Mizu_Tenshi: This is in Kai's POV. I'll try and give everyone a chapter but
I just wanted to get Kai's feelings down then it will switch to Takao.
"..." Speech '...' Thought *...* Implied words
Disclaimer: I don't own this anime
******************
Chapter 3: Silence
After many years have buried
Secrets over which you worried,
No confidant can then betray.
All the words you didn't say. - Koontz
(Kai)
I wanted to stop them there and then, I wanted to do something to prevent them from going to the hobby shop but, in the end, I let them go.
What was the use anyway? The truth always manages to worm its way out somehow.
I decided I would go somewhere too. Rei had been mostly silent and I thought I'd leave him to his musings so I made for the docks at the very edge of town.
People say the sea is calming; it'll always be there, flowing and ebbing like the endless ribbons of time. The sea goes on and on, washing away everything, leaving you weightless and pure.
They also say the sea is cruel and unforgiving, harsh and secretive, hiding all beneath its murky waters.
I wish people would make up their minds.
I stood at the very edge of the sand out of reach of the flowing waters and let the wind rustle my hair.
I wanted to let the sea bear away all my memories, all my sins and just leave me empty.
I think that was the very first time I wanted to run. I didn't think I could stand seeing Maxi's face once he reached the shop. I didn't want to be there when he came back.
What if his dad wasn't dead? He was shot, yeah, but people can survive being shot. Why had I assumed that he was dead?
I hated myself for it but I wasn't sure if I wanted him to survive.
The truth always comes out but I wanted to keep it hidden for as long as possible. Maybe then it would all blow over.
My phone went off.
Damn annoying piece of junk! I still have it, you know? I should get out a hammer one of these days.
"Yes, Kai here," I sighed into the phone then inwardly cringed at the voice on the other end.
"Boy!" It boomed. Yeah, there's only one person in the world that would start a conversation off like that.
"Voltaire, how are you? How's the world domination going?" I asked, I was just dripping in sarcasm.
"Don't be funny with me, boy," Voltaire growled. "You messed up last night and for that Boris was forced to shoot someone."
My hands clenched. Forced? Boris wasn't forced to do anything!
"Very messy, I know," I scowled, trying to keep my voice even. "Though I'm sure you can by all the clean up crews you need with your dirty money."
"Watch your mouth, boy," Voltaire warned me. "I just wanted to let you know that I've bought off the police."
Oh yes, I've seen this so many times. Something goes wrong and Voltaire just bribes the police. It's very effective actually.
"We're lying low for now," he continued, "but by next week I expect you to - "
"You can expect nothing of me," I snapped.
There was a pause as he was trying to figure out if I had actually said that and then he came, full force, and yelled at me. I had to hold the phone away from my ear to stop going deaf.
He was going on about this and that and how ungrateful I was. I wasn't even listening; I just waited for him to stop.
"Listen, Voltaire," I snarled coldly into the phone once his ramble was over. "I won't work for you anymore; I'm tired of being your bitch! Have a nice day," I added just because I knew he would be fuming over mock courtesy.
I smirked as I cut him off but it was a triumph that was short lived when I thought about what had happened.
I had gotten away with breaking into a shop. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or not
I was going to throw away my phone. It was the only way Voltaire kept in contact with me.
I really was going to throw it into the sea but then it rang again.
It couldn't be Voltaire he would take time to cool off and it couldn't be Boris either.
That meant...
"Takao?"
"Kai!" Takao gasped. "Get the others and come down to the hospital now! It's Maxi's dad, something really bad has happened just come, okay?"
"I'll be there in ten minutes," I replied, trying to sound worried but I'm not sure how convincing I sounded.
*****
A hurried explanation and a sprint to the hospital later and the whole gang was there, standing before a bed with the annoying little beep..beep...of the life support machine slicing through what should have been painful silence.
"We got to the hobby shop and there was a load of police cars there," Takao explained in a hush voice.
Max was sitting next to the bed with his head bowed; he hadn't said a word since we arrived. It seemed as if he was in another world.
"He was shot," Takao continued. I was only half listening. I could already picture the events in my head.
"Is he okay?" Kenny asked, which was pretty stupid coming from him. Did he look okay?
Takao shook his head, "duuno," he shrugged, "the police said it was a gang of thugs - druggies."
"Poor Max," Rei whispered. He was being strong considering the fact that he would be leaving in a matter of days.
"Hey, Max, buddy, it's gonna be okay," Takao tried to cheer him up but Max just mumbled something inaudible.
"Max," Rei murmured soothingly and placed a comforting hand on the younger boy's shoulder.
Max kept mumbling something on and on, it was a little scary, as if the Max we had all once known had transformed into this sad, listless boy.
I couldn't help but feel that it was my entire fault.
"Guys, maybe we should leave max alone for a bit," Kenny suggested.
"Good idea," Rei nodded.
We were going to make our exit on the scene when Kenny almost bumped into the nurse entering.
"The Bladebreakers I presume," she said, looking down pitifully at us, "and you're Max?"
Max looked up for the first time at the nurse in her white dress and bundled strawberry-blonde hair.
"How many tournaments have you won?"
"Huh?" Max blinked, not expecting that sort of question. "Err...a few, I guess."
"You get prize money from winning the tournaments, don't you?"
"Only from the major ones, why?" Max replied. I'm sure we were all wondering where this was going.
The nurse nodded sadly then glanced down at her chart.
"We've done the best we could for your father but there's a lot of damage that can't be fixed. The only reason he's still alive is because we have him on life support," she explained.
It finally clicked.
The atmosphere was like that at a funeral. It was just so damn depressing.
"We also believe he was had cancer," the nurse continued, "life support is very expensive and since he was going to pass away - "
"Wait a minute!" Takao yelled, doing something very similar to what he did when he found out Rei was leaving.
"It would be best to switch off the machine," she smiled ruefully "he won't feel a thing. I realise this must be very hard; I'll give you time to think it over," she bowed politely and then left rather briskly.
We watched her retreating back and then we turned to Max.
"I can't believe what I just heard! Can you believe that?!" Max looked as if he had heard something shocking but amusing and laughed but we all just stared at him sadly. He looked at us with those huge puppy dog eyes. "Can you?"
One of us had to help the poor deluded kid.
"Max," Rei decided to take the task, "she had point."
"What?!" Max stared at him as if he had grown a tail or something.
"Well he had cancer, right? What's the use dragging it on? Maybe it's the kindest thing to do by ending it now," Rei said calmly.
That was a mistake.
**************
(Takao)
It was crazy, really crazy, crazy with a capital K.
Maxi's mum said she was coming over to America as soon as possible. I didn't know what she was planning on doing.
This time, I didn't think a barbecue would do the trick.
We left Max at the hospital. It seemed he needed time to himself.
Poor Max, I couldn't imagine how he was feeling, it was as if he was someone completely different.
Rei was leaving, Maxi's dad was in hospital and my head was gonna explode from everything that had happened. Kai and Kenny were the only ones who seemed to keep their cool
"This is depressing," Rei stated as if I hadn't already said that one hundred times.
"Yeah," I agreed, "this sucks."
"So close to the tournament as well," Kenny added.
"If I see those people who shot Maxi's dad I'll - " I punched my hand threateningly. I meant it too. Those people would pay for it and I was burning with rage every time I thought of Max siting in the hospital.
Ugh! I felt so helpless. I wanted to do something but I didn't know what. We were on our way back to my place when we passed by the hobby shop.
There was a small crowd of bladers round the place and we had to clear them away.
"This place brings back memories," Kenny murmured.
"Don't say that!" Rei hissed. "Don't talk about things in the past tense.not yet anyway."
"Come on, guys, why don't we check it out? There's a door round the back that's easy to open," I said. I wanted to investigate, I don't know why; sixth sense I guess.
"We should train for the tournament," Kai said sternly.
"It'll only take a minute," I protested.
"I don't think - " Kenny was about to back Kai up but I was set on going in. They followed me, naturally.
It was pretty much normal inside. I moved to the very front room where all the goods were sold and found a set of boxes strewn across the wooden floor.
I wondered why there were boxes all over the place; Maxi's dad isn't one to be untidy.
"Takao, what are you doing?" Kenny cried once they had caught up with me. I think being the store of a dead man was giving him the heebie jeebies.
I pointed to the boxes on the floor and said, "what do you make of that?"
"Looks like there was a struggle of something," Rei muttered.
"A struggle?" It had never occurred to me that someone might have been trying to kill Maxi's dad!
"Let's go," Kai grunted and tried to pull me along. I didn't find it odd at the time; I just thought he wanted to get home so we could train; it would be just like him to do that.
"Give me a minute," I protested, tugging my arm away. "I want to investigate."
"Look, you're not Sherlock Holmes!" Kai hissed. "You're not even that old lady in the Tweety and Sylvester mysteries, okay?"
Since when did Kai see the Tweety and Sylvester mysteries? I still don't get that and he still won't tell me.
Anyway, I wasn't going to let Kai put me off when I had this inkling that something bad had happened so I moved to the back room where the TV and the couch was.
I could feel Kai scowling at the back of my head as I began to search for..I dunno...for something.
In the end Rei and Kenny decided to speed things up by helping me and Kai wondered off.
I thought he had gone back to my place but I found him a few minutes later sitting by the cashier glaring at a video tape.
"Hey, bud, I knew you would help," I smiled cheerfully. "So watcha got there?"
Kai jumped a little. I think that was the first time I saw him surprised but as quickly as it had come the expression disappeared and was replaced by his usual cool demeanour.
Demeanour...big word, huh? Hey, I'm offended that you're so surprised that I knew that word. I'm not that dumb, ya know?
"Nothing," Kai shrugged and tossed the tape away.
He meant to toss it to the end of the counter but he overshot it a little and it clattered to the floor.
Kai stared at it for a minute and then he walked past me.
I watched his back for a while then went over and picked up the tape.
"I wonder where he got this," I muttered to myself. The tape was labelled CCTV. I was curious so I went to the back room again and slotted into the machine and pressed play.
The tape was...yeash, how do I say this? It...it was...a security tape.
I don't really want to say it; you can guess what I saw.
Kai rummaging through the shop then knocking some boxes off the counter. Maxi's dad come out and chase Kai outside. I didn't see what happened after that; the tape only recorded what happened in the shop but I heard the loud bang of a gun.
I stopped it a rewound the tape, I played it five times just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.
I couldn't believe it but it was right there. Right in front of me but.why?
"Why did you do it, Kai?" I muttered. My heart was racing; I was so sure that I was just dreaming.
"It's my job."
I spun round to face a grim looking Kai.
My eyes widened and I thought, 'uh-oh.'
*****************************
Mizu_Tenshi: Whew! That's the longest chapter I've done for this fic. Sorry for the late update but thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Sorry if I miss you!
Tenma Koneko - Yeah, I do. It's a major problem; I just can't get the angst out of my head!
Vialana - Thanks a load. I love Cure's 'Boys don't cry' as well.
Sakura-Hiwatari - Yeah, poor Max. What will Kai do? Well you'll have to R&R to find out!
Kai-Dranzer - Well I was going to kill him but in the end I decided to put him in hospital. I hope that works out.
Dawn35 - Thanks. Glad you like the fic.
Syaoran-Lover - I'm so sorry! I know I'm late but could you turn my muse Sora into sashimi instead?
silver-star-8989 - Thanks. Sorry I was so late with the update.
DragonBlade - I know. I don't see how it could get worse but it looks like it will.
Feelin Glayish - Really? Wow, thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Identity Thief - Looks like Kai's got to admit it now. I wonder how he'll get out of this one.
"..." Speech '...' Thought *...* Implied words
Disclaimer: I don't own this anime
******************
Chapter 3: Silence
After many years have buried
Secrets over which you worried,
No confidant can then betray.
All the words you didn't say. - Koontz
(Kai)
I wanted to stop them there and then, I wanted to do something to prevent them from going to the hobby shop but, in the end, I let them go.
What was the use anyway? The truth always manages to worm its way out somehow.
I decided I would go somewhere too. Rei had been mostly silent and I thought I'd leave him to his musings so I made for the docks at the very edge of town.
People say the sea is calming; it'll always be there, flowing and ebbing like the endless ribbons of time. The sea goes on and on, washing away everything, leaving you weightless and pure.
They also say the sea is cruel and unforgiving, harsh and secretive, hiding all beneath its murky waters.
I wish people would make up their minds.
I stood at the very edge of the sand out of reach of the flowing waters and let the wind rustle my hair.
I wanted to let the sea bear away all my memories, all my sins and just leave me empty.
I think that was the very first time I wanted to run. I didn't think I could stand seeing Maxi's face once he reached the shop. I didn't want to be there when he came back.
What if his dad wasn't dead? He was shot, yeah, but people can survive being shot. Why had I assumed that he was dead?
I hated myself for it but I wasn't sure if I wanted him to survive.
The truth always comes out but I wanted to keep it hidden for as long as possible. Maybe then it would all blow over.
My phone went off.
Damn annoying piece of junk! I still have it, you know? I should get out a hammer one of these days.
"Yes, Kai here," I sighed into the phone then inwardly cringed at the voice on the other end.
"Boy!" It boomed. Yeah, there's only one person in the world that would start a conversation off like that.
"Voltaire, how are you? How's the world domination going?" I asked, I was just dripping in sarcasm.
"Don't be funny with me, boy," Voltaire growled. "You messed up last night and for that Boris was forced to shoot someone."
My hands clenched. Forced? Boris wasn't forced to do anything!
"Very messy, I know," I scowled, trying to keep my voice even. "Though I'm sure you can by all the clean up crews you need with your dirty money."
"Watch your mouth, boy," Voltaire warned me. "I just wanted to let you know that I've bought off the police."
Oh yes, I've seen this so many times. Something goes wrong and Voltaire just bribes the police. It's very effective actually.
"We're lying low for now," he continued, "but by next week I expect you to - "
"You can expect nothing of me," I snapped.
There was a pause as he was trying to figure out if I had actually said that and then he came, full force, and yelled at me. I had to hold the phone away from my ear to stop going deaf.
He was going on about this and that and how ungrateful I was. I wasn't even listening; I just waited for him to stop.
"Listen, Voltaire," I snarled coldly into the phone once his ramble was over. "I won't work for you anymore; I'm tired of being your bitch! Have a nice day," I added just because I knew he would be fuming over mock courtesy.
I smirked as I cut him off but it was a triumph that was short lived when I thought about what had happened.
I had gotten away with breaking into a shop. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or not
I was going to throw away my phone. It was the only way Voltaire kept in contact with me.
I really was going to throw it into the sea but then it rang again.
It couldn't be Voltaire he would take time to cool off and it couldn't be Boris either.
That meant...
"Takao?"
"Kai!" Takao gasped. "Get the others and come down to the hospital now! It's Maxi's dad, something really bad has happened just come, okay?"
"I'll be there in ten minutes," I replied, trying to sound worried but I'm not sure how convincing I sounded.
*****
A hurried explanation and a sprint to the hospital later and the whole gang was there, standing before a bed with the annoying little beep..beep...of the life support machine slicing through what should have been painful silence.
"We got to the hobby shop and there was a load of police cars there," Takao explained in a hush voice.
Max was sitting next to the bed with his head bowed; he hadn't said a word since we arrived. It seemed as if he was in another world.
"He was shot," Takao continued. I was only half listening. I could already picture the events in my head.
"Is he okay?" Kenny asked, which was pretty stupid coming from him. Did he look okay?
Takao shook his head, "duuno," he shrugged, "the police said it was a gang of thugs - druggies."
"Poor Max," Rei whispered. He was being strong considering the fact that he would be leaving in a matter of days.
"Hey, Max, buddy, it's gonna be okay," Takao tried to cheer him up but Max just mumbled something inaudible.
"Max," Rei murmured soothingly and placed a comforting hand on the younger boy's shoulder.
Max kept mumbling something on and on, it was a little scary, as if the Max we had all once known had transformed into this sad, listless boy.
I couldn't help but feel that it was my entire fault.
"Guys, maybe we should leave max alone for a bit," Kenny suggested.
"Good idea," Rei nodded.
We were going to make our exit on the scene when Kenny almost bumped into the nurse entering.
"The Bladebreakers I presume," she said, looking down pitifully at us, "and you're Max?"
Max looked up for the first time at the nurse in her white dress and bundled strawberry-blonde hair.
"How many tournaments have you won?"
"Huh?" Max blinked, not expecting that sort of question. "Err...a few, I guess."
"You get prize money from winning the tournaments, don't you?"
"Only from the major ones, why?" Max replied. I'm sure we were all wondering where this was going.
The nurse nodded sadly then glanced down at her chart.
"We've done the best we could for your father but there's a lot of damage that can't be fixed. The only reason he's still alive is because we have him on life support," she explained.
It finally clicked.
The atmosphere was like that at a funeral. It was just so damn depressing.
"We also believe he was had cancer," the nurse continued, "life support is very expensive and since he was going to pass away - "
"Wait a minute!" Takao yelled, doing something very similar to what he did when he found out Rei was leaving.
"It would be best to switch off the machine," she smiled ruefully "he won't feel a thing. I realise this must be very hard; I'll give you time to think it over," she bowed politely and then left rather briskly.
We watched her retreating back and then we turned to Max.
"I can't believe what I just heard! Can you believe that?!" Max looked as if he had heard something shocking but amusing and laughed but we all just stared at him sadly. He looked at us with those huge puppy dog eyes. "Can you?"
One of us had to help the poor deluded kid.
"Max," Rei decided to take the task, "she had point."
"What?!" Max stared at him as if he had grown a tail or something.
"Well he had cancer, right? What's the use dragging it on? Maybe it's the kindest thing to do by ending it now," Rei said calmly.
That was a mistake.
**************
(Takao)
It was crazy, really crazy, crazy with a capital K.
Maxi's mum said she was coming over to America as soon as possible. I didn't know what she was planning on doing.
This time, I didn't think a barbecue would do the trick.
We left Max at the hospital. It seemed he needed time to himself.
Poor Max, I couldn't imagine how he was feeling, it was as if he was someone completely different.
Rei was leaving, Maxi's dad was in hospital and my head was gonna explode from everything that had happened. Kai and Kenny were the only ones who seemed to keep their cool
"This is depressing," Rei stated as if I hadn't already said that one hundred times.
"Yeah," I agreed, "this sucks."
"So close to the tournament as well," Kenny added.
"If I see those people who shot Maxi's dad I'll - " I punched my hand threateningly. I meant it too. Those people would pay for it and I was burning with rage every time I thought of Max siting in the hospital.
Ugh! I felt so helpless. I wanted to do something but I didn't know what. We were on our way back to my place when we passed by the hobby shop.
There was a small crowd of bladers round the place and we had to clear them away.
"This place brings back memories," Kenny murmured.
"Don't say that!" Rei hissed. "Don't talk about things in the past tense.not yet anyway."
"Come on, guys, why don't we check it out? There's a door round the back that's easy to open," I said. I wanted to investigate, I don't know why; sixth sense I guess.
"We should train for the tournament," Kai said sternly.
"It'll only take a minute," I protested.
"I don't think - " Kenny was about to back Kai up but I was set on going in. They followed me, naturally.
It was pretty much normal inside. I moved to the very front room where all the goods were sold and found a set of boxes strewn across the wooden floor.
I wondered why there were boxes all over the place; Maxi's dad isn't one to be untidy.
"Takao, what are you doing?" Kenny cried once they had caught up with me. I think being the store of a dead man was giving him the heebie jeebies.
I pointed to the boxes on the floor and said, "what do you make of that?"
"Looks like there was a struggle of something," Rei muttered.
"A struggle?" It had never occurred to me that someone might have been trying to kill Maxi's dad!
"Let's go," Kai grunted and tried to pull me along. I didn't find it odd at the time; I just thought he wanted to get home so we could train; it would be just like him to do that.
"Give me a minute," I protested, tugging my arm away. "I want to investigate."
"Look, you're not Sherlock Holmes!" Kai hissed. "You're not even that old lady in the Tweety and Sylvester mysteries, okay?"
Since when did Kai see the Tweety and Sylvester mysteries? I still don't get that and he still won't tell me.
Anyway, I wasn't going to let Kai put me off when I had this inkling that something bad had happened so I moved to the back room where the TV and the couch was.
I could feel Kai scowling at the back of my head as I began to search for..I dunno...for something.
In the end Rei and Kenny decided to speed things up by helping me and Kai wondered off.
I thought he had gone back to my place but I found him a few minutes later sitting by the cashier glaring at a video tape.
"Hey, bud, I knew you would help," I smiled cheerfully. "So watcha got there?"
Kai jumped a little. I think that was the first time I saw him surprised but as quickly as it had come the expression disappeared and was replaced by his usual cool demeanour.
Demeanour...big word, huh? Hey, I'm offended that you're so surprised that I knew that word. I'm not that dumb, ya know?
"Nothing," Kai shrugged and tossed the tape away.
He meant to toss it to the end of the counter but he overshot it a little and it clattered to the floor.
Kai stared at it for a minute and then he walked past me.
I watched his back for a while then went over and picked up the tape.
"I wonder where he got this," I muttered to myself. The tape was labelled CCTV. I was curious so I went to the back room again and slotted into the machine and pressed play.
The tape was...yeash, how do I say this? It...it was...a security tape.
I don't really want to say it; you can guess what I saw.
Kai rummaging through the shop then knocking some boxes off the counter. Maxi's dad come out and chase Kai outside. I didn't see what happened after that; the tape only recorded what happened in the shop but I heard the loud bang of a gun.
I stopped it a rewound the tape, I played it five times just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.
I couldn't believe it but it was right there. Right in front of me but.why?
"Why did you do it, Kai?" I muttered. My heart was racing; I was so sure that I was just dreaming.
"It's my job."
I spun round to face a grim looking Kai.
My eyes widened and I thought, 'uh-oh.'
*****************************
Mizu_Tenshi: Whew! That's the longest chapter I've done for this fic. Sorry for the late update but thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Sorry if I miss you!
Tenma Koneko - Yeah, I do. It's a major problem; I just can't get the angst out of my head!
Vialana - Thanks a load. I love Cure's 'Boys don't cry' as well.
Sakura-Hiwatari - Yeah, poor Max. What will Kai do? Well you'll have to R&R to find out!
Kai-Dranzer - Well I was going to kill him but in the end I decided to put him in hospital. I hope that works out.
Dawn35 - Thanks. Glad you like the fic.
Syaoran-Lover - I'm so sorry! I know I'm late but could you turn my muse Sora into sashimi instead?
silver-star-8989 - Thanks. Sorry I was so late with the update.
DragonBlade - I know. I don't see how it could get worse but it looks like it will.
Feelin Glayish - Really? Wow, thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Identity Thief - Looks like Kai's got to admit it now. I wonder how he'll get out of this one.