Hello! Thank you SO MUCH, Lightning-Dono, Mandi, and a fan for your reviews. I'm so sorry about the lack of updates. Okay, I'd better stop dallying so here's chapter twelve.

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Chapter Twelve-Kai's Past

Kai sat in his old Seaside Lodge, thinking pensively. There must be something I can do to teach that little brat a lesson, he told himself, but just then, his heart softened a bit. His mind wandered back deep into his past, back to when he first arrived in Mineral Town as a teenager. He wasn't always the bitter man he was now.

About Thirteen Years Earlier

"Get out of here!" a shrill, fearsome voice bellowed from across the hall. Kai quickly sneaked through the door and past the room where all the yelling was coming from. Next, he heard a large crash and a scream. "Look what you did!" the voice yelled again. Then another large crash followed, and a woman exited the room. She quickly took notice of Kai, and rushed to him.

Embracing him, she quickly muttered, "You've got to leave, son. It's getting worse. Here." She handed him a pouch full of money. "This should cover a boat trip, but you have to get out of here now." Kai, fear teeming in his innocent eyes, quickly did what his mother told him to, and ran away from his home. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the docks in the city, and bought himself a ride to a far away place called…Mineral Town.

"What am I gonna' do?" the troubled teen questioned himself. "I have no one to turn to, and not to mention no way to earn a living." He sank his face into his hands, overwhelmed and upset, but before he could sink even deeper into self-pity, the boat he was aboard docked in Mineral Town. He quickly got up, grabbed his bags, and walked out to the deck. Handing the shipman his ticket, he stared out onto the beach. It looked so lonely and desolate with only a small beach house sitting upon it.

"Thank you. You can step off now, sir," the boatman replied. Kai gingerly nodded, and stepped off the boat.

"What now?" he asked himself, but suddenly, a short man in a red suit approached him.

"Hello," the little man greeted, "I'm the mayor of Mineral Town. My name's Thomas." He cordially offered his hand to Kai, and Kai cautiously shook it. Kai wasn't sure if he could trust anyone.

"Uhh, could you tell me if there's any place to stay around here?"

"Oh certainly! There's an inn right up ahead."

"Thanks." Kai then pushed past the quirky mayor and began towards the inn. He stole glances around him as he walked down the rustic cobblestone road. "Gosh, this place must be farther away from the world than I thought," he muttered to himself. "It's more remote than Mayberry." Then, hand gently rapping the door to the inn, Kai waited for a reply. Immediately, a redheaded girl who looked about his age answered the door.

"Come on in," she kindly offered with a smile. "Would you like a vacancy?" Kai nodded, although he wasn't sure if the small bit of money he had left would be able to pay for it. "Here, you can talk to my dad, the innkeeper."

"Uh, sir?" he began to the man. "I-I don't have much money, but I really need a place to stay… I-I plan on getting a job." Kai wasn't sure what impelled him to say that, but he was getting in deeper and deeper by the minute.

"No problem," the innkeeper replied. "I'm pretty understanding." And with that said and done, he handed Kai a room key. Kai took it and trudged up the stairs to his room. Distraught and dismayed, he layed on a bed and wondered what he would do tomorrow. How am I gonna' get a job, he asked himself over and over until he finally dozed off.

The next day, Kai found himself wandering out to the beach. He stared at the waves, regretting that he'd ever left home. But then, out of nowhere it seemed, two voices conversing meandered to his ears. One of the voices sounded very confident, but the other sounded just a bit timid. Kai looked around to see where the noise was coming from and realized that the voices were carrying on from the little beach house he'd seen when he'd first set foot on the beach. Inching in closer and closer, he desperately tried to understand the faint mumbling, but just when he was beginning to understand the jumbled speech, he heard a sharp "Deal!" from the confident voice. And immediately afterwards, a strange-looking man with a yellow suit on exited the beach house and accidently bumped into Kai.

"Hey kid, you should be more careful," the strange man admonished.

"Excuse me, sir," Kai began, summoning forth all the confidence he could muster. "Um, would you happen to know of any jobs available in this town?" Instantly, a cheery chuckle escaped the man's lips.

"Ha! Tryin' to find a job here is like tryin' to find a needle in a haystack…without a needle!" The man laughed a laugh just as confident as his voice again. "Say kid, I like you. My name's Won."

"I'm Kai."

"Well, I think I can dig somethin' up for ya'. How'd you like to be my assistant manager?"

"Really?"

"Sure!"

"What do you do?"

"Heheh, I'm a travelin' salesman." Kai looked at him strangely for a moment. "But Itend to stick around here for awhile." Won then took a look at Kai, and made him say a few things. "Well, your gonna' need some work, but you'll do." And that was the start of Kai's life in Mineral Town.

Over the next few seasons, Won taught Kai how to be a salesman.

"Now," Won began, "one of the crucial techniques in the salesworld is appearance. You have to stand up straight, look 'em in the eye, and—Oh! We've got to do something about those clothes of yours, and you'll need a haircut, but we can take care of that later. Anyway, appearance is important, but what is more important is, yeah you guessed it, charisma! You hear how confident and strong my voice is? That's how I got to where I am today. I never would've left the doghouse had I not worked on this. You'll never be able to sell anything with that timid little attitude of yours. You've got to sound confident; add a little pazazz. It's really good if you can develop an attitude. That, my friend, is the most important ability in this business." Kai took every word to heart, and by the time it was spring, Kai'd become an entirely new person. He'd left the timid little kid behind, and made an exellent assistant manager for Won. Pretty soon, Won encouraged him to branch off and start his own business. This became the inspiration for the Seaside Lodge.

So he met with Gotz the carpenter one day, and asked if he'd build him a little shack on the beach. In return, he offered to help build it. Gotz gladly agreed, and they started building right away. Within two weeks, Kai had his own salesshack on the beach. He, remembering what Won had told him about appearance, painted the shack white, and then painted light blue designs around the edges. He also hung a red and white striped banner on the front of the shack.

In the beginning, his sales rocketed because of the town's remarkable curiosity, but it later wore off and regular sales set in. Kai was used to the occasional customer who wandered onto the beach, but one day a not so average Mineral Town citizen approached his lodge.

Kai was loading some supplies off of a ship, as it was his seasonly supply for the Seaside Lodge, and just as he hoisted the last box into his shack, he heard tiny footsteps on the concrete stairs to the beach. Turning around, he realized it was a runaway chicken. What an odd thing to be running around on the beach, he thought to himself. Curiosity reaching its peak, he quickly grabbed the chicken and identified it as a common hen. Then, a young girl ran down the steps, making huffing noises as if she'd been running for awhile.

"There you are!" her chipper voice chimed, directed at the hen. "Oh!" Instantly, her hand flew to cup her mouth in surprise. Kai looked down at the hen and realized that it was hers so he gently handed it to her. "Th-thanks," she replied, blushing the most adorable shade of pink that matched her unique hair.

"No problem," he expressed confidently. But a voice calling 'Popuri' off in the distance impelled her to turn her head.

"I-I have to go." And in a split-second, she vanished.

"Popuri," Kai repeated to himself. "That's an interesting name." From his first impression, he thought nothing more of her than any other customer he'd met, but he did sense something about her that was quite perculiar. But his thoughts were again interrupted when a boy with orange hair who looked about Kai's age stood at the top of the steps, staring at Kai in the most bizarre way. The boy soon took off, leaving Kai only to shrug and continue on with his day.

As summer came to an end, Kai decided that he must escape Mineral Town's winter, fierce and utterly boring. Besides, he loved warm places and hated cold places. So it was that year that he began the annual tradition of retreating down south at the end of summer until the next summer. He quite enjoyed his trips down south because it was nice to escape the naïve nature of Mineral Town. He'd grown up in the city anyway so he felt more at home there. And he also had come to be a salesman there, but before long, Kai found himself returning to Mineral Town for the summer.

When he returned, he was quite relieved to find that the quaint town hadn't changed a bit. He easily got back into the swing of things at the Seaside Lodge, but unfortunately, he was having trouble keeping up with his payments at the inn thanks to poor sales in the city. But for the time being, he shoved it aside and concentrated on his work.

Kai was quite surprised to find that the first customer he had was the young, pink-haired girl he'd encountered the year before. She formally introduced herself as Popuri, and Kai introduced himself as well. She made very frequent visits to the Seaside Lodge, and they soon became friends. She was so flambuoyant, and Kai deeply enjoyed her company. Like any typical guy, he showed off and used a lot of cocky salesman talk, and Popuri loved it. Loyal, she would say goodbye to him at the end of each summer and wait for him to return, and although Kai was grateful for the friendship, he was a bit hesitant to get too close to her.

But the one major thorn in his side was Popuri's overprotective brother, Rick, who was the orange-haired boy that had stared at him that one summer. He seemed to make Popuri miserable, and he and Kai became bitter enemies. Rick couldn't stand Kai, and in return, Kai couldn't stand Rick. And thanks to Kai's salesman techniques, he won Popuri's affection over Rick's incessant nagging every time. Every time he'd throw in one of his smirks or a smart aleck remark, Popuri would take his side. It became an ongoing battle within the family too. Popuri's mother, Lillia, also liked him, which made Rick even more furious.

But summer after summer Kai would return and continue to woo Popuri even more. He'd easily won over the hearts of the entire town, except for Rick that is. But his sales were declining, and his debt to the inn was getting worse. It got so bad that he went to the only person he could turn to for help, Won.

"Hey Kai!" Won greeted that same confident tone when Kai showed up at his 'doorstep.'

"I need some help," Kai replied, dodging his actual reason for coming.

"What'cha' need help with?"

"…I'm in debt."

"Aha! Don't worry old boy. I've been in debt myself, but I have the perfect solution for ya'." Won then handed him a small card, which he read aloud.

"Saturday Night Poker?"

"Easy money, boy, easy money."

"Gambling? Is that really such a good idea?"

"Don't worry 'bout it! If it'll work for me, it'll work for you." So, having the trust he did in Won, he took his advice and attended the weekly Saturday night gamble at Zack's beach house. In no time, he had his debt at the inn paid off with even some money left over.

"This is the perfect solution," he chimed to himself.

But just as things were speeding up in his moneymaking, they were going twice as fast in his relationship with Popuri. He was stunned when she begged him to take her down south with him.

"What!" he exclaimed when she'd first asked him.

"Pleeeease, Kai," she begged. "I won't get in your way, I promise. I hate it here. Rick just doesn't leave me alone about you." Then, she threw the ultimate guilt trip and started crying. Unable to refuse the shaking, sobbing bundle of cotton candy hair, he made a plan that would buy him some time and hopefully satisfy her.

"Ok, ok." Popuri instantly ceased her crying. "If you can just hack it for one more year while I make arrangements in the city…I promise that we'll get married as soon as I come back." Popuri just sat there stunned for a moment, but as soon as she snapped out of her trance, she planted a kiss on Kai's lips. "Okay?" he confirmed, pulling her off for a moment.

"Okay!"

True to his word, he made arrangements for them in the city and returned to Mineral Town for his wedding on Summer 1. For the first time in a long time, he actaully felt happiness, but it was short lived.

Rick was absolutely furious about the wedding, but Lillia prevented him from using violence. Rick went into a very confused state also.

And all too soon, it was time for Kai to leave for the city…with Popuri along with him. He wasn't quite sure how they'd manage, but decided that he'd figure it out later…big mistake.

When they were settled into their new apartment, Popuri wanted to constantly be with him, but he had to pay off debts. He calmly explained that he just didn't have the time, but she threw frequent fits. Feeling pulled in all directions, Kai went back to gambling, but he also began the major thing that had destroyed his childhood and was about to destroy his life now, drinking.

From the moment he turned to the bottle for help, everything went downhill, and Kai hit rock bottom when Popuri told him that she was pregnant. The frustration of supporting Popuri and a baby drove him to the bottle even more and he turned bitter and angry, and Popuri became utterly depressed.

When summer crept up again, he dumped Popuri and sent her back to Mineral Town…with baby Danny. Weedling even deeper into the mess he'd created, he prepared divorce papers for her to sign. He knew Popuri would come back, and his plan was to divorce her, win custody of the child, and collect child support to pay off his debts. It was a weak plan, but the drinking had messed with his reasoning. But when Popuri returned without the baby, his plan went haywire and he forced Popuri to find work. Broken to pieces, he fought with her for years, trying to get her to sign the divorce papers, but she stubbornly refused. Then, around the time Danny turned seven-years-old, Kai lost it and confined Popuri to the apartment. Soon afterwards, Kai left to collect his son…and carry out his plan.

Mind blurring back into the present, Kai looked at what he'd become: evil. There's no going back now, he told himself.

Hi! Ann Fan here. Sorry to get so dramatic, but I got a bit carried away. Once I started writing this chapter, I just couldn't stop typing. Thanks for reading. Later!