Cats And Dogs Chapter 19: The Last Kiss, a beyblade fanfic

Chapter 19

"Yeah, I think I'm going to have to." Tori whispered, getting off the bed. She turned back to Kai, picking up his hands and squeezing them lightly in hers. "I'm sorry this happened." She apologized.

"This isn't your fault."

"Yeah but I'll bet you're annoyed." Tori said.

"Not annoyed…just…embarrassed I guess."

"Embarrassed? How come?" Tori asked quietly, sitting back down.

"I don't know…just that she always catches us at the wrong times." Kai answered carefully, his gaze practically glued to the ground.

Tori laughed a bit, placing her arms around his neck again, "You really do have a damn strong and stubborn pride don't you?" she asked.

"This isn't funny." Kai muttered coldly.

"It is, quite a bit." Tori smiled, "Just leave it Kai, I need to deal with my parents but I promise we'll be alone for the night some time soon."

"And you promise that?"

"Yeah, I can't go that long without spending a night alone with you so don't worry, I'll get rid of them sooner or later." Tori whispered, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Mistress…they're waiting downstairs, do you plan on opening for them?" Denzelle called from by the door where she leaned against the frame.

"Yeah, I don't have that much of a choice." Tori stood up and walked past the offending bit-beast to the front door. She opened the downstairs door for them and waited patiently by the door for them. "Hey Kai, best you go in your room and don't be found in mine." She advised from by the door.

Kai nodded quickly in agreement, walking into his room and shutting the door tightly behind him.

When a knock was heard on the front door, Tori opened it, smiling happily in greeting to her parents. "Hey mom." She smiled so happily, you couldn't even tell that she was a bit disappointed with their arrival as she was pulled into a tight hug by her mom.

"Hey sweetie, how've you been?" Tori's mom asked, moving away from her daughter as she took in the elegant form of her slender dieing daughter.

"I've been great, mom. Weren't you meant to be here sometime next week?"

Tori's tall mother looked down sadly at her daughter, glancing a bit at her husband who stood behind her. "Yes but…something came up so we decided to be here a little early." She suddenly smiled.

Tori laughed at that, "You could have warned me."

"We wanted to surprise you." Her dad smiled down at her, speaking in his deep voice.

From where Kai stood, peeking out of his bedroom, he could see where Tori got her stubbornness for happiness from since despite her parent's disappointment in not being able to be there at the time they had promised they still smiled like it didn't really matter. They were lucky, they seemed to have enough strength in them to be able to do that.

"You did a very good job then." Tori smiled, giving and getting a tight hug from her loving dad.

The two proud parents smiled happily at each other, proud of their daughter's acceptance of everything that was going on.

"So…where are you two staying?" Tori asked after a moment of silence and a bit of awkwardness on her behalf.

"Oh we'll be staying at a hotel about ten minutes away from here."

"I'm glad." Tori smiled.

"Glad that we're not living that far away or that we don't have to stay here with you?" Mr Komatsu asked, a smirk on his face.

"A bit of both." Tori said, cheekily, turning and leading the two into the living room.

"Is that anyway to treat your parents?" Mrs Komatsu asked, fake scolding in her tone of voice, placing her hands on her hips as she and her husband followed their daughter.

Tori smirked, turning back to her mother as she jumped onto the sofa, "Cut it out mom, scolding me didn't work five years ago and it won't work now." She told her.

"That's because five years ago we were already aware of what was happening to you." Mr Komatsu pointed out, sitting down next to his daughter.

"That long?" Kai whispered to himself, a bit of shock emitting through his voice.

"Yeah, so I guess you all eased up on me because of that."

"I guess we did." The auburn haired mother answered, laughing. "So, tell us, how have things been going around here?"

Tori smiled a nodded a bit in seeing how anxious her parents actually were, "They've been great, everyone on the team make great friends and they've been really great to me ever since I got here. I quit my job a couple of days ago though, I thought it was about time I gave up on that."

"Probably a good thing too, we can't have you getting stressed out." Tori's dad said wisely.

In the mean time, while a bit more of the conversation went on Kai made a quiet creep for the front door to leave. "Oh by the way, I want you to meet someone." Kai heard Tori say. Tori showed up beside him, hands behind her back at first as she innocently smiled at him. "Come on, Kai." She whispered, taking his hand and pulling him into the next room. She pulled him in front of her parents, the two adults in the room glancing at each other with confusion spread over their features. "This is my friend Kai, I met him when I got here and he's been great." She introduced, tried to at least, beneath the beginning glares from both her boyfriend and her dad.

Kai stopped glaring and turned to the adults that sat in front of him. He tried a smile, nodding a bit with nothing better to do than to just whisper a quiet, "Hi." Awkwardness showing, most of all through his voice as he said that.

---Later---

Tori closed the door behind her parents, saying she'd meet them again the next day. Kai in the mean time sat back on the sofa, exhaustion replacing the tensness on his features from before. He glared coldly at Tori when she walked back into the room, "That wasn't right." He told her.

"They would've met you eventually." Tori told him, resting her head against his arm as she always did.

"Yeah but a warning would've been nice."

"I know but it was a last minute decision and besides, I think they like you."

"Well yeah, I'd think so. I mean, they think I'm just a friend though if your dad knew the truth he may kill me."

"Good chance of that. But if it makes you feel any better, I'd make him kill me first." Tori smiled as she joked.

"Don't try that, he just might."

"Ah well you'd be worth it." Tori whispered lovingly, planting a quick kiss on Kai's lips.

"Just…do me a favor, look after yourself more than you look after me." Kai whispered quietly, pulling an arm around the skinny girl that sat beside him.

"I'd much rather look after you." Tori whispered back.

"Clearly but I'm going to be living, I want you to look after yourself till this is over."

"I have about a month left Kai; don't worry too much about it now."

Kai sighed and look down at her a bit, contemplating on whether to speak again. Seeing Tori staring off out onto the balcony from where she was beside him he spoke without much more thought, "I heard…you've known about it for the past five years."

"Yeah, just about that long." She sounded so casual as she said that, like life was nothing of much importance.

"You had so much time to do something about it." Kai pointed out.

"So what? If I took the surgery back then I could've died anyway, then I wouldn't have met you or the others." Tori whispered her explanation. Her facial expression saddened a bit, "Do you…count meeting me as a bad thing?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Of course not, that's a stupid question." Kai answered quickly. "Things are just hard to deal with right now, with you dieing soon and all."

"Yeah I know but you've got to remember that you've got great friends that want to help you too."

"I know that but it doesn't make it that much easier."

"We both know by now that life isn't easy but friends get us through the hard times. Just promise me that when I'm gone you'll at least give them the chance to try to help you."

Kai tightened his arm around her, pulling her closer, "Stop talking like that."

"Like what? It'll happen eventually and I want you to be safe after I'm gone."

"I'll be fine now stop talking about this."

Tori smiled a bit and went back to resting against Kai's chest, sometimes closing her eyes or staring out off the balcony. "That's not fair, whenever I told you that you hardly ever listened."

"But I did sometimes, that should count for something."

"I'm just too tired to argue." Tori whispered exhaustedly.

"Are you alright?" Kai asked.

"I'm fine. Like I said, don't worry." Tori smiled a bit, closing her eyes again to rest.

Kai sat back more, resting his head back while relaxing a bit. "I can't do that." He whispered though he knew that the girl couldn't hear him anymore, she had fallen asleep and couldn't hear another word that past his lips.

After a couple of minutes of sitting there he sat up slightly, gently moving the other teenager off him and resting her head on a pillow as he got up and left the room. Picking up his jacket from the spare room he stayed in he pulled it on and walked out of the apartment to go for a walk.

On hearing the door close Tori shot up quickly, looking around the living room urgently. On seeing no one around she sat back again before lying down again, tears gradually entering her eyes, "I'm sorry, Kai." She apologized quietly. Her glossy dark brown eyes were shielded when she closed her eyes and tears dripped from beneath the lids and slipped down her soft pale cheeks. In seconds she fell asleep again, nothing on her mind, leaving her peaceful to disappear into the dark abyss of her mind, the kind of darkness that only she held in her mind.

---That Evening---

Surprisingly Tori was still sleeping by 6:30pm which tended to worry Kai a lot now. He knew she was tired but she shouldn't have been sleeping for so long either. Thankfully things looked just about normal, she was still breathing which was always a good thing and she was peaceful and didn't seem to be in any pain at all which was only better.

The phone in the living room rang and Kai picked it up, "Hello?" he answered.

"Hey Kai."

"Mrs Komatsu."

"Oh just call me Maria. Listen, is Tori still in?"

"Yeah she is but she's sleeping at the moment, she has been for the past few hours so she should be waking up soon."

"Oh well her father and I are going out for dinner now, we wanted to invite her along but I'm sure she needs her rest. Could you just tell her to call us when she's up?"

"Sure."

"Thank you. Maybe I'm out of line in asking this Kai, but…are you alright? You didn't look too well today and you sound tired."

Kai gritted his teeth at that, scrunching his eyes shut for a moment, "I'm perfectly fine, Mrs Komatsu."

"Well, alright. Thanks for your help, bye, Kai."

"Bye." Kai hung up quickly. He looked at Tori, taking in the sight of her thin form that lay beneath the blanket he had put over her. He sat on the armchair opposite the girl, picking up one of the school books she had left on the coffee table a couple of days before. He looked through all the pages, raising an eyebrow at the book and asking himself why Tori even bothered going back to school, let alone doing the work the teachers gave out each day. He tossed the book back onto the table, shaking his head a bit, releasing a sigh while rubbing his temples as he felt a headache coming on.

"Kai…" Kai looked up quickly, a startled look on his face. Tori sat up a bit on her side, pouting a bit as she ran a hand through the ends of her hair. "Are you alright?" she asked. She looked at him with such innocence on her face, her tired and worried eyes sparkling with life already, a light pout on her face as she stared on at the troubled boy so worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Tori asked worriedly.

"Yeah, it's just a headache." Kai answered her.

Tori walked over and sat on Kai's lap, pulling her arms around him. "I really do hope you're ok, Kai. I don't want you to hurt so please talk to me when something's wrong." She whispered, ending it with a quick kiss on his cheek.

Kai turned his head away from her a bit, closing his eyes for a moment before turning back to her. "You should call your mom, she wanted to talk to you." He told her, picking her up and setting her down in his place before he left the room.

Tori sighed, picking up the phone from the coffee table and dialing her mom's mobile number.

---With Kai---

The Russian teenager sat on his bed in his room, carefully going over each of the thoughts that entered his mind. Too much had been going on around him, particularly the issue of Tori's death. He still needed to get through that and he didn't feel like he had enough strength in him to be able to handle that happening. How could anyone expect him to be able to handle that normally? He got close to very few people in his life but being so close to the one person who had such little time to live was an experience he had felt a long time before and wasn't ready to feel again.

"Kai…"

"Called your mom?" Kai asked her.

"Yeah, she just wanted to see how I was." Tori answered, remaining in the door way.

"Good."

"She was a bit concerned about you though."

Kai looked up at her quickly, worried eyes holding at the lock of Tori's.

"Don't worry, I didn't tell her anything." Tori reassured, smiling kindly at him. She always did that to him, whenever she wanted to reassure him that she didn't do something against what he wanted. Whenever he feared that she told someone about what goes on with him all she had to do was tell him she didn't and give an honest smile and he felt better about it.

"Thanks."

Tori walked over to him and sat beside him, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Kai said coldly. It sounded like something's never changed. Tori could try to help Kai for years but she could never change the way he reacted to things. He cared about her but it was just in his blood, in his character, to react so coldly in some situations and even if he had softened up, a part of him was always going to act this way because no one, not even the girl he cared about so much could change the way he was.

Tori lifted a hand up a bit, when he didn't protest she moved it closer to him and pushed back a strand of hair the got in Kai's face. "You look really tired." She whispered.

"Headaches can do that to a person." Kai muttered.

"If you weren't feeling well why didn't you rest?"

"It's just a headache."

"Yet a headache is still a good enough reason to get some rest."

Kai turned to her and leaned in a bit, a shy and gentle hand moving up to Tori's neck. "Tori, I'm fine." He persisted quietly.

Tori sat there, staring up at him, some worry still evident in her eyes. He was just so close and she was so worried about him, she cared about him so much now but with the thought in mind of what was still to happen her fear only grew. She pulled her arms around his neck and closed the small gap between the two by moving in closer and setting her lips on his. She trusted him, she cared about him and she wanted him to know that. The trust was probably the hardest part of it, the fact that she always checked on him made it seem to him that she didn't trust him but now she did and he knew it.

---Next Morning---

Kai sat up in bed, 4:00am read the clock on the nightstand. He sighed a bit and looked at the girl that lay beside him on her side, he smiled weakly and lay back down. He turned on his side and wrapped a strong arm around the girl's waist, a hand touching her stomach.

"Morning, Kai." Tori whispered sleepily.

"Morning."

"Slept well?" Tori asked, turning over.

"Yeah, fine. You?"

"Good."

"Think we can give the team the day off again?" Kai asked quietly.

"I don't think I could train them today, mom and dad will probably want me to go out."

"And I want to go out for a bit, clear my head but I could put it off in case you need me to train them."

Tori smiled at him, "No, there's no need. Just let them have the day off."

"That's possible? Who would've thought."

"It is possible you know…you should give it a try sometime." Tori whispered, running her fingers through Kai's hair as she spoke so softly.

"I don't have time for that."

"Well we have the day off why not give it a shot?"

"Why not? I have the rest of the day to go for a walk." Kai whispered, leaning over the girl.

Tori pulled her arms around Kai's neck, hands still roaming through Kai's soft hair. "And mom and dad can wait a couple of hours. They haven't been here for a while so maybe they could do some sight-seeing or…something."

"Yeah, I'm sure they could find something to do for a couple of hours." Kai whispered before closing what was left of the distance between them, keeping a closed distance for quite a while, a game of domination going on till both felt they needed to part for breath.

---With Denzelle And Dranzer---

From in her blade Denzelle groaned in annoyance, 'My goodness, are those two at it again?'

Dranzer laughed a bit at Denzelle's frustration, 'It appears so.'

'Now I hope they're tongues get stuck together luck that.'

'If they keep this up it just might happen.'

'Good! Maybe my Mistress' parents will see what's going on.'

'Just leave them to do…well whatever it is they want to do.'

'What choice do I have? It's not like I'm going to walk in on them…again.'

'Yes, I think your Mistress will be most irritated with you if you do that.'

'Most certainly and your Master would be even more embarrassed than he already is.'

'Which, quite surprisingly, is possible.' Dranzer laughed.

---With Kai And Tori---

Kai and Tori lay on their backs, both staring at the ceiling. "Is it just me or are we always interrupted somehow?"

"We're always being interrupted." Kai answered with a groan.

"Well the ten minutes where peaceful while they lasted."

"Yeah, can't breath now though." Kai laughed a bit, Tori joining in. He asked after a while, "You planning to go out today?"

"To be totally honest…I really don't even feel like getting out of bed but mom and dad will probably want me to go out with them somewhere."

"I'd love to come along and try to save you, but your dad could scare the hair off a cat."

Tori laughed, moving closer to Kai and pulling an arm round his waist. "Yeah, that's true." She agreed. "What about you? Any plans for the day?" she asked.

"Just want to go for a walk, clear my head a bit. Then maybe look for a new place."

"A new place?" Tori asked confusedly, sitting up a bit.

"Yeah, I was thinking a bit last night and I realized that even if I want my friendship with the others to work I want to live away from them, like I have been for the past few weeks. So when you're gone I'd need a place to stay." Kai explained quietly, eyes fixed on a certain spot on the ceiling.

"Well…unless you have a problem with sharing this place with Denzelle, then you could stay here."

"What?"

"Denzelle turns human upon my death and this place is rented out for ten years so she'll be staying here so if you want you could stay here with her."

Kai turned his head to look at her, looking on in thought, "I don't know…" he was hesitant, anyone could hear it in his voice.

"It's a good deal really. You could live here without paying rent and you won't be completely alone."

"I'm not sure, I need to see how I'm going to deal first."

"That sounds fair, just think about it before you start looking for a new place."

"Sure, thanks."

Tori smiled a bit, leaning over Kai just slightly. A hand slid just under his white t-shirt, Kai's muscles tensing beneath the touch of her skin against his. "Stop tensing up." She whispered in his ear. Her hand moved a little higher up his chest, feeling his heart beating furiously against his rib cage. "Kai…it's not that hard to tell when something's wrong with a person. And when you care about a person as much as I care about you, it's easier to notice it but harder to be able to watch it happening." Her voice was low; as though she were whispering a secret to him the whole time and nothing but caring words crossed her lips the whole time.

"And you know…I can't sit back and pretend that I'm alright with you dieing."

"You survived for so long without me, you got some happiness in your life, finally you've felt it. Now you'll manage without me after this too."

Kai tried a smile before trying to whisper back, "Maybe I'm only allowed a small amount of happiness in my life."

"You'll find even more happiness after me Kai, don't worry about that because good people always get the rewards they deserve in the end."

"How am I classified as good?"

Tori smiled, lying beside him again and resting her head on his shoulder. "You're one of the most amazing guys, I've ever met, Kai. I'll be the first to admit that at the beginning I could barely stand you and I didn't understand you but with the time I tried to understand you better, I don't regret any of it because in the end it was all worth it to know the man behind the mask."

"I wish…I could be as good as you make me sound."

"You're even better than I make you sound, trust me on that."

"You know I trust you and I don't think I would be here with you if I didn't."

"I'm glad I can be someone you trust, Kai. It's all I want."

"I know and I'm sorry."

"Don't be…you tried your hardest. You've been struggling for ages to try to trust someone and when it came down to it you tried your best and look how far you've made it."

"I guess."

"No more of those, 'I guess.' You've made it far Kai, don't forget that. You made it further than anyone had ever guessed and you did it by yourself. All I did was push you hard enough to realize that your time of doing it by yourself was up."

Kai sat up, bringing his knees up to his chest while wrapping his arms around them. He took a deep breath and glanced back at her. He watched her smile for a second, answering his silent question, he nodded and got out of bed and left the room.

---A Bit Later In The Day---

Kai walked absent minded through the streets, no real destination in mind. After that conversation in bed he had left the room, having a quick shower, an apple and leaving to go for a walk, get away long enough to clear his head for a while.

Things only got harder for him once he had left. His mind had wandered to the way he left the apartment. Tori had come after him just when he was leaving; giving him a tight hug and a kiss that made it feel like she had put everything into that one kiss, as if it were the last. That was about four hours before and since then he couldn't stop thinking about it, a little bit worried but taking his mind off it temporarily to deal with some other problems on his mind.

"Kai?" A voice asked inquisitively.

Kai heard the sound of his name being called, snapping out of his thoughts amazingly fast. He looked up hurriedly, in search for the owner of the voice. In front of him stood Maria Komatsu, her husband following close behind her. "Yeah."

"Have you seen or heard from Tori today? We called her at home and her mobile and she hasn't been answering." Mrs. Komatsu said, worry evident in her eyes and voice as she looked at him with hope, the same look in her brown eyes that Tori held when talking to him.

Kai opened his mouth to speak, slowly thinking in the mean time, being startled and distracted by the likeness there was between the two girls. "I saw her this morning…maybe she's resting; she usually sleeps past the phone ringing."

"But we went to the apartment; she didn't open for us either. She should have heard the door; we were there for about half an hour." Mr Komatsu said.

Kai began to worry although he tried his hardest to hide it. "…I have a spare key…I'll go to the apartment and see if she's ok and I'll call you when I find her." He said carefully. "Is that alright?" he asked after a moment of thought.

"Yes, Kai. Thank you, it means a lot." Mrs. Komatsu whispered happily.

Kai nodded and turned away from them, walking away. "Hey Kai, don't you need our number?" Mr Komatsu asked.

"No. Tori called you last night, your number is still on the phone and besides, I'm sure she's fine so she can give me the number." Kai answered, turning his head to the side as he spoke. When he didn't hear another word come from the two he ran down the streets back to the apartment, taking every short cut he could possibly find.

"He's a good kid." Mrs. Komatsu said, looking up at her husband.

"Yes, it looks like he took our place in looking after our little girl."

"I'm glad. I was so worried when we sent her out here by herself."

"So was I but…she seemed to have made it far." Mr Komatsu pulled an arm around his wife as he said that.

In the meantime Kai ran up the stairs to the apartment, worry etched on his features, thoughts in his head running faster than he was, which is most definitely saying something.

I picture your face
In the back of my eyes
A fire in the attic
A proof of the prize
Anomaly, anomaly, anomaly...
I'll crawl to your name
I'll bend to the earth
Nobody else could ever compare
Anomaly, anomaly.

Tripping over the last step, fidgeting with the keys in his hands as he reached for the apartment door. Kai's breath caught in his throat as he opened the front door. He almost collapsed back passed the door, tears stinging painfully in his eyes as he staggered forward, pushing the door closed behind him. Time stood still, the world fell apart piece by piece.

Tori lay on her back on the floor, eyes open wide, staring up at a point on the ceiling unconditionally. Her hands remained by her sides, the way her legs where positioned verified how she had fallen. Her mouth was stuck slightly open in a silent cry for help. Tear streaks where painted onto her cheeks, evidentially she'd been crying in her last moments.

All Kai could do was sit on the ground by her side, tears slipping from the boundaries of his eyes, down his cheeks and onto the carpeted floor beneath them. "She needed my help…" he whispered to himself, wiping away his tears. "And damn it, I wasn't here." He growled, punching the ground. Choking back on his tears he cleared his vision enough to put his arms under Tori, picking her up bridal style and carrying her to the bedroom. He gently set her on the bed, sitting in his old place, the side of the bed he used to lay on all the time.

Picking up her lifeless hand, he choked as he kept pulling all his tears and sobs back. She was still warm, he felt it, she hadn't been like this for too long but now all he could do was hold her hand, pretend it was alright. He shut his eyes tightly, hoping it was all a dream, that this wasn't truly happening to him, not now. Bending forward he felt more tears come into his eyes, sobs build up in his chest, making his heart seem heavy but beating so fast that life couldn't catch up to the boy. The slowly cooling hand in his was a constant reminder, she was gone now and he couldn't do anything about it. With fear there was nothing he could do tears ran like a stream from his eyes, sobs shaking his fragile body as he slowly let go of the girl's hand. Life's hope was lost with that.

Something traced gently against the palm of his shaking hand that had let go of the dead girl's hand and the quiet whispered word of, "Kai!" was heard in his ears and something gripped his hand with amazing strength.

Wait, there is a light
There is a fire
Illuminated attic
Fate, or something better
I could care less
Just stay with me a while
Wait, there is a light
There is a fire
Defragmenting the attic
Fate, or something better
I could care less
Just stay with me a while...

A/N: Evil cliffie! Sorry but I'm entitled to be evil once in a while. So…what did you all think? I'm keeping this authors note short today, it's been an emotional chapter to write and now it's got me crying but it's a chapter I'm quite proud of. Please review and tell me what you think!

Alright so the lyrics that are in bold and italics in this chapter are from the song 'Anna Molly' by Incubus. 'Anna Molly' is a pun, it sounds like 'Anomaly' which means different, glitch or abnormality. Here are the lyrics to the whole song.

A cloud hangs over
It's a city by the sea
I watch the ships pass
And wonder if she might be
Out there and sober
As a well for loneliness
Please do persist girl
It's time we met and made, a mess.

I picture your face
In the back of my eyes
A fire in the attic
A proof of prize
Anomaly, anomaly, anomaly...

A cloud hangs over
And mutes my happiness
A thousand ships
Couldn't sail me back from distress
Wish you were here
I'm a wounded satellite
I need you now put me back together
Make me right.

I picture your face
In the back of my eyes
A fire in the attic
A proof of the prize
Anomaly, anomaly, anomaly...

I'll crawl to your name
I'll bend to the earth
Nobody else could ever compare
Anomaly, anomaly...

Wait there is a light
There is a fire
Illuminated attic
Fate, or something better
I could care less
Just stay with me a while