Sezzi: YAY! Chapter 3!
Disclaimer: we no own, you no sue.

Chapter 3

Max wanders in, he's washed the blood off his face and looks mildly amused (but considering this is Max, his grin goes from ear to ear.),that is, until he spots Rei, Tyson and Kenny, he now looks confused.
"Er, is anyone going to try and explain this?"
Silence.
"Damn, well maybe you know why Sezzi is up a tree, Kai is beating up a different tree, and why Reene is sharpening her axe on the roof."
Once again, silence.
"Okay, do any of you remember how to talk?"
Rei manages a reasonable attempt at a Kai Death Glareä in Max's direction
"Go away Max."
"But…"
"GO!!"
"Okay, okay, I'm going." Max walks outside. There is a boot hanging over the doorway, as Max walks towards it, it moves out of the way. It is evidently on a foot, which is attached to someone's leg.
"Reene?" Max spots the girl sitting on the top of the porch. The boot, foot and leg all belong to her.
"The one and only. What do you want?" Reene is running a dagger between her fingers, the axe lies across her lap.
"Will you tell me something?"
"I might, but you have to come up." Max looks at the wall, he has no idea of how Reene got up there.
"Err, I can't get…"
Reene sighs, "Forget it, I'll come down." She does, literally, come down, straight off the front of the porch. She lands catlike before Max.
"What do you want Max?"
"An explanation. No-one tells me anything."
"As you wish. Kai is annoyed with you, Tyson and Rei, and quite probably Sezzi. Sezzi is annoyed with you, Tyson and Rei. Rei is annoyed with Sezzi, Kai and Kenny, and possibly me. As for you and Kenny, I'm not sure."
"I'm fine, umm, why does Rei hate you?"
"I kinda tried to shake some sense into Tyson, he wasn't best pleased." Reene wisely leaves her prediction about the two unsaid.
"Oh." Max frowns as the information sorts itself out.
"Go ask Sezzi, but be careful, that's an apple tree she's up." Reene grins, looking in the tree's direction.
"What's that supposed to mean Reene? Reene?"
The silver haired youth has vanished, Max heads towards the tree.
"Sezzi?"
#THWOCK# An apple core hits Max on the forehead.
"Oh, that's what Reene meant." Max mutters, then speaks normally. "C'mon Sezzi, I just want to talk."
#THWOCK# A second apple core flies towards Max.
"Do you want to come down? Please?"
#THWOCKTHWOCKTHWOCKTHWOCK# Max is now lying under a large pile of apple cores.
"I'll take that as a no then."
An apple comes flying down. Written on it is Well nah. Somehow, she has managed to still convey sarcasm.
"OK, OK, I get the picture."
Max wanders off down the garden. A loud #THUD# followed by a string of curses in English, Japanese and Russian catches his attention. Following the sound, he comes across Kai trying to beat the shit out of a large oak tree. Max decides to risk it and ask Kai what was going on.
'Target sighted. Approach with caution…I watch too many movies.'
Max slowly walks towards Kai and calls out to him
"What did the tree ever do to you?"
Kai whirls around. Spotting Max he growls, but doesn't decide to actually kill him.
Max blinks. "Hey are you ok? You're not trying to kill me."
Kai seems to be fighting an internal battle on whether he should tell Max anything. Finally…
"No." he grinds out.
"You wanna talk about it?"
Kai punches the tree, his knuckles are bleeding.
"No…" he pauses in his attack and sits down heavily on the ground. Max takes in the haggard face, the lack of scarf and the bloodied knuckles of his captain and sits down just outside the reach of Kai's arm, better safe than dead…
"Have you seen Sezzi?" Kai asks
"Sorta. She's sitting in a tree back there." Max waves at the tree, and some of the leaves rustle.
"Did she say anything about me?"
"No."
"She hates me." Kai buries his head in his hands.
"In that case she hates everyone then, cos all she did was throw apple cores at me. Oh, and an apple."
Kai doesn't respond. He seems to really believe that Sezzi hates him. His shoulders are shaking, though only slightly.
"Ok Kai, you're scaring me. C'mon, Sezzi doesn't hate you. Me, probably, Rei, most definitely, but you, nah, no way."
Kai looks up, sniffing slightly. "Y'think?"
His eyes are puffy, and shining more than usual, but are open to his emotions. They are filled with hope, but it is overshadowed by despair.
"I know. Off you go, she's over there." He says, pushing Kai in the direction of the apple tree.
Watching him walk off, Max waits till he's sure Kai can no longer hear him, and says
"Oh. My. God." And faints.