End of the Affair: Part 7-Tension Building
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rei woke to the silence. It was pressing in on him from all sides, forcing him into a tight space, leaving him struggling for breathe. He hated silence, he's always hated silence. To him, silence meant only one thing. That he was alone.

Creeping across the carpet, hating the silence, but reluctant to break it, he made his way to the doorframe. Peeping out into the allway, he found it dark and deserted. He moved out, into the corridor, peering along the expanse of it. Not a soul in sight, not even Kai's cats, Claws and Fang. Rei shivered invoulintarily, the eerie silence making him ill at ease. Kai knew he didn't like to be left alone. So why had he done this to him?

He shifted uncertainley, making the floorboards groan with protest. Pausing a moment, he grew even more uneasy, as the silence echoed in his ears painfully. He closed his eyes tight and tried to stop the sick feeling that was creeping up his spine, trying to stop his stomach from tying itself in nervous knots. He flattened his ears against his head as the weight of the silence tested him.

They pricked again and he sighed in relief when his heightened hearing caught the faint sound of someone's light breathing. He was about to turn around and greet his saviour, when two strong arms wrapped around his waist tightly, squeezing him in an almost painful embrace. The sick feeling increased. Something warm and damp ran up the curve of his ear. Rei squirmed in a futile attempt to escape. A hand caressed his neck. He screamed as a tongue flitted into his ear, the unwanted attention too much for him after the heavy silence. A hand clamped over his mouth. A sickeningly familiar voice whispered into his ear. "Nobody can hear you scream, neko-jin."

~*~*~*~*~*

Kai walked briskly down the sidewalk, ignoring the icy wind that brushed against his skin unrelentingly. Voltare had apparently done a more than satisfactory job in pissing Kai off.

Why? Why? Why did the elder man care what the hell he did with his life?! What did it matter to him- he'd be dead in a few years anyways. Kai didn't think his day could get much worse. How very wrong he was.

For at that precise moment, Max and Tyson came bounding out of a nearby cafe. Max almost immediately spotted the former team captain stalking among the mobs of pedestrians. He wasn't hard to miss, not with the trademark markings on his face and the unruly mess of blue hair. Grabbing Tyson's wrist, the blond dragged the other boy towards Kai, yelling at the top of his lungs, "HEY KAI!"

Kai suddenly had the urge to bash his head into a wall. He had no desire to converse with the bubbly blond nor the ever-annoying Tyson. Grinding his teeth, he turned back to greet them and curled his lip with disgust. Tyson was munching on a jelly doughnut, crumbs and jelly spattered all over his face. "Hey, Kai! 'sup?"

Kai would have face faulted if he could. Instead, he merely rollled his eyes and replied, "The sky is very up today, Tyson."

"Haha," the younger boy replied, while Max burst out into a fit of giggles.

Kai growled. "What do you want?"

Tyson grinned. "Actually, if you could loan me your wallet, it would prove extremely beneficial on my part!"

Kai snorted. "As if."

A terse silence followed. Assuming the conversation was over, Kai turned to walk away. Max suddenly grabbed his hand. "Hey, why don't you come back to our place for a little while? It'd be nice to catch up."

Tyson muttered something, but nonetheless, turned to Kai with his ever-present grin. "It'd be rude to say no."

Kai grudgingly agreed and quite soon, he found himself being served hot chocolate in Max and Tyson's cramped living room.

~*~*~*~*~*

The sky was fading to black, and still, she sat beside the window, watching the shady figures of the skaters on the frozen pond. She watched as the street lamps turned on, lighting the early December twilight. The night began to deepen, and still she watched.

She watched the lonely figures of the land that lay in shadows, reflecting it's sorrow in her own heart, pained by the knowledge that she was frozen, like the winter winds froze the flowing waters of the riveres and streams. Here, she would spend the night, locked in with her demons- with their stinging words resounding in her ears.

She wondered if they were truly right about her icy soul. Was she really frozen from the rest of the world? Was that why she was hurting so much? She reminded herself that she wasn't the only one hurting- there were others curled up on their beds, alone in the lonely winter night.

The dark deepened, sending shadows playing across her face. Had he meant what he'd said? He'd said he'd loved her. Did he mean it? Was it true? She couldn't handle it- she'd ran away. And Micheal loved her. Kai had said that he'd loved her once and she'd believed him. She had been blind and foolish, just like the little girl she really was inside. And Micheal loved her. She was alone. And Micheal loved her. Tears burnt at the corners of her eyes. Why did this have to be so confusing? She missed Kai. And Micheal loved her.

Removing her glasses, she began to polish them absently on the material of her shirt. Where would she find the strength to go on? She was confused- cast out into the world suddenly, alone and painfully naive. Her glasses fell from her trembling hand as she buried her face in her hands, sobbing pitifully. Couldn't anyone save her from this frightful night?

~*~*~*~*~*

It was long past dusk when Kai arrived home, slipping silently into the dark front hall. The air inside was chilly and he slammed the door shut to avoid letting the icy wind blow through the corridors of his home. Taking his shoes off slowly, he realized something was amiss. There was no sound in the house, not even the pitter-patter of the cats' claws against the dining room floor.

Straightening up, he listened hard, but it was futile. The house re-bounded with silence and nothing but it. Moving into the sitting room, he shivered, wondering why nightmarish anxiety was beginning to churn his stomach. Normally, he enjoyed the dark, the silence and solitude. Tonight, it set him at unease, making him worry. Where was everyone? The maids? His grandfather? More importantly, where was Rei? "Hello?" he called softly, breaking the silence.

No one answered. He frowned and went upstairs, sliding amongst the shadows as if he were one of their own. He moved down the upper passage way, noting all of the firmly shut doors on either side of the corridor and the lack of light being shed across the walls- not even a glint of moonbeams.

He passed by the guest room that Rei had been loaned, noting that the door had been left wide open. Moonlight filtered through it, reavealing that there was not an pccupant in the room. Kai broke out in a nervous sweat. Where was Rei?

It wasn't like the neko-jin to go wandering- he preferred to stay put when not in other's company. He felt sick suddenly, the kind of sick nervousness that came about when intuition made you expect the worse. Where in seven hells was Rei?

He moved deftly down the hall, descending back downstairs. Maybe Rei was in the kitchen. Yes, that was surely where he was. But in his gut, Kai knew that he wouldn't find Rei there.

Kai skirted the kitchen, not wanting his last hope to be extinguished right then. He breathed a shaky sigh, slumping against one of the windowless hallway walls, trembling slightly. Something horrible had happened to Rei. He knew it now.

Still, where would he find the neko-jin? How would he find the neko-jin? Dead? He shut his eyes tight, trying to block out the sick mental images that his imagination produced- a product of too many gory movies and too many violent beatings. He clamped a hand over his mouth and tried to get his breathing under control. The contents of his stomach churned chaotically as the organ itself tied itself in knots frantically. The sudden rush of adrenaline into his system added to the feeling, making his limbs tremble with the increased blood flow.

Finally gaining control of himself, he got back to his feet and moved idly down the hall, wishing to prolong this as long as he could. He really didn't want to find Rei, not when he knew he was bound to be faced with a gruesome scene.

Unfortunately for him, the game ended itself down this hallway. One of the doors on his left was slightly ajar, pale moonlight playing in the hall way. Kai shut his eyes again. He couldn't stand this. He'd have to look, he'd have to make sure Rei was okay....He shoved the door open all the way and unscrewed his eyes. He nearly retched.

The room, illuminated in the rum glow of the moon, had been turned upside down. Furniture had been thrown, broken and knocked askew all over the place. One of the lamps lay smashed by the chest-of-drawers. In the middle of the ruckus was the bed, seemingly unharmed. The carpet all around was covered in blood and vomit. Kai tried very hard not breathe in the pugent smell eminating from the abode- the heavy stench of blood and sick mingling on the air with the scent of sex. Kai wanted to look away, but he couldn't. He had to know if....His thoughts immediatley fell off a cliff in his mind as he took in the last, but most important detail of of the room. Rei.

The raven-haired boy was sprawled naked on the floor, bloodied, bruised and broken. His wrists were bound together, and then to the bed posts. He was breathing, laboriously. The only thing Kai thought was 'Thank God, he's alive.'

Picking his way across the ruined carpet, he moved to Rei's side, kneeling down, studying Rei's face intensley. Both cheeks were red and swollen, the victim of a rain of vicious slaps. Crusted cuts interrupted what had once been pure beauty, now corrupted by the blood. Black and blue were already bringing color to a pale and peaked face. Kai bit back tears. "Rei, oh God, Rei-chan..."

He gathered the boy in his arms, so relieved when Rei started to squirm. The neko-jin's voice, hoarse and broken from hours of screaming, whispered faintly as he tried desperately to push Kai away. "No, God, no more, God, please, I don't want to- please, please, God, no more, no more-"

Kai's heart shattered into a million pieces as Rei pushed feebly at him, trying to push him away. "Rei, it's me, Kai-"

The boy's cheeks were wetted with hysterical tears. Kai gently placed his finger and thumb to Rei's cheek, wiping the tears away, only to have Rei pull out of his grip. "No-"

Kai blinked tears away. Whipping out his pocket knife, he cut Rei's bonds, letting the severed ropes fall away from slitted wrists. Ignoring the boy's fevered protest, Kai stood up, cradling Rei in his arms.

~*~*~*~*~*

The fire in the fireplace had burned low, the ashes glowing brightly as the night deepened, trying to claw his way inside the house, pressing desperately against the icy panes of the window. Seperating him from the occupants of the house was the thick layer of curtains, keeping the warmth alight in the silent room.

Curled up on the couch, sprawled across each other, deep in a contented slumber, were the White Tigers. Sharing the warmth of only one blanket and each other, it was a re-enactment of their younger days- the days before corruption and heartbreak had claimed them. Only, this time, as the clock struck midnight, someone was missing.

~*~*~*~*~*

As the clock struck midnight elsewhere, the missing someone was laid against a soft feather bed, the plush mattress embracing his broken body. He slipped between conciousness and sleep, but when the warm cloth was laid to his cuts, his eyes snapped open and he pulled away.
Kai frowned as Rei recoiled. Pausing to drown the cloth in soapy, hot water, he tried again to cleanse Rei's cuts. The neko-jin hissed feebly, but Kai held him fast and wiped away the caked blood, ignoring the whimpers eminating from the other boy as the cloth sting him. "Rei, shh. It's me. Kai."

Rei seemed to focus on him for the first time that night. "Kai?"

Kai smiled, gently, tearfully. "Shh, Rei. I'm right here."

He stroked the neko-jin's tear-stained cheek softly. Rei grabbed his wrist tightly. Tears overflowed his eyes. He nuzzled Kai's wrist, breaking down fully. "God, Kai, don't do that. Don't do that to me ever again."

"Do what?"

"Don't you ever leave me alone, ever!" he sobbed, wetting Kai's wrist with his tears.
"Don't leave me, Kai. Don't. He'll hurt me again. Don't leave me, Kai..."

Rei collapsed, sobbing into Kai's arms. "Don't....I don't want to be alone- not ever...don't leave me Kai...please..."

"Shh," Kai whispered, noting that the boy was pale and cold.

"You need to lie down Rei."

Rei shook his head, trembling violently in Kai's arms. "No. No, I won't let you go!"

He dug his hands into the fabric of Kai's shirt. "Rei, you need to lie down. You're getting white."

Rei buried his face in Kai's shirt, sobbing pitifully. "I won't let you go, Kai...."

"You need to calm down Rei-chan. You're going to faint. Shh, shh, it's alright."

Gently, he forced the other boy down onto the mattress. "Lie still," he murmured, then got up and wandered off to find Rei some bandages and something to wear.

He returned with an over-sized T-shirt and a pile of white linen wraps. He pulled Rei up into a sitting postion, forcing the t-shirt over the other boy's tundreled head. "There," he murmured, then picked up the bandages and began wrapping up one of Rei's legs.

Rei winced as Kai pulled the material tight around his broken skin. "Kai?" the younger boy asked shakily.

"Mmm?"

The bluenette looked up at Rei. "Promise....that..you...that you won't leave me?"

Kai tied off the wrapping, then moved up and kissed Rei tenderly on his bruised lips. "Of course I won't leave. I promise."