Mizu_Tenshi: Sorry for the lateness. I've been making some adjustments to this fic.

"..." Speech '...' Thought *...* Implied words

Disclaimer: I do not own this anime

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Chapter 10: Drink it up

"KAI!"

Kai looked up in shock. It was late and he was delirious from lack of sleep that had to be it, why else would he be seeing his team running up to him in the middle of the night?

"Kai! I can't believe we finally found you! We've been looking all over for you." Takao cried and launched himself at the older boy only to end up on the floor as Kai quickly side-stepped to avoid being hugged.

"Yep, that's Kai alright!" Max laughed.

"How - " Kai began but Takao, who had picked himself up by now, interrupted him.

"That girl, Trish I think her name was, and that guy, Ryo," he explained. "We went back to the orphanage and they gave us your message."

"We've been looking for you for days!" Rei added, "ever since we found out you had been sent to an orphanage."

They had been looking for days? They had actually given up their precious holiday to look for him?

"Where's Kenny?" Kai asked, masking his surprise rather well.

"He stayed at the orphanage in case you went back there," Max told the slate haired boy.

"Yeah! We're finally a team!" Takao yelled.

"Not for long," a voice emerged from behind.

"Huh?"

"Sorry to crash the party, boys," Mr Roskovi appeared from the shadows accompanied by three other men all holding guns.

"Who are you?" Rei narrowed his eyes.

"Mr Roskovi," he introduced himself, "I was the one who took Kai out of the orphanage."

"He runs a company like Biovolt," Kai explained.

"That's right and I'm here to take you back to my company."

"You'll have to get through us first!" Takao threw an arm protectively in front of Kai

"Takao!" Kai snapped but Takao just threw him a smile.

"Hey, we're a team, aren't we? Teams stick together!"

"And we help each other out!" Max piped in.

"Max?"

"'Cause that's the essence of team work!"

"Rei?"

"Lovely pep talk boys, just lovely," Mr Roskovi clapped sardonically, "but in case you haven't noticed I'm the one with the gun."

"...Shoot!" Takao clicked his fingers in annoyance.

"Yes, it must be very frustrating," Roskovi said as he advanced on the boys. "Now, I want my bit beast thief."

Rei glared as Mr Roskovi smiled at Kai, his amber eyes darted to from Kai to the bowl. Then, in one fluid motion, he kicked the bowl right at Mr Roskovi's face.

Mr Roskovi held up his hands to protect his face while the other three men rose their guns to shoot it out of the sky.

"Kai, get out of here!" Max yelled.

Kai hesitated for a minute, not sure whether to leave his team or not.

"We'll hold him back just run!" Rei cried "Go!"

Kai nodded and ran through the confusion his team had created.

~ Crossroads Orphanage ~

The night was painted purple and blue, spreading a starry blanket of sleep upon the orphanage. However, two young boys remained unaffected by the spell the hours of darkness had cast.

"Here's your coffee," Ryo handed Kenny a steaming mug.

"Thanks," Kenny nodded and accepted the piping hot coffee.

"What time is it? I don't think I've ever been up this early," Ryo yawned, looking enviously at Trish curled asleep in the corner. "I really want to lie in bed but I can't seem to go to sleep no matter how tired I am."

"I see what you mean."

"Do you think they've found him?"

"I don't know," Kenny shook his head.

"You know Mr Roskovi, that guy I told you about? Do you think he's looking for Kai as well?"

"It's possible," Kenny admitted.

"Well what if he found Kai before the others?" Ryo asked.

"Hey! I got an idea!"

"What?"

"We can help Kai by digging up some dirt on this Roskovi guy! Dizzi!" Kenny exclaimed bring out his laptop.

"About time too! It's been ages since you brought me out," Dizzi's electronic voice huffed

"Wow! A talking laptop!" Ryo gasped.

"I am amazing, aren't I?"

"Stop showing off, Dizzi!" Kenny scolded. "We have work to do."

Dizzi seemed offended, if a laptop can be offended that is. "Oh I see, forget about me when you don't need me but when I can do something for you look who comes back."

"Okay, I'm sorry I haven't talked to you in a while," Kenny apologised.

Dizzi's voice softened, "awww, you're just lucky I got a softdrive for you."

"So you'll help us?" Kenny asked hopefully.

"What do you need?"

"I need you to hack into Roskovi inc., can you do that?"

"Course, I'm not that outdated. Speaking of which, don't you think it's high time I got an upgrade? How about I nice shiny new memory card? It's getting kind of crowded in here."

"Concentrate, Dizzi," Kenny gently chided.

"Oh, alright!"

Ryo's eyes were shining, all the traces of fatigue were disappearing from his face and was replaced by excited curiosity, "Whoa! This is so cool!" he squealed.

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" Dizzi boasted.

"Dizzi!"

~ Bladebreakers ~

The two sides watched Kai's white scarf trail behind him in the wind before realty kicked I and time resumed its natural course.

"Ugh! Go after him!" Mr Roskovi ordered his men to follow Kai before turning on the Bladebreakers, "as for you!"

"Hey! Get away from them!" Someone yelled in the distance.

Mr Roskovi emitted one last "Ugh!" before he ran.

"Whew! That was close!"

"Yeah, great going, grandpa!" Takao congratulated.

"I thought I felt some negative vibes when there was some loud bangs so I came over as fast as I could," Takao's grandfather explained. "Looks like I saved all of your little butts!"

"They've gone after Kai!" Max cried.

Rei shook his head "It's getting late," he reminded them all, "let's face it, Kai could be anywhere. We have to be on full health before we can help him again."

"That's right little dude. Come on, we'll pick up you little buddy at the orphanage and head on home."

"But - " Takao tried to protest.

"We can search for Kai tomorrow morning," Rei said.

"He's right, we all need sleep." Max nodded optimistically

Takao's shoulders slumped in defeat and let out a small, "fine."

~ Boris ~

After Boris's failure he did not head back to Biovolt but instead stalked the alleys of Tokyo seething with rage and out for revenge against his former student.

How could that little runt humiliate him so much? He was a kid dammit!

'And kids are easy to kill,' he thought with an evil smirk.

He had an idea of where Kai would go, he had taught him after all and he knew that if Kai was ever in trouble he would instantly seek refuge in the darkness and shadows: the alleys.

The alleys seemed like an impossible maze of dark and dangerous walled streets but it really wasn't as big or as bad as they seemed and, as long as Kai stayed in the alleys, he was sure he could find him.

He stalked the alleyways until he caught sight of a white scarf fluttering in the wind. Smirking to himself Boris moved in for the kill.

~ Kai ~

Kai ran and did not stop down the deserted alleys. He was sure he could loose whomever Roskovi sent after him in the labyrinth or dark passages.

'Left, right, left, left,' Kai repeated the words in his head as he turned. 'Left, left, right.'

He continued until he finally came out into the streets, the sudden burst of sunlight temporarily numbing his senses.

Kai looked around frantically. He could go back into the alleys but the chances were he would bump into one of the men chasing him.

'I could try and blend in with the crowd,' Kai thought but his attire was not exactly discreet.

He had to think quickly; standing here just made him an easy target. Looking around once more for any signs of the men Kai slipped unnoticed into a small, smoky bar. At least, he thought he went in unnoticed but a pair of eyes was watching.

"Hey, you can't be in - "

"Don't worry, I'm not going to buy any alcohol," Kai reassured the gruff bartender and took a seat by the counter.

Kai looked around. There was no one he recognised here. That was good. One of the barmaids gave him a sympathetic glance and then placed a glass of coke in front of him before moving on to serve other customers without saying a word.

Kai looked around again in case he had accidentally ended up with a paying customer's drink.

'Maybe she believes in doing a good deed like the one in the restaurant,' Kai thought as he began to take tentative sips at his drink.

"How much is the drink?" Kai asked the barmaid once she had returned.

"Oh no," she shook her head, "that man in the corner paid for it; it's on the house." She smiled and pointed to a man shrouded in shadows.

Kai felt his vision start to cloud and his brain felt numb. However, he could just about recognise who it was.

"Oh shi - " Kai looked down at his empty glass and then at the man in shadows. The man stood up and was advancing towards Kai.

"Kai, let's go, shall we?"

Kai blinked a few times but his vision didn't clear. 'Kai...that's my name, right?' for some reason he could not quite remember what he was supposed to do.

"Hmm?" Kai raised his eyebrows.

"It's okay," Boris smiled with mad delight, "let's go, come on!" He coaxed Kai to follow out of the door.

'I know this man...I think..' Kai shook his head. It felt as if his brain had gone numb.

"Come," Boris gestured.

"Yes," Kai obeyed.

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Mizu_Tenshi: And there you have it. It will be ending soon. I don't want to drag this fic longer than I have to and I'm working on another one.

Identity Thief & Death2evilFROGS - Thanks to the both of you. You shouldn't be reading during school! Ah, well I do it too but still.

Wise wolf - Yeah, they finally found him. Woohoo! And then they lost him. D'oh! Oh well, I'm sure they'll find him again.

blackdranzergirl - Yeah, poor Kai needs someone to look out for him seeing as everyone likes to torture him.

Krixel - Yeah, poor guys should really get a break.

kai baby-girl - Yeah, it's sort of near the end but it's not ending yet. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

whisper*2*imaginary - No but it might be ending soon. I'm getting a little afraid that this fic is getting boring.

Dark Ice Dragon - Ryo's not gonna die. He still has to make up for all that horrible stuff he did at the orphanage.

Syaoran Lover - Yeah, I wonder why I didn't add Boris being robbed. They're finally showing the episodes with Kai in it! Yay!

SquirrelOfShadows - Okay so I didn't update very soon but here you go; a brand new chapter.

DragonBlade - Sorry! Here you go; an update! Hope you enjoyed it.

sabrea - Thanks, I think there are a few chapters to go but I don't wanna go on and on of else it'll just get boring.

Feona - Thanks, I will. Though there's not much more to go.

dragonmaster - Thank you! I'll keep going...until it ends that is.

Mistress-of-eternal-Darkness - Thanks, glad you liked it.

Kawaii Angel - I don't know. I'm not very good at sequels.

Death stopper - Here you go! Sorry for the long wait.

Sherbet Mayhem - Thank you. Yes, we are all sadistic but it's so fun to torture Kai.