The Phoenix Bird

Disclaimer and Warnings: see chapter 1

Chapter 4: I Still Don't Know You

Authors Note: I forgot to mention, in the last chapter, until Yuri and Kai become better friends, Kai usually refers to Yuri as 'It' and Yuri refers to Kai as 'Birdie'. I'm sorry if it caused any confusion!

"…The Bird flutters round us, swift as light, beauteous in color, charming in song. When a mother sits by her infant's cradle, he stands on the pillow, and, with his wings, forms a glory around the infant's head…"

Sunlight streaming through the window, Yuri muttered a few curses under his breath as he rolled over and got out of bed. Rubbing some sleep out of his eyes, he made sure to close the blinds before returning to his bed. He tripped over the towel on the floor.

"Stupid towel-" Yuri paused in mid sentence. Why on earth had he had a shower? Speaking of which- why in God's name were there blood stains on his bed? He took a frightened step back, trying to come up with the reasons, and it was only until the events of last night caught up to him that he remembered.

Kai. A red-winged boy was sleeping in his spare room. He had found him, already been raped and left unconscious to die in the rain. He had brought the boy back, healed his wounds and then found that Kai spoke a different language, but was also able to decipher hand gestures and body language. Maybe that was the key to teach him English.

Wait, teach? Was he really expecting Kai to still be here? What if that had all been a dream? Then Yuri saw his sketchbook- still open to the picture of Kai he had drawn last night/ early, early this morning.

With a slightly excited skip in his step, Yuri walked down the hall and quietly opened the door to the spare room. The Phoenix was still curled up on the bed, but was shaking badly. Why- wait… Yuri already knew the answer. He hadn't pondered over how a non-human would act to being raped- but it was obvious it was going to be a difficult while.

Speaking of non-humans, could there be others like Kai? And if so, why hadn't they been 'found' by humans yet? And what was Kai? Yuri jumped as he heard a frightened yelp from Kai and bowed his head sadly. He went back to his room and took his blanket form the bed, then quietly stalked into Kai's room. He wrapped the bird in the extra blanket, and Kai seemed to settle a bit more as he somehow sensed another presence. Yuri sat down beside him, carefully, and did a quick check over Kai's bandages.

He rather liked being around the bird. It gave him a sense of wonder and awe that he hadn't felt in a long, long time. Not since he had given up fables and myths to become a vet and focused only on the truth.

Suddenly, Kai reached out and softly grabbed Yuri's pant leg just above the knee. Yuri was slightly startled, but noticed again how Kai was shaking and nodded slightly. He gently took Kai's hand form his leg and brought his legs onto the bed, pulling the still sleeping bird into his lap. Kai nuzzled into his chest and with a content sigh seemed to fall into a blissful slumber. Yuri yawned and realized he was still quite tired. He kindly pulled the blankets over the two of them and drifted back to sleep…

((-))

Mahogany eyes slowly drifted open to reveal a world slightly blurred to his tired eyes. Kai blinked a few times to clear his vision. The Phoenix yawned briefly before closing his eyes again and snuggling into the warm body beneath him. For a brief moment, he was reminded of his Ma. How she would hold him, make him feel as if he were invincible. He would not be harmed in her grasp.

Has Ma found me already? Kai's eyes snapped opened in the shock of his thought. He slowly turned his head to look at the other, and found it was the human. Kai felt a blow to his wants harder than the evil Wingless's kicks from the previous night. He wanted his Ma, his Pa and all of his family so badly. But they would probably think him as stupid as the Wingless- Kai did not know how to fly very well; he could glide barely at the most. He did not know how to summon his flame, something he once had been able to do as a young child, but he had forgotten over the centuries.

But as Kai felt the human's arms wrapped around his middle, he felt a slight sense of peace and security. And along with it- came the shock and fear of being in such close contact. The last time he had been this close to a Wingless- no, no he wouldn't think about it! This Mortal was nice; It had not harmed him yet!

Kai shook his head, but his fear was too great and he pushed away from Yuri with a frightened cry, tumbling off the bed. He hit his wing and the pain was so intense, that for a moment Kai nearly fainted. What was wrong with his wing? What had the human done to him? Why did they always hurt him? Why, why, why?

It was awoken by Kai's sudden cry and was now down on the floor beside him, holding him around the middle to keep from collapsing or throwing up. Softly It stroked his throbbing wing and whispered soft grunts in It's own tongue. Kai wasn't sure what It was saying, but it helped to calm the chills.

Regaining himself, Kai pulled away from It and pushed himself to his feet. He looked at his wing confusedly, not understanding why there was a Wingless contraption on it, nor why it was hurting. Was it the Wingless thing that was hurting him? That must be it, Kai decided. Why else would his wing hurt so badly?

As he reached out to remove it form his wing and rid himself of the pain, the human suddenly let out a sound that made Kai freeze. He stopped and the human jumped forwards, taking Kai's outstretched hand in his own and placing it back at the Phoenix's side. Kai raised an eyebrow at this and tried again, but the human stopped him. This time, still holding onto Kai's hand, the human shook his head.

No? Why can't I take it off? It wants me to be in pain! Kai realized.

Kai tried again, and this time as it went to stop him, Kai hissed threateningly. It seemed to get the message and nodded gravely. Kai reached forwards and just as his claw-tips brushed the Wingless Object, the pain came again. Kai bit his lower lip and pulled back. It put a reassuring hand on Kai's shoulder. Were all Wingless this physical?

This time, Kai understood. This Wingless didn't seem to want to cause Kai pain. He had helped heal him, rescued him, and tried to stop him from causing more pain to himself. What was It's name again?

"Yu-ri?" Kai whispered, still not used to the strange Wingless way of speech.

Yuri looked down to Kai, slightly surprised. Kai's lips turned upwards in a slight smile and he nodded graciously to Yuri. Yuri nodded and responded by saying Kai's name.

"Kai."

Slowly, the human turned and walked out the door; he turned and beckoned for Kai to follow. Hesitantly, Kai came after him. He never used to go out during daylight, though the Sun he worshiped, (1) day was time of the Wingless. Kai pulled back into the dark room.


Yuri turned around to look at him, confused, but Kai merely shook his head no and pulled back more as Yuri came back to get him.

"Kai?" came Yuri's silent question.

Kai shook his head and sat down on the bed. He would not leave the room until nightfall. The day was too dangerous. Yuri frowned slightly and came closer to Kai. The winged boy pulled back and shook his head again.

Kai shook his head and sat down on the bed. Yuri seemed to understand that Kai didn't want to leave, so he left the room and went to the kitchen to cook some breakfast. He rummaged through the cupboards. Finally he stumbled upon a package of waffles and pancake mixture.

I wonder if Kai likes pancakes? Yuri thought to himself. He took the packet out and searched for a large bowl. After a few minutes of searching, he was able to pour the contents of the package into the bowl and was reading the instructions.

"For 9-12 medium pancakes add one egg, two cups of water and a teaspoon of oil," Yuri muttered to himself.

He searched for a while longer before finding what he needed, though he had no measuring items, he took a coffee mug from the cupboard and put in two cups of water. Then he washed up a spoon and put in a spoonful of cooking oil.

Whistling as he cooked, Yuri did his best not to burn anything, but burning was his specialty. He managed to get a few decent pancakes from his labor. He piled what was edible onto two plates and then took the pancakes to Kai's room. When he got to the door, he found that Kai had managed to close and lock it.

"Kai? Kai! Open up!" Yuri called, worried.

He placed the plates on the floor and pounded on the door.

"Kai? Come on! Open the door! Kai!" he cried, not realizing Kai couldn't understand him.

Yuri grasped the door handle and, trying to turn it, shoved himself into the door. He rammed his shoulder a few more times before he heard a satisfying cr-ack and the lock broke from the doorframe.

Yuri rushed in and looked around franticly. It took him a moment to find the small shape curled up beside the bed, trying to cover himself with one wing and looking quite upset and distressed.

"Kai," Yuri said softly. He stepped forwards and reached his hand out to place it on Kai's shoulder, but the winged boy's wide, frightened eyes focused on his hand and his whole body tensed in preparation to flee at the slightest movement.

Yuri pulled back slowly. What had suddenly come over Kai? He hadn't acted like this earlier…Of course Yuri knew the answer though, but he thought Kai trusted him. He didn't know how to help the Bird at all.

Slowly, with a sad smile on his face for Kai to show the boy that he meant no harm, Yuri retrieved that plates of pancakes and gently set Kai's down as close as Kai would allow Yuri to get.

"Food. Eat. Yum," Yuri smiled and pointed to the food, rubbed his stomach and nodded to Kai. Kai didn't flinch but his wild eyes stayed focused on Yuri.

"Kai…" Yuri whispered quietly.

Then, suddenly, Kai startled Yuri by bringing his taloned foot back and shouting a word he had picked up from young children while living on the streets.

"No!"

Kai kicked the plate back and the pancakes landed in a heap, beside Yuri. (2)

The Russian was dumbfounded, but nodded quietly and slowly rose to his feet, gathering up the mess as he did so. Yuri walked out of the room and slowly closed the door behind him.

Would Kai ever trust him?

(1) I won't go into much detail about my version of the Phoenix Culture- but they Worship the sun, it's like their god.

(2) Lets just say they had no syrup or butter on them. Who knows if Kai can digest them?

DUN DUN DUNNN! Well, now, R&R please. I'd really appreciate it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Though technically the New Year doesn't start until midnight, oh well. 2005 is basically –OVER-)Hope you all had a merry Christmas D

Once again, R&R.

Demenior.