A/N: Yey! I got the first chappie! Well, tell me what you think. It's 3:30 in the morning and I'm typing this up. My eyes are closing as I type this, so please don't blame me too much for any errors you find in this story. Please review and thank you.

Lemon Drops in the Forest

By: The Plagnister

Chapter 1: Rabies Pack

Kai was brooding through the forest, sucking a lemon drop, not really paying attention where he was going. Things were not going according to plan. He had so cunningly got himself and Tyson lost in the forest, happening to so conveniently find an old abandoned temple. But all Tyson could do was complain. Complain that they were lost; complain about the weather, the temple, even about sleeping on the ground. It was getting really frustrating; this was not why he got them lost in the forest.

Kai's feet took him back to the temple without him realizing. So deep in thought he was that he did not come to reality until he saw Tyson. The sight horrified him, awakening something deep and sleeping within him, setting it to rumble. Tyson sat limply against the wall; his clothes were all torn at irregular intervals. He had sickening bruises all over his body, from what Kai could see, and one eye was swollen shut. His bottom lip was split and bleeding sluggishly.

A strangled cry escaped Kai's throat and he ran to Ty's side. Kai gingerly checked Kai over to make sure that nothing was broken. Finding nothing, he stripped Ty's shirt off to find that the bruises riddled his body even bigger there. His hand brushed lightly, but Tyson's one good eye snapped open. Kai looked at his face and drew back in surprise. Tyson's eyes were blank, emotionless. They didn't even show any hint of recognition. Hearing Tyson's murmuring, Kai leaned in closer, to hear.

"… took Dragoon… Dragon gone… don't take him… help, Kai… leave him…"

He started repeating himself and Kai's eyes flashed in anger. These people couldn't become Champion, so they took the current Champion's blade and bit beast. And because a Blader naturally refused parting from his bit beast, they trashed him and left him for dead. Kai grabbed Ty and shook his shoulder a little, calling out his name. He got no response and did it again, except shaking him a little harder. Frantic, not wanting to loose Ty, he kissed him. As soon as Ty started stirring, Kai broke away blushing, but felt somethi8ng was missing.

Tyson's eyes were no longer vacant and he had a slight frown on his brow. His hand went up to his mouth and his thumb and forefinger slipped into his mouth. Kai felt a little pang of … jealously over… a hand? Ty's finger slipped out, but held something yellow between them. Kai's lemon drop. Tyson looked at Kai in confusion, but held the candy out to him. Kai blinked, blushed furiously, and adverted his gaze, but took the sour candy and put it back into his mouth. He could taste Ty on it.

"Kai?..."

Kai lost his voice, but it wasn't like he was talking much to begin with, and jumbled his words together. "YouweremumblingaboutDragoon."

"They're heading up the mountain with Dragoon!"

All Ty understood in Kai's hurried sentence was Dragoon. Then the memory hit him. The no good Rabies Pack had stolen Dragoon and beat the crap out of him when he tried to take it back. They left him for dead, beaten in the middle of the temple. All he remembered about the beating was the pain, not where they hit him, wishing, hoping, praying that Kai would come. Now he was here, listening to him.

"The Rabies Pack is going to the top so that their leader, Dominique, can Bond with Dragoon. They're going to… I don't know! They're going to change him! Make him wild, like a rabid animal! We have to leave now, before they get to the top!"

Kai shook his head and placed his hand on Tyson's chest as Ty tried to get up. Ty looked at him in disbelief and tried to knock his hand away and get up again. But Kai put both his hands on Ty's chest and straddled his lap to contain him.

"Tyson, it'll take them weeks to get to the top. You need a few days to rest up and heal a little. You're in no condition to go barging after them, demanding Dragoon back, when they're the ones who put you in this condition in the first place!"

"But then we'll be far behind and I'll lose Dragoon!" Tyson's eyes took on a wild, inhuman look.

"No we won't. I know a shortcut."

"You WHAT!"

"I-know-a-shortcut."

"And how do you know this 'shortcut'?"

"I know these woods-"

Kai stopped himself, realizing what he just said. He basically told Tyson that he planned them out here, that he knew the way back to the village. He was also berating himself for planning this whole thing. If he hadn't have suggested for the walk in the forest and taken the twisted paths to get "lost", then Tyson wouldn't have gotten jumped, he wouldn't have lost Dragoon.

"Kai… are you telling me that you could've led us back to the village anytime?"

"…"

"Why didn't you?"

"… Get some rest. You need to heal up for Dragoon."

"Kai…"

Tyson's gaze fell upon Kai as Kai adverted his. Kai then remembered that his hands were still on Ty's and snatched them back as if they'd been burned. He then hastily rose off of Tyson's lap and went out of the temple to stand before the doors without saying a word.

"Tyson, change your clothes. The ones you wear are useless."

Kai heard the rustling of cloth, then the patter of Ty's bare feet on the cold tile of the temple. The ruffling cloth came up beside him, but he refused to pay any attention to him. It seemed to him that he was going to win and Ty was going to go back in. But then Tyson gave an embarrassed cough. Kai sighed, but did not look at him.

"What is it Tyson?"

"…"

"If you've nothing to say, then return to the temple and sleep."

"I… I didn't pack any clothes…"

"What? Why didn't you pack any clothes?"

"Because I didn't think we'd be more than a few hours! We were only going for a walk, remember?"

Kai was hit by another wave of guilt. It was his fault that they were in this predicament. If only he had listened to his conscious rather than that sudden impulse his mind had made. Unwillfully, that terribly annoying little poem-song intruded his mind. '"If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs, "The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies." The wolf waits down below, and cried to the moon, "If only, if only."

Why did I have to watch that American movie "Holes"? I didn't even like the previews. Kai turned with more thoughts going down those lines and re-entered the temple. Ty, encased in his sleeping bag, waddled after him with a pat, pat, pat of his feet. Kai crouched and shuffled through his bag. He then gave Ty a pair of his clothes. Kai sat back against the wall and rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

He opened them just as Tyson dropped the sleeping bag his black boxers with fire going up the legs. He knew he was staring, but he couldn't help it. It's not everyday you get to see you crush in boxers in front of you and only you. Ty looked up and blushed a deep crimson when he noticed that Kai was staring right at him. He hurredly put Kai's clothes on, surprised to find that they fit him, since the older boy was way skinnier than him.

Kai smirked at seeing Ty dressed in his clothes. He was glad that he had gotten some clothes that were a little big for him ahead of time, expecting to grow into them. According to "society" , boys kept growing until they are 21. He took no chances on how he looked in front of an audience. Ty got his emotions under control and looked Kai in the eyes.

"We're going now."

To prove his point, Tyson put his pack over his shoulder with a small wince for his sore, bruised muscles, and hurried out the doorway. Kai cursed the complete scaled first in Russian, then in Japanese, then in English. He hurriedly folded up the sleeping bag and attached it to the bottom of his bag, throwing it onto his back and hurried after Tyson. He didn't have far to go, for Tyson's beaten body could only move so fast. Grumbling to himself, Kai took Ty's pack and put it on his shoulder, but continued along with Tyson without saying a word.