This is the quickest I have ever written a chapter, so I apologise if there are any mistakes, or if it seems rushed. Thank you so much to chi no hana, kay1fire, Jashomara, Frostt, though i choose death instead of pointless pain andKashila for reviewing this story, you lot are the best! If I've misspelled anyone's name or missed anyone out,please tell me.Because I got asked this in one of my reviews, they're all in their twenties. Ray's 24, Kai's 25 and Mariah's 23. In case I bring them in later on, Tyson and Hilary are 23, Max is 22 and Kenny's 21.
Read and enjoy!
Lynette crept up the stairs, her head turning continuously from right to left as she reassured herself that Mummy wasn't around. Daddy was at work still, but Mummy was just downstairs with Rosie, so she had to be really quiet...
She was a perceptive child, and had worked out very quickly that mummy didn't like the nice Kai-man. She couldn't work out why, though. Of course, he had all those funny cuts all over him and a yucky neck, but he wasn't well! It was a good reason!
"Stupid Mummy..." she whispered and instantly felt guilty. "Sorry!" she whispered, turning her head towards where she thought her mother was downstairs. Her seven year-old conscience appeased, she padded silently towards the spare room and peeked round the door. And that was another weird thing. No one ever slept in the spare room! So why was he in there? Shrugging, she pushed open the door and walked up to the bed.
"Kai? Are you awake?" she inquired softly, poking him gently in the back with her index finger.
"Kai? Are you awake?" A soft, childish voice pushed its way into the haze of memories filling Kai's head, a small finger poking at his back. Groaning softly at the pounding in his head, he rolled over onto his back and turned his head towards the source of the voice. Ray? No, not Ray...Searching his tired mind, he pulled up the identity of the little girl standing in front of him. Lynette...yes, that was it. "Yay, you're awake!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down on the spot in happiness. He mumbled an affirmative and tried to smile at her.
"'s time?" Lynette looked at her watch.
"It's half past three." she announced. Kai's eyes widened in shock.
"Shhhhhh-ugar..." he finished eventually, just remembering in time that Lynette was in the room. He'd been dozing on and off, plagued by nightmares, for how long? "What time did you wake me up this morning?" He coughed slightly, forcing the attack that wanted to come back down inside him.
"Um...about eight o'clock, I think..." Lynette frowned for a second, then nodded in contentment. "Yep, that's right."
Holy fuck...I've been out of it for nearly eight hours...I haven't been that bad for years... "Thanks, Lynette." he said distractedly.
"No problem." the little girl replied promptly. Placing a hand lightly on his painful head, Kai tried to sit up. Halfway up, he lay back down again in a hurry, his stomach suddenly churning. When did I last eat? A while ago, that's for sure...shit, I can't afford to get back into bad habits again...least I'm not gonna throw up. "Are you okay?" Lynette's worried face hovered above him. He nodded and sat up, giving the child a small smile. His head swam with the sudden change of altitude and gave an extra painful throb, but it soon faded. Taking a deep breath, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up a little unsteadily.
"Where's the shower?" he questioned.
"Oh, that's over here...Come on!" With a half-amused, half-irritated sigh, he followed the energetic girl out of the room and into the corridor. She pointed at a door. "There." He nodded and headed back to "his" room to get a change of clothes.
A few minutes later, he stepped into the shower and turned it on. He had a feeling that Mariah would deliberately turn on a tap downstairs, just for the pleasure she would get out of hearing him cry out in surprise. She'd have to wait a while, then. The last time he had cried out had been when they had taken Dra - no, don't think about that... Pulling himself from the quicksand of his thoughts, he adjusted to showerhead to a better angle and grabbed his toilet bag. It contained an old, bristly toothbrush, a half-empty deodorant, a threadbare flannel, a bottle of shower gel and a bottle of shampoo. Pulling out the shampoo, he squeezed a small amount into one hand and rubbed the cold red goo into his hair, watching as white, soapy bubbles slid down his arms. He had once been quite impressively muscled, but his foolish self-imposed starvation had wasted them away to mere sinew. Cupping a protective hand over his damaged neck, he ducked his head under the jets of water and rinsed the remaining shampoo out, watching as the white foam swirled round the plughole.
Next, he took out the flannel and held it under the water for a few seconds, then dabbed it gently at his throat. The force of the shower would tear the fragile layer of skin, and he didn't want yet another trip to hospital. He'd had enough of them to last him a lifetime.
"Kai, hurry up in there!" Mariah yelled from downstairs. "We don't pay the water bill to have it wasted on the likes of you!" He chuckled wryly. Yeah, Mariah hated his guts. Always had done, probably always would do. He had been a fool to think that time could mellow her. Nevertheless, he obediently turned the shower off and stepped out, wrapping himself in a towel that conveniently caught his eye and drying himself quickly.
He came downstairs, stopping halfway down to cough for a full ten seconds without ceasing, and looked with interest around the house. It was...spacious would be an understatement, and decorated nicely, too. He nodded in satisfaction. So often, money meant a chance for people to fill their house with garish, tasteless decorations.
"You didn't need to advertise that you were coming down the stairs quite that loudly." Mariah said acidly, stalking up to him, referring to his bout of coughing halfway down. Kai ignored her and continued his contemplation of his surroundings.
"Nice place. Who did the decorating?" he asked offhandedly. "Ray? You?"
"I did most of it, and a friend of mine who's an interior designer did the rest. Ray couldn't design an egg box!" Mariah scoffed, laughing slightly. Kai nodded, absentmindedly tapping his fingers on his faded jeans.
"It's good." he said quietly. Mariah frowned.
"Don't go fishing for compliments, because you won't find any here!" she snapped. Kai smiled slightly and inclined his head in acceptance.
"I don't look for compliments." he said calmly.
"I can't imagine many people would give them to you even if you asked." Ouch, that hurt...keep it together, Hiwatari, she just hates you, remember? You can deal with that.
"That may be so." he replied, his tone faintly icy. "I don't look for abuse normally, either."
"Tough, you found it." Their eyes met in a heated glare for a fleeting second, then swung away as if scalded.
"Kai!" Lynette's shrill, excited voice cut through the strained atmosphere, and the black-haired girl ran up and grinned widely at Kai, who managed a small smile in return. "Rosie, come see Kai!" she called loudly. A tiny, shy-looking girl poked her head round a door and stared at Kai, her amber eyes wide. Abruptly, Kai brought his head up to meet her wondering gaze. With a shriek of mixed alarm and delight, the pink-topped head disappeared in a flash, the sound of hysterical giggling coming from behind the door. Realising the game, Kai averted his gaze again and waited until the head had re-appeared, then looked at her sharply. She shrieked again and ducked behind the door, this time keeping her eyes peering over the edge of the door.
Mariah scowled at the sight of Kai winning over both of her beloved daughters with very little apparent effort. This was not good. Who knew how he, of all people, would influence them?
Five goes later, Kai decided a test was in order. This time, he kept his head bowed, stubbornly staring at the thick beige carpet. Rosa made a sulky face at the change in rules, and cautiously emerged from the room. She tiptoed over to Lynette, who was standing approximately in between Kai and the protective door, and gazed at the strange, silent adult. Chewing nervously on a chunk of her shoulder-length hair, she approached Kai slowly.
Equally slowly, Kai crouched down to her level and met her gaze, giving her ample time to run away if she felt the need.
Rosa moved more of her hair into her mouth and chewed anxiously, staring as if transfixed at the man who was in front of her. No adult had ever acted anything like this towards her before, it was all: "Aw, aren't you just the cutest little thing...don't you look like your Mummy..." Then, they would ruffle her hair...ew... She shuddered at the thought. But this...Kai person...he was waiting for her to make the first move? Whoa. He might have weird eyes, but didn't Mummy and Daddy always say "Never judge a book by its cover"? Her mind made up, she smiled shyly at him.
"Hi," she mumbled, blushing furiously. "I'm Rosa. You're Kai. Lynnie said." she announced, with a quick look towards her big sister. Kai nodded.
"Yeah, that's me." he replied quietly. He stood up, smiling down at Rosa's sudden pout and Lynette's unhappy frown.
"Stay and play!" Rosa pleaded, her bottom lip starting to wobble.
"Yeah!" Lynette interjected in a hurt tone. "I thought you were nice!" she added crossly.
"I just need to get something to eat, if that's all right?" he asked politely. Both girls frowned and pretended to think about it.
"Oka-ay." they sighed in annoyed unison. They looked at each other, then shrugged and ran into the room that Rosa had recently vacated. Seconds later, giggles and a stream of Chinese indicated their current state of contentment.
"What makes you think you're going to get something to eat?" Mariah demanded aggressively. Kai shot her a cold glare. "Well?"
"You want to take the responsibility for what'll happen if I don't?" he asked curtly in Mandarin Chinese. Her eyes widened.
"I didn't know you spoke Mandarin." she commented in pointed English, somehow managing to make even that sentence sound suspicious and derogatory.
"Well, now you do." Japanese now. Oh, this is going to be entertaining...
"Stop that!"
"Stop what?" Russian.
"That!"
"What?" French.
"Will you stop if I give you something to eat?" Excellent, a result!
"Yes." Arabic.
Mariah growled in irritation and walked off, her pupils mere slits in their amber circles.
"Come on, then!" she called disdainfully over her shoulder. Smirking in triumph, Kai followed her.
Mariah glared furiously at Kai as she stalked into the kitchen.
"Touch the oven, microwave or grill and I promise you, you'll regret it!" She looked defiantly up at his six-foot three height from her petite five-foot two, not giving an inch. Kai shrugged.
"Whatever. Where's the food?" he asked, still in Mandarin.
"Over there." Mariah answered automatically in the same dialect, then caught herself. Her eyes flared with anger and she flounced out, spitting an insult at him that Kai could only imagine came from the language of her hometown. As he busied himself with getting himself something to eat, he mused over the strange aversion that she had to speaking Mandarin. How had her daughters learnt it? He was absolutely positive that they had been babbling away in it quite happily behind the partly closed door...peculiar. Very much so.
Ray unlocked the front door and stepped inside, closing it securely behind him and rubbing weakly at his burning eyes.
"What kind of a time do you call this?" Mariah demanded from the lounge, only partly joking. A very small part. "It's three in the morning!"
"Long day." he called back hoarsely. "Longest day ever." She came out, her face softening as she saw him. He could only imagine how he looked. He felt like seven different kinds of hell, all of them exhausted, and in pain in about a billion different places. They embraced tightly, their lips meeting in a soft, tender kiss. Mariah rested her forehead on his.
"C'mon, tiger, let's get you into bed." she whispered. Ray nodded numbly. He was swaying on his feet, he realised now, and vaguely wondered how long he'd been doing that for. He allowed Mariah to gently lead him up the stairs.
Past the girls' room, which registered as a mere blur of bright pink and soft breathing, past the spare room - A faint memory hit him. Spare room...Kai... Pulling free of Mariah's hold, he staggered in.
After a few seconds of hopelessly foggy vision, it cleared enough to make out the outline of the room, and a pair of haunted violet eyes staring at him in surprise.
Kai looked at Ray, his mind scrabbling to pull itself back to functioning level. Staring out the window for hours on end didn't require much brainpower. He had discovered it could send his often dangerously active brain into a peaceful state of dreaminess. However, dreaminess was not what was required for communication...
"Ray?" he whispered, moving quickly to his old friend's side and supporting him as he swayed. "Where've you been?"
"Work..." Ray murmured faintly. His face was ashen with weariness and his hair had come out of the band, hanging loosely around his face. "So…how was your day?"
"Screw my day," Kai muttered decidedly. "You need to be in bed." He held up a hand to silence Ray's protests. "Shut up and listen to me for once. B-E-D." Ray scowled feebly at him and yawned, leaning comfortably against Kai and closing his eyes. "No, I'm not bed. Bed is in there." Kai pointed towards the only room with the lights on and hoping that he was correct. Grumbling in a barely audible voice, Ray tiredly opened his eyes and began to stagger towards the light, blinking rapidly.
"Goodnight, Ray." Kai called after him. Ray turned slightly to face him. For an instant, all the exhaustion fell away from his expression as a gentle, achingly familiar smile lit up his handsome features.
"'Night, Kai." he whispered softly. Kai watched as he stumbled unsteadily out.
Suddenly, his chest hurt, head hurt, throat hurt. The old reply, once automatic, floated into his head and tried to force itself out. He kept it back. It was in the past.
"'Night, Ray. Love you."
All in the past...
"Love you too, Kai..."
He blinked and went back to his seat by the window, struggling to clear his mind. It was as if those simple words had opened a floodgate, and he couldn't stop the memories from coming, couldn't ignore them, good or bad...or worse...
"Leave me alone," he mumbled, staring unseeingly out of the window. "Please...leave me alone..." Defeated, he dropped his head to rest on his folded arms and gave up. Darkness poured in, choking, suffocating...
Yes,I had to make it into some kind of Kai/Ray! If people would like more along these lines, please tell me! Personally,I love yaoi, but I know that others don't, so just write and tell me if you don't want even a hint of yaoi. Anyway, review, please! They make me so happy!
