Review Replies
Suzanne: Thanks so much for your review. I know it's been a while since I updated - yeah, that's rather an understatment. No excuses really, lol. Anyway, I'm happy you like the fic and I hope you continue to do so.
Toribi12: Thanks for your review! It's been a while since I updated so I had to go back and read through the whole thing to know what you were talking about, lol. I'm so happy you love the fic so much and thank you for reading it. I've planned the whole story now so I hopefully won't wait so long before updating. As for the big secret...you're not quite there, but if you'd figured it out already then I wouldn't be much of a drama mystery writer, huh. And as to the relationship front, Tala and Kai will have more interaction. And Bryan and Ray...wait and see!
Yo! So it's been a while, no? I haven't updated since...2010? Ouch, sorry about that, just got out the way of the story. Anyway, good news is that I've planned the story out chapter by chapter so in theory I shouldn't take so long to update. Yeah, this IS all just theory so don't hold your breath.
Anyway, on to the story.
Last Time: Bryan had just saved Ray from being captured but is planning to go to Moscow anyway, despite what Hiro thinks. Tala and Kai had a little heated moment a couple of chapters back...so far neither of them have discussed it.
WARNINGS: something a little fruity…shall we call it…self indulgence? Pervert Boris – this is M for a reason. Bad language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, nor any of its characters. Any unknown characters most likely belong to me.
If any of you are still out there after all this time...please enjoy.
Hateful Pleasures
Chapter Twelve: A Degree Safer
The wind blew cold around the abandoned barn outside which he sat; snow drifted down from the skies, but Bryan Kuznetsov had been left in the freezing snow storms naked and young, left by himself to find his own way back to the Abbey. It had been a training exercise. The weather didn't bother him anymore, it hadn't done for many years; rain, snow or shine he didn't care, it meant nothing. The only thing he couldn't stand was heat; the sun beating down on him with no shade or chance to escape.
He supposed that's what became of someone who spent most their childhood locked in a tall shadowy building and no sunlight to tan their skin.
And now here he sat outside in the soaking snow and the wind around him; at any other time he would have blocked out the wind with a curse and ignored it, but this time was different. Because he was hot. The sun was not beating down on him, nor was there any other sources of heat that could warm him up so terribly. Not like this. This heat came from within him, something he'd never before experienced, it was burning him up inside like a flickering fire he'd never felt in his life.
Because finally, after all the years of suppression, he'd finally succumbed and lost his battle of refusal.
He had spent so long fighting it, had put in so much effort to keep it at bay, that to suddenly commit himself like this seemed surreal; he'd been watching Ray, all throughout that long arduous train journey he'd been watching him, until the hit man had driven from the track and they'd tumbled down in to the valley below. Even hitting his head several times on his tumble down hadn't stopped him watching the neko-jin; a snow storm had set in, one not even he felt willing to battle against, and he had located a barn that served as a temporary resting place.
They had spent the day there, stuck inside and the storm had lasted well in to the night; Ray had slept next to Hiro for warmth, though the pair of them had been unusually quiet. But Bryan had sat by the wall, distasteful of the need for body heat the other two possessed. He hadn't slept; instead he'd spent the night watching Ray, staring whenever the neko-jin shifted on the uncomfortable floor.
Hiro had drifted off despite the less than hospitable surroundings, but Ray hadn't slept for a good few hours; he'd spent some time trying to make himself comfortable, then given up and listened to the raging storm outside. A couple of times he'd glanced sideways at the sleeping Hiro next to him, seemingly in deep thought; it had been early morning before he'd drifted off and throughout it all Bryan had watched from the safety of his shadowed corner.
He watched Ray shuffle, watched eagerly when Ray had arched his back to retrieve a stone from under him; it had started on the train with that one look, and now Bryan had started he couldn't stop. Not that he hadn't tried; almost desperately he'd tried to remember that lust, desire and hunger weren't meant for him, but Ray had made a soft moan in his sleep and it had sent Bryan's nerves wild.
At first it had only been the inkling of interest that had slipped passed his defensives; but the first one he'd dared to think and more came gushing in to his head. It had started as a trickle and had swelled in to a sea; soon every want and desire had flooded his head until he felt fit to explode.
And it had made him want to do things, need things; a little blast of delicious relief preceded by moments of exciting build ups that had his head spinning and longing for more, because it hadn't been enough.
All those years of pent up feelings that had been shoved down hard were breaking free, exploding from him in spasms; again and again tidal wave after tidal wave of emotion and fury hit him so hard he felt like he'd been pushed over. It had all happened so quickly; all he'd done was taken one look and now he couldn't stop, one thought had become three and three had become five until it had been a never-ending road of different thoughts he'd never been allowed. It was all so sudden. So instant. Too soon. It made him angry because he didn't know how to control it.
And it was all because of one look.
He pulled his hand from his pants with a grunt and his fingers were in his mouth, his tongue licking clean the seed, before he realised what he was doing. Sitting quickly upright he clicked his back in to place and buried his hand deep in the snow; around him the white substance was in turmoil, disturbed from when he'd bolted from inside the barn to fling himself down here to commit the sin Boris had never allowed him. Slowly he pulled himself back up and yanked up his zipper.
He was just securing the button when the soft crunch of snow alerted him to another's presence; he whirled round, snow flying up in an arch, and saw Ray stop abruptly. There was a brief pause during which Bryan stared at the neko-jin with absolutely no idea what to say or do. Which, needless to say, reverted him back to his default setting.
"What do you want!" he snapped angrily "fuck off!"
Ray ignored this and rubbed his arms with a hiss "what are you doing out here?" he asked "it's freezing!"
"Wuss!" the falcon snorted, "it's unbelievable really, you're so pathetic you can't even handle a little wind and snow"
"I was wondering" Ray said somewhat sharper than he meant, he hadn't slept well and things had been pressing on his mind. Things that shouldn't have been pressing on his mind when his life was in danger of being ended, it had made him rather edgy "do you think we could manage just one conversation without you insulting me or snapping at me?"
"No"
"I see" the neko-jin pursed his lips "fine, be like that and see if I care"
"Whatever"
The golden eyes glared at him and for a moment Ray looked as if he wanted to say something; but then he remembered why he'd come out here. Sighing he released his irritation and stamped his feet as in front of him his breath rose up in to the air lightly "I wanted to ask you something, I was thinking maybe you could give me a straight answer"
"Nope"
"That man that was chasing us, the one with the book"
"What about him?"
Ray paused and looked down at the ground, kicking some snow off his foot "I wanted to know…I wanted to know if you killed him" his gaze lifted and the look on his face was calm, not filled with dread or an over exaggerated sadness, just calm.
Whatever Bryan had been expecting, it hadn't been that; he blinked in confusion and shrugged "what's it matter?"
"It matters to me"
"Why the fuck should it?"
"Because I don't want people dying over me," the neko-jin replied pointedly ignoring the look of cynicism on Bryan's face "more to the point, I don't want you killing people because of me"
"Why the fuck should you give a shit about that?"
"Stop swearing at me" the tiger retorted with a light frown covering his features, and then he answered "I don't want death on my hands, I don't want death on your hands because of me"
"But why not?"
"Because it's not right!" the neko-jin exasperation was starting to get the better of him, Bryan seemed determined to act stupid "I know you spent your youth in a cruel environment but surely even you know that killing is against the law"
"I think Boris did tell me that once" Bryan agreed casually.
"Right then, so you can understand why I don't want people to die"
"Not really"
Ray lost his patience "fine, whatever, play dumb"
"I'm not playing dumb, I don't understand why you don't want people dead when they're trying to fucking kill you"
"Just because they're trying to kill me doesn't mean I have to kill them first"
"Ever heard of survival of the fittest?"
"Innocent people get hurt, I don't want that"
"And Kai doesn't want you dead, so, that means that I have to get rid of the those trying to kill you" Bryan told the neko-jin in a slow deliberate voice that he knew the tiger would find insulting "you get me?"
"But the innocent get hurt"
"Only if they get in the way, it's collateral damage"
"Those are people's lives we're talking about!"
"Yeah?"
"You don't think it's important we don't hurt innocent people"
"No"
"But we could have the police on our backs for one thing, the last thing we need is the press finding out, lots of people could get hurt"
"So?"
Ray held up his hand "I'm not doing this with you right now" he growled "just tell me, is the gunman from yesterday dead?"
"So what if he is?"
"Just tell me!"
"Well what are you gonna do about it if he is dead?"
"I just want to know!" Ray said in a clear yet aggravated voice "just a simple yes or no will do"
Bryan stared at him for a moment his head tilted to one as Ray gazed back unflinching; then the falcon shrugged "I dunno if he's dead or not, I pushed him out the train with a broken back, a gunshot to the leg and another bullet in his balls, so I don't imagine he'll be in good shape"
" I see"
"If I didn't stop him then he was going to keep coming after us until we were all dead" Bryan replied wondering why he had to defend himself on this.
"So you really hurt him"
"He certainly won't be having any kids" the falcon bared his teeth in a grin "I don't see your problem, for now we're not followed"
"The problem is I don't feel safe," the neko-jin said in a hard voice "not with you, if you can hurt someone like that without batting an eyelid then I can't even imagine what you would do to me. You hate me, remember, and I don't feel safe with you"
"You don't have to feel safe, you just have to stay alive"
"No, because if I don't feel safe then I'm gone. I'd rather be on my own"
"You what?" for the first time Bryan's face darkened "you listen, Hiwatari gave me the job of keeping you breathing"
"Yeah, not one of Kai's better ideas" the neko-jin answered back.
"But one of his ideas nonetheless" the falcon replied "and I'm keeping my word to him. Yeah, I hate you, but Hiwatari wants you alive and that's what you're gonna stay"
"Not under your protection I'm not"
"You're not going anywhere, because if you think I'm gallivanting throughout the whole of Russia after you then you've got another fucking think coming!"
"Then promise me you won't hurt anyone again" Ray persisted though he earned himself a snarl "I want you to promise me"
Bryan walked up to the neko-jin until they stood an inch apart; for a moment he looked down the lithe figure of Ray Kon and then back up at the tiger and his golden eyes "I'm not promising nothing!"
"I shall return in a day or two" Voltaire stood by the open double doors as the manservant behind him fumbled with the bags "I expect you two behave"
Tala and Kai were silent, like to stone statues by the wall; they gave no indication they'd heard the old man, but then again he wouldn't have noticed if such a reaction to his words had been made. No reaction to anything. No feelings. No response. It was expected of them; Voltaire didn't demand reaction, in fact he ordered against it. Kai was used to it; he'd grown up with it, the first rule that had been whipped in his body with every lash of the belt across his back. A favourite technique of Boris's: teach the boy not to make one sound of pain.
Now Voltaire turned from his grandson and companion to Boris who also stood silently by the wall; a look passed between them, there was a small almost unseen nod from Boris. It wasn't important in itself. But, it made Kai wonder. How much did Boris know? Did he know everything? He would always obey Voltaire's orders, Kai knew that; no matter the order Boris would listen and obey. The relationship was scarily similar to the relationship between Tala and Bryan come to think of it; the leader, cruel and cold, commanding over the solider who knew of nothing except to obey.
Of course, Tala wasn't as cold as Voltaire; that was something the phoenix had discovered only recently. Tala had been hot, his flesh had been warm; it was odd, Kai hadn't expected Tala to feel human at all. There had always been a vague idea that Tala's skin would be cool to the touch. But it had been-
Kai's thoughts switched; that was not something he could think of, he wouldn't allow himself to. So instead, he forced his brain to the subject of Boris and what he knew about Voltaire Hiwatari. What did Boris know?
Was there a way Kai could know what Boris knew?
He could think of one way to persuade Boris in to talking. But giving his body to Boris for information was so far beneath Kai the idea was almost humorous. Besides, there were other ways to retrieve hard to reach information. No matter what the man was capable of, Boris was still human: every human had a breaking point. Kai would be more than willing to find Boris's edge, he was pretty sure Tala would be more than eager to help.
Boris wasn't stupid, however. He hadn't ruled over an entire Abbey of hateful children by being stupid and dumb. Every child that had grown up in that place had hated Boris, even those who had learnt to love him and his sadistic tyrannous law. There had even been those who had begged for Boris's attention; that hadn't stopped them hating him, and there had been more than one who had tried to take their revenge out on the man who had taken their lives.
All had failed.
The great double doors slammed and Voltaire was gone; there was the muted noise of the stretched car grinding in to the gravel before it disappeared in to the wood of the door and the three men under Voltaire's roof were left alone save for the manservant who returned to his duties with a small bow of respect to Boris. As one Tala and Kai snapped their eyes to Boris, the new man of the house, and waited.
If he was aware of their gaze he ignored them; there had been a time, when Tala and Kai had been younger and weaker, this disgusting man would have taken advantage of Voltaire's absence – like he had done so many times in the Abbey with so many beautiful boys. But Tala and Kai were in to their adulthood – amazing as their bodies still were, Boris would have a knife in his stomach before he'd succeed in pushing himself in to them. Besides, he was waiting for something special.
Therefore he paid the young men no heed until he'd looked at the latest report given to him; the subject of locating Ray Kon was one that was becoming taxing. More irksome than he'd intended. If only Bryan Kuznetsov wasn't protecting the neko-jin. The man that had found the trio on the train had barely lived long enough to tell the tale; he'd only managed to talk to Boris for the length of five minutes before slipping in to an unending coma and dying three hours later. It had been annoying to say the least; the man had been one of Boris's best, and most loyal. He had, however, given Boris one very important bit of information.
Bryan was on his way to Moscow.
Thinking about it, Boris could have probably realised that one himself; there was no way Bryan would let Tala and Kai stew here when there was something he could do about it. Nevertheless it had been worth the death of a good solider to learn that information; now Boris knew what Bryan's plan was, he also knew on which side of Moscow Bryan would arrive at. And the best part, the stupid falcon had no choice but to bring Ray Kon with him.
Boris smiled. He knew his soldiers almost better than they knew themselves; he knew Tala's order would be to save them, he knew Kai's order would be to protect Ray. To please both as Bryan had to, the only thing to do was to come to Moscow and protect Ray with his own body. Not that knowing this would solve all problems; Bryan was a mean solider, one that was more than prepared to kill or worse to protect his given charge. There was no doubt that getting passed Bryan would be more than challenging, but at least Boris knew where to start looking. Better yet, if he planned cleverly enough, he could even lay a trap for Bryan's arrival. If nothing else it would make the falcon wish the train hadn't abandoned them. Because it gave Boris time to plan.
But that situation couldn't be dealt with just yet; for now he had to keep his eye on Kai. This was a rare opportunity for Kai and Boris was willing to bet the phoenix was already preparing to make use of it; his cold pale eyes slid from the papers in front of his face to the tall young man standing by the wall waiting silently to be told what to do.
That face. So unreadable. And the redhead standing beside him, also emotionless; that was the great difference between the falcon and his two commanders, one would never quite know what those two were thinking. Boris had taught them well, and now he knew that would be used against him. He would have to be careful in the few days Voltaire was gone.
Those shocking red eyes were watching. Even now.
"Come again, I don't think I heard you correctly" said Hiro testily.
Bryan pursed his lips angrily and clenched his teeth; there were times in his life when he wanted to kill someone with his bare hands, and this was one of them. Hiro Granger was becoming a pain and there was only so much the falcon would put up with. If Bryan had his way he'd knock the aggravating man unconscious and leave him there to die in the cold frozen snow; the most irritating thing was that Kai would even allow such an event to occur, Hiro was not on the protection list and as far as the phoenix was concerned Hiro could dive in to vat of acid. But of course there were others to consider: namely, Ray. In truth Bryan wanted to call Ray a few choice words, but those golden eyes and that startling face kept him from uttering such things. Either way it didn't matter; Ray had made his position very clear.
If the neko-jin didn't feel safe in Bryan's care then he'd look after himself; Bryan was guessing that giving in to the temptation to slay the older Granger where he stood was not going to make Ray feel the safeness he needed to stick around. Therefore, even in Bryan's simply mind, it was clear; if the falcon wanted to keep Ray in his sights then the older interfering man was going to have to stay annoyingly alive.
"If you think we're going to wander through this snow in this blizzard then you're crazy. We'll die" Hiro's expression wasn't much softer than Bryan's.
"In. Case. You. Didn't. Notice" replied the falcon in one-worded sentences, anymore syllables and he'd kill the guy right there "The. Fucking. Snow. Has. Fucking. Stopped"
"And how long before it starts up again?" Hiro retorted "it'll probably give us enough time to reach the top of that mountain before it starts twice as strong as before"
Hiro had a point it had to be said; the clouds were thick and dark, rolling in with threats of more heavy snow and howling icy winds. This simple fact only tested Bryan's barely contained patience further "so what?"
"So we won't make it" Hiro persisted "we won't find shelter in time"
"Who needs shelter?"
"We will! The cold alone will kill us if we're exposed like that"
"Sure, if you're a pansy" snorted the falcon "anyone with a few balls will be just fine"
"Just because you were brought to survive the storms in your bare skin doesn't mean the rest of us were, we're not like you"
"So…what? You want to stay in a shitty barn for the rest of your life?" Bryan asked rudely "that's fine with me. Bye"
"What we need to do is find some civilisation, get ourselves a car and turn our backs on Moscow"
"That's not going to happen"
"The only reason we're going to Moscow is so you can save Tala and Kai"
"Not denying that" reasoned the falcon.
"You take Ray in to Moscow you're going to get him killed"
"Kai told me to keep him alive, that's what I'm gonna do"
"By taking himself to Moscow? Surely even you see you're handing him on a plate to Boris"
"Tala told me to save them, Kai told me to keep that thing-" Bryan gestured at Ray who had been quiet all this time "-alive. I got no choice"
"Fine. Then leave Ray with me" Hiro answered "you make your way to Moscow alone and Ray and I will stay out of sight"
"You wouldn't last a week" Bryan nearly laughed, "you really think Boris's men won't find you, stupid Sooka?"
"It's still safer than taking him to Moscow of all places" Hiro responded vehemently "you might as well kill him here and now"
"I know how to keep someone alive"
"Really? You could have fooled me"
"You're the one that thinks you could keep him safe from Boris's men. You're the fucking fool"
"That's enough" Ray turned from the barn entrance where he'd been standing arms folded, looking out at the white blanket of snow listening to the debate behind him. He sighed quietly and gave them both a solid stare "contrary to what you both seem to think I'm capable of looking after myself" here Ray's eyes shot to Bryan "if you believe you're the only one that's grown up on a mountain then you're wrong" then he turned to Hiro his gaze softening "as for protection, whether I go to Moscow or run to the ends of the earth, Boris will still find me. Because Voltaire wants it"
There was a pause; whatever friction building up between Bryan and Hiro was waylaid by the serenity and frankness in Ray's features. It was strange for Bryan; in Ray's situation he wouldn't have felt anything close to fear, but that didn't mean he didn't recognise that others in the neko-jin's stead would panic. Yet Ray stood there, calm as the midnight ocean; no terror or desperation, just a pure acceptance of the facts and the common sense to deal with it.
Was the neko-jin really not scared? Bryan was torn in his reaction to this; part of him wanted to laugh at the neko-jin for being stupid enough not to feel fear, part of him wanted to sneer at the tiger for being so damn sensible. But underneath all that, there was a small section of Bryan's brain that demanded him to grudgingly admit that Ray Kon was no coward.
Bryan shuddered at the very notion that he, the terrifying falcon who put the white tiger through the ringer, should feel anything close to respect or admiration for the neko-jin.
That pretty neko-jin with the power to bring the bad thoughts to Bryan's mind; he remembered what he'd done that morning, and clenched his teeth again.
If Ray noticed this he made no comment, probably because Bryan was always glaring at him for some reason; Ray would probably only register Bryan's expression as strange if the day came when the pale Russian didn't snarl at him – then Ray would be freaked. Now, however, Ray looked away from the pair of them for a moment biting his lip as he thought about something; Hiro took a step forwards and the tiger glanced back at him quickly.
"Hiro, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment"
The older Granger looked unsure for a moment, but nodded nonetheless; he hesitated with a glance at Bryan who suddenly got the impression he was missing something. It hung the air above them like a loud siren. Then Ray made to move as if to leave the safety of the barn.
"Uh, where the fuck do you think you're going?" demanded the falcon.
"I need to talk to Hiro about something" replied Ray quietly "preferably without your help"
"If you think I'm just gonna let you walk out in to the path of a bullet when Kai told me-"
"Kai told you to protect me" the neko-jin interrupted "he didn't say you had to loom over me like a psychotic guardian angel"
Bryan bristled at the dubbing of angel but stayed still when Ray left the barn without looking back; after a moment of what seemed to be self-preparation, Hiro followed leaving Bryan in the shadow of the abandoned barn feeling rather left out.
Bryan didn't like to be left out.
"Are you ever going to tell me what you've been planning, or shall I guess?" asked Tala languidly from where he sat at the table playing chess with himself. Normally, playing chess by himself was something he would have found ludicrous; he'd never done anything so pointless in his entire life. But this was what he was reduced to; Boris had locked them in a sitting room with men guarding both the windows and the door; it was almost as if the man didn't trust them.
"Who's to say I've been planning?" replied Kai.
"Well, either you're planning something" Tala moved his white Queen to cut off his black Queen "or that's one hell of an interesting wall, you've been staring at it for the best part of twenty minutes" he then realised he'd just dumped his white Queen right in it.
"This coming from the guy who is playing chess with himself"
"My task is at least layered with a little production" the wolf answered delicately as he removed his white Queen from the board and figured that in doing so he'd just shot himself in the foot by putting his black King in check "staring at a wall for twenty minutes can do nothing save give you double vision"
The phoenix didn't reply immediately; Tala was right, he had been staring at the same patch of wall for a while, ever since Boris had locked them in. clearly the man thought he was one step ahead of them, trying to keep them away from him in order to outsmart them; keep them locked in a room and they were all but powerless. But that wasn't necessarily the case; it had given Kai time to think, and he'd almost hatched a plan. It was a perfect plan; the only chink in the armour was that he couldn't do it alone. He needed Tala; but he was more than convinced that Tala would help once he knew what ideas were running through the phoenix's head.
"I want answers"
Tala looked up from where he was getting thrashed by himself "already knew that" he said disinterestedly "what's new?"
"How much do you suppose Boris knows?"
"About what?"
"About everything"
The wolf thought for a moment, his clear blue eyes searching the air as if for an answer, then they shot back to Kai "what are you planning to do?" he enquired again. The small etchings of a smirk teased his lips "I'm sure Boris couldn't refuse a little temptation if it threw itself before him"
"Credit me with a little pride" the phoenix answered coldly.
"Then what?"
"You really can't think of the answer?"
The was a brief silence "can you do it?"
Kai blinked; he hadn't been expecting that reaction, maybe a smile of sadistic delight or a widening of the eyes, but not a question on his stamina "meaning?" his red eyes searched out Tala's brilliant blue.
"Meaning those annoying Bladebreaker brats softened you up, you really sure you got the balls to cut in to another man's flesh?"
"You realise this is Boris we're discussing?"
"Sure. And I'll be more than happy to cut in to him again and again, and plenty more besides" the wolf admitted easily, standing up from the chess match he was losing "but is it really your kind of thing, Kai? Are you sure you want to go back to being that kind of a person? Because being the person you have to be to start torturing Boris is the complete opposite to what your precious friends want you to be"
Kai waited until the wolf stood in front of him, just feet away; he wasn't glaring, but his features weren't calm either "I may have made friends with the Bladebreakers, and I may hold them in high regard. But that doesn't mean I've forgotten what Boris has done, nor will I ever forget the days of Biovolt, my friendship to the Bladebreakers is totally irrelevant"
"Sure about that?" Tala insisted "they ever find out what you're capable of, are you convinced they'll still want to be your friends?"
Red stared in to blue. Kai made no indication that he was insulted, but his voice was hard "I want answers. There's a chance that Boris has those answers," he said "if Boris has the answers I'm looking for, then I want Boris"
And another chapter is complete! I know, I know, there's no lemons in sight right? Not to worry, dear reader, every thing is planned out.
So hopefully I should update faster now, at least it won't be another two years anyway.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you find it in your heart to do so then please leave a review.
Thanks for reading!
Kiki
Kizzes!