Chapter Twelve — The Real Deal
It was cold.
That was the first thing that assaulted his senses when he stirred into wakefulness. It was also quite painful. He was lying somewhere hard and cold. He shivered then winced as he realised this hurt him. He turned his head slightly, only to realise that was all he could do. He was strapped down to a cold metal table in a dark empty room.
He shivered and wondered at the strange feelings of familiarity as he looked around. He'd never been here before had he?
He tried to move once more and pain overcame him once again and he drifted back into unconsciousness.
~~
They were in Moscow again, wandering the streets looking for something. Kai was leading them through the twists and turns.
Takao was complaining about that last battle. He, liked everyone else had been disgusted by the way the director of the Abbey treated his students. Kai had to order them to ignore the treatment of that kid Alexander, almost having to forcefully drag Takao away.
And now they were here, following their mysterious leader. Kai had been an enigma ever since they'd known him, but now being here, seeing his reactions to things, Rei wondered if they really knew anything at all about Kai.
"What are we doing here?" Max asked, his teeth chattering.
"Why don't you ask our fearless leader?" Takao muttered.
"Quiet," Kai hissed at them, turning his head and glaring. "You'll get us found out."
"Found out?" Kenny squeaked. The others looked startled.
"Just what have you gotten us into Kai?" Takao demanded.
"Nothing more than you could accomplish to do in an hour," Kai retorted. "At least when I sneak I don't get found out. Stay here, all of you."
"Kai."
Kai turned around, looking at the only member of his team that hadn't spoken. Rei was staring at him curiously. "Don't you need a lookout?" Rei grinned and Kai stared at him a moment longer before nodding. Rei moved away with him, gesturing for the others to stay.
"Why did you offer?" Kai asked quietly as they moved away further into the streets.
"I know this is important to you, I want to help."
Kai nodded, conveying his gratefulness without a word. Rei grinned and followed him quietly through the streets.
"Stay here," Kai hissed suddenly. "If anyone comes, do something, anything, to stall them." Rei nodded and watched curiously as Kai moved into one alleyway, looking around furtively. He knocked on a door and waited. Finally someone opened it and came out. Rei turned back to watch as the two conversed silently.
Rei sighed as it seemed things were taking so long. He leaned against the wall and glanced over t Kai once more before turning back as he noticed movement close by. His eyes widened as he saw a man approaching them. He glanced once at Kai, who still looked busy then faced the man, placing a friendly smile on his face. The man started to turn into the alley mouth and Rei freaked.
"Excuse me," he approached the guy nervously and smiled innocently. "I'm lost, do you think you could maybe point out a few main places to me so I can figure out where I am?"
The man look at him in confusion then said something in Russian that Rei didn't understand. He bit his lip and glanced over his shoulder. The man watched him as he turned back. He gave him another smile, slightly nervous this time. "You don't understand English? Japanese maybe?"
The man tried to move on with a shrug of his shoulders, but Rei grabbed onto his arm, pulling him back with a small pout and his best 'cute' face. The man started to shake his head and frown, but stopped suddenly, looking confused again. Then he grinned and Rei was the one to look a bit confused. The man said something quickly in Russian and Rei vaguely recognised it had something to do with money.
"You want my money?" Rei asked, pointing to himself curiously. The man grinned and moved closer. Rei was pinned to the wall and looked around nervously. "Okay this got way out of hand pretty fast," he murmured quietly, still smiling at the man. But when the man trailed a hand up his arm Rei's eyes widened in shock. "Oh no."
The sound of a younger sharp voice had both of them looking over towards the alley. Kai stood there, alone now. He said something to the man and he replied quickly. Kai's eyes widened fractionally then he smirked and stepped towards Rei, saying something else and sliding his arm around Rei's shoulders. Rei looked confused but said nothing. Kai was obviously getting him out of the hole he'd just dug himself in.
The man said something but Kai shook his head gesturing something about Rei. Rei struggled to stay still as Kai ran his cold fingers over his cheek and down his neck, his arm still holding him tightly. Kai said something more and the man shook his head and walked off, leaving the two at the mouth of the alleyway.
"What did you say?" Kai asked. Rei had the suspicion that he was struggling to hold in his laughter.
"I pretended I was lost and asked for directions. Why? What did he think was going on?"
"I just had to convince him that he couldn't afford you for ten minutes, much less an hour." Kai couldn't help it and chuckled, shaking his head at Rei. "An exotic beauty such as yourself is surely worth close to two thousand an hour." Kai ran his fingers down Rei's cheek again, letting them linger at the base of his neck before moving away with a smile, gesturing for the shocked Rei to follow him.
Rei stared at him finally comprehending what had been going on and blushed furiously. He brought his hand up to touch the base of his neck as he caught up with Kai. "At least I distracted him."
Kai laughed aloud at this. "That you certainly did. I haven't had such entertainment for a while."
Rei glared at him. "Well keep it to yourself, no one hears of this ever."
Kai nodded, smiling once more at Rei before getting serious again and leading them back to where they'd left the others.
True to his word, Kai did not say anything, being the same person he always had been, and Rei wondered if Kai laughing had even actually happened. But every so often he would look at Kai to see him staring at him with amusement in his eyes.
~~
Rei shook himself awake ad groaned at the pain he felt. He looked around to see he was in that same room he'd been in when he woke up.
Why was it so familiar?
He winced as he heard echoes of screams of pain, denial and anger, looking away. He saw someone rush to his side at the movement and sedate him further just as the door opened to reveal a struggling teenager.
"You bastards! LET GO OF ME!!"
/Bryan?/ Rei frowned, his eyes slipping slowly closed. He didn't even have the strength to wonder why Bryan looked so stunned as he laid eyes on him.
The last thing he heard before he blacked out was, "Rei! You let him go, he's got nothing to do with this! Rei!"
~~
Rei looked around curiously as he watched Kai bend down and address a small boy. As he looked up Rei's eyes widened and he heard the others' gasps of shock.
It was the boy from before, the one Tyson had battled, Alexander.
"Why are you here?" he asked fearfully. Rei winced and his heart wet out to the boy, but Kai motioned him back.
"We're here to help you, to show you a safe place."
Alexander didn't trust them. "Why?"
"Because I can't stand by and watch Boris do this again," Kai said through clenched teeth. Rei shared a glance with his other teammates. Kai already knew Boris.
"Who are you?" Alexander asked carefully as Kai helped him up.
"Kai Hiwatari."
The boy gasped and pulled away. "No, it's not true. You're supposed to be dead!"
Kai snorted. "Is that what they're telling you? I escaped."
"You destroyed the Abbey!"
"What?" Kai whirled around to see his teammates staring at him. Tyson stuttered incomprehensibly before saying, "You've been to that place before and blew it up?"
"I'll explain later, right now I want to get Alexander to a safe house."
"How do you know it's safe?" Rei asked curiously, following Kai's lead through the streets of Moscow.
"Because it's where I went when I escaped the Abbey before. All the runaways end up there eventually." Kai didn't say any more, he just quickened his pace, leading them to the outskirts of the town, to a house with a huge tree in front of it.
"Go on," Kai pushed Alexander towards the house. "They'll help you, just tell them you're from the Abbey. They can help you find your family or find a new one."
Alexander was hesitant, but he smiled. "Thank you."
"Just go." Kai was staring at him sternly, but Rei noticed a slight softness around his eyes as he watched Alexander go to the house and get taken in immediately. For an instant, Rei saw a girl's face at the door, smiling at Kai, then she was gone.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do," Tyson said as they walked back towards the town.
"Later," Kai promised.
"You'd better tell us or I'll—" Whatever Tyson was going to say was cut off as he was grabbed from behind by a darkly clad assailant. Rei whirled around then found himself caught also. The others were in similar positions. Max was being held off the ground, struggling to breathe while Kenny was on the ground, barely moving. Tyson kicked and elbowed his attacker, managing a few good hits before he was hit on the head and knocked out. Rei flipped the guy over his shoulder and was caught by another guy, who was ready for him, getting him in a bad position. The man on the floor grabbed his feet and Rei fel to the ground and was held down.
Kai on the other hand had already knocked down three men and was moving in on a fourth when Rei inhaled sharply and called out, "Kai!" His captain whirled around and his eyes widened at the sight of the knife held to Rei's throat. He stopped moving and held up his hands.
"I'll go quietly if you let them go," he told them coldly.
"You're not in a position to negotiate." Wit that, there were suddenly weapons pointed at all the Bladebreakers and Kai hung his head.
"Fine, what do you want?"
"You young Kai and your friends."
"Why them?"
"For the same reason as before, just in case you don't cooperate." Rei was confused at this, but Kai seemed to understand. His eyes widened and he paled.
"No," he whispered and looked away, a pained expression. "I'll come and I'll cooperate. Don't kill them." Rei watched Kai as he said this then was roughly bound, like the others. Kai refused to meet his gaze as they were lead back through the streets.
It wasn't until they reached the Abbey that Kai finally turned and faced his team, who were all conscious again. "I'm sorry," he told them simply, but that was all they needed to hear. His voice was choked and his eyes glimmered with unshed tears. He looked away again in pain as they were lead into another room, the same room that Rei continued to wake up in.
Each of them was strapped onto one of the metal tables and was approached by a guard with long sharp needles.
"Don't worry," they said with a grin, "you won't remember a thing, just the feelings of betrayal when you find out that Kai has turned against you." Rei blacked out as he felt a sharp sting.
~~
Rei opened his eyes again, finally understanding everything about what happened the previous year, everything that had been hidden from them all. Kai didn't really betray them, he was forced to, perhaps it was the same when he was younger.
He looked to the side and saw Bryan lying unconscious on one of the tables. He had to get away somehow. He struggled futilely at his bods and froze as he heard familiar mocking laughter.
"You won't be able to escape, my little tiger, not now that you're back here." Rei turned and snarled at Boris, who merely grinned. "Welcome back to our facilities, I hope you'll enjoy your stay for I doubt you will ever leave again."
AN: Oh, poor Rei, but hey, at least he's not dead. One positive to this I suppose. Hope you enjoyed. Laters.