Chappy 11: Bad Things Happen To Friends of Convicts
Rei sat by the lake the next afternoon, Judy and the girls had gone into town again. Tala and Bryan had promised they'd come back with their surprise. He had tried convincing them he wasn't worth the trouble but they simply insisted. He had had time to ponder on what they were going to do for him as he did the housework. Something inside the neko-join made him believe he had made some really good friends.
This time Rei was washing the laundry in the river. If he got the lot of his work done, he could get a head start on dinner. Tonight he was making chicken with mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, sided by freshly made bread. Yes, much was expected of him, but he was used to it by now. I mean, he had lived like this for the majority of his life, no? Hilary always teased him that he'd make some cat-lady a good wife.
Rei had always been a good-natured child, hardly complained, hardly argued, and he never got physically violent with anyone or anything. He had always been a sweet little kitten, too kind hearted to call anyone a bad name or to make cruel jokes. You would think after spending his life with people completely opposite him, hateful, selfish and greedy, he would become more time them. But the memories of his mother and father kept his soul pure and innocent.
He looked up from the clothes, hearing two people coming up behind him. He was greeted by the sight of his two friends, looking quite pleased with themselves. They both wore richer clothing than the previous day. "Good afternoon, Rei." the silver-eyed boy sat down next to him, not caring if he got his new clothes dirty or grass stained. His wore more of a maroon with pale lemon and black while Tala wore white, blue and orange.
"Afternoon, Bryan." Rei smiled, going back to washing the clothes. "I see you bought yourselves new outfits. They look good on you."
Tala smirked. "Why thank you, Kitty. But we kind of needed to ask you something," He said as the neko-jin turned his head to them, paying attention. "What's your size? I figured you might be somewhere around six, but Bryan wanted to make sure."
He rose an ink black eyebrow. "Yeah, I'm a six. Why did you need to know?" Though, he had a feeling he knew already.
"We were going to get you a nice new outfit." Said Bryan.
"You really don't have to do that for me-"
"THERE THEY ARE!"
Before Rei knew what was happening, he was forced face first into the grass, someone holding his wrists together behind him back. He turned his head to see who was there, He saw a short, green haired young man holding him down. He had green eyes as well and wore an orange and red uniform with silver armor. Rei also saw a woman with long blue hair in a high ponytail and a shorter young man with gray hair and a thick red streak in the center, both wearing similar uniforms, holding down Bryan while a gorilla-like man with very tanned skin and long, blond hair had Tala forced into a tree with his wrists held together on his back. They all had the same green eyes and the same style of armor. Three more people came quickly out of the bushes, two male, one female. One young man had wild tan hair and lightly tanned skin, the other had pale aqua hair, pale skin, and was quite tall. The short girl had pale skin and pink hair.
"Wow! You actually caught them!" She exclaimed, bewildered. "I knew the late king was making the right decision when he hired you four!"
"Matilda, now is not the time to be a suck up." The blond beside her said , shaking his head, looking to the green haired young man. "Joseph, who's that? We were ordered to bring in the murderer and the thief." Rei's eyes darted to Bryan and Tala. 'They lied.'
He snorted. "We heard them talking, he's friends with those two. He could try and help them escape again. Better to be safe than sorry."
"He's got a point." The blue haired woman said.
"See? Mariam agrees with me."
Tala growled, still pressed into the tree by the gorilla man. "Rei's just a civilian! He's not a criminal, nor would, or could, he help us escape from you prison!" He said before giving a muffle cry as he was pushed further into the tree.
"Save it for the judge, killer. Or, in this case, it's the executioner, since you DID kill the king." The blonde ape grinned, his voice deep. You could tell he was all brawn and no brains.
Rei watched as the aqua haired man knelt down to observe him. "Hey, Miguel, didn't all those cat-people die?" He asked curiously, still staring at him.
"You mean the neko-jin?" The blond, Miguel, wandered over and knelt beside the other soldier, staring at the boy being held to the ground by Joseph. "Oh my word! I think he's one of them!"
Mariam leaned a bit so she could get a look. "Claude, move your big head. Woah! Look at his eyes! It's a dead giveaway!"
"Should we kill him?" Asked the dark skinned blond. "I mean, it is the law."
Rei felt a rush of fear go through him. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid his whole life. He had never wanted to be found, he never wanted to be killed! He never wanted to be stared at like that! But luckily, the leader of the green eyed foursome had common sense.
"Don't be so rash, Dunga." Bryan and Tala snickered at his name. "That law was issued by the late king, so the new king could have a different say on that matter. Now, Joseph," He turned to the green haired young man, "You and Matilda will take the neko-jin to King Kai. (A/N: Not the one from Dragon Ball Z.)" He addressed the others. "Mariam and I will take the thief and Claude and Dunga can handle the murderer. Miguel, you keep a look out and inform me of anything suspicious."
"Gotcha Ozuma." Miguel nodded in agreement, apparently glad he didn't have to be near Tala or Bryan.
Rei felt himself being pulled to his feet and forced to walk, his wrists still being held together behind his back. He looked back to see Tala also being forced to walk, as was Bryan. Looking to his two 'escorts', as his mind had no other word for them, he noted that the girl seemed to look like a pixie while the male looked somewhat like a frog, due to all the green. They were headed down a forest path that Rei had never known.
In Voltaire's studies, Kai watched as a few servants looked over the room, noting what had been stolen and tried to clean the blood off the floor. Frankly, Kai was happy his grandfather was gone, but stealing and letting the bastard bleed all over HIS floor was quite offensive, especially the latter. He had already rid of everything personal to Voltaire, but he was afraid the red in the wood would stay forever to remind Kai of him. But, then again, you could always throw a rug over it. He had sent the four soldiers from the Saint Shield clan Voltaire had hired and three of his other soldiers to find the murderer and the thief and bring them in. They had only stolen his grandfather's things, but you could always sell the stuff.
"Kai! I mean, your Majesty!" Kai turned to see Max at the doorway. He didn't like it when the blond called him by his title.
"Max, you're a friend, you're allowed to call me by my name." He said, walking over to him. "Now, what's this all about?"
"Well, the murderer and the thief have been found, but they found someone else with them." He explained. "They had their suspicions so they captured him too."
The King nodded. "Oh, I see."
"But, um… you might want to come see this." Max said, a frown on his face. Intrigued, Kai followed the blond to the Entrance Hall, where he saw Joseph and Matilda holding onto a very stationary and frightened looking boy.
Well, he was a sight for sore eyes. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM!"
A/N: Yes, another cliffy. You may notice I didn't put Aaron in there with Barthez Battalion. The reason is, I don't really like Aaron, so I didn't use him. Sorry again for the wait, but please REVIEW!