A/N- remember:
'Moon Child thinking' 'Moon Child speaking' Thinking"Speaking"
"Past speaking" (like a mini flashback)
"Someone speaking in Russian"
(yes I know that's a lot to remember, sorry)
"Oh come on, Maxie! That was cheating!" Tyson's voice drifted up to the roof of the Dojo.
"Do you have any idea what they're doing?" Ray asked, lying next to Kai.
"No," Kai replied, "and frankly, I don't care."
Ray chuckled and sighed, closing his eyes, his ears concentrating on the different sounds of the night; the crickets buzzing, the last of the birds settling down, few cars and of course, Tyson and Max in the Dojo doing God knows what.
They had done training today, doing what they usually did, though not as… intense. Just as the sun was half-hidden, they stopped and Tyson had come up to Ray.
"What's wrong with Kai?" The Japanese boy had asked. "He doesn't seem… with it."
And Ray had thought so too. The Russian was acting like he had something big on his mind. Something he was constantly thinking about; And Ray had an inkling what is was…
But he wasn't going to ask just yet.
He knew Kai. Not like Tala, obviously, but he knew him enough to respect his privacy. He didn't want to nosy around Kai's thoughts unwelcomed; he wasn't the kind of guy. But he was planning to find out soon… just not now. Not after Tala's nightmares…
Gods, that scared Ray to see both Russian's like that; Bryan too. He had never known that those three bladers- those three fearless bladers could be so… troubled, to put it in a nice way. Ray felt scared wondering what was wrong with Tala… and Bryan's words weren't helping…
"I'm not certain… but if my suspicions are correct, Tala's in big trouble."
Ray just wished that it could all end and the four of them could live in peace together; not forgetting Moon Child too. If the small (well, not small now) hadn't been around, he knew that he wouldn't have gotten together with Bryan… maybe Tala and Kai wouldn't have confessed their feelings… but he knew that it wouldn't be all peaches and cream that easily. As they say, 'the course of true love never does run smoothly'.
This left Ray thinking. Did he believe in true love? Soul mates? He didn't know… his parents, he believed, weren't 'soul mates' or 'true lovers' because they had divorced when he was little. He had later run away from home, ending up in the White Tiger village and being adopted by a young lady called Xiu Juan; later on, meeting Lee and his friends.
Sure, he didn't have a worse life than Bryan or Tala, but it was pretty heavy… not being accepted by others apart from Lee and the gang and wondering about his true parents…
He sighed and stood up, walking over to the edge of the roof.
"Ray?" Kai's voice drifted over.
"Yeah… I… just need some room." He muttered, before jumping off the low Dojo.
He walked out the garden and along the damp sidewalk, head slightly lowered and not really registering where he was walking until… something ran into him.
"Hey watch it- Kon?"
With a 'Huh?' he looked down fully to see Ian sitting on the floor. Thudding footsteps made him look up again.
"Huh? Spencer?"
"Ray, where's Kai?"
"Kai? He's back at Tyson's dojo." Ray sensed something. "What's going on?"
"We'll explain on the way." Spencer said, helping Ian up.
The Chinese boy followed the two Russians, wondering-
"Where's Bryan? And Tala?" He asked, running next to the larger Russian.
"That's the thing." Ray felt like his heart was stuck in his throat. "Tala collapsed." Ray felt his heart fall lower but he was still worried about the redhead. "Bryan is taking him to the hospital."
"He told us to get Kai. I don't know why, but-"
"In here." Ray cut him off, running through the gate of the Granger Dojo. "Kai!" he yelled. No answer. He turned to the two Russians. "Wait here."
He jumped straight onto the roof in one upward leap and ran over to the grey haired captain.
"Kai! You need to come with me. Tala! He's-"
He was cut off because Kai, in the blink of an eye, had stood and wrapped his fingers around Ray's throat, almost blocking off his air supply.
"What? What's wrong with Tala?" Kai's crimson eyes were cold and emotionless.
"He…" Ray rasped out, his feet just brushing the floor. "He collapsed…Bryan's… taking him to… the…hospital…"
Kai let him fall and jumped off the roof himself, away from Spencer and Ian. Ray fell to the floor, on all fours and gulped down the precious oxygen Kai's hand had deprived him of. He put a hand to his throat numbly to try and stop the dull throb and ache; he was sure to have bruises later.
He lifted himself off the floor, still panting and staggered over to the edge nearest the other bladers, and jumped off. He landed perfectly, but it made him feel slightly nauseous.
"Come on…" He said, running over to and past Spencer and Ian; even if his body didn't want him to, his spirit was driving him on.
"What happened? Where's Kai?" Ian asked as they turned a corner.
"He… went on ahead…" Ray panted, his throat dry already.
After five more minutes of running, the large lights of the hospital loomed into view. They ran in.
"Tala Ivanov. He was brought in earlier." Spencer said to the receptionist, giving her a cold glare to make sure she wouldn't fuss about.
"Er… right… Mr Ivanov was rushed off to ICU. You won't be able to see him yet so-"
"I don't care if we can't see him yet, but you must allow Kai Hiwatari to see him immediately without question." Ray said, standing next to Spencer; his slit-eye glare wasn't as good as Spencer's but it sure did the job.
"V-Very well. I'll get onto it. The relatives room is-is down the hall on your right." She squeaked. "The boy who brought him in is in there."
Ray nodded. "Thank you miss." He said before rushing off to the room where she had said Bryan was in.
He was sure Spencer and Ian were following but he didn't care, because when he opened the door, he ran in and flung his arms round Bryan's neck. Bryan's arms wound round his waist instantly and he buried his face in the neko's hair.
"Wow…" They heard Ian mutter. "Now there's something ya don't see everyday…"
Bryan lifted his head and glared at the two. "Go back to the hotel."
"But-""Now shrimp. You too Spencer. Leave Tala to me. I'll tell you later." He said coldly.
Spencer nodded while Ian muttered things under his breath, stalking out. Bryan thought he was hallucinating because he swore he saw Spencer give him and Ray a wink before closing the door. Bryan sighed and gave Ray's waist a little reassuring squeeze.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about me." He murmured, nuzzling his neck, but stopped when he saw finger marks. "Ray? What are these marks? Did someone attack you?"
Ray let go and shook his head. "In a way, no. I told Kai what Spencer had told me and he kinda… well, freaked out, grabbing me by the throat." He saw Bryan's eyes flash with bubbling anger. "No! Bryan, it's okay! He was just worried about Tala. Don't do anything stupid."
"I'll just have to trust you on this, Ray." He said seriously, the backs of his fingers brushing over the purpling marks. He smirked. "People seem to like hurting you, don't they? First me, then during other tournaments and then Kai… I'll have to step up my work as boyfriend, shan't I?"
"So you're gunna protect me from yourself?" Ray raised an eyebrow. "May I remind you that you almost killed me just over three years ago and you bit me just under three days ago?"
But the Chinese boy smiled after and hugged the Russian again. He sighed.
"Bryan…? What happened?"
Bryan sighed as well and hugged the other closer to him. "He just collapsed without warning. He looked tired at first, and then he just… fell to the ground…"
Ray let go and looked up at Bryan. The top of his head only reached just over the Russian's eye line, so he felt slightly small standing in front of the Falcon.
"Bryan, you know something, don't you?" Bryan averted his gaze. "Bryan… please, I need to know. Kai needs to know!"
"He…" Bryan swallowed. "His cyber mind… it's shutting down."
A/N- 0.0 Jesus Christ…
Anywho, review!