"Hey Ray, have you seen Kai?" a tired Tyson asked the neko-jin as soon as he entered the room. "S'just that…" He yawned. "Kenny wants to see us all…"
"No, sorry guys, I haven't. I could go look for him…" He offered. "You guys could fill me in later."
"Fine, Ray." Kenny replied. "Just if you don't find him by midday, come back. He'll probably be training if that happens."
Ray nodded and stood. Normally, Moon Child would be bounding after Ray like a normal dog begging for a walk, but she wasn't there; he guessed that she was with Kai.
He gave a sigh as he walked through the park. As he walked, he glanced left and right, seeing kids play; whether it be normal play or beyblading. As he neared the river, memories came to his mind's eye… one of them being most clear and dear to him.. the last time he had been at the riverside, which had ironically been the night before… with Bryan.
The corner of Ray's lips twitched upwards into a lop-sided smirk as he thought of that memory. He liked that moment. Though, the last things he remembered were Bryan explaining the scar on his back and obviously falling asleep in the falcon's arms. He guessed Bryan had snuck into Tyson's dojo to put Ray in his futon, because Ray woke up that morning in there. Nice of him.
Heaving a sigh, he wandered along the side of the slow moving river, watching it glisten in the morning glow of the su-
He was suddenly grabbed by the arm and pushed against the wall of the underside of the bridge. He yelled out in pain, but a pair of lips silenced him.
He tastes… familiar… was the second thought that sprung to Ray's mind (the first being, Who the fuck is this?). He smirked. Bryan…
He sighed as he opened his mouth into the kiss, letting the falcon's tongue enter. He distinctly felt Bryan's hand on his hip, while he had another round his waist and resting on his lower back. His own hands were buried in Bryan's hair, ruffling up the already messy hair.
Pulling back, Bryan smirked. "Hello Kitten."
Ray pouted. "What's with the 'kitten' nickname?"
"It suits you." Bryan murmured, nuzzling Ray's neck.
"And you said I was too snugly…" Ray muttered. "Now that you're here, you can help me find Kai."
"I was about to say the same thing about Tala." Bryan replied, straightening to look Ray in the eyes, though he kept his hands where they were. "The old coot, Mr Dickenson, wants to see us."
"Same, but with Kenny. I guess the Chief saw Mr Dickenson beforehand… But I think thatKai and Talawill be together."
"How ever did you guess?" Bryan asked sarcastically, faking surprise. He smirked as Ray pouted again. "But I think you're right, kitten. Both are pretty possessive…"
"Including you?" Ray inquired.
Bryan leant down to Ray's neck and made a trail of butterfly kisses down the side, moving under his collar. Once he met the conjunction of where neck met shoulder, he bit down, marking Ray as his own. The said neko-jin inhaled sharply, his grip on the back of Bryan's jacket and hair tightening briefly.
"Jeez…" he murmured.
Bryan smirked. "That answer your question?" He said in between kisses and licks over the small wound.
Ray laughed. "I guess it does… I'm just thanking the gods and spirits that you did it under my collar… explaining that to the others would be hard… unless I said a vampire bit me…"
"Oh, so I'm a vampire now, am I?" Bryan asked, straightening once again and giving Ray a swift, chaste kiss.
"I don't care what you are."
"I guess the next thing you're going to say is 'You're perfect to me.'"
"Well, two things: 1) Do you want me to say it? 2) To say it anyway, you are perfect to me, Bry." Ray replied.
"I already know, kitten."
'Excuuuuuuuuse me!'
"Huh? Oh, Moon Child!" Ray grinned, letting go of Bryan and sitting on his heels to scratch the grey wolf behind the ears. "Do you know where Kai and Tala are?"
Moon Child nodded and sat down, scratching her newly collared neck.
"Oh, please don't tell me she has fleas…" Bryan muttered.
"I don't think she does." Ray replied as something shiny fell onto the ground. Moon Child instantly stopped scratching and looked expectantly at Ray. He picked up a small, platinum-blue card. "It's a key card of some kind… Hey, it has 'Hiwatari' on it! That's Kai's last name, isn't it?"
Bryan nodded. "I guess he wants to see us… probably to get us to cover for them so they can screw each other for the whole day…"
"Bryan!"
"Hn…" Bryan huffed. "…it's probably true, anyway…" he added in a murmur.
"Come on. The card says that the room's at the Liberty Hotel in the penthouse suite… wait, isn't the Liberty Hotel that five star hotel a few blocks away?"
Bryan shrugged. "How should I know? I've only been to Japan two times in my whole, entire life, this being one of them."
"Sourpuss…" Ray muttered as he stood. "Come on, we better go see anyway…"
"Great Spirits above…" Ray murmured as the three of them walked into the penthouse suite. "This is probably the size of the great temple in my village!"
"Hiwatari, where's Tala?" Bryan growled softly at Kai, who was sitting at the breakfast bar, arms crossed and leaning on the tabletop.
"Sleeping." Kai replied simply.
"Well, wake 'im. We've got a meeting with the old coot and Tala needs to be there."
"That's what I needed to tell you about. We won't be coming. I don't know what's wrong with Tala; he's been acting odd lately and-"
"Ah, ah! I ain't covering for you and Red just so you two can spend the day screwing each other, Kai."
"Bryan!" Ray cried. He turned his attention to Kai. "What do you mean 'odd'?"
"He-"
But Kai stopped when a faint cry erupted from one of the rooms. Kai cursed and ran into one of the rooms, Bryan and Ray following; Moon Child too. What they saw made them stop: mentally and physically.
Kai was kneeling on the bed, holding a shaking, yet sleeping, Tala in his arms, whispering words of obvious-comfort in the redhead's ear; but these words had no effect. The nightmare seemed to be scaring Tala out of his wits. At first, Bryan thought Tala was faking…
"Bryan. Grab Wolborg from Tala's bag. It could calm him down." Kai growled at the Falcon, who nodded; he knew when there was a time to be sarcastic/moody/etc and this was not one of those times. He made his way quickly to a small duffel bag and opened it, grabbing the blade that was lying on top of the neatly piled clothes. He made his way back over to Tala and Kai and, with the help of Kai, pried the redhead's hand off the blunette's shirt. Bryan placed Wolborg in Tala's palm and clasped his fingers round it, before stepping back…
But this did no good either, for straight after, Tala threw the blade away like a spoilt child does a toy that does not please him. Ray, with his quick reflexes, darted diagonally and grabbed the airborne blade. Bryan now knew that this was no act to stop suspicion; Tala would never throw Wolborg like that, even if he knew that Ray would catch it.
Ray and Bryan could do nothing but watch; Ray tried to preoccupy himself with comforting Moon Child, but Tala's cries were loud. Bryan had shut his eyes and looked away, not wanting to see his captain like this and Kai had buried his face in Tala's messy hair to hide his tears from everyone, still cradling Tala to his frame.
After what seemed like an eternity, Tala calmed down; though he still shook and had Kai's shirt in a vice-like grip, a pained look on his face. Nothing happened for a while. It seemed like time had stopped.
Ray stood quietly and shakily, walking over to Bryan and placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. Bryan opened his eyes and the two stared at each other for a while before Bryan nodded. They quietly walked out, bringing Moon Child with them.
"Bryan…" Ray murmured when the lilac-haired teen had closed the bedroom door. The Russian turned to the neko-jin and pulled him into his arms, rubbing his back. "What do you think is happening to Tala?"
"I…" Bryan sighed. "I'm not certain… but if my suspicions are correct, Tala's in big trouble."
A/N- sorry for the slow update… I somehow managed cut to my hand while ice skating. It weren't mah fault! Some dude went right into me and… well, the details are gory… to put it short, the edge of his skate got dug into mah hand… hehe, I didn't actually feel it; twas weird. all i remember was someone screaming 'BLOOD!' and me looking at mah hand going 'Oh...fuck.' (Talk about weird...) … but I had to write this chapter all one handedly… bloody hell, don't try it…
Anywho, Review! DAMN RYHMES!