12
coward's way out
"Chocolate, sour cream and potato chips." Ren scrunches his nose. "Disgusting."
Kali narrows her eyes at him for that comment, and then proceeds to put another pack of chips in the basket just to spite him. "Who are you to judge? All you put in is milk, milk, and oh look, more milk."
He gives her a glare much nastier than the one she's shooting him. She expects a retort of some sort to come out of his frowning lips, but instead he says nothing and just turns around to leave.
"Where are you going?" she calls, somewhat feeling like an exasperated mother struggling to keep her rebellious child in check.
"To get more milk." He says before disappearing into one of the crowded aisles, most probably the one where the dairy products are kept. Kali just knows that what he's doing is out of spite as well, because who the hell needs five cartons of milk?
She sighs, annoyed, and looks over the shopping list Anna gave her last night to make sure she didn't miss anything, lest she wants to get bitchslapped into the next decade. Kali didn't even realize it was her turn to go grocery shopping. She didn't even understand why she needed to buy all this stuff; due to the Shaman Tournament, they have to constantly move back and forth from the Patch Village to Japan and the best option is to simply eat out, or at the least, order take-out. She didn't bother asking, having been in no mood for an argument she was bound to lose anyway (it was Anna after all). But she still believes they can save more money by eating at the Patch Restaurant. Patch Money isn't even real money.
Some of the things on the list are so farfetched that it almost feels like Anna did it to get on her nerves. She wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be true—Anna's been in a hell of a mood lately. She's behaving even worse than her usual self, and nobody ever thought that was possible.
"Why is everybody out to get me?" her childish whine is accompanied by the stomping of the feet like an incensed little girl.
Chi, who had been engrossed in the variety of sweets on display on the shelf (there didn't used to be these many choices back in her day), looks at her shaman with uttermost incredulity. Although Kali has her peculiar moments like any other person, she's been acting very off since this morning, and Chi can't help but wonder what exactly took place when she went down to see Ren last night and came back up with an intense blush on her face.
"Are you ever going to tell me what happened last night?" she asks, though she already knows the answer.
"Nope."
"Well then, at least explain to me why we're shopping with Ren."
Kali believes that's fair enough. She crumples the paper in her hand, grits her teeth and conjures the best explanation she can come up with. "I…invited him."
"You invited him?" she asks, one eyebrow arched high in suspicion. "What, so you two are friends now?"
"We've always been friends. We just have a very funny way of showing it." Kali bites her lip after saying that, immediately regretting coming to the defense of her friendship (as dysfunctional as it may be) with Ren as it just paints her in an even more suspicious light.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
"Oh my God, you like him."
"What? What the hell are you talking about? Get your head out of your ass, Chi." Kali feels that she may have been too quick to deny that. But it's not like she's lying; she's just tired of everyone assuming that her feelings for Ren (which mostly consists of annoyance and/or indifference) have changed since the incident at the arena which she would very much prefer to never, ever speak of again.
When Chi says nothing and just stares at her with a goofy grin and a vexing gaze, she feels her cheeks burn up. She prefers to believe that it's out of frustration and not anything else. "Eggs."
"What?"
"Eggs." She waves the crumpled piece of paper in her hand. "We need eggs."
This morning isn't exactly what Kali would call her best, which isn't saying very much because she normally doesn't care very much for mornings anyway. She woke up feeling, and probably looking like hell, having just gotten very little sleep, mostly consisted of waking up at random hours to toss and turn and have things thrown at her by Pirika who was annoyed that she was disturbing her sleep. At least the sun was already out by the time she got up, so she could walk around and maybe stop by at the Patch Diner without much difficulty.
She thought she was the first one awake, but on her way out, she noticed that the door to Team The Ren's room was slightly ajar. Just out of total curiosity, she intended to take just a quick sneak peek, but ended up looking in long enough to take note of several things, such as the figures occupying two out of three beds, and the clothes laid out on the empty, neatly-made bed in the middle. Kali easily recognizes those clothes as Ren's.
There were sounds coming in from the bathroom and Kali assumed that Ren was inside, taking a shower. She hadn't the faintest idea why she was just standing there, peering inside like a total creep. It's not like she wanted to be there when Ren came out (she had no idea what to say to him after last night) and she wasn't particularly seeking out any of her teammate's company at the moment since, well, none of them are morning people, but she didn't budge. Not even a little bit. She was even beginning to wonder if her feet were nailed to the floor.
When the shower sounds stopped and the bathroom door clicked, Kali, immediately panicking, squeaked (a little higher than she would have liked) and ran to the end of the hall to hide. It didn't even occur to her to be discreet. But knowing Ren, even if he hadn't seen her, he probably already realised that there was somebody else's presence lurking nearby.
Last night, while she tossed and turned in bed, Kali decided to take the easy way out. Other people might call it the coward's way out, but she prefers her own wording. She decided that she wasn't going to let any of those kisses between her and Ren change anything. They were teammates, maybe even friends, and nothing more beyond that. She was fine with the status quo, as was Ren, probably.
It took her about a minute to realize that she was being ridiculous, and that she couldn't care less if she saw Ren today. With (not completely) bold steps, she came out of the shadows and headed towards the staircase. Unfortunately, she would have to pass Ren's room on the way, but she wasn't going to let that deter her, no sirree.
Kali let out another high-pitched squeak (which she didn't care very much for either) when she came close to getting her head cut off. At least she managed to keep herself from screaming in terror and waking the whole building up. Fortunately, the blade of the sword was precisely stopped just a few mere inches away from her neck. He had no intention to kill, but just to scare. Frankly, Kali would have preferred the latter right now.
"What are you doing?" Ren demanded from her, as if he hadn't been the one yielding a sword in the middle of a hallway.
"Me? What are you doing?" she probably would have sounded much more intimidating if she wasn't trying to catch her breath from the fright she just took. "Do you always walk around like this, all shirtless and waving your fancy sword around? Where did that sword even come from?"
Ren wasn't the only one looking at her like she was crazy, but also Bason who had been hovering behind him the whole time. Kali was just glad that Chi was somewhere else (she had no idea where; Chi loved to see the sights, as boring as they may be, and Kali didn't know where she was half the time) or else she would have been on board the train to watch Kali properly embarrass herself.
The purple-haired boy seemed to be studying her and her erratic (even more so) behavior. Somehow, he comes to a conclusion, "I see. This is about last night."
"What happened last night?" Bason asked.
"Nothing!" the simultaneous cries from the two shamans properly shut Bason up, but don't stop him from speculating anything.
Ren decided he didn't have time for this and turned to go back to his own room and forget this ever happened. Taking a cue from him, Kali turns to do the same. The rest of her day would have gone explicably better if she had just left it at that, but no, she had to stop and asks Ren if she wanted to go to the store with her later.
He blinked at her once or twice before replying with a short, blunt, "no", and Kali wasn't surprised, but still, her pride took a minor hit. She was used to Ren's enmity so it didn't take her very long to shrug it off. What completely took her by surprise though was Ren showing up at the grocery store ten minutes after she had started shopping.
"I changed my mind," was the only explanation he gave her.
The next few minutes weren't as awkward as Kali thought it would be, but she certainly did not appreciate the pressure she felt from being in Ren's presence. It was so strange actually—it's not like they've never been alone before, but now Kali had no idea how to act around him. Moments between them have never been this peaceful before and neither Kali nor Ren knew how to feel about it.
Kali is close to smashing the whole shelf of eggs down with Chi's powers (since the superabundant number of choices irritates her so) when Ren comes back and drops a few packs of cup noodles in the basket. The sudden added weight almost makes Kali tip over and she barely keeps herself from falling flat on her ass. She had grabbed Ren's elbow for support without thinking, and she notices he doesn't have much of a reaction to this. She always took Ren as someone who didn't very much like being touched.
"Cup noodles," she says, picking up one of them and examining it. "Just a minute ago, you were judging my choices in food and then you show up with unhealthy, processed, instant noodles?"
"That's zhajiangmian." He says. "That's different."
"How is that different?"
"It just is."
"Wow, that's a great defense. You should be a lawyer." She rolls her eyes and puts the cup noodles back inside the basket. "Just so you know, I'm not eating any of these."
"Who said they're for you?"
Kali is just about to bark at him, but Chi chimes in, still sporting that same stupid grin from earlier. "As you know, I've been dead for about a decade or so, so I'm not really up to date to these kinds of things, but are you two flirting?"
If looks could kill and if spirits could die again, Chi definitely would've dropped dead right then and there. Just the sheer hostility oozing out from Kali and Ren's deadly gazes makes Chi, the ghost of a trained ninjutsu, let out a little "eep" and cower behind a tower of soup cans. Bason, quite terrified himself, is right behind her.
"Ignore her." Kali says to Ren. "Putting her foot in her mouth is a specialty of hers."
Kali doesn't notice since she turns around, but Chi catches a smirk on Ren's face after that snide quip she just made. Chi looks at Bason and wonders if he's thinking what she's thinking.
"Uh, you know what?" One look at Chi and anyone can tell she has something in mind. "We're going to be leaving you two alone now. Bye!"
"What?" Bason barely gets to process the situation when Chi grabs him and takes him away.
Kali wishes she knew what Chi was up to, but she's just grateful that she isn't there anymore to make things worse than they already are. She just hopes she can survive the remainder of this shopping trip. There are a dozen more things listed on the back of the paper and they aren't even halfway through. She can already sense that this isn't going to end well.
"If you think about it, I'm kind of good for you."
Kali has no idea how she did it, but she managed to strike up an actual conversation with Ren on the way back, one that isn't just made up of death threats and nasty insults. She didn't think such a thing was possible with Ren; hell, she didn't even realize Ren could go two minutes without saying something mean.
"Why would I think about that?"
"I don't know. Just hypothetically, I guess." She shrugs. She has no idea how or when the conversation landed here, but she can't seem to stop talking. "Just think about it for a minute. I'm shorter than you and I'm only kind of sometimes annoying."
He scoffs a little. "Only kind of sometimes?"
Kali shrugs again. She has no control over the extent to how annoying she is, after all. "Of course, I'm just speaking on assumption here. I mean, I assume those are what you'd look for in a girl…you know, if you were to look for a girl. But I could be wrong. Maybe you'd like someone like…like Pirika. Or Anna. I think you and Anna would actually go well together—not that my brother would ever let you—"
"What's your point?" he interrupts, and Kali is glad that he does or else who knows what else she might have said.
"I…um…" she clears her throat and tries to salvage what's left of her dignity. "Am I right or not?"
"About what?"
"About your taste in girls."
"I don't think about that stuff." He says. If this were any other person, Kali would've called their bluff, but this is Ren, so it's not exactly that hard to believe. But still, surely these kinds of thoughts cross his mind like any other adolescent?
"Oh. Okay." She tries not to sound too dejected. "It's just as well. I don't care, anyway; you're not my type."
This manages to stir a reaction from him. "What are you, dense? I'm rich, smart and powerful."
"So?" she asks, amused by his self ego-boost. "Is that what I look for in a boy?"
He shrugs one shoulder. "It is now."
"What?" Kali could've sworn that that means what she thinks it means. "What are you—" she looks at Ren's blank face and gets the sense that she shouldn't think too much about it. It was probably nothing. Probably. "Never mind."
For a brief moment, they find themselves enveloped in a painfully awkward silence. Kali knows she should change the subject to spare the both of them any more embarrassment, but it's the only thing that she can think of right now.
"But, seriously, Ren. You don't seem like the type who's into…you know, all those romantic stuff people do in movies or something." She hopes she's making some sense right now. "I can't imagine you looking at someone the way…I don't know, the way Ryu looks at Lyserg. Seriously, do you even have a type?"
"Why are you so curious about this?"
"I don't know," she wishes she knew, she really does, "just answer the question."
"Maybe."
"Maybe what?"
"Maybe I do."
"Have a type?" the fact that she's finally gotten an answer (albeit a vague one) thrills her. "What is it?"
On the way to the hotel is the restaurant, and when they pass it, Ren makes a turn as if he's going to go in. "Just someone shorter than me and not very annoying." And with that, he goes in and leaves Kali behind, dumbstruck.
She feels her face and realizes that she has the widest, stupidest grin across her lips. Never mind that Ren had just left her with three heavy grocery bags to carry by herself; she walks back to the hotel with that same pleased smile on, a complete contrast to how she looked and felt like when she left this morning.
"Well, Anna, here's all the things on your list. More or less." The last part of that sentence comes out as more of a mutter. "I'm going to leave now, unless your highness wants a royal foot rub."
"Actually—"
"I'm not rubbing your feet, Anna." She says, glaring. "I'm leaving."
Anna isn't exactly Kali's favorite person right now, not after what she said yesterday. Call her immature for holding a grudge, but one does not just simply let go of something like that.
"Sit down." Anna says, looking through the paper bags Kali had set on the table.
"No thanks." She's just about to leave the table when Anna grabs her elbow and pulls her down on the empty seat. Kali really isn't in the mood to talk to her, but she's lost too many arguments with Anna to know that she shouldn't bother trying anymore.
"What do you want?" she asks, purposely being hostile. If Anna was affected by this, Kali wouldn't be able to tell. She will never understand how people like Anna and Ren can keep that one perpetual angry expression on for so long.
"Has Yoh told you yet?" she asks, tending back to her noodles after not very thoroughly checking the groceries.
"Told me what?"
Anna finishes slurping her noodles before telling her, "I'm pregnant."
Kali nearly falls out of her seat in shock. "What?!" she sputters.
Anna, while waiting for the younger girl to get a grasp of the revelation, peruses through the bags for the pack of rice cakes that she underlined twice on the shopping list. She never liked the thought of gaining weight, but there are some sacrifices a woman has to make in order to carry a child. The cravings hadn't hit her yet, but she's always been kind of fond of rice cakes.
"Anna," Kali says, her hand on her shoulder, her grip a little too tight, "how long have you been…you know…?"
She shrugs and messily peels off the wrap on the rice cakes. "Not very long. I'm still in the very early stages."
"Wh—Anna, this is huge. How are you not freaking out? How is Yoh not freaking out?" she has so many questions. When did it get so hot in here? She feels like she's sweating buckets. "How can you be pregnant when you're only a year older than me? Less than a year even. Oh my God, I'm gonna be an aunt. I'm gonna be an aunt at fourteen."
"Kali," she manages to cut in, "this wasn't accidental."
"What?" Kali suddenly flashes back to the night before they left for America. The reason why she left the house in the middle of the night and subsequently ran into Ren. Finally putting all the pieces together, her face promptly flushes. "Oh."
"Just keep your mouth about this, okay? Only a few people know." She takes a small bite out of the sticky rice cake. "I don't want this turning into a big deal."
"Only a few people know?" she repeats. "Then…why did you tell me?"
"Well," she doesn't look at her when she says this, "you are family, after all."
That was as close to an apology as Kali is ever going to get, so she takes it. This day is just chock full of pleasant surprises. The universe must have finally decided to cut her a break. But she shouldn't speak too soon; she doesn't want to jinx this.
"Oh, uh…thanks, Anna." She says, quite flustered.
"And by the way, if you're going to keep hanging out with Hao, at least refrain from thinking about it." She says without the least bit difference in her tone. Kali's surprised that she's speaking about this so casually, as if Kali hanging out with the enemy is no big deal. Frankly, she doesn't know how to react to this. "That bastard is way too comfortable with me. I don't want him knowing about this."
"Um, I'll try?" Kali has never really been very good at hiding her thoughts from Hao. But for her brother's pregnant fiancée's sake, she'll try. "But, Anna, people are bound to find out eventually. I mean, you're going to get fat, you're going to get morning sickness—"
"They can find out on their own time. Right now, everybody should focus on the Shaman Tournament. Including you." She takes another rice cake. She practically inhaled that first one like a vacuum. "And if you value your life, you will never call me fat again."
"But I didn't call you fat—"
"Go away. I'm eating."
Kali gets up to give Anna some time to devour all the groceries she bought (now she understands why she made her get so many things), but Anna calls again when she reaches the door.
"Don't worry," she says, "by the time I give birth, you'll be fifteen."
She leaves with a smile, but if only Anna knew—that was the least of her worries.
The first match of the day ends as quickly as it starts, which just goes to show how powerful Hao's side is. HanaGumi, made up of the only three girls among Hao's followers, finished off their opponents in the blink of an eye just because they looked 'disgusting'. Kali admits that they aren't exactly a great looking bunch, but is that really a justifiable reason to kill someone?
It's scary to think that if she had let Hao persuade her to join his side, Kali would probably be the fourth person on that team. She hopes that she'll never become as heartless as them, to take someone's life as if it were nothing. She's a fighter and she's not afraid to hurt someone, but there are limits to everything.
Nobody expected the fight to end as quickly as it did. Kali was personally hoping that it would take a while, as the next match will be HoshiGumi versus X-III and Kali knows how excited Hao is about his first fight, which means that it's not going to turn out well for the X-Laws.
As the respective teams take their places, Radim, the announcer, calls it a 'destined match of death', and he couldn't be any more right. Everybody is on the edge of their seats, and it certainly doesn't help that Radim keeps dragging out the time by spouting out nonsense.
Luchist and Opacho leave the area, and a smug, smirking Hao is the only one left standing in front of his opponents. Kali wishes she could forget the events that follow, maybe block it out or suppress it from her memory, but she just can't. It's ingrained in her mind, the scene of him impaling a young woman, calling her body an 'irritating corpse' and burning it to ashes, as well as him scorching a man whose face he had already burned ten years ago, not giving a damn about the shrill, tortured screams that echoes in the stadium.
And the sick bastard is smiling the whole time.
"You don't have to watch." Yoh had told her before they left for the stadium earlier. But Kali was stubborn, and insisted on coming. She knew she had to get used to the reality of the Shaman Tournament, all the blood and gore that come with it, but she just wishes there was an easier way.
"This confirms my theory that the Spirit of Fire's medium is the air." Ren says. He's the only one who isn't standing; everybody else felt that the match is too intense to take sitting down.
Kali is surprised that he was able to figure it out. She herself didn't even know until Hao told her himself. Ren's words manage to capture their attention, as well as Yoh revealing that he met them yesterday and realized that the X-Laws will stop at nothing to defeat Hao, even if costs them their lives. Their attention is brought back to the fight when they hear another scream; when they simultaneously turn their heads to look, the last X-Law has been impaled by the Spirit of Fire's fingers.
But he's not quite dead yet.
He even has the strength left to speak. Venstar tells him that he has uncovered the secret of his medium, and Hao doesn't look the least bit fazed.
"So you mean to say that you've determined my medium to be the oxygen in the air?" Hao smirks. He's mocking the deaths of those people he's just killed—he doesn't care if they know what medium he uses. It makes no difference anyway. "Fire requires oxygen to burn. It's as simple as that."
Watching Venstar's life hanging on a very thin thread makes Kali feel sorry for him. Honestly, she wishes he would just die already so she wouldn't have to look at him anymore.
"Mr. Patch Officiant," Venstar says, blood dripping from either sides of his mouth, "how strong is the force field surrounding this area?"
Radim looks taken aback by this question. "It is…very strong. The only people allowed inside are the contestants and myself. Other than us, nothing can enter the force field."
"Excellent." Wearing a somber smile, he takes out a hand grenade. "If there were a giant explosion here, it wouldn't affect Jeanne-sama."
This is clearly a last resort. Nobody was expecting this. Not even Hao. Even his own teammates are frightened for him. Kali herself is no exception—she looks rather worried when Venstar's tattered archangel musters its last strength to pick Hao up.
"Once all the oxygen is gone, nothing can protect you." Venstar pulls the lever and chucks the deadly grenade in no particular direction. "Goodbye forever, Jeanne-sama."
The explosion occurs inside the force field only, but it emits an ear-splitting sound and a light so blinding that it hurt just to look at it. However, once the smoke begins to clear up, there's still someone standing. Kali can hardly recognize Hao with his cloak off and his hair up in spikes.
But that's not even the most surprising thing.
"Water…" Chi, slackjawed, stares at Hao's spirit which has also changed in appearance. "It's turned into water…"
Everybody else is just as confused as she is. Someone sitting with a newspaper in his hands and a cigarette in his mouth offers some very helpful explanations. He's not sitting too far away from where they are, but his face is obscured by the newspaper so they can't see his face. However, Kali and Yoh easily recognize the voice.
"Why is your dad such a freak?" Kali whispers, nudging Yoh with her elbow.
"He's your dad too." He whispers back.
"The ability of the Yin Yang Master," Mikihisa continues, "Asakura Hao."
Kali curses under her breath. She and Yoh (and Anna) have been discussing how to tell their friends, but it's all moot now because their father had just done the deed for them. Yoh's fists are clenched—he was already upset about Hao's actions and this was just icing on the cake. Kali, on the other hand, looks plain terrified at the dark looks on their friends' faces.
"Asakura?" Manta asks, eyes wide, just like everybody else.
"That's your guys' last name too, isn't it?" Chocolove says incredulously.
"What the hell is going on?" Horohoro demands, his voice rising. When neither of the siblings answer, he yells, "I asked you two a question!"
"Horohoro!" Chocolove cries, surprised at his friend's behavior.
"That means you've known him all along, haven't you? And you guys kept it from us the whole time! What else have you been hiding from us?!"
Yoh can't even bring his head up to look at him. "I only found out during our three-months training."
"I—" Kali doesn't want to put all the blame on Yoh and tries to say something, but Horohoro doesn't let her.
"Tell us the truth: just who is this person to you?" Horohoro's temper flares up almost as often as Ren's does, but Kali's never seen him this angry before. It actually scares her a little.
"It's…complicated. We didn't want to involve you guys in this." Yoh sounds so broken. Kali starts to feel so guilty; she didn't want to tell them either, but for a different reason. She was afraid of how her friends would react—Yoh was afraid to get them involved in the whole mess. "But I supposed this has gone on long enough. I can't hold this in forever."
Kali's eyes widen. They agreed that a secret like this was bound to come out sooner or later, but Kali didn't think it'd come out like this.
"Hao is our…"
"Just a distant ancestor." Anna cuts in, and Kali has never been so relieved. They're bound to find out the truth sooner or later, but Kali's just not ready yet. And she doesn't think her friends are ready yet either. Thank goodness Anna is on her side.
They seem to have forgotten that the fight has not officially ended yet. Only when Hao summons the souls of X-III does everybody turn their focus back on the match.
"Today is a feast." Hao's hair, as well as the Spirit of Fire, has gone back to its normal state. "You can eat, Spirit of Fire."
The Spirit of Fire roars and devours his reward. Kali nearly throws up at the horrible sight.
"You are such a wimp." Chi clucks her tongue.
After the match ended, there was an announcement that the Shaman Fights will be postponed until further notice due to repairs. Everybody was quite harrowed by what they just witnessed (in fact, Manta is still passed out), and Yoh suggested they all get something to eat to take their minds off it. Kali said she'll catch up; she had to take a moment to get some fresh air and feel a little less nauseated.
That moment ended up lasting almost an hour.
"I know." Kali doesn't see the point in denying it. She is a wimp. Maybe not totally, but compared to other shamans who can still eat and continue on with their lives so easily after watching people get murdered horrifically, she is. "But don't pretend like you weren't freaked out back there. The only reason you didn't projectile vomit everywhere is because you don't have the organs needed for that anymore. Lucky bitch."
"Okay, okay, let's talk about something else." Chi says. Kali had just regained most of the color in her face and talking further about the subject isn't going to help anything. "That was a close call earlier, wasn't it? Everybody almost found out about Hao."
"Funny that you mention him. I was just thinking about him. He usually shows up at these kinds of times." Kali muses. "They may not know the full story yet, but they know that we're related. Well, Yoh and Hao related anyway; I'm not really—"
"Are you seriously still bitter about that?" she asks, annoyed.
"I guess not. But you know what I meant." She sits down on a large rock and stretches her legs. "Why am I so worried about them knowing? We're going to have to tell them eventually. And it's not like I did anything wrong."
"Except for the fact that you've known him since forever and neglected to mention him to your friends." She points out. Kali doesn't appreciate this very much.
"Right. Thank you for that, Chi." She says dryly. "As I was saying—it's not like they're going to hate me, or Yoh for that matter, when they learn the truth, right? So what's wrong with me?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Not unless you're just going to snark."
"Then I'll shut up."
Kali folds her knees and hugs them. Sometimes she wonders if she thinks too much. Maybe she should try the meditation techniques Jeanne had told her. She hasn't really gotten around to it even though she said she would. But honestly, clearing her mind and soul—it just seems next to impossible.
"Hey."
Kali looks up and is somewhat pleasantly surprised to see Ren. "Hey. What are you doing here?"
"I was taking a walk." He finds a nearby tree trunk to lean on. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to keep my food down." She says. "I know what you must be thinking right now: I'm pathetic."
"I always think that." He says, folding his arms. "You really should stop with the whole putting-yourself-down thing. It's getting quite tiring. It's more fun when other people do it."
"You mean like when you do it?" she asks.
"Exactly." Ren smirks.
Kali makes a sound of disdain. "I'm really not in the mood for your crabbiness, Ren. In fact, I never am. Well, except for when I'm armed with my own set of hate-filled insults to throw back at you—in that case, it's kind of fun."
"Don't kid yourself. You love to annoy me."
"And you me."
After a brief exchange of the tiniest, ambiguous smiles, a moment of silence follows. It's not the kind that's in any particular way significant, and it isn't awkward either (thank god); it's almost comfortable. Like nothing needs to be said.
At least, Kali feels this way. Ren, however, turns out to have some words for her.
"You've known about Hao for a long time, haven't you?"
Kali gives Chi a knowing look. This is just what they were talking about earlier. Her friends are going to want to ask questions about Hao and she's going to have to answer them. She thinks about lying, to save herself from any rebuke that she might receive, but Kali decides that it's no use running away from this.
"Longer than Yoh." She answers honestly.
"And you never told us?" the dullness of his tone does not falter. It's hard to tell what he's feeling, or at least what's going on in his head at this point.
"You never asked." She shrugs, smiling almost cheekily. Much to her surprise, Ren only responds with a single nod and nothing else. "Aren't you going to ask me about him?"
"Must I?"
"I assume you want to. I mean, everybody else does. And everybody else is kinda pissed." She doesn't even realize she's biting her lip. "Why aren't you? Pissed, I mean."
He gives an indifferent shrug of his own. "I believe you'll tell us eventually. You and your brother don't have the stomachs to keep a secret forever."
"Did you just insult me again?" Kali isn't very offended. She's actually kind of amused. Throwing insults at everyone's faces must be a reflex for Ren now. He doesn't even think about it anymore; it just comes out.
Ren stops leaning and takes out his new weapon, the Bâo-Lèi Sword. "Put your gloves on."
"What?" she asks, startled.
"Let's fight." He says, slashing the wind with his sword as if testing it out.
Kali stands up, but doesn't put on her gloves or take any of her weapons out. "I thought we were past this stage where we keep trying to kill each other."
The smirk on his face has returned. Did it even go away? "It'll get your mind off the match earlier."
For a minute there, Kali believes that Ren's doing something nice (at least something close to it) for her.
"Besides, it's fun." He adds almost immediately, as if he had just realized what he said and what it meant and wanted to take it back. "And you need the practice."
"Excuse me?" she says, actually offended this time, though she doesn't really know why.
"When was the last time you fought someone?" he inquires. "Really fought."
Kali remembers the last time. It was with her father. Three months ago. But she doesn't need the practice. She's been training by herself and it's paid. At least, she thinks so. She hasn't really had the chance to test out whatever new skills or strength she might have acquired, not since Ren didn't let her fight in their first official match.
"Okay," she starts to wear her gloves, "let's fight."
Kali grunts loudly as she hits the ground. When Kali gets ready to fight, the only thing on her mind is kicking the other person's ass. She often neglects to remember all the agony that comes with it—the cuts, the scratches, the wounds—and it all comes crashing down on her once the fight gets going. And all her scars from her altercation with her dad a few months back haven't even completely healed yet.
"Stop." She barely manages to choke out when she sees Ren approaching.
"Are you giving up?"
"Don't make me say that."
After squeezing her eyes shut to try to ease the pain (a fruitless attempt), she opens them again and sees Ren with his hand outstretched towards her.
"What are you doing?" she asks, genuinely baffled.
"Just take it." He sounds impatient. Kali has managed to rough him up a bit as well; some parts of his clothes are ripped and he has a few cuts and bruises here and there, but unlike Kali, he can still stand upright without any difficulty.
Kali, albeit somewhat hesitant, takes Ren's hand and gets up with his help. "Uh, thanks."
As she dusts herself off and tries to ignore the searing pain, she can't help but notice that Ren does not look like he intends on dropping his weapon anytime soon.
"Aren't you going to put that away?" she says. "I know you like to show off but…"
The Chinese shaman scoffs, "I'm not stupid, Kali. You haven't dropped your oversoul either."
"Oh." She didn't even realize she and Chi were still in the middle of Oversoul Merge. She sighs, gives her spirit the silent cue to leave her body and signifies the end of this spontaneous duel by taking off her (tattered) gloves. Then she puts her hands up in surrender. "There. Your turn."
Ren retracts the collapsible blade of his sword, which Bason proceeds to come out from. Their fights don't usually end this quickly or this peacefully, but lately a lot of things have been changing, it seems.
Ren was right though. It did help her forget about what happened at the arena earlier.
"You know, Ren, I know this is kind of fun and everything, but I never really liked this." Eventually Kali finds the pain—it's mostly just her body in shock, and maybe some old scars having reopened—too much and sits down on the dirty ground. "I don't know about you, maybe you enjoy hurting me or something, but I don't like fighting you. And it's not because you're too strong for me or anything because Lord knows I can kick your ass, but…you're my friend. Well, sort of."
Ren grunts and sits down next to her. "I don't like fighting you either."
"You don't?" she's surprised to hear this. "Then why…?"
Kali takes a minute to try to make sense of some things. Is it too farfetched to think that maybe Ren simply…wants to spend time with her? They did kiss for a total of three times, and two out of those three times, he was the one who initiated it.
The prospect sounds so ridiculous, even just inside her head. She ends up laughing out loud at the absurdity of the whole thing. "This is so weird."
"What is?"
"This. Sitting with you like this, just talking. Normally…well, normally we're much more violent." She laughs again, and this manages to bring out the closest thing to a smile on Ren's face. "I really screwed things up yesterday, didn't I?"
"How so?"
"Well, look at us. We're acting different now." She says. "Because of…you know…that. What I did."
"Well, I wouldn't say you 'screwed things up'." Chi suddenly butts in. Kali and Ren are both startled by the intrusion. "Sure, things are different now, but maybe different is good. I mean, look at you two—this is definitely an improvement from trying to cut each other's heads off."
"Are you still here?" Kali snaps, clearly miffed. "Go away."
"Where?" Chi doesn't really want to go. She wants to stay and see how this pans out.
"I don't know. Just get lost." She gives Bason the same look she gave Chi. "You too."
"But…" Bason looks to his shaman for back-up, but unfortunately for him, Ren is not on his side.
"Go." One word from Ren and the Chinese spirit disappears in an instant. Chi, outnumbered, sighs in defeat and vanishes as well.
Kali breathes a sigh of relief. There are times when she needs Chi by her side, but this is not of those times.
"Your spirit, as loose-lipped as she is, isn't wrong." Ren says. "Different doesn't have to be bad."
"Are you…?" Kali isn't sure she wants to ask that question. She settles for saying something else instead. "So you do agree that things are different? I mean, it may be good, but it's definitely weird. I'm not used to you being nice to me."
When Ren stays silent, Kali nudges him. "Say something."
He still doesn't say anything. Kali takes a deep breath. "I'm really at a loss here, Ren. I just don't understand—like, what is this? What's going on between us? Just tell me, tell me if any of those kisses—"
Ren doesn't tell her, but rather, he shows her. And that makes the fourth of their kisses.
"Stop doing that!" she grouses after pulling away, swatting his shoulder for pulling the same stunt on her yet again, and swatting him one more time when she sees him smirking.
Ren doesn't even try to hide the smug smirk across his lips. Not even when he asks her a loaded question. "Do you really want me to stop?"
It takes her a while to finally decide on an answer, even though it sounded simple enough. Just a yes or no would suffice. Maybe it's just the current situation and how vulnerable she feels at the moment, or perhaps kissing him all those times yesterday meant much more than she initially thought, but she just can't seem to find a reason to say anything other than, "No."
The pain from the fight doesn't last too long because Ren ends up kissing it all away.
