Chapter 2 : Return of the Phoenix
Mariah greeted her boyfriend at the door with a gentle kiss in the late evening. "How is Rei doing Lee? Did you make sure he got away and made it home?"
Lee nodded with a pensive face. "He's home ok. Although I think you're right. I think there is something wrong with him."
"What happened tonight, Lee?" Mariah sat on the couch as Lee related his story to her.
"He snapped at me. I asked him if he was sure he was ok and he snapped at me. It's not like Rei to snap at people. I'm worried Mariah. Something is bugging him and I don't know what. I can tell you one thing for sure though. He isn't happy here anymore. Did you pick up on how he resisted going home tonight? He didn't want to go back at first. I was going to offer for him to stay here with us, but he insisted he would be ok."
Mariah hugged Lee as she sighed once more for the evening. "We'll have to take him at his word for now Lee. We'll try to figure out what exactly is going on, but I don't think he's happy here anymore. Do you promise not to get mad at me if I make a suggestion Lee?"
"What are you talking about Mariah?"
"Just promise you won't get mad if I make a suggestion."
"I promise Mariah. If you think you know a way we can help Rei, tell me. We have to help him somehow. We can't let him linger like this. He's running away from something. Either that or he's just as clueless as we are."
Mariah looked down at her lap and her voice was barely loud enough to hear. "I think we should send him back to the Bladebreakers Lee."
"What are you talking about Mariah? He just left them to come home."
She looked back up to Lee with sad eyes. "I know Lee, but what if he didn't think he had much of a choice? As far as Rei was concerned, he still had a home here to come back to and he didn't have anywhere else to go. What if it's the Bladebreakers he needs to be around? He left the village once Lee. Rei can't be cooped up here for the rest of his life. This place is not the place for him. Even when he came back to us before, he was never really as happy with us as he was with them. What does he honestly have here Lee? He has us, yes, but nothing FOR himself. He has people here Lee, that's it. He is still young yet and he has nothing to challenge himself. There is nothing for him to work for. Rei is not meant for this village life. He was meant to be out there. He was meant to study and work. He is not meant to plant and raise livestock. Can't you see that Lee? I don't want him to leave us, but if it means his happiness, I would rather send him away and tell him to keep in touch. We can always write letters back and forth and we can always visit. He can always come back to visit. But Rei is done with living here. You can't tell me, that after seeing him this afternoon, that he is honestly living the life he wants. He is living what the village wants for him."
Lee leaned his head on her shoulder as he took a deep breath. "I know Mariah. I didn't want to see it, but you're right. The village isn't the place for him. Do you think you can write a letter to the bladebreakers this evening and get it sent off tomorrow?"
Mariah smiled. "I'll have a letter sent to Max tomorrow morning. Hopefully by the end of the week they'll be able to plan something."
Lee gently kissed his girlfriend as they both headed upstairs for some much needed rest.
Rei awoke late the next morning to a knocking on the door. He pulled himself out of bed and dragged himself out to answer the door. 'This had better be good. I really didn't want to get out of bed.' When he opened the door, he found Lee in front of him. Rei glared and stepped aside to allow his friend inside. "What are you doing here so early Lee? I just got out of bed?"
Lee frowned at the tiger. "Rei, the sun has been up for several hours already. It's going on early afternoon. Were you that tired?"
Rei frowned as well and led the lion over to the couch in the living room. "Oh, I didn't realize it was that late. Where's Mariah?"
"She just went to meet the mail delivery. She had a few letters to send out this morning."
Rei looked up curiously. "Mariah is sending letters out? Who is she writing to? I didn't know she was keeping in touch with anyone outside the village."
Lee laughed. "Yeah, well, she was happy to meet other girls in the sport, so she swapped addresses with the other girls during the last tournament. Who knows, given the chance Mariah may join up with the other girls and make their own team for the next tournament."
Rei gave a small laugh and looked away out the window. "Yeah, maybe they will. We'll just have to wait and see."
Lee looked at his friend in concern again. "Look, Rei, if there is something you want to ask of us, or tell us, you know you can. We'll support you in anything. You know that right?"
Rei turned an angry stare to the lion. "Look, Lee, just leave it alone, ok?"
Lee stood and gave his friend a saddened expression. "Rei, we both know you aren't happy here. Mariah went this morning to send word to the bladebreakers that you weren't happy here. She's asked them to make arrangements to meet you back in Japan and help you set up a place to stay there."
Rei jumped up and stormed over to his friend. "How dare you. Why are you two to butt into my life? I don't need you to make decisions for me. This is my home and I'll be damned if I let you force me out of it. First you didn't want me to leave and now you're forcing me? What's wrong Lee? Feel threatened? Think I'll take over your position as captain? I'm not blading anymore Lee. Your place as captain is safe and secure. Are you happy?"
Lee shoved the angry tiger back down onto the sofa and stared at him. "No, I'm not happy. No, I'm not threatened. If you hadn't noticed, Mariah and I have gotten together and started a life together here. I could care less about blading as long as we have each other. You are not happy here Rei. Home is where your heart rests and your heart is not here in this village. It may not even be in Japan but right now that is all we could think of to help you. You can't continue to sit and mope around the house everyday and let life pass you by. You think we want to force you to leave? You don't know us very well anymore then. Either that or you aren't thinking clearly anymore. Mariah and I just want you to be happy and if that means being away from this village somewhere out there, than so be it. Right now as you sit here, you are not the Rei we know and love. So don't talk to me about butting into your life, because obviously you need somebody to do just that. When you think you can speak civilly and with a cool head, you know where to find me. We only wanted to help. Unfortunately, it's going to be up to you to accept that help. So it's your choice. You know where the house is. Come find me when you're ready to face the fact that you don't have to do what everyone else wants you to."
Rei sat silently and watched Lee storm out of the house. He looked out the window and saw Mariah meet him in the middle of the path and follow him back towards their house. Rei slowly eased himself down across the couch as tears pricked the backs of his eyelids. "I will not cry again. I was done with that last night. I will not cry over this. They don't know what they are talking about. I can't just up and leave again. It's not that simple. Where would I go? Then again, he said Mariah was going to ask the guys to help find a place for me to stay. What am I doing? I'm pushing everyone away from me. I don't want to. I just want to find my own life. I don't know what I want, so how could they? This is where I've always lived, there is no other place. What am I going to do?" Rei continued to run questions through his head until he couldn't think anymore and just lay there on the couch, crying himself back to sleep.
"Lee, what happened? Why are you so mad? Lee, wait, calm down and talk to me." Mariah continued to follow her boyfriend along the small dirt road that lead through the village. He took a detour along a smaller path that led up to one of the cliff ledges. Finally he sat down in a small grassy area and took a deep breath to calm himself as he looked out over the valley. "Lee what's wrong? What happened when you went to talk to Rei?"
"He's not thinking right at the moment Mariah. He just riled me up, that's all."
Mariah sat down and pulled his head around to look at her. "What happened over there Lee?"
Lee sighed and turned back around to stare out over the valley again. "I told him you had sent word to the bladebreakers. It didn't go over so well. He was mad that we were meddling in his life. Said we were trying to force him to leave and that he thought I felt threatened by him as far as the team goes. He said we don't need to make his decisions for him."
Mariah sighed and wrapped her arms around the riled lion. "He didn't mean it Lee. Like you said, he's not thinking straight. He's confused and trying to work things out in his own mind and he doesn't know what he wants. Rei is being defensive right now. He's going to try to run away from facts so he can keep living up to the life everyone expected of him. I'm pretty sure he's shoving us away because he doesn't even realize he's doing it. Just give him some time to calm down. I sent a letter to both Max and Kai. They should get them within a few days and then within the week we should know something more. Until then, we just have to keep an eye on Rei and let him sort things out for himself."
The couple sat at the top of the cliff and leaned against each other as they took in the view and enjoyed each others company.
"MAXIE! MAIL CALL!" Judy down the stairs to where her son and husband were working on some new blade parts for the shop.
It didn't take long for Max to come thundering up the stairs to answer her call. He quickly picked the letter up off the counter and looked at where it was from. "Hmm, it's from China, it must be from Rei. I wonder what he's up to." He quickly opened the letter as he sat down at the table to read the letter. He was quickly surprised to see that the letter was from Mariah and not Rei.
"Dear Max,
I know I'm one of the last people you expected to hear from. I wish I was writing under better circumstances. Lee and I are worried about Rei. He's only been home for less than a day and already something doesn't seem right. He's not happy here anymore. I don't know why he felt he absolutely had to come home. Don't get me wrong, we love having him here. But he's just not happy here anymore. He's keeping himself distant from everyone and he's been snappy. Lee tried to ask him if anything was wrong and Rei told him to leave him alone. The Rei that came home to the village isn't the Rei we know and love. We don't exactly wish him to leave, but we don't want him to feel he has to stay here to please everyone else. We don't want him to stay here if he's not happy. That's the biggest thing I can tell you Max, is that he's not happy. If he stays here, I fear he won't ever be. Our Rei was meant to do other things with his life than live in this village. It is no longer the place for him. I'm not sure where he should be anymore but it's not here. Maybe if he were to regroup with you and your team he could find where he belongs. We're asking for your help Max. We will arrange for him to be on a flight back to Japan if that is what you and your team thinks is best. Just send word back to us and let us know if you can meet him there. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Mariah
Max quickly looked back up to his mom. "Hey mom, I'm going out for a bit. I need to talk to Tyson and the guys. I'll be home for dinner, ok?"
Judy smiled at her son. "Ok Maxie, is everything ok?"
"I hope so mom. I think Rei may be coming back to stay for awhile in Japan. I just have to talk to the guys about it and give them a heads up. We also need to get in touch with Kai. Rei was closest to him I think. He should be given a heads up on what's going on."
Judy hugged her son as he walked out the door to meet the rest of his team.
Knock, knock, knock
"Hold on, I'm coming." Tyson made his way down the walkway to answer the door. When he opened it up he was greeted by the sight of Max, Hillary, and Kenny. They all looked a little serious. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"We need to talk about Rei." Max handed Tyson the letter he had received as they all followed him to the main room.
Tyson quickly read through the letter and seated himself within the circle they all formed as they sat on the floor of the main room. "From the looks of this letter, I don't think there's much debate. Rei can stay here while he figures things out. We have the spare room. I agree with Mariah, Rei doesn't belong there anymore. He belongs here with us. So when do we meet him?"
Max smiled. "I thought you would agree with us. I'll send word to Mariah as soon as we get in touch with Kai. You know he and Rei were pretty close friends. I think he needs to know what's going on. He may want to come back for a bit to help Rei. Do you have a number where I can reach him?"
"Yeah, Tala made sure to leave me a note to keep in touch. He knew Kai would never do it himself." Tyson got up and went to retrieve the number Tala had given him in case they needed to get in touch with them. He was back within minutes. "Here you go Max, give Kai a call and let me know what the plans are. I'll go with you to pick Rei up at the airport and bring him back here."
Max and everyone nodded and departed back to their own houses. As soon as Max walked in the door, he was on the phone to Kai and Tala. The phone rang a couple of times before someone picked up.
"Hello, Bryan speaking"
"Bryan? It's Max. Is Kai there?"
"No, he left this morning. He got a letter from China about Rei and was on the next flight out."
"Mariah sent him a letter too? Ok, well did he fill you in on any details?"
"Nope, he just said he was on his way to China to see Rei. He told Tala he wouldn't be longer than a week. He has his cell phone in case we needed to get in touch with him. We were planning to call him later this evening, would you like me to pass a message along to him?"
Max smiled into the phone. Kai was also quicker to act than any of them had ever been. "Could you please Bryan? Tell him we've arranged for Rei to stay here with Tyson for as long as he needs to. We'll meet him at the airport when they arrive. Just have him give me a call and let me know when they should be in."
"Ok, Max. I'll tell him. Good luck. I hope you guys can bring the tiger around. It sounds like he's gotten himself depressed and into quite the situation to me. I hope you can help him. We'll have Kai call you when he gets his plans together. And Max?"
"Yeah Bryan?"
"Could you give us a call when he's settled in and let us know how things are going. We'd like to know he's doing ok."
Max smiled at Bryan's concern. "No problem Bryan. I'm sure Rei would be happy to know you care."
Bryan grumbled into the phone. "Quit goofing Max. We just want to know he's ok. Tala, Spence, and Ian included. We'll talk to you later."
"Bye Bryan. We'll call again soon."
Max smiled and went to join his parents for dinner. He thought it would throw an interesting curve into the works if Bryan was worried like he was over Rei. It would be interesting to see where that went and he wanted a front row seat.
Knock, knock, knock.
Rei grumbled as he lay in bed for the fourth evening in a row. He rolled over and tried to ignore the incessant knocking.
Knock, knock, knock.
'Stupid people, can't they just leave me alone. I don't want to go out. I just want to stay here alone.' Rei rolled over and pulled himself out of bed and went to answer the door. 'It's probably Lee again.' Rei turned the handle and pulled the door open. "Look, Lee, I told you to just leave me alone. I just want to be alone for awhile…" Rei's plea drifted off as he saw who was at the front door.
"Hello, Rei. It's good to see you too."
"Kai, what are you doing here?"