I'm sorry that i havent updated in a while, I just moved to the big city. and with school just starting i havent been able to write much as my studies have been pretty full on. Also, if it has a few errors, dont mind them, it was written a while ago and I've been meaning to post it. But everything else has been happening. Thanks to all those who have reviewed. If I havent returned your reviews, sorry, will mostly likely do that when i can.

hope you enjoy this chapter.


Shuffling through a pile of mail, Rei found what he was looking for. His small tiger calendar had fallen off the wall and landed in his mountain of mail. Half of it were bills that he needed to pay, such as electricity, phone and for some unknown reason cable. He didn't own it and he had told them that, but somehow he got billed for it.

"Stupid Cable Company I don't own any cable TV. Maybe I should check though, it may have come with the apartment," Rei walked over to his television and turned it on. Flipping through the channels, sure enough, he found what he was being billed for, "Why didn't I find this earlier? Oh well, maybe I should put it to use then."

Turning around, Rei went back to his mail. Finally under all of the bills, he found a letter. Looking at it closely, he found that it didn't have a return address on it. Slowly running his finger under the flap, he opened it up. A small letter fell out onto the floor.

"Who would send me a…"

Dear Rei,

"Why I never, it's from the folks."

I am sorry that I haven't written to you. Your father and I were having difficulties. That was one of the main reasons why we sent you to the city. It may sound terrible but at least you were saved the heartache and pain. It's been about three months since your father and I have seen each other.

"Oh crap. Now they tell me the reason. How could she say that I was saved, it hurt like hell! But still, I wonder what caused it all to happen, maybe she will send another letter and say that they will get back together."

We have been discussing about getting a divorce. You won't be affected, as you don't live at home with us anymore. However, both your father and I will send you money so that you can pay for your bills and the other necessities. I'm truly sorry to bring this down on you in one foul swoop, but you had to know the truth about the choice we made when we sent you away at such an early age, it was for your own good.

Hope to talk to you soon

Love Mum

P.S. have you found a special person?

"A divorce? How did this ever happen? They were always so happy together and smiling and holding each other. Did I do this?" Rei leant against the kitchen bench. It had been years since he had seen his parents. They had sent him away when he was only 5 years old. He had basically lived in his apartment since he was 12 as the cranky old lady had kicked him out for almost burning down the kitchen on numerous occasions. He smiled at that thought.

"Stupid old bag. I wonder if she is still alive?" walking over to his calendar, he noticed that he had scheduled an afternoon with Max, "ah that's right. What time is it?" Turning around to look at his clock, it read 11. He nodded and went to his room.

Pulling out a pair of dark denim jeans, Rei put them on. These pants were one of the few that had pockets, which he very rarely used, but appreciated. Going back to his closet, he pulled out a white shirt with black Kanji down the side. Looking at it, he read it for the first time, "The Great Red Moon, how weird."

Grabbing a pair of sneakers and socks, he sat down and put them on. Brushing his hair and rebinding it neatly, Rei grabbed his keys, wallet and bag. Locking the door behind him, he went to meet Max.

He took his time walking down to the small Café that had grabbed the school kids attention. It was new in town and apparently had really good coffee. Max had suggested the idea as a sort of thank-you for all the help that he had given him. Rei had kindly accepted. The teen's face had lit up like a star and he couldn't stop smiling.

"Rei! Over here!" a voice pierced his thoughts. Looking around, Rei found that he had arrived and hadn't noticed. Sitting at a small table, a blonde guy sat with beaming eyes. Rei laughed at the guy as he made his way over.

"You look really happy today Max, what you been up to?" he sat down with his friend. Quickly a waiter went over and took their orders.

"Good morning gentlemen, how may I help you today?" the waiter asked. He was wearing a pair of pressed black pants, a white shirt with a black vest with tails and a pair of well-polished black shoes. Is it that possible for your shoes to be that shiny? Rei thought to himself.

"I would like a slice of your chocolate cake and a large cappuccino thanks, how bout you Maxie?"

"I would like a muffin and a chocolate frappe please."

"Certainly sirs, would you like anything with that muffin?"

"Uh, some jam and butter on the side thanks."

"Of course."

"That was easily done wasn't it Rei," Max looked at his friend. The dark bruising had disappeared and his face was free of any sign that he was physically beaten.

"Yeah it was. Hopefully it is as good as the rumours at school say it is otherwise we would have to go to our favourite place," Rei laughed as he put his bag beside his chair on the ground.

Smiling happily, Max answered, "I thought that place was closed down because the owner's bought this place?"

"I thought that was just a rumour going around town. Perhaps it is just the same owner's just a franchise name."

Max nodded, "Hey Rei, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did Max," he laughed.

"Com'on Rei, you know what I mean! I was wondering if you liked anyone?" the blonde faced the table.

"Here you are, your muffin and chocolate frappe sir. Your chocolate cake and cappuccino for you sir," the waiter said as he gave the guys their ordered items.

"Thank-you," watching the man leave, Rei turned to face Max, "would you tell me who you liked?"

"Maybe, but they already know that I like them. So I guess I could. Don't know if they would appreciate me telling you though."

"I won't tell anyone Max, you can trust me."

Looking into his friend's eyes, he nodded, "Please don't laugh okay, but I really like…Ty. He would kill me if he knew that you now know!"

Rei's jaw dropped, "You for real Max?" He nodded, "wow, that is so cute."

"So you're cool with the fact that I like Tyson?"

"Hell yeah, I always thought something was up with the looks that you two always exchanged." The teenager turned a pale shade of red.

"So who do you like Rei?"

The neko went quiet for a moment in thought, "Truly Max, I'm not to sure. I know Mari would be heart broken if she knew that I didn't like her."

"Yeah, she believes that you two were a match made in Heaven. Well her Heaven anyway," Max said. Both boys laughed for a minute.

Playing around, Rei mocked his friend, "Is your muffin buttered?"

"What?"

"Would you like me to assign someone to butter your muffin?"

"Huh?" Max looked at the neko with confusion, "oh, of course my muffin is buttered. But you can put jam on it for me my cat friend." The boy broke down in laughter again. Rei spread the jam over Max's muffing and tore a chunk off.

"I did some of the work so I need to get paid for labour."

"That labour was putting jam on my muffin!"

"Also helping with your schoolwork Maxie. Don't forget that one either," Rei smiled, "I wonder what Kai is doing?"

Max almost choked on his muffin, "What? You want to know what the silent Hiwatari is doing? Is there something that you're not telling me Rei?"

"No, not that I know of. I'll tell you when it comes in though if you like," Rei finished off his cake and drank some of his coffee, "this coffee is great. Maybe all the hype was worth its weight in coffee and chocolate."

"Yeah, this frappe is so yummy, and my muffin was good. Hey look at this, do you know what Vegemite is Rei?" Max pointed to the weird spread on the menu, "I've never heard of it before."

Rei took the menu and looked at it, "Made in Australia. Hey, it must be that new product that they thought that the nation might like. Apparently it's made from yeast extract. That's what this says anyway. Should we just try it?"

"I don't know. Do you think that they would give it to us on a small piece of bread?" Max was also now very intrigued by this spread. Even though he had pointed it out, he wasn't really into trying new things, always sticking to what he knew.

"Excuse me waiter, would we be able to try this Vegemite spread?" Rei asked as a waiter came to collect their plates.

"Of course, we always encourage people to taste it. But I should warn you, it is said to be an acquired taste," he smiled and went away to get the bread.

"Must be weird then. I've heard some weird things come out of Australia. Like they eat kangaroo and crocodile," Max said.

"Yeah, but that is not new. I knew a girl from there once. She said that I should try Vegemite; she said it was really good. When I told her that you can't get it in Japan, she went nuts," Rei grabbed his bag from the ground and found his wallet.

"Here you are sirs. Please be careful that you do not spread it on thickly or the taste will be too…"

"That's gross!"

"How can they eat that stuff?"

"…Strong. The taste is rather different to what we are used to as a culture," the waiter said as he left the boys at the table.

"He's not wrong. Lets never eat that stuff again. What do you say Max?"

"I'm with you on that one Rei. How can they eat that stuff!"

"You've already said that mate," Rei said in a very bad Australian accent.

"Yeah I did didn't I? Oh well, how bout we pay and head down to the park for a walk?" Max suggested as he pulled out his own wallet and paid for both his and Rei's meal, "my way of thanks for the help."

"Oh, you didn't have to Max, but if you insist," he put his wallet away and walked out the door with his friend in toe, "so what do you like about your special person Max?" He turned to look at Rei.

"Well…I uh…he really is nice once you get to know him. But just a bit of an idiot though. I don't think he sees it but I do point it out to him a lot," Max blurted.

"We all do Maxie, but he doesn't listen to any of us."

"He listens to me now though. Unfortunately he doesn't want people to know about us. I guess he's afraid of the way that people would look at us around the school. They would think that it's unnatural, but it's not Rei," it was word vomit that Rei had uncovered.

"Tyson is a bit of an arse though Max. I know that you like him, but I think that he needs to wake up more and realise that not everything is a joke anymore."

"When I'm with him, he knows that. When we're with the group, he acts like the guy he always was, the fool," he looked down at the ground and scuffed his feet, "why did I end up liking the court jester?"

"How did I end up liking the grave digger?" Rei asked his friend. Max sat down on the bench and Rei on the swing, slowly pushing himself higher into the air.

"That must be our destiny hey Rei, to attract the silent and loud ones. Perhaps we could swap for a while."

Rei pushed his feet into the ground, "I'm not going out with anyone Max, and I guess I never will. But this one person did call me a new name the other week that sort of scared me a little."

"Really? Wow, most people just call you Rei or neko or master Kon or master Rei."

"Kitty," he started to build up momentum again, gaining height with every swing. His free black hair went with the rush of air, blocking his view one minute, flying behind him the next. Looking up, he noticed a familiar mop of blue hair in a window of a house.

"Oi Rei, who you perving on?" Max asked as he noticed Rei's distant expression and the awe in his eyes.

"I know where you live now," his eyes didn't move from the window.

"Neko! What are you staring at? I'm not a mind reader like you, ya know!" he got up and grabbed the back of Rei's swing stopping him with a shudder. He was thrown to the ground and landed with a loud thud.

"Huh? You ask me something?" Rei was still slightly distracted by the moving curtains. Picking himself up, Rei dusted of the dirt and sat on Max who had taken the swing.

"Whoa Rei, I've got it now. You gonna answer my question? Who were you staring at?"

"I was uh looking at uh…why should I tell you?"

"Well you kinda fazed out on me and then started to stare at that window up there I guess and it really caught your eye coz you stopped talking, that's why."

"It was nothing big I guess. Just thought I saw something or someone," Rei sat down on the bench while he watched Max on the swing.

Max watched the look in his friend's eyes change. Usually it was hard to pick up but it was really noticeable that afternoon, "Rei, you sure you're ok? You seem a little bit more distracted now then you were before."

A slight smile crossed Rei's face, "I'm sure, just a little tired and emotionally strained at the moment."

"Why? You seemed to be fine earlier. What's happened?"

"My parents happened." Max stopped moving and let his mouth gape open, "I know Max, I know."

"How long has it been since they last spoke to you?"

"About 10-11 years I think. I was sent away, that's what my mother had written anyway. Apparently for my own good according to her," Rei thought back to the letter on the table. The beautiful writing was marred by the words that it spoke. So painful and angry.

"Hmm, that is a bit weird. I'm not going to pry into your family business, but I think I'd better go home before my mother chucks a psyche because I've been out all day and not told her where I've been," Max said as he jumped off the swing, "so I'll catch you on Monday Rei?"

"Yeah Maxie, Monday." Rei moved over to the swing and sat down. With his bag in sight, he swung himself higher and faster, feeling the need to be moving so that his troubles seemed somewhat lighter in the fact that he could fall off the swing at any moment and actually break a bone without the help of Spencer.

Looking back up at the window, he saw the blue head of hair again. Somehow it was very familiar and just watched him. Rei found that he could not look away from it and soon stopped moving. After a few moments, Rei came back to his senses and grabbed his bag to trudge off home. Even though no one was there to greet him, somehow, he knew that someone was thinking of him. That thought made him feel better and he jogged home.

Opening to the door, he moved over to the couch and sat down. The feeling of hunger was not there and so there was no reason to cook anything. Flinging off his shoes, Rei flicked on his TV and decided that now was the perfect time to sit down and actually watch his cable that he never knew that he actually had.

I wonder what he is doing at the moment, Rei mused, probably something better then this I guess. Changing the channel, he found a cooking channel immediately sunk into the world of the Life Style Channel.


I love vegemite by the way and yes it is an acquired taste.