Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
Never Be Replaced - Chapter One
"Mama, I can't wait to come home! Do you think grandfather and big brother will be waiting for us?"
Rei gave a small smile as he watched a cute five-year-old girl sitting right beside him talk to her mother. When he heard the reply of, "Of course, sweetie! I can't wait to come home as well," he turned his head to watch the clouds as the plane hovered above it. It was about mid-afternoon, and he just finished eating the lunch that was served. He can't wait to come and visit again. Despite the fact that he had a rough morning, it would be nice to see two of his closest friends again.
He still remembered that conversation a few weeks ago…
"Hey Rei! Long time no talk, ne? How are you and - Rei? What's wrong? Are you crying?" Rei heard from the handset as tears started to fall down on his cheeks when he heard the cheerful voice. "Please stop crying, Rei! Tell me what's wrong?"
The neko-jin sniffled a bit and wiped his eyes even though tears just kept falling down like rain. "S-Sorry, Max. I g-guess I just got carried away…" he trailed off, not trusting to speak again and sniffled again.
On the other side of the phone, Max worriedly looked at the contraption thinking what could the raven-haired man be crying about. "Rei, is this about…?" he asked uncertainly, afraid that Rei would start weeping again.
"W-What would you say if I said yes?" Rei's honey-coloured eyes closed when Max had partly figured what made him broke down in the first place.
"Well, I would say -"
"I would say that Kai's a lowlife bastard who can't treat you like shit, and if he does it one more time, I'll honestly come there and kick his sorry ass!"
"TAKAO! GIVE THAT BACK! I'M REALLY SORRY, REI!"
The neko-jin was surprised to hear the blue-haired man on the phone; he didn't even realize that Takao was home. He gave a small smile when he heard Max's exclaim, reminiscing when they were still the Kinomiya Dojo watching the clouds or training with their beyblades. "Hello to you too, Takao," Rei said quietly, whilst hearing Max's poor attempt at getting the phone away from his lover.
"Is everything all right in there? You know, I've never really seen, much less hear you cry, especially in person," Takao continued, while dodging Max when the blond tried to tackle him.
Rei looked down at his lap and gave a small sigh. "It's fine… and I guess I'm a little homesick," he partially lied. "And don't talk about Kai like that! Me crying has nothing to do with him…"
Takao frowned as he stepped onto the side when Max tried to tackle him again. "Homesick…? But, dude, you live there now! What could you possibly be homesick for?"
The neko-jin held his breath when he realized that Takao was a little bit on to him, which surprised him a bit. "W-What I meant was, living there in Japan… I hardly know anybody here, except for Kai, Yuriy, and Boris, and sometimes… I don't know… it's just so quiet here when Kai's off at work…" He replied with a hint of desperate, hoping that the blue-haired man would just drop the subject. "I-I guess despite the fact that I've been living here for almost a year doesn't help much…"
"Oh okay, if you say so," Takao knew that there's more to it, but decided not to question any further. "Are you - HEY MAX, STOP THAT!" and then suddenly Takao's voice wasn't heard anymore but instead Max's voice was back.
"Sorry about Takao, Rei! Now, are you sure this has nothing to do about him? You know that you can always talk to me," the cheerful man encouraged, making Rei smile a bit more.
"Yeah, I'm sure…" he replied, while clutching the telephone cord tightly.
"Okay then! But just in case that you know… something did happen and umm… yeah, you're always welcome to stay here! We're here for you, okay?"
"Thanks…"
He sighed and let his head rest against his palm until felt the plane hit a bit of turbulence. The neko-jin's tanned face frowned at the slight instability. It was… odd, considering the fact that the turbulence should have been finished after a few hours ago after the flight. He felt another shake, while distinctly hearing a few crashes by the back where the washrooms are.
"Sorry about the interruptions," the PA said, making Rei look up at the speaker. "We have a slight problem and you will probably feel a bit more turbulence in the next fifteen minutes, so just make sure that you all have your seatbelts secured tightly, thank you."
'Problems?' Rei wondered, while cautiously looking at the back where the flight attendants we're putting on the seatbelts themselves, looking quite anxious. The neko-jin didn't like the lurking, gut feeling in his stomach.
Fifteen minutes later…'What's going on?' Rei thought as he clutched his eyes tightly, feeling the plane shake again. He reluctantly opened his eyes, looking at the small girl holding her little teddy bear as the mother tried to hug her daughter. He then looked up to see oxygen masks floating down from the ceiling.
"We're sorry… for the in… inconvenience," the PA said again. "But… one of the plane's… plane's engines failed during the climb and we're unfortunate to say that… that we haven't managed to mend it right away…"
Rei tuned out the rest of what the pilot's going to say…
Max paced back and forth while watching his boyfriend stand in front of the screen where the arrivals we're supposed to be shown. He walked towards Takao and also looked at the screen. "Rei's plane sure is taking a while… it should've arrived an hour and a half ago," the blond said, while looking at the Japanese man. "You don't suppose something happened, did you?"
Takao shook his head and gave a reassuring grin. "Relax, Max! I'm sure Rei's fine and that the plane's just delayed, I'm sure." He put his arm around the younger one's shoulder, holding him close.
The blue-eyed man grinned back, and went back to pacing back and forth again.
Some time this morning; they received a phone call from Yuriy that Rei would be coming to Japan and stay there for quite a while. Max was a little surprised that Rei would be coming and not inform them beforehand, but Takao had his suspicions. When the older man had phoned, he sounded a little irate as if he just had an argument with someone. Also, like his blond lover, Takao was also surprised that Rei didn't tell them he would be coming, at first he thought that it was a surprise, but he remembered that it was only Rei that would be coming… not Kai as well.
He gave an annoyed glance back at the television and went back to sit at the seats, leaning back and sighed in exasperation. The plane sure is taking its sweet time arriving here from Moscow. The Japanese man knew that he and Max didn't have to wait but its pouring rain outside and they don't want Rei to call a cab on the way to the Kinomiya Dojo. Takao gave an amused glance as he saw his boyfriend walking towards him with a cheerful grin on his face and in his hands were a bag of jawbreakers.
"Tired from pacing back and forth?" he asked when the blond man sat beside him.
Max laughed and popped a jawbreaker in his mouth. "Yeah… I really don't want to make a whole in the ground, because if I did then we would probably be banned from the airport."
"We?"
The younger of the two laughed again. "Fine, then I would be banned."
Silence consumed the both of them, only to broken every few minutes by Max's humming or Takao's irritated sigh. They've been here since noon after they've eaten lunch at a nearby café and then went straight to the airport. The blond looked up to the other side of the wall watching the time. It was 3:15.
"Takao… what if, something did happened?" Max tore his gaze away from the clock and looked at the blue-haired man. Takao has his eyes closed with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Don't worry… even if the plane's really delayed, we'll wait," Takao replied.
And so they waited…
An hour passed…
Two hours passed…
The two hadn't even realized that they fell asleep until one of the workers we're waking them up.
"Umm, sirs?"
"Urgh… huh?" Max blinked slightly and lifted his head from Takao's shoulder, slowly stretching his stiff body. "W-What time is i-it?" he asked the worker as he stifled a yawn.
The employee looked at his watch, not minding the light snores from the blue-haired man. "It's 8:25 PM."
Max's blue eyes widened and shook Takao awake. "Takao, wake up! We've been sleeping for at least five hours already!" When his lover kept on snoring, he sighed and turned towards the worker again. "Umm, I was wondering did the plane that came from Moscow, Russia arrived yet?" he asked while ignored the incoherent mumbling coming from the older man.
The worker paled slightly at the blond-haired man's question and shifted slightly. "Uh… there's something you should know…" he trailed off while look up to the ceiling.
"What should we know…?"
"Finally you're awake, Takao!"
The worker looked down to see the blue-haired man yawning and rubbing his eyes. "Uhh, about that plane… you see…"
Boris's eyes widened slightly as he watched the television with unblinking eyes. There at the television screen was an urgent news shown where a terrible plane crash had happened somewhere near China. "Yuriy… I think you should see this."
The said Russian came out of the bedroom looking like he just woke up. Yuriy gave a huge yawn and sat down beside the stoic man, leaning his head on Boris's shoulder. "I'm still sleepy," he mumbled, not paying any attention to the television.
The latter snorted but put an arm around his half-asleep boyfriend. "I think you should pay more attention at the television than your beauty sleep right now," he replied solemnly as he lifted Yuriy's head so that the heavy-eyed man could watch the television properly.
Yuriy grumbled and rubbed his eyes while staring intently at the appliance. He was going to whine to Boris that he doesn't like watching the news when he saw a familiar plane destroyed to pieces with smoke and fire surrounding it while many firefighters were trying to extinguish the flames. 'What in the… that plane!' "Boris, give me the phone…" he murmured, his eyes still transfixed at the horrible sight.
He dialled Takao's phone number and waited until the ringing stopped. "H-Hello?" the voice from the other line said.
"Kyouju?" Yuriy asked, while Boris was getting him a glass of water.
"Yuriy-san?"
"Give me the phone to Takao, now," the redhead's not going to waste any time and quickly got to the point. He heard a couple of noises and a bit of shifting from the other side when he finally heard the Japanese man's voice. "Takao…?"
"Y-Yuriy? I…"
Yuriy can't help but hear the other man's sniffling from the phone. 'But…' Many questions floated inside his head, yet no answers were answered. "Tell me… did - did Rei's plane…?" he can't talk properly, with all of the anxious gut feeling in his stomach were swirling around. Suddenly, he heard a sobbing sound.
"Yuriy! His plane… damn it… his stupid plane!" The said person dropped the phone as if it was on fire. Yuriy turned to Boris, who was silent all this time, listening to the phone conversation.
Boris opened his arms a bit, letting the other Russian lean against him for comfort. He was a bit surprised that there were no tears coming out but only uncontrollableshaking. Then he realized that the phone is still on, and took that, hearing Takao still ranting and with his keen ears, he also heard another one sniffling. 'Probably Mizuhara…' "Kinomiya, I'm afraid we're going to cut this conversation short."
"H-Huh? What do you mean?"
"We're just going to visit someone, don't bother about it." With that, he hang up and helped Yuriy stand, guiding him towards the bedroom.
…
When both Yuriy and Boris came to Kai's apartment they were both surprised to see that the crimson-eyed man hadn't left yet for work. In fact, he wasn't even dressed in his usual business suit. They found him sitting in one of the armchairs, with his fingers crossed and back hunched, brooding. Right in front of him by the coffee table was a newspaper, and in front of the tabloid was a picture of that both Russians have seen in television.
Yuriy took a deep breath and entered the room further, cautiously looking at the emotionless depths staring at nothing. "K-Kai…?" he asked quietly. He didn't hear the other man replied for a moment until…
"Was this the plane that he took?"
Icy blue eyes widened a bit and nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah…"
"Hn, I see…"
The redheaded Russian looked at his lover and then back at Kai. "L-Look, Kai…"
"Get out."
"W-What?"
"I said, Get out," Kai's icy voice sent shivers down Yuriy's spine. He let Boris drag him away, while looking dumbfounded at Kai's expression. He was smiling humourlessly.
After the two other Russians left, Kai just sat there looking straight at the wall across from him. When he woke up, he felt like an empty shell as if something was missing. He ignored his nagging conscience about his neko-jin leaving and was going to start getting ready for the day when he started reading the paper. Finishing the article, he felt something cold drop down his stomach and he'd been brooding ever since.
Kai frowned as he watched Rei pack the remaining clothes he had left on the bed and carefully put the suitcase down on the floor when the raven-haired man was starting to make the bed. "What are you doing?" he asked, while entering their shared room at the Kinomiya Dojo.
Rei shook his head and gave the slate-haired man a rueful smile. "Gomen ne, Kai… but, I have to go."
The frown etched on the Russian's face grew deeper. "Go where?"
"I'm going back to China… I mean, it's been a while since I've visited… and I'm very sure Lee and the other Baifuzu members would also like me to stay there for a while," Rei murmured while trying to make an eye contact. "I guess I'll see you later, Kai…" he then picked up his suitcase and left the room, not realized that tears were forming in his eyes.
Kai on the other hand looked at the retreating figure of Rei and quickly searched his head to stop the younger man from leaving. "Don't go…" his voice was quiet although a bit commanding. He watched Rei stopped walking and let his suitcase drop onto the ground.
"W-Why…" Rei whispered, still not looking at the Russian.
The slate-haired man walked towards the neko-jin and put his hand on the other's shoulder, spinning him around so that they would face each other. And without any warning he fiercely kissed Rei with a hint of desperation and plea, as his arm clutched possessively on the latter's lithe waist. Suffice it to say Rei's legs would have probably given in and collapsed unto the ground if not for his arms hanging around the taller man's neck.
A few minutes later Kai broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against Rei's. He gave a rare, genuine smile as he watched the honey-coloured eyes open and stare at his own crimson orbs. "That's why," he whispered back, letting Rei's face flush a bit more.
Kai closed his eyes for the moment, but all he could see was Rei's smiling face and all he could hear was his raven-haired beauty's melodious laugh.
For the first time in his life…
Hiwatari Kai felt lost…
For the first time in his life…
Hiwatari Kai let the tears fall down on his pale cheeks.
End Chapter One
Crystal: -hides behind Johnny-
Johnny: -rolls eyes- Come out of there, Ivanov! What are you so afraid of?
Crystal: Did you even read the chapter? -pokes and glares at Johnny-
Johnny: -reads it- Oh… well, you're on your own… -smirks and walks away-
Crystal: -glares at Johnny's retreating back- Traitor… -gulps- Anyway… umm, I really hope that you guys like this chapter… no matter how weird and awkward it is… -sobs and glomps her Rei plushie- I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT! I'M SO SORRY! -sniffles- … Okay, I think I feel better… but seriously, while I was writing this chapter I can't help but think: "Oh my gosh! Did I really write that?" So… -coughs- Yeah… -smiles sheepishly-
Thank you to the following people: Neko Phoenix Girl (I hope you're feeling better, Ruby-chan!), Echo in the Dark, SweetKatie97, Bryankuznetsov, UlTiMaTe KaI LuVa, Platinum Rei, Raku Ozzarian Princess (Here you go, Mai-chan! -gives her my cuddly inu plushie- So you won't be lonely while bed-ridded! -smiles cheerfully-), Animeobsession, WildChipmunkofYonder, Keisan, LaDyFiCtIoN, Tenshi-Tara (Relax, my dear big cousin! Tala's away on a vacation… -whistles innocently-), Blood Tears Dying Angel 0previously magic and sparkle0, ChibiNekoSakura, Tntiggris, Kodoku Wolf, Tsunami-girl, and Dragon-girl 02 for reviewing the first chapter or should I say prologue?
I never really expected for you guys liking this fic… I'm so touched! And so, from me to you… I present you my secret stash of chocolate chips! -opens the pantry- Take as much as you like! Now, as always don't forget to review! Bye for now!