Tala didn't sleep much that night, he kept looking at Kai.

He hadn't wanted to be right. But he was. Kai was scared of being alone, yet he tried to push everyone away, afraid they would betray him like his Grandfather had. Tala didn't blame him really, he'd feel the same way too, but he wished he'd known earlier.

He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the younger Russian breathing. He held him tightly and drifted back to sleep…

Rei, Max and Tyson were already waiting downstairs for Kai when he went into the kitchen for his usual morning cup of coffee. The three younger boys weren't quite sure what to say to him or how to bring the subject up of Tala. They were all well aware of how Kai would react when they found out they had been listening to the short argument he'd had last night.

"What's up with you lot this morning?" Kai asked when he saw the three gloomy faces

"Nothing." Tyson replied quickly

Kai looked at him "Doesn't seem like nothing." He said slightly sharply

Tyson looked away from Kai, so did Max. Rei didn't move.

"There is something up with you lot today but seems as you won't tell me, we'll start training now. " The Russian left the rest of his coffee, "come on then."

"Argh, im all stiff." Moaned Tyson

Max looked at the Japanese and grinned cheekily, "really, what over if I might ask."

"Training you fool," he replied dryly

Max laughed, "Oh cheer up Ty."

"How can I when Kai's got Tala here and he hasn't even told us!"

Rei nodded in agreement

"Why didn't he tell us though?" Max questioned

"I don't know."

"Maybe we should ask him"

Max looked at Tyson, "We could. Tala being here does explain his behaviour over the past few days."

"Exactly! You in Rei?"

"I dunno. I would like to know what's going on too, but we shouldn't have been ear wigging."

"Yeah well, its not our fault they started yelling is it? If they didn't want us to know they should have kept the noise down."

Suddenly Max started laughing again

"What?" the blue haired blade breaker asked

"I know why you thought you kept seeing ghosts Ty"

"Huh?"

"It was Tala playing tricks on you!"

Rei started laughing too, Tyson's mouth hung open like a gold fish.

Tala found Kai as quickly as he could, "they know."

"Know what?"

"That I'm here! They heard us arguing last night."

Kai turned away, "What did they say?"

"Well Max guessed it was me messing around with Tyson, and Tyson is trying to get the other two to confront you about me."

"I kind of liked the fact they didn't know."

"So did I. It meant I didn't have to put up with them. I'm sure Rei's not so bad but I've seen you after a bad day with Tyson and sometimes when Max has had too much sugar. I don't know why you put up with it."

Kai sighed, "sometimes im not so sure either." He turned back to Tala and smiled slightly, "but like you said, I have you now."

Max, Rei and Tyson made their way slowly to the living room, it was one of the only places they hadn't looked in yet for him.

They stopped just before going in, "He's in there." Rei said, " Lets get this over and done with."

"Kai, we need to…" Tyson stopped mid sentence when he saw Tala lying on the sofa reading, Kai sitting next to him talking quietly.

"Oh hi." The red head looked over the top of his book at them

"What do you need to do Tyson?"

"Uhh," Tyson looked back to Kai, "we need to talk to you."

"Well go on then."

"Yeah but…"

"No. If you've all got something to say you can say it now, seems as I can already make a guess as to what its about."

At first none of them said anything until Rei realised the other 2 weren't about to say anything, "we heard you and Tala arguing last night, and what we'd like to know is why you didn't tell us."

"I didn't think it had anything to do with you."

"Oh come on Kai, you did ask them to stay." Tala said patronisingly.

Kai glared at Tala, "It was your idea."

"Hey! Don't blame it all on me!"

Kai smiled "Why not?"

"We didn't come here to listen to you 2 arguing" Tyson interrupted

"Well you did last night" Kai's tone was cold

"That's because we were worried" Max said

"I'm sure you were" Kai said dryly

"We were. We know you can probably look after your self but we still want to make sure your ok." Rei was beginning to feel angry.

Kai stood up and stood next to the fire "it still doesn't give you any excuse to listen…"

"Why do you always push everyone away Kai?"

Tala looked at Rei, "because of who he is"

"He didn't ask you," growled Tyson

"He's right though, it is who I am. I don't want people to get close to me because I don't trust them."

"But why Kai? You know you can trust us."

"Just because you say I can Max, doesn't mean to say its true."

"But it is!" the American protested, "We trust you. I mean we may not always get on, but I still trust you. And we thought you trusted us"

"He's right you know" Tala said quietly "Not everyone's like Voltaire"

Kai closed his eyes "I know"

Tala stood next to the younger boy and put his hand on his shoulder, blocking the others view of Kai's face, so they couldn't hear what either of them was saying.

"You need to let go of it Kai. They do care about you and you can trust them. No matter how annoying they are."

"Why are you always right about things like this?"

Tala smiled, "Well, let me see, because I'm such a wonderful person and everyone loves me and…" Tala stopped when he saw Kai smile slightly "that's better, now lets get back to this talk you're having with your team mates."

"So?" Tyson asked

"I suppose you're right." Kai said grudgingly, even though that's not how he felt, after all, he had to keep up appearances, "I shouldn't have kept it from you and" he looked at Max "I have no reason not to trust you all"

"Glad you've come round" Max smiled

"I can't believe you apologised!" Tyson's eyes were wide

"You're full of surprises aren't you Hiwirati" Rei said

Kai shrugged and walked out

"I suppose you had a hand in that" Rei turned to Tala, still smiling "why?"

"What can I say, I care about the cold hearted bastard too."

Kai lent against the wall next to the doorway, a smile small smile on his face, listening to the conversation they were having. They didn't seem to be trying to kill each other, which didn't really surprise him that much.

Hope that was ok!

Anyone else have loads of coursework that has to be in soon? It sucks so very much.