Another Day

Chapter 15

The way of trouble

The days passed, and the household was slowly going back to normal. Kai argued his way out of bed on Tuesday, but he kept to himself most of the time, and Rei noticed how the silence in a room would always turn awkward when Kai came in.

Tala struggled with his guilt still, and the first meeting between him and Kai didn't go too well. The redhead had realised that he couldn't avoid Kai any longer and so he had called for him in the morning, meaning to ask for breakfast.

Kai knocked on the door and entered after getting permission. Tala couldn't seem to kill the nervousness that had materialised in his stomach. "Kai. Um…breakfast. Could you…um, yeah, breakfast."

Kai watched him with dull eyes, but he didn't ask for clarification, "Yes, master."

Tala watched in disappointment as the boy left. 'Man, I blew it,' he thought.

A few minutes later Kai came back up with a tray. He put it down on the bed beside Tala, and stepped back, bowing his head in respect. Tala saw right through his act, though, it was obvious that Kai was aching to throw the entire breakfast in his face, and the redhead wouldn't really have minded.

"Kai…" he sat up in his bed, feeling suddenly eager. This had to stop. "We have to talk. I-" He was interrupted before he could get any further.

"I'll be taking my leave, master, unless there is anything else you want me to do." The slave let no emotion enter his voice, but there was finality in it.

Tala hesitated. With a simple no he could keep Kai here, and make him listen. He might even be able to get a good response from him. But, somehow, he couldn't.

"…Alright. You may leave."

Kai turned on his heel, and the redhead fell back on the bed, feeling lost.

*~*~*

On Thursday Rei was playing with Adria in the garden. Adria had brought her porcelain doll outside, the one that Tala had given to her, and she sat with her legs crossed and the doll on her lap, admiring her curly hair and the beautiful dress. Rei sat beside her, content just to rest and take in the scenery. The garden was still not finished, but it had been cleaned up, and empty flowerbeds were the only visible sign that there had ever been a crime committed here.

Tala had tried his best to put the whole incident behind him, but his relationship with Kai was still uncomfortable. Kai spoke in as few words as possible and did all he was asked to do without blinking. Tala and Rei watched from afar how he built up a wall between himself and the world.

They took comfort in being able to share their worry with each other, and Tala had told Rei about Wednesday morning; when he had tried to talk to Kai, but failed. The feline found that he too wished that the other slave had become angry. He wished that Kai had shut himself in his room and refused to listen to Tala's orders. Even a temper tantrum was better than this.

He had tried to snap Kai out of his apathy, talking to him, teasing him, trying to engage him in a game of something, but it was hopeless. He kept replaying the kiss in the closet in his head and he just couldn't understand how this could be the same Kai. From a Kai who was warm and shy beneath him in the dark to a Kai who turned away without reply. It just wasn't right, and Rei hated it. But what could get the slave to go back to his old rebelling self?