A/N: THIS SITE has a weird paragraph breaker and they don't let me use scene breakers the way I want so I had to find a way around this problem and for scene changes I'm not gonna use the horizontal rule from this chapter onwards. I'll edit the rest of the story in this way later. Just wanted to let yall know. I hope you dont mind the sudden change.
Also, I bet my ass yall weren't expecting an update. Merry Christmas, loves!
CHAPTER 17
In life, in love, this time I can't afford to lose
For one, for all, I'll do what I have to do
You can't understand,
it's all part of the plan
Fleurie
What the fuck had Alistair King been doing in Brazil of all places?
Kai unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and popped his cuffs free, a tall cup of coffee waiting for him on his desk. According to the memories Tyson had gained from the caterpillar, King had met Kieran long before the boy hit the age of twelve - the age when Kiaan had claimed they'd met for the first time. King had frequented the tribe often and seen Kieran multiple times before that. Why? What business did he have with the people of Ararangua?
Kai took a sip of his coffee, the New York skyline twinkling in front of him through the office window. The clock read five past two in the morning yet there was no lull in the traffic. His phone chimed with incoming messages and mail notifications, files and papers lying over the table in a disarray and pending work calling him back to the open laptop. He blinked twice and attempted to clear his head before putting the cup down on the table and gathering the papers lying scattered on his desk. The mess was so unlike him. He organized them into neat piles and put the folders he didn't need at the moment away.
Kai was in the middle of reading one of the folder's spines when he happened to notice his index finger reddening at the tip. He frowned as he dropped the folder and examined his finger. What he assumed to be a reddening of the skin due to some allergic reaction quickly spread into his hand, both of his hands. Confused, he strode toward the bathroom and turned on the faucet. Kai washed his hands in the cold water streaming into the basin but it was in vain as the water began to evaporate into steam, huge puffs of hot air wafting up into his face. "Shit" he cursed, shutting off the faucet and examining his hands with bewilderment.
The redness started emanating an effulgent orange glow.
"What the fuck?" Kai stalked back into his office, deciding to go back to the hotel and shower. He was stopped short when a tingling sensation erupted from the tips of his fingers and went up his arms. Kai stripped off his shirt to find that his arms were covered in the same glow as his hands. By now, they were almost translucent, he could see the veins under his luminescent skin, a dull blue which grew in brightness the more he stared at them.
A giant "plop" drew his attention to the floor by his feet where a large drop of gooey molten lava was burning a hole. Bizarre. Kai looked up at the ceiling to find it that it had disappeared, the star specked awning stretching above the building winking back at him as one of the stars came detached from the night sky and hurtled downwards, towards him. The meteor landed a meter away from his desk, liquifying into lava and beginning to dig a path through the ground. Another ten of the like joined the first two and Kai stood petrified for a moment before dashing for the still standing door, but before he could make it he was stopped by a hiss. He glanced up right as a giant glop of lava descended upon him.
Kai jerked awake, hands curled around the pillow tight. He waited for his heartbeat to return to normal before turning on the lamp and giving his arms a quick glance. Just to make sure. The beyblade Kenny had given him earlier that day lay by his head. Kai snatched it up as he sat upright on his bed, feet on the carpeted floor. The blade was so intricately carved he took a moment to appreciate its beauty and Kenny's hardwork, but he couldn't help noticing how the center of the bey gleamed in black. Void and stark empty. Lifeless.
Kai dragged his suitcase from under the bed and tossed the beyblade among his clothes, then zipped it closed and pushed it back in place. The dream floated around in his mind, the strangeness of it unsettling him, but most of all the question that it posed. What had Alistair King been doing in Ararangua?
He got up and paced around, head muddy, body restless. He checked the time. Three-thirty in the morning. The cream walls of the hotel room were dead silent, the plush brown carpet muting his footsteps as he walked aimlessly to the large bed and back to the window with thick parted curtains. He halted in front of it, gaze frozen on the invisible horizon, arms hanging limp by his sides. Kai realized that his chest felt weird.
The phone rang suddenly, startling him. Kai padded to the bedside table to answer the call. "Hello" he said through the microphone, wondering who wanted to talk to him this late in the night.
"I'm losing patience," came the gruff drawl of the Russian mafia man. Kai raised his eyebrows as he silently poured himself a glass of water. "Gonzalez is pissing me off. How many times have you taken her out? You've still gotten nowhere."
"Three" Kai replied, then drank from the glass.
"Three dates and no useful info yet. This is not working. Time for plan B."
"Told you it was a bad idea."
"I was trying to be good and not be violent for once but I see that never gets shit done." Black took in an audible breath. "I'm outside her home. She's in right now. What do you say I grab her?" Kai straightened his spine, considering the consequences of saying yes. Gabriela would probably break as soon as she saw Black in his mask, but then again, she was definitely smarter than she appeared.
She graduated from Columbia University. Kai wanted to know what someone like her was doing working as a secretary for King.
"Don't let her find out we're working together," Kai reminded him.
"Never" he swore.
"Then go right ahead." Kai heard a sickening chuckle before Black hung up.
o - o - o - o - o
Gabriela started awake in the middle of the night. She sat up and gathered the fabric of her night gown around her shoulders wondering what woke her up. Switching on the lights in her bedroom, she slowly unlocked and opened the door to the living room. Gabriela had just pulled the door open by an inch when it was knocked back hard into her face and she was hurled to the floor. She was disoriented by the blow to her forehead and blinked hard to clear the stars in her vision, but before she could so much as scream a cloth was clamped down over her nose and mouth and she was forced to inhale whatever was coating the cloth.
Gabriela lost consciousness.
And the next time she opened her eyes, she saw the boogeyman.
o - o - o - o - o
Blu watched as Gabriela slowly regained her consciousness and began taking in her surroundings feeling a thrill run up his spine.
"Hi there," he greeted lovingly as her gaze finally landed on him and she physically reeled back with shock into the chair she was tied to. Her eyes were bloodshot, face a ghostly white, red hair more stringy than curly. "If you scream you'll die, so don't."
He could literally see the terror crawling into her pupils and making them tremble. Blu stepped out of the shadows of the small empty basement with nothing but a chair placed in the middle with Gabriela restrained against it. Her bare-feet slid and struggled against the ropes binding her ankles. Her scared, laboured breathing was so loud. So hysterical.
Blu had made some upgrades to his mask recently and judging by the poor girl's reaction it must have been quite the terrifying sight. He stopped in front of her, towering above her slender frame and stooped down to touch the edge of his shiny serrated knife to her chin. "Listen very carefully," he said to her in a whisper. "I am neither your friend, nor your enemy. I have a few questions and I want answers. You will give them to me and I will let you go. Si?" he asked with a nod.
Gabriela shook with fear, eyes fixated on him. "Who…are you?" She managed to ask.
"The boogeyman," he said, a slow smile curling on his lips.
Gabriela stared at him unblinkingly, the colour leaking further from her skin. "What do you want from me?" She asked again, on a roll with questions of her own.
Sensing that the girl was probably fond of idle chatter and would talk unnecessarily, Blu warned, "Don't make noise. Don't speak unless I ask you something or I'll cut your tongue out and feed you to the dogs. Understand?" And just to get his message across a bit more clearly, he applied enough pressure on the knife against her chin to slice a small cut that bled immediately, a drop of red dripping onto the loose white shirt Blu had changed her into. Gabriela gasped and whimpered, gaze begging for someone to save her from him.
Blu licked his lips, grinning in satisfaction as she obeyed and shut up. "Smart girl" He tapped her jaw with the side of the blade. "Let's begin, shall we?" He propped a boot up against the side of the chair, next to her thigh, causing her to flinch and attempt to pry her leg away. "Shh, sit still. You work as a secretary for that son of a bitch, Alistair King. I want to know why."
"Let me go!" Gabriela screamed all of a sudden and Blu kicked the chair, sending it flying to the floor, carrying the girl with it. Her head bounced off the ground and she moaned aloud in pain.
"What did I tell you about making noise, princess?" Blu demanded, pulling the chair back upright. Gabriela glared at him furiously, blinking tears out of her eyes. "All I want are some answers," he said softly, leaning into her face like he was telling her a secret. "Cooperate with me and I will let you go. Body intact. But if you don't," he combed the blade through her hair, "I'll show you all the things a knife can do to a little girl like you."
Gabriela gulped, her breath escaping her lungs in terrified exhales. "Do you understand?" he asked generously. She looked so scared and torn, like a loyal puppy who was asked to betray its master. Blu tsk-tsked. "I don't like your boss and I want information on him. I know you know things. I've been watching you for quite some time. You don't need to worry about King," he told her consolingly. "You worry about me. He may kill you for ratting him out but I will do worse if you don't. Either you talk," he pried her mouth open forcefully, and stuck two fingers inside to grab hold of her tongue and pinch it, "or I get rid of this useless thing."
o - o - o - o - o
Kai bent over the laptop, drumming his fingers on the table top as he read through emails from the UK branch at four am. Sometimes he wondered whether getting directly involved with the day-to-day management of all the different branches was a good idea and he had to remind himself of the story of the Richmond group who almost went under due to embezzlement. The knot in his upper back added to his overall misery and Kai sucked on a canine as he tried to ignore it.
His phone rang and he answered it without taking his eyes off the screen. "Yes?" he grumbled.
"Senorita works for King because her father owes money to the pig," Black informed him over the line.
Kai eased back and rubbed his nape with his free hand as he listened.
"Gonzalez senior used to be one of King's employees and a heavy gambler." Kai's gaze narrowed. Gabriela had told him her parents were both teachers. She'd lied. "He gambled away almost all of his income and when he ran out, took money right out of the company's bank." Embezzlement again. Kai's lips thinned as he looked back at the email from Stuart that he'd been forcing himself to read because of that very reason. "The pig found out, fired and threatened to kill Gonzalez. Senorita saved her father from the bullet by talking King into letting her pay off Gonzalez's debt by working for him." Black snorted. "Throw in an occasional sexual favor here and there." Kai grimaced, repulsed by the grotesque visual image.
"Of course," Kai said at last. He'd always suspected something of the like. Gabriela was way too qualified for her job.
"Also, King's got plans for you," warned Black, sounding perversely excited.
"I know that," Kai deadpanned before smothering a yawn, fighting sleep.
"No, no," Black corrected him. "He's not after your company, Kai. He's after your flesh and bone. He wants you." Kai listened silently, wide awake now, gaze intent on the opposite wall. "Gabriela said he's got something planned for you and she was a part of that plan, which was why she went on all those dates with you, brother. Not for the size of your dick." Black barked a humorless laugh.
"What does he want with me?" Kai asked after a beat.
"She doesn't know," said Black.
"Make her find out," Kai ordered.
"With pleasure" he breathed into the microphone, then the line went dead.
o - o - o - o - o
The sun beat down on the roof of the car with a vicious intensity. Kai frowned at the afternoon traffic, still stuck in that morning's grouchy mood. It was too hot inside the car even with the air conditioning on. When he couldn't take it anymore, he ordered the driver to stop the car and stepped out into the street, popping a pair of sunglasses on.
He weaved around the cars, holding a hand out to halt oncoming vehicles and strode toward the shops. His phone rang for the hundredth time that day and he switched it off deciding he needed a half hour break. He entered a jewelry shop and approached the counter, removing the sunglasses and tucking them in his suit jacket.
Kai slipped a hand into his left pant pocket to draw the chain with the eight-pointed star out. "I'd like to pawn this necklace," he said as he placed it upon the counter. The middle-aged man behind it took the chain into his hands to examine it. "Well…"
Kai watched wordlessly as the man brought a lens to his eye and turned the star over, rubbing the surface with his thumb. "The gold is real," Kai mentioned after a moment of observation.
"Hmm" the man hummed thoughtfully, absorbed in whatever he was doing. Bored, Kai wandered a little further into the shop, looking around. His attention was caught by a woman and a child bending over something in a display case. He stepped toward them to peek at the contents of the case they were so interested in and found a collection of silver chains with odd-looking pendants.
"What are they?" he inquired, feeling uncharacteristically chatty.
The woman turned around, noticing him standing there for the first time. "Oh! They're dreamcatchers," she said with a smile.
Kai lifted an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term and she explained. "They give the wearer good dreams."
"Good dreams," he repeated under his breath, gaze drifting back to the pendants, mind on the dream he had last night.
"They're traditionally handmade with horsehair meshes and feathers," Kai looked at her with his head tilted to the side, "and you hang them on your bedpost but Lily has a habit of falling asleep in the school bus and she gets scary nightmares," she said indicating her child, "so I thought I'd buy her a nice, sturdy little pendant that she can wear all the time."
Kai's gaze fell on the small girl next to the woman who was clutching her mother's fingers tightly, eyes wide and innocent as she stared at Kai. He gave her a tiny smile and she hid behind her mother, making him smile wider. The woman laughed and apologized. Kai shook his head at the needless apology and considered the silver hoops again. There was one that kept catching his eye. A thin silver chain with a bead placed at the center of a delicate mesh, with a single silver feather attached to the hoop.
"That one is simply beautiful," commented the woman, following his gaze. "Why don't you buy it?"
o - o - o - o - o
Tyson dialed JB, leaning out the window observing the man Kai had stationed outside the building to "protect" him. What a pain in the ass. The penguin dude had followed him and his friends when they'd gone out earlier too, taking care to hide his presence but Tyson knew he was lurking anyway. He was irked.
"Yeah?" JB picked up, some song with a heavy bass playing in the background. Probably getting laced at a party.
"Hey, can you do me a favor?" Tyson asked hesitantly. They hadn't talked properly since the accident and he worried for a moment that JB might turn him down.
"Sure, what you need?" He asked instead making Tyson smile. He hung out with the right people.
"Remember that Russian criminal I ran into?" Tyson raised the cigarette in his hand to take a hit.
JB was silent for a moment. They'd almost had an argument over this topic once. "Criminal is an understatement, don't you think?" he spoke after a while.
Tyson chuckled, blowing smoke into the night sky. He winced. "You're right," he agreed, voice low. "He's so much worse."
A shout went up at the party and cheers followed, JB cursed at the sudden increase in noise and Tyson heard shuffling sounds before a door closed somewhere in the background and the noise ceased. "You want to say what you need or…?"
"I want to know where he lives," Tyson stated suddenly. "He's here in the city and he's hiding out somewhere. Probably a place you can find out easily if you tried." After all, JB and gang slinked around the shadows of the city too. "Can you do that for me?" He stubbed his cigarette out as he waited for a reply.
"You gonna go after him?" JB posed, a hint of worry in his tone. "All by yourself?"
"No" Tyson lied. "I just want to know where he is so I can sleep better."
JB remained quiet, not quite believing him. Tyson exhaled.
"Look, I'm not crazy enough to go after a motherfucker who almost skinned me twice, okay? Let alone by myself, but I can't sleep knowing he's out there somewhere doing god knows what. It would help if I knew he's not anywhere nearby."
"Yeah, Tyson, don't sweat. I feel you. I feel you, man," he reiterated. Tyson bit his cheek, guilty over lying. "I'll get some guys on it for you and get back in a week or so, alright?"
Tyson let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Thank you"
o - o - o - o - o
"You need to cut down on the sugar and start eating real food."
"How is this not real food?" Tyson asked holding up a vanilla milkshake, the open fridge standing in between him and Kai.
"Leah says you don't eat anything she makes, and this is why," Kai continued, pointing at the contents inside the mini fridge. "You're loading up on sugar and carbs." How did he manage to stock up on so many unhealthy snacks and drinks? The refrigerator was practically overflowing with junk food.
"You talked to Leah?" Tyson gaped, eyes comically wide. "When?"
"I didn't," said Kai. "I overheard her talking about you in the grocery store."
Tyson blinked like a stunned puppy. "She's going around complaining to the world about my eating habits?" Kai stared at him bored. "Hiro really found his soulmate, didn't he?"
While Tyson stood there in a hoodie and shorts, reeling in amazement over his current housemates, Kai snatched the milkshake out of his hands. "Hey!" Tyson exclaimed before demanding for the drink in a sterner tone. "Give that back." He stretched an arm forward.
"I think you've had enough for one day," Kai told him, screwing the cap shut.
"Are you kidding?" Tyson asked, a second away from snapping at him. "Literally, Kai, give me the shake back."
"No" Kai raised the bottle over his head.
"I'm not eating your fucking veggies," Tyson dived for the drink and Kai reached his arm up as high as he could. "You have no right to decide what I eat," he got so close Kai could taste his vanilla breath on his tongue, "give it back, you asshole!" Tyson hopped on one foot and grabbed hold of the bottle with a triumphant whisper-yell, but Kai refused to let go. They ended up playing tug of war with the drink till Kai's grip accidentally twisted the cap around and flavoured milk poured down the front of his shirt in a thick white stream.
"Shit," Tyson gasped as Kai cursed and released the bottle to examine the damage. "I'm sor-" he almost apologized before he cut himself off and smirked. "Serves you right."
Kai glared at him, then yanked the stained shirt over his head, expression grim. Tyson laughed, shaking his head as Kai bent to wipe his chest and clean the stray drops on his pants. Tyson watched the back of Kai's head before tipping a little bit more milk over his upper back, causing him to snap his head up.
"Stop!" Kai cautioned, shooting daggers at Tyson while reaching a hand behind him to wipe the milk that had been deliberately poured on him.
"I thought you liked kinky shit," retaliated Tyson.
"That's you," Kai shot back, "not me."
"Excuse me?"
"Two words," Kai paused the wiping to look him in the eye, "'hurt me'"
Tyson flushed, mortified and scandalized. Kai almost grinned at him.
"You can't bring that up, Kai," Tyson argued once he was over the embarrassment of getting called out. "You can't hold what a person likes in bed against them in-" Did he learn that in college?
"Save the political debate for later and drink your fucking milkshake, you big baby." Kai turned around to reach for the jug of water placed on the bedside.
Tyson glared at him for a moment, then threw the capped bottle in his hand at Kai's head. It bounced off with a thunk and Tyson grinned daringly as he slowly spun around and met his eyes. "That's for patronizing me."
Kai attempted to intimidate Tyson with his icy stare but he refused to stand down. "I might have a broken leg but I can still kick your ass all the way to Japan," Tyson claimed when Kai's gaze pointedly fell to his bad leg. "Try me," he dared.
Kai didn't. Instead he walked around the bed, avoided Tyson and went straight for the door. "Kiss my ass," he tossed over his shoulder before tugging at the handle.
Tyson panicked. "No!" he whisper-yelled at Kai. "No, don't go out there! He's in the hall watching the news. If he sees you, he'll think-" Tyson grabbed his forehead in distress. "I'm not ready to have that conversation with him yet. Please, Kai, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please, don't open the door. I am begging you," he implored, hands clasped in front of his chest.
Kai considered him quietly, fingers on the knob. "Please," Tyson pleaded. "You can do anything you want with me," he offered as a trade-off, spreading his arms wide in an 'I'm all yours' gesture. He stood there in his white flip-flops and a hoodie that was one size too large for him, rare dimple showing in his cheek with his arms open for Kai. And he couldn't resist. His fingers left the handle and Tyson exhaled. "Do whatever you want with me."
He offered himself up and Kai took the opportunity to wrap his arms around Tyson's waist and lift him up. "Wha- what are you doing," Tyson giggled as he scrambled for purchase on Kai's shoulder. "I'm not 5'5 any more, you idiot. I'm 6'1!" He laughed endlessly as Kai carried him all the way to the window sill and plopped him down. By the time he was done laughing, his cheeks were all pink and Kai's gaze glittered as he looked at him.
Tyson sniffed, dabbed at a tear and motioned toward Kai's chest. "What's that?"
Kai glanced down at the chain he'd forgotten he was wearing. Oh. "I bought it for you." He took off the dreamcatcher and put it around Tyson's neck, who studied it with care.
"For me?" he asked, confused.
"It's a dreamcatcher," Kai explained and Tyson tilted his head at him, a tuft of hair hanging over his right eye, "for giving you good dreams."
And this time Tyson's gaze lingered on Kai, mouth softly falling open. "The last time you gave me a necklace-"
"It saved your life," Kai finished his sentence, knowing very well that that wasn't what he was going to say, but Tyson didn't correct him.
He smiled, genuinely, gaze downcast. "It's really pretty," Tyson told him. "Thank you"
Caught off guard by the disarming way he thanked him, Kai fiddled with the ring on his hand, drawing Tyson's attention to it. "I've never seen you wearing this before," he commented, touching the ring and consequently the tips of Kai's fingers, sending tingles up his arms.
It was the Hiwatari crest that he'd put on because of the crappy mood he'd been in that morning. Not out of familial pride or ego but just to remind himself why he did what he did.
"Why?" inquired Tyson.
"No reason."
"There was a reason," Tyson stated confidently, gaze knowing.
"Yes, there was," whispered Kai.
Tyson didn't push, instead he took a breath and raised his hands to cup his face, his touch feather light across Kai's cheeks. "You can borrow one of my shirts or sleep here," he suggested quietly.
Sleep here? Kai shook his head, suddenly aware that he was standing in between Tyson's legs. "I can't sleep here," he told him.
"Why not? I can take the couch, I sleep on the couch most of the nights anyways, and you can take the bed."
"Sleeping on the couch is not a good habit," Kai advised, throat dry for some reason. "Your muscles will become stiff and painful." He reached over to massage Tyson's nape.
Tyson let out a low moan, lids drooping. "You're right, they do get stiff," he yawned in the middle of talking, "all the time."
Kai withdrew his hand and set it on Tyson's knee, skin silk-like and cool under his palm. "I don't think it's a good idea."
"Stay" Tyson insisted, drawing him in and full on bear hugging him, ankles locking over the backs of Kai's thighs. He was engulfed by Tyson's scent, the hoodie he was wearing soft and comforting against Kai's tired body. He could fall asleep on his shoulder if he gave in. Tyson was all nice and inviting. "Stay" he urged in a smaller voice, dragging the syllable out longer and hugging him tighter. Kai pressed his smile into the edge of Tyson's hoodie, an inch away from his neck. Tyson's fingers found their way into his hair and Kai felt the tension physically leave his muscles. "And you have that obnoxious habit of waking up super early in the morning so you can be out of here waaay before Leah comes knocking on my door. You have no reason to say no."
Kai was sure there were plenty reasons why he should say no but cocooned in Tyson's warmth he couldn't think of any, so he agreed to sleep over on the condition that he gets the couch. Tyson was happy.
A/N: This chapter was longer wasn't it? *claps* I hope you enjoyed reading and I didn't get to thank yall properly last time because I was so tired. I can thank you now. THAAAAAAAAAANK YOUUUUUUUUUUU FOR READING AND REVIEWING. HOPE YOU HAD FUN. I love love love reading your responses and I wish I had more time to personally reply to each of you. Just know that I read every single one and I love you all okay? Take care of yourselves. Next chapter will be out sooner than you think. Have a lovely vacation. Merry Christmas! *sends hug and kisses*