Another Word for Strength
Chapter 5: Koneko NOKIER
***
The next morning, Rei woke up feeling a bit better than he had when he drifted off the night before. His wounds were healing properly and a number of bruises had disappeared. He showered and dressed mechanically, allowing his attention to be absorbed by his thoughts and didn't notice when his team mates walked in the door.
"Hey, Rei. You're up late." Takao greeted him cheerfully. "We're going to head downstairs to get breakfast. Want to come?"
"No thanks, Takao." Rei answered dully. "I'm not hungry."
"Ok then." The boys left just as quickly as they came and once again Rei was alone. He felt his knees give out beneath him and half expected to meet the ground with a sharp thud, but instead landed on the soft white sheets of the nearest bed. He would have been fine if it had been any other bed, but he had landed on the one bed he didn't want to. Kai's.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, he burst into tears. All the stress was beginning to weigh down heavily on his shoulders and both physical and emotional pain seemed like one. He couldn't keep up his façade without having someone to lean back on, and Kai couldn't be that person at the moment, not without personal risk. He knew he couldn't reveal anything to the other guys because everything revolved around the one thing Kai made him promise to keep secret. The only way he could let it all out was to let his emotions take over when the opportunity presented itself. So he lay on the bed until his sobs subsided and he felt he was calm enough to handle everything that was thrown his way.
He walked solemnly to the bathroom and rinsed the dry tears from his cheeks. Just as he was finishing drying off his face with a towel, Mr. Dickenson came in.
"Hello there Rei." He smiled, not aware of what just happened. "I hear that you were very upset at seeing Kai in that match yesterday."
"Yeah." Rei nodded and tossed the towel around his neck. "The funny thing is that I'd have never noticed how painful Kai's injuries were if we hadn't had those talks. If I hadn't known he had been beaten I'd have thought he was having an off day or got hurt by something simple. The make-up was still there, and he acted as if he was perfectly okay. I never noticed how fake it all really was until now." Mr. Dickenson nodded gravely.
"I believe that Kai was such a good actor that he even fooled himself most of the time. He believed that it was normal and so he acted that way."
"I never thought of it that way." Rei admitted.
"Well, enough of depressing matters, I have something for you." Mr. Dickenson brightened up and held out an envelope for Rei. "This came for you this morning."
"Thank you." Rei took the letter and waited till Mr. Dickenson was out of the room before opening it. When he ripped it open he was mildly surprised to recognise Kai's handwriting.
~Rei
I left this at the front desk of your hotel to make sure you got it as soon as you woke up. I'm going to be blunt about this. Stay away from me. If you don't then it won't just be me who gets hurt. I know that you are aware of the fact that my grandfather was behind your attack, and if you want to live until the finals I'd advise you to heed this letter. Since I will now be watched constantly, I probably won't ever see you again. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I appreciate what you did for me over the past few days, but now you need to let me handle everything. There's no place for you in this. It's only between me and the Abbey. Good-bye. ~Kai
Rei was shocked. He realized that even though it sounded like Kai was going to be able to handle everything from that point on, Rei couldn't help but brood over Kai's words. 'I probably won't ever see you again. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine... Good-bye.' It made it seem like Kai was saying goodbye forever... like he'd never see anyone after this. It only made Rei worry more. Kai had made an excuse for his possible disappearance.
"But there's nothing I can do about it." He whispered to himself. Rei now wanted nothing more than to be alone to think, but as it would appear nothing was going his way that day. Takao, Max and Kenny burst into the hotel room.
"Hey Rei!" Max cried cheerfully. "We were looking for you!"
"Yeah." Exclaimed Takao. "We waited downstairs for you to come out, but you didn't show. I know you said you weren't hungry but you didn't even leave the room. Mr. Dickenson told us you were still here so we came up to get you."
"We have to leave for the tournament." Kenny added, explaining why they were looking for him. Max finally noticed the letter in Rei's hands.
"Who's the letter from?" he asked, curiously, drawing attention to the paper.
"It's nothing special." Rei shrugged the question off. "Mr. Dickenson just gave it to me. I'm ready to go now."
He grabbed Drigger from his nightstand and followed the rest of the team downstairs to an awaiting car.
***
Since Rei had thoroughly improved since the last round, the Bladebreakers opted to save him as a wild card. They hoped the other team would think of him as the weak link and believe that beating him would be an easy win.
When Rei's turn came up, he mentally prepared himself for his match. He wanted to win this battle for Kai, even though he knew Kai wasn't there to see. He might still be weak physically, but he wasn't going to let that stop him.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One! Let it RIP!"
Rei pulled hard and fast on his ripcord and watched as Drigger flew into the dish with amazing speed.
"Go Drigger!" Rei cried as soon as his blade hit the dish. His opponent started to laugh.
"I bet I could beat you with my hands tied and my eyes closed." He sneered, underestimating Rei's power. Rei ignored the comment and focused solely on the dish.
"Let's show this guy what we're made of, Drigger!" Rei yelled to his bit- beast and smiled when his blade glowed in response. Drigger emerged from the blade, larger than ever and radiating with light. The tiger's ferocious growl sent shivers down everyone's spine as it reared in the air. Drigger turned his massive head to look at the puny blade that was threatening it and dove straight for it. With one last roar, he smashed head-on with both the blade and the dish, scattering debris everywhere. The arena was hidden by a large cloud of smoke. When the announcer could finally see the result he was stunned. The dish had been totalled and only one person in the battle was left standing, literally. Drigger's blast had knocked both his opponent and his opponent's blade several feet back and Rei didn't even seem to notice the explosion. His blade was still spinning, as fast as ever, in the very center of it all.
***
In the stands, Kai rose and smiled to himself. He had to admit that Rei had put on quite a spectacular display. He had seen the determination flaring up in his eyes when he walked up to the dish. Although he didn't want to admit it, Kai felt both proud of his friend's accomplishment, and ashamed that Rei was able to stay strong even after he had just been released from the hospital. 'Even Rei was stronger than you.' He said to himself, disgusted. He turned from the stadium when the winner was announced and walked away, limping only slightly.
***
When he returned to the abbey he noticed that his computer was turned on and was flashing a message. He had honestly never noticed it was there until it began to flash. Kenny was usually the one who dealt with computers. He sat down at the computer and realized what the problem was. Supposedly he had mail. He couldn't remember the last time he had used his e-mail. He had just assumed it had been deleted.
After a few minutes of failure he finally remembered his password and checked the inbox. There was one new message.
To: firebird_dranzer@hotmail.com
From: kon_kun@hotmail.com
~Hiya!
No names. Wanna hook up on a chat? BTW I'm not Rei (nn*ww~ please tell me you know what that means) if don't then I'm Kai no Koneko. I hope you haven't forgotten me yet! I can make sure your computer isn't bugged by having the Chief take a look at it from here (with Dizzy).
I'll be in the cat-lover's chat on yahoo.jp at 9:16 pm tonight. To let me know it's you, spell my name backwards from the last letter of my last name to the first letter of my first name.
~Sincerely
Your caring, loving, worried, depressed, anxious friend, but most of all
Love Koneko N.O.K.I.E.R.
~P.S. I'm not letting you go that easily, no matter what you say. I'm too stubborn to do that.
Kai stared at the screen for a few seconds. He didn't understand what half of it meant, but he knew if he sorted through the clues he would recognise it.
'What the hell does nn*ww mean?' he thought to himself. 'Koneko... I've never heard of a girl called Koneko... so that must mean that they mean the name literally... my... kitten... and they know Kenny.' That clue had been the easiest to figure out. 'Friend... I only have the Bladebreakers as friends... wait a second... all those references to cats...'
"NOKIER." He spelled to himself aloud. "R-E-I-K-O-N. Rei's the one who sent this." He finally understood all the hidden meanings to everything. "Nn*ww must mean nudge, nudge, wink, wink." He smiled slightly, realizing that he himself didn't understand half of it so there could be no way for his spying grandfather to know who it was. Rei was smarter than he gave him credit. He checked his watch and saw that it was 9:18 pm and Rei was supposedly in this chat room waiting for him.
He searched around for a while until he spotted the cat-lover's chat room and was stuck for a name to hide himself under. Sighing in frustration, he typed the only thing that came to him and entered the room.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin Has entered chat
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: um... NOKIER.
Neko-jin: Kai? Is that you?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: I like your screen name. lol
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: well it is a cat-lover's chat.
Neko-jin: cat-lover's not cat-people... LMAO
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I really don't see what's so funny
Neko-jin: gomen. I was having a moment.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: I'm surprised you came... I thought you said you didn't want to be involved with me anymore
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: is that all you say?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: ...
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: what do you want me to say?
Neko-jin: I dunno, hi Rei, nice to see you, how's the weather?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: what did you want to talk about?
Neko-jin: oh, nothing. I just wanted to talk in general.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Oh, ok.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I saw your last match
Neko-jin: You did?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: yeah, you were very good. I see you listened to my advice.
Neko-jin: yeah, you were right. I needed to keep my personal life out of the Beystadium
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hai.
Neko-jin: So did you understand my email alright?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hai... demo, it was very confusing.
Neko-jin: good, that's the way I wanted it. Oh, and Chief already scanned your computer and all bugging devices are 'out of commission' or that's what he says.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Arigato
Neko-jin: No problem
Neko-jin: Why did you want to stop talking to me?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Did you not read my letter?
Neko-jin: yeah, but I want to hear it from you.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I wanted to protect you
Neko-jin: well I figured that.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: then why did you ask?
Neko-jin: I didn't mean that sarcastically.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: oh.
Neko-jin: I need to see you.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: why?
Neko-jin: Because I miss you... we all miss you. Couldn't you set up a camera or something?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: It wouldn't be the same if I couldn't see you, too.
Neko-jin: why wouldn't you be able to see me?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: because if my grandfather decided to check up on me and sees that I'm disobeying orders and chatting with you, watashi no Koneko, I'd be in a lot of trouble...
Neko-jin: Oh, I see. Is he there right now?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: no, why?
Neko-jin: it's nothing, just...
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: the nickname?
Neko-jin: yeah
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: you were the one who came up with it.
Neko-jin: I know, it's just...
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: you don't like it?
Neko-jin: I do. When you say it.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Oh. Kai begins to blush
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: what were we talking about before?
Neko-jin: I don't know, I'm too lazy to check.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: oh, ok.
Neko-jin: do you think we can find a way to meet?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I don't know, but I swear to try to think of everything I can to find a way to meet again. 'I miss the way you hugged me, like it was all that mattered.' Kai thought to himself.
Neko-jin: I think I'm just a little bit tired. It's been a long day
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: ok
Neko-jin: oyasuminasai
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: goodnight, watashi no koneko
Neko-jin: ^__^
Neko-jin Has left chat
***
Rei grinned sleepily as he signed out. He hadn't thought Kai would really show up in the chat room, but he had and they had talked for well over an hour and a half. He turned off the computer and walked silently to the Bladebreakers's bedroom. Sliding into bed, he was out seconds after his head hit the pillow. But not before thinking one last thought.
"Kai no Koneko." He murmured to himself. "I'm really his." He grinned happily and fell fast asleep.
~Finis
I never thought I could make an ending work... not with what I had written in my notebook:
"Rei falls asleep thinking about being Koneko." It's kinda hard to end it like that. I guess I pulled it off... hopefully.
I also had to go back over this and fix some things because (stupidly enough) I didn't get the whole meaning of Koneko properly (assumptions aren't very good things) and I had to find a way to get the right meaning across and keep it in-character.
HONOURARY MENTION!! To Kai Hiwatari who (easily) got the meaning of Koneko (even when I didn't, I thought it was MY kitty... this person made me double check my dictionary and fix the story) but no one guessed the meaning of NOKIER.
I can't help but mention Sedi whose guess was the funniest I have ever heard!
And thank you to Rei, Oliver, and Kai r da bomb who was the first one to read this chapie! Thanks a lot for the feedback. I never realised that NOKIER was so hard to figure out... oh well.
Coming up Chapter 6: Back-Fired
Chapter 5: Koneko NOKIER
***
The next morning, Rei woke up feeling a bit better than he had when he drifted off the night before. His wounds were healing properly and a number of bruises had disappeared. He showered and dressed mechanically, allowing his attention to be absorbed by his thoughts and didn't notice when his team mates walked in the door.
"Hey, Rei. You're up late." Takao greeted him cheerfully. "We're going to head downstairs to get breakfast. Want to come?"
"No thanks, Takao." Rei answered dully. "I'm not hungry."
"Ok then." The boys left just as quickly as they came and once again Rei was alone. He felt his knees give out beneath him and half expected to meet the ground with a sharp thud, but instead landed on the soft white sheets of the nearest bed. He would have been fine if it had been any other bed, but he had landed on the one bed he didn't want to. Kai's.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, he burst into tears. All the stress was beginning to weigh down heavily on his shoulders and both physical and emotional pain seemed like one. He couldn't keep up his façade without having someone to lean back on, and Kai couldn't be that person at the moment, not without personal risk. He knew he couldn't reveal anything to the other guys because everything revolved around the one thing Kai made him promise to keep secret. The only way he could let it all out was to let his emotions take over when the opportunity presented itself. So he lay on the bed until his sobs subsided and he felt he was calm enough to handle everything that was thrown his way.
He walked solemnly to the bathroom and rinsed the dry tears from his cheeks. Just as he was finishing drying off his face with a towel, Mr. Dickenson came in.
"Hello there Rei." He smiled, not aware of what just happened. "I hear that you were very upset at seeing Kai in that match yesterday."
"Yeah." Rei nodded and tossed the towel around his neck. "The funny thing is that I'd have never noticed how painful Kai's injuries were if we hadn't had those talks. If I hadn't known he had been beaten I'd have thought he was having an off day or got hurt by something simple. The make-up was still there, and he acted as if he was perfectly okay. I never noticed how fake it all really was until now." Mr. Dickenson nodded gravely.
"I believe that Kai was such a good actor that he even fooled himself most of the time. He believed that it was normal and so he acted that way."
"I never thought of it that way." Rei admitted.
"Well, enough of depressing matters, I have something for you." Mr. Dickenson brightened up and held out an envelope for Rei. "This came for you this morning."
"Thank you." Rei took the letter and waited till Mr. Dickenson was out of the room before opening it. When he ripped it open he was mildly surprised to recognise Kai's handwriting.
~Rei
I left this at the front desk of your hotel to make sure you got it as soon as you woke up. I'm going to be blunt about this. Stay away from me. If you don't then it won't just be me who gets hurt. I know that you are aware of the fact that my grandfather was behind your attack, and if you want to live until the finals I'd advise you to heed this letter. Since I will now be watched constantly, I probably won't ever see you again. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I appreciate what you did for me over the past few days, but now you need to let me handle everything. There's no place for you in this. It's only between me and the Abbey. Good-bye. ~Kai
Rei was shocked. He realized that even though it sounded like Kai was going to be able to handle everything from that point on, Rei couldn't help but brood over Kai's words. 'I probably won't ever see you again. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine... Good-bye.' It made it seem like Kai was saying goodbye forever... like he'd never see anyone after this. It only made Rei worry more. Kai had made an excuse for his possible disappearance.
"But there's nothing I can do about it." He whispered to himself. Rei now wanted nothing more than to be alone to think, but as it would appear nothing was going his way that day. Takao, Max and Kenny burst into the hotel room.
"Hey Rei!" Max cried cheerfully. "We were looking for you!"
"Yeah." Exclaimed Takao. "We waited downstairs for you to come out, but you didn't show. I know you said you weren't hungry but you didn't even leave the room. Mr. Dickenson told us you were still here so we came up to get you."
"We have to leave for the tournament." Kenny added, explaining why they were looking for him. Max finally noticed the letter in Rei's hands.
"Who's the letter from?" he asked, curiously, drawing attention to the paper.
"It's nothing special." Rei shrugged the question off. "Mr. Dickenson just gave it to me. I'm ready to go now."
He grabbed Drigger from his nightstand and followed the rest of the team downstairs to an awaiting car.
***
Since Rei had thoroughly improved since the last round, the Bladebreakers opted to save him as a wild card. They hoped the other team would think of him as the weak link and believe that beating him would be an easy win.
When Rei's turn came up, he mentally prepared himself for his match. He wanted to win this battle for Kai, even though he knew Kai wasn't there to see. He might still be weak physically, but he wasn't going to let that stop him.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One! Let it RIP!"
Rei pulled hard and fast on his ripcord and watched as Drigger flew into the dish with amazing speed.
"Go Drigger!" Rei cried as soon as his blade hit the dish. His opponent started to laugh.
"I bet I could beat you with my hands tied and my eyes closed." He sneered, underestimating Rei's power. Rei ignored the comment and focused solely on the dish.
"Let's show this guy what we're made of, Drigger!" Rei yelled to his bit- beast and smiled when his blade glowed in response. Drigger emerged from the blade, larger than ever and radiating with light. The tiger's ferocious growl sent shivers down everyone's spine as it reared in the air. Drigger turned his massive head to look at the puny blade that was threatening it and dove straight for it. With one last roar, he smashed head-on with both the blade and the dish, scattering debris everywhere. The arena was hidden by a large cloud of smoke. When the announcer could finally see the result he was stunned. The dish had been totalled and only one person in the battle was left standing, literally. Drigger's blast had knocked both his opponent and his opponent's blade several feet back and Rei didn't even seem to notice the explosion. His blade was still spinning, as fast as ever, in the very center of it all.
***
In the stands, Kai rose and smiled to himself. He had to admit that Rei had put on quite a spectacular display. He had seen the determination flaring up in his eyes when he walked up to the dish. Although he didn't want to admit it, Kai felt both proud of his friend's accomplishment, and ashamed that Rei was able to stay strong even after he had just been released from the hospital. 'Even Rei was stronger than you.' He said to himself, disgusted. He turned from the stadium when the winner was announced and walked away, limping only slightly.
***
When he returned to the abbey he noticed that his computer was turned on and was flashing a message. He had honestly never noticed it was there until it began to flash. Kenny was usually the one who dealt with computers. He sat down at the computer and realized what the problem was. Supposedly he had mail. He couldn't remember the last time he had used his e-mail. He had just assumed it had been deleted.
After a few minutes of failure he finally remembered his password and checked the inbox. There was one new message.
To: firebird_dranzer@hotmail.com
From: kon_kun@hotmail.com
~Hiya!
No names. Wanna hook up on a chat? BTW I'm not Rei (nn*ww~ please tell me you know what that means) if don't then I'm Kai no Koneko. I hope you haven't forgotten me yet! I can make sure your computer isn't bugged by having the Chief take a look at it from here (with Dizzy).
I'll be in the cat-lover's chat on yahoo.jp at 9:16 pm tonight. To let me know it's you, spell my name backwards from the last letter of my last name to the first letter of my first name.
~Sincerely
Your caring, loving, worried, depressed, anxious friend, but most of all
Love Koneko N.O.K.I.E.R.
~P.S. I'm not letting you go that easily, no matter what you say. I'm too stubborn to do that.
Kai stared at the screen for a few seconds. He didn't understand what half of it meant, but he knew if he sorted through the clues he would recognise it.
'What the hell does nn*ww mean?' he thought to himself. 'Koneko... I've never heard of a girl called Koneko... so that must mean that they mean the name literally... my... kitten... and they know Kenny.' That clue had been the easiest to figure out. 'Friend... I only have the Bladebreakers as friends... wait a second... all those references to cats...'
"NOKIER." He spelled to himself aloud. "R-E-I-K-O-N. Rei's the one who sent this." He finally understood all the hidden meanings to everything. "Nn*ww must mean nudge, nudge, wink, wink." He smiled slightly, realizing that he himself didn't understand half of it so there could be no way for his spying grandfather to know who it was. Rei was smarter than he gave him credit. He checked his watch and saw that it was 9:18 pm and Rei was supposedly in this chat room waiting for him.
He searched around for a while until he spotted the cat-lover's chat room and was stuck for a name to hide himself under. Sighing in frustration, he typed the only thing that came to him and entered the room.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin Has entered chat
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: um... NOKIER.
Neko-jin: Kai? Is that you?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: I like your screen name. lol
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: well it is a cat-lover's chat.
Neko-jin: cat-lover's not cat-people... LMAO
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I really don't see what's so funny
Neko-jin: gomen. I was having a moment.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: I'm surprised you came... I thought you said you didn't want to be involved with me anymore
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: is that all you say?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hn
Neko-jin: ...
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: what do you want me to say?
Neko-jin: I dunno, hi Rei, nice to see you, how's the weather?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: what did you want to talk about?
Neko-jin: oh, nothing. I just wanted to talk in general.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Oh, ok.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I saw your last match
Neko-jin: You did?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: yeah, you were very good. I see you listened to my advice.
Neko-jin: yeah, you were right. I needed to keep my personal life out of the Beystadium
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hai.
Neko-jin: So did you understand my email alright?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Hai... demo, it was very confusing.
Neko-jin: good, that's the way I wanted it. Oh, and Chief already scanned your computer and all bugging devices are 'out of commission' or that's what he says.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Arigato
Neko-jin: No problem
Neko-jin: Why did you want to stop talking to me?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Did you not read my letter?
Neko-jin: yeah, but I want to hear it from you.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I wanted to protect you
Neko-jin: well I figured that.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: then why did you ask?
Neko-jin: I didn't mean that sarcastically.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: oh.
Neko-jin: I need to see you.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: why?
Neko-jin: Because I miss you... we all miss you. Couldn't you set up a camera or something?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: It wouldn't be the same if I couldn't see you, too.
Neko-jin: why wouldn't you be able to see me?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: because if my grandfather decided to check up on me and sees that I'm disobeying orders and chatting with you, watashi no Koneko, I'd be in a lot of trouble...
Neko-jin: Oh, I see. Is he there right now?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: no, why?
Neko-jin: it's nothing, just...
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: the nickname?
Neko-jin: yeah
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: you were the one who came up with it.
Neko-jin: I know, it's just...
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: you don't like it?
Neko-jin: I do. When you say it.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: Oh. Kai begins to blush
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: what were we talking about before?
Neko-jin: I don't know, I'm too lazy to check.
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: oh, ok.
Neko-jin: do you think we can find a way to meet?
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: I don't know, but I swear to try to think of everything I can to find a way to meet again. 'I miss the way you hugged me, like it was all that mattered.' Kai thought to himself.
Neko-jin: I think I'm just a little bit tired. It's been a long day
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: ok
Neko-jin: oyasuminasai
Koishiteru, Neko-jin: goodnight, watashi no koneko
Neko-jin: ^__^
Neko-jin Has left chat
***
Rei grinned sleepily as he signed out. He hadn't thought Kai would really show up in the chat room, but he had and they had talked for well over an hour and a half. He turned off the computer and walked silently to the Bladebreakers's bedroom. Sliding into bed, he was out seconds after his head hit the pillow. But not before thinking one last thought.
"Kai no Koneko." He murmured to himself. "I'm really his." He grinned happily and fell fast asleep.
~Finis
I never thought I could make an ending work... not with what I had written in my notebook:
"Rei falls asleep thinking about being Koneko." It's kinda hard to end it like that. I guess I pulled it off... hopefully.
I also had to go back over this and fix some things because (stupidly enough) I didn't get the whole meaning of Koneko properly (assumptions aren't very good things) and I had to find a way to get the right meaning across and keep it in-character.
HONOURARY MENTION!! To Kai Hiwatari who (easily) got the meaning of Koneko (even when I didn't, I thought it was MY kitty... this person made me double check my dictionary and fix the story) but no one guessed the meaning of NOKIER.
I can't help but mention Sedi whose guess was the funniest I have ever heard!
And thank you to Rei, Oliver, and Kai r da bomb who was the first one to read this chapie! Thanks a lot for the feedback. I never realised that NOKIER was so hard to figure out... oh well.
Coming up Chapter 6: Back-Fired