he chose to take one assignment after another, just to get away from this house, get away from me. How many times has he returned, and apologised for the same thing? He isn't even looking me in the eye... He's lying, like it would magically solve everything, like all those days I've spent missing them are nothing... What about my feelings? Doesn't he care? He's just trying to patronize me, to get me off his back!
"You liar."
"W-what?"" Bruce finally looked up at his son.
"You would've never come home if you could!" Tyson accused. "Because you don't want to look at my face!"
"Tyson, no, it's not like that," Bruce said weakly.
"Because I look like mum, isn't it? Because I act like her," Tyson shouted, new tears springing to his eyes. Silence met his ears. "See? I'm right. But don't you know how much you're hurting me? For a mother I can hardly remember?"
"I know I haven't been a good father towards you, Tyson," Bruce said awkwardly.
"You're making me hate mum, making me hate you."
"You can hate me, Tyson, I know it's my fault..." Bruce sighed, eyes dropping to the floor. "But don't hate her. She never did anything wrong."
"Never did anything wrong? You guys lied to me, saying that she died. She ran away with another man," Tyson huffed, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"H-How did you..." Bruce looked up, alarmed.
"She found me. She saw me when we were touring for the beyblade championships. And I knew it was her. She really looked like me," Tyson said bitterly. "She even dresses like me and sounds like me. She's with this rich, foreign blond guy."
"Tyson, I... I only wanted-"
"You lied to me. With Hiro and Grandpa. You all lied to me, for all these years. And I was just going to pretend I didn't know anything," Tyson looked away, eyes burning in betrayed anger. "But I couldn't take it anymore. Not with how you two treat me."
"Tyyyysonnn!" Max's voice sounded outside, as though looking for him.
"In here, Maxie," Tyson called out, turning for the door.
"Tyson, I can explain..." Bruce said desperately.
"Tyson?" Max asked quietly, when he saw the anguish and pain on his friend's face as the door opened.
"Let's go, Max," Tyson growled, tugging Max along, making sure he slammed the door loudly, as though breaking the thing that connected them, their family bond.
Just like how Bruce pretended he never existed and cut him away when he went on those jobs.
It may be childish, may be juvenile, but Tyson was going to run away from home. He was tired of smiling, tired of laughing, tired of being strong, tired of pretending not knowing anything.
Tyson went back to his room to pack, and before he knew it, everyone was outside his room, all of their bags packed and ready to go.
"G-Guys?" Tyson stuttered, eyes wide.
"Come on, Tyson, you think we'd let you go alone?" Max grinned, trying to make the situation lighter.
"Yeah, you invited us here after all," Rei smiled.
"Like I'm going to stay here with Hiro while you're gone," Kai deadpanned, holding onto a confused Tala.
"Anywhere without him is better place," Bryan shrugged.
"I only hope we're going to a place with games," Ian moaned, while tapping on his PSP.
"Kai has called for a cab, and he's driving us there as well, we're going to his mansion," Spencer informed, smiling, bringing cheers from Ian. Kai's place had all sorts of electronics!
"But you can't hide there forever," Kai warned.
"I know. Thanks, Kai," Tyson laughed, though everyone could here the fragility and relief in it. He was putting himself together after he broke.
"We're all here for you Tyson," Max put an arm around his best friend's shoulders.
***End of chapter 10***
XP: Hope you guys liked it! And the gay parts, I couldn't resist. I'm sorry. xD