Firstly I would like to apologise for how late this is, enjoy though!

Chapter 12

Soft pinks and oranges fused in the evening sky as the sun set slowly. The faint light that remained melted through the large glass window of the front room and onto the two silhouettes, a girl and a boy sat closely in the spacious living room.

The boy rested lightly on the girl's shoulder, his breathing shallow as he drifted through a world of unconsciousness. The girl on the other hand was awake, how could she sleep after all…her thoughts were stuck on what Tala had recounted, just like a scratched record that kept repeating the same sentence over and over. Dwelling…again and again, but then that was always one of Faith's bad habits, to dwell a little more than the next person.

She winced as Tala shifted; leaving her shoulder tingling with numbness but a small smile soon formed upon her pink lips as she caught sight of his face. Although his skin was the same chalky shade, the pained expression he had worn hours before had been replaced with serenity, perhaps an expression so calm that she had never seen it upon his almost perfect face before. She gazed at him, eyes held in admiration and caught in the trance of his tranquillity and stillness.

It was in fact admiration, which she felt for him as she studied him. Admiration for struggling with and conquering the abuse that he had experienced. Leaning back and taking a deep breath she brushed aside her mass of dark locks, trying to not linger on the thoughts of her own past, her own pains of the insensitivity of society but it was almost impossible. The dark shadow formed as a thick knot tightening in her throat.

"No matter what…the pain will never go"

Tala stirred suddenly, yawning and then nuzzling more into Faith's warm shoulder. His long fingers reached up to his eyelids as he began to rub vigorously. After a few scratches red eyes emerged blending with the natural blue. It had seemed to Faith at that point that although the boy looked seemingly peaceful, his eyes exposed the pain, which his smile tried to hide.

"Don't play with your eyes, they're going to get more bloodshot," she warned breaking the quaint silence that had formed.

Tala moaned in response, "Can't stop itching!"

To his surprise Faith caught his hand in one swift movement clasping it with her own and trapping it.

"Can't itch if you're trapped can you?" she mused, sticking her tongue out playfully.

Tala's face twisted into a mock scowl, but inside he liked the feel of the dark-haired girl's soft fingers and warmth. He knew her comfort had helped but was not entirely convinced to think that he would receive the same reaction from his other so-called friends.

The traumatic experiences of his past replayed in his mind. No matter how hard he tried to shun the memory as he had done so many previous times, it would not work anymore.

Although talking to Faith did help, there was something missing, she still could not know the harshness of Boris. The games he had played emotionally and physically. He needed to talk to someone who had been with him and only one name came to mind- Bryan.

"You know they will understand Tala," Faith cut in, although only being able to read half his thoughts.

Tala sighed with exasperation, that was a question he had to deal with and soon. But would they understand?

"How do you know that Faith? I mean sure they'll nod their heads, ask me a few questions, but they'll go behind my back, talk about me, pity me as if I have some problem," he responded, hurt etched on to his features as he looked up intently at Faith.

Faith knew he was making sense, there was no doubt pity would be shown, as it had been shown to her. She knew how it felt to be the odd one; the outsider, and people, society was harsh. People didn't like outsiders. Even if you were part of them, one slip and they would shut you out to a world of harsh loneliness. No matter how kind you thought a person was, you could never read their real thoughts, and people were hypocrites, Faith knew that first hand.

Which was why she had been surprised on her first day in Brunei. Tala had embraced her as a friend straight away, even though it was clear she was an outcast. Yet she knew why now, knew it was because he was an outsider at heart. Both of them craving to be accepted yet both scared to try.

"I know you've felt that feeling Faith. I want normality too, I want to be Tala as I always have been, not labelled 'the gay guy'"

After a moment he looked up questioningly, "What happened to you?"

Grey eyes darkened and looked away, there was something stopping her from revealing her past to the boy on her shoulder.

"My mother died a year ago"

"I'm so sorry"

Faith latched eye contact with Tala in one swift movement, "No! That's not what I want, I don't want pity Tala."

Her tone had become harsh for a moment as if something had snapped inside of her, bringing her to life for that small second, but it returned softly, "It's either pity or complete insensitivity. Why can't people just ditch the extremes?"

Tala released a laugh, "Touché Faith, touch

For a moment there was silence, a silence where neither had to jump to force conversation, but remained in thought. Tala stared at Faith, his large eyes peering up,

"I guess change isn't always a good thing," he muttered.

"No, I guess not. But sometimes don't you just believe that life would be easier if people did change. But people don't change; you have to change if you want to be accepted."

Both contemplated the statement before Faith smiled with a curious look.

"Tala"

"Hmm"

"How did you know you were gay?"

Tala smirked openly. He had been waiting for that question. Raking a hand through his now unruly hair he pondered over the question for a while. When had he become gay? In fact he still remembered liking the womankind at the beginning of summer. His eyes were (if he was out) flirting with some female form, and (if at home) glued to his life size poster of Lucy Liu, his favourite pin-up. Though he had to admit the Charlie's Angels star was still hot, seeing the picture lately no longer had the same effect as it used to. Nowadays it was always some sexy male rock star that got his blood rushing, and he was scared that one of these days he would actually be caught drooling.

"Y' hello! Earth to Tala!"

Tala blinked looking blankly at the hand waving frantically in front of his face. Sheepishly he smiled.

"Oops. Uh…just thinking. I guess I always used to like girls because all the guys liked them. But I'd always catch myself staring at some guy, which scared me sometimes. I mean, I knew I wasn't straight inside somewhere, but self-denial," he snorted and then carried on, "Che, I stopped denying the facts a while back. I still remember when Kai and this other boy Kane were discussing their preferences in women and I just realised that I didn't have any sexual preferences for women…just that they, um…aren't women? No offence!"

"None taken Tal," Faith grinned, but that soon changed as her face scrunched up in wonder, "Kai and discussing?"

This time it was Tala's turn to grin, "Yeah the boy does have a voice you know"

"Hmm miracles do happen then," Faith bit out sarcastically, it annoyed her that Kai could be so rude to everyone and get away with it, and on top of that Kai would not tell her the truth about the cut she had seen.

Tala picked up on the girl's subtle cynicism and attempted to pry out what had happened earlier that day, after all that was what had triggered off Faith.

"What happened with Kai today?"

"Ah-nothing-just-his-um-you-know-uh-self," Faith replied, trying ungracefully to cover up what she knew. After all it wasn't up to her to gossip about what Kai was obviously trying to hide.

Their conversation was interrupted as Callum walked through the front door; bag swung over one shoulder and Discman in one hand. Music blared out from his headphones that were draped over his coat around his neck. On seeing the two on the sofa, his eyebrows quirked up in interest.

"So, I'm guessing you two have been busy, eh"

Tala's eyes widened, while Faith used to her brother's mischievous antics threw a cushion at his head.

"Bulls-eye, bitch goes down!" she shouted, surprising both Tala and Callum.

"Plagiarist, stop stealing quotes from 'Scream'" he joked back, throwing himself backwards onto the soft couch and flipping the television switch. "Oh yeah, Faith you do realise that your mates are waiting for you at Kudos, you were supposed to have met them over half an ho-"

But his sentence was cut off because Faith had jumped up on realisation, grabbing her jacket and dashing out of the house without a second word.

__________________________________________________________

Nicky sighed, "Look I'm sure she'll be here, guys just cut her some slack"

"Cut her some slack! CUT HER SOME SLACK! Nicky she's half an hour late! I mean she didn't even bother finishing her bit of the decorations and now she can't even be bothered to turn up and you want to cut her some slack," MC huffed.

Nicky chewed on her pen, adding touches here and there to her napkin doodle, whilst trying to block out the complaining that was taking place on the table. Shaking her head wearily, she realised there was no stopping MC's rant and decided to watch the melodrama unfold before her. After all it was quite amusing; the girl was gesticulating so wildly as though she was trying to recruit supporters for a fascist cult, Nicky couldn't help but grin.

"This isn't funny Nicky!" MC blasted, glaring at Nicky.

"Yeah sure, sure…" Nicky responded, leaning back casually, which subsequently angered MC more. But to Nicky it was quite interesting; she had never seen MC in such a mood. It wasn't really like MC to blame people, granted Nicky knew exactly why her friend was having a hissy fit and blaming Faith. And it was all down to missing valuable time with her 'Sweetie-Pie' (as Rei was consequently now referred to as. Although Nicky enjoyed teasing him and calling him 'Sweaty-Pie')

"So you finally realised she's bad news eh?"

Nicky looked up to see who the new voice in the conversation was, and her hazel eyes scanned the waitress. The angular features on Noleé that usually smiled in a timid fashion were cocked in a bitchy manner.

"Sheesh…" Nicky muttered under her breath, putting up with MC was routine for her, but hearing Noleé talk like that made her blood boil. To her there were only a few things that got her fuming and two of those things were having to listen to Noleé Warner and Courtney Fowler. Lucky for her the bell rang as Faith entered, stopping abruptly to catch her breath.

Going back to her doodle, Nicky realised that the bitching had suddenly stopped, and everyone was staring at the girl in the doorway.

"Hey! Come on over!" Noleé called out, which resulted in Nicky feeling sicker at the girl's false attitude.

Faith walked over to the table finally having caught her breath, "I'm really sorry I'm late, it just sort of slipped my mind"

"Having fun with Tala then?" MC bit out.

"No…I was just sorting out something, that's all," Faith replied, her expression starting to change as her smile began to falter slightly.

"So what could be more than meeting us" MC pried, her voice becoming more edgy.

"Um…I-I look, I'm sorry ok"

"Sorry doesn't cut it Faith!" MC snapped, finally losing her self-control completely. Nicky could tell from the way MC had turned her head abruptly away from Faith, that she was already regretting her tone.

"MC leave it," Nicky broke in warningly.

"No I think MC does have a point, I mean we should know if something's going on between her and Tala," Noleé added, firing the argument once more.

Nicky rolled her eyes, she hated the way Noleé butted into everything, trying to act sweet…it made her skin crawl. Come to think of it, if she just had her drum sticks she wouldn't mind using them to drum some sense into the girl.

"There's nothing going on between me and Tala, we're just friends"

Noleé laughed, "Come on Faith, don't think we're that stupid"

"But…there-there isn't…I mean Tala, he's you know-uh-Tala"

MC's eyes flashed, as she suddenly stood up to leave, "What so now you think there's something wrong with Tala!"

"I-I never said that…"

Nicky had been watching the scene unfold and decided it was time for her to step in, "Come on Faith lets go. MC just has PMS right now."

Standing up, Nicky made her way to the door, Faith following behind.

"I-I'm sorry, here we thought you might join…" MC called back to Faith holding out a piece of paper.

Taking the piece of paper and muttering a 'thanks' Faith walked out behind Nicky. Squinting in the dark to see what MC had handed her, she discovered it was a form to join the Beyblade competition. If there was ever a time Faith was confused it was now. She had just heard one of the worst childhood memories possible and in the same day argued with one of the people that actually cared about her, or so she thought, about something so dumb. But she couldn't disappoint Tala, couldn't tell them about him, about what he had told her. She wouldn't.

_________________________________________________________

Kai had been walking aimlessly around the outskirts of Brunei. The centre was a part he hated to visit, partly because everybody knew each other. He wanted to be in a place where he could roam freely amongst other anonymous figures, where no one would care who he was, or what he was doing. That was the pain of living in a small village. But then he had no choice, forced each day, and forced in every part of his life. Controlled. Although his Grandfather liked to call it 'disciplined' he knew better, there was a significant difference between being disciplined and controlled.

He knew he would be expecting a beating when he finally decided to return home, but he was used to that. Used to the fact that he had no choice, no freedom…nothing. His life, a feeling of emptiness, just like a darkened void.

The sky had begun to darken hours before, he had decided to go home then, but had carried on walking instead. But now, his feet had carried him home, before he even knew what he was doing he was stepping into the mansion which belonged to his Grandfather.

"Master Kai. Sir Voltaire wishes to see you immediately in his study"

Just like it always was. Every time he came home he was called. Not to talk, no. Just to be told, to be threatened as he always had been…as he always would be. Controlled.

Softly he opened the mahoghany study door and stepped onto the thickly carpeted floor.

No 'Kai how are you'…no 'why are you late'…no, he knew the routine, the hard slap stung his face, leaving a burning sensation…but he was used to it.

He didn't complain, after all it was better than being bottled as he usually was, as he was last time. Slowly he made his way up to his room, locking the door behind him, and finally crumpling to the ground in pain, in tiredness. Yes…he was tired, tired of everything.

Hitting the shower switch and peeling off his top, he caught his reflection in the mirror. The wound clung to his forehead like a bleak reminder of who he was, who he always would be.

And then there was Faith, the girl had almost worked it out; she was perhaps the only one. His hands shook in a steady rhythm as he ripped off the Band-Aid, which was stained in red. He hadn't bothered dealing with the cut, and it began to re-bleed. He couldn't take it anymore…couldn't deal anymore. Making his way to the bed, blood trickling slowly down his ivory coloured skin, hands still shaking, the steady beat of the water hitting the shower base, he knew there was no other way. He reached out pressing the button on his stereo-system, and angry lyrics blared out.

I've

Become so numb

I can't feel you there

Become so tired

So much more aware

I'm becoming this

All I want to do

Is be more like me

And be less like you…

He stared out of the window, rain trickling softly down the glass, with a cigarette lit in one hand. And he realised he was like the glass, stiff, hard, and yet when broken could shatter into a million pieces…

Every step that I take is

Another mistake to you

And every second I waste

Is more than I can take…

The nicotine dripping through his blood stream, and yet not enough. Not enough to gain control, not for him. And the cigarette pressed hard against his skin, burning his arm, almost branding himself…but he couldn't feel anything but numbness.

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And so this chapter comes to an end, a sad, sad end of Kai self harming. I will try to update soon, but school and exams are really getting in the way, so you'll just have to look out for it ^__^;;

I really, really appreciated all the reviews, they mean a lot to me, knowing that people like what I'm writing.

So I would firstly like to thank Nicky and Elfy.

And then in no order:

(dranzers flame, whisper, F.A star hawk, Life of Tears, Coppelia, Arcia, Foxspirit, Mezu, Faith, CRL, silvery, AzN*PyRo*ArCaDa, Lena, Ryoki, Tenma K, Dark Ice Dragon, Kai baby-girl, fantasy-angel, Jhaylin, Lone Fenix, Silver-eyes Magician Girl and Ashla.)

Please leave a review ^__^