Kai lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, he was so bored.
He'd been in this hospital for a week now, although it felt like much longer.
He would have escaped by now if the police hadn't decided to place him under tight security. It was supposed to be for making sure no one could get in. But it also meant that he couldn't get out.
He checked the time again, 2:15pm.
The bladebreakers had said they'd come by to pick him up this afternoon. After a great amount of arguing on Kai's part with the hospital. They had very reluctantly agreed that he could leave this afternoon.
Kai had dressed into his usual outfit, complete with his spare scarf. He'd been waiting for hours; he'd also discovered that he wasn't as patient as he had thought he was.
He idly tugged at the restraints that were holding him to the hospital bed. After his third escape attempt that day had nearly succeeded, the team hired to protect him had decided on this. Of course, they'd had to dig around for stronger restraints after he had managed to escape from the first pair a couple of hours ago.
He yawned and turned his attention to the ceiling once again. There were 38 tiles; he'd counted them a numerous amount of times.
He wondered if Rage would be there when he got back. Not that he really cared, he told himself. He hadn't seen her since the needle incident. They'd given him pills for the pain instead now. He would expertly pretend to swallow them, and then dispose of them down the sink afterwards.
He hated all kinds of drugs, whether needle or pill. Pain relief just wasn't necessary in this case; he could cope with the pain. He'd had worse.
He'd driven a nurse to a screaming fit in his refusal to eat. He insisted on drinking only water from this place. The clearness and bland taste of the liquid make it near impossible to drug without him being able to detect the drug.
His team had been shocked at his eating habits; he guessed they hadn't noticed how little he ate before.
He'd have some dry toast in the morning, that was hard to drug as well. Then the odds are that he wouldn't eat again until the next day.
He had eaten more when living with the bladebreakers. Not much more, but a bit. He'd trusted their food to be drug free.
They didn't realise how much trust he put in them.
He flexed his hands experimentally, enjoying how easy it was to move them now they weren't covered with bandages.
They'd fully healed a couple of days ago, the hospital had been stunned at the rapidly of his healing. He'd always been like that, quick to heal. They'd been worried about infection with his back, but he didn't get infection. He never had, never got sick either. It was just the way he'd always been.
His leg was pretty much healed as well, but he hadn't been allowed to remove the bandages that splinted it.
His feet were healed, along with the wounds on his hands and face.
It was only his back that bothered him now. But that was well on its way to being healed as well.
He checked the clock again, 2:22.
Damn it, he wanted to go now. What was taking them so long?
He turned his head towards the door. Nothing, just the stupid guards.
Kai sighed and faced the ceiling again. His mind drifted back to Rage.
Why was he thinking of he so much?
Because of what Ray had said about her.
Flashback"I've got something I need to tell you Kai. Its about Rage."
It had been a few days ago, early enough in the morning that Max and Tyson were still asleep. Ray had come by himself.
Kai hadn't answered and after a decent pause, Ray continued.
"You know she keeps disappearing, well I followed her one time."
'Did you ever do that to me when I disappeared?' Kai wondered in his silence.
"Kai, she's spying on us. She reported to this guy called Bathos. He's the same guy we saw whipping you when we were captured."
Kai had felt disappointed, but for some reason not surprised. No emotions appeared on his face however.
"He's her step-father." Kai said simply.
"How do you know that?" Ray asked surprised.
"She went to the abbey same time as me, remember?"
"Oh, …. Yeah" There was an awkward silence on Ray's part as Kai processed this information.
"Are you sure that she's a traitor?"
"Yes" Ray answered sadly "I heard some of what they said, Bathos is working for Volitaire and Rage is working for Bathos. I've told the others already."
"Speaking of the others, you better go back and wake them up. Tyson's been slacking on his training lately and the team needs to stay in shape to keep up with the competition."
"Alright Kai, I'll see you later." The neko-jin paused with a hand on the door handle.
"Kai, you're still having the nightmares aren't you?"
Silence
"If ever you need to talk, I'm here for you. You know that, right?"
"Bye Ray" was the stern reply.
The raven-haired teen sighed and walked out the door.
End FlashbackRay had been right about the nightmares, they hadn't stopped.
In fact they were getting worse.
Shadows darkened his eyes from lack of sleep. He'd stayed awake all last night. It was childish he knew, but he was afraid to close his eyes.
Every time he did he was haunted by images of his past. Things he'd remembered before, and things he hadn't until he saw them in his dreams.
They were engulfing him with the pain of his time spent at the abbey. Even in the daytime now he would get caught up in a memory that he would rather not remember.
He'd have to tell the team soon, he guessed. He wasn't looking forward to that, but Ray was already suspecting something. Same with the rest of the team, although they were trying hard not to mention it.
A sound made him focus on the door again. There were voices, and Kai could vaguely see what might be Tyson's hat through the small window set in the door.
"I'm afraid we had to restrain him. He became severely agitated with the wait."
Kai's eyes narrowed momentally at the guard's choice of words.
"I told you we should have got here earlier."
"Tyson!" Max reprimanded, "If you hadn't slept in we would have."
Then the door opened and the teens fell silent as they filed into the room.
They were all there, even Hilary and Kenny.
"Err…hi Kai" Ray said, still processing the fact that their stubborn leader was strapped down. The weird thing was that Kai seemed completely calm about it. Like he was used to being in that position.
"Took you long enough" Kai scowled.
"Yeah sorry about that, Ty…" Ray was cut off by Kai's next words.
"So, am I allowed to leave now?"
"Um, yeah…sure" Max started "I'll just get one of them grown ups to unstrap you shall I?"
"Don't bother" Kai's answer made Max pause and the rest to stare at him curiously.
Kai ignored them and concentrated on his hands.
His right hand made a movement so swift that their eyes couldn't follow it. Then it was free, the strap fell to the floor useless.
He quickly undid the rest of the buckles easierly, then with all his limbs free he sat calmly on the bed.
"Kai, if you could do that all along. Then how come you didn't before?" Hilary asked as Kai took Dranzer out of a drawer and slipped her into his pocket.
"I did," he said as he used the side of the bed to help him stand on the floor.
"Only those idiots tied me down again. So I figured I'd stay put and give them a rest." Kai stood carefully on his own two feet. It would have been stupid if Volitaire had shown up and the guards were tired out from chasing him around.
Kai let out a growl of irritation from deep in his throat as a doctor walked into the room. He was pushing a wheelchair.
"Hi Tom" Max said cheerily to the doctor. The others smiled in greeting, ignoring Kai's hostile attitude.
"Hi" Tom smiled in return.
"Now Kai, that leg is still very fragile so I don't want you to put much strain on it o.k."
He presented the wheelchair as if it were a great gift.
"I would have got you some crutches instead, but I feel that they might put too much pressure on your back. So you're going to have to be wheelchair bound for a while I'm afraid."
Kai growled again, then began walking in steady strides toward the doctor. He tried to walk in his usual intimidating way, but couldn't disguise the limp in his step.
Tom unconsciously took a step back in response to Kai's glare.
"I don't need a wheelchair" Kai snarled at the older man.
Tom swallowed and reminded himself that he was the adult in this situation.
"If you get in the wheelchair, you get to leave. If not then you'll have to stay in the hospital."
Kai literally shook with anger; the lack of sleep and the haunting of his dreams were getting to him. Tyson feared that he might explode.
"Fine" Kai hissed through clenched teeth.
He sat roughly down in the chair and disappeared into his own thoughts.
The others looked at each other oddly, wondering at Kai's behaviour.
Ray looked worried as he wheeled Kai out of the hospital with the others tailing behind.
The bus ride was uneventful, and long. The police had booked them into a hotel somewhere, which was where they were heading. Since it had not been advisable for them to return to the dojo.
Throughout the trip Ray kept on glancing as Kai, he was worried about their team captain. He looked so tired and distant.
He was sitting at the back, staring out of the window. Ray soon gave up his attempts to talk to him; Kai didn't even acknowledge his presence.
Kai stared out of the window, if he concentrated on what was out there maybe he could hold sleep at bay for a little longer.
His leg ached relentlessly and his back burned, he was exhausted.
Despite his best efforts, his heavy eyelids could not remain open. His head dropped slowly, and sleep once again drew him back into his much hated past.
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