Empty Promises
A/N: If it gets too confusing, just let me know, 'kay? I can't straighten it out if I don't know what's bugging you.
DISCLAIMER: I own nobody.
Chapter 3
Takao and Kyojiu: Searching For Something
"So what else?" Little Guy asked eagerly. He was the youngest, at only 7 years old.
Outsider sighed again. "Well, I finally realized I wasn't getting rid of Rei. So we stuck together, and about half a year after that, we met another couple of street kids. These guys were about two years younger than us."
"Hey, Kai, don't you ever pay for anything we eat?" Rei asked one morning, as Kai returned from the morning nicking.
"Don't think so. Maybe I have once or twice, but where am I going to get the money?" Kai answered comfortably, tossing an orange to Rei across the room. Rei caught it reluctantly and started peeling. "The only way for a kid to earn money around these parts to get a job with Smooth." He shuddered.
"Well, back in Chynah, some kids offered to carry parcels for richer market shoppers for a dinea or two." Rei said, biting into a slice of orange.
"Kid, you're not in Chynah anymore." Kai told him. "Nobody trusts you if you're a street rat here."
"Well, what sorts of jobs does Smooth give kids?" Rei asked innocently.
Kai
gave him a funny look. "And you call yourself an experienced street rat? Do I
really need to tell you any more than you don't want a job from Smooth?"
"No," Rei mumbled,
flushing. Then he sat up straight as the sounds of two kids yelling and
screaming reached the upper level. He looked across the room at Kai, who
grumbled about always having to play the hero and motioned for Rei to come.
Normally, they stayed away from using the staircase and front entrance because of Smooth's constant vigilance. But now they picked their way down, over passed-out people and goodness knew what else.
Once in the main level, they saw a couple of kids, a little younger than them, screaming and crying and kicking at Smooth, who had gotten his cronies to grab them.
"Hey!" Kai yelled. "Let them go!"
Startled, the cronies released them and the two scampered behind Kai and Rei.
"Hey, kid, you're gettin' real irritating," Smooth snapped.
"Yeah, well, you disgust me!" Kai snapped back. "Get a real job!"
"Thank you," one child said shakily as Rei and Kai took them back to the penthouse. "I'm Kyojiu."
"I'm Takao!" The other one yelled, not wanting to be ignored.
"I'm Rei, and that's Kai." Rei introduced, while Kai left to go find some more food for the two new boys.
"You're not from Jepin." Takao noted.
"No." Rei admitted. "But don't tell any of those police that."
"I don't like the police." Takao said. "They chased us all down the street. They made Kyojiu fall over and get a hurt on his leg."
"See?" Kyojiu said, showing Rei a nasty scrape on his knee.
"My grampa said that the police are all cururuppeded." Takao announced.
"'Course they're corrupt." Kai muttered, returning through the window with a couple of bananas.
"Bananas?" Rei whined. "How come they get bananas? We never get no bananas!"
"Shut up, Rei. We've already eaten."
"I wanna banana too." Rei grumbled as Takao and Kyojiu eagerly accepted the rare fruit.
"We're gonna become explorers and go find Takao's dad!" Kyojiu said that night.
"Uh-huh!" Takao added excitedly. "And we're gonna be so smart that no slave catchers are ever gonna catch us!"
"Right!" Kyojiu joined in again. "'Cause I don't like them slave catchers. They're mean."
"They were hitting my grampa a lot when they took him away," Takao added.
"Hmm." Kai said, staring out the window.
"Hey, why don't you stay with us?" Rei asked. "Kai wouldn't mind."
"Yeah!" Kyojiu cheered.