After such a long wait, I've returned. Okay before you start throwing all that sharp stuff at me, let me explain………umm……I'm sure I've got something to say about. (Sigh). Well I give up, look it isn't my fault. Actually it is but………why don't we just forget this and get on with the story. I'm really sorry for not updating but am too lazy to tell you why not. Just a notice: if you might have observed, I've re-edited the whole story and have deleted my chatting lingo. The title is also changed but that isn't anything important, the story and plot are the same.

Well I'll quit my babbling. Enjoy!

Atwo toned Russian walked down the brick road, lost in thoughts. He felt literally tired, though he'll never admit it. It had been a long day. The Blade Breakers were supposed to give all details about the sudden missing of a certain neko-jin and since he had most of the information, it had been a pretty hard task to get those officers off him. Once that done, he took no time in vanishing from the dojo where two police vehicles and a news van was stationed.

Kai had once again resumed his own search for more than two hours but nothing. Now he was wandering quite aimlessly in a street he didn't know about; and personally he didn't care. Sighing, he leaned against a tree before sitting down. The moment he closed his eyes, a beep alerted him and he reached in his jacket to take out a cell. Bringing it to his ear, he answered, "Hiwatari here, make it quick"

"Well warm greetings to you to, Mr. Hiwatari"

"Tala?"

"No it's the Santa from the east, idiot"

"What do you want?"

"Stop being so snippy Kai. Will it kill you to say hello once?"

"Look I'm not in mood"

"I can figure that out myself"

"If there's nothing important you want to say then…" Kai started quite annoyed himself

"Oh how could a meek mouse like me hold such significance to talk to your highness" Tala snapped back, "You're sick

Kai"

"If that's all then bye" Kai was used to the red head's insults, it was nothing new for him

"Why did I even bother to tell you about Yakima?" with that Tala hung up

"What! Wait" but the line was already cut off. Cursing his former captain, Kai growled before redialing the number. Even if Tala was kidding about the aforementioned, Kai had to find out. The ring went on and on but no one picked it

"Darn you Tala" he muttered. He knew the red head was purposefully not answering the phone. It was after the 14th bell when there came a reply,

"You really pissed him off this time, Kai" a somewhat different voice answered

"Give him the phone, Bryan"

"He won't take it"

Kai sighed, "What did he want to tell me about?"

"I don't know but I heard that you've lost your kitten"

Kai blinked stupidly, "my what?" he had no idea why, but he suddenly felt a bit hot in the face

He heard the lilac head snigger while there was laughter at the other end before the answer was given, "Ray has run away, hasn't he?"

Kai grumbled under his breath before replying, "He hasn't run away. How did you know?"

"Well genius, it's all over BBA. Here talk to Tala"

There was a long pause but no sound was heard. Kai sighed again before saying, "hello"

"See, you're still in one piece you know" came the cocky reply

"What about Yakima?"

"Well, I don't know if you're aware," the voice turned serious, "but almost a month had passed since he had been released from jail."

"What!" all the tiredness suddenly vanished from Kai's face

"He had somehow managed to escape the court. I tried to search his location but I'm sure he's staying low nowadays. I even doubt if he's in Russia anymore"

Kai felt a shiver running down his spine, "you don't think he's behind this all, do you?"

There was a queer silence, "playing detective isn't on my list, Kai, but that's how everything makes sense. Why else would he struggle so hard to get out? As far as I know, he had invested a lot on his lawyers"

"What now?" Kai banged his head on the tree bark

"We'll reach the dojo in 2 hours or so, and then we'll…"

"You're in Japan?" Kai asked quite bewildered.

"Yeah Einstein, till then try to keep your mind together…" but this time Tala was interrupted again

"Drigger…" came the whisper

"Huh?"

But Kai didn't pay any heed; his attention was on the small twinkle under a bush a few feet away from him. Getting up, he came closer to make sure it was what he thought it was. Clearly, his conscience had been correct because he could easily make out a small shiny bit with a whiter tiger in the middle.

"It's Drigger; Ray's blade" Kai breathed. Extending his hand, he touched the metal piece. It glowed the moment contact was made.

"Then wherever you are, it must be where Ray had been before he was kidnapped"

"Do you think Ray's around?"

"If its Yakima we have in our hands, then I doubt it, Kai" came the sober voice, "I highly doubt it." And Kai couldn't agree less.

"Kai, where have you been?" crimson eyes looked up to see concerned blue eyes searching for an answer for such a long disappearance. "We've been so worried. You do realize it's been almost six hours since we last saw you?"

Kai didn't reply and entered through the door with Max behind him, "Did you find anything?"

"No and nor did the police. What about you?"

Kai's head was downcast as he made his way in the main room of the dojo where Tyson, Hilary and Kenny were sitting. Max gave him last long look before going to sit beside the navy head who was simply staring at the wooden floor beneath. The two brunettes sat in the corner as one of them typed quickly on the laptop, no doubt trying to help in finding the location of their kidnapped friend.

It was as if the room was filled with the presence of dead silence which weighed down on its occupants, making it harder to breathe. Now that he thought of it, Kai realized that it wasn't only him who was affected by the neko's absence; all of the Blade Breaker had been quiet as a mouse since they digested the news of their team mate's departure. And why shouldn't they be? Ray was the mother hen of the group and they, including Kai, were the young mindless chicks.

Now that he was gone, they were all lost. And why was he gone? Because of him; Kai knew he will never forgive himself for this incident. Because of him, his team was also suffering. What kind of a captain was he? He had placed a life of a comrade in harm's way on which he had been walking alone for so long. Hadn't he promised to himself before that he'll never let any one hurt around him? So why did he allow the neko to come this close when he knew the dangers?

Well, now it was clear that that promise was broken and the consequences of it were nothing to be merry about.

Kai slid down the wall and sat in his typical pose. Waiting for his mind to adjust, he announced after a while, "I've found Drigger"

That was all what needed to finish the silence in the chamber; four different voices perked up and inquiries were shot at him like bullets. Once answering them, everyone calmed down but the tension was at high rate.

"But what if Ray is there?" Hilary asked, "We should tell the police immediately and…"

"He's not there Hilary, Kai have searched that area" Tyson answered, his eyes still dim

"But how can he be so sure?"

"Wake up, Hilary" the dragon yielder exclaimed, "do you really think that who ever goons took Ray will be hanging around in the neighborhood?"

Hilary looked away and closed her eyes

"Don't shout at her Tyson, she's just concerned" Max said quietly

"Well, she's not the only one"

"Tyson…" Kai warned. This was no time to fight each other

The blue head sighed. "Sorry Hil, I didn't mean to…I'm…I'm sorry…I don't know what to do…"

Kai closed his eyes again and rested his head against the wooden wall. But the moment he relaxed, he remembered something, "Tala and Bryan are coming here in a while"

"What? Why?"

"That's none of your concern. But they are here to help"

That seemed the last straw for Tyson because a minute later, all the frustration he was holding for the previous days went astray. Jumping to his feet, he bellowed, "what's with you Kai? I know there's a connection between you and Ray's disappearance and don't deny it." Kai looked up to see his team mate a foot away, "first of all you won't let us on it and now you've called 'them' here to help? What's going on?"

"It's really none of your concern Tyson" Kai also stood up

"Oh sure, we're not Russians are we? Why should we bother? It's not like Ray has anything to do with us, is it?"

"Can't you just shut up for sometime?"

"Why don't you shut up?" Tyson countered

"No, both of you shut up!" both teens turned to see Max on his feet, his blonde hair shadowing his orbs but they could see his shoulders shaking. He looked up and they saw crystal tears shining in those pools of blue, "both of you just shut up! Do you think that fighting is going to help? Tyson, we all are worried about Ray, so you don't have let all that anger out on us. We're also frustrated. Ray is as much as our friend and team mate as yours. It's good that Tala and Bryan are coming. We need all the help we could get." He sniffed slightly and wiped the tears by the back of his hand,

"But he's also right Kai; you should tell us what's this all about because personally, I can't help feeling left out because it seems you're the only one who knows what to do." Max took a deep breath before continuing, "We know Ray means a lot to you than any of us" every eye in the room turned to Kai who was quite taken back, "but that does not mean you have to do this all by yourself. We're here with you and you're not alone. We won't give up and we will find Ray no matter what."

Kai looked away and nodded, "thanks guys"

Tyson stared hard at his feet before sliding down the wall. When he didn't respond, Max called out his name. He stayed silent a bit more before replying, "Max's right. Now to think of it, it's nice that those two are coming"

A second later, the door bell rang. Tyson stood up and went to answer it. Kenny turned off the laptop while Hilary also jumped to her feet. A minute later, the Japanese blader returned with two Russians following him, both carrying duffel bags on their shoulders.

As everyone greeted the guests, Kai turned to the window to see the sun setting, 'Please hold on a bit longer Ray, we're coming'

The metal door creaked shut as a blonde man exited the room. Once in the dim lit corridor, he made his way to the next room in which a black haired man was sitting on a chair; his legs were on the wooden desk as he talked in the receiver. He took his place on the sofa and gazed disgustingly at the trash littered all over the floor. His partner really had no sense of cleanliness. But the said man took no notice of the glare shot at him and continued his chat. Rolling his eyes, the blonde went to the window. Somehow sensing something queer, the scarred man hung up and turned to the person near the window.

"He's not answering anything, Oikawa"

"Do you really think he will when you're doing the gentleman act?"

He ignored the remark and went on, "he's a tough cookie to break"

Oikawa grunted, "just give him a one two in the shin and he'll talk nicely, Igor"

"What else do you think I did? I didn't sing him lullabies you know" he snapped back

"Yeah whatever"

"We'll let the boss handle him"

"Where the hell is he anyway? I thought you said he'll be here till now"

"You better watch that tongue of yours Mr. Oikawa" a voice came from the door way and they turned to see a tall thin man standing in the frame wearing a black rain coat and a bowler. He looked up and the other two shivered slightly when the new comer gave them a long stare with his two unmatched orbs; one was yellow while the second was blood red.

Both Igor and Oikawa straightened up as he took off his coat and threw it on the sofa, "hmm, the least you could have done was to clean this place up." He said after observing the room, "I'm sure you're well off to afford some room service." He turned and looked evilly at the two, "but you wouldn't want them to find out that there's a teenager locked in the side room, am I right?"

None of the answered and their boss went on, "now let's get down to business shall we gentlemen? Give me the details, if you please"

His sight sometimes became blurred then back to normal and then again blurred before coming normal. If anyone was to see this figure now, they would never believe it was the same Chinese neko-jin they adored or cheered at in the Tournaments. Ray didn't have the energy to breathe let alone cough.

It was the third day of his kidnapping although to him, it seemed like an eternity. Right now he just had a meeting with the leader of those two thugs. And he could easily state that it was nothing close to pleasant. He wasn't able to understand what they were saying nor did he give any heed to them. But still he was able to make out that they were going to make some kind of a call.

Ray looked up gradually as a thought came to his mind. He stared in the direction of the door for a long time before he realized that he had a plan.

'They're going to call Kai. Maybe, I'll get a chance to talk to him' his gaze dropped again but his mind was a lot clearer now. 'I might be able to tell him.' His eyelids closed and he rested his head back on the cold surface of the wall. 'This might be the only chance to save us all and I won't let it go to waste'

Well, there you go. Hope you liked it. So Tala and Bryan with a new person, all in one chapter; that's a lot, don't you think? Anyway, this story is really eating my head so I'll do my best to finish this freaky thing up. Please review and boost my confidence. I'll be ever so grateful.

R & R
Neena