Hello all. I'm really sorry but at the minute I'm having a bit of a family crisis so posting's going to get slower and I haven't really got time to reply to all the reviews I got...I do appreciate it though. Here's the next chapter:

"Hello Kai, hello Lapushka!" Rei called cheerfully as he entered the room. Kai was lying on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, so Rei sat down between his spread legs, prodding his knee. Kai jumped and looked up, then smiled. "Dobre den." Rei stuck out his tongue and leaned against the wall. Kai looked at him, puzzled, but Rei just giggled, crawling further up between his legs and snuggling into his chest. "I won! I won my match but I have a cold and I'm all hyper off the medicine!" He giggled. Kai nodded and made Lapushka climb up Rei's arm and headbutt him gently, sitting up and leaning against Rei slightly.

Rei laughed and kissed the little bear's nose. "How are you?" Kai pulled a face, sitting up. "They're not still...you know...drugging you, are they?" Kai shook his head, gathering Rei's loose hair into his arms and fluffing it up. Lapushka appeared through the curtain of his hair and nuzzled into his neck. Rei laughed, throwing his arms around Kai's neck spontaneously. Kai, surprised, fell back, with Rei leaning on top of him. "Speak to me, Kai."

"Niet."

"Well then I'll speak to you. Tyson won as well, but Max lost. And I was talking to Tala, and he asked how you were, and he told me to tell you that he's going to ask Mr. D if he can come and see you." He smiled. "You know what I miss, Kai? I miss hearing you telling us all to shut up and get on with training. It just isn't the same when I have to say it, and I usually end up giving up and just letting them off early..." He leaned a little closer, so that the tips of their noses touched. "I miss you talking to me about important things, Kai. Tyson has no opinions, Max doesn't either, and Kenny talks in binary..."

"Ya tebya lyublyu, Rei..." Kai whispered, reaching up a hand to touch Rei's cheek. "Stoyreadam..."

"Well...I don't understand the first bit, but of course I'll stay with you. They'll kick me out in a couple of hours, but I'll stay as long as I can." Kai blinked, and traced his fingers across Rei's lips.

"Ya tebya lyublyu."

"I don't understand...could you...sign it or something?"

Kai hesitated for a second, then tightened his hold on Rei, pulling him closer so that their lips touched in a brief, chaste kiss. "Kraseevah..." Kai kissed him again, closing his eyes as Rei's widened in shock. "Ya tebya lyublyu." Kai pointed to himself, to his chest, and then to Rei. Rei gaped at him.

"Okay...I might be understanding it all wrong but...are you telling me...you love me?" Kai nodded, looking slightly fearful. "Kai, I..." Rei hesitated. "I...don't take this the wrong way, but...I...I don't think I'm gay..." He could see the life drain from Kai's eyes, and bit his lip. "Kai, I'm sorry...I-I'm betrothed to Mariah, you know that, I have been since I was young, I can't-" Kai closed his eyes, so Rei shook him gently. "Kai..."

"Vali otsyuda!" Kai hissed. Rei stood up, suddenly nervous. Kai was shaking, fists clenched. The last time he'd done that he'd gone psycho...

"Kai, I...I'm sorry..."

"Pizdobol!" Kai sat up, and Rei could see that his eyes were narrow, angry slits, darting around suspiciously.

"Kai, please-"

Kai bared his teeth and lunged, and Rei screamed, flung to the floor with a mad, angry Russian on top of him. If it was in a cartoon he supposed it would have been funny, but there and then it was terrifying. "Kai, no! Stop it! Please!" Kai scratched across his face, leaving four bloody lines welling up on Rei's cheek. He was snarling like some kind of animal, and it was horrifying to see. "Kai, please! You're hurting me! Stop it!" Kai's hands closed around his neck and he choked, coughing. "Kai, no!" The hands tightened, and Rei despaired. There was no way he could stop Kai now...unless...

"Your grandfather will find out and he'll come for you..." Rei rasped. Kai let go of him immediately and backed away, leaving Rei to sit up, massaging his abused neck. "Kai..." The Russian burst into tears, stumbled into the corner, and turned his back, leaning against the wall. His fingers clawed at the paintwork and he sobbed, sinking to the floor and curling up into a frightened ball. Rei crawled over to him and touched his shoulder.

"Kai? I'm sorry, Kai, but you were hurting me..."

"Prostite, dyadouska..." Kai whispered. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I'm so weak..." Rei was too frantic to notice that Kai had started speaking in English again. He folded his arms around Kai from behind, purring reassuringly into his ear. "Kai, he isn't here, there's no-one here but you and me, and I'm not going to hurt you. It's okay. Are you listening to me, Kai? He's gone. He's not around any more. He can't do anything to you. You're safe."

"I'm sorry...I know I'm not allowed to like other people...I'll try harder, I promise!" Kai said desperately, staring at the wall. "But they make me feel as if I should be like them...I'm so weak...I'm sorry, Grandfather, I'm sorry to shame our name with my weakness..." Rei sat back, listening as Kai poured his heart out to the beige paintwork. "I beg your forgiveness, I won't let them try to change me again! I'll kill them all for you if that's what you want me to do, Grandfather! If that would make you proud, then I would do it!" Kai got onto his knees, bowing his head before the invisible horror of his Grandfather.

"I'll do anything...because I know you're right and you only do the best for me...but I'm so weak I always mess it up...I'm sorry Grandfather...I'm so s-sorry!" Rei reached out instinctively and touched Kai's arm. Kai jerked away from him. "I'm sorry Grandfather...please...I promise I'll never let them affect me again...but please...please don't..." He turned his face away from his invisible relative. "Please..."

"Kai, he's not there...your Grandfather isn't here..." Kai swung his head round, eyes wide and staring, chest heaving.

"Get away from me...get away from me..." Rei leaned closer but Kai backed away, scrabbling across the floor backwards until he hit the wall. "Leave me alone...d-don't hurt me again..."

"Kai, I'm not your Grandfather, and I'm not going to hurt you."

"P-Please!"

"Oh Kai...Kai, how can you not know it's me? Look at me Kai, -look- at me!" Kai tried to press himself further into the wall, shaking uncontrollably. "Kai, look at my hair! Look at my clothes, my skin, my eyes, my teeth! I'm not your grandfather! I'm not trying to hurt you!"

"Prostite! I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!" Kai begged. Rei felt tears spring into his eyes. Kai was beyond anything. He couldn't even recognize a friend. He was truly...insane. And that hurt. Rei knew there was probably some way to help him, but he wasn't a doctor, he didn't know what drugs to give Kai to make him see straight and calm down, he wasn't a psychologist, he didn't know what to say to make Kai believe that no-one would hurt him...

"Well you don't want me near you, so I'm going to stay here, and I'm going to talk to you. I mean...well, they say talking helps, don't they? So...um. I don't know what to say, really. My English still isn't all that good. So...I'm going to talk to you in Chinese, because there are things that I can only say in my own language, things that I can't translate." Rei swapped effortlessly into his mother language. "In my village, love doesn't feature as highly as honour and bond. I was promised to Mariah years ago, I don't have the option of just denying our marriage. Even if I hate her, even if I never want to marry her I'm not allowed to do anything otherwise. She's bound to me. I don't think I'm gay but I've never thought hard about it before...I don't know any more, but that's just because you're making all this so complicated...you do this to me all the time, Kai, you make me question myself, and what I believe! They keep telling me you're mentally imbalanced but you're still doing a good job of manipulating me!"

Kai blinked once, hard, and shook his head, blinking a few times. "I can't...I can't..." He whispered. "Grandfather..."

"Kai, please!" Rei realised he was still talking in Chinese and swapped, repeating his words. "Kai, he's not here and everything he told you was a lie!"

"Are you Rei?" Kai asked, whispering. "Are you Rei or am I imagining you? Sometimes I don't know who's real...he's real...he talks to me when I sleep...but are you real? I don't know any more...I d-don't...I c-can't t-t-tell the d-difference! I'm so scared...I'm scared...I'm scared...even if you're a ghost don't leave me..."

"I won't leave you, Kai. I won't leave."

"He said I'm not allowed...he said I couldn't...I can't...you have to stay away from me because I have to hate you!" Kai burst out. Rei stood up and walked over to Kai, kneeling down beside him and cupping his cheek.

"I don't want you to hate me, Kai."

"No! Get off me!" Kai pushed away Rei's hand, panicking again. His breath was coming in harsh gasps and he was shaking even worse than before. "L-L-Leave me alone!" Rei leaned closer, tears in his eyes, and Kai screamed, hysterical with fear.

"Kai, look at me." Kai turned his face away, whimpering and sobbing. "Kai, look at me!" Kai shook his head, shifting away until he ended up pressed into the corner of the room, curled up into a ball, still incoherent with causeless fear.

Rei stood up and looked down at him, at a loss for what to do. He looked around the room, hoping for some kind of inspiration. The bland walls loomed back at him, and the laminate flooring sparkled, taunting. There was nothing else but the bed and the beanbag, and... "Lapushka!" Rei went over to the bed and picked the little bear up, an idea forming in his mind. He went and knelt down next to Kai, and made Lapushka nuzzle into the Russian's hair. Kai looked up, saw the bear, and looked down again. Rei made Lapushka nudge Kai, prodding him in the hope of gaining a reaction. Kai looked up again, and kept his head up, sniffling and red-eyed. Somehow he couldn't see Rei, could only see the soft toy sitting on his bent knees.

"I'm scared..." He whispered. "I'm scared..." Lapushka nodded, then wiped Kai's tears away with a fluffy paw. Kai sniffed and reached up, taking hold of the bear and hugging it to his chest. "I'm scared..."

"I know, it's okay, I'm here..." Whispered Rei, putting his arms around Kai and praying. Kai gave a sob and nuzzled into his chest.

"Don't leave me...I'm scared...don't let him hurt me...don't hurt me..."

"Shhh, it's okay, I'm not going to leave you, and I won't let anyone hurt you..."

Kai eventually cried himself to sleep in Rei's arms.

Kai looked up at the pretty young woman opposite him and blinked. "Come on, Kai, draw a picture of your Grandfather for me." He looked down at his shaking hand, where a pink pencil resided, waiting for him to use it. He stared at it for a while longer, then put it down, staring at the wall to his left. "Kai, pick up the pencil and try again, please."

Kai reined his attention back in and picked up the pencil. "Now, draw him as you see him, as you saw him when he hurt you. If you can visualise him like that, it will help you sort out your opinion of him in your head." Kai tried. He really tried. He got as far as one smudged line when the pencil broke under the pressure of his tight grip. He felt a splinter stick into his hand and started to cry, snivelling babyishly. "Where's Rei? I want to see Rei!" He wailed.

"Kai, darling, Rei isn't coming until this afternoon, you know he always comes then, he has training in the mornings. Now I'll give you another pencil, and you have to really try hard to draw him, or even just write down in words how he made you feel, what you thought of him. You made a really big step yesterday, talking in English again, and that was wonderful, but I really need you to try and tell us about what he did to you-"

Kai just stared at her as she handed him another pencil, a yellow one this time. "Splinter."

"Hm?"

"I've got a splinter."

"Oh dear...come here, I'll have a look." Kai held out his hand and watched as his psychologist attempted to get the spelk out. She succeeded in the end, but only after making Kai wince and whimper. After that, he refused point blank to look at her, talk to her, or even acknowledge that there was someone else in the room. He walked over to his bed and laid himself down on it, leaving his psychologist on the floor with a smudged line on a piece of paper and a broken pencil. She gave up, deciding that she would come back after Rei had visited. Kai was always in a more responsive mood then.

Next chapter: Tala visits and we meet Ian's wife (she's not really that important but hey).

R&R please, and ciao.

The only important bit of russian in this chapter is 'ya tebya lyublyu'- means 'I love you'.