Smile For Me
- chapter 5 -

It was already nighttime in Hokkaido, and the howls of the icy wind slicing through the atmosphere could be heard through the halls of the inn. October was ending and winter was starting to arrive. It really wasn't a good time to spend your trip in Hokkaido. After having landed on the airport, they quickly headed to their stop and walked the rest of the way to the inn, for the building itself was a bit isolated from society. They were all given their respective keys, two people in one room. You were supposed to share your room with your partner, but those who were unfortunate enough to have a person of the opposite sex as their partner were complaining, even as they marched up the stairs.

It couldn't be avoided. All in all, the girls were still lesser than the boys.

"If you don't mind me asking, do you still remember how your parents were like?"

Kai looked at Tyson weirdly at the question, before shrugging, "Not really."

Tyson let out a thoughtful look, "What age were you then? I mean, if you feel uncomfortable with me asking, all you have to do is say so and I'll stop."

"Two." Kai simply replied, "I don't mind."

"You and your grandfather must be really close if you've been living with him all your life, man! I mean, gramps and I are pretty close, too, since he's the only one I can talk to back at home. Dad and I don't really see each other much, and sometimes I even forget how he looks like! Yeah, pretty weird, I know. But Hiro is nice, we get along well and I can say he's also one of the closest people I have in my life, even though we don't get together much. How about you, Kai? Anyone close? Friends? Girlfriends?"

Kai snorted mentally, Me and Voltaire? Close? As if. I'm not interested in dating, and having close friends simply puts me in the danger, because if they find out, I can officially consider myself dead. Of course, not counting Tyson or any of the people he just introduced to me in the span of less than week, since we're not really what you can say close. So, Kai shrugged.

Tyson sighed exasperatedly, "You really gotta talk more! You know, of all the anti-social and stoic person's names that I have planted on my brain, you're the most quiet of them! Though I do appreciate that you listen to me a lot, but doesn't it kinda itch to talk when it's you're always quiet or something?" Kai shrugged. Tyson sighed. "Oh well." He then grinned, "Oh, and Ray? I dunno where exactly his parents are, but his hometown is in China and he's in some isolated village or something who has really cool moves! I've met some of his friends there when they visited him here in Japan. And Max? His dad's living here with him and owns a shop, a real seller and his mom's in America working through computers and stuff. Kenny's parents run a restaurant, I love going there! But his parents sometimes scold me for eating too much, but they mostly joke around." He smiled sheepishly.

"Well, you know my dad, my older brothers, gramps and did I ever tell you about my mother?" Tyson wondered out, as Kai raised an eyebrow at him. "You know, she's always-"

"Hey, Tyson!"

Tyson's head shot up at the mention of his name and he, along with Kai, both turned to the door. A series of never-ending knocks followed that one. Tyson huffed, standing up and scratching the back of his head in annoyance, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

What popped in was Max glomping him. "Yo, Ty! We're going to the hot springs! Care to join us? Woo hoO! You can ask Kai, too! Is he here? Where's Kai? Yo, Kai!"

Ray sighed, and shook his head with an amused expression, carefully pulling Max off Tyson. "Sorry, Tyson, Fukiko-sensei accidentally gave him coke again. We're going to the hot springs, you wanna come? And where's Kai?"

Tyson took in a big gulp of air and immediately ran back to the room, trying to escape Max's dreaded glomp of doom. Panting, he grinned up at Kai, who was blinking at him with a confused expression. "Hey, Kai, wanna go to the hot springs? It'll be really relaxing and all, the guys are gonna be there! I really don't just who's coming, but Max and Ray are. I'm going, too. What about you, Kai? Come on, it'll be nice! Especially after an exhausting day like this! Relax a bit! You up for it?"

Kai immediately shook his head. Tyson pouted, "Aw, come on! It'll be fun! Please, Kai? It's really cold right now, don'tcha wanna warm up a bit?" Kai still shook his head. "Please? Pretty please? Pretty, pretty please with strawberry syrup and a cherry on top?" A few minutes later, Tyson took a small bag from his bed and walked out sulkily. "Meanie."

Kai resisted the urge to smirk as he heard the door close. Sighing, he also got a small pouch from his bag and proceeded to the bathroom, where, a few minutes later, a lot of hisses and muffled screams were heard through the door as Kai tended to his own wounds. He wasn't used to tending to himself and he's not exactly a careful person, so without the bandages, he used to scrape his nails over some of his wounds a lot. Besides, he was usually unconscious whenever the maids cleaned up the bandages and reapplied the ointments. Not to mention that Kai was horrible with make-up. He vaguely wondered if he was gonna survive this trip without anyone finding out.

Not to mention that this was his first time in so many years that he spent a room with someone who absolutely had no idea with what he was going through, despite that fact that they actually think that Kai Hiwatari actually street fights.

Yawning a bit, he tightened the new bandages around his forehead, and proceeded to drown his face in face-powder. After adding the last touch, he looked at his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. Yawning a bit more, he rubbed his temples and proceeded to wrap his arms in bandages.

Truth be told, Kai Hiwatari cringes whenever the word bandagesis mentioned.

Tyson entered the room a few hours after, feeling refreshed and warmed up. He rubbed the towel through his still wet hair and blinked at the slight darkness of the room. The lights were closed, except for the lamp on the nightstand. Smiling a bit, he chuckled at the sight of Kai curled up in his bed, the blanket up to his waist. He's still wearing a jacket. Maybe I should adjust the room temperature a bit. And Tyson did just that. After rubbing his hair dry, he placed the towel on the nearby chair's armrest and walked to Kai's bed to take off the jacket.

Blinking a bit, he shook his head amusedly as he stared at Kai's form. And the bandana, too. He's got a nice sense of fashion, but he doesn't have to dress fancy while sleeping. As carefully as his not-so-graceful body could manage, Tyson finally took the jacket off Kai's shoulders and was about to pull the sleeves off completely when his eyes widened.

"Kai..."

Rather than only his left arm like the day before, Kai's arms were both bandaged from elbow to fingertips and not like a few days ago that the bandages were clean, some blood seeped through the bandages and became clear for all eyes to see. It was already a horrible sight for Tyson, for someone to suffer so much pain, he wondered what exactly was under the bandages.

"Geez, Kai." He murmured, low enough so that Kai wouldn't be disturbed of his sleep. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm convinced now that it's certainly not street fighting."

Sighing and scratching the back of his head as he thought of the possibilities of what was wrong with his new found friend, Tyson walked back to the chair and placed the jacket hanging from the backrest. He walked back to Kai and took the bandana off carefully as well, settling it nicely on the nightstand and he was about to go to his bed to sleep, already having changed to his night clothes in the changing room, when he did a double-take.

Tyson practically smacked himself when he saw that Kai's forehead was wrapped with bandages as well, but thankfully, the bandages were clean on this one, because Tyson certainly wouldn't know what to do if he found out that Kai's head was bleeding.

Heaving a sigh, he rubbed his temples and looked at Kai with an amused expression. "Silly." Of course, Tyson knew how secretive a person can be and decided to keep quiet about everything. If Kai realized that his jacket and bandana was gone when he woke up in the morning, Tyson would answer if Kai asked, with no questions included, because just for now, he'll let Kai decide when to tell him when he felt like it.

Slipping under the covers, Tyson snuggled into his own bed and closed the lamp. "Sweet dreams, Kai."

EDIT: okie, my mistake there... hehe...