Hey guys, me here with yet another update. Um, really sorry if Kai seems out of character to you guys, but maybe things in here will help you understand him more.
Anyways, hope you enjoy this latest chapter. Laters.
Bedtime Stories
Kai closed the other bedroom softly, having just carried the other three members of the team to bed. Then he walked back to his room where Rei lay on the bed, bandaged up and staring out the window with a hollow gaze.
Kai sighed at the emptiness and pain he felt radiating from the tortured boy. He sat down beside him and looked away, pained, when Rei flinched slightly.
"Do you want me to tell you a story Rei?" Kai asked softly.
Rei's dull gaze flickered towards him, then back to the window. Kai took this as assent to continue.
"There was a little boy, about four years old, sent away from his family to a place where he could become better. He was so excited at first, he didn't mind too much that he would be leaving his family, because he knew he'd see them again someday. This boy was always curious, like you, about many things and didn't like living in the past, trapped by regret. He was always taking risks and following his heart.
"Being so young though, he didn't understand why his parents cried so much when they took him away. He gave them both one last hug and a smile then left on a new adventure.
"However, upon reaching this place, he realised what a horrible situation he was now in. He struggled to get away at first, but he was always caught and bought back. There were no other children around that he saw, just old, mean men dressed in black and grey with white coats. It was so cold and terrible there, there was no light and no hope.
"Then one night, they came for him and took him to a small dark room and chained his hands and feet to the walls, so he couldn't move when they came towards him and removed his clothes."
Kai paused here and looked away, taking a deep breath to continue.
"The pain and humiliation was intense for the little boy and he cried for an eternity it seemed afterwards. He didn't understand why they hurt him like that, or why he felt so shamed by it all. But he kept living, he continued on, because he was strong and he never let anything keep him down for long. Not even when they did this over and over again to him.
"About three years after he arrived there, a few more boys were taken in, a dozen or so. The little boy was so excited, he'd never seen any one else his age for so long. There was another boy who was in his room and went everywhere with him, to all of his training and classes. The two of them became really close, as close as brothers.
"Then one night, the other boy was taken away by guards. The scene was so familiar to the first boy, but he never thought it would happen to anyone else. He fought and screamed and tried to help his friend get away, but one of the guards came up behind him and knocked him out. When he came to, his friend was sitting hunched up on his bed sobbing and rocking back and forth. He was too late to do anything for his friend.
"That's when things started to change. The other boy became cold and distant, he would never talk to anyone, not even his best friend. He would train harder than anyone else and work harder to become the best. He grew to resent his friend because he was already the best at everything and barely had to try. But the thing is, his friend didn't want to be the best, he didn't want to conform to the wishes of the people at this place. He just wanted a normal happy life with friends and family.
"One night they came back for the boy's friend. Again he tried to fight them and was knocked out.
"This time when he came to there were different sounds, not sobbing. Before his eyes opened completely he heard the sounds of a chair scraping along the floor and being knocked over then choking sounds. He opened his eyes to the most horrific sight he had ever seen.
"On the bed lay a bloody shard of glass from the thin broken window high above them, the bed-sheets were covered in blood and torn to pieces. At the foot of the bed was an overturned chair with patches of blood still dripping down on it from the limp slit wrists of the young boy hanging from the beams of the ceiling by torn pieces of the bloody bed-sheets."
Kai looked away again, not realising that Rei's golden eyes were fixed on him, completely captured by the horrific story. A single tear made its way down Kai's cheek.
"He tried to get the boy down. He jumped up onto the bed and tried to hold him up, but it wasn't working. So he grabbed the glass and tried to cut through the sheets, unheeding of the fact that he was cutting himself deeply in the process, his own blood mingling with his friend's to trickle down his arm and onto the bed. He only got a little way through before guards came bursting through the doors and grabbed him and pulled him away and out into the corridor. He sobbed and cried out his friend's name, but the guards took no notice. They shoved him in another room and locked the door. He kept crying out, but no one heard.
"For days they kept him locked there, with nothing. He never found out about his friend and after a while he started to forget and could only concentrate on surviving. Although, when delirium overtook him, all he could see were horrific images of blood and bed-sheets.
"When they finally let him out, he was too weak to protest when they took him to that same torture room he'd been in many times before. However, it was only that time that he actually took notice of what they had been doing to him all those years and he grew cold.
"The next few months passed in darkness for the boy. His mind never left his friend and he started to concentrate more on the lessons and training they were teaching him. Not for him to use with them, but against them. He became obsessed with strength and vengeance until the day finally came when he used their own weapon against them and escaped without a trace. After that, he became cold again and completely obsessed with power and winning at all costs. He lost his humanity and his friend over something that could have been dealt with if they had both tried."
Kai looked over at Rei and saw grief and horror in they tiger's eyes. "I don't want to lose you to that also Rei. I've lost too much already. I will try as hard as I can to keep you here, but I can't do it alone, you have to want to be here with me." Kai got up and walked into the bathroom to wash his face and the tears he had shed throughout the telling.
Rei sat up, thinking about the story. It had become increasingly obvious to him that Kai had been talking about himself as a child and Rei shuddered as he thought about what had been done to him and all those children. When Kai reentered and sat beside him, Rei took his hands and felt the jagged scars on his palm gently. He looked up into Kai's desperate crimson orbs and tears leaked down his cheeks.
"Help me Kai," Rei sobbed and pulled the older boy into a hug. "Please, I can't do this by myself either."
Kai smiled gently and soothed Rei, stroking the long raven tresses gently as he did so. "Don't worry Rei, I won't let you do this alone." Kai pulled Rei into a tighter hug and let the boy sob.
* * *
"So who was he?"
"The other boy?" Kai sighed and looked over at Rei who was leaning against him contentedly in their bed. "I guess none of you ever wondered why Tala always wore something that covered both his neck and his wrists."
Rei's eyes widened. "Oh. Wow. I never would have guessed."
"No, probably not. We tend to keep out past to ourselves. I never knew he was alive until I saw him at the Abbey after I'd gotten Black Dranzer back. It came as quite a shock to me. I think he remembered me too, because the glare he sent my way would have killed a weaker person." Kai laughed. "Boris thought it was because Tala thought I was replacing him. He assured him that I was only another player under his direction, but that glare didn't waver. Gods, I thought he still hated me."
"Why would he hate you?"
"For leaving, for being so cowardly as to run away yet still stay as strong as I had. He never knew that he was the reason I escaped and tried to become even stronger. Then you all came along and convinced me that I didn't have to be the best to be strong, that strength could be found in many ways. You made me remember who I was and the ideals of that child that I should never have lost." Kai smiled down at Rei. "I never really thanked you for that."
"You didn't have to, we knew it."
Kai changed the topic, feeling a bit uncomfortable talking about himself. "I'm curious about something. Why did you break your mirror? The razor was there and you went to all the trouble to unzip your bag and take it out then break it. Why?"
"Well, I didn't want to break the hotel's mirror, I didn't want you to get in trouble and have to pay for it. And the razor, well Mariah had already used it and I was always taught that you should never reuse a bloody knife for something else unless it's been thoroughly cleaned and sterilised."
Kai couldn't help it, he started laughing. Rei looked over at him in surprise as Kai fell back onto the bed holding his stomach. Rei glared at him. It's not that funny Kai." Rei's indignant response only caused the boy to laugh harder and almost fall off the bed.
"Kai!" Rei reached over to push him off.
Kai fell onto the floor with a loud expulsion of breath. He glared up at Rei from between his legs, which were still up in the air, who was grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Oh you are so going to get it Kon!"
Rei poked his tongue out in a childish manner, causing Kai to smile just before he leapt up onto the bed and pinned Rei to the mattress. Rei squirmed, trying to get out of Kai's grip then growled as he realised he was stuck under the boy.
"That's not fair."
"I know." Kai grinned down at him and tried to move his hand, accidentally pressing down too hard on Rei's shoulder.
Rei cried out and Kai released him and sat him up.
"Gods Rei, I'm sorry, I forgot about your injuries for a second."
Rei smiled as he winced and shook the apology away. "No problem. It's as much my fault as it is yours."
Kai still looked worried. "Still, I should have been more careful and more responsible. I am your captain, I should know better."
"Why do you have to be so serious all the time Kai?"
Kai looked at Rei, who was staring at him in curiosity. Kai looked down. "I don't want anyone to get hurt on my behalf or because of some stupid mistake I made. That's why I didn't want to be on this team, I didn't want any of you to suffer if I did something wrong."
"Is that why you kept training us, making us try and become better, so that eventually we could do things on our own?" Rei smiled. "Jeez you really are like a mother hen Kai."
Kai glared at him. "Don't even joke Kon."
"That's another thing I don't get. Why do you always call me by my last name when you're annoyed. You don't do it with the others."
"You rarely piss me off. When you do, you usually hit a nerve. You're the only one who pries directly into my life Rei. I tend to get rather defensive when people do that."
"You should have to. Kai, if you opened up a little you'd realise that not everyone is out to hurt you."
"But how do you tell who is and who isn't?" Kai whispered this and looked away. "You can never really tell who's out to do you harm."
"You can tell in your heart."
"What if your heart lies?" Kai looked back at Rei. "Isn't that what got you in this mess in the first place?"
Rei froze in the act of putting a hand on Kai's shoulder then turned sharply away. Kai's eyes widened as he realised what he just said.
"Rei, I'm sorry."
"You're right though. My idealistic views don't belong in the real world."
"No Rei." Kai put his hand on Rei's shoulder and pulled the tiger back to lean on his chest. "You're idealism is what the real world needs. People like me need people like you so we can believe that there is actually hope for this forsaken world."
Rei sighed and relaxed slightly, allowing himself to rest on Kai, the older blader's arms capturing him in a loose hold. "But my idealism didn't help me tonight."
"No, but it can help you tomorrow when you want to get through your problems. Not everything in this world is as perfect and harmonious as you would like to believe Rei, but it isn't as harsh and depraved as I like to think either."
"So then what is it?"
"A shade of grey. Lots of shades of grey actually. But there are patches of pure white, like you believe."
"And there are patches of darkest black as you think too."
"As much as I do actually hate to admit it, yes. I grew up in one." Kai tightened his grip on Rei. "I guess that's why I need someone like you around to prove that there is good in the world Rei."
"Thank you Kai." Rei smiled.
"Now that I've said all of that, you will never tell any one that I did so." Rei laughed at Kai. "I'm serious Rei."
"I know. I won't ruin your reputation as a big macho, cold hearted bastard."
"Thank you." Kai sighed in relief, then he frowned. "I think."
Rei laughed again. "No, thank you Kai, for helping me."
"My pleasure." Kai gave him another quick squeeze then released him so they could finally go to bed. He looked over at the clock and frowned slightly. "It's very late."
"I know and I've got a big day tomorrow."
Kai whistled sharply in worry. "Are you sure? I could say you're sick ..."
"No Kai, I have to deal with this. Besides, Lee won't let anything happen to me. Mariah's not stupid enough to tray anything with anyone else around." Of course, that's what I thought tonight and look how wrong I was.
Kai felt Rei's shudder as he got completely under the blankets of their bed. Sometimes he's too caring for his own good. "In that case you'd better get some sleep."
"Sure." Kai heard Rei yawn and smiled.
"And you'll make your cold worse by just wearing that to bed." Kai felt Rei snuggled up against his chest.
"That's what you're here for, Kai," Rei informed him sleepily just before he drifted off to sleep.
Kai shook his head gently, so his motions didn't wake the tiger. "You really amaze me Rei." Kai brushed a few loose strands of raven hair from his companion's face before placing his arms around the boy and drifting off to a contented sleep himself.
