"You have a lot of explaining to do Kai" Ray accused him, leaning over the back of his seat to fix their team captain squarely in his amber stare.
Kai had retreated to the back of the bus, which hadn't helped him much as the others had followed him back. They wouldn't leave him alone, it was really quite annoying. Rage had fallen sound asleep as soon as she had sat down. She was currently curled up next to the window in the seat by Kai.
"Yeah, what's up with the girl anyway Kai?" Max inquired from the seat beside Ray, he was doing his best to keep his voice down in case he woke Rage.
"I told you" Kai answered firmly, "she's an old friend."
"That doesn't explain squat, and you know it Kai" Tyson argued from the seat across from Kai. He was making Kai uncomfortable at how far the navy haired blader was leaning towards him. Not that the cold teen was showing any signs of it of course.
"You know she went to the abbey with me, I mentioned that fact. What more do you want to know?" Kai said dismissively, hoping that they'd drop it.
"How about where you got those scars from?" Ray asked, his voice showing clearly that he wanted an answer.
Kai tensed, he crossed his arms in front of him as if to protect himself from the question.
"You can't make me answer that," Kai said through gritted teeth.
"You're right Kai, we can't. But we were hoping as friends that you'd trust us enough to tell us." Max said, his expression determined.
"Besides Kai" Ray added, "You did promise an explanation."
'Stupid promises' Kai thought as he gave a solemn nod. "I will give you an explanation," he said as the bus finally ground to a halt.
"Just, not right yet. Please?" he probably shouldn't have offered an explanation in the first place. But seeing as he had, he would never go back on a promise. Promises were sacred to him, ever since…He shook his head to block the memory out. He couldn't face that right now, then again Rage was preparing to tell her past to a bunch of strangers. So maybe he should follow her lead and face up to the demons haunting his past as well.
And he would, he decided. Just not yet.
"Ok Kai" Tyson said grudgingly as the team began to exit the bus. "Just remember that we're here for you, ok?" he said before turning to exit the bus.
Kai gently shook Rage awake and followed. Tyson was being serious, it was kind of scary.
Rage's eyes widened as she stared at the lift the others were heading for.
"What's that?" she asked in a shocked voice. The small space inside the cold metal doors sent a shiver down her spine.
"That would be an elevator," Kai explained to the hesitant girl. The abbey had mostly stuck with stairs, so her surprise was justified.
"Whatever it is, it gives me the creeps," Rage said with a barely suppressed shudder. "Can I please, please use the stairs?"
"You sure?" Kai asked doubtfully, "You do have about five holes in your legs."
Rage nodded, casting another fearful glance at the elevator. She had a severe dislike for small spaces.
Fair enough, Kai thought as he told the others he was taking the stairs. He couldn't very well let her go off by herself, especially in the condition that she was currently in. Besides it might just give him the chance he needed to catch up with her without the others eavesdropping.
"What have you been up to for the past six years?" Kai asked as they started up the stairs. Sticking directly to the point always seemed easier somehow.
"After I nearly died I was kept in a separate wing of the abbey to recover. Bathos was angry, he said that he had given me too much freedom. He said that must have been the reason I tried to escape. He made a cage, and he locked me up in it for about a year. I almost went mad with the total darkness and inability to move. Finally he let me out, but by that time you had already left." Rage leaned heavily against the railing as she forced herself up the steps.
"Nothing much happened then, until two years ago. I had had enough of it all, so I ran away from the abbey. Bathos came after me; I remained on the streets up until a few months ago when he caught me again. It was bad when he caught me, like it always was. By that time the abbey had been closed down, so he rented a place nearby. I should have come to find you when I first ran away, but I didn't want Bathos to find me. So I just kept a low profile and kept to myself, and I wasn't sure where to go or if you'd remember me."
"Then just last night, I escaped again. I had collected information as to where you were, which was a hard job by the way. Then when I was searching the area and trying to stay away from Bathos, I ran into you. That's pretty much the whole last six years summed up."
"That explains why you weren't at the abbey when I went back there. No one said anything, not even Tala. So I just assumed that you were dead." There was a bitter tone to Kai's voice.
"Kai" Rage started awkwardly, "Tala, he told me what happened to you after I got shot."
Kai looked in the other direction, ashamed for some reason. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling sick to the stomach at the mere mention of what had happened. Rage could have been talking about a lot of things, but by the tone of her voice. He knew instinctively what particular event she was talking about. He didn't want to think about that, he wished he could just forget it again.
"And I'm really sorry Kai, I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to help you. To stop him from hurting you like that." An awkward silence reined for a while in which they just concentrated on walking.
"What's past is past" Kai said finally in a cold voice. He concentrated on the stairs for a moment, while he collected his thoughts on what he wished to talk with her about away from the presence of the team.
"At the hospital" he started, "the doctor said that you'd suffered electric wounds while in a liquid. You know as well as I do that that particular kind of torture is only used in interrogation. So my question is, what kind of information were they trying to get out of you?"
They had just reached the right floor, and Rage shifted uncomfortably on the landing.
"The time I escaped from the abbey. I kind of, might of, perhaps 'borrowed' something from the abbey records." She said sheepishly, "maybe" she added as an afterthought.
"What kind of something?" Kai asked curiously.
Rage reached into the spacious front pocket of her red hoody. She removed an object and held it out to Kai.
"Our lives" she said, as Kai took the pack of five CDs out of her hand.
She continued talking as he examined the discs with a look of total shock.
"Bathos wanted to know where I had put them. I didn't tell him; as soon as I escaped I retrieved the discs and went to find you. I figured you might have a use for them, they are pretty important."
"How much data is on them?" Kai asked, still not recovered from his surprise.
"More than enough to incriminate Bathos, Boris and Voltaire. As well as basic 'plans to take over the world' data, which are so cheesy by the way. They also contain just over ten years of footage from every single camera in the abbey. Including them stupid hidden ones that we were always trying to spot. I've only skimmed through the data though, didn't want to find out too much. Or remember it." Rage shuddered slightly, averting her eyes from the discs.
They walked in silence to the room. Kai remembered just in time to pocket the discs before opening the door. He didn't need any more questions asked of him just now.
"Guess what?" Tyson shouted as they entered the lounge area. "I just ordered food! And it's going to be here soon!"
Kai rolled his eyes, so much for Tyson being serious. "I'm going to train," he muttered, before walking into the next room. There was a beyblade stadium in there, and he really needed to focus now. To process all that had happened today, and to think on what to do with the five discs that were burning a hole in his back pocket.
Rage looked disappointed as Kai exited the room. She knew better than to follow him just now. He needed some time to figure things out. Still that didn't make her feel any less awkward as he left her in the room with his teammates.
"We're all very curious as to who you actually are" Max said with a friendly grin.
"Hey, are you American?" Rage questioned suddenly.
"Yeah, I am" Max answered, confused.
"That's cool, I'm American too" Rage said with an attempt at a smile, it was small compared to Max's. But a smile none the less.
"Really?" Max said, sounding surprised, "that's so cool."
"Hang on a minute" Ray said, confused. "But I thought you were from the abbey, and that's in this country."
"I am" Rage said with a sweet smile, "but that doesn't mean that I was born here silly. I moved here from America when I was five."
Twenty minutes later and there was a knock at the door.
"Food!" shouted Tyson rushing for the door.
Rage raised an eyebrow at his unusual antics. Ray laughed at her expression; she had enjoyed talking with them. The others were mostly relieved that she hadn't turned out to be another Kai. Although she had only given very basic details of her past, with no mention of her parents. She still remained fairly open and pleasant with people.
"You get used to it" Ray reassured her.
Rage shook her head as Tyson re-entered the room with two pizza boxes. She doubted that very much.
The boys immediately opened the boxes and took a slice each from what was inside. Rage eyed the contents warily.
"Um…Ray, what is that?" she asked hesitantly tugging lightly on his sleeve.
He stared at her with wide amber eyes. "Its pizza" he said, shocked that she wouldn't know that. She remained confused.
"It's a type of food," Kai said as he settled next to her on the sofa. Rage's face lit up as soon as she noticed him, then her thoughts returned to the 'pizza'.
"An edible type?" she asked warily, examining the pizza with her eyes.
"An edible type." Kai repeated with a nod.
"Its odour is pretty overpowering, I couldn't even smell you when you re-entered the room."
"It's that kind of food" Kai shrugged.
"Wait, did you just say you could 'smell' people?" Tyson asked, shocked and oh so confused.
"Uh huh" Rage confirmed, "I'm good at smelling stuff, and Kai is good at hearing stuff. Its just how we are."
"Wait" Max frowned, thinking very deeply about this. "But Kai doesn't smell."
"Everyone has their own scent" Rage explained. "I'm just much more sensitive to smells than people usually are. A lot more, like think a dog's sense of smell. My sense of smell is about as sensitive as that. To me you all have a scent, Kai smells slightly of mint and a cold winter. Kenny's scent is more like rubber, plastic and heated metal. Tyson's is more like food. Max's is more sweet, like sugar. And Ray's scent is like mountain air; at least I think so seeing as I've never been up a mountain before. It has a trace of a feline scent to it as well."
"Wow" Max gasped, "That's pretty weird."
"And I'm guessing that Kai has pretty much the same thing, only it's his hearing that is advanced instead of his sense of smell?" Ray questioned.
Rage shrugged, "Yeah pretty much" she agreed.
"I guess that explains why it's impossible to sneak up on you Kai" Ray observed. Kai shifted uncomfortably, people discussing him was not his idea of a good time.
"You should eat something Rage" Kai reminded her, knowing Bathos; she probably hadn't eaten in a while.
Rage eyed the pizza hesitantly, "you eat some first Kai, and then I'll eat some."
"You're just trying to get me to eat something, aren't you?" he accused her with narrowed eyes.
She crossed her arms over her chest and matched his glare with one of her own. "Ray says that you haven't eaten all day, so you're going to eat something now" she said firmly.
Kai grudgingly reached for a piece of pizza and ate it slowly. He made a face as he forced himself to eat it, even though he really had no appetite for it. It was almost painful in some way for him to eat; he disliked that particular routine immensely.
"As long as you eat something too" he said after he swallowed his first mouthful.
Rage seemed fairly proud of herself as she reached for a piece of pizza. She had no problems eating her's, in fact she appeared to be enjoying it a lot.
Kai felt almost jealous of her. 'Bite, chew, swallow' he repeated over and over in his mind as he forced the large slice of pizza to go bit by bit down his throat. The usually considered nice taste of it only made it burn more as it travelled down to his stomach. He almost cheered when he had finished the slice; he wiped his now grease covered fingers on his trousers to be rid of any last reminders of the meal.
"Want another slice?" Rage asked.
Kai was quick to shake his head. The look of disappointment on her face made him need to say something. "You know I can't Rage." Kai said quietly.
Rage seemed sad as she replied. "You haven't improved much, have you?"
Kai was about to argue, before he really thought about it. "I guess not," he said apologetically.
"Kenny, I need to borrow Dizzi for while" he said, turning his attention to the small brunette.
"You won't hurt her…will you Kai?" Kenny asked nervously as he remained unsure whether to trust Kai with his precious laptop.
Kai simply snatched the laptop away with a cold look. He retreated into his and Ray's bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
"Don't worry Chief, Kai won't hurt her" Ray reassured the shocked Kenny.
"What was that between you and Kai?" Max asked suddenly, turning to Rage.
Rage shook her head slowly, "I'm sorry, but I don't think he'd forgive me if I told you" she explained.
Max nodded, hating to see her so disappointed. "Its alright" he reassured her.
"What's going on Kai?" Dizzi questioned, sounding just a little scared. She was alone with the scary team captain; there was no Kenny to be seen.
"I'm just copying some data," Kai answered as he placed a blank CD in one CD drive and one of the five in the other. "I don't want you to look at it, its private information."
"Whatever you say Mr Sourpuss" Dizzi answered, if she had fingers she'd be crossing them behind her back at this moment. As well as copying the data filled disc to the other disc, she copied it to her hard drive as well. Just in case, she just couldn't resist.
Sooo... whats your opinion about this chapter. I only have five reviews for six chapters which is really kind of sad. Espcially considering that this is the seventh chapter posted. So i want more reviews, much more.
Please?