Hmm, another update. This one explains a bit of what happened after Kai left them at Robert's castle. Hope you all enjoy it.
Chapter Four
Rei sighed as he boarded the plane. He couldn't believe he was doing this. He'd meddled enough, unintentionally of course, but that should have been enough to show him what happens when people interfere with others' lives.
Sitting down, Rei looked out of the window in quiet contemplation. How long had it been since he'd seen anyone? Over a year. He'd last seen Max on a trip to America with the White Tigers. Though he'd kept in regular contact with Kai and occasionally with Kenny.
I wonder how they all are? I guess I'll find out soon enough.
Once the plane had taken off, Rei unbuckled himself and rested his head against the seat, rather tired. He curled up on the seat, stretching over slightly to lie down as the seat next to him was unoccupied. Soon, thinking of his teammates, he was lost in his memories.
* * *
"Rei?"
Rei opened his eyes slowly and yawned, stretching his arms out. When he looked over he noticed something strange. He was the only one in the bed. Kai was not there. Rei sat up and looked around. There was no sign that the other boy had even come back. He'd fallen asleep on top of the bed waiting for him. Usually Kai would have woken him up so they could get in bed properly if he did that, but he was in the same place he was at night.
"Rei."
Rei looked over towards the door and frowned slightly. "Hey Max. What's up?"
Max looked upset. "Kai's gone."
Rei nodded. "I noticed that."
"No, I mean gone, as in, away from the castle and us. He's disappeared."
This got Rei out of bed immediately. He quickly pulled on a fresh pair of pants and a shirt and followed Max out into the main room where Kenny was frantically pacing back and forth.
"What happened?" Rei burst out, still tying up his shirt.
"We don't know," Max said. "We can't find him anywhere and if you check your room, none of Kai's things are there."
Rei ran a hand through his unbound hair. He hadn't wrapped it back up after Kai left last night. "So no one's seen him?" He looked around. "Where's Tyson?"
Max shrugged. "He didn't come back with us last night. He said he was coming up here."
"Yeah, we saw him." Kenny and Max looked at Rei curiously. He gulped and decided to make something up. "Kai and I were in the room and Tyson came in then he must have went off somewhere."
"You saw Kai?"
Rei nodded. "After Tyson came in he went off somewhere. I think I fell asleep." Rei winced inwardly. There were just so many holes in his story, but Max and Kenny didn't seem to notice.
"Maybe we should go look for Tyson before we do anything."
"Why?" The three of them turned at the sound of Tyson's voice. He was walking in the door. "I'm right here."
"So we see," Kenny commented. "Where were you?"
"Having an early breakfast with Robert." Tyson grinned. "Did you really think I'd pass up an opportunity to eat?" He looked around curiously as they didn't so much as smile at this. "Tough crowd," he muttered, and flung himself onto a couch. "What's up with you guys?"
"Kai's gone," Max told him.
"I see." Rei winced this time hearing the venomous edge to Tyson's voice. The other two didn't seem to notice, nor did they see the slight glare he sent towards Rei. Rei turned away from him. "You don't know where he is, do you Rei?" Tyson asked. "You two do hang out more than the rest of us."
"Rei was as surprised as the rest of us," Max said. He sighed. "What's going to happen now?"
"Does it really matter?" Everyone stared at Tyson lying unconcerned on the couch. "If the sourpuss wanted to leave, then let him go. It's not like he's under any obligation to the team any more."
"What?" Max was stunned at Tyson's lack of interest in Kai's disappearance. "How can you say that?"
Tyson shrugged. "Maybe I'm tired of chasing after him. It does seem kind of pointless after all." Rei turned his head away, unable to bear Tyson's accusing stare.
Max looked at a loss for words, as did Kenny, but the spectacled boy managed to say, "Well, we should check out if anyone else, like the Demolition Boys know anything."
"I'll come too," Max offered, clinging to something that he could understand. Tyson's attitude had him baffled. "Rei?"
Rei hesitated then shook his head. "Look, if Kai went off then maybe he has some issues to deal with. I think we should leave him." Tyson snorted but Rei kept his gaze on the other two.
They both seemed a bit depressed at his decision. "Okay then," Kenny said. "We'll tell you what we find out." He left the room with barely another glance. But before Max closed the door behind them, he sent one last glance towards Tyson.
Now it was just the two of them.
Rei looked over to see Tyson glaring at him. "You bastard," he spat.
"Tyson, I—"
"I don't care, how could you do that Rei?" Tyson angrily wiped at his eyes then stood up. "I trusted you, all you had to do was tell me and I would have accepted it. How fucking long have you kept this from me?"
Rei looked away. "The Asian Tournament."
Tyson looked stunned. "What? You've been together ..." he trailed off into a pained and awkward silence.
"God, Tyson," Rei finally burst out, "If I had known how you felt back then ... but you didn't make it obvious until Russia. By that time I was …" Rei looked away in pain, as if remembering something.
"Was it worth it?" Rei looked back to see Tyson staring at him coldly. "Was your 'relationship' with Kai worth breaking up the team and losing a friend?"
"Tyson?" Rei was stunned.
"What, did you think I could just forget this Rei?" Tyson glared at him, tears standing in his eyes. "God, the two of you are just so self-centred aren't you? Did you expect that everything would be alright between us? Say, 'I'm sorry' and it's all done with?" Tyson shook his head. "I can only take so much betrayal Rei."
Rei shook his, as if denying everything. "Tyson, no, please, you can't really mean that? It wasn't serious, just fun. I don't even like Kai in the same way you do."
"That just makes things even worse Rei." Tyson turned around and walked out of the suite, slamming the door behind him, uncaring of his distraught and guilty teammate he left in the room.
* * *
"So you're really leaving?" Max looked like he was about to burst into tears. Rei flinched slightly at the pained look in his eyes but steeled himself.
"You know I have to Maxie, but I promise I'll keep in touch. I'll come and visit you sometime soon, okay?"
"Promise?"
Rei smiled. "I promise." He looked over at Kenny. "I'll see you around Chief."
"Sure Rei, keep in touch."
"Will do." Rei bent down suddenly with a grin and whispered. "Oh, and make sure you don't wait too long in telling him."
"Telling who?" Kenny asked innocently, blushing slightly. Rei's grin only widened.
"I think you know what I'm talking about. Trust me, I don't think you'll have a problem with anything." Rei's glance flickered over to the slightly confused Max standing nearby. "Not a problem at all."
"I hope so." Kenny smiled. "Thanks Rei."
"Any time." Rei looked around once more before hanging his head and sighing. He smiled once more at the two seeing him off at the airport then headed off to the gate to board his plane. He should have known it was too much to hope that even his leaving would cause Tyson to talk to him again. The awkwardness between them had gotten so great that Rei decided to leave with the White Tigers to go home.
He looked around once more then stepped aboard the plane, finding his seat beside Lee.
"You really ready to come home again Rei?" Lee asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I am." Rei didn't sound so sure but he looked determined. Lee debated asking more, but from the vulnerable way Rei held himself, it was obvious that whatever had happened between him and his team had hurt him a lot.
"You know I'm here for you," he whispered.
Rei smiled at his oldest friend. "I know Lee, thank you." As the plane took off Rei thought that perhaps leaving might do him good. A bit of time away to deal with his feelings about everything.
* * *
Yawning, Rei looked up to see a stewardess smiling down at him. "We're about to land sir," she informed him.
"Thank you." Rei yawned again and sat up, buckling his seat belt as the light came on.
Guess I couldn't avoid everything forever. I'll have to put things right.
* * *
Kai sat in his room thinking about everything that had happened in the past few days at school.
First, and most astonishing, he'd discovered that after he'd left Kenny had asked Max out. It seemed that the younger boy had a crush on Max for quite a while but just didn't have the courage to say anything. On the last day of Robert' celebration, he'd pulled Max aside from everyone and asked him.
Kai could still remember Kenny's face as he told them about this. He looked dreamy, a very rare thing to describe Kenny as, but it was true. Max had obviously said yes from his expression, but when Kenny told them how Max freaked out and completely refused him, Kai was stunned.
It was at that point that Tyson had picked up on something going on. He walked over to Kenny and asked him what was up and Tyson marched off to see Max about everything.
It turned out that Max didn't know what to do in situations like that. He'd never been in a serious relationship. Tyson had pretty much said, "If you can't trust a friend not to screw things up, then you're going to have a very closed life." Kai winced hearing this, but it was true. Max had stared at him then set out to find Kenny.
Of course then the first thing Max did when he found Kenny was kiss him and apologise for being a jerk, and that's where Kai stopped Kenny from saying more, claiming anything more would be too much detail.
The next few days they had grown a bit more relaxed around him. Wyatt fit in perfectly, becoming fast friends with Tyson immediately when he mentioned he beybladed. Kai would have worried more about Wyatt, but Tyson had given him no reason not to trust him. In fact, despite everything that had happened, he was treating him extremely well. He had not mentioned once anything that had transpired between them before. It was as if nothing had ever happened. But Kai saw the pain in his eyes, the hurt every time he got to close to Tyson. He wanted nothing more than to get closer, but he found himself avoiding Tyson, just to avoid his guilt and his pain.
Nothing was going as well as he'd hoped. Except or him mission. He hadn't even had a hint of anyone after Wyatt, though he'd heard there was a minor break in at the dorms at the Prep school. Since then he'd gotten reports from Tala and Spencer saying their parts of the mission were going well and moving forward fast.
That was one less thing to worry about at least.
Kai sighed and got up. It was late at night, but he was going to call Rei (it not being so late there). He walked out to the main room and picked up the telephone and dialed the number.
Lee picked up. "Hello?"
"It's Kai."
Lee seemed a bit confused. "Rei's not here."
Kai sighed. "Right." The note in Lee's voice made him frown though. He sounded as though Rei was gone, not just out for the day. "What do you mean, not here?" he asked.
"I mean not here, as in left. Didn't he tell you?"
Kai growled. "Tell me what?"
Lee paused then answered, "Rei's on his way over to Japan right now."
Kai almost dropped the phone in shock. "Did he say why?"
Lee hesitated again. "I guess something you said last time must have worried him a bit."
Kai frowned. What did he say last time? His eyes widened. He was talking about Tyson and his reaction about seeing him again. "Oh shit," he muttered, forgetting Lee was still on the phone. "He's going to get involved."
"Involved with what?"
Kai hesitated. "Personal problems."
"Rei told me about what happened."
Kai sighed. "Damn."
"Well it was more like I walked in on him while he was having a rather animated discussion with himself, but it's the same sort of thing." Lee was stunned to hear a chuckle coming from Kai.
"I guess so. Well thanks anyway Lee."
"Sure. Say hi to him when he gets there."
"Will do." Oh, I'll do more than just say 'hi', Kai promised to himself. "Goodbye Lee."
"Yeah, bye Kai." They hung up.
Kai shook his head and glared. "You shouldn't have gotten involved Rei."
AN: Well, Kai doesn't seem too happy that Rei's coming back. Things are moving along slowly, I know, but my plot ideas aren't allowing for major movement. Next chapter should have a bit more action in it.
Until then.