A Senorita: Hey! Another chapter! I'm not sure about my last two chapters. I might go back and repost them later, but I'm going to keep going for now!

And for now, Tyson's not going to be in it, but I've decided he will be at he end. Morgan is my OC, so no-one go nicking him!

Ahem.

Thank you for the reviews everyone and

Thank you KaiJr91! And here's the update you wanted.

I used to believe it

I used to believe my dream

I used to believe that I did fit

In this world that's cold and obscene

Try me, see me, feel me, know me

Help me please, I need to be.

And phoenix prophecy cannot be true to me

I cannot raise from the ashes of destruction

However much I want that to be

I'd dream of life re-born

New and fresh, burning with soul

But reality slapped me with scorn

And pain has taken it's toll

Try me, see me, feel me, know me

Help me please, I need to be.

And phoenix prophecy cannot be true to me

I cannot raise from the ashes of destruction

However much I want that to be

Steel slits skin

My angry thoughts flare

I can feel myself rotting within

as I'm trapped in Hell's snare

Try me, see me, feel me, know me

Help me please, I need to be.

And phoenix prophecy cannot be true to me

I cannot raise from the ashes of destruction

However much I want that to be

Try me, see me, feel me, know me

Help me please, I need to be.

And phoenix prophecy cannot be true to me

Max and Rei walked home chatting idly. The day had been pretty much eventless, and Max had had a call in the afternoon from his Mum, saying Kai had been let out and was at home.

Standing on Max's front steps as Max pushed the key into the front lock, Rei could hear the sound of a dog barking.

Must have been the dog Kai had been walking, Rei thought.

They entered the house, both kids taking their shoes off in the hall. Rei let Max run on ahead. He knew how excited he was about seeing his brother.

Rei dropped his bag next to Max's, and moved smoothly down the corridor after Max, gazing around the house, taking it in.

There was a picture framed on the wall, and Rei stopped to look at it.

It was a picture of Max, Kai and Judy. It looked like it had been taken as a surprise photo by someone else, as none of them were posing and all three were in the pictures.

Judy was crouched in front of a fire, her slender figure covered in a jumper and jodhpurs. She seemed to be stoking the fire, the flames causing patterns to ripple across her face. Behind her was Kai and Max, sat curled up on the sofa, a blanket thrown over them. Max was snuggled up to Kai, his head dropping to the side to rest on his big brother's shoulder. Kai's head and dropped to the side too, resting on the top of Max's head. They were asleep, peaceful, content with each other's warmth, and the heat of the fire.

Rei smiled.

"Hey Max," Rei turned as Judy greeted her son.

"And hello Rei," Judy said, smiling, "Nice to see you again,"

Before Rei could reply, Max had began to bounce up and down, "Mum, Mum, can we go and see Kai,"
Judy laughed, pushing her son down by the shoulders to keep him still, and flat on the floor, "Of course you can. But be quiet, and if he's asleep don't wake him. He's OK but he needs to rest for a while, and get his strength back,"
Max nodded and turned, bounding up the stairs. Rei followed, slightly less elephant-like.

He followed the sound of Max's footsteps down a hall, and threw a door at the end. The light was off, the curtains drawn, and as Rei entered, he had to blink a few times to get used to the lack of light.

There was a bed directly in front of him, and sat up in it, leaning against the wall it was pushed up to, and wrapped in a duvet, was Kai. He looked like he had just woken up. His hair was tousled, those blue triangles Rei had been so intrigued about, contrasting starkly with his pale hue.

Max was practically garrotting his brother, his arms wrapped around his neck as he hugged him tightly.

"How are you?"
"Fine," Kai gurgled, prising Max's arms off him.

"Have you just woken up?"
"Yeah," Kai said. So Max leapt up and ripped open the curtains.

Rei and Kai winced against the sudden light of the sun, whereas Max was still beaming from ear to ear.

Kai looked surprised to see Rei, but not put out.

"Hey Kai," Rei said, smiling. Kai gave a nod as a hello, a small smile turning at the corner of his lips. Friends with his brother would never become the result of a death glare, so there was no point in being rude to someone who was a) friends with his brother and b) sort of friends with himself.

Rei noticed a fading bruise on Kai's jaw. Rei remembered Max talking about bruises forming.
They talked for a while, until Kai slipped off into sleep.
"Oh, wait," Rei said, just as he and Max were about to leave Max's room. He ran downstairs, ripped open his school bag, and pulled out the clothes leant to him by Kai.

He handed them to Max.

"They're washed," he said.
"Thanks Rei,"

I saw Max talking to that Enrique boy again at break. I was wondering around on my own again, trying to find Kai or Max. Kai was back at school. He had been for a while.

He had taken up his official role as terrifier of the student population, which he was extraordinarily good at.

I bet most of the people here think he's a basket case. Sometimes, I do to. The lights are all on in the attic but I think there's also a mad person rocking in a rocking chair and cackling.

He's like marmite, I suppose. You either love him or you hate him.

You either know him or you cast him off as a mental case.

Oops, I'm drifting.

I rounded the corner to the vending machines, and saw Max laughing with Enrique and Oliver. And…I just sort of…panicked.

A spasm of dread-filled adrenaline shot through me, making me twitch. I suddenly didn't feel so good.

And I don't know why. Honestly.

I just sort of, blacked out and panicked for some reason. I turned and walked swiftly away, knocking into a few seniors who thrust their fists close to my face and swore at me for their Pepsi on them. I ignored them, carrying on.

I was oblivious to anyone.

I knew there was nothing bad about seeing Max talking to someone else. I knew how long he and Kai had been struggling to make friends. For years. And now he seemed to making some more…I should have been pleased.

But I wasn't. God, I feel sick with myself. Why was I overreacting?

But I just felt…left out, put out. I was Max's friend. And…I felt slightly unnerved by someone else having Max's attention. Max, the boy who I had made friends with. My first friend in a long, long time.

About nine months.
All the rest of them are back in China. All three of them.

Lee was one of my friends, but…well, you know all about that.

And just as I sped away from the scene of Max laughing easily with companions as I still struggled to gain any sort of social contact with people, I ran head-long into Lee.

Oh, wonderful timing.

He gave me a look, but didn't say anything. He pushed me off him and kept walking. I frowned, watching him leave.

The corridor was empty. Nice and desolate, just how Lee liked it, so he could pick on me without being caught by a teacher or a concerned senior.

And yet he was just leaving me.

God knows what made me do it, but suddenly I was yelling, "Hey, Lee!"

Lee stopped, bristling.
"What, Rei?" he said, between his teeth.

"I…I-I,"
"What!" he roared, rounding on me. His eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he hadn't slept in a long time.

"N-Nothing,"

He stalked up to me. I packed off, but his hand snatched out and caught the front of my shirt.

"Listen to me," he snarled, face close to my mine so that I could see the tendrils of red in his eyes. It scared me.

"If you think you can go back to your old games after all that shit nine months ago, then you can throw yourself off a very high building! I don't believe you Kon, all that whimpering and whining and crying over how emotionally distressed you were when it happened, and then just turning back round and going straight back to them. And getting them to work for you. Just because you can't face me yourself doesn't mean you have to get your old friends to do it!"

"What! Lee, what are you talking about!"

And he spat a name in my face that stung me like a stab wound, "Morgan Demsey,"

I went cold.

"What?" then I went mad. I thrashed in Lee's grip, "What, when did you see him! Where is he! Why is he here!"
"Oh, I bet you can answer those questions yourself Rei," Lee hissed, holding onto me tighter, "Very funny my little cousin. Getting your old friend to pay me back for this rivalry at school,"
"Lee I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't talked to him for months! Not since…not since I moved away from that school! From them! And I wouldn't ever get Morgan to do something to you! Why, what did he do!"
Lee growled, and flung me down on the floor.

That image of Lee looking down on me stuck with me for a long time, his face tight with rage, rage I couldn't understand. Why was he always angry at me? Always.

"He's given me a hard time, that's what! Said you sent him, but he wanted to know where you are, so I told him exactly. So I guess you've been hiding from him. Pathetic!"
"Lee-"
"And then he tells me where Mariah is!"
I stared.
"M-Mariah?"
"Yes!"
"She's in China. She always has been…"
"No, Rei! Stop lying to me! You've known perfectly well where she's been all along! She's been with Morgan, trying to find you! Morgan said you sent her a letter saying her you want her to come over here and see you. And of course by then you had run with your tail between your legs, pretending to be hurt by all those months!"
"Lee he's lying! I never sent for Mariah! I thought she was at home! I had no idea she's been waiting to see me! I didn't know she had been with Morgan since then! I didn't know she was with him at all!"
Lee kicked me. Hard.

"Stop lying to me!"

"I'm not! Lee listen to me, I'm not lying!"

He kicked me again.

I begged with him, tried to persuade him I wasn't lying to him. And all the time I was going cold, because this all meant Morgan was back into my life, twisting and turning everyone against me, like he had done before.

Him and my old friends were back, and I was being blamed for it!

I pleaded and begged but Lee wouldn't listen. He was furious that I had done that to my cousin, put her in a position where she was stuck with Morgan and that lot. He was angry that I had sent Morgan out to give him a hard time.

And I tried to tell him none of it was true. But when Lee's angry, he won't listen.

He kicked me one final time, the breath flying out of me.

"Next time you try and put up a stunt like that, remember I won't take it!"
And he stormed off.

I crawled up, and went to hugging my knees to try and regain my breath.

Morgan.
Morgan had done all of this. He had gone to Lee on his own accord, decided to beat him up for the hell of it and tell him I sent me. He knew Lee would go into a blind rage and come after me.

I gave a dry sob.

Morgan still wanted to hurt me, they all did. I bet every one of my old 'friends' where behind Morgan on his newest scheme.

And what had he done to Mariah! I had never sent a letter out to her to tell her to come to America. I bet he lied to her, telling her that he would be finding Rei soon anyway, and that she could tag along for the journey. He always did that with girls he met on the streets.
And I bet the only reason Mariah went along with it was because she wanted to see me.

How long had she been with those guys, waiting to see me? Waiting to see if I was OK.

'And of course by then you had run with your tail between your legs, pretending to be hurt by all those months,' So that must of meant she had arrived in America just as I broke away from my 'friends' and Morgan.

So that was…nine months! She had been with Morgan for nine months on her own! In a foreign country!

No wonder Lee was mad. I was furious. But he was being mad at the wrong person. I had nothing to do with it.

I cried into my knees. I didn't want Morgan to come back into my life, to hurt me again.

I was still recovering from the last time I was involved with him and his sick friends…

I staggered home at six. Feeling ill and faint. As soon as I came through the front door I burst into tears and collapsed on the floor. Mum and Shing came out into the hall. Shing helped me up. I think I was half-unconscious, but whatever else I was, I knew I was a wreck.

He took me upstairs and my mum put me to bed.

I can remember her kissing me on the forehead and covering me with my duvet, then all was black.

Kai knocked on the Kon's front door.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Rei left this in the pocket of the clothes I leant him. I came here to give it back,"

He held up a few dollar notes.

The woman at the door looked distracted.

"Oh. Do you think you could take it up to him? He's not very well, he's asleep, so if you could be quiet…"
The phone rang. She dashed off, leaving Kai to make his way upstairs to find Rei's room.

As he reached the landing, he saw a family picture framed on the wall.

Rei, an older boy who looked very much like him, a man with black hair, and a woman who could of only been Rei's mother.

They were sat on a grassy patch of earth, smiling.

The older boy looked like Rei's brother.

'I didn't know he had an older brother,' Kai thought. He carried on along the corridor. He had no idea which one was Rei's room, so he checked them all. The first was the bathroom. The second was a cold, untouched room. It was perfectly neat, posters hung squarely on the walls and the desk uncluttered. The curtains were drawn, and they looked like they had been for a long time.

The next room, was Rei's.

Well, Rei was lying asleep in the bed that was inside it.

Kai stepped in, making sure he didn't wake Rei up, and dropped the notes onto his desk. He paused, watching Rei sleep. He looked quite ill actually. Pale, and feverish.

Kai sympathised. He knew how it was to be ill.

Just as he was leaving, he tripped up over something, something that was lying by the wardrobe. Kai bent down to pick it up.

A shoebox.
It was painted red, with a huge black cross on the front. Kai frowned. What was that for?

Rei shuffling his sleep made Kai jump, and he dropped the shoebox. He winced.

But Rei didn't wake.

He bent down, picking up the stuff that had spilled from the box.

Photographs.

Lots and lots of photographs.

Kai inspected them.

His eyes grew wider. He spread them all out, staring at them, his deep red eyes wide.

Eventually, all of them made a wide arch around him on the floor, each could be seen the light of the desk lamp.

Kai was horrified.

By the way, that bit at the beginning was something I wrote. How did y'all like it?

And how did you like this chapter? I hope it's not confusing.

If you did, I advice not to read the outline below, it may confuse you.

If it is then this an outline:

Morgan Demsey is a nasty character. He made Mariah tag along with him (nine months ago just as Rei left him ad his friends) as he and his group make money as well as trying to find Rei for themselves, promising Mariah all the time they are getting closer to Rei.

They've finally found Rei.

And Morgan has decided to start twisting things again, and has duffed up Lee, saying it was a present from Rei. Lee takes this as the truth and assumes Rei was lying about him not wanting anything to do with Morgan, and gets angry. He also gets angry when he finds that what Morgan did to Mariah, which Morgan insists was Rei's doing.

Now Rei's in trouble with Lee, he's being hounded by Morgan who wants to make his life a misery, and Kai is beginning to find out why Rei moved away from Morgan.

Phew.

God, I bet that still didn't make sense! It will do soon though!

Review!