Just over three weeks, I figure that's pretty good compared to last time … Wow, 110 reviews! Thank you all so much, I'm glad you still like this and are sticking through. Don't worry things start to get even more interesting now … or at least soon.

Hope you enjoy.

Tala raised his hand to knock and waited patiently for the large wooden door to open. He winced as he heard the sound of heavy feet rushing to the door and a thump. A muffled "Ow!" carried through the door before it opened to reveal Tyson in his pyjamas rubbing at his head and wincing.

Tala's eyebrow rose in curiosity as he looked at the young boy. "Hi," he offered.

"Hey, come on in." Tyson opened the door and stepped aside to let him through, his attention more on his head than on his guest … the he realised just who his guest was. He looked around hopefully for a moment, much to Tala's amusement before his face drooped and he closed the door. Those two had it so bad for each other.

"Bryan took Rei out shopping," Tala explained.

"Oh." Tyson blushed at his obviousness. "Um, would you like anything to eat? Nearly everyone's in the dining room still having breakfast."

"Did I intrude too early?" Tala glanced at his watch, wondering if it were running fast.

"No, we're all just late risers," Tyson assured him as they walked into the dining room. "Hey guys," he called out. "We've got a visitor." Four heads turned at his voice and fixed their gazes on Tala. He waved to them all.

"What brings you over so early?" Lee asked mildly as he grabbed the last piece of toast before Michael could get it. Michael glared at him and went to grab the juice only to find that Tyson had drunk the last of it. He got up and moved to the fridge in the kitchen, grumbling loudly about his roommates. Lee and Tyson shared a grin, Michael was too easy to bait.

"I wanted to talk with Kai," Tala told them, hiding a smile at the antics of the band.

"Mr. Grumpy?" Tyson snorted. "Who'd want to see him so early? Beside the rabid fan-girls trying desperately to get a peek of him so close to naked as they can get?" Tyson shuddered theatrically and Tala grinned. "It's probably not a great idea to wake the beast so early … even I know not to mess with Kai in the mornings when he's been up all night."

"I see." Tyson immediately grew interested as he saw the evil gleam in Tala's eye.

"Don't you dare Ivahnov," Michael warned.

"Don't what?" Tala asked innocently.

"I know you, so quit the acting. Kai's bad enough without you provoking him."

Tala pouted. "You're so mean Parker."

"Tough."

"You're just lucky I didn't come over already prepared for Kai's wake-up call."

"Say what?" Everyone looked up at the sound of Kai's voice coming from the doorway. "You were going to let him come up and wake me?" His glare told them they had better not been.

"You're no fun either Kai," Tala sighed.

"Neither are your wake-up calls."

"Sure they're fun … for me." Tala grinned at him. "I see you haven't forgotten those."

"How could I?"

"I'm flattered."

"You shouldn't be. You were evil incarnate."

"I was a choir boy!" Tala protested.

"So was I, and look how that turned out."

"True." Tala shoved his hands in his pockets then pulled them out suddenly with a smile. "Oh, right. Here. You left this over our place the other night." He handed Kai back a silver ring. "Bryan thought you must have left it on the counter when you were showing him."

Kai took it with a small smile and slipped it on. "Thanks. Hey, have you eaten yet?" Tala nodded and Kai looked a bit disappointed. "Right, would you like to hang around for a bit more, catch up with me maybe?"

Tala grinned. "That's the other reason I'm here."

"Oh. Good then. Don't mind if I grab something though?" Kai didn't even wait for his answer before going into the kitchen and searching through the cupboard for something edible.

"Go right ahead," Tala grumbled, though he smiled. "Why don't I wait in your room and snoop through your stuff to find something to steal."

"Just don't touch my make-up," Kai called out to him, still looking through the cupboard. Tala made a face at the comment, but Kai didn't see, though knew what he was thinking. "It's my stage make-up," he defended himself quickly. He thought he heard Tala mumble, 'Sure it is,' in an amused voice and decided to ignore it for now. "Mine's the furthest down the hall on the left. Try not to mess everything up, I only cleaned it last month."

"I'm more likely to clean it up," Tala replied, heading towards the stairs.

"That's what I'm afraid of. When you clean up I can never find anything, you're worse than mother ever was."

"I know." Tala grinned and headed towards Kai's room to snoop around. Lee and the others at the table blinked in surprise and glanced at Kai through the kitchen doorway. He was still searching for food with a slightly annoyed expression on his face having not found much.

Michael moved over to stand beside Kai, a serious expression on his face.

"Kai."

"Hm?" Kai didn't look up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Looking for food."

Michael grabbed his shoulder and Kai looked up, a slightly dangerous glint to his eyes. "Don't give me that. How can you just act so blasé about everything? The guy's supposed to have been dead for ten years!"

"I know. This is how I'm dealing with things. We're both acting so normal it's too unnatural. This is how Tala has always dealt with things until he knows he can face everything properly. Guess I picked up that habit."

"It's a bad one to slip into."

"I know, but it's easy to handle in a situation like this with him. Tala will talk about everything once he's sure he can trust me again, I'll do the same. We just need to get over the shock by slipping into something familiar."

"So just when were you going to tell him how much his 'death' affected you?" Michael glared and Kai looked away, flinching slightly.

"When he gets the courage to ask."

"And you?"

"The same. There's a lot more going on here than you think Michael, it's not something to just confront head on. If I do that I could lose him. Tala's really fragile."

"So are you, despite how much you want to ignore that fact."

Kai went back to looking for food. "So I am," he agreed quietly. "But at the same time I'm a lot stronger than you think. We both are and we're a hell of a lot stronger together than apart."

"Kai —"

"Don't take this away from me again!" Kai hissed, spinning around to face Michael with a dark glare. Pain radiated from his crimson gaze. "Please just let me have this for a bit longer Michael, I don't' want to lose him again so soon, or ever if necessary. I know what I'm doing and I know he doesn't want to leave. I don't want to be forced into a situation where he has to."

Michael nodded and embraced him briefly. "All right, I don't want you to lose him either, just be careful, none of us want to see you slip again."

Kai smiled at him. "With Tala around there's no chance of that happening." He turned back to cupboard with a sigh. "What happened to the fruit bars?"

"Top right. We had to hide them from Tyson last week."

Kai shook his head wryly and grabbed the snack food, oblivious to Michael's slightly annoyed glare. The redhead had always been of the opinion that a good breakfast was needed to start the day. He had been an athlete when younger after all.

"Thanks." He smiled and headed up the stairs after Tala. Michael watched Kai worriedly for a moment longer before sighing and heading back into the dining room to sit with the others. Lee and Max looked at him for a moment and he smiled at them reassuringly and they turned back to the conversation between the two cousins, chuckling and interjecting every so often.

He couldn't really let them know of his worry just yet. Even though Max and Lee had known Kai since he was about fifteen, he was the only one who had ever met Tala beside Kai ten years ago and knew how deep their relationship was. They had only seen the aftereffects of Kai losing a loved one, he'd seen Kai as he broke down. Only he knew just how much losing Tala again would affect Kai and he never wanted to be witness to something like that again.

He glanced over at the stairs once more before turning his attention to the others at the table again, trying to let his worry fade a bit. Kai was fine and so long as Tala was here, he'd stay that way, he'd be better than he had been for ten years. Maybe he'd be able to finally heal properly and move ahead.

Kai entered his room with a small smile, which soon faded as he saw Tala sitting upon his bed with a strange expression on his face. Looking at the object in his friend's hands he understood.

"I didn't realize that you still kept it," Tala whispered.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Tala shrugged. "But you travel with it too. I didn't think …"

"You meant a lot to me. Still do."

Tala smiled and turned around, hugging the small wolf toy to his chest. "Same. I kept Dranzer too. Ask Bryan, I wouldn't let her out of my sight for a moment, it almost drove him mad at first."

Kai chuckled and seated himself next to Tala on the bed. "I can imagine. He doesn't really strike me as the plushie-loving type."

"If I showed him Wolborg he might reconsider," Tala argued. "Who can resist such adorable charms?"

"Not you certainly." Kai tugged at the toy with a smile and took something from around its neck. "That's not the only thing I kept." Tala looked at him curiously then down at the shining thing in his hands. He blinked in surprise as Kai finished unwinding the silver necklace from around Wolborg. "Turn around," he whispered softly.

Tala nodded and complied, trying not to shiver as he felt the cold metal slide around his neck, or as he felt Kai's fingers fumbling with the clasp. Once Kai was done the familiar weight of the small crucifix hung in the hollow of his collar and Tala smiled.

"Thank you."

"I guess I never really gave up hope that you'd come back." He looked away, slightly embarrassed by the tears coming to his eyes. "When I saw that on my bed just after I found out you'd … left, I knew that it had to be false, despite what everyone else thought." Kai looked down, trying to further hid his emotions.

Tala hesitated then wrapped his arms around Kai's shoulders. "I'm here, aren't I? You were right."

"I'm always right," Kai mumbled and Tala chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. It's rather infuriating sometimes."

Kai smirked. "I loved riling you up."

"You were evil."

"I know, but you were so much worse. I can still remember that winter when we were ten and your wake-up call then." Tala laughed aloud. "I still don't' think it's funny," Kai informed him in a grumpy voice. "That water was freezing and I had to share your bed for almost a week and even after that I could still feel a bit of dampness to the mattress."

"You have to learn to appreciate the aesthetics of it Kai," Tala protested, a huge smile still on his face. "The look on your face as you awoke was the most unique thing I had ever seen, a piece of art, if I do say so. Do you realize how much a photograph of that would be worth now?"

Kai froze and turned around with a serious, slightly frightened look. "You didn't," he gasped.

Tala tried to look innocent. "Didn't what?"

"You'd better not be thinking of doing what I think you are."

"You mean selling some of your older, more embarrassing photographs to the media?" Tala looked offended. "Now how could you think that? Of course I wouldn't pass up such an opportunity."

Kai growled at the amused expression on his face. "You're dead Ivahnov."

Tala just grinned impishly again then yelped as Kai pinned him to the bed, a very evil expression on his face. "What are you going to do?" Tala asked.

"What do you think?" Kai asked leaning closer.

Tala started squirming. "No, Kai, please don't."

"Too late, you have to pay for even considering humiliating me." Kai moved his hands closer.

"How about a deal?" Tala tried desperately.

"Like what?" Kai considered his curiously.

"I show your friends at least and you let me go." Tala moved away from him slightly.

"That's worse than showing the media." Kai glared.

"Erm … then how about I never mention them again and burn the negatives?" Tala moved further, trying to distract Kai slightly with his words.

"Not good enough."

"Um … then how about, I do this?" Tala used his slightly relaxed state to his advantage and flipped Kai over, pinning him instead with a smirk. "Now I can do as I wish," he gloated.

"Fat chance," Kai argued, grabbing his hands and trying to force him away. The movement only caused Tala to lose his balance slightly and fall on top of him. Kai smirked. "Now who has the advantage?"

"I'm still on top, you can't move." Tala had his legs wrapped close around Kai's body. "And you can't move your hands without releasing me. It's a stalemate." Kai glared. "I was always good at this, you shouldn't have forgotten that."

"I was just hoping your skills had diminished with time."

Tala lowered his eyes. "Quite the opposite," he replied softly and Kai froze, realizing what he had just alluded to unconsciously. He was going to open his mouth to apologise, or perhaps talk further on the uncomfortable subject, but Tala's phone rang, startling them both as it vibrated in his pocket.

Tala glanced down at Kai. "I can't answer it with you holding on."

"And I can't move without you letting go," Kai replied.

Tala sighed. "Fine, I won't do a thing with the photos."

"And?"

"And I'll hand them over with the negatives when I see you."

"Good boy." He released Tala's hands and the redhead sat on his haunches, Kai still pinned beneath him, though less restrained then before. Tala pulled out his phone and answered it.

"Tala here." He paused and straightened slightly. "Yes sir. ... No sir, you're correct. I'll talk with them both soon and will call you back with the answer later today. ...Yes sir, I will." There was another longer pause and Kai was worried to see Tala pale slightly. "Y-yes sir … very good. I-I'll tell him that when I can." Tala hung up a moment later and quickly got off Kai, moving towards the door.

"Tala?" Kai got up and grabbed his arm before he left the room. Tala turned around, though refused to meet his gaze. "What's wrong?"

"I've got to go see Bryan and Rei."

"Aren't they out?" Tala nodded. "Why don't you wait here for them and call later or something?"

Tala looked away again. "I really should wait for them at home. Boris wants us to call as soon as possible regarding a job offer."

Kai let his arm fall. "Oh."

"He sends his regards, by the way, and hopes that you enjoyed our time together." Tala still didn't face him, but he sounded very bitter about the comment from his boss. Kai's eyes hardened hearing the message and his friend's tone.

"Tala, can't you just—"

"This sort of thing isn't so easy to get out of you know Kai," Tala told him, knowing what he was going to ask. "You should know that much at least. Believe me, I'd get out if I could, but I'd get Rei out first."

"And Bryan?"

"Given the opportunity he'd get us out without hesitation, but he does as he wishes." Tala moved to go to the door but was stopped again by Kai's hand on his shoulder.

"Tala … I could … I mean …" Tala looked up at Kai as he stumbled through what he was trying to say. "With my influence I could try to …" he looked at Tala, trying to convey what he was trying to say through his eyes. "You could be …"

Tala frowned. "You aren't thinking of going against your grandfather just yet are you?"

"No, not yet. I was just thinking that if you were with me you wouldn't have to …" He looked away with a blush and Tala grinned.

"Hiwatari Kai, are you offering to buy me?" he teased.

"Why buy what I can get for free?" Kai retorted. "If I say that I want you around Boris couldn't do a thing, you know that."

"Yeah, I'd say that was true, were you offering that for any other whore. But me?" Tala looked very serious. "You haven't forgotten who he is, have you or how we met him? He knows you and me and what we were before. He's not so dim as to forget that and realize just what you'd be doing."

Kai sighed and nodded, looking a bit dejected. "It was worth a try I suppose. I just can't see how you can be like this."

Tala shrugged. "It's a life I guess." He smiled. "Thank you for your concern and for the sentiment behind the offer. I do appreciate that you'd try something like that for me." He looked down. "It means a lot that you still think of me as a friend after everything."

Kai smiled. "How could I not? You're Tala, you'll always be special to me, no matter what's happened. I don't want to let you get away again."

"Thank you." Tala embraced him tightly, a soft brush of his lips ghosting over Kai's cheek. "I'm glad you're here with me again Kai, I missed you." He leaned back and smiled before leaving the room and his friend heavy with intense and conflicting, confusing emotions.

AN: Hope you guys liked that. I know I'm still going rather slow with the relationship with Tala and Kai but I really want to work on it properly.

Oh, and I'm sorry if that underline thingy screwed up, it was the only feature that ff.net would allow me to break the sections of my story up with ... I'll have to check things out and make sure it all works with the new systems they've got for uploading.

Anyways, until next time

Laters.