Hey there, me again. This time I chose an unusual pairing, a ReiMystel, despite how it appears at first. It's a bit OOC, but I had to write something about Kai being horrible for once (most of the time I make him into Mr. Nice Guy).
"Kai?"
"Yes, Rei?"
"Um. I...um...I..."
"What?" Rei blushed furiously, wishing that Kai wouldn't look like that at him, all exasperated and irritated.
"I...um...mumble mumble."
"What is it Rei? I'm busy!"
"I can't come to the tournament tomorrow!" Burst out the neko-jin, turning redder and turning away.
"Why?"
"Um...um...I'm going to be...um...um...inheat. Bye!" Rei sprinted from the room and left Kai sitting there, puzzled. He finished the chapter he was reading and got up to go and find Rei and ask him what he'd actually said. He found Rei in his bedroom, lying on the bed with no shirt on.
"Rei?"
"Um...can you sort of...not talk to me Kai?"
"What!"
Rei's eyes opened and Kai could see that they were going cat-like and slitty. "I...um...it's not...if...um...can you please go? Or else...it's not my fault..."
"-What's- not your fault? If you do what?"
"If I...um...try and...seduce you...because I'm um..." He sat up, pleading. "Please go away, Kai."
"Not until you give me a good reason why you can't go tomorrow."
Rei closed his eyes again. "I. Right? Am. Got that? In. Yeah? Heat. Okay? I- am- in- heat, so if you don't go away, then whatever I do is NOT my fault!"
"In heat? Rei, don't be so pathetic." A shudder passed through Rei's body and he stood up, licking his lips hungrily and looking at Kai as if he wanted to devour him. "Kai...come here..." Kai backed away, but Rei prowled over to him, pinning him against the wall and licking his neck, caressing Kai's hips at the same time. Kai gasped and struggled away. Rei looked hurt. "Please, Kai? I'll play nice. I won't bite...much." He kissed Kai ferociously, then nibbled his ear. "Will you have sex with me Kai? Pleeease? I'll beg..."
"Ack! No! Get off me!"
"Kai, that's not nice...I only want to play..." Rei sucked and licked his way down Kai's neck, brushing his tongue across Kai's collarbone. "Don't you want to be with me? I can make you feel so good, Kai..." His fingers slowly undid Kai's buttons and he yanked off the russian's shirt, eyes fixed on Kai's bare chest.
"Rei...Rei, get OFF me!"
"But you're so sexy...mmm, Kai...you're so beautiful..." Rei's tongue licked across Kai's stomach, slowly getting lower. Kai pushed him away and ran for the door, slamming it in Rei's face. He went back to his own room and locked the door. Now that had been scary...
"Kai? I-I-I-um-uh-um I'mreallysorry!" Burst out Rei after the tournament the next day. He blushed a furious shade of red, and Kai frowned. "Ididn'tmeanto!" Gabbled Rei. "I-I-You wouldn't go away!"
"It's okay. Forget about it."
"You're not angry?"
"No."
Rei breathed a sigh of relief. "Just curious." Continued Kai. "Will you go with anyone in heat, or just people you know? Or... like?"
"Um...It-it depends. Um. If there's someone you know and like, then they're a first choice. Then someone you like. Then someone you know. Then someone you don't. Then someone you don't like."
"What am I then?"
"Um...I-um-know you. And I um-l-like you. Um...excuse me. I have to go...and do...something..." Rei disappeared in a second, leaving Kai with a small smile on his face. He followed Rei into the dojo and stood in the doorway, watching as Rei pounded the training dummy viciously. "Stupid!" He hissed. "What did I tell him for!" With a yell, Rei kicked straight into the dummy's chest. It burst and he carried on, absolutely decimating the poor defenceless thing.
He moved onto the next one, still fuming. "Stupid heat! Rragh!" His fists hammered the dummy's torso like lightning. As Kai watched Rei's hands appeared to blur, then his foot swung round in a wide arc and he vaulted over the dummy, slamming it to the floor in the process. He looked up panting, then froze as he saw Kai.
"Kai."
"Was that really neccessary? I hope you're going to clean up all that fluff..."
Rei frowned. "I didn't know you were a stalker, Kai."
"I'm not."
"Then why did you follow me?" Rei spun, slamming into the dummy and breaking off its arm. "I'm having a hormonal imbalace at the minute, and I'm either going to kiss you or kick you, so go away for a bit!"
"You're acting really weird, Rei. This isn't like you..."
"No, it's not like me!" Rei kicked the dummy forcefully and it landed a couple of metres away. "It's me with a lot of anger! So go away, because I don't know what to do with it and I'll end up doing something stupid! Just leave me alone for a while!"
"Rei...what are you doing?" Asked Kai as Rei started kicking and punching into mid-air. Rei leaped in the air, somersaulting over to the dummy and ramming his fists into its face. "I don't know. I'm so angry. I'm full of tension and energy and rage, I don't know what I'm doing..."
Kai stepped forward and touched Rei's shoulder. Instantly Rei grabbed his arm and twisted it, throwing Kai away. He leaped after him and under him, so that Kai fell onto Rei's back. Rei flipped and somehow ended up on top of Kai. His eyes were full of burning power, and Kai was suddenly scared.
"Rei-" His words were suddenly cut off by Rei's lips. They forced his own apart and then Rei's tongue probed in, ravaging Kai's mouth. Kai tried to pull away, but Rei held him down, giving low animal moans. "Kai..." Rei bit down on Kai's shoulder and Kai cried out.
"Rei, get off me!" He heard a low rumble and felt a vibration against his neck. Rei was...purring? "Rei, stop it! I don't-" Another fierce kiss, and Rei's hands started to wander down Kai's sides. He gasped, then struggled. "Rei, STOP IT!"
"No...I don't want to...I want you..."
"NO!" With an immense effort Kai shoved Rei off him, sending the neko-jin sprawling. Rei hit the floor hard, and something in him seemed to give. He sat up, blinking and shaking his head. As his eyes focused on Kai, his face drained of all colour. "Kai...I-I'm so sorry...I..."
"Don't- speak to me."
"K-Kai...I-"
"I said don't." Kai stood up and walked away, leaving Rei sitting there, his mind in total turmoil.
Rei spent the next week avoiding Kai. His favourite way of doing so was hiding up on of the many trees around, tall ones that he knew Kai had no hope of climbing. Or, if it was raining, he would go and hide away in the kitchen, cooking and baking until he managed to distract himself from what was actually going on.
He didn't go to training, and Kai didn't press him to. Well, Kai wasn't talking to him anyway. He just spent his time glaring. The only words he had actually spoken to Rei all week were "Pass me the salt." No please, no thank you, just 'Pass me the salt'.
Max had noticed, and had asked Rei what was wrong. With a heavy heart Rei had explained. Max hadn't inquired any further after that. Tyson too had noticed, but he surmised that there was no point asking because they'd sort it out anyway.
One Tuesday, a week and a half after the incident in the dojo, Rei was cooking again. He was making bread, mixing in bits of banana and apricot. He kneaded it fiercely, pummelling it as hard as he could. As soon as he noticed what he was doing, Rei stopped. He started doing it properly, then heard a splashing sound. He looked down and saw two blobs of water on the dough. Then another one. And another. Then he realised what it was; he was crying...
He sniffed and put the dough in the tin, clicking on the timer and putting it in the oven. Then he leaned against the counter, sliding to the floor and holding his head in his hands. He was still sobbing when the timer went off two hours later.
Tyson came in looking for food, and Rei shot to his feet, turning away. Too late. "Rei, are you crying?" Rei didn't answer. He slipped on some oven gloves and got the bread out. It was perfect. The crust was golden brown and smooth, and it smelled delicious. But it wasn't solving anything, perfect as it was. Rei put it down then leaned his elbows against the worktop, sobbing into his hands.
Tyson put a hand on his shoulder. "Rei, what's up? Why are you crying?"
"Because of him..."
"Him?"
"Kai..." Breathed Rei, tears rampaging down his cheeks.
"Yeah, I noticed you two were being a bit...you know...with each other..."
"Tyson...do you know what heat is?"
Tyson blinked, puzzled. "Isn't it what cats get?" Then he put two and two together and got an approximation of four. "You... get that?" Rei nodded, then started wailing again.
"He wouldn't go away! I couldn't...stop myself..." He slammed a hand onto the worktop and it collided with the hot bread-tin. He screamed and snatched his hand away, crying harder. He sank to the floor and curled up on himself, snivelling. "It's not even my fault...I warned him..." He took a shuddering breath and lay there, without the will or energy to do anything but cry.
Tyson panicked, and ran to find the first person he could find. Unfortunately, that person happened to be Kai. "Kon, get up and stop being so pathetic." Rei ignored him, licking his burnt hand, still crying. Kai was fast losing his patience. He gripped Rei's arms and tried to pull him up, but Rei twisted away, falling back to the floor. "If you've burnt it you need to put it in water, not lick it!" Growled Kai contemptuously. Rei put his arms over his head, curling up further. Kai's eyes swept the room, then settled on a large pasta dish. He picked it up and filled it with water, then flung it at Rei's hand. Unfortunately, most of it missed and hit the neko-jin everywhere -but- his hand.
Rei shot up, going from lying flat on the ground to standing in one fluid motion. He turned away from Kai pointedly. "You've ruined my bread."
"It's just bread. Stop being so stupid."
Rei clenched his fists, then picked up the bread, tin and all, and hurled it at Kai. In his fury, he missed, and the tin sailed through the windown, shattering the glass. Rei looked down at his burnt hands and then up at Kai, his eyes lit with anger. "I cried into that bread, because of YOU! And maybe that sounds cliched but it's -true!" He yelled, clenching and unclenching his abused fingers into fists.
"Yeah? Well I'm not the psycho rapist around here!"
"NO! Don't even think about trying that! I WARNED you, but you always think you're too clever to need warning! It's not my fault at all! If you'd LISTENED for a change, it wouldn't have happened once, let alone TWICE! You're acting like it's MY fault you never listen!" Screamed Rei. "I take back every kind word I ever said about you, Kai Hiwatari! You don't care about anyone but YOURSELF! You're cold and cruel and heartless and I HATE you!"
He turned on his heel and stalked out of the kitchen, running up the stairs to his room and slamming the door. He reappeared a minute later, with a bag over his shoulder. He stormed to the front door and wrenched it open. Someone caught his arm and he whirled round, leg spinning and tripping Tyson over. "Get off me. Don't touch me. I'm going!" He ran, scrabbled up one of his favourite trees and leapt, sailing over the wall and landing outside. He ran away as fast as he could, with no idea where he was going.
Hours later, and Rei was beginning to realise how stupid he'd been for running away. But...he still hadn't forgiven Kai. It was as if some sort of veil had been lifted from his eyes and he saw Kai as he really was; cold and horrible. He sniffed, tears beginning to well up in his eyes again. He had always known Kai wasn't particularly kind or generous, but he'd always thought he would...could...change. But now he knew. Kai would never change. He rounded another corner into another unfamiliar street, and suddenly realised that he was lost.
He kept walking, slowly now, because he was tired, and tried to find a hotel. There didn't seem to be any around, until finally he found one, tucked away in a cul-de-sac. He pushed the door open thankfully, beginning to feel hopeful. "Do you have any rooms free?"
"No."
Rei's heart dropped into his shoes. "Oh. A-are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Um. Do you know any other hotels around here?"
"No."
Rei looked at the floor, feeling tears fill his eyes. He felt like collapsing, he felt like screaming, he felt like laying down right there on the floor and sobbing. Everything was going wrong!
"Rei?" Rei turned to find a familiar masked face behind him.
"Oh. Um. Hi Mystel." He said, dragging up a smile from somewhere within himself. Mystel frowned.
"What's wrong?" Rei hesitated for a moment, then began to speak. Who knew, maybe talking about it would help him understand it all. "I ran away from Tyson's. I...um...had a really big argument with Kai. And now I'm lost, and I don't know where to go, and there are no rooms and...I'm sure you don't want to listen to my problems." Rei sighed. "I'll just have to find somewhere else. Um. Bye." He walked past Mystel, heading for the door.
"Wait. Um...you can share my room if you need to. I had to get a double...they didn't have any singles." Rei turned, not daring to hope that something was finally going right. Mystel smiled uncertainly, and Rei felt like kissing him. "Um. Are you sure it's okay?"
"Yeah. You look like you need a hand."
Rei nodded and followed Mystel down the corridor to room 14. He put his bag down on the unoccupied bed and collapsed next to it. Mystel watched him with concern. Something was definitely very wrong here... His eyes caught the livid burns on Rei's hands and he frowned. "What happened to your hands?"
"Oh. I...burnt them..." Mystel could see by the guarded expression on Rei's face that he wasn't getting the full story.
"You want to talk about about it?"
"You want to hear about it?" Mystel nodded, so Rei told him everything. From that first second in Kai's room, to the moment he'd started running away from the house, everything. As he listened, Mystel began to feel slowly more and more angry towards Kai, and more and more sorry for Rei. As he finished, the neko-jin was almost crying again, so Mystel sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "He's not worth crying over after the way he's treated you. I always knew Kai was a bit antisocial, but I never thought he was -that- bad."
"He made it feel like it was -my- fault..."
"Even when it wasn't." Mystel put his other arm around Rei and hugged him. However, Rei didn't answer. When Mystel looked down he could see that it was because the neko-jin was asleep, breathing purry little snores. He loked over at the clock. It was already half-ten. He and Rei had been talking for ages...he leaned back against the wall with Rei still in his arms and fell asleep.
When Rei woke up the next morning, he was quite surprised to find himself in Mystel's arms. However, he soon remembered why he was. And the reason he wasn't at Tyson's house like he should have been...
He looked up at Mystel. The blonde blader looked peaceful, and because he didn't have his mask on, Rei could see all of his delicate eyelashes. In truth, Mystel's eyes were quite girlish, but nothing much else was very feminine about him; his arms and chest were well muscled, and his fingers, though long, were coarse and roughened. And Rei would know, seeing as said fingers were pressed against his back and neck.
Mystel gave a small groan and muttered something. He opened his eyes a few seconds later, looking down at Rei sleepily. Rei quickly pretended to be asleep. Mystel, not realising that Rei was actually awake, stroked his fingers through Rei's hair. "How could anyone yell at you? It would be like yelling at a little kitten. Hmm. Well, you are part cat..." He laughed softly. "'Kitten'...it suits you." Mystel resettled himself, holding Rei a little closer. "Kai's such an idiot. How could he treat you like that?" Soft lips pressed against Rei's cheek, and he fought to stop himself from speaking. "-I- wouldn't mind if you tried to seduce me..."
"Pervert." Said Rei dryly, unable to stop the comment escaping.
"Purrvert yourself for pretending to be asleep." Retorted Mystel, recovering quickly. "Were you listening to all of that?"
"Yes."
"Eavesdropping is naughty, kitten."
"So is kissing people when you think they're asleep."
Mystel laughed and tickled Rei's neck. Rei writhed and tickled him back. Somehow, after a lengthy battle, they both ended up on the floor, sprawled around each other, panting. Rei looked down at Mystel, then slowly, slowly, his head moved down, and he kissed Mystel gently. He pulled away as Mystel's arms grasped his waist, looking down uncertainly. Somehow it suddenly he felt as if he'd known Mystel all his life. He wasn't uneasy around him, even this close up.
He leaned down again, and this time the kiss lasted longer. Mystel caressed his cheek as he broke away, smiling. "I'm almost glad Kai made you run away...or we wouldn't be doing this now..."
Rei nodded and laid his head on Mystel's chest. "They'll probably be worried about me..."
"Well you can phone them. But first..." Mystel wriggled out from under Rei and stood up. "I'm going to get a shower. Care to join me?"
Rei laughed and followed Mystel into the ensuite. Kai and the others could wait...
fin