Worried he was being followed, Kai took three trains and two buses home that night. It took him nearly three hours to make it back to his apartment when it normally took one. When he got back home it was dark and silent in the apartment. Nya was hopefully either asleep or studying. She knew Kai didn't like her staying up late on school nights. She likely would not expect him to be home so late. True he did sometimes work late but he had never come home this late before.
If she was still awake she would probably ask him why at breakfast.
Too tired to worry about this, however, Kai simply yawned and began his nightly routine, trying to be extra quiet as to not wake up Nya if she was already asleep. As he stood in the hot shower, trying to clean himself up, Kai felt his mind begin to wander. He did feel a little bit rude for not even saying sorry to that cop who saved him from that potential rapist, but he just reminded himself the last time he stuck around after getting help from a stranger.
It had been just over a year ago after he'd finished his shift at the club and decided he needed an escape.
He had spent another two hours at the bar that night, getting absolutely plastered. The brunette couldn't even walk straight after a while. He couldn't remember all the horrible details. But he remembered a nice, concerned-looking man approaching him and offering him a ride home. Like the idiot he was, Kai accepted. It was incredibly blurry from there. The next thing the brunette remembered was being violently pushed down in the back of the man's car.
The smell of vomit and alcohol smothered the cramped air.
Before it could go too far, however, two police officers had shown up and stopped the perverted man before he could do anything. Kai had been so relieved at first and, when he was sober enough, he told the two officers that he wanted to press charges against the man. Unfortunately, the cops took one look at his very revealing outfit and laughed in his face. They simply told him that just because a client refused to pay him doesn't make it a rape case.
After they let the man go they then told him to fuck off back to his street corner, even though he was clearly underaged at the time.
They had left Kai feeling sick to his stomach, scared and humiliated. To make matters worse he had no way to get home. Since he had left his belongings at the club and he had no money to get a cab, Kai had to walk all the way back to the club in that disgustingly revealing outfit. It was then when he was given a very hard reality check. He could not trust ANYONE, not even the police force. The only two people on this whole fucked up planet were Nya and Skylor.
There was something in that quiet cop's icy blue eyes, however.
Like he was genuinely worried about Kai's safety and wellbeing. But the brunette refused to believe that for even a moment. Whenever someone helped him it was only because they wanted to use him for something else. After he got out of the shower, he wrapped a nice fluffy towel around his waist. He was about to go to bed when there was a sudden, loud knocking on the front door of the apartment. Kai arched an eyebrow in confusion before checking the peephole to see who was disturbing the Smith siblings this late.
He was even more confused to see it was their new neighbor Jay Walker standing there, clearly nervous and worried.
Kai sighed before opening the door to see what the ginger wanted at this late time of night. As soon as Jay saw him, he visibly looked relieved, only for his blue eyes to soften in sadness when he saw the bruises and marks left by Morro that night. It was then he noticed Kai was basically naked and a bright red blush spread across his face.
"Uh... I- I... just wanted to s-see if you were a-alight." The ginger stuttered nervously, trying to avoid looking at Kai.
"I'm fine, why?" He asked in confusion, ready to slam the door in Jay's cute face if he had to.
"I saw you c-coming in and it w-was late and I then I saw your b-bruises and thought something w-was wrong."
"Yeah, sorry, I finished work late and almost got mugged, but I fine now."
"Ok, where do you work?"
"Is this an interrogation?" Kai glared, not liking these questions, and Jay flinched away slightly.
"No, it's just... I want to get to know my neighbors and maybe make some friends." He said softly and Kai froze slightly, before regaining his composure.
"Listen, I know you're just trying to be nice and all, but it's late and I want to get to bed, so goodnight."
"Oh, ok, good-"
Kai suddenly slammed the door shut, cutting the ginger off. He waited until Jay sighed and went back to his own apartment before he went to bed. A part of him did feel guilty for that but he was too tired to think about anything. He'd speak to Jay tomorrow and if he was unlikely lucky, then maybe Kai could have a new friend. The brunette sighed in relief as he finally reached his bed and laid down. He was asleep before his head even touched the pillow...
"Oh, ok, good-" Jay started, only to jump back when Kai suddenly slammed the door shut, cutting the ginger off. "...night." He sighed before heading back to his own apartment. He did think that was a little bit rude of Kai, but judging by the state of his body, the brunette hadn't had a good night. The ginger hated the thought of anyone turning to prostitution or crime to make a living. But after reading the little information they had gathered on Kai Ash Smith, Jay felt his heartache for the poor spiky-haired brunette.
Kai didn't have a choice, he had made the unfortunate mistake of getting involved with Chen.
Jay and his teammates knew that Chen was a manipulative bastard. There was nothing that man wouldn't do for money and control. That monster of a man was so low that there were rumors saying he even forced his own daughter into prostitution at his own strip club. Lord only knows what he's put Kai and countless others through. Even Jay and the others hated Chen with a fierce passion, he wasn't their target right now. They wanted Morro and his gang to face justice for all the crimes they had done to the citizens of Ninjago city.
The only thing they really knew about Morro, however, was that he frequents the Club Of Flaming Passion.
He went there for Kai Ash Smith, and only for Kai, for some reason. If they were lucky, they could take down both Morro and Chen's criminal empires and people like Kai would be free. But they couldn't do that without information. That was the only reason Zane went to the club tonight, to try and see if Kai knew anything about the criminal. Sadly, it didn't go as planned. When Zane had called Jay almost an hour ago and told him what had happened, Jay had been so worried about the brunette.
He was thankful that Zane had been in the right place at the right time.
He had been waiting by his front door since he'd gotten the phone call from the blond-haired man. He had even had a first aid kit ready just in case Kai needed it. As he packed the first aid kit away, his cellphone started ringing. He checked the caller ID and saw it was Zane.
"Hey Snowflake." He smiled when he answered the call.
"Has he returned yet?" Zane replied, getting straight to the point.
"Yes, he's back, I think he's just got out of the shower." He blushed at the memory.
"Alright, I am going to go over and talk to him."
"No, you can't!"
"Why not?"
"He looks like he's been through hell tonight and it's late, I doubt he'd appreciate a cop knocking on his door at this time of the night."
"I suppose you're right." Zane hummed in thought. "I'll call Cole and Lloyd to talk to him at the club."
"That's not better!"
"Bluejay, when you told us about what Kai was really like, I'll be honest, none of us believed you; but after I saw him tonight I'm starting to see what you mean." He explained. "He does seem like a decent person who hates his current circumstances, but we can't help him until we get enough intel on Morro to lock him up, and Kai's our only option right now."
"I know what you mean but I think we should take it slow."
"I understand, but we are running out of time, I'm going to call Cole and Lloyd, I'm sorry."
"Ok Snowflake, I understand." Jay sighed as he hung up, slumping down on the couch. He could only hope they could help Kai find a better life...