Yo. Wassup? I can't think of anything else to say, I dunno why. Blah blah blah. Oh whatever. Hope you like this chappie!

TEARS OF A HUNTER: chapter 7 (^_________^)

Let my light at midnight hour,
Be seen in some high, lonely tower.

Rei sat on his bed, looking at Kai's empty one. Did Kai really go to Chinatown? And if he did, or didn't, why wasn't he back yet? It was nearly 5 in the morning! The door then opened and Rei, thinking Kai was finally back, stood up to confront him. However, it was Tyson.

"Hiii. you up early too?" He smiled, not noticing his team leader's absence.

"Tyson," Rei deadpanned. "Kai left at 9 or something last night and still hasn't come back."

"Huh? Wddayou mean, not come back yet?"

"I mean, Tyson, that he HAS NOT COME BACK YET!"

Tyson looked slightly spooked. "Oh."

Max came in with Kenny then. "Who's not back yet?"

Tyson and Rei replied at the same time, "Kai."

Simultaneously, Max and Kenny turned to look at his bed.

Kenny looked at Rei. "Where did he go?"

Finally, someone who's concerned. "Chinatown. At least that's what he said."

"I'll call Mr. Dickenson" (A.N: Is that how you spell it? Shit, I can't remember.) Max volunteered.

Tyson turned. "How will that help? He's in Japan."

"And besides," Rei added, "he might come back soon."

"Yea, but what could he be up to that took the entire night?" Kenny countered.

After a while, they decided it didn't help to sit there, and returned to their beds. Rei stared at the ceiling, in deep thought.

~~~~~~~~A bit later~~~~~~~

At 8, everyone woke again, but Kai had not yet come back.

"C'mon guys, lets eat first." Tyson mumbled. The rest of the team rolled their eyes, but didn't argue.

They found Kai at the restaurant, halfway through his breakfast.

"And where have you been?" Tyson demanded.

Kai laughed. Rei stared. Kai just laughed, he thought. Usually he'd just have told Tyson to shut up. He was in a good mood for some reason.

"For a moment there, I thought you'd go 'you made us all so worried!'" Kai said, mimicking a high-pitched voice.

"Kai." Rei stated. "I'm serious here. Where were you? You left yesterday night at 9!"

"Like you really care. Stop feinting and shuddup."

"Fine. Whatever."

"Yea. Just fine."

"Yeah."

"You look tired. I thought I was the one who was out all night?"

"Shuddup" Rei replied.

Kai smiled. "Fine. Whatever."

Rei growled, and sat down to eat. The rest followed.

~~~~~~A later which is a bit later~~~~~~~~~

The BladeBreakers sat across California, three policemen, and a black guy with hair dyed white.

The two policemen exchanged looks. They didn't understand why the kids had to be here. This did not concern them anymore.

"Right. As I told Rei, we're sending someone to keep a lookout for the Stormhawks" California gestured at the black guy. "Evan (A.N: The only stupid motherfucking dumbass name I could think of) here is taking the job"

The guy did not say a thing, but stared fixedly at Max. This made the blond nervous.

"There are some things I have to discuss with you guys first."

~~~~~~~Another little while later, 'cos I have no idea what they were discussing. ~~~~~

Evan and the two policemen left, but the BladeBreakers stayed around. Kai's sleepless night was showing its effects on him, and he yawned often. Every time he did, Rei gave him a sort of angry stare, as if he was proving a point.

Cali noticed too. "Am I boring you or what?"

"Nah. Just tired."

Rei 'humped' and Cali giggled. "You sound like Kai," she told a frowning Rei.

Just then a silky black Scottish terrier dashed down the stairs, a small speeding blur.

Dog: Woof! Woof! (A.N: WTF? Why did I suddenly go script-style??? Soz.)

The dog barked and jumped on California.

"'Ssup Punk?" she laughed.

"You have a dog named Punk?" Tyson blurted out.

She smiled. "Yea." Punk proceeded to leap onto Rei, which was a mistake, as he didn't like dogs.

Rei fell backwards into the sofa, and pillows scattered all over the place, one hitting Kai in the face. There was a sudden frenzy of laughing and screams as more pillows were thrown, and Punk, excited by all the movement, barked even louder, jumping in all directions.

Kai raised a blue eyebrow and headed off to a farther sofa. However he couldn't escape, and soon Cali, dodging pillows, joined him, laughing.

The two were bombarded with pillows and Kai couldn't help but smile. He took Dranzer out, and in seconds the pillows were knocked out from their hands and lay on the floor.

"Wow." Cali exclaimed. "That was fast." She was staring at Kai's spinning blue blade. She took out her own and launched it. The white blade knocked Dranzer off its place before Kai could say anything.

Kai growled and shouted for Dranzer. Hearing his call, Cali called for her bitbeast too. A white winged dragon flew out and joined Dranzer in the air.

Kai called for another of his attacks (Of which I can't remember the name.) And California heard it and knew what was coming. The dragon dodged and Dranzer missed, but a scorched mark was left on the carpet.

"Whoops, sorry." Kai called.

At that second Cali shouted "Iynix, TriBlaze!" (A.N: Argh! The curse of sucky names!)

The dragon opened its mouth and three bursts of whit fire headed for Dranzer.

"Dodge left!" was Kai's command, but Cali heard it again, and knew what to do. The bursts turned left too. Kai remembered his battle with Kylie.

Nothing's at stake now, he thought, might as well try.

Fly up, he thought. Fly up. He shrieked the way Kylie had done.

For a while Dranzer turned her head and looked at him. Kai felt stupid. But Dranzer nodded, actually nodded, and took of. The bursts of flame struck the wall behind her, and left three smoking marks.

For a while, California stood still in shock. She remembered the alleys, and that shriek. Not exactly Kai's shriek, but one that sounded like it. Then, silence. And her brother's dead body.

Iynix roared to get her back in focus.

Kai called for another of Dranzer's attacks, not shrieking this time. From Dranzer came bright orange flames, which were joined by Iynix's white bursts.

"Alright Dranzer. Enough play. Attack!"

Before Cali could respond, her blade was struck off balance. (A.N: Eeeek! Sucky song on radio! Westlife or something! #P )

"Iynix!" Another three bursts reached for Dranzer. Kai, thinking he was going to win, didn't notice them in time.

Dranzer stopped spinning only a few seconds after Iynix.

~~~~~~~A later which is a bit later, but later~~~~~~~

As Cali saw them to the door, Kai couldn't help but notice the look on her face. After their battle, she seemed so preoccupied. On their way back, Kai lost the BladeBreakers on purpose and headed back. The front door was still open, but Cali was not in the living room.

Feeling worried, he headed up the stairs, forgetting that he hadn't knocked. Although he didn't know where her room was, he found it easily.

California was sitting on the edge of her bed, resting her chin on her knees. Suddenly remembering he wasn't supposed to be here, he headed back to the stairs. But the Scottish terrier was rushing up them.

The Scottie leaped on top of Kai and barked joyfully.

"Quiet, Punk!" came California's voice. She sounded tired. When Punk didn't stop, she walked outside and nearly trampled on Kai.

Leaving Kai, the dog headed into her arms. Cali just stared at Kai.

"Sorry. I." Kai searched his mind for an excuse, but none came and he fell silent.

For a while they just stood there, then Cali lowered herself to the floor. Leaning on the wall, she couldn't stop the tears which came to her eyes silently.

"You ok?" Kai asked after some time. She nodded. Knowing it wasn't true, he sat beside her.

"No you're not."

She looked at him. "That shriek. During the battle. You've never used it before, have you?"

Kai couldn't lie. "No. I just heard someone use it."

"Where?"

Kai battled with himself inside. To tell the truth would mean telling her where Kylie was, and that would jeopardize her life. But it was so hard to lie to California.

"A while ago." He didn't answer her question.

"I heard it." she trailed of. "The day Lance, my bro, was killed." "By the Stormhawks." She added.

Kai felt his insides grow cold.

No way, he thought. Feeling terribly guilty, he reached for her.

"I'll get them." She growled, surprising him.

Then she broke down and collapsed onto Kai.

He lost track of time, just sitting there on the carpeted floor, with her in his arms. Sometime during the night, Cali must have fallen asleep. Kai heard her mumble, and thought she was having a nightmare. That is, until he made out the word 'chinchilla' He pondered upon its meaning for a while. Then he too got too tired and fell asleep.

Punk lay curled up at California's feet.

END OF CHAPTER 7

Ew, my keyboard is soooo dusty. I'm moving to Toronto in 34 days! Survivor: Pearl Islands rocks! I love Limpbizkit! Beyblade rulz! Never mind me, go ahead and REVIEW. If you're reading this and not reviewing, you're making me very upset.

Oh yeah. And you ppl can start voting. Kylie or Cali? Kai's gotta chose one, ya know.

SkyBlueSunShine: Most of the poems and stuff are mine. In fact all are mine, or others wrote them and I changed them a bit to fit the fic.

Hip_girl666: Yeah. He is kinda overly-cheerful. Oh whatevah.

Loz: Thanx!

kai baby-girl: Oh no, its up to you. As I said earlier, you people vote. I can't decide, they're both so cute!

Adreal: Gee, that's flattering, to be able to give you ideas. What's your fic about anywayz?

Dark-Soul78: if he didn't meet them there would be no story. XD!

Kagome: Correction. She licked HER lips, not his. Thanx anywae.

Cool_Manz: :) Thankiez! But you're making me hungry with all dat talk of cooking.

Hayle: Yea. dat'd be cool but I don't know if I can pull it off.

Rei's Girl: Some ppl jus dunno how to share. Lolz! Thankiez!

-DranzerDemonBikrGal

-DranzerDemonBikrGal