Heart of Darkness
Heylo all, once again! I apologise for not updating sooner, been difficult. I also apologise for any OOCness that may have occurred in the story so far, or may occur in the rest of it, I try and keep them in character as much as possible. Well, I'll not keep all my wonderful reviewers and readers waiting! Enjoy! (Then leave a review!)
Chappie 19
Rhea sighed quietly, as she pocketed her blade. "Let's go over there." She pointed to the wooden pier at one end of the beach, which stretched out about 40 ft into the calm ocean. Kai nodded silently and followed her lead. Now he had her right where he wanted her, there was no way she was going to worm her way out of this one.
Walking along the wood, Rhea sat down on the end, dangling her feet over the edge. The tide was out, and there was a good 10ft drop into the water below. Kai sat down on the pier next to her, but remained silent. He wouldn't force her to talk, no, that'd just make her lie or 'close-up,' something he was familiar with…
After what seemed like hours, Rhea finally spoke. "As you know," she began, "Bryan and Ian of the Russian team the Demolition Boys were at the charity competition." Kai still kept his mouth shut, waiting for her to go on. Rhea sensed he was waiting, so she continued, gazing across the ocean as she spoke.
"They were… watching the tournament with… interest…" Rhea chose her words carefully, not wanting to give too much information away, or it would be catastrophic for her.
"Why?" Kai asked.
"They were interested to see how the Bladebreakers were doing." She said.
"There's more to it than that, Rhea." Kai said, looking at her for the first time. "Tell me." He pressed. "I know those two; they wouldn't just pop round to 'see how we're getting on.' Tell me the truth, Rhea." He almost snapped at her. "How do you know them?" His voice almost had a cold edge to it, one the pair of them were all too familiar with.
Rhea laughed to herself. "I knew you wouldn't be satisfied with that." She muttered. "You are not as blind as the others."
"What are you getting at?" Kai snapped, temper rising.
"You know Tala… of the Demolition Boys?" Rhea began, her voice quiet. She was unsure how much to tell him, but he had her cornered. Without waiting for a reply, which she knew would be 'yes,' she continued. "Well, you see… he's… my brother…" Rhea trailed off, feeling the tension in the air rise instantly.
The silence was held for a full 2 minutes, before she spoke again. "Aren't you going to say something?"
"To be honest with you, Rhea, I'm not really surprised. It explains a lot…" Kai said.
"You… you knew I was-"
"I had my suspicions; your eyes are a dead giveaway." He added with a smirk. "But aside from that, you don't really look much like him. You're not twins, are you?" Kai asked, wondering how they could be the same age as each other.
"No. You see… he's my half-brother. We have the same father." Rhea explained quickly.
"I see." Kai muttered, allowing the awkward silence to descend upon them.
Kai noticed how a slight blush had appeared on her pale cheeks; she was obviously embarrassed about telling him. "Are you ashamed?" Kai asked.
"No! Of course not!" Rhea laughed, but she could not stop tears welling up in her eyes, identical to her brother's. She wiped them away aggressively. "Sorry, I…" Rhea muttered, unsure where to take the next sentence. "Tala has been a good friend to me, as well as being my brother…" She added.
"Then why are you crying?" Kai asked, completely confused. She had been fine a minute ago…
"Oh, it's nothing…" She got rid of the last few tears, and focused her gaze on a spot on the horizon, in order to stem the flow. The pain… it's too fresh…that's why…
"Rhea…" Kai asked in a much gentler tone. "If you're Tala's sister, you must know… Boris." He shuddered at the sound of the name. She nodded slowly.
Kai instantly put two-and-two together. "What has he done?" He asked, realising it was because of that purple-haired maniac Rhea was crying. "I know what he's capable of, tell me." Kai pressed, trying to rid his own mind of the thoughts of the abbey that had crept in there.
"He… he killed my… parents…" She whispered. "That means Tala's father, too… I owe Tala a life now…"
Kai sat there, dumbstruck. He knew Boris could quite easily murder, but he never thought it would affect anyone he knew, least of all Rhea. In truth the two of them had become quite close, and more often then not he chose to spin against her in training, but now adding Boris into the mix… well, it wouldn't help the situation at all.
"I'm sorry, Rhea." Kai shrugged. Comforting people was definitely not one of his best qualities. Thinking back to all the times he had seen Hilary comfort the team, Kai suddenly embraced Rhea in an awkward hug.
Rhea tensed up immediately, mostly because of the shock of Kai being friendly? "I'm sorry…" Kai kept repeating quietly. Rhea soon relaxed into his arms. It is part of my objective…but why? The two sat like that for a while, before breaking away.
"Thank you, Kai. You didn't have to do that." She smiled. Kai simply shrugged.
"I believe you wanted to ask me a few things?" He asked, noting she seemed much better.
"Yes. Yes I did." Rhea nodded. "The mark on your back. What is it?"
Kai's eyes opened wide in shock. "How did you know about that?" He asked.
"You didn't answer my question." She smiled, her usual self returning.
"Hmph." Kai snorted. True, she admitted about Tala, so I guess I owe her an explanation about that. Kai thought to himself.
"You don't have to tell me if you really don't want to." Rhea said, laying the guilt-trip on thick.
Kai laughed. "I suppose I do owe you an explanation."
"Well then?" She asked.
Kai sighed deeply. No-one knew about this, not even any of the Bladebreakers…
"Alright, I'll tell you." He finally nodded. "My mother was Russian." He began. "I was born in Russia, in… the abbey. It's why I was raised there. My father was Japanese, you see, it's my surname: Hiwatari." He spoke his last name in a proud tone, something Rhea had never heard from Kai.
"When I was very young, you see," he continued, "my father wanted me to achieve great things, or so I was told by my grandfather."
"Voltaire?" Rhea asked.
"That's right." Kai nodded. "So, my father decided to place a mark on my back. The mark which you saw." He added the last bit with a slight venom in his voice.
"So what is the mark? What does it mean?" Rhea asked.
"I'm hardly going to take my top off and show you!" Kai snorted, going slightly red.
"Oh come on, I've seen it before, why will now be any different?" Rhea laughed.
After a minute or two of glaring, Kai gave in. Quickly taking off his black jacket, he lifted up the back of the shirt he wore underneath in order to show her.
"Wow… it's beautiful…" Rhea gasped, amazed. "What does it say? What does it mean?" She asked again, as Kai put his jacket back on.
The 3 symbols on Kai's back had been elegantly placed, and were in Chinese. (It's difficult to describe, here's the link if anyone wants to see it: http/ www .chinesesymbolsmeaning .com / chinese-symbols / s / survivor . gif )
Rhea recognized this, and asked why, before he had a chance to answer her first two questions. "I thought your father was Japanese? Why are the marks in Chinese?" She asked.
"Apparently my father spent a lot of time in both Japan and China, and could speak and write both languages fluently." Kai explained.
"So, what do the symbols say?" Rhea asked yet again.
"Survivor." He said simply.
"But that's what the name 'Kai' means!" She gasped.
"Yes, that's right." He nodded, smiling slightly.
"That's amazing…" Rhea gasped. "How do you know all this?"
"Voltaire told me bits and pieces; I worked out the rest for myself." Kai replied.
"What about… your parents?" Rhea asked, guessing the answer. It was not to her liking.
"Same as yours." Kai responded in an emotionless voice. "There were some things even Voltaire kept from me." Kai's hands clenched into fists as he thought about his so-called 'grandfather.'
"Kai?" Rhea asked hesitantly. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Kai muttered, calming himself down.
"What happened?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" Kai asked.
"When you were there, in the abbey. What happened? You seem… different from the others." She voiced her thoughts outloud.
"Nothing." Kai sighed, his usual wall shielding his emotions. Rhea realised this, and knew their 'little chat' was over.
"I'm going back to the dojo to train with the others." Rhea explained, standing up. "Thanks for listening; I suppose I had a lot to get off my chest." She smiled, even though Kai was looking the other way. "I'll see you later." With that, she turned and walked back down the pier, across the sand and back into town, leaving Kai to his own thoughts.
Kai sat stock-still, allowing the slight breeze to ruffle his spiky hair as he continued to stare into the horizon, without really watching anything. Rhea… she told me a lot, but I still get the feeling she's holding something back. Maybe I'm thinking too much. What more could there possibly be to her? What more secrets does she harbour? The death of her parents is a terrible loss. She must have found out the night we got back. Yes… that makes sense. That's why Bryan and Ian were at the tournament, they were watching her, but why? That's the one thing I need to ask her. Why? What does Boris want? Why… Why… Why…
Alright, end of chappie. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait, and I'm sorry if that chappie was rubbish/confusing/stupid/weird etc
Anyway, here are the replies to those wonderful people who took the time to review!
CrimsonSkye06: Aha, and you shall have them! I'm sure there will be more answers yet to come, so keep 'em peeled. Again, thanks for reviewing!
Heartless Devil: I'm glad you liked it, I will try and update more frequently.
Storms-Winter: Yeah, I suppose! Hehe, I'm glad you liked it! Keep reviewing!
SweetMystery: I suppose the plot is beginning to thicken, eh? Thanks for reviewing, no way I'm gonna stop! Hehe… you shall have more, more, more!
brezzybrez: Here's the update, hope you liked it; I guess I'm startin' to use cliffies more, eh? Keep reviewing!
Clare: Hehe, I'm glad you like my fic. Not to worry, a nice amount of insanity is a good thing…… o.O Keep reviewing!
gerichung: Hehe, I'm glad you like it, I try and update as frequently as possible. I will most definitely keep going 'till the end! Here's the update for you! Keep reviewing! Thank you!
Okay, reviews done, that's all for now! Keep reviewing for me, please! Until next update!