Hey! This is eclipsedlight. Sorry it took so long for me to update, but in last four years I had a lot going on in my life. So I'll start updating my stories more often now that I have some time and a laptop. Writing on paper is so much more difficult now compared to typing. Also I dedicate this chapter to my fan NellaReklaw08 for telling me my story rocks even after four years. Thanks again and as always please review.
Tyson woke everyone up and after getting dressed, they all quickly rushed to the hospital to get some sort of explanation. Tala and Tyson were the first to burst into Kai's room to ask what happened. Inside two police officers were examining the scene and discussing the situation. From evidence, there appeared to have been no struggle so they couldn't be sure if the victim had just walked out or whether Boris and Voltaire had kidnapped him again.
"What happened to Kai?" Tyson voiced first, clearly angry with the incompetence of the officers and also worried.
"You shouldn't be in here." One of the officers spoke as he motioned for the two boys to exit.
"Where's Kai?" Tyson shouted this time. There was silence between the police officers as the rest of the bladers entered the room.
"I believe he asked you a question. Aren't you going to answer?" Tala spoke next, annoyed.
"Kai has disappeared. I came in to check on him and he was gone." Tiffany appeared in the doorway behind the group of teens.
"Was it Voltaire?" Hilary asked, worriedly.
"No, it wasn't. I just checked the security cameras and it looks like Kai just walked out." Tyson's dad answered, stepping in behind Tiffany.
"What do you mean Kai just walked out?" Daichi asked in surprise. It seemed ridiculous that with the dangers currently surrounding Kai that he would willingly leave the hospital.
"As surprising to even think that, it's true. I've just talked to the two guards in charge of his room and both confirm that Kai was responsible for knocking them unconscious." Max's father, Mr. Mizuhara explained joining his son's side.
"That's not surprising. Back at the abbey, we knocked the guards out by putting pressure on certain points to knock the body unconscious. It was considered basic training." Bryan added with a chuckle.
"Now that everyone knows what happened, I think it's best we find Kai as soon as possible. Does anyone know where he would go?" Tiffany asked as the group looked to one another.
The silence clearly expressed how little they knew of Kai and his movements. This uncertainty and helplessness left the group unsure of how to tackle the situation.
"We can't just stay here. I say we look." Daichi said, annoyed with feeling useless. Despite the lack of knowledge they held of Kai, they knew they couldn't stay and do nothing.
"Daichi's right. Kai has to be somewhere in the city still so the best bet is to just search the whole thing." Kenny exclaimed, pulling out his laptop and placing it onto Kai's now empty bed. "It won't be that hard if we split up into groups."
"Okay how about Hilary, Daichi, and Kenny will check out the east part of the city. Bryan and Spencer, you go check the west side. Tyson, Rei, and I will check the south. Mr. Granger, Mr. Mizuhara, and Miss Tiffany try checking the northern part of the city." Tala ordered before even Kenny could explain a plan of his own. At this moment, regardless of past history, everyone listened and agreed.
The search parties separated in their designated directions to look for Kai. Hilary, Daichi, and Kenny checked the mall, the arcade, and some local buildings from the business district in their area. The results seemed hopeless as they only seemed to get kicked out in each location because most places were closing for the night. Meanwhile, Bryan and Spencer checked another area business part of the city. They stopped by several restaurants and checked out most of the stores. Unfortunately, they had no such luck. The adults searched through the rural part of the city where most areas were scattered houses. Still no one found Kai.
Tyson, Tala, and Rei were left with checking the southern part of the city, which was where Tyson's dojo was located. They checked the park and the school grounds. Neither held anything to help them locate Kai. The last place they had to look was a beach nearby. They checked near the water and the docks. They had finally reached the point where they were all exhausted and the only option seemed to be to give up their search at the beach and rejoin the others back at the hospital
"This is hopeless. Kai's probably moving around as we look. We'll never be able to find him." Tyson scratched his head in frustration as he willed his legs to keep moving.
"It's possible but Kai is very weak at the moment. I don't think he'd be able to evade everyone." Rei exclaimed, wiping the sweat from his brow. Even with worry filling his body, he was trying to remain calm. Someone had to be.
"I wouldn't be so sure. Kai is not as weak as you think. He's been through hell at the abbey and he survived, rarely showing weakness even there. Tyson, even you should know how strong Kai really is." Tala spoke, shutting down Rei's opinion with fierce abruptness and clear annoyance that Kai would even be referred to as weak.
"I understand your history, Tala and that Kai's not one to show weakness, but the fact is that still he's wounded." Rei replied, defensively.
"Wounded or not, you shouldn't underestimate Kai," Tala replied, walking further ahead away from Tyson and Rei. He led the rest of the search around the beach.
Even as they finished searching the entire beach and were about to give up and meet with the others, Tyson spotted the hill that he and Kai usually sat on before they would train together. On the hill, rested a single tree and a view that held more beauty than any portrait of a sunset could behold. Remembering this, Tyson ran up the hill in anticipation. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as he hoped to find Kai and when he reached the top, he saw… nothing. Although it still held a great view of the ocean, nothing could dispel his disappointment and his desire to see Kai. Exhaling, Tyson turned around to head back down the hill when he heard a small kitten cry. He looked up and was shocked at what he saw.
"Hey guys, come here!" Tyson yelled for Rei and Tala who were searching for Kai at the bottom of the hill. Tala and Rei heard Tyson and ran up the hill to meet him.
"What's going on Tyson? Did you find him?" Rei asked, catching his breath. Tyson answered by pointing his finger up the tree. Tala and Rei looked confused, but when they looked up they were at first shocked and then relieved. In the tree, on a thick branch they could make out the form of a sleeping Kai. Tyson stepped forward and grabbed a firm grasp of the bark and started to climb the tree. Kai was so high up that you could mostly see one of his daggling legs. When Tyson finally climbed to where Kai was, he couldn't get close enough to wake him up as another protector also stood in the way. As Tyson had stretched out his hand, a familiar cat appeared in Kai's lap and scratched his hand away. The surprise attack made Tyson lose his grip and fall out of the tree. Luckily on Tyson's part, Rei and Tala's bodies supported his fall.
'Tyson, what happened?" Rei asked as he struggled to get out from underneath Tyson.
Tala moved out from under too and stood as Tyson sat up and placed his hands down to lift himself up. A sudden pain in his index finger stopped him. He looked and saw a bloody line of blood dripping from his finger. Looking closer, he realized it was just a splinter. He wiped his finger on his jeans before inserting it into his mouth to get the splinter out.
"What happened, Tyson? Did Kai push you or something?" Tala asked, rubbing his shoulder.
Tyson pulled his finger out and spit the splinter into the ground before standing.
"There's a cat blocking my way. It scratched my hand and I lost my grip." Tyson explained as he wrapped his bleeding finger into a napkin his found in his pocket.
"A cat?" Rei and Tala voiced in unison, before glaring at one another.
"I tried to get close to Kai, but the cat suddenly appeared and clawed at me like it was protecting Kai or something." Tyson said as he pointing up in the tree.
"Cat or not, we have to get Kai down." Tala stated as they considered their next move.
This time Tyson, Rei and Tala followed each other up the tree and held onto their own branch to check out the situation. Instead of just a single cat, there were also three kittens. One of the kittens was on Kai's ankles, another was on his shoulder, one was sleeping on his head, and the mother cat sat on Kai's lap, watching the boys. The mother cat growled as Tyson, Rei, and Tala stopped across from Kai and the kittens.
"Do you think she's just protecting her kittens?" Tyson asked as another growl followed his question.
"Yeah, but I also think she's protecting Kai as well." Rei stated from his own observations.
"I just remembered where this cat is from. It's the same cat that we saw Kai pet in the picture we saw last night." Tala whispered and suddenly the cat's familiarity became clear.
"I thought it looked familiar." Tyson added.
"If this cat wants to protect Kai, how do you think we'll get him down without getting scratched?" Rei voiced out loud the thoughts racing through all of their minds. The climb was challenging alone, it seemed impossible to climb back down carrying Kai with them as well.
The three teens pondered on what they should do next. Tyson wanted to yell at Kai to wake him up but Rei thought that must be risky. They wanted to get Kai down, not scare him out of the tree. The best bet was to shake his shoulder when the mother cat moved. Tala thought that removing the kittens one by one would lead the mother away from Kai long enough to wake him up. Just as Rei reached for the kitten sitting on Kai's shoulder, Tyson yanked on Rei's shirt.
"Hey Rei, this is the perfect blackmail." Tyson grinned deviously.
"What are you talking about?" Rei questioned, unsure of what Tyson was getting at.
"Well I don't know about you, but Kai trains us so hard. A little picture like this could be useful to give us a break once in a while." Tyson explained
"How do you expect to have proof without a picture?" Tala asked.
"Umm…wait here a minute." Tyson contemplated and smiled before climbing back down.
Tala and Rei watched as he ran to a couple, talked with them and gave them something from his pocket. Tyson ran back with an instant camera in hand. He climbed back up the tree.
"How'd you get that?" Rei asked as Tyson climbed back into his spot.
"My allowance money. Even though I'll be saving up for a while to compensate for this, it's well worth it." Tyson replied as he leaned forward and took several shots at different angles.
"Are you done?" Rei asked as Tyson nodded.
"I have all the proof I'll ever need right here." Tyson grinned and he shoved the camera into his right leg pants pocket.
Now that Tyson was set with his blackmail, they still knew they needed to get Kai down from the tree. Still, every time they got close, one of the four cats would scratch them. It hadn't taken long after Tyson's camera flashes to wake most of the kittens up. This was starting to annoy all three of them as this was becoming troublesome by the minute. Five minutes later however, the mother cat suddenly walked off of Kai and most of the kittens followed. Kai yawned with one kitten still sleeping on his head. He turned his head and came face to face with Tyson, Tala and Rei.
"Well, look who finally decided to wake up." Tyson stated with a sarcastic smile on his face.
"Damn, you guys found me. Oh well. I guess I'll never get away from you." Kai replied with annoyance.
"That's no excuse to leave the hospital when you're injured." Rei yelled.
"If I'm so badly injured then how was I able to escape from two guards and walk all the way down here to climb this tree?" Kai said sarcastically.
"It's because of your damn training at the Abbey, you know that. Now come on Kai. We have to go back to the hospital," Tala joined in, trying to get Kai back safely. He knew that the hospital wasn't the best place, but at least Kai would be safe there and Voltaire wouldn't be able to get to him so easily.
"I don't really have a choice now since you found me," Kai said, his eyes focused more on Tyson. Tyson just grinned until Kai suddenly and swiftly climbed down the tree from the branch he was sitting on with the kitten still sleeping on his head. Kai gently nudged the kitten awake before placing him down on the ground.
"Hey! Wait for us!" Tyson yelled but Kai had already started making his way back to the hospital. He didn't even wait for Tyson and the others to catch up.
They arrived at the hospital fifteen minutes later. Everyone was already there waiting for them.
"Kai!" Everyone practically yelled, especially the teens. Kai walked up to them and was bombarded with questions.
"Kai, what happened?" Hillary started as the questions of where he went, whether he hurt himself, and why he ran away followed quickly after. Kai chose to answer their questions with a "Hn" as he made his way back into his hospital room. The rest followed after whether he wanted them to or not. Kai looked up to see Mr. Dickerson standing in front of his bed.
"Kai, you must be tired, why don't you rest?" Mr. Dickerson smiled as he stepped out of the way so Kai could get into bed. Kai nodded.
"I heard there was a little adventure taking on your part. Do you mind telling everyone why you left the hospital? I'm quite curious myself." Mr. Dickerson asked as he stood close to Kai, who was ruffling the covers to get comfortable.
"I wanted to go for a walk," Kai simply answered as if his reason seemed justifiable enough.
"I understand getting some fresh air once in a while, but you were gone for eight hours, Kai. Several police officers and your teammates had to spend time searching for you. You left everyone very worried for your safety." Mr. Dickerson added, talking calmly as he tried to understand why Kai could make such a risky move at such a dangerous time.
"I…I was sick of being in this hospital. It wasn't meant to interfere with anyone else," Kai's replied coolly to Mr. D's curious and worried face.
An angry Tiffany walked in and over towards Kai. Her eyes red, cheeks blushed and tears still streaming as she came closer. Kai was surprised, but was even more shocked when she raised her hand and a resounding slap followed. A light pink mark stained his skin as he grabbed his sore cheek.
"You think you can just leave the hospital because you got bored?! Kai, you're injured! You're in the worst condition I've ever seen in my entire career and you put my responsibility in jeopardy. You can't decide to do things so selfish and recklessly. You're too weak right now to do everything alone. You should rely on the staff and your friends right now until this situation can be resolved. You need to let us help you." Tiffany yelled at the grayish-blue slant haired teen.
Kai lowered his head as she talked, his eyes digging into his lap as his fists clenched. He had listened until the word "weak" was spoken. Tala, Bryan, and Spencer also felt the sting of that word, lowered their own heads and cringed. That taboo word reminded them of the Abbey, a hell of its own, where weakness was never accepted and strength always rewarded. Kai was always so good at controlling his anger but at being called weak, the rage buried deep within him fueled his response and he fought back.
"These may seem like the worst wounds you've ever seen, but these are nothing. I've experienced more pain and hell then these little scratches can barely touch back when I was eight! Just because you think your education is enough to help me, you wouldn't even know where to start! I've been like this forever- beaten, bruised, injured to the point where I could barely even move yet here I am still alive. I don't need your pitiful help! You can't do anything but wrap me up in bandages, give me painkillers and leave me here. Well I don't need you! None of you! I can take care of myself without you and the doctors prodding and poking me with useless treatments and procedures. I don't need your incompetence. Just leave me the hell alone!" Kai glared fiercely at Tiffany, his words laced with a darkness even his teammates had never seen from him. His eyes like ice, his face stern and his teeth clenched caused Tiffany to take a step back.
Silence barely could express the cold atmosphere that hung from Kai's revelation. The past hung in the darkness, a demon of its own. The future looked as dark and bleak. Tyson and the others frozen in time to a moment where darkness tempted to break all they knew. All they loved. All Tiffany could mutter was a mumbled apology. A whisper of a simple "sorry" that barely could erase the words spoken, the moment said. In what felt like a situation that would end in silence, Kai spoke again, the sharpness slowly fading as he spoke.
"Don't ever call me weak. I was trained not to be and I'll never be weak again. Now let me sleep." Kai's cold voice turned softer. He watched as Tiffany nodded, before turning away from the group and pulling the covers up to his face. With that, the conversation ended.