Title: Innocence

Author: PandaPjays

Chapter Title: Memories

Rating: T

Warnings: See Chapter One

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Author Note: Lol. /dodges random bits of rotten fruit/ I don't think I've ever gotten such a strong reaction to two little words/shrugs/ I'm glad that you liked it! Be warned that this chapter just continues on with the angst.

Have I mentioned how much I love reviews? All reviewers are beautiful, brilliant people.

Tala ducked under a vicious left hook before pivoting and kicking his assailant in the side, making him fly across the room and hit the wall, painfully.

The redhead chuckled as a stream of cursing and profanities in several different languages came from the slate haired boy he had just beaten for the 14th time.

"Really, Kai, I don't think I'm all that. Though you are getting more imaginative with your insults. I think my favourite is the over-grown mutt on LSD one."

Kai pulled him self up to lean against the wall of the room they were in. "You forgot the mangy, insufferable and flea bitten part."

"Whatever floats your boat." Tala said lightly before walking over to where Kai was and sliding down the wall to sit next to him. "So… do you want to go another round? Or have I convinced you that it's not worth it and that you may as well give up and accept the consequences?"

That offer was met with a crimson-eyed glare. Without lessoning the intensity of the glare- and the pain that it promised- Kai slowly got to his feet. "Best out of 29?" He asked, holding out a hand to help the other Russian up.

Tala ignored the offered hand and stood up. "Fine." He sighed. "Best out of 29. When are you going to give up? You know that you can't win."

Remaining silent, the slate-haired teen crouched into a fighting pose. Tala sighed. Why had he agreed to this bet anyway?

To distract him, he reminded himself. Since Kenny had rang them from the Chinese Airport telling them that Rei wasn't in his home village, Kai had become more introverted than usual- if that was possible.

So Tala had come up with the ingenious plan of taunting Kai into a bet. Whoever won a sparring match against the other would be able to make the defeated do anything he wished.

As the matches continued on Tala was thinking of nastier and nastier things that he could make Kai do. At the moment he was contemplating making him go down to the local ice creamery, stand on a table, sing the National Anthem and squish an ice-cream into his eye as a grand finale.

Kai came at the redhead with a high kick aimed for his head. Tala smoothly sidestepped and watched in amusement as the other boy landed painfully on the ground. His amusement soon turned to shock as he felt his legs being swept out from underneath him.

Bastard, he thought as he rolled to get back on to his feet, he's starting to learn my moves.

Tala smirked at that thought. One of the few good things about having a computer in your brain was that it was constantly adapting and updating. That, and giving me more speed and strength than Superman, he conceded to himself, as he swung double-handed at the same place he had kicked in their last match.

"Oof!" Kai went flying again. He hit the ground rolled along the ground until he came to a stop at the wall. He held his side as he glared at the person who'd inflicted his pain. "I think I'm bleeding internally."

Tala smirked and put his arms behind his neck and stretching it, making a chorus of cracking sounds. "I think that's 15 to me now. Do you want to keep on going or have you given up yet?"

Kai tried to sit up but instead groaned and fell back down to the ground. "I want to keep on going- but I think my body has other plans- dying, for example."

Great, now I have to think of something for him to do… HAH! Got it! Tala thought as he headed towards his fallen friend. "I told you, you couldn't beat me. So, ready to hear what you have to do?" He asked as he easily righted the bluenette with one hand despite a groan of protest.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. After much deliberation I have decided that you have to be nice and friendly to Tyson when he gets back. That means no insulting him, ignoring him or blaming him for drinking my milk." Tala snorted in amusement at the shocked expression on the other boys face. "Thought I didn't know about that did you? Sorry to disappoint."

The look of shock quickly turned to a glare bordering on a death glare. "So I have to be nice to Tyson? That's your big punishment? Being nice? You've lost your touch."

Tala grinned and flicked Kai's nose, earning another glare. "I think that you might find that that's harder than you think." He smirked and got up to leave the room.

He was stopped by a sound of protest from the bluenette. "Oh! Do you want me to help you get back to the room?" He came back with a too-wide nurse-like smile plastered on his face. "Is widdle Kai not strong enough to get back by his widdle self?"

"I think I hate you" Was his only reply as Tala helped him stand and they began their journey back to the penthouse from the gym.

(-)

Tala shut the door to Kai's room, leaving the other Russian to recuperate from their 'exercise'.

He sighed and headed toward the kitchen to get himself some coffee. It's going to be a true Kodak moment when Kai realises how hard it's going to be to be nice to Tyson when he gets back. He thought as he searched for a mug.

He had noted with interest the way that Max would stare at Tyson and the way that he had stood just that bit closer to him at the airport. In most people Max's behaviour would have gone almost unnoticed but Tala wasn't most people.

He had watched the progression of Max's feelings for the other boy throughout his entire stay. It had given his mind something that wasn't hard to do. If he was a betting man- and he was- he would have guessed that Max's feelings would have shown themselves on the trip at some point.

So, he reasoned, either we're going to meet them at the airport with Max being heartbroken or they will be looking decidedly coupleier. Is that even a word? Anyway, I'm willing to bet it's the latter.

He mentally shrugged and returned to drinking his coffee. Either way it would be funny watching Kai stop himself from insulting Tyson when he came back in two days.

After draining his cup, Tala stood. He winced and sat back down quickly holding his side in one of the few places Kai had managed to hit him- hard. He lifted up his shirt to examine the large purple bruise forming on his torso.

:Injury detected:

:Repairing now:

Tala watched, fascinated, as the bruise and, consequently, the pain, began to disappear. I guess that's another of the good things about having a computer in your head, he thought as the last of the mark vanished. He stood up and stretched to test if he was fully healed. Satisfied when he felt no pain, Tala ambled out of the kitchen to the lounge room where he flopped on to the couch, exhausted. It still took just as much energy to heal his injuries as it would normally take; his computer half just sped up the process.

And people wonder why I like high energy foods, he thought irritably, trying to keep his eyes open and failing miserably. Tala's eyes slid shut and refused to be opened again.

Just a small nap, he thought as unconsciousness invaded his mind.

------

Tala watched as his sister ran through the snow laughing and calling to him to come chase her. He blinked as he took in his surroundings. They were in a park that their parents used to take them to when they were small… and their parents were still alive…

"Are you coming or not?" The younger of the two's voice came from a cluster of trees. "Mum and Dad will be worried if we don't get back soon! It's almost dark!"

Tala looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was beginning to set. He didn't know why, but he knew that was a bad thing and that they had to find their parents and leave before it became completely dark.

"Tahlia?" He looked around for his younger sister. "Where are you?"

"Over here, silly" she told him, bursting out of a cluster of tress and landing on the snow-covered ground with a thump. He frowned. She looked about six years old. That mad him seven. Tala looked down at the clothes he was wearing. It had been a long time since he had fit into these clothes.

"Hey, look what I can do!"

She threw herself on the ground and began waving her arms and legs madly for a few minutes. She then rolled over and stood up, admiring her handiwork. "See? It's my guardian angel!"

Tala looked at the faint angel-like imprint on the ground and raised an eyebrow. He didn't see it. "Right. Well do you think your guardian angel will help us get back to Mum and Dad before dark?"

She looked down at her angel and back up to her brother and nodded in complete seriousness. "Yes."

He grinned and held out his hand. "Then we better start going so she can start to help us."

Tahlia took his hand and began to walk in the direction of their parents. Tala marvelled at how fast she seemed to move even when it seemed like she was just moving at walking pace. He had to trot to keep up with her.

"They have to be around here somewhere." She said as she fought her way through the forest.

Tala looked around at the darkness that was slowly taking over the daylight and swallowed nervously. It was getting too dark for his liking. They weren't going to make it back in time.

"Tala! Tahlia! Where are you two? It's almost dark and we need to get back!" Tala stopped when he heard the voice. He hadn't heard that voice in years.

"Come on! Your father's gone home to cook us dinner! It'll probably be ready by now and going cold!" his mother's voice rang through the trees again, lilting and melodic. It hadn't sounded like that the last time he had heard it.

"What's wrong, Tala?" his sister's voice cut through the trance that had taken hold of him. "We have to hurry."

Yes, they had to hurry. He didn't know why they had to but he knew that if they didn't reach their mother before night fell something bad would happen.

Tahlia began to lead them again through the maze of trees. As they continued to weave their way through the trees Tala became more and more convinced they were lost.

The sun sank lower in the sky as the pair continued to search for their mother.

There was only the smallest hint of light in the sky as they rounded the corner to come face to face with their mother. She smiled in relief and bent down to sweep up both of her children in a tight hug.

"I missed you both! You had me worried!"

Tala clung to his mother and breathed in her half-forgotten scent. He leaned back and stared at her face, taking in every detail to convince himself she was real. It was all there, her bright blue eyes, the same as his own, and the dark mane of hair framing her face. She was exactly as she remembered her to be.

Except that in the dying light her eyes looked cruel. Tala blinked and looked again. Her eyes definitely held an undercurrent of cruelty that he had never seen before. He cocked his head, puzzled. "What's wrong with you eyes?" he asked her.

She smiled and laughed, her laughed anything but the soft, musical laugh he remembered. "Nothing. I'm just glad that you're here with me!"

She laughed again, her laugh turning horrible and harsh. Tala looked into her face and gasped as he saw Boris's mask in the place where his mother's face was meant to be. "You're all mine now" Boris whispered into Tala's ear as he hugged the boy to himself.

Tala let out and ear piecing shriek as he began to struggle against the older man. "LET GO OF ME!"

Boris chuckled and threw Tahlia on to the snow-covered ground before turning his full attention to the struggling boy. "Why couldn't you be good like her?" He asked, gesturing to his sister who had somehow reverted to her current age.

Tahlia sat on the ground placidly, watching Boris with rapt attention, like she was trying to memorise every word he uttered.

Tala turned his head away from his sibling, trying and failing to stop tears leaking from his eyes.

"Why couldn't you just do what I ask you like she does?" Boris jeered at Tala, who had stopped resisting him, opting to hang limply from Boris's arms. "Instead I have to punish you to make you understand."

Boris smirked and gripped Tala's chin, forcing him to look up at the older man. "You know that this is all your fault and that if you would just be good like your sister I wouldn't have to do this." Saying that, he gripped Tala's chin painfully tight and crushed his lips against the redhead's with bruising force.

He pulled back and smirked at the boy. "This- is- all- you- deserve", he said, giving Tala a bruising kiss to accentuate each painful word. He flung the younger boy on to the snow and fell on top of him.

Tala cried out when he felt Boris's weight on him, forcing him down further into the ground. He didn't want this. He tried to push himself up but was stopping by Boris pushing him further down. The older man leant down to whisper in the frightened child's ear. "Don't fight me. You only make it worse for yourself."

Tala looked across at his sister who was still watching, silently pleading for her to intervene, to do something. Instead, Tahlia continued to sit where she was, watching the proceedings with nothing but passing interest.

(-)

"TALA!"

Tala's eyes shot open and he tried to sit up. Realising that someone was restraining him. He began to yell and struggle against the grip.

"TALA! It's me! Kai!"

The redhead blinked and realised where he was and who was holding him down. He forced himself to relax and sank back down, breathing heavily.

Kai frowned at him, his crimson eyes filled with worry. "Are you ok? What happened? You just started to scream in your sleep"

Tala became uncomfortably aware of the tracks that tears had made down his face while sleeping. "I'm fine- just had a nightmare."

He glared at the other boy, daring him to challenge his story. When the other Russian closed his eyes Tala chose to take that as acceptance and looked around himself curiously. He wasn't in the lounge room where he'd fallen asleep.

"Where am I? How long have I been asleep?" He asked the other Russian, getting slightly panicked.

"You're in my room. I moved you here after it looked like you weren't going to get up for a while. You've been sleeping for about three days. Our sparring match obviously took a lot more out of you than you thought hey? Does that make me the winner albeit after the fact?"

Tala's eyes widened at the fact that he had been asleep for three days. It certainly didn't feel like three days, he was still exhausted.

He yawned and looked up at the slate-haired boy above him. "No, that does not make you the winner, Smartie, but I'll let you off the punishment because if I've been asleep three days then everyone else is back home. Am I right? If I am than you've already forgotten about our agreement so there really is no point"

Kai nodded to both of Tala's observations and smirked. "How did you know?" he asked, referring to Tyson and Max's couple status.

Tala smirked. "I'm psychic."

Kai snorted. "Psycho, more like it."

"HEY!"

"Well I'm going to let widdle Tala get a widdle more nap-nap time. Goodnight."

Tala glared at the retreating form of his friend and sank into the comfortable mattress, pondering his dream.

He could remember that day vividly. Tahlia had not been there, like in his dream but Boris had taken him to that very spot and…

Tala shuddered and huddled deeper into his blankets. Why was he remembering that? Wasn't his computer half meant to block out memories like that? Or at least take the emotional component out of them?

His whole body shaking, Tala snuggled underneath the covers. What is wrong with me?

(-)

Kai sighed and sat down at the desk in the lounge room. The hotel had obviously decided that even a penthouse was to small to have a proper study so they had put a desk in the lounge room as a make-do.

He reached forward and grabbed the phone in front of him, bringing it to his ear and dialling a number swiftly.

-Kai?-

"Hi, Mr Dickinson. How'd you know it was me?"

-Caller I.D. is a great invention, Kai-

"Oh."

-What were you calling about?-

"I think I know how to get Rei back."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. –How?- the other man asked carefully.

"We do the one thing that we know he couldn't resist."

-What's that?-

"Hold a tournament."

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