Kai's POV
I arrived at the shabby little orphanage only 30 minutes or so after I left the airport in my own taxi. I was infuriated that Mr. Dickenson had sent me here of all places, had he not even SEEN the place??
The gate was hanging off and swinging dangerously on its single hinge. The brick wall around the small area owned by the orphanage was crumbling, the garden was overgrown and wild, many of the windows were smashed and some were covered with boards, presumably to keep the rain out. I considered running, but just as the thought entered my mind, an old woman came out to greet me.
'Please don't be the owner' I begged
"You must be the new boy right??" She asked. I nodded in reply
"Your name?" she looked at me. I just stared politely back
"Fine then. I'll show you to your room." She walked towards the house, many people had come to see the 'new comer'. I was slightly scared, most of the people here were boys who were MUCH taller and well built than me. I had muscles…but not to the extremities they did.
"As you don't know anyone you can have this room to yourself." She turned and walked away
I pushed the door open…the room was practically a broom cupboard. The room was about the size of a double bed, there was a small camp bed down one side of the wall, which cut space down even more so. Above the bed was a shelf, I placed my almost empty bag on it and sat down. The sheets were full of dust and as I sat dust flew about the small room. The carpet was a nasty green and there were many different wallpapers on the wall, mostly peeling off or ripped. At the head of the bed was a window, it was by no stretch big, but it wasn't tiny either. It was smashed in the corner and there was a dangerous crack down the middle.
I sat in the small room for hours until I decided it best to go outside for just a few minutes. I wandered the shabby, overgrown garden and was heading back when a group of boys came up to me, flexing their muscles.
"You're the new kid, right?" one particularly stupid looking boy asked
"Well." I began "Have you seen me before?" the boy just kept his mouth shut while the 'leader' walked around me
I walked off as the leader began to talk to me. I knew it was a bad move, and I was right.
That was a week ago. Since then I've only left my room a few times. Only eaten when forced to. And avoided the bonehead easily.
There were many days when friends were allowed inside the orphanage, but as of yet, none of my 'friends' had shown up.
As I sat alone I took it upon myself to remove the bandage from my eye. And take off some of their measures they had used to protect my injuries.
Tyson's POV
I sighed. It had almost been a month since we had seen Kai. We had been so busy recently, with many little tournaments and other things Mr. Dickenson had organized.
"You know guys" I said as we ate lunch "I reckon Mr. Dickenson is keeping us away from Kai"
"Well I can't say I haven't thought about that. But, why exactly would Mr. Dickenson do that?" Kenny replied before taking a bite of his ham sandwich
"Well. No-one found Voltaire OR Boris" Lee stated "Maybe they're black-mailing Mr. Dickenson?"
"Shit!" Tala shouted, causing gramps to glare "We have to go RIGHT now then. I'm pretty sure the name was "redwood orphanage", who cares about training this afternoon!" Tala jumped up and soon we were running across streets towards the orphanage.
We arrived in half an hour and stared disbelievingly at it. "This is where Kai is?!" Tala shouted, causing an old woman to come out to greet us
"Can I help??" she asked politely
"Um…yeah we're here to see Kai." I told her
"Who??" she paused "OH you mean the blue-haired boy?"
"Um, I guess that's him" Lee told her
"I'll take you to his room. He's never really come out of it, since he got here. Perhaps you could talk some sense into him; he hasn't eaten properly since he got here." She explained
"That's Kai" I smiled
"Here we go" she stopped outside a very shabby looking door.
As she walked off Tala looked across at me, we pushed open the door and were greeted by the smallest of rooms, Kai was looking out of the broken window, he looked over towards us, and then continued to look out of the window.
Kai, I understand you're upset that we haven't come to see you" Tala explained
"Upset?? Not me" He spoke softly, not moving his head at all.
"We think Voltaire and Boris are behind us being kept away"
"How long did it take you to figure that out?" he asked, finally turning to look at us
"Um…well" I answered
"Isn't it obvious?" he drawled looking around.
"I see you took it upon yourself to remove your bandages" Tala stated changing the subject
"Hn" Kai turned back to the broken window. Pieces of the broken glass littered the floor
"What happened to your window??" Max asked
"Broke" Kai replied shortly
"Well obviously. Max meant why half of it is on the floor" Tala stated angrily
"Because I haven't cleared it up" Kai stated shifting slightly on the windowsill.
"Shouldn't the owner of this place do that?" Michael asked
"I would, if he'd let me inside" she spoke from behind us "He never lets me inside! How am I supposed to clean the room? And if there's broken glass I MUST clean it up, we might have an inspection soon!" she bustled around trying to get in until Kai stood with his arms either side of the door frame
"I told you you're not coming in! Do you not understand?! And besides, this place is hardly going to pass an inspection is it?" he glared at her coldly and she stomped off.
"She would banish me to my room" he stated slowly "But I never leave it so there's not really a lot else she can do" he said sarcastically
"Um. Maybe you wanted to go out somewhere?" Kenny asked nervously
"Yeah! We should all go to the beach or something!!!" I shouted loudly punching the air
Kai rolled his eyes and got up slowly, we walked past a group of people on our way out, a thick looking guy began shouting at Kai, who slowly turned around and calmly replied
"Yes?"
"I see you've finally decided to come out of your room then blue-boy?" Kai just carried on watching him
"Is that a problem?" he answered smirking as the other guy's face turned slightly red
"Yeah! You never come out of your room, no-one knows your name, yet you have LOADS of friends" he shouted
"Whatever" Kai began walking away again, the guy ran up in front of him and threw a punch. Swiftly Kai grabbed the clenched fist and twisted his arm behind his back painfully
"Now. Was that everything?" He asked pulling the twisted arm
"Y-Yes" the boy stammered as Kai let his arm drop, suddenly he kicked Kai in the stomach and ran. Kai doubled over slightly, however gained his composure and continued to walk as the boy ran off.
"Um. So Kai." I began "You haven't even told them your name?"
"Why should I?" he looked at me coldly "They're all idiots, I don't see a point in wasting my time talking to them"
"The only one acting like an idiot here is YOU Kai!" Lee turned on him
"Then why are you still here?" He walked down a path to the beach, seemingly knowing where he was going
"If you know where you're going Kai, why did you not visit us?" Kevin asked
"Not allowed out." He carried on ahead
"Does that mean you're breaking the rules now?!" I called behind him, he just shrugged
We arrived at the beach and Kai sat on the warm sand.
Tala sat next to him while we kept our respective distances
Tala's POV
I sat next to Kai who briefly looked at me
"I missed you, ya' know?" he turned to me.
"I missed you too Kai." We'd never REALLY been apart if we didn't have to be. Only after Kai was sent to boarding school, and during the tournaments.
"You're going to have to go back to you're grandfathers, you know that, don't you?" I told him
He sighed, but nodded afterwards
"I think Mr. Dickenson is trying to negotiate keeping you in the orphanage, and that's why he kept us away." Kai nodded silently.
The other began to walk over to us so we stood up, at the last moment Kai turned to me
"Don't make me go back to him" he whispered before walking back.
The entire trip to the orphanage was silent. No-body knew what to say, I was pondering what would happen.
As we arrived Voltaire was stood outside the door, talking to the owner. Kai continued to walk towards him, as if accepting that he would have to go back regardless.
"Ah, Kai my boy" Voltaire walked over to Kai, who took a step back
"Yes?" he asked coldly
"You're to come with me. Stanley was trying to keep your location from me, but as you can see, biovolt are far superior to him. We're going home boy." Voltaire walked to the road and into a black limo that pulled up
"Right" Kai whispered into the wind and followed into the limo. He slowly pulled the door closed and watched as the limo pulled away.
We headed back to the Dojo, and were greeted by Mr. Dickenson
"I have a lot of explaining to do" he stated
Soon we were all seated around the living room
"Voltaire has been trying to find Kai for almost a month now. By keeping you from him, I could keep Kai's location to myself. I did pick that orphanage on purpose, however you visiting him today allowed him to track your location and inevitably Kai's. Now it's not your fault, I expected it to happen, however not so soon. Kai will presumably be taken to one of Voltaire's mansions throughout Japan. We just have to locate which one. You see we need to get Kai away, if we can get Kai to write a statement then he can send his grandfather down once and for all"
"Kai…can send down Voltaire?!" I all but shouted "Well we have to find him!" I jumped up.
"Right" Mr. Dickenson replied also standing, followed by everyone else. "We have the locations of all the known mansions; it's just a case of working out which one it is now"
Days passed and we all tried desperately to work out where Kai was, but to no avail. It was as if he had vanished.
"Well we've had the mansions observed by the police 24/7. It's been 9 days now. Kai is nowhere to be seen." A police officer began "We'll only have the places observed for 14 days, 2 weeks. After that we'll call off the officers."
I sighed, things were so all over the place at the moment, they had been since the reunion, and now I was beginning to wonder if it was better that Kai had never shown up at all.
"Well. Why don't you get some people out for the last 5 days, looking for the hidden mansions??" I suggested hopefully.
"Right. 5 days and we're calling it off, we'll send some men out to look now" the police officer showed himself out
Kai's POV
I sat in the quiet 'cellar', it had been turned into my worst nightmare, I looked around using the small amount of light provided by the tiny window. There were chains hanging off the walls, cuffs attached to the end. I sighed loudly wishing I could rub my aching wrists, alas they were chained above my head.
"The police have been snooping around boy" Boris stated as he pushed the door open. "As of yet, they haven't found this mansion" He gave me a kick in the stomach, causing me to cough loudly, spitting blood on the floor.
Despite being still bandaged, my arm was nearly healed, my eye still useless. The band was round my head, ankles and wrists. I sighed a little too loudly, causing Boris to look at me angrily
"Bored are we?!" he snarled kicking me again
Most of my wounds from before were healed, although I had been given many new ones instead.
Boris stalked off, leaving me hanging from the chains round my wrists.
Hours later, Voltaire came to see me. "You will be attending a boarding school Kai. At the end of the summer, you will start in the new school year" he walked off, plunging me into darkness as night fell.
'The new school year doesn't start for weeks, months' I sighed.
Tala's POV
A few days later "The police rang!" I yelled, running into the living room, "they've seen Voltaire and Boris inside a mansion they found yesterday! Let's GO!"
We drove quickly to the mansion, using the locations given to us by the police. However we didn't expect the scene that awaited us.
When we arrived the entire place was in smoke.
A police officer walked over and looked nervously at us "We had a bit of an accident, involving an oil lamp hanging on the wall near the door" he said nervously
"YOU BURNED DOWN THE MANSION?!" Mr. Dickenson exploded
"Where's Kai?" I asked fearing the worst
"Inside" The officer stated nervously "We've got people looking for him now though"
Kai's POV
I looked out the small window as best I could when I heard a smash and someone obviously trying to hide by their whispering voices, scolding someone else.
I could almost have jumped in excitement, if I had the strength
I waited for more voices for a few minutes, but I could smell smoke….smoke meant FIRE!
My fear pushed me to try and escape, I struggled wildly against the chains which clattered against the wall, smoke began to drift in through the badly fitted window and this just made me struggle more.
The room began to heat up dangerously; I struggled more than ever, desperate to get away from the heat. I know Dranzer is a fire phoenix, however she was in my pocket at the moment, and she can't make me stand up to ANY heat.
'I'm gunna die in here' I thought to myself
Suddenly a loud crash brought me back to earth. It sounded like a room behind me was falling apart
A huge piece of wood crashed through the wall I was chained to, I caught my arm painfully, however many of the bricks smashed, leaving me with cuffs and loose chains. I ran up to the door a kicked it as hard as I could. It swung open and smoke rushed into to greet me.
I was in a large corridor, to my left, around the front door, the carpet had caught alight, so I had no choice but to run right, towards a dead end, and hope I could get out through another room.
I burst into the study, and suddenly left as the entire room was in flames, I ran into room after room hoping I could find a way out.
Tala's POV
The fire brigade spent hours putting the flames out. Voltaire and Boris had yet again made a swift escape, but still no sign of Kai, and we were all VERY worried now, even more so than before
A police officer walked over to us slowly and looked at us grimly "Sorry boys. There's no sign of Kai. We don't think he survived. I'm sorry"
I felt the world stop, Kai my best friend, killed by none other than his grandfather.
Tears rolled down Mariah's cheeks and everyone else just looked on sadly.
"Kai fought so hard" I began "He fought with everything he had to beat Voltaire, and he paid the ultimate price"
We all headed back home in a mournful silence.
Weeks passed and still no news from Kai. They hadn't even found his body, or any indication that he was there. I was still clinging onto the small amount of hope that he was still alive…but we'd all been told they were slim at best.
"I don't think we're going to be ready, I mean if they do find his body. It's weird not having him here, telling us to train….but to find his body" Max trailed off tearfully
"Kai would hate to hear you talk like that. You should keep training, keep going. Kai kept going after he left us behind, we all know it affected him, but he hid it so well you didn't even know." I explained "What I mean is, if Kai can overcome something like this, then so can you."
"Tala's right! Let's train FOR Kai!" Tyson stated punching the air. However, when we began training everyone's minds wandered off the match at hand and towards Kai, to a point that training was pointless.
We wandered the town, carefully avoiding the direction of the mansion.
"Hey!" Mariah suddenly shouted "Why don't we check out the hospital?! Kai might have made his own way there!" We all looked at each other, before setting off at a sprint towards the hospital, we skidded into the waiting room and I ran up to the desk
"I'm looking for someone, has Kai Hiwatari been here?!" I asked enthusiastically (Surprising isn't it? Oo)
The shocked receptionist looked up at me then began typing and clicking rapidly on her computer. After a few moments she looked up "I'm sorry, no-one under that name here, I can give you some pictures of people however?" We nodded and she turned to a filing cabinet where a folder FULL of photos was. She handed it to us and we slowly flicked through.
"Any luck?" She asked as we handed back the folder
"No" Max replied sadly
"I'm sure your friend will show up" she smiled softly and continued her work
"Let's get home" Ray advised sadly as we wandered back "I think that was the most hopeful I've been since he left, but we're running out of ideas here. We've searched around the mansion, around the town down at the beach and now the hospital. What can we do now?"
"Nothing. Let's face it, Kai is gone and isn't coming back" Michael stated "Everyone seems to think he's the tough guy, well lets face it he's not. He's gone and we're just going to have to get over it"
"Don't rule Kai out just yet. They may say the chances of him alive are slim, but don't give up on him, after this IS Kai we're talking about" Bryan stated angrily at Michael's statement
"Where are you Kai?" I whispered into the wind.
Another Chapter done, I can't believe I've written so much so far, and that people enjoy it! Thanks to all my reviewers.
xflightofthephoenix