A/N: See earlier chapters for disclaimer.
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Bryan sighed, chancing a glance over the railing of the stairs; he never liked looking down. The hard wood floors ten feet below gave him such a frightening sense of finality. It was like that split second before the fall, when you suddenly realized how much that you still had to live for….
He shuddered.
Why the hell was he thinking of those things?
Angry with himself, the lilac-haired teen sat himself down on the top step, and buried his face in his hands. He needed to do something. Something that would take his mind off of the danger he'd let Kai walk into, and the fact that he'd let Tala go with him.
Tala…
Pulling his large hands over his face, he blinked wearily over the tips of his fingers. He just needed a distraction. That was all.
Turning his head, Bryan looked towards his room. Glancing down the hall, he followed the doors idly, letting his mind wander.
The house that Boris had left him while he was absent was a rather large house. Not a mansion, but not without a multitude of various rooms, and mazes of halls dotted with windows. It was large, but quaint, and anyone who entered might think that the man living in the house was actually sane. Bryan however, knew better.
His dull eyes flitted over the tan carpeting, and the white walls. His room was on the left; behind the wooden door was a full bed covered in a dark blue comforter, which resembled, at the moment, a chaotic black hole. At its foot was a desk that followed the corner of the room a quarter of the way across the wall. It had a computer, and a chair in front of it. But little else could be seen. He didn't trust Boris. Never did. And so most of the things that were important to him he kept at Tala's apartment. He only used the computer because he knew his redhead had made it virtually impossible for Boris to breech. On the opposite wall was a bureau and a closet, but he didn't have much to put in them.
Down the hall was another wooden door, which contained the library. It wasn't large, but it was so out of place that it seemed huge. Neither him, nor Boris, ever used it…sometimes Bryan wondered why it was ever put there in the first place. It wasn't a comfy room, and it wasn't warm and cozy…no fireplace. Just a room with four walls, and three bookcases filled to the top shelves with books on various subjects, in various languages. Most of them, he probably couldn't even read.
After that, came Boris's office. The only reason he was staying here…instead of at his koi's apartment. Something told him to keep an eye on it. Police and other agents had already looked it over, gathering evidence and searching for more. But he knew his Uncle better than that.
More than likely the things that they found were false. Boris was too smart to leave his plans lying open on his desk, and the authorities were too blinded by an easy victory to look any deeper. They were carrying fool's gold, and he was determined to find the real gold mine.
The problem? He had no clue where to start. And although he had learned a thing or two from Tala about computers, he wasn't nearly as qualified to hack his Uncle's system, by ANY stretch of the imagination.
Still…he had this feeling… nagging at him to give it a shot. It was almost as if he was trying to tell himself that, if he didn't get to it first, someone else would.
A chill ran up his spine.
Slowly he reached up, rubbing the base of his neck. Where were these feelings coming from? He couldn't justify any of them. There was no reason to be having them.
And yet, he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that there was some truth behind these thoughts. Truth that made no logical sense anyway.
Boris's partner was in jail along with him, so who would be left to return to his office to pick up where he had been forced to stop? Who else was there that knew of his research? No one.
Right?
The doubt he felt then shook him to his very core. None of them had ever really given a second thought to Boris and Voltaire's partnership. They had assumed (with good reason) that the two businessmen had simply struck a deal based on favorable circumstance. Voltaire had the subject and the funding, and Boris had the lab and the experience to get Voltaire what he needed for a considerable sum. It had never occurred to any of them that there may very well be others involved. After all, what was the research for?
What was it for?
His Uncle was mad…there was no question about it. He muttered, talked to himself. Pulled complex equations out of thin air and lost himself in books and theories. He spent hours scribbling on notepads that he would then convert to files. In the end, he always burned the paper. Brian had watched the man once, the equations and numbers and factors he wrote out being pages long at a time. Back then, he'd thought his Uncle to be a genius.
Now he snorted. Genius? Sure. A raving maniac one.
But Voltaire seemed to have a sensible head on his shoulders. Well, a head sensible for a good business deal that involved wealth and power. Neither he nor Tala actually knew the extent of the experiments performed on Kai. It was extremely likely that while there was much that they knew, there was so much more that they didn't know. Could there actually be a piece of this entire situation that they had all somehow overlooked? The more and more he thought about it, the more sense it made.
Gods, how could he have let that happen?
Standing quickly, he jogged his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. The lilac-haired man had reached the phone within seconds and was halfway through dialing Tala's cell number when suddenly, he stopped.
He was jumping to conclusions.
Placing the pone back on its cradle, Brian sighed loudly and walked to the sink to get himself a glass of water. His redhead had a lot on his plate right now, and so did Kai. They didn't need to listen to his conspiracy theories and get all worked up about them if there was no evidence to back up the claims. Finishing the glass, he wiped his mouth with his hand, and walked back through the kitchen towards the stairs.
If there was anything to find, he would find it. And if he was right, we was calling Tala and hopping the first plane to America that he could get.
Because if he was right, they were all involved in a lot more than just a court case. And there would be much, much more at stake than freedom.
Much more
Kai could feel Rei's hand shaking in his own as he watched Tala nervously. The blunette was also eyeing the redhead, whose frown only seemed to deepen as the seconds passed. He was staring at the screen with such intensity it scared even Rei, who had never seen the wise, quick-witted teen anything other than serious or happy. To him, it was as if the temperature in the room had dropped twenty degrees under Tala's frozen, blue gaze. Still shaking slightly, the neko pulled at his hair, twirling it around his finger.
"Stop that." Tala snapped so suddenly it actually made Rei jump. And never once did the elder Russian move, or look up.
"Those kind of habits are extremely distracting," he added just as heatedly.
Kai shot him a warning look, but the Russian wasn't even facing him. He was still staring at the screen. The tiger looked at the ground, dropping the blunette's hand as he did so.
He was ashamed. He had put them all in danger, and he knew this, but it was still hard on him to hear the once friendly Russian snap at him like he was. It hurt, and all he wanted to do was curl up in his bed and stay there.
Kai looked between the two, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Tala you need-"
"Don't you dare tell me to fucking calm down," he hissed. His voice trembled with barely controlled rage, causing Rei's eyes to slit instinctively.
"Getting angry over this won't help us." In an instant Tala was on his feet, inches from Kai's face.
"Angry?" he growled, raising his voice. "Brian and I have spent our lives doing everything we possibly could to help you with this case! EVERYTHING WE COULD FUCKING COME UP WITH! Excuse me for getting angry, when in one night, your little friend here may very well have SCREWED US ALL AND EVERYTHING WE'VE WORKED FOR!"
Rei flinched when Kai brought his open palm solidly across the redheads face. The resounding 'SLAP' echoing in his sensitive ears.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" the blunette yelled back, grabbing Tala roughly by his arms.
"The matter with me!" he cried. "I'm not the one who left the window open!"
"Tala!" the smaller of the two responded, his voice was loud but the neko could hear the desperation in it. The elder teen tried to pull back, but Kai yanked him forward again.
"Let go of me Kai!"
"What? What the fuck is it?" he yelled at his friend. "You don't talk to me like you used to Tala, I don't know what to do with you anymore!"
Rei held his breath, his chest seizing up at the sight before him. He felt so out of place it unnerved him, because he had no idea what to do or say.
Suddenly, the door to the bedroom was flung open. They all froze, looking up to meet a frightened sapphire gaze.
"Maxie…" Rei started softly.
"What the fuck is going on?" the pale teen cried. "Who the hell are these guys?"
"Max, you know Kai!" the neko yelled indignantly.
He watched as the American teen looked over his koi once more. However, it was far from enough to pacify him. He stormed into the room, hair disheveled, eyes lighting up in uncertainty and anger. Rei blinked, his golden eyes darting from Tala, to Kai, to Maxie, wondering who the hell these people were.
"Well, who is this other guy and what is going on then?" he asked seriously.
"Great!" Tala yelled suddenly, throwing up his arms and breaking away from Kai. "Just what we need!" Furrowing his brows, the Chinese teen opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.
"SHUT UP!" Kai screamed. In an instant, the room was silent. The blunette was fuming, his eyes sparking with an unimaginable flame. It was as if the gates of Hell had been unlocked within those eyes. For a moment, even Rei could not look the small Russian in the eyes. He whipped around furiously, grabbing Tala by the arm.
"I'm sorry Rei," he hissed through his teeth, heading towards the door, practically dragging the redhead with him. All he could do was nod.
Max took a step forward to protest, but his friend's firm grip on his arm held him in place. They both stood where they were, listening as the two left, until the door shut. For a long time, neither of them said a word.
"Sorry to have woken you like that Maxie…" the tiger sighed wearily. The blonde male shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He looked up at his friend then, with the eyes of an innocent child again, searching for answers.
Unfortunately, Rei had no idea where to begin.
…
Once they were outside of the apartment, Tala twisted out of Kai's grip, and shot him a dangerous look. The younger male growled in response, but as they walked back to the hotel neither of them acknowledged each other.
The blunette plunged his hands into his pockets as the marched up the stairs in the lobby, glaring at the carpeting beneath his feet. He was fuming, aggravated, and beyond confused. Tala wouldn't have exploded the way he had…that was Bryan's job. The redhead was always calm, always knew how to handle himself in any given situation. Kai shook his head. He had known that Tala was very capable at being intimidating, and he could certainly take care of himself, but the emotions that he had displayed back in Rei's apartment were so alien to the slender Russian, that Kai briefly wondered if even Bryan had known about this side of him.
No, this was wrong. Something was very wrong with his friend, but he couldn't help him if he wasn't given the opportunity. Tala never told him anything anymore.
Reaching the door, he pulled out his card, slipping it through the lock and turning the handle. Opening the door, he looked up at the redhead who slipped by him without so much as a second glance. Following, he caught a glimpse of his friend's normally graceful posture. Tala's movements were choppy and indecisive, lacking much of his former confidence and stride. It was unnerving.
Without a word, the older teen shrugged off his jacket, wincing slightly as the dark material exposed an angry red bruise forming on his upper arm. Crimson eyes widened at the sight, his gaze falling to his own hands.
Had he done that?
Swallowing hard, he realized that his friend was already half way up the stairs.
"Tala, wait." He requested quietly, watching anxiously when the other male stopped, his gaze hardening although he never did turn around.
"It'll be fine in a few days Kai," he ground out. The blunette glared for a moment, unsure of how to continue. He'd never had to approach Tala like this.
"I'm sorry, it shouldn't have happened."
"Well it did."
"Stop that!" he snapped, swinging around the railing and up the stairs to face the redhead.
"What do you want me to do Kai?" he bit back. "Tell you that it didn't so there's nothing to worry about?"
"Tala…" He was taken aback slightly by the tears welling up in his friend's icy gaze.
"Well? Is that it? You want me to tell you that everything is okay? That I can fix this and everything else?"
"No, that's not it at all-"
"Because I can't do it Kai! I can't fix everything!" And all at once everything came crashing down on him. He shut his eyes, letting the tears stream over his pale cheeks. "I can't…I can't do it…" Sinking to the floor, he cried, leaning forward as the weight of his helplessness pulled him down.
Kai fell to his knees, his eyes widening in shock. He didn't understand…
Slowly, he reached over, pulling the older male towards him. The redhead buried his face into Kai's shoulder, letting his friend rock him back and forth. His eyes burned, and his temples pounded through his sobs. His throat had tightened painfully, and his back and chest were aching with the strain…but it was all that he wanted. He let Kai try to sooth him, but the words never reached his ears.
The blunette cradled his friend, as he had done for him so many times in the past. He whispered to him, trying to make him listen, but Tala wouldn't hear him. And Kai felt as if he'd been broken, because he didn't know what to do, but he did know that this was all his fault.
Gently, he shifted his weight, slipping his arm underneath Tala's knees. The pale Russian had quieted, and let himself be carried the rest of the way up the stairs. Kai watched him sadly as he made his way down the hall. Nudging open the door to his room, he laid his friend down on the comforter, and brushed his flaming hair out of his wet eyes.
"I'm sorry." He tried to make it sound as sincere as possible, but in the end he knew nothing he could say now would ever be enough. The other teen sniffed loudly before turning over on his side, taking Kai with him.
The smaller male allowed himself to be pulled down, still feeling helpless when Tala closed his eyes, burying his head in Kai's chest without a word. Instinctively his friend wrapped his arms around him, watching him until his breathing became steady and body relaxed.
After a long moment, the blunette allowed his own eyes to fall shut, his throat tight with guilt. He hadn't paid attention, and it had caused Tala harm. He should have known…
"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered mournfully.
Why didn't you tell me?
…
