Chapter 3: The truth can burn

Max rolled over in his bed, a small smile plastered on his face as he snuggled deeper into the warmth of his sheets, appreciating the simple bliss which came with being warm and comfortable.

CRASH

Max jumped out of bed looking around frantically while Takao just muttered something and went back to sleep.

"Max!" Kenny ran in, fully dressed and with Dizzi under his arm.

"Hey, what's up!" Max smiled, rubbing the last traces of sleep out of his eyes. "Nightmare?"

"Please," Kenny frowned. "This is serious, Kai and Rei have gone!"

"Relax!" Max smiled, optimistic as ever. "They've probably gone to train."

"Yeah, I'd think that too if Kai's stuff hadn't gone as well as the fact Rei left his blade here and they've been gone for hours!"

"Who? What? Where?" Takao jumped out of bed, catching his leg on a snag in one of the sheets and tumbled to the ground.

Max bent down to untangle the navy haired boy from the mess he had clumsily got himself into.

"Rei and Kai have been gone for ages and so has Kai's stuff!" Kenny gave an exasperated sigh.

"Alright! Alright! Let's go find them," Takao stifled a yawn and marched out the hotel room.

"Hey, Takao!" Max called through stifled laughs. "Aren't you gonna get changed first?"

XX

Outside, Rei trod silently through the streets. People were beginning to awaken and with their rising came the noisy chatter, the whizzing sound of cars passing by and the smell of traffic fumes being ejected into the air.

Rei made his way past the crowds that were beginning to emerge. Constantly his mind would tell him he was overreacting; Kai could take care of himself better than anyone else could. He would give in and turn to go back to the hotel when the familiar nagging feeling would crawl back into the edge of his mind. The feeling that something was wrong, something you couldn't quite put your finger on.

"Of all the days he's chosen to be evasive…" Ray muttered. He couldn't help but care for the cold, arrogant boy with crimson eyes; they were friends all of them were friends no matter what Kai thought.

'If Kai knew I was worried about him he would probably scowl at my concern," Rei mused slightly, a mental image of Kai glaring silently crept in. Rei shuddered. If looks could kill Takao would have been dead long ago.

Those cold and calculating crimson orbs hid inner flames but…but those flames were somehow missing something. They seemed more likely to freeze you than burn you; they were cold and emotionless. And then there were those blue triangles…why did he paint them on his face like that? It made Kai seem like a predator, something dangerous.

'Maybe that was the point he was trying to get across all along.'

He continued to wander along the streets, the task of finding their elusive leader temporarily drained from his mind and replaced with questions that he couldn't answer.
He just couldn't understand why Kai acted the way he did, why he treated the others with so much disdain when they only wanted his friendship.

Maybe he would never understand Kai but he'd be dammed if he didn't try.
Shaking his head he resumed in his course to look for the phoenix. Unfortunately, he had wandered too far; he had let his thoughts take him as they roamed across his mind and now he was lost in a country he barely knew. Looking around he tried to retrace his steps until he could find somewhere he recognised.

'Maybe I went through here,' he stared at the small maze of alleyways but did not enter. He remembered making his way through somewhere dark, perhaps that dark place he had so carelessly stumbled through were the alleys.

He stood at the point where the light of the sun met the shadows of the alleyways. The line was just inches from his feet as if daring him to cross them. If Rei believed in omens and symbols he would have thought that that line between light and dark was like a warning telling him to cross at his own risk, to discover the truth at his own peril. But it meant nothing. It was just a line that would vanish once the sun had set.

Taking a deep breath he stepped into the shadows like a brave adventurer taking the first step into uncharted territory.

As he moved through the alleys his sharp hearing pricked at the sound of hushed voices and then a loud clatter of trash cans being kicked. There was no logic to his thinking; it could be anyone yet somehow he knew it was Kai.

Stealthily, Rei crept up to the constantly increasingly loud sound. The sound of a fight. He peeked over and sure enough there was Kai but with an older tougher looking man in a black suit.

Kai threw a punch at the man. There was the sound of a sickening crunch. The man staggered back, nursing his injuries. Rei wasn't sure if he should help Kai or stop the fight.

"I'm not going back," Kai stated firmly.

"Like you have a choice!" The man roared and swung a punch at Kai.

Kai ducked the oncoming attack and sent a roundhouse kick flying towards the man. The man grabbed the intercepting blow and twisted it. Kai fell to the ground with a loud thud.

That was enough for Rei. He had to help his leader; he knew a few moves too. Running onto the scene Rei stood protectively in front of the boy as Kai staggered and swayed to his feet.

"Rei?! Get the hell outta here!" Kai growled but the boy wasn't listening.

The man attacked with a vicious uppercut. Rei dodged back then darted forward, slamming his elbow into the stomach of the man and temporarily winding him.

"Rei!" Kai glared even more threateningly. "I said get outta here."

"Only if you come with me," Rei said defiantly.

"I don't -" Kai was cut short as the man rose and attacked Rei. Kai blocked the blow and threw another punch this time sending the man to the ground.

"Pitiful," Kai spat on the defeated man.

"Keep talking," the man rose again but all the fight seemed to have been knocked out of him. "You know what Voltaire does to traitors. If he can't have you, no one else will," the man staggered away with as much dignity as he could muster.

"What was all that about, Kai?" Rei asked curiously.

"None of your business!" Kai snapped back.

"I'm only concerned. When I found out that you had packed and left I was really worried," Rei winced at Kai's harsh voice.

"Hn," Was all Kai would give him.

"Well, lets get back and get you cleaned up."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not," Rei contradicted him. "You need to get those cuts cleaned or they'll get infected." Rei looked at Kai. Several cuts and bruises were prominent on his features and parts around his arms were severely swollen.

"I'm not going back."

"Fine," Rei sighed; there was just no arguing with some people. "But you gotta promise me that when you return to the hotel you're gonna clean those wounds."

"I'm not going back," Kai repeated. "I resign."

It took a while for the sheer enormity and shock of what Kai had said to fully register in Rei's mind.

"Resign?" Rei half choked half gasped.

"That's what I said."

"But Kai…why?" Rei looked at the boy through concerned eyes.

"Hn," was Kai's only answer as he moved past Rei but Rei moved in front of Kai's way, arms outstretched to bar Kai's path.

"Then at least tell me why, you owe me that much."

Still Rei stood there determinedly waiting patiently for
an answer. Kai tried to move past but every time Rei just stepped in front of him again.

'You should have made a will,' Rei thought, standing up to Kai was the gustiest thing he had ever had to do.

Kai sighed in frustration; finally realising he couldn't get past Rei unless he gave him an answer. It would hurt Rei to hear it but it was the only way to get by and it was the truth. Why did he care anyway? Why did he care about a how anyone else felt? No one had cared for him.

'Burn him,' his cold, malicious mind told him. 'It's the only way you'll be free. Chew him up and spit him out.'

"You want to know?" Kai's cold crimson eyes met Rei's amber ones, crossing his arms he closed his eyes and said three words. "I hate you."

Rei's eyes widened. He felt as if the air had suddenly been cut off from his lungs. Kai had stated the fact in simple truth, in his normal cold uncaring manner but that wasn't what made it sting so much, it was that fact that he had been hit where he never knew it could hurt so much.

He was too shocked to react, letting his arms that were once held defiantly to bar Kai's way drop. They had given up and he was defenceless.

Nevertheless Kai continued attacking him with simple truths, not caring that he hadalready won.

"I hate the team. They're so stupid, so loud and obnoxious. I can't stand it anymore; having to look out for the team, being burdened with responsibilities I never wanted. They're just an extra load to carry and it's a load that's barring my way."

With that Kai walked past Rei, their shoulders brushed alongside each other for a spilt second and then he was gone. Then that crimson eyed, slate haired boy had gone…like he had never existed.

Rei's fists curled into balls. His head was lowered, still standing in his original position with his back to the disappearing Kai.