-Chapter 9-
"I kinda don't want to go against you guys in the next round Mariah."
"Oh, come on Rei-Rei, it'll be fun!"
The White Tigers and Rei sat on a grassy field, just outside the village.
"I know, I love the competition, but, I just have a feeling that something is going to happen." Rei muttered as he took a bite of a sandwich that Mariah had brought with her.
"Don't worry so much Rei. I'm sure everything will be fine." Lee reasured his friend
"Um… Rei?"
He turned to Lee.
"What is with the collar?"
Rei blushed slightly.
'How do I answer that?'
"Kai and Yuriy gave it to me, I'm not sure why though. Kai and Yuriy don't seem to be the kind to believe in lucky charms." Rei said thoughtfully.
"Kai and Yuriy?" Kevin asked from in a tree near by.
"Yeah, Kai didn't actually give it to me, but Yuriy said that it was from him. Yuriy was the one that actually gave it to me."
"Why are you keeping it on?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, why are you keeping anything that those two gave you? Kai and Yuriy are… barbaric… For you you know, they're buttering you up to--"
Rei's eyes quickly silted.
"Keep that to your self Kevin, I'm already getting grief for it. Thankfully I'm sleeping with my team because I don't want to deal with that more then I need to." He spat.
"Kevin! Say you're sorry!" Mariah yelled.
"Fine! Sorry Rei!"
He kept to the tree, too scared to come down
"You better be scared of me…" He muttered.
"Rei?"
They all turned to the voice of a young girl not far from them.
"Yes Chyou?"
She blushed but answered Rei.
"Elder Gin-Li wants to speak to you…"
Rei frowned.
"Thank you Chyou" He said.
She nodded and left, still blushing slightly.
"You do know she likes you right?"
Rei sighed and nodded.
"I'll be back you guys."
They nodded solemnly.
--
"I need a coffee or I'm going to go insane Kai!"
Kai, lying on his bed with his fellow Russians, snickered.
"You're already insane Yuriy."
"Well, I'm worried now and I need something to help calm my nerves or I'm going to go even crazier!"
Kai opened a sceptical eye.
"That isn't possible and you think that coffee, AKA: A glass of caffeine, is going to calm your nerves?"
"Shut up…"
"You're the one that started this conversation,"
"Well now I'm ending it."
"…"
"Ha! I did end it!"
"Shut up you damn mutt…"
"Mister Kai? Mister Yuriy?"
The two arguing Russians turned to the small voice that had called their names. A young girl with her black hair in pigtails, hid behind their now open door.
"Rei wanted me to tell you that Elder Gin-Li called him to their house."
The two Russians stared at the little girl, then glanced at each other.
"Are you Chyou?" Yuriy asked out of the blue.
The little girl nodded.
"Rei told me about her. Where is the house Chyou?"
The small girl stepped away from the door and pointed.
"Thank you,"
The two got up and walked out the door. They followed the girls' finger to a fair sized house. They sneaked around until they heard voices from inside and seen a window.
"How are you Rei? I haven't seen you since you got here." A calm, elderly voice asked.
"I've been training and hanging out with my friends. Sorry."
"Good to hear that you aren't skipping your training just because you're home. But you couldn't spare some time to come see your own grandfather? Even now I had to call for you."
"He sounds so calm Kai." Yuriy whispered from under the window
"Yeah, a little too calm from what Rei has told us." He muttered back
"I'm sorry."
"Now Rei, before I tell you what I wanted to talk to you about, where did you get that necklace?"
Rei hesitated.
'Shit!' they all thought.
"Mao gave it to me. I good luck charm I guess."
"Ah! Good! So I take it you've gotten over that infatuation you had on-"
"Yuriy! Yuriy? Where are you? I want a rematch!"
He rolled his eyes and growled,
"I'm going to go beat the hell out of Takao before he sells us out." Yuriy muttered so the people inside couldn't hear him, but Kai could.
Kai nodded and watched as his best friend snuck away from the window.
"Noisy friends you have Rei."
He didn't answer but Kai, knowing Rei as well as he did, could tell that a smile was probably tugging at his team mates' mouth.
"Now Rei, I'm sure you want to know why I wanted to talk to you. It's about the championships…"
"I won't lose sir." Rei interrupted quickly.
The man chuckled bitterly,
"If you were to try, I'm sure that you wouldn't. But I'm equally sure that you could lose if you wanted to also."
Kai heard the questioning sound leave the young Neko-jin in the house. He also wondered what the old man had meant.
'What the hell? And who was it that Rei had the crush on? … and why does it sting to know he did…?'
"I want you to either forfeit or purposely lose the match against the White Tigers."
"Wha… What! I… I can't do that!"
A slap sounded from inside the house. It took all Kais' will power not to go into the house and beat the crap out of the man that had hurt his team mate.
'I slap Takao around all the time… why does it make me so damn angry to know that some one just hit Rei? Hell, Why does anything that has to do with Rei get me so damn worked up!'
"You can and you will Rei Kon! You damn well better, or your precious little tiger gets it." He growled.
'Split personality much?'
"Yes sir…" Rei said through gritted teeth.
"Good, you may leave."
Kai heard Rei get up to leave and went to the front door to meet him.
After Rei left the house, Kai grabbed him and dragged him off to a near by, yet secluded tree and pinned him to it.
"Why the hell did you let him hit you like that?" Kai growled,
Rei stared up into Kai's intense wine coloured eyes. Those eyes that Rei had come to know and love the colour of stared back at him with angry flames.
"Because I deserved it. Until I'm 18 and out of his care, I'm not allowed to breathe out of place." Rei mumbled and began to stare anywhere but the angry eyes of his captain.
"I don't give a rats ass. Unless you do something to hurt someone, you don't deserve that. Why are you putting up with this crap!"
"Because Kai! The village will disown me if I don't!" Rei snapped, then looked at the ground.
Kai's eyes softened slightly and he caressed the red mark forming on Reis' cheek.
"What are we going to do about our little problem concerning Byakko?"
Rei shrugged the best he could being pinned to a tree by the Blade Breaker Captain.
"I'll spin. I'll spin in your place, if I don't know about this whole situation, but I take your place, you can't loose and your grandfather can't take Byakko for us taking the White tiger's out." Kai answered after a minute of thought
He sighed and let Rei off the tree, but kept Reis' face in his hand.
The red returned to Reis' face, and not from the slap mark.
"Um… Kai? Can I have my face back dude?"
"What is it about you getting me so worked up…?" Kai muttered.
"What? Kai, are you feeling alright?"
"No…" Kai muttered and turned around.
There, the end of the unexpected chapter. Next chapter, we get down to business... Or at leasst I better, or I'll be dragging this out. Anyway,
-JaNe-