Smile For Me
- chapter 12 -

"You know Boris, right?"

Tyson nodded, blinking a bit at the first bit. "Yeah, that guy," His teeth clenched together momentarily, "with the hideous purple wig."

Kai snorted at the reply, "Yeah. Remember the name Voltaire he said?"

Tyson nodded dumbly again. "Yeah, and come to think of it, he kept on saying about your grandfather and blah blah and --" His eyes opened wide and suddenly he felt stupid for not realizing it earlier, "Voltaire's your grandfather? I mean, Voltaire Hiwatari! He's like the richest man around!"

Kai nodded, not surprised at the reaction. "Yeah, and he's the most ruthless murderer around, too."

Tyson paled and numbed, falling back on the bed limply. "He killed my mother?"

Kai looked away, feeling ashamed even though he did nothing. That was it. He was ashamed because he did nothing. "Boris killed under Voltaire's order."

Tyson clenched his fist, "But why the hell would he do that! And to my mother of all people! My mother was..." He felt tears prickle at the back of his eyes and he shut them tight to prevent any from leaking out.

And Kai felt something tight grip his heart. He didn't know why he felt hurt, because somehow, he felt as if a part of that statement, a part of that anger was directed to him. Sighing, he laughed mentally, already having expected it. He then wondered how he would explain without making Mrs. Kinomiya sound like the bad guy and without telling Tyson the truth about... well, the condition of his body. Tyson said he wanted to know everything about the murder. Kai promised to tell him. His wounds weren't supposed to be included. "Your mother found out about Voltaire's plans and stuff and decided the help me escape... Voltaire caught up to us and told her she was fired from being my tutor... I dunno what happened then, but a week later, I saw the news. They paid someone from Mrs. Kinomiya's workplace to admit that he was the one that killed her... then paid the ransom as well a month later so that person could go free. That was the deal."

Tyson gritted his teeth. "Those bastards."

Again. Something painful gripped him again. Kai ignored it, "I really don't know much actually. I only gathered the pieces when you, well, when you first told me about your mother." He sighed, rubbing his temples a bit, "I couldn't accept it when I first saw you, with the same last name and some similarities... but I guess I kinda forgot about it in the end, until I heard that your mother and my tutor were the same person."

"Oh." Tyson fell back, fists still clenched. The medicine left forgotten. "But... how come!" He let out a strangled growl, "My mother never did anything... As far as I know, she never did anything wrong. Why did they..." He sighed, taking a few deep breaths. "I can't believe it."

Kai felt like crying. But of course, he'd never cry openly. He didn't know why he felt that way, but it felt as if Tyson hated him, not them. He felt as if those words were disguised towards his way. He didn't know why, he just did. It hurt feeling as if that Tyson hated him. Get a grip, Kai. Of course ha hates you. Damnit.

Tyson took a shuddery breath, resisting the urge to go to the other room and go into a ramping rage and tear Boris apart limb from limb. He tried to stop his body shaking from anger and got at least a bit successful, "Is that all?"

Kai nodded. "Yes." He then rubbed his temples again, feeling another headache coming on. "Go to sleep." He looked back, careful not too look at Tyson's face and spotted the tube of ointment, quickly grabbing it and straightening up, biting his lip to conceal the hiss of pain as he felt the familiar sting. He walked around the bed, entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him carelessly, before falling on the floor with a suppressed sob.

And Tyson gritted his teeth in anger as he rolled the things he just heard in his head. He stood up with a scowl and retreated under the covers, unaware of the silent sobs coming from the bathroom.

Back in the bathroom, Kai stood up, wiping his face with a dry towel, feeling disgusted with himself. Kai doesn't cry. He reminded himself. Sighing, he looked at his reflection on the mirror and grimaced. I look awful. Slumping his shoulders in defeat, he threw closed the ointment and threw it back in his bag, already feeling lazy to apply more to some of his unattended wounds. He searched for a nice, comfortable, clean shirt in his bag and was surprised when he felt a small box.

I didn't put any boxes here. His lips tightened in wonder as he took the box out, blinking at the plain white wrapper. He opened it and was a bit taken a back to find that it was powder, with a small paper taped to it.

We kinda like your face, Kai. Take care of it for us, will ya?
-Ray&Max

He chuckled a bit, silently thanking them. They must have probably bought it when they were allowed to go out in the city. And Kiresu must have informed them of Kai's powder obsession. He snorted. Looking back at his reflection, he sighed and applied powder to his face before slipping into an oversized shirt and retreating back to bed.

Kai sighed, rubbing the towel across his hair in an effort to get it dry. He yawned, feeling a bit restless. He didn't get to sleep that much yesterday, and his headache seemed to go into maximum. Tablets didn't help nor did a nice long shower. He stared into space, a small sense of fear throbbing behind his ribcage.

Voltaire should be here soon.

Tyson stopped glaring at his breakfast to look at Kai, face immediately contorting into a confused one. The boy returned back into his emotionless self, much like how he was when Tyson first met him at school. And Tyson felt irked.

But, he sighed tiredly, now was not the time to be angry about that. "Kai?"

The boy looked up almost immediately, "Hm?"

"What does Voltaire," Tyson almost spat the name out, "do anyway? Come to think of it, all I know is that he's rich."

"He owns a company. Technology, computers and stuff." Kai replied, almost feeling the hatred emitting from Tyson, "But the reason why he's rich is because he's famous in the black market. He's got a lot of underground subordinates. You don't want to mess with him, Tyson."

Tyson blew up. He didn't if it was because of Voltaire or because Kai sounded so... indifferent today when talking to him. "And what? What the hell should I do? Just stand there and apologize to my mother every freaking chance I get that I'm sorry that I couldn't avenge her death?"

"If it helps, you can kill me."

"I -- what?" Tyson blinked, immediately feeling his anger disappearing as soon as his brain registered that statement. "Why the hell would I want to kill you? Kai, what's your problem? You've been acting really weird today!"

Kai just simply took a sip out of his water before biting his lip, "I have his blood, don't I? Don't go near Voltaire, Tyson, under any circumstances. You don't know what he can do to you." He gave Tyson a stern look which left Tyson a bit taken aback. Clutching the sheets under him a bit, Kai sighed and proceeded eating his breakfast. "If you really want to avenge your mother's death so much, kill me. You only need one head to feel at ease, ri --" He didn't know when or how Tyson suddenly appeared next to him, all he knew that his cheek hurt.

"What the fuck are you saying! Why the hell would I kill you? Kai! There's no way I'll kill you! I'll never forgive myself!"

Kai blinked, before his expression softened. "Tyson." Then the pain registered and all that Kai saw from then on was red. Not again.

Those same images again, every time, every fucking time. It hurt, all those memories, it hurt. He wished that he could just sleep, leave everything away and dream of some happy ending that he knew he would never have if he woke up. He wanted the pain to stop. Make it stop.

And as he clutched his head once again, he screamed because he felt his whole being was being torn apart.

Tyson's breath hitched as he felt panic once again all over his body, seeing Kai all scrunched up with pain. "Kai? Kai! I'm sorry! Aw, man, did I hit you too hard!" He grabbed Kai's shoulders, shaking the boy back and forth, whereas Kai simply rolled his head limply.

"Tyson..."

Tyson stopped, looking at Kai with an apologetic and concerned expression, "Kai! Hey, Kai, stay with me, man." Kai smiled brokenly, despite those images flashing through his head. He felt disgusted with himself.

"Do you..." Then he lost consciousness. "Really hate me so much, Tyson?"

- don't read this part if you're too caught up with the angst because i'm feeling hyper right now and i wouldn't wanna ruin your mood -

KK: oooh, yeah... when I read MikeyWaysgirl's review, I felt a little stupid for myself cause I forgot to explain about Boris' little visit last chapter. XD Ah, well, y'see, Voltaire and Boris both know that Kai doesn't make much noise at all so they thought it was safe to beat him up there. They knew that Kai's roommate was Tyson, but never thought that Tyson would be hidden in the balcony at Boris' arrival. So... yeah... and the walls were soundproof so when Kai and Boris was talking, it was still a bit muffled even though the door was open. And if you look back, Tyson was the one who was noisy. -sweat drop- And if I explain more, I'd probably be giving you guys a lot of spoilers. -hides-

Whee! -glomptacklehug- We reached one hundred! We reached one hundred! -goes off to dance like an idiot- And yep, 1nfid3lity got the 100th review! XD -glomps you- And once again, thanks to everyone who's been reading! I couldn't have made this far without you! (omg, this speech sounds so lame. XD) Wahh, I love you, guys! -heart-

And... I used too many bold in this chapter, don't you think? Yes, crappy chapter, I know, but I'm hungry... Didn't eat dinner. I can't write much when I'm hungry. It always comes out like crap. XD So... I'm stopping here for now. Will write immediately after meh stomach is happy again. XDDD Again, thank you!

goes off to find something to eat-

(yes, I know, I'm such a sad excuse for an author. XD)