PandaPjays: Heya everyone back for yet another exciting and riveting chapter!
Animeobsession: Short, but riveting. And why is it short you ask? You tell them or me?
PandaPjays: I nominate you
Animeobsession: Fine. I'm going on holiday for 4 weeks starting...tomorrow! Or today. Or yesterday depends on when you're reading it. Just know that I'm leaving on Friday.
PandaPjays: Which means sadly no updates while she's having fun holidaying without us all /sniff/
Animeobsession: I FOUND THE BIG AD!
Animeobsession: Don't worry; you can come in a suitcase.
PandaPjays: Yay! I hope you have one with a TV and a coffee machine
Animeobsession: We'll just buy you a load of coffee beforehand…and give you sleeping pills…Lots of them.
PandaPjays: Yay! Sleeping pills are fun! Anyways- back to actually talking about what we're meant to be talking about... what are we meant to be talking about?
Animeobsession: Um...how sorry we are for the shortness of the chapter and why it's so short? And that I found the Big Ad?
PandaPjays: ah right- the big ad is awesome... anyway are we going to reply to reviews or are we going to crash for the night/morning?
Animeobsession: Reviews. The last time I'll reply for 4 weeks /sob/
PandaPjays: Righteo then
Animeobsession: u first?
PandaPjays: Lainy- Tala didn't already scare you? I think he'd look cute as a maid
Animeobsession: DaaKu Hisaki -We had to cut it off there. If we didn't it wouldn't be a horror.
PandaPjays: dimonyo-anghel- I have no idea I'm just going to nod and smile /nods and smiles/
Animeobsession: Satan-Kitty12-We like Tala too. And Kai and Rei. And Kai and Rei together.
PandaPjays: SilverYoukai2496- Here's your update as requested
Animeobsession: Echo in the Dark- Socks...has more meaning than you think.
PandaPjays: Prozacfairy- Yes Rei and Kai are cute- and happy ending is debatable- don't actually know the ending yet
Animeobsession: Jamie Kay- Yes we are writing more.
PandaPjays: Lady-Nikki- The evil fire is -cool-... except hot and fire-like
Animeobsession: Knight Kitten- this is horror. Just that we haven't started it yet. We're luring you in and giving you a false sense of hope. But be aware that no one will read our story and come out...ok. And Lee/Kevin is cute. I love it.
PandaPjays: jayhay- and once again you haven't reviewed all my stories- tough break hey? I guess you're just going to have to read this chapter to find out what happens hey?
Animeobsession: SilkYuzu- They'll be getting plenty of time alone /winks/
PandaPjays: kaieshakai- Kai and Rei are cute- I can't wait for them to get together either I'm glad that you liked the wrestle- based on true-life experience... not mine though
Animeobsession: Dark Shadowess- Man, I've never made someone laugh until they've wet themselves. But I HAVE made people laugh till they're fallen off their chair/cried/fell on the ground and started rolling. I've also done all of those things.
PandaPjays: Shin Rigel- Here's more for you to read- I can so imagine Tala singing his own rendition of Whitney too! Anyways enjoy this chapter
Animeobsession: JuliansGIrl-Nice nice nice, to to to see see see you you you liked liked liked it it it.
PandaPjays: Peggy-chan the anime fan - /raises eyebrow/ weird in a good way right?
Animeobsession: Kumori-hime- YAY Seshy! The fluff will grow, but so will the pain...
PandaPjays: BloodyShadows - I'm glad that you liked the chapter /basks in school holidays/ there are times when I love Australian schools- not many times but some times
Animeobsession: TragedyK- I love insane people.
PandaPjays: tntiggris- lol I'm guessing that you like fluffy moments- plenty more to come.
Animeobsession: BloodyDevil - here's the next one for you!
Animeobsession: And this is a side note for kaieshakai, the wrestle actually happened to me… It was one summer's day during PE…Actually it was winter, but whatever.
PandaPjays: Flashback- cue swirl out
Animeobsession: We were doing gymnastics in PE. One of the boys was walking past just as I did a forward roll. Bowling him over. Which led to someone else falling down, and so on and so forth. We all ended up wrestling on the floor, with our PE teacher trying to get us to stop. And the bits inside the wrestling you see are actually fairly close to what was happening for us.
PandaPjays: Annnnd cue swirl out to present time
Animeobsession: /sighs and steals Pandas coffee/
PandaPjays: HEY! Coffee!
Animeobsession: Ok, On with the fic/sips coffee/
PandaPjays: Anyway- while I fight for my coffee's right for ingestion by me enjoy reading
Animeobsession: / wrestle with the coffee/
Rei jumped out of the bed he and Kai were sharing and promptly fell over. He cursed under his breath in Chinese as he struggled to untangle the sheet from his legs. Finally free, Rei raced out of the door of the bedroom, heading in the direction of Tyson's scream, Kai hot on his heels.
They weren't the only ones. The door across from them burst open only a few seconds after their door did, Tala falling out and landing on the carpet before scrambling to his feet. Bryan jogged out after him.
The four teens looked at each other, Kai and Rei noticing how flushed the two other teens were before another scream punctured the night.
Rei picked up speed, running past Tala and Bryan following the sound of the scream with his sensitive hearing. He didn't know how he knew but this scream wasn't from a nightmare or anything else innocent. This was a scream of terror and possibly pain.
Those thoughts made Rei's mind go into a whirlwind of panic. What had happened? Was Tyson all right?
He could hear other door opening behind them as the other teams poked their heads out to see what was happening.
When he finally reached Tyson's door he saw Max trying to open it but it was locked. "Max! Move!" Rei yelled, and kicked the door, hard.
He felt the flimsy lock snap under the force of the kick. The door slammed open to reveal an empty bed. Rei scanned the room quickly, looking for his friend but couldn't find any trace of him. Suddenly he remembered one of Tyson's annoying habits. When he wanted a midnight snack he'd rig the door of his room to lock itself when he went out so no one would suspect anything. Tyson was quite adept at picking his own lock. He had always said that it kept his intellect sharp.
"TYSON!" Rei called, running out of his room. He listened to the sound of his own voice reverberating around the house. Even with his hearing he couldn't locate the other just using sound. The house just bounced it right back.
After his voice stopped echoing there was a heavy silence, where everyone held his or her breath.
Then there was a pained wail from the kitchen.
Rei ran in the direction he thought he kitchen was in. The sound of Tyson's voice had to be coming from near the kitchen and it sounded the loudest there. He reached the set of stairs that opened out at the bottom into the kitchen and gasped when he saw a figure crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. "TYSON!"
Max, who had been only a few steps behind Rei, ran down the stairs to the young boy.
"Tyson! Tyson what happened?"
Tysons eyes darted about. "They're out to get me Max." He shivered.
"Who is, Tyson?"
"T-t-t-t-t-t-the s-s-so-so-SOCKS!"
Despite himself, Max smiled. "The socks, Tyson? The socks aren't out to get you. Now be serious. What happened? Your arm looks like it's broken. Are you hurt anywhere else?" The blonde crouched down beside Tyson. "Though I'm glad to see that you still have your sense of humour. It's a good sign."
"I'm not kidding! The socks are out for me! I was walking down the hall and I tripped on something and it was a sock and I called it 'stupid and smelly' and it reared up like a snake and leapt at me! And then all these other socks came from out of no where and all leapt at me so I ran and then I was at the stairs and they all jumped on me and I fell!" Tyson said, waving his arm madly.
Max sighed. "I think you bumped your head on your way down Tyson."
Tyson nodded. "I did! A lot! Stairs are really dangerous! But it's true Maxie! How many times have I fallen down stairs before? Hardly ever! And that was only because someone pushed me! I'm not that klutzy. The socks pushed me! They were acting like they were possessed!"
Max nodded slowly, a frown of concern on his face. "Right. Lucky we're going to the hospital to get that arm set."
"But Max! What about everyone else! What if the socks attack them too! Then what? What if the socks KILL someone!" Tyson waved his arms madly again, before letting out a loud 'Ouch!' as the broken arm cracked.
Max inwardly sighed. Just his luck that he had a slight crush on a mentally unstable sock-a-phobic. "It's ok. The socks won't kill anyone. Tala will make sure of that won't he?" He asked, pointedly looking at the redhead.
"Oh... Um... Yes. No sock shall hurt anyone on my watch."
Tyson gave him a skeptical look, but nodded. "I trust you. You wont let anyone get hurt. Guard them well Tala, for the socks are evil. They jump out from the shadows, like...like...like NINJAS! They're NINJA SOCKS! And they're dangerous!"
Kevin pulled a face. "What? Do they have Awesome Ninja Sock Techniques or something?"
Tyson's eyes widened. "You're in league with them! How would you know if you weren't?" He tried to point at Kevin accusingly but used his broken arm. An audible snap graced the rooms' occupant's ears. "OUCH!"
"Has anyone called an ambulance yet?" Rei asked suddenly.
"I don't think there's any phones here." someone replied.
"OH! I have a mobile!"
"Thanks Mariah."
Mariah ran back to her room, ignoring Tyson shouts to her to not go alone and returned with a hot pink mobile, which, Kai noted, had 'I Love Rei!' written on the back in Liquid Paper. He shuddered.
Tyson, seeing the Pink One return safely went back to accusing Kevin, something that everyone found amusing.
"Don't trust him! He's got Socketeer written all over him!"
"Tyson shut up and stop being uncouth. If you hadn't been such a klutz and fallen-"
"I was pushed!"
"-down the stairs we'd all still be in bed. The least you could do is be silent while we try to help you."
Tyson lowered his head and bit his lip, clutching at his arm. Max glared at the German noble.
"Oh very nice Robert. He just fell down the stairs for Christ's sake! If you feel that way about it then go back to bloody bed!"
"Hey! Just because your love-interest fell down the stairs doesn't mean that you have to take it out on Robert! If it wasn't Robert's catch-phrase I'd call you uncouth!" Johnny glared at Max from his position beside the German.
"Would you two please stop! I'm getting a headache! Everyone go to bed if you want to fight, because I wont have you fighting at 2am in the fucking morning!"
With a few grumbles of "Tell us if anything happens," several people went to bed.
"Great to see I'm loved." Tyson grumbled, to himself. "Hey... What did Johnny mean when he was talking about love-interests?"
Max blushed. He was hoping Tyson had missed that part of Johnny's rant. "Oh... Nothing."
Tyson shrugged. "Whatever. I'm more worried about those socks at the moment."
Max rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
"Thanks, we'll see you soon." Rei shut off the mobile and handed it back to Mariah. "Ok, the ambulance is on its way." He then turned to Mariah who was staring at the phone in her hands like it was something to be treasured as 'The phone that Rei spoke into'. "Why do you have that anyway? It's not like we get reception in the village anyway."
Mariah huffed. "We spend a lot of time outside the village now. We have an apartment in Hong Kong, remember?"
Rei scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops. I'd forgotten about that."
Mariah sniffed. "You might remember that sort of stuff if you actually came to stay with us every now and again." Rei opened his mouth to reply but Mariah held up her hand, stopping him. "I know you live in Japan, Rei. I just wish that you'd come for a holiday over to us every so often."
Kai growled slightly. It was obvious that Mariah just wanted Rei to stay with them so that he'd be near her.
"Stupid pink freak." Kai muttered under his breath. Luckily Mariah didn't hear. Rei, however, did. He chuckled slightly. Tala had heard it too. But he laughed out loud. Loudly. Which caused a door to open and a pillow to fly out and smack him in the back of the head.
"SHADDUP!" came the sleepy yell of Spencer. "SOME OF US WISH TO SLEEP! We're not going to get much chance as soon as Tala and Bryan get back to bed." He added as an afterthought before shutting the door again and collapsing on his bed.
Tala blinked. "It's his fault for choosing the bedroom next to ours."
And from behind one of the banisters, a sock peered out, only just enough for Rei to see it as he looked up the stairs to Tala, who was now complaining to Bry that his head hurt.
------
"Well that was a headache and a half." Kai said as He closed the door of Rei's and his shared bedroom. "What the hell was Tyson going on about with the sock thing?"
"I don't know." Rei said musingly. He knew that he had seen something earlier on. He was just too tired to care. "God I'm beat. Being woken up in the middle of the night really isn't my area."
Kai nodded solemnly, then let out a large yawn. He got into his own bed, waiting for Rei to join him, when he remembered that Rei had a separate bed.
Damn. What were the odds that we'd choose a room with TWO beds instead of just one. One would be much comfier.
Rei slid into his own bed and sighed softy, pulling his sheets up to his chin and curling into them. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to sleep but he had to give it a shot. The neko-jin shut his eyes and tried to slip into the land of unconsciousness.
5 minutes later and still Rei couldn't fall asleep. It was obvious that Kai couldn't too, seeing as how his breathing was still uneven.
"Kai?" Rei said gently.
"What's the matter Rei?"
"I can't get to sleep again. Can you do what you did before? That seemed to work. Please?"
Kai's eyes snapped open in shock. Rei actually wanted Kai in the same bed as him? He was sure that a parade was about to come around the corner, trombones blaring. Heck, if he weren't so damn tired he'd participate. But then he couldn't spend time with Rei. Decisions, Decisions.
Well, not much of a decision. Kai threw back his covers and walked over to Rei's bed, crawling in beside the neko-jin.
The phoenix and the tiger simply stared at each other for a moment. Then, slowly, Kai raised his hand to Reis bangs again. Reis eyelids immediately drooped and he started purring, leaning into the touch. Kai pulled Rei's elastic out of his hair (Rei had put his hair up after they got into the room.) and ran his hands gently through the longer part of his hair.
Rei snuggled into his pillow and shivered, both because of Kai's attention to his hair and because of the fact that it was snowing outside. Not really thinking, he instinctively moved closer to the warmest thing on the bed- otherwise known as Kai. Rei buried his head into Kai's chest, his purring increasing when he found the steady rhythm of the Russian's heartbeat. So Kai does have a heart after all, he thought absently as he drifted off to sleep.
Kai smiled at the neko-jin, burying his face in the raven hair and taking in a large breath. God. Thank you. You've given me a shot at heaven. And I wont let you down. He smiled into Reis hair. I don't know what happened to Tyson, Rei. But I do know that whatever it was, it won't be happening to you.
Meanwhile, in Ian and Spencer's shared room.
"Tala! Bryan! Shut the fuck up!"
The smaller of the two winced when he heard a loud thump against the wall that they shared with the other room. "That sounded painful."
"I don't really care." Spencer told him, holding a pillow over his ears and lying facedown on his bed. "How come they can't ravish each other quietly?
"Because this is Tala we're talking about."
"Good point."
Another yell came through the wall.
"Fuck dammit, would you SHUT UP!"
"You know, I think they're getting louder just to spite us."
There was another thump and they heard a yell from what sounded like the room on the other side of Tala and Bryans, occupied by Oliver, who had his own room.
------
When it became a more decent hour of the morning, Tala opened the door of his bed room and peered outside, checking both ways to make sure that the coast was clear of any irate Frenchmen or Russians. Seeing that there was no one there, Tala stepped outside of the room and shut the door behind him. Bryan was still fast asleep.
However, Tala had only walked 5 steps when he heard one of the most terrifying sounds in his life.
"Tala."
Tala turned slightly, eyes widening in terror as he spotted a green haired teen.
"Tu...es... MORT!"
Oliver leapt at the redhead in a wild rugby tackle. He connected with Tala and both of them fell to the ground, Tala's body softening Oliver's fall. Oliver wrapped his hands around Tala's neck and began to try to strangle the Russian.
"HELP! RAPE! RAPE!" Tala yelled, using up the last of his oxygen.
The door to Bryan and Tala room opened and a sleepy, half-dressed Bryan looked out at the two teens.
Seeing that Tala was in danger of dying, he moved to get Oliver off him, only to trip on the hall runner and seemingly tackle Oliver.
Oliver screeched and turned around to attack Bryan, grabbing fistfuls of lavender hair and releasing Tala's throat. The redhead gasped as his lungs filled with air again.
"What the hell was that for?" Tala asked when Bryan had the Frenchman safely pinned.
"For the two of you keeping me up all night!" Oliver said angrily, occasionally spitting out curses in French.
"Speaking of that." Tala groaned. "Do you two mind if you get off me? My ass is killing me."
Bryan noticed that he had pinned Oliver across Tala's body and quickly released the green haired boy. "Oh. Sorry."
"That was far too much information."
"We're just getting you ready for when you admit how you feel to Enrique. Then it'll be you that's keeping everyone else up." Tala said with a smirk.
Then his smirk turned into a childish grin and he rolled down the hall a little, stopping at Kai and Rei's door and pressing his ear to the wood. Bryan raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. "Tala what are you-?" Tala raised a hand to silence him and dragged himself to his feet. He quietly opened the door and looked in.
Even from where they stood, the two could easily see the happy grin on his face.
"Oh God." Bryan said, staring at Tala in horror. "They're not naked are they?"
Tala shut the door and giggled. "Why Bryan? Jealous? I've seen Kai naked before you know."
Oliver's eyes widened and he put his hands over his ears. "I don't want to know."
"Not jealous. I've seen him naked too you know."
Tala's jaw dropped. "WHAT!"
"Brief fling. Shorter than yours and Kai's though…"
Tala held up his hand. "Let's drop the subject ok?"
"Agreed."
Tala stretched before wincing. "Damn, Bry. You were rough last night."
Bryan shrugged. "Hn."
"Ok Bry, you can stop pulling a Kai on me."
"What were you smiling about Tala?"
Tala grinned. "Take a look for yourself."
Bryan stood up and walked over to Tala. "Do I really want to know? The things that make you smile aren't what makes normal people smile."
Tala grinned. "You make me smile, Bry."
"My point exactly."
Tala sighed and put his hand on the door handle, swing the door open enough to show Bryan what was inside the room.
Bryan poked his head in, followed by Oliver, who had been forgotten by the two Russians and they both gasped.
Kai and Rei were in one bed; Rei curled into Kais side with his head on Kais chest. Kai had one arm wrapped around Reis waist and the other was on his head, Rei's hair curled around Kais fingers.
Bryan grinned and withdrew his head. He looked at Tala with an eyebrow raised.
"You scare me with your matchmaking ability."
Tala nodded enthusiastically. "I scare myself with my brilliance sometimes."
"And that modesty is truly astounding."
"Uh-huh- HEY!" Tala scowled at his boyfriend. "That was uncalled for."
Oliver had snuck away while the two started arguing, or rather Tala started arguing and Bryan laughed.
It was still odd to hear the usually stoic Russian laugh. In fact, the change all the Russians had gone through was rather scary, but never mind that. All Oliver cared about at the moment was the love that had been in that room. After all, Oliver was French, and therefore, attracted to love.
Oliver sighed and walked down the stairs Tyson had fallen down earlier that day. He knew that he had to scrounge up some food to cook breakfast for everyone. Ok… there's me, Enrique, Robert, Johnny, Tala, Bryan, Ian, Spencer, Rei, Kai, Kenny, Miguel, Claude, Aaron, Mati, Mariah, Lee, Kevin, Gary, Michael, Emily, Eddy and Steve… how many people is that? The Frenchman tried to count on his fingers but failed. Lets just say that I'm going to be here a long time.
Meanwhile, Talas' yelling and Bryans laughing had woken Kai and Rei up. Well, it had woken Kai up, Rei was still half asleep, even more so because Kai was unknowingly giving him a head massage as he ran his fingers through the top of Reis hair.
Rei snuggled more into Kais chest and let out a loud yawn. Kai smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss the top of his head.
Then they both realized how they were laying and what they were doing.
"Holy shit! Sorry Kai! Aw, Jesus!" Rei hopped away from Kai, a deep blush on his face. Kai was blushing too, but not as much as Rei.
Rei blinked and swayed on his feet. "Remind me not to get up that fast again." He told Kai before falling over.
Kai's eyes widened before he went over to where Rei was and looked down on the neko-jin who was on the ground clutching his head. "Owwwww. Headspin."
Kai smiled at Rei, before frowning.
"What's the matter, Kai?" Rei asked as his headspins wore off and he noticed the unhappy look on the Russians face.
"Can you hear something? Outside the room?" Rei closed his eyes and listened.
"Yup. Someone is talking really angrily, but someone else is laughing, which means that Tala is probably angry again."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "Why's Tala arguing right outside our room?"
Rei shrugged. "How should I know?"
"Methinks we have a spy."
"Why the hell would he want to spy on us?"
"He's Tala. Does he need an explanation?"
"True."
Kai walked over to the door and, after a moments hesitation, pulled it open to find Tala, whose face was the same color as his hair (a difficult feat) glaring at Bryan, who was rolling around on the floor laughing.
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Do I even wanna know?"
Rei came up behind Kai and looked out at the Russian on the ground. "No. No you don't."
"Didn't think so."
Tala glowered at his boyfriend. "It –isn't- funny."
Bryan gasped for breath then looked confused. "What am I laughing about?"
Tala frowned. "Me… I think… I can't remember…"
Bryan burst out laughing again. "Why can't I stop laughing then?" He tried to close his mouth but instead let out a burst of chuckles. "HELP! I've got some weird sort of laughing disease!"
Rei giggled at the laughing Russian. Kai looked at him in mock horror.
"Oh crap! It's infectious!" Tala laughed at that, soon joining his boyfriend on the floor.
Rei was laughing too. Kai, however, wasn't. Which led to Rei poking him in his sides. Kai stiffened. Then tried to worm away from the poking fingers, while suppressing a chuckle.
Rei giggled and poked Kai harder. "Come on you know you want to laugh."
Kai tried to keep a straight face. "No. It's too early in the morning."
"What better time to laugh? Then no one can hear you and you get to keep your reputation as being a cold bastard."
"Except with you, Kitten."
"That reputation was shot as soon as you called me a kitten, mate."
Kai gave him a look. "Mate?"
"Oops. I guess my time in Australia is coming back to haunt me."
"You were in Australia?"
"Yup. Twice. Once while I was traveling. And at the last tournament, remember?"
Kai's eyes lit up slightly in recognition. "Oh yeah."
Rei dug his fingers into Kais sides again. "Now, in return for telling you that, you will laugh."
Kai smirked and stepped away from the neko-jin's fingers. "Uh… no."
Tala sat up. "If it came down to a fight between astronauts and cavemen- who do you think would win?"
Rei blinked and looked down at the redhead. "Wha-? Random?"
"Yes- but who do you think?" Tala blinked innocently.
"Uh… Do they have weapons?"
"No."
"Um... probably cavemen. They have to survive in the wilderness."
"Yes but astronauts have superior knowledge." Kai interjected.
"So? It's all about primal instinct!" Rei told him. "Cavemen would win hands down."
"But the astronauts would know how to disable them with their better technology."
"No weapons remember?"
"So? What did cavemen have going for them? Big brows and a noncommittal grunt? Without their big sticks they were nothing."
"Dude, you have a noncommittal grunt. It's called 'Hn' and you use it all the time." Rei said as he dashed around trying to get Kai's sides.
Bryan snorted. "Maybe he's devolved." Kai stopped running.
"Hey, now wait just a minute, I-" When Kai had stopped running, Rei had gotten to his sides.
There was a heavy silence. Kai started chuckling as Rei wiggled his fingers around in his sides.
Rei cackled. He had made Kai laugh! It was almost an earth-shattering event… almost. He didn't want the world to end just yet- they had to have breakfast after all.
------
In the kitchen's fireplace a small flame burned. It had selected its first victim. The first of many. They had been warned. If they did not listen it would have to make them listen. It would not be imprisoned again.
Please review and tell us what you think- As mentioned up there in our ramblings we won't be updating for a while but still review because we love to hear what you think!