Hey again. I'm so loving this fic and I'm glad everyone else is too. Trust me, you will like this chapter. It's long too.

WARNING: Underage drinking in this chapter.

Time To Talk … Or Maybe Not

Tyson pouted as Kai snatched the drink from his hands. "Come on Kai, just one? It won't hurt."

"You'll thank me when you're older and realise what a folly it is to drink too much when you're young." Kai put the drink back on the waiter's tray.

"You sound like you know?"

"I do." Kai smirked at Tyson's glare and walked away. Rei, watching the whole exchange from his seat with Lee and Michael, laughed as Tyson tried to sneak another one, only to have Kai snatch that away too.

"He never learns does he?" Michael shook his head.

"Not that I've noticed," Rei commented dryly. He watched as Tyson tried to con Max into getting a drink for him but only succeeded in getting both of them in trouble with Kai. "I'd better go help him."

"Tyson?"

"No, Kai."

Lee smirked as Rei walked away and murmured, loud enough for the retreating boy to hear, "I'm sure that's not the only thing you'll help him out with. Or out of, whichever you prefer."

Michael watched in amusement as Rei's face flamed. "You know, I always suspected about those two."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Michael turned to him with a grin and something flickered in his eyes. "It's something a guy like me would recognise."

"A guy like you?" Could he mean …?

Michael grinned. "Yeah. If I didn't know Rei was interested, I'd go for the blue-haired captain myself. He's rather attractive, don't you think?"

Lee smiled. "I guess, but I tend to prefer guys who are slightly more outgoing and sociable than Kai."

"More sociable than Kai." Michael grinned. "I'm sure that can be arranged quite easily."

"And who would you suggest?" Lee asked innocently, toying with the other boy.

Michael moved closer. "I think you know who I have in mind."

Lee's gaze flickered over to Rei who was laughing as Kai continually confiscated drinks from Tyson and, without the younger boy knowing, took sips of them as Kai passed them to him. "Then he'll have to keep in mind that I just got over something serious."

Michael nodded. "I'm sure he'll understand."

"Good. Then it'll take a lot more than flirting for him to get me." Lee grinned and walked off, leaving a spluttering Michael behind.

Rei watched this with his peripheral vision and grinned. It looks like Lee's found someone to play with. He turned his gaze to Kai, who had managed to worm a promise from Tyson that he wouldn't try and get any more drinks. He grinned. I guess it's time for my fun now.

* * *

Kai sighed as he finally took a seat at one of the tables and glanced around at the huge hall the BBA had rented for this soirée. It was decorated elegantly with various white silver and gold streamers and whatnot. There were dozens of tables for the many guests milling about. Kai hadn't even heard of most of these people, but they were rich and associated with the BBA in some way or another.

It makes me wonder, if both Max's parents are here as well as Tyson's father and grandfather, why the hell aren't they watching them and trying to stop them from getting alcohol poisoning?!!

"Hmm, you look fairly pissed." Kai growled as that familiar silky voice assaulted his ears with its smug amusement.

"Tala, I'm enjoying my rest from babysitting. I don't need you and your comments to bug me for at least five minutes when I know I'll have to get up again to stop Tyson from pouring some strange concoction of poison down his throat."

"Why would you want to?" Tala murmured softly.

Kai laughed. "You're right, I really should let them learn that lesson on their own." Kai turned towards him, but something caught his eye and his breath.

Tala didn't need to look behind him to know what caught Kai's attention. "Yes, Rei does look stunning tonight."

"I wasn't …" Kai flushed slightly.

Tala smirked. "You shouldn't lie you know. You're nose will grow."

Kai glared. "Okay, I was looking, but looking doesn't mean touching. I will not make a move on him."

"Why not? You want to and I'm sure he wants to—"

"He doesn't." Kai cut Tala off with a bitter laugh. "He thinks of me as an older brother."

"Is that why he's been flirting with you all night?" Kai flushed again. "Younger siblings don't do that to their older brothers. Not in any normal family anyway."

Kai just stared at him with that comment. Tala coughed and cleared his throat. "You are one weird fucker you know that Tala."

"I've known for a while. But I'm not the only one who's thinking dirty thoughts tonight." Tala smirked at something behind Kai and the curious boy turned around and gaped.

"Oh my god, did Michael just try to kiss Lee?"

"He's been trying to all night. But the lion seems to like playing with his food."

"Are you sure that Lee intends to let him get anywhere? Last I heard he was still getting over Rei?"

"Really? Where'd you hear this?"

"From Rei."

"Wow. Rei certainly has a fixation with family figures. I wonder if it's because of his lack of a family when he was younger."

Kai looked at his ex-lover with a raised eyebrow. "Tala, could you maybe go one night without the psycho-analysis?"

"Didn't you want me to 'analyse' Rei for you?" Tala smirked and dodged a hand aimed at the back of his head. "Or did you want me to analyse you too? Or maybe both of you?" Tala grinned.

"You have a dirty mind."

"You're the one who's thinking it Kai, not me."

Kai snorted and looked away, trying to find something to distract him. He found Rei pretty easily and smiled dreamily. Tala groaned as he saw the look.

Rei felt eyes watching him as he talked with Oliver and Enrique and looked up to see Kai watching him. Kai gestured him over and he smiled softly and excused himself, leaving the two boys to talk of … other things. Rei hesitated slightly as he walked over, noticing Tala sitting with Kai.

"Hi Tala," he held out his had as he approached and offered the boy a smile. "It's nice to see you again."

"Tala smirked slightly as he took his hand. "I'm sure, although I think you're more pleased to be with Kai rather than me."

Rei returned the smirk after a slight widening of his eyes. "We'll Kai's a pleasing person to be around."

Tala grinned. This kid is fun. "Or in," he murmured and Kai cleared his throat uncomfortably. He seemed more embarrassed than anything, Rei noted with interest.

I wonder how intense their relationship actually was. "I wouldn't know about that," Rei murmured quietly with a sly glance in Kai's direction. "I'm not one to take so much initiative. I rather prefer others to take initiative instead."

"I see." The wolf shared a sly grin with the tiger and glanced over at the startled phoenix. The smirk from Rei directed in Kai's direction left no arguments over who that comment was directed at. "I think we have quite a bit to talk about Rei."

"I'm sure we do." Rei leered laughingly in Kai's direction and the blader stiffened slightly and flushed. Rei turned back to Tala. "I'm sure that Kai has more entertaining things to do anyway."

"Not without you," he murmured so quietly that the two boys debated whether they'd actually heard anything at all. "Excuse me," he bowed slightly with a sardonic grin. "I must go check on the children and make sure they didn't get into the alcohol." Kai left the two of them to talk as he went of in search of Tyson, who was probably already drunk considering how long Kai left him alone for.

"I did just hear correctly, didn't I?" Tala asked Rei.

"If you heard what I did then yes, I'd assume so." Rei chuckled slightly.

Tala smirked again, a favourite expression of his it seemed. "You seem to have made quite an impression on him." Rei blushed. "You're lucky, luckier that you think."

Rei looked over at the redhead curiously. What was that catch in his voice? He almost sounded jealous, or resentful. "How do you mean exactly?" Rei asked instead.

Tala gave him a withering look and Rei blushed again. "You know exactly how I mean. Kai doesn't let many people flirt with him."

"Oh, you noticed that."

"At least you didn't try to stupidly deny it."

"Why would I do that? I like flirting with him, he's cute when he blushes and I love making fun of him." Tala laughed softly at this, but stopped when Rei's face took on a very serious expression. "Why are you here Tala?"

Tala decided to skip all the bullshit and get straight to the point. "It's a good mask Rei, but it cracks too easily sometimes." Rei's eyes widened. "Kai was worried, and finally seeing you like this, I am too." Rei glared at him. Tala sent it right back at him. "Don't be stupid. Kai told you everything, you should know that I'm the best person to talk to about this sort of thing. That is, if you want to talk."

"I'm not sure I do." The tiger's voice was chilly.

Tala shrugged. "It's your choice, but the offer still stands."

"I'm not an invalid and I'm not stupid. Why doesn't anyone believe me when I say it won't happen again?"

"Because we know that with one more incident you will break and nothing you say or whatever we can do will be able to stop you from trying to escape the pain and humiliation in whatever way you can." Tala looked furious and deadly as he spoke. "You're cracking already and if this happens again you'll completely slip over the edge and we can't help you then."

"What would you …" Rei trailed off as he suddenly remembered who he was talking to. "Oh … right …" Tala looked amused at Rei's fumbling. "Uh … sorry."

"I understand you anger, but you really have to do something before it's too late for us to help you. Do you really want to repeat the mistakes that have been made in the past?"

Rei inhaled sharply as Tala drew down the neck of his sweater jacket and saw the angry red scarring that marred the otherwise pale and unblemished skin. Tala's eyes glittered with intensity and pain. "Do you?" he repeated softly, coldly.

Rei shook his head. "I'm really trying to deal with everything, and Kai's helping me a lot. Even if something happened, I couldn't leave now. I promised Kai I would stay with him and be strong."

Tala smiled gently. "You were smarter than I was. Of course you are older, but that doesn't mean much." Rei laughed, the mood lightening. "Trusting in Kai is probably the best thing you could do. You need someone strong like him around to help. Whatever you think, he is always looking out for your best interests." Tala's eyes dimmed with sadness. "Even if you don't realise it or want to believe it, he does care deeply for you." Rei stared at him curiously before Tala shook himself away from whatever thoughts were haunting him. "Just remember I'm always here to talk to also. Unlike most people I do actually know what you're going through and can help."

Rei laughed. "You sound like a shrink."

"I know. I've actually started an undergraduate course in psychology. Hell, I've experienced so many different kinds of mental traumas and problems I should be a better at this than most people." Tala grinned. "Who better to help you than a person who's been there himself?"

Rei looked sceptically at him. "That may work in theory, but I'm not sure how well it'll do in practice. Wouldn't it frighten people away to know that their psychiatrist needed psychiatric help himself?"

Tala shrugged. "Well, we'll see how well I do. You'll be my second patient."

"Who was the first?"

Tala looked away from him, searching out someone in the crowd and finding him. His face softened slightly, but his eyes grew pained as he looked upon the falcon. Rei followed his gaze and nodded.

"Bryan."

"Yeah." As if hearing them, the pale haired boy looked up and coolly met their gaze. Tala looked back over at Rei. "I'll be off now. Just remember my offer."

"I will, and thanks Tala." Tala smiled over his shoulder before returning to his curious teammates.

Maybe I'll take him up on that offer, but not yet. I still want to prove I can deal with things myself if need be. Rei smiled and walked away from the table himself.

* * *

Throughout the night, Mariah had attempted to corner him three times. The first time he managed to escape when Lee came over to ask if they'd seen Michael. The second time had been a close one. Luckily Tala had glanced over and seen Mariah leaning in close to Rei and the tiger struggling to move away. He'd rushed over there, ignored Mariah furious glare and told Rei that Kai had been looking for him and it had been really urgent.

Rei flashed a smile at Tala before walking off, hearing Mariah's snarl of annoyance. I guess I do need a bit more help than I thought. I never realised how persistent Mariah could be. He walked past Tala and his team as he went in search of Kai and didn't notice Bryan's curious stare.

What's going on here? The falcon wondered curiously, his eyes narrowing.

The third time the girl cornered him was (surprise, surprise) in a bathroom.

"Rei?" The startled tiger looked up from washing his hands as he heard that voice. He saw her reflection in the mirror. She looked furious. "You've been avoiding me all night."

"Mariah, this is the male bathroom."

"Hasn't stopped me before." Quick as a flash she was on him, pressing him up against the wall and nipping at his neck.

"Mariah! Get off me!" Rei was furious. He pushed her away hard. "Don't you get I'm not interested." He glared, his pupils slitting dangerously and his face glowering.

"I don't care if you're not interested. I get what I want Rei."

"Didn't you already get enough taking advantage of me last time?" Rei moved away from the wall and over to the door. He cried out sharply as those claw-like nails dug into his arm again. He turned around sharply and growled at her. "I don't want to hurt you Mariah. Let go of me before I'm forced to make you."

Mariah smirked and reached into her pink purse to draw out an object that made Rei's eyes widen in shock and fear. "I don't think you'll be doing anything to me, unless it's what I want you to do."

"What's with you Mariah?" Rei's eyes never left the sharp blade of the knife glinting in the fluorescent lights of the room. "Why do you want to do this to me?"

"Because I love you Rei and I want you."

"Love?" Rei glared at her. "This isn't love, this is obsession and it's gone on far too long." Rei pulled his arm away, ignoring Mariah's hiss of anger. She was still in front of the door. "Even if you weren't like this, I wouldn't love you how you wanted to be loved Mariah. I couldn't love you like that. I'm gay."

"No." Mariah glared at him. "You liar, you couldn't be."

"I am, and I'm in love with someone already."

"Who? Kai?" She laughed. "I'll bet he's forcing you into something. He's sick and twisted." Mariah stopped talking suddenly as Rei slapped her.

"Don't you dare say thinks like that about my captain," he whispered in a deadly voice.

Mariah glared. "That was a mistake Rei. Don't think you won't regret it." She put the knife away and stormed out of the bathroom. Rei let out a sigh of relief and leaned against a basin, not hearing the door open again and another person walk in.

"Rei, are you all right?" Rei jumped as he heard Kai's voice so close to his ear.

"Fuck Kai, did you have to do that?" Rei shook his head and took a deep breath. "You have a very unique ability to scare the shit out of me."

"Sorry." Kai looked a bit embarrassed. "I was worried. I saw Mariah come out of here and I got worried seeing as it's a boy's bathroom."

"Yeah, don't worry, nothing happened, but I am getting a bit freaked out. She seems to have a thing with bathrooms, doesn't she? I guess I'll just have to watch out every time I need to take a piss." Kai laughed, feeling relieved that Rei was all right. "Hey, how are Tyson and the others?"

Kai groaned. "Don't ask. Tyson managed to sneak god knows how many drinks while I wasn't watching and Max got almost as many. Kenny's looking after them, but he's kind of smashed himself. Seriously though, who was the idiot that made alcoholic drinks free for all at this party?"

Rei shrugged. "Maybe they thought we were sensible enough to know if we could handle the drinks. Most of us are old enough and mature enough." He shook his head. "That was stupid, considering our team."

"Yeah. I've let their parents know. At least they were smart enough to realise I couldn't have watched both of them all the time. And it wasn't my fault they went straight for the hard liquor. I mean they could have started with the wine or a weak scotch and cola, but no, they went straight for the tequila and whisky shots." He snorted. "I'm surprised they haven't gotten sick already." Kai sighed and pulled out something from his pocket. Rei watched with wide eyes as he lit up a cigarette. Before he could put it to his lips however, Rei snatched it out of his hand and flushed it down a toilet.

"Hey!" Kai glared at Rei, but found the tiger was glowering with an intensity that he wasn't sure he could achieve right now.

"You smoke?"

"Only when I get stressed."

"Not any more." Rei glared at him and Kai shrugged his shoulders.

"I never liked the habit anyway." Kai smirked. "Guess I'll need another stress reliever then."

Rei flushed slightly before smirking at him. "I'm sure we can come up with something."

Kai coughed and started to turn red as sudden mental images popped into his head. "Are you all right Kai? Something seems to be bothering you. Let's see if we can't find something to replace your cigarettes right now." Rei moved in closer to him with a smirk.

Kai made a small squeaking noise and backed slowly away. "Uh, maybe some other time," he suggested nervously.

Rei shrugged and backed away. "Whatever, maybe later then." Rei winked at him and moved out of the bathroom. Kai stared at the door as he left and let out a loud breath.

"Fuck me," he whispered and almost ran out of the room after Rei.

* * *

For the rest of the night Rei continued to flirt with Kai, hardly leaving his side and Kai was enjoying every minute of it. However it wasn't until one time that he walked back over to Rei with a glass of champagne in his hand for each of them that something rather interesting happened. He reached out with his free hand and gently brushed Rei's side in greeting, smiling widely as he saw the neko-jin squirm slightly.

"Liar," Kai whispered softly in his ear as he passed a glass to him.

"What do you mean?" Rei inquired innocently as he took a small sip of the bubbly.

"You said you weren't ticklish." Kai smirked as Rei took another sip to hide his slight blush. The other bladers they were talking with didn't seem to notice their quiet conversation. "I'll have to get you back for that later."

"I can't wait," Rei breathed with a sly grin.

Kai couldn't take it any more. He completely drained his glass. "Excuse us, but we have something to do in the morning and I didn't realise the time." He nodded good-byes to everyone he was talking to. "Rei, we have to go now."

"What about the others?" Rei looked over at the door leading to a small meeting room where the two drunk Bladebreakers and Kenny were. "Are we leaving them here?"

"Tyson's father promised me he'd look after them. I think we can trust him to look after his son and his friends, don't you?"

Rei nodded finally picking up on why Kai wanted to leave. He smirked. "Right. So it'll be just us back at the hotel then."

"Yeah, we won't have Tyson keeping us up until all hours of the night."

"You could do that all yourself," Rei murmured softly so that only his captain could hear. The phoenix flushed and cleared his throat nervously. Rei smiled at everyone else. "I guess we should be off then."

There were a round of handshakes with Oliver, Enrique, Kevin, Steve and Tala. Bryan just nodded in their direction.

"Oh, I wouldn't go that way," Tala warned as they decided to go the back way.

"Why not?" Kai asked curiously.

"The lion went to play out the back with his pet birdie." Kai's eyes widened and he looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh. "Guess he finished played and decided to finally eat his meal."

Rei goggled as he realised what the two of them were talking about. He laughed. "No way"

Tala nodded. "I was a bit surprised myself, but it seems that persistency is a trait among good bladers." He smirked at Rei and the neko-jin winked at him. "A very common trait indeed," he murmured. Bryan looked at him curiously then over at the smiling Rei and the slightly embarrassed Kai. His eyes widened in realisation.

So that's what's going on.

* * *

Rei tugged off his sash and overshirt as he entered the bedroom.

"This may look good, but it gets so hot and uncomfortable."

"I can imagine." Kai closed the door and removed his own jacket, boots and gloves.

"So," Rei looked up at him as he unlaced his undershirt a bit. "What were you planning to do now?" Kai reached over and pulled something from is jacket. Rei's eyes widened. "Are you serious? How did you manage to get that?"

Kai shrugged and sat down on the floor, leaning against the bed and gesturing for Rei to join him, which the tiger did. "It was free anyway and everyone was so busy thinking I was trying to give alcohol back to the waiters that they took no notice when I grabbed this from the bar while I was putting back a bottle of scotch Tyson took."

Rei shook his head and chuckled. "So they didn't notice a rather large bottle of vodka missing from their stores?"

"Not yet anyway, and I'm not sure they will. There were a lot of drinks there tonight." He opened the bottle. "You up for it?"

Rei hesitated. "I've never actually had something this heavy before."

Kai shrugged. "It's okay, but you should try it at least once." He noticed that Rei still hesitated. "You don't have to, but I didn't want to drink it all myself without offering you any." He took a quick swig of the bottle, wincing slightly as the liquid burned down his throat.

Rei shrugged his shoulders. "Why not," he muttered and took the bottle from Kai.

"Uh, I should warn you, you should only drink a little at a time, it kind of burns." Rei's eyes widened as he took a small sip and he spat the drink out.

"That's disgusting!"

Kai shrugged. "I guess it's an acquired taste. It's unsettling the first time, but you get used to it." He took another swig and held out the bottle for Rei. Rei frowned then took it. "Just remember, small sips."

Rei nodded and took a really small sip, which he swallowed immediately. He gasped and winced as the liquid made its way down his throat. "Fuck," he gasped once it hit his stomach.

Kai grinned. "It was so worth it to see your expression."

"When did you start drinking this stuff?"

"I was about thirteen. I didn't hang with the best of people when I was younger. That's when I started smoking as well. But it was never that serious a habit."

Rei's eyes widened with the revelations. "Wow, that's kind of young."

"I know. Why do you think I tried to warn Tyson and Max away from the drinks?" Kai took a drink. "Guess they'll learn the hard way then."

"Like you did?" Rei smirked.

"You wouldn't believe how trashed I got. And the headaches the next day weren't something I enjoyed, but I still did it anyway."

"Why?"

"Because I could."

"Oh." Rei took a drink.

* * *

Rei laughed and fell back against the bed. "You're not serious?" he gasped, trying to stop laughing but found that the effect of the substantial amount of alcohol he'd drank had taken effect.

Kai made a half-hearted attempt at a glare but gave up and nodded. "I'm completely serious. My grandfather nearly caught us. Tala was probably in the most uncomfortable position. There's not much room down the side of my bed. Not to mention he nearly gave us away by laughing so much. Voltaire looked like he was about to investigate just what was making the sheets move so much when Boris walked past and called him away for some urgent business."

Rei laughed again. "What happened then?"

Kai smirked. "What do you think? Tala got back up and we finished what we started. That little incident had us amused for most of the week."

"Until something worse happened?"

Kai grinned. "How'd you ever guess?"

"I'm psychic, didn't I tell you?" Kai tried to hold in his laughter but couldn't. Rei pouted. "I am too, I'll prove it. I'll read your fortune."

Kai smirked and moved over to sit in front of Rei, stumbling only slightly. "All right then." He held out his hand and Rei took it in his own soft hand. Kai shivered slightly at the touch and stared at Rei. But the tiger was focused on his hand and didn't noticed the hungry look pass over the phoenix's features.

"Hmm," Rei murmured, his voice slightly slurred. "I think I see something already."

"What is it?" Kai grinned, playing along. He wasn't as drunk as Rei, having a rather high alcohol tolerance.

Rei grinned up at him. "I see a tall, dark and handsome man in your life."

"Oh?" Kai raised an eyebrow and leaned in with a smile. "And who is this mystery man?"

Rei smirked and leaned in as well. "Someone close to you."

"Really."

"Yeah. Someone special, very special."

"That's nice." Kai smiled. "So what happens with this man?"

Rei smiled and leaned in so close that Kai could feel his breath on his lips. "You're smart, I'm sure you can figure it out." Rei drew back slightly, but Kai grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him forwards so he could bring their lips together in a passionate kiss.

AN: XD !!! Well, I hop everyone enjoyed that little cliffie.