Okay, I've finally written the next chapter! Thanks to darksaphire (didI spell that right?) for pointing out to me that Ray shouldn't have forgiven Kai that easily, and inspiring this chapter! Also, thanks to sunstarfor pointing out that there's no division when it starts a new time or place. That is now fixed!A big, humungus (I know I spelt that wrong!) thankyouto everyone who's reviewed this! You are all brilliant!

This chapter is centered around Kai. The next one should hopefully centere around Ray, but if anyonehas any suggestions to the contrary, I'll be glad to hear them.

"Kai!" Jonathon's deep bass voice burst into Kai's comfortable doze. Kai roused himself enough to throw his pillow in the general direction of the door and settled back down. "Kai, it's eleven o'clock, for heaven's sake!"

Yeah, and I've had about...five hours sleep tonight?

"Sallie's here!" Slowly, the fact penetrated Kai's tired brain. Yawning, he sat up and dragged a hand across his closed eyes.

"Coming!" he yelled thickly, his tongue refusing to work properly. He got out of bed and shrugged on a dirty pair of jeans and a scarlet T-shirt. He couldn't be bothered to get dressed yet, but obviously he couldn't go downstairs and have Sallie see him wearing only his boxers. He had his pride.

Ray, however, clearly didn't. Kai couldn't stop himself from snorting quietly at the sight of his foster brother snuggled up to their social worker, a blissful expression on his face. Sallie grinned at him.

"Oh yes, I forgot, Kai's too high and mighty for hugs!"

"Dead right." Kai said tonelessly, keeping his face perfectly straight. Rachael opened her mouth to scold him, but saw the knowing look on her husband's face and closed it again, smiling ruefully. Ray squirmed a little in his comfortable position and sent a reproachful glare towards Kai, who felt irritation make a quick rise inside him. "Not all of us still act like seven year-old's, Ray," he said sharply.

"No, some of us act like seventy year-old's!" Ray retorted, scowling playfully. Kai laughed softly, letting go of his anger in favour of throwing himself down on Sallie's other side and hugging her tightly for a swift moment. He had known Sallie for even longer than Ray, since he was eight and had accidentally let slip "our little secret" to his teacher. She was the one and only person, other than Ray of course, who he trusted completely. Rachael and Jonathon deserved a certain amount of respect for keeping him the longest of any foster parents so far, but he was still slightly wary.

Sallie gently elbowed Ray in the side. Kai sighed as the boy childishly refused to move. He reached over and tapped him on the back of his head; always enough to bring him back to his sense in a blink. Taken by surprise, both Ray's hands flew up to cover his head protectively, his eyes flashing anger and a certain amount of fear.

"Get off!" he hissed angrily, swatting at Kai, who smirked and stood up.

"The adults want to talk, idiot. Come on, let's go get breakfast." Ray stood, bowing his head respectfully to the adults and followed Kai into the kitchen.

Kai opened the cupboard and started rooting around for the cereal, while Ray peered doubtfully into the breadbin. Rachael's memory was legendary, and not for a good reason. "Yesterday, after school, what were you saying?" Kai said abruptly, the memory only just now entering his head.

"Whoa, you think slow!" Ray teased. Kai wondered if the other boy knew that he was rubbing his cheek. Just the thought of what he had done was enough to make his insides tighten in guilt. If he had taken things any further at all, made one more threatening motion, he would have lost him. Ray had been almost painfully stand-offish last night after he'd finally crawled in with his tail in-between his legs, and even as he had touched him just now, he had seen that flicker of uncertainty, of doubt, and it hurt like hell. He didn't want to lose Ray. He couldn't lose Ray. Not when he had so few people that he trusted. And what about Ray himself? If it hadn't been for Kai being there, god only knew what would have happened to him after he had awoken from his coma. Not to mention when he had been "persuaded" to give evidence in the trial - "Oy! Earth to Kai!" He blinked and flushed with embarrassment. Shit, he was getting mushy. Bad. Distraction needed.

"Yeah, what?"

"Yesterday, after school?" Ray reminded him impatiently. Kai nodded. "I asked you whether you'd heard about the two new L.S students." Kai frowned in thought. There had been a rumour circulating round about something like that...oh yes, a juicy one, too…

"Yeah, I heard about them. I take it you've met them?" Ray nodded.

"Yep, they were in Success Maker. What've you heard?" Tone it down! Kai's conscience screamed at him. Obediently, he omitted some of the details that he'd heard.

"Tyson, he's the older one, yeah?" A nod. "Well, he's got dyslexia and mild ADHD, so as you can guess, school's never really been fun for him, at least that's what's going around."

"Poor guy. What about Max?"

"Shy to the point of paranoia, and only talks to people he feels comfortable around. The rumour was that he was mute, but then they changed it." He snorted. Personally, he didn't have much faith in school rumours, especially as they were sensationalised as they were passed along. He just hoped like hell that one particular detail that he'd left out in his sketchy re-telling was just someone's twisted attempt to wind him up... "Anyway, changing the subject, you got any homework?" Ray scowled and nodded.

"English." He spat the word out as if it were poisonous. Kai gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Want a hand?" Ray shrugged.

"Okay." There it was again, the defensiveness that had never been there before.

God, his head ached…

"You haven't forgiven me, have you?" he asked quietly. He had to know, had to hear it outright, rather than spend any longer watching and hurting over what could just be in his imagination. Could be…

"Not…completely…" Ray mumbled, flushing and looking uncomfortably at the floor, distractedly fingering his bruised cheek. He'd told Rachael he'd walked into the doorframe, Kai had heard him.

…but wasn't. Both boys stood in silence for what felt like a long time. "You don't know…what it's like." Ray continued, clearly trying to placate Kai.

"Leave it." His voice came out colder than it was supposed to. "I understand. Now, do you want help with this or not?" Ray averted his gaze and mumbled an affirmative. A disgustingly weak part of Kai wanted to hug him tightly, apologise for the unforgivable thing that he had done, chase that unhappy, apprehensive look away from his face with a few of his spectacularly dirty jokes, get his little brother back again.

Instead, he squashed the urge down and followed his foster brother into the living room to help him with his English homework.

He looked up as Sallie peered round the door, an unusually serious expression on her round, freckled face.

"You boys want to fill me in?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"On what?" Kai asked, stalling for time.

"Come on, Kai, you know what." He couldn't meet her gaze. Yes, he thought savagely, I hit Ray, destroyed a two-year friendship with one fucking punch, you wanna make something of it, bitch? With a frustrated growl, he walked over to the window and stood there, glaring out at anything or anybody that was unlucky enough to come within his line of sight. Behind him, he heard Ray, with much stumbling and stammering and lapses into incomprehensible Chinese, tell Sallie what had happened yesterday afternoon after school. "Kai?"

"What?"

"Is this true?"

"Yes." He could practically hear Ray silently pleading him to say more, apologise, act contrite. He stayed silent, though it hurt to do it. Resentment boiled inside him. Ray was always the one who got all the attention, just because he was younger. What about him, huh? No-one had given a damn why he'd hit Ray in the first place. Why he'd run away afterwards, run as if someone was chasing him...

He didn't need all this. He didn't need Sallie poking her nose in everywhere. He didn't need Ray. Was it really his fault if the kid was so fucking touchy? Hell, his head felt like it was splitting...

"Yes." he repeated tiredly, rubbing at his temples. "I hit him. You happy now?"

"Kai..." Ignoring Ray's shaky whisper, Kai swung away from the window and headed for his room.

"I've got a headache." he said coldly as he passed Jonathon.

Flinging himself onto his bed, he shut his eyes and tried to ignore the nauseating thudding over his left eye.

Two futile hours later, he was drifting in an uncomfortable, painful doze when he heard the door open slowly.

"Kai?" Ray's voice, soft and uncertain, echoed slightly in the absolute silence. Kai didn't move. "Oh...you're asleep..." His voice was sad. Kai felt the bed go down as he sat on it. "At least I can get some of this off my chest..." He sighed quietly. "I'm...I'm really sorry, okay? I probably shouldn't have reacted like I did...but I couldn't...I couldn't take it. People you trust, family, they're not supposed to hurt you, right? That's what everyone always says, right?" He was crying now, sobbing gently in between words. "Then... why..." He laughed bitterly. "Guess I trust the wrong people, huh? No, that's not fair. I know you don't...that you can't handle some things, we all know what your temper's like.I must've done something wrong without realising it." He laughed again, a flat, brittle sound with no humour in it. "Story of my life."

God, this hurt. Lying there, listening to Ray trying to persuade himself that it was his fault somehow, that he had done something to make Kai break the most sacred of taboos between the two of them... He shouldn't be doing this, he should open his eyes now, right now, tell Ray that it wasn't his fault, being hurt was never his fault...

He heard the door click shut and cursed himself in a hundred different ways. He couldn't lose Ray. Not now. Not now... Gradually, he drifted off into a fitful, nightmare-filled sleep. As usual, only one face hovered above him, eyes alight with hunger as pain jolted through his entire body, making him cry and writhe against the sheets.

"Hey Kai, guess what?" Ray yelled cheerfully, bounding down the stairs like a hyperactive puppy.

"What?" Kai yawned, rubbing his bloodshot eyes bad-temperedly.

"I can't believe I forgot about it! Last Friday, my art teacher said that I could enter into this competition!"

"Competition?"

"Yeah, a big one!"

"Are you going to enter?" Kai asked indifferently. Ray nodded excitedly.

"You bet!" He shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. "I won't get very far, though."

"Says who?" Kai demanded aggressively. If there was one thing that he really couldn't take for very long, it was Ray putting himself down.

"Says me!" Ray retorted, a faint note of sulkiness in his voice. Kai stood up, thoroughly irritated.

"You listen to me, Ray." he said fiercely. "You have a talent that anyone with half a brain would do anything to get, and I can't stand hearing you put yourself down! You enter that damn competition, and I won't even act surprised when you win it!" Ray flushed and shuffled his feet in embarrassment, silenced.

"Thanks, Kai." he mumbled. Kai nodded a curt acknowledgement and gave him a quick, thin smile, before heading upstairs to get ready for school.

"Today, class, I'm going to see how good your improvisation skills are." Kai moved his head from where it was resting comfortably on his folded arms to get a better look at the teacher, his interest roused. The teacher was busily handing out lined paper, two sheets per person. Lazily, he raised a hand. "Yes, Kai?"

"How, sir?" Kai asked simply.

"I was just getting to that." Kai shrugged, dismissing the annoyed note in the teacher's voice. "You have the whole lesson to write anything you want. It can be anything, poetry, a story, an advert, a descriptive piece...it's all up to you. I'll collect them in and mark them at the end of the lesson. Get on with it, then!" He clapped his hands together sharply. With much grumbling, the class rummaged in their pencil cases and started scribbling.

Kai yawned widely and stared blankly at the sheet of paper in front of him. At the moment, all I could write about is how nice it would feel to go to sleep... A idea hit him. Except it isn't always, is it? That little thing in the back of your mind, telling you to be afraid... His eyes lighting up, he picked up his pen and wrote the date and a title.

Dark

Deep down inside everyone, there's always that little voice that screams out loud if the lights go. The fear of the dark. We've all experienced it. Ask yourself honestly; did you have a light on during the night when you were a child? The answer will be yes; I know that without asking you. Did you always used to check under the bed, or in the wardrobe, or stare as if transfixed at the closed curtains, just waiting for something to burst out? Once again, the answer will be yes.

Imaginary demons and monsters thrive in the dark. They gibber and howl at you until you end up screaming, huddling under the covers until someone rushes in and turns the light on.

"It's okay," they said, holding you tightly. "It's gone now." But is it? Of course not. It's just waiting for you. Waiting for the blinding light to disappear, to plunge the room back into darkness.

Thousands of years ago, there was no electric lights that could banish the demons with the flick of a switch, no adults to run in and comfort you. Because both children and adults alike felt the fear. Crowding round a small fire, watching warily for wild beasts, enemies, anyone or anything that might creep up and take them by surprise. They had a reason for fear, all those years ago. But we don't, do we, safe in our cocooned little world of electricity and high-tech gizmos? So why do we still fear what can be banished in an instant?

Because even bedrooms are not safe. When you wake up, drenched in sweat and shivering from some ghastly invention of your overworked mind, if you look around it's there, right in front of you, leering down at you with glee in the shadows. Even when the lights go on, it takes a while before you feel safe enough to close your eyes, a while before you're sure that the terrifying movie won't play itself across the backs of your eyelids, with you watching and shaking, helpless to stop it.

They say the best horror books, the most chilling books, are about normal, everyday things gone wrong. About doors that creak as they open, familiar faces horribly changed, greedy, hungry, grinning down at you like puppets. Ordinary people and places, twisted out of all proportion into something that deep down, you never stop fearing. And it all happens when the lights go out…

Are you afraid of the dark?

He leant back in his chair and considered what he had written. It would do, he supposed. Probably give the teacher a bit of a chill, which was always entertaining.

"Hey, Kai!" He turned at the loud whisper and smirked at the two red-heads staring at him. Julia and Salima, best friends and not above sharing a boyfriend.

He didn't fancy either of them, but they were both highly attractive, excellent kissers and not afraid to go that little bit further, so who was he to turn them down? Not like Ray, who was having serious trouble with Lee's little sister, Mariah. The word "obsessed" came to mind. He should probably sort that mess out at some point. All it would take was a few threats, some plain speaking, maybe a quick fight with Lee…

He sucked in a breath of air, and then bent his head to kiss Salima again, feeling her slender body press against his. His tongue pushed at her closed lips, demanding permission that she gave without hesitation. Her arms slid round his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer. It was lunchtime, and they had claimed a deserted corridor, with Julia watching out for teachers from the far end. Kai grinned inwardly at Salima's keenness and deepened the kiss. Slowly, he lifted up her white school blouse and slid his hand under it, moving his palm over her smooth, velvety skin in a circular motion. She moaned softly and relaxed into his arms, her eyes glassy with lust. Kai raised his head and whispered huskily into her ear.

"Take it off." Without breaking the kiss for more than a few seconds, Salima obediently stripped off her top and returned to his embrace eagerly.

"Careful, you two. Don't go so far that you can't look normal again really quickly. I can't give that much of an alarm." Julia warned, averting her gaze from the door to scold the two of them. Kai removed a hand from Salima's back long enough to flip her off, uncaring about school and teachers right now.

He did wonder about her. What kind of girl could coolly watch her best friend with her boyfriend and never show even the faintest hint of jealousy? At the moment, his theory about the two of them went something along the lines of: they're bi/gay and therefore either getting off on watching, or using me as a cover. Either of which was fine by him. He wasn't after a relationship, just a good time. Wondering idly how far he could go, he reached up and fingered Salima's bra strap, smirking when she twitched and shifted uneasily.

"No, Kai…" she whispered, looking up at nervously. He shrugged carelessly,

"Whatever.", and returned to kissing her. He didn't care. He had plenty of others. There was a girl in Year 11 who was always good for a bit of the hot and heavy stuff. A complete tart - she'd have to be to do it with a Year Eight - but as fit as hell nonetheless.

"Look out, twats! Teacher alert! Oh look, there's your little brother, Kai!" Salima dragged her top back on and pulled away, much to Kai's disgust. Damn it, stupid teachers… He raised his eyebrows at Ray, who mimed zipping his lips, giving him and the two girls a quizzical look.

"Why do you think it's cool to snog everything in a bra?" Ray asked bluntly, looking intently up at Kai as he walked beside him on their way home.

"I don't." Kai replied matter-of-factly. "I think it's entertaining to see how many girls want it." He smirked and licked his lips, an action that he knew would put Ray's hackles up.

"You're a slut, you know that?"

"What!" He rounded on the younger boy, eyes blazing. "Fuck you, Ray, I am not!"

"You get off with any and every girl that asks you, Kai!" Ray retorted, backing away very slowly. Purely because he was angry and wanted a reaction, Kai raised his fist. Ray's face drained of colour and he nearly tripped over his own feet. Kai lowered his fist, a sick feeling welling up inside him. I shouldn't have done that...

"Come on, Ray, you know I wouldn't really hit you, don't you? I promised, didn't I?" he asked, giving a forced laugh. Ray joined in, but his laugh was equally strained, if not more, and he couldn't meet Kai's gaze.

"Yeah, you promised." he replied quietly.

For the rest of the walk home, neither boy spoke to the other.

There we go! Somewhat pointless, but it made the points thatI wanted to make: thatKai's an absolute pussy-hound, and Ray still hasn't forgiven him. In case anybody's wondering, this will, eventually, turn out to be a properKai/Ray fic, with yaoi, but not yet. They're still too young, in my opinion.

Oh yeah, what did everyone think of Kai's English piece?I was quite pleased with myself when I wrote it, but now I'm not too sure...