Kai's eyes travelled around the room. In one of the large leather seats sat two of his friends, Spencer Vyacheslav, though people tended to call him Spence, and Bryan Kuznetsov. Spencer was snuggled deeply into his chest and Bryan was absent-mindedly running his fingers through his soft blonde hair. Another of his friends, Tala Ivanov, was sitting on the main settee beside him, flicking through the endless TV channels of Sky Digital.
"You know, its amazing, for having hundreds of channels, there's always shit all to watch." He said, more to himself than to any one else.
Kai chuckled to himself. His eyes wandered over to the very corner of the room, where a small figure was sitting comfortably on a bean bag chair, quietly reading a book. The boy was Tala's good friend, Rei Kon. His raven bangs fell over his face and her golden eyes moved from side to side as he read. He was an extremely quiet boy, who would rather keep himself to himself instead of socialising all the time. Kai noticed that his arms and even a part of his neck were dotted with little scars.
"What are those off?" He wondered. He soon became aware that he was staring, when Rei glanced at him from above his book and then snuggled down deeper into the bean bag, making sure that the book covered his face. He looked away.
Kai was relatively new in town at this point. The twenty year old had travelled from his small home village in Russia to take part in an Architectural Course at a College in Japan, and that was where he had met Tala. Naturally they became friends and Tala was even kind enough to introduce him to other people, including Spencer and Bryan. He had been in Japan for just about two months now, and Tala had invited him over to his home to hang out with them all.
"Well Tala, I hate to break it to you, but I think your guests are bored, well apart from Rei anyway." Spencer spoke up.
"Why don't you suggest something entertaining then and I'll do my best to make it happen." Tala snapped back.
"Hey, come on now don't argue, why don't we just watch a DVD? Put that new one on that you bought yesterday Tala." Bryan suggested.
"What, Interview with a Vampire? Alright then, I'll go and get it." Tala leapt up out off the sofa and bounded up the stairs. Kai laughed as he missed a step and tripped up. Movement in the corner of his eye made him turn the other way. Rei was making his way to the kitchen. Deciding to speak to him, Kai in turn stood up and traced his footsteps into the quiet kitchen.
He was turned away from him, putting a teabag into a large mug. He hadn't noticed Kai enter the room, as he didn't turn around when he made his way over to him. Putting a hand to Rei's shoulder he spoke.
"Hi Rei, I…He was cut short when Rei jumped at his touch and snapped around to face him, panic in his eyes. Kai looked at him, shocked to see how terrified he was, and then came to his senses and began to apologise.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you, I just wanted to come and say hello." He said. Rei relaxed a little, and then stepped away from him.
"Its Ok, I just don't like people sneaking up on me, or touching me for that matter." Was all he replied, giving what Kai thought, was a slightly accusing look.
"Well, I'll know better next time wont I?" He tried to make some sort of joke to lighten the air between them, but at this, Rei did not smile. He merely nodded, then turned to make the rest of his tea. Thinking that it would be quite ignorant to not say anything after Kai had made the effort to talk to him, Rei offered him a cup of tea.
"Yeah, that would be great." Kai smiled at him. He's such a beautiful boy…but there's something about him." Kai thought. Rei was taken aback by this sudden act of kindness towards him. Turning his attention back to stirring the tea he frowned slightly, not knowing how to respond to the attention Kai was giving him.
"So, do you live here?" Kai spoke again. Rei handed him his freshly made drink and then made his way to the big oak kitchen table that was in the room and sat down. Kai took this as an opportunity to continue his conversation with him, and sat in the seat opposite.
"Yes, I do." Rei replied, and took a small sip of his tea. Kai noticed that he didn't talk much, but continued none the less.
"I would have thought you'd still be living with your parents, most students do these days." Kai instantly new he'd said the wrong words at the look on the boys face. Rei stared down at his tea sadly and didn't say anything. So taking a drink of his tea, Kai changed the subject.
"How old are you?" He questioned. Rei looked up from his drink.
"Eighteen." He said with a small sigh. A long silence followed, during which Rei silently glanced at the dual hair, trying to figure him out. Why is he being this nice to me? He knew from experience that guys are only nice to you if they want something. But there was something about this guy, he seems really sweet. He thought. The raven hair turned his head and looked in the direction of the living room. When he looked back, he found that Kai was staring at him with his deep crimson eyes. Rei felt a slight blush run across his face and quickly lifted his tea to his face and took a sip in an attempt to cover his embarrassment. Kai saw this and smiled, taking a drink of his own tea. Deciding that there had been enough silence, and to rid the poor boy of his embarrassment, he clearly isn't used to this sort of attention, Kai thought, he asked him some more questions, mostly about college and what he did there, and how long he had known Tala. During this conversation he found out that Bryan was also a good friend, though he had known Tala a lot longer. He also got the feeling that Rei wasn't used to conversations like this. He wondered why he was so quiet, especially with loud mouthed friends like Tala, Spencer and Bryan.
Kai had just started to explain about his Architecture Course, when there was a sharp knock at the door. Tala's voice called through to the kitchen.
"Will you get that Rei?" He said lazily. Kai laughed.
"Typical Tala!" He said. Rei sighed, stood up and made his way to the door. He opened it to reveal Tyson Granger. He was wearing slightly baggy, blue denim jeans and a loose black t-shirt. He was also dripping wet, as it was pouring down out side. For a moment, the two looked at each other, Tyson with a slightly confused, not-knowing-what-to-say, look on his face, Rei a mixture of anger, fear and sadness. Kai stared at the two of them. He knew Tyson and had never seen him act like this before. Rei left the door open and walked quickly out of the room. Kai stood up and watched him go, instincts telling him to go after him; instead he turned to Tyson, who shrugged. Tyson closed the door behind him and he and Kai went into the living room, to be greeted by three more confused faces. When they saw that it was Tyson, the three friends were no longer confused. Kai spoke.
"Where'd Rei go? He seemed pretty upset." He sounded genuinely concerned. Tala looked at him.
"We were just watching the DVD, when he flew into the room, grabbed his book and then ran upstairs. He was crying to I think." He looked up the stairs sadly.
"When is he gonna stop blaming me for all this? Tyson spoke, I didn't even do anything. He knows I'm on his side." He too, looked up the stairs with a sad look on his face. Kai didn't have a clue what they were talking about, and he thought it best not to interfere.
"I don't think he blames you for what happened Tyson, Spencer replied, maybe you just remind him about it all."
"Yeah, plus at the start you did sort of go against him, but he's forgiven you for that." Tala added.
"Rei and I used to be really good friends though, I miss that. Maybe I should go and talk to him about it, get it sorted once and for all." Tyson suggested thoughtfully. Kai sat down beside Tala again.
"That's a great idea Tyson, but not now while he's upset. You know how he likes to deal with his emotions, just ride it out on his own. He'll be alright." Tala said knowingly. Tyson nodded then sat down. He started to explain to Tala and the others why he'd come over. Kai stopped listening. He stared up the stairs. What was that all about? I hope he's ok; there must be something deeper to him than meets the eye. I really like him though; maybe I'll come round tomorrow and see if he wants to do something together. And with that thought in mind, he settled back in his seat, watching a vampire bite into a woman's neck.