" Wake up guys! WAKE UP!".
Max's way too perky voice cruelly pulled the rest of the gang into reality.
" Someone should've hidden those damn candies from him…", Tyson muttered darkly, cautiously peaking from under his covers to see the clock on his bedside-table. " Damnit, Max! Do you realise that it's ten am! Some of us would appreciate getting some sleep!".
He yelped of frighten as someone jumped at him, laughing.
" Don't be such a spoilsport, Tyson!" Max ordered, still laughing, while getting off him. " C'mon, it's CHRISTMAS! I wanna open up my presents!".
Sighing in defeat, Tyson reluctantly abandoned his warm, cosy bed and got up, yawning and stretching. Heading towards the door, he winced as he heard Max's chipper babbling from downstairs.
This'll be a long day, he decided, stepping into the cold hall. He cursed loudly as his feet touched the ice-cold floor. If Mr. Dickinson really wanted to send us here in the middle of nowhere, why the hell couldn't he pay for proper heating!
" Someone's in a good mood". The sound of Hilary's cheerful voice made him scowl.
" I knew that I should've stayed in bed…", he muttered, so quietly that even Hilary couldn't hear him. Turning his head, he noticed that Hilary was alone and frowned. " Where's Kai?".
" Dunno". Hilary shrugged. " He was already gone when I woke up. He'd left a note that said he had some things to take care of".
Frowning, Tyson shrugged as well and headed downstairs, followed by Hilary. What things did Kai have to take care of? Should he worry?
" There you are! We thought you'd sneak out of this!" Kenny, who'd for once abandoned his laptop, greeted them.
" Not in million years!" Hilary replied with a wide smirk, jumping on the couch next to Ray. " So, should we get started?".
" What about Kai?" Ray protested, frowning. " Where is he anyways?".
" Taking care of things", Tyson informed darkly. " He should know better than sneaking out on us".
" Well, it's progress that he actually goes out, right?" Hilary commented, smiling. " We'll just have to let him remember how to live again".
Tyson didn't bother replying.
" Heyyyyyyy, can I now open up my presents?" Max whined. " I've been waiting for so long that it's killing me!".
" As long as it makes you shut up", Tyson promised with a deep sigh.
Letting out a wide range of painfully shrill screams of joy, the blond jumped on the presents. After rummaging around for a while, he suddenly froze, staring at the five delicately wrapped presents in front of him.
" These weren't here when I checked up on the presents last night", Max informed. Looking at one of the new presents that said Max, he recognised the neat handwriting. " Look, you guys! These are from Kai!".
The simple sentence caused a chaos as the rest of the team rushed over to see, nearly crushing poor Max. It took for quite a while for the hustle to settle.
" You guys… How could Kai buy us presents? I mean, he doesn't even remember us properly", Tyson finally asked, looking confused. " And when did he do it anyways? I thought he's been in his room 'til today".
" I guess we don't have to wonder where he went this morning anymore", Kenny commented.
" What are we waiting for?" Max enquired anxiously. " Let's wrap them open!".
When opening up the presents, they discovered that Kai probably remembered them lot better than they'd thought.
Max's eyes widened and a beam lightened up his face as he saw the beautiful set of carefully made, jade-green blade parts. Max strongly believed that with those parts, he and Draciel could beat anything.
Kenny let out a small gasp when seeing the contents of his presents. It was an amazing package of all computer-parts one could possibly imagine.
Ray, on the other hand, frowned as he heard a quit meow when wrapping his present open. He carefully removed the rest of the wrapping – and let out a small yelp of surprise as something attacked on him, making him fall on his back on the floor. Recovering from the shock a little, he carefully lifted his head and laughed at what he saw. On his stomach sat a small, extremely cute kitten, that looked at him with it's head tilted, seeming deeply confused. Still smiling, Ray got up into a sitting position and gently took the kitten in his arms. It let out a content meow while snuggling closer to him. Stroking it's fur, Ray took a moment to admire it. Its fur had the colour of purest white Ray had ever seen, decorated with occasional raven stripes. As the cat opened it's eyes and looked at him, Ray gasped. The eyes were golden, like ones of a tiger. Just like Ray's own! After staring at the distracting eyes for a moment, Ray shook his head and just then noticed something on the cat's neck. It was a black collar that had a golden-coloured, metallic ornament shape of a circle on it. Ray blinked his eyes in awe as he clenched the ornament between two fingers and saw a tiger that looked exactly like Driger plastered on it. Getting over the shock, he let go of the ornament and looked at the cat. It looked at him as if expecting something.
" You don't even have a name yet, do you?" he muttered absentmindedly, looking into the cat's eyes. It was female, that much he knew for being a neko-jin. Suddenly a wide smirk appeared on his lips, revealing his fangs. " Hi Kia".
It took for a long time for Tyson to gather enough of courage to open up his present. Finally, he took a deep breath and wrapped open the paper covering the small present. What was revealed made a warm flush rush through him and a small smile appear on his lips, and without himself noticing it tears glittered in his eyes. It was a beautiful, silvery locket, shape of an oval. It had a dragon exactly like Dragoon plastered on it. Smiling sweetly, Tyson let his fingers gently brush the metal. If that present wasn't a sing of their friendship coming back, nothing was. For some reason, Tyson felt a sudden urge to open it, and obeyed the emotion. Inside he saw a small paper, and frowning slightly, he took it and wrapped it open. The single Japanese word written on it made his heart jump and a single tear of joy escaped to his cheek.
' Forever.'
Smiling slightly, eyes closed, Tyson squeezed both the paper and the locket into his fist and pressed it against his furiously beating heart. This time it was Kai who'd made the promise. They'd never let go of each other again. They'd always have a bond beyond braking between them, whether it was friendship or something more. Nothing would take it away, ever again.
Curiosity growing inside her heart, Hilary carefully opened her own present – and let out a shaky gasp. There were five sketches of her, all made by Kai and all more beautiful than any words would give out: one her sleeping (which she'd already seen), one of her dancing, eyes closed (how the HECK had Kai seen her, she only danced when she was alone!), one of her reading a book, looking deeply concentrated (so Kai HAD seen her when she studied Russian) and one of her standing in front of a mirror, brushing her hair with a slight warm smile upon her face. But the last picture, it took Hilary's breath away. Gasping, she pressed her hand on her lips, deeply moved and on the verge of tears. It was of her blading, about two weeks before everything that happened to Kai. She had her hands stretched forward, ready to lounge her blade on the dish in front of her, a look of utter concentration and determination on her face. Despite the fact that the sketch had no colours, it was easy too see the fire burning in her eyes. Actually, she seemed to be flaming all over, ready to rip apart anyone who dared to challenge her. Hilary blinked her eyes in confusion and disbelief. She'd thought that no-one knew she practised blading, she'd always done it in secret in fear of being laughed at by the guys. But whenever she was practising, she felt someone watching over her, almost like protecting her. Just now she understood why.
/ " LET IT RIP!" Hilary yelled as she lounged her ruby-red blade.
The blade made a perfect circle, sending out furious flames and sparkles, and Hilary felt blood boil in her veins. At the moment, she couldn't understand why it had it taken so long for her to realise why the guys loved blading so much.
After practising for a long while, she called the blade back to her and smirked proudly as she managed to catch it with her hand. Suddenly she had a feeling that she was no longer alone. Soothing her gaze towards the nearby area shadowed by trees, she thought she saw a shadow for a while before it disappeared. After standing still for a while, she laughed and shook her head.
" You're imagining things, Hilary", she told herself. /
" Hey, where's Kai?". Max's voice brought Hilary back from her thoughts. " I'm gonna hug him for thanks, even if he's gonna kill me for doing so".
" You're right, Max".
They all turned their gazes towards the voice, and saw Kai sitting on the stairs. The look in Kai's eyes was the best present so far: for a first time since the nightmare started, it held a small part of the fire it had before.
" These gifts are amazing!" Kenny exclaimed. " I… Thank you!".
Kai shrugged, and for a small while they could've sworn they saw a hint of a smirk on his face.
" Whatever".
Late that night, Kai sat on the porch, gaze locked to the stars shining brightly in the sky. The falling night was freezing, but it didn't bother him, it seemed that he was used to cold. Besides, there outside the headache and memories didn't bother him, his mixed and screwed up emotions didn't hunt him. He could actually think clearly for once.
" What should I do?" he asked the stars, but they refused to give the answer. " I… I care about them both so much… How can I choose?".
He'd been so much more than a friend to the two people he cared about from the bottom of his heart, and still was. He just… He didn't know which one he held more dear.
" You should come inside. You'll catch a cold", a soft voice suddenly told him, and someone sat beside him. A quick look revealed that it was Ray.
For a long while they sat in a peaceful silence, looking at the stars.
" They both love you very much", Ray finally whispered, so quietly that Kai could barely hear.
He nodded, feeling his heart hurt.
" I know".
" You shouldn't be afraid of it, of your feelings", Ray continued, looking at him softly.
He snorted, staring into space.
" Easy for you to say", he commented dryly and paused. " How the heck am I supposed to know which one is the right one! How can I choose, when… when I don't want to?". He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. " Gosh, I sound so selfish!".
" Love is selfish". Ray took his hand gently, making him jump. " Look, you'll be able to choose eventually, thrust me. Your heart is the most stubborn one I've ever seen, but it has never mislead you. You'll know when the time comes".
He smiled, feeling a sudden warmth fill him. He looked at Ray.
" That helped". For some reason thanking didn't feel right. Slowly and gently he let go of Ray's hand and got up, stretching. " I think I'll go to bed. It's almost two".
" I'll be right behind". Ray bowed his head, seeming shy all of a sudden, and despite the lack of light Kai could've sworn he saw a rosy hue on the cheeks of his friend. " You know… It's good to hear you talk… To see you… normal".
He smirked.
" It's good to be normal". He headed towards the door. " G'night".
" Night".
With Kai gone, Ray lifted his gaze to the stars and let out a deep, miserable sigh, his breath visible in the cold air.
TBC.
A/N: You still alive out there? I mean, GAG! That fluff nearly choked me! Oh well, Christmas IS a romantic time of a year, so...
Oh yeah, and remember to vote. The faith of our Phoenix is still in your hands.
