Cats And Dogs Chapter 23: Trapped, a beyblade fanfic

Chapter 23

Tori walked back into the living room, sitting back on the sofa next to Ray, a headache growing after a while. The downstairs doorbell was heard and Tori sighed in frustration with that, leaning forward in her seat. Ray placed a hand on her back, "Don't worry, I'll get it." He got up quickly and left the room when he didn't hear her give him a reply or anything. He came back in about five minutes later with Peter and Maria following behind him.

All of them sat around in silence, most of them glancing at Tori who looked like she was in pain but wouldn't let anyone close enough to her to let them help. Although, the team exchanged a few words with each other and Peter explained to Maria what had happened while she'd been gone. Though finally, they heard the front door lock being disengaged and Tori shot up and ran to the door to greet Kai. She smiled happily towards him, relieved he was back and watched as Kai tried to smile back. She grabbed his hand gently and carefully tugged on it towards the living room, "Come on, everyone's worried."

Kai sighed and sat down on the sofa in the living room, looking up he was met with everyone's worrying eyes on him. "What?" he asked.

"Are you ok?" Maria asked.

Kai growled inwardly, obviously frustrated that everyone was still on about his panic attack. "I'm fine, it was nothing."

"A panic attack like that is serious." Ray told him.

"Yeah Kai, you got to be careful with your health." Maria reminded him, her usual motherly instinct obviously kicking in.

Tori moved closer to Kai, looking on symphatetically that the poor boy was being ganged on by all the others in the room. Though, they were all right and she just couldn't tell him that, feeling she'd only make things worse if she said it.

"I think Kai has it under control." Peter said suddenly. All eyes suddenly turned on him and he was quick to answer all their puzzled looks, "I'm just saying that I think he's handling it well and I think it's not that big of a risk."

Tori thought for only a moment before shaking her head slightly, "The fact that he can control his emotions, doesn't make this any less dangerous to him." She pointed out wisely.

"But since he can control them, he's got a better chance of holding it off long enough to have someone next to him to help him and he's got a better chance in general of not having another panic attack." Peter said.

"And what if it doesn't? Then Kai is stuck having these for as long as they last which may be a long time." Tori argued.

"Stop it!" Kai lashed out angrily. Clearly, the boy couldn't take the tension in the room any longer and took the silence from his sudden outburst and used it to explain something to them, "Panic attacks, severe or not, occur in different people at different times, I don't have a problem. This probably won't happen again so you don't need to go on about it; if you do you're only going to make things worse."

To both who were arguing what Kai said almost completely made sense to them and both where quick to shut up after he spoke. "I guess he kinda has a point guys." Tyson said quietly.

Kai sat back against the sofa, "Whatever happened to the time where you guys all ignored me and didn't care about what happened?"

"It disappeared once I showed up." Tori answered him a bit irritably.

"Noticed." Kai muttered.

"Well Kai, we should get going…we know that Tori's going out to dinner tonight so we'll leave." Ray started, "We'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, standing up, followed by the others.

"Sure…I guess." Kai answered quietly.

Tori walked the others to the door, talking to them outside the door while Kai was stuck alone in the living room with her worrying family. Thankfully by the time she got back to the living room the three still where sitting in silence which probably meant that they hadn't spoken to each other and Kai hadn't gotten stressed out or anything. "Kai, are you ok coming to dinner with us?" Tori asked carefully, sitting beside him on the sofa.

"I'm staying here." Kai told her coldly, not even looking at her.

"Some fresh air and a regular meal will do you good." Peter told Kai, sitting forward in his seat.

"Yeah, Kai and it'll be fun." Tori told him. She picked up his hand, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of him, or maybe even possibly an emotion, which she got none of both.

"Yeah and we really want you with us Kai. Tori probably won't have a good time unless you're there anyway." Peter pointed out clearly to him.

Kai opened his eyes and glanced at Tori, seeing her pouting and seeing how much she really wanted him to go with her to dinner. He didn't have enough in him to argue with any of them anymore and just nodded his head, silently cursing that he was pushed into going and silently hoping that the night would be over with quickly.

Tori smiled kindly at him, latching her arms around his neck as she pulled herself closer to him in a hug. "Let me talk to you in the next room." She whispered in his ear, her warm breath tickling lightly against Kai's skin.

The two teenagers got off the sofa and Tori pulled Kai to her bedroom, telling her parents before leaving that she was going to talk to Kai for a few minutes before they left. Once in the room Tori closed the door behind her while Kai sat down on the bed, a bit confused about why she wanted to talk exactly even though he didn't let it show on his features.

Tori stepped in front of him, lifting his chin so he'd look right up at her and wouldn't avoid her. "I want you to tell me if something goes wrong tonight, tomorrow and any other day." She said. She sounded angry in a way but…somehow it was mixed with fear at the same time. "If you feel unwell you have to tell me!"

"I'll be fine."

"I don't care what you say. This time, you're going to tell me everything that happens to you because if I lose you…I swear on my life…" She began to threaten but threatening hardly ever worked if she had tears streaming from her eyes.

Kai shook his head in disagreement, pulling his arms around her waist and stood up, pulling her against him into a gentle hug. "Stop talking like that. You're not losing me and you're not going to swear anything on your life."

"This is your life Kai, and you're not taking it seriously!"

"Neither are you about yours." Kai retorted.

"My time is almost up anyway. But you have your whole life ahead of you."

"That doesn't mean you should take your life lightly."

Tori pushed Kai off her and onto the bed as she turned and walked away from him. "I'm not taking my life lightly." She said coldly.

"You practically died a couple of days ago and you're running about like nothing has happened." Kai yelled at her.

"I'm just not about to dwell on all the bad things, I want to enjoy my last month and besides, mom and dad would not let me out of the house or let me run about if they didn't think I was fine."

"Your parents should be more careful. They'll lose their daughter faster if they just let her run about all the time." Kai was angry, he hated that Tori could just sit around and pretend that what was about to happen to her didn't matter and that she wasn't tied down, even slightly, with all the things that happened to her before. He also hated, that even after all she'd been through, she could still take things easy and not be so uptight, more than hate her for it, he was just jealous of her, that she had that much in her to resist turning cold and harsh, something he couldn't have done.

"I just don't like taking things so hard and they know that." Tori had turned to him, yelling back at him with some anger flashing in her crystal brown eyes.

"Well if you're going to take life so damn easily than maybe you shouldn't deal with life any longer, then you can just hurry up and die!"

Tori gaped at Kai's words, the muscles of her body and face tightening. She tightened her fist and punched Kai in the face so hard to the point where he jolted back. Tori flicked her hand twice in hopes of getting the feeling back in her hand as she watched Kai touch his cheek where she'd hit him. Kai's head had just felt like it had been caved in and already felt bruising starting up, a long with some red on his face, feeling terrible about what he'd said to her. "Thanks." He muttered, slowly looking up at her.

Tori relaxed, putting a hand out and carefully touching Kai's cheek. "No problem. And anyway, I couldn't have you being so crazy around my parents." She told him, smiling.

Kai nodded in agreement and took the hand that Tori had against his cheek, "We should get going." He told her, she nodded and she followed him out the bedroom door.

Peter and Maria had been talking by the front door and both looked at the couple when they heard them walking down the corridor. "Hey what happened to you?" Peter asked Kai, catching sight of the slightly bruised cheek.

"I punched him." Tori answered casually as she opened the door.

Tori's parents both looked on shocked at their daughter, not believing they'd heard her say that and not believing she'd actually done it. "I deserved it." Kai told them, following Tori out and down the stairs.

Peter and Maria looked at each other inquisitively, confused beyond thought but just shrugging after a moment before following the young couple down the stairs.

---At Dinner---

Kai sat back quietly in his seat. All he did was sit there for most of the time until the food came, just listening intently and commenting occasionally with what the other three at the table said. It had taken everyone at least half an hour to convince him to get something to eat. In the end he just got a burger and fries, then for about fifteen minutes after he was cursing himself for agreeing to eat something and hoping for so long that he wouldn't have another rough night because of it.

---At Dinner---

Then again, he realized that eating didn't take as much out of him as he thought it would, most probably because he'd eaten that day and his body was getting used to some food so it made things a bit easier on him. After the plates had been cleared and Kai sat back again all eyes turned to him. "How are you feeling, Kai?" Mari asked from across the table.

"Fine."

Tori smiled and placed a quick hand on Kai's forearm, "You want dessert, Kai?" she asked happily.

"No, thanks." Kai's words where always plain and simple, he didn't give longer answers when it came to questions like those, they were just ones he thought weren't worth more than a plain answer, with no longer answer to give anyway.

---Later---

The four people sat casually on the stone wall of the beach, the wall that Tori and Kai practically always sat on when there. Tori was resting her head against Kai's shoulder, staring out at the waves like the other three when she'd fallen asleep against Kai. Noticing that she was long off in sleep Kai pulled an arm around her waist so she wouldn't fall or anything. "She's asleep?" Maria asked him after a while.

"Yeah." Kai smiled down at Tori's sleeping form, probably because seeing her relaxed was just a well-deserved reward.

"She worries about you a lot, you know that don't you?" Maria whispered quietly.

"I know." Kai nodded.

"You're only making it harder on yourself if you don't tell her what's wrong." Peter told him. "You should let her help, even if you think you'll be alone later."

"I'm fine doing it by myself."

"I don't think…you would have fallen so hard for her if you didn't need her help at all." Maria said carefully.

Kai turned his head to look at them, "Why am I of any concern to you?"

"Our daughter is worried about you and your well-being and I see that there are some reasons to worry. I may not know you well enough but being here and watching you like this gives us both the responsibility of looking after you since no one else obviously is."

"I don't need to be looked after."

Maria sighed and moved closer to Kai, but Kai turned his head away from her on instinct. "You don't realize how bad that panic attack was. Panic attacks like those just don't occur in a vacuum."

"I've been having them ever since I was a kid…I can handle them."

"None have ever been as bad as this one though, right?" Peter asked suddenly.

"Right." Suddenly Kai sounded as though he were ashamed of that fact. Like he didn't want to admit to himself that things where only getting worse the more he stressed himself out with things. That nightmare he had had…it had never seemed so horrible before. It's just that this time, it felt even more real than nightmares usually did to him.

Then the three heard a whispered singing voice and all turned to the still sleeping girl that lay beside Kai.

Atsui kimochi wa
C'est la vie watashi ga watashi de iru kagiri
C'est la vie anata wo aishitsuzuketai
C'est la vie watashi ga watashi de aru riyuu
C'est la vie anata ga anata de aru riyuu

Peter smiled, "Now I'll bet anything that she's singing to you."

Kai blushed, trying so hard to contain it when he felt the head in his cheeks, biting down a bit on his lip.

Maria laughed at him now, "Nice to see you turn red for once, Kai."

"Yeah." Peter agreed.

The two adults glanced at each other, still smiling towards each other, both thinking that Kai had probably had enough for one night. "Come on Kai, let's go home before you fall asleep here too." Maria joked, waiting for Peter to jump off the wall and let him help her off.

Kai sighed and pulled the still sleeping Tori into his arms and jumped off the wall and onto the sand. He winced slightly, feeling his side muscles being stretched but the pain passed after only a second of standing on the spot. "You want me to carry her?" Peter asked him when they just started walking.

Kai looked down at Tori and shifted her slightly in his arms before shaking his head, "Its fine." He replied.

They all walked back to the apartment in silence, Kai in deep thought while Peter and Maria walked holding hands, occasionally speaking to each other. Kai was first up the stairs to the apartment but managed to open the door anyway. He walked to the bedroom, not caring if Maria and Peter hadn't caught up with him. He gentle set Tori on the bed, pulling the blankets over her and watched her turn comfortably on her side.

The parents of the sleeping girl walked into the room and Kai stood by the door, watching Maria sit down beside Tori to check on her while Peter walked straight up to him. "Maria and I will be leaving for the hotel in a few minutes. Go get some sleep, you've had a long day."

"Yeah, in a few minutes."

"Sure."

"Peter…come here." Maria called, almost fearfully. Peter walked quickly towards the bed, looking down at what his wife was holding. She was pulling a bit of blooded cloth away from Tori's skin. "Blood transfer." She whispered.

"From?" Peter asked. It finally clicked and he turned back to where Kai was but now…the teenager wasn't there. "Kai…" he whispered sighing.

---Fifteen Minutes Later---

Maria knocked lightly on the bathroom door, the room Kai was currently in and had been for the past fifteen minutes. "Hey Kai, Peter and I are going back to the hotel. We'll see you tomorrow." She called to the boy inside but waited there for a minute to see if he'd reply.

Kai opened the bathroom door, "Sure." He told her.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked carefully, taking in his form for anything.

"Fine." Kai answered simply, crossing his arms and tightening his grip on the sides of his shirt.

Maria smiled at him and wrapped her arms around him carefully, "Ok, take care of yourself." She let go of him and walked down the hall, "Good night." She waved before she disappeared through the door and the sound of the door being pulled shut was heard.

Kai took a deep breath and walked to Tori's room, he saw Tori there trying to sit up in bed. "Go back to sleep." Kai told her.

"I saw the blood on me…and it wasn't my blood." Tori told him.

Kai stepped close to her, standing just above her by the bed. It looked like he had some anger in his eyes, maybe a bit of coldness but after staring down at her and seeing some fear in Tori's eyes, the anger and coldness disappeared from his eyes and features. He lifted the hem of his white t-shirt just slightly so Tori could so the bandage of the cut on his side. He watched her look on at the cut with fear, tears welling up in them but at least feeling relieved that he had been sure to clean and bandage it, "Told you I'd take care of it." He whispered as he lowered his shirt again.

"I guess." Tori whispered to herself, lying down again. Kai lay down beside her, just lying on his back and staring at the ceiling as he almost always did. Tori moved herself closer to him and pulled an arm across his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. "If something happens, wake me." She told him, closing her eyes.

"Yeah."

"Good night."

"Night."

---Next Morning---

Tori opened her eyes just slightly, turning onto her back and wiping the sleepiness out of her eyes. She turned back on her side when she noticed Kai had been sitting up, resting back against the headboard. "Kai…"

"Hm?" Kai turned his head to look at her.

Tori tilted her head a bit to the side in some thought, a pout on her face as there always was when she was worried about him, "Are you okay?

Kai smiled just a bit for her in reassurance. "I'm fine." He answered. "Slept well?" He whispered, lying back down on his side.

Tori smiled and nodded in reply. "You want to come with me to the airport?"

"No, I'll just leave you three alone for once. You've helped yourself in leaving me alone with them." Kai replied with a smile on his face, shyly wrapping an arm around the thin girl's waist.

Tori smiled, pushing herself closer to him and kissing his neck softly. "It wasn't all that bad." She told him.

"Learn to only speak for yourself." Closing his eyes when feeling Tori's lips against his neck again.

Tori pulled away just slightly, "Was it that bad?" she asked him.

"Not bad, it's just that I don't like people on my case all the time." Kai replied. "And people worrying about me all the time only makes me feel worse."

Tori leaned in again, placing kisses on his lips and neck in between talking, "People worrying about you shows you that they do care about you."

Kai couldn't help but gasp when Tori moved from kissing his jaw line down his neck again. "Being cared for has its limits." He whispered.

"I suppose." Tori pulled away, licking her lips before sitting up completely. "I'm going to go change." She kissed him on the cheek quickly and left the room.

Kai groaned and turned onto his stomach, "Exhausted." He muttered, closing his eyes again.

'Are you alright, Master?' Dranzer asked worriedly.

'I'm fine, just tired again, that's all it is.'

'Are you positive that's all it is?'

'Yes.'

'Get some sleep then, Master. Mistress Tori will be going out soon so you can sleep peacefully and you won't have her worrying around you which will be easier.' Dranzer tried his best at finding the best solution for his Master but considering that his Master almost always disagreed with what he said it always made it harder on him.

All day staring at the ceiling
Making friends with shadows on my wall

All night hearing voices telling me
That I should get some sleep
Because tomorrow might be good for something

Hold on
Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown
And I don't know why.

'I'll try to a little later.'

'You seem upset though Master, what's the matter?'

'It's nothing.'

Dranzer sighed, obviously upset and annoyed that his Master was blocking him out too. 'There is something though. A struggle?'

'A struggle trying to keep things together.' Kai told him.

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell
I know right now you can't tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see
A different side of me
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired
I know right now you don't care
But soon enough you're gonna think of me
And how I used to be...me

I'm talking to myself in public
Dodging glances on the train
And I know, I know they've all been talking about me
I can hear them whisper
And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me
Out of all the hours thinking
Somehow I've lost my mind.

'You know that it'll be okay sooner or later and things can only get easier.' Dranzer tried his best to say something…comforting or at least, something that Kai would understand as comforting. 'I've seen that the girl makes you happy, that's why I don't want to lose her either but we'll all get through it, you don't need to be told that again.'

'I'm not taking it hard about what's too happen, it's just that I'm having trouble with coping with some things already and I don't know what.'

'Then speak to Tori about it…she might be able to help you with it.'

'I'd only be burdening her and she really doesn't need it right now.'

'Would you rather she died thinking that you were fine?'

'She knows I'm not completely fine so she won't die thinking that.'

I've been talking in my sleep
Pretty soon they'll come to get me
Yeah, they're taking me away.

"Kai?" Tori called out to him, placing a large pressure on Kai's shoulder.

Kai's eyes shot open and he glanced around from his position, he was still lying on his stomach and he'd been resting his head on his arms which where on the pillow. His vision was still blurred at first but when he turned on his back and saw Tori sitting by his side his vision slowly cleared up.

Yeah, how I used to be
How I used to be
Well, I'm just a little unwell
How I used to be
How I used to be
I'm just a little unwell.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong with you?" She asked, eyes widening slightly at the sight of him.

Kai sat up, leaning back on his elbows for support, trying a smile at the same time. "Nothing, I'm fine."

"Eh? You don't look it."

"I've just got a headache, that's all it is." Kai pushed himself forward, lifting Tori's chin and gently setting his lips on hers.

Tori was about to go on before she pulled away slightly, "And you assume kissing me will make things all better?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"When have I ever been stupid enough to think that?"

"Never." Tori answered. Tori leaned in closely, sighing deeply as they continued to kiss each other with passion and immediately opened her mouth when she felt the bluenette's tongue grace over her lower lip. She moaned softly as she felt the other begin to suck on her lip, nipping at it tenderly. They both slowly pulled away, their faces flushed and their breathing faster than before. "Kai…" she stopped for only a moment and then kissed him again. Soon, Tori had pushed Kai back down onto his back and while the two went on with making out, Kai had undone the first two buttons of Tori's black shirt, then running his cold hands along her sides and back.

In the meantime, Tori ran her own hands along Kai's sides, always being careful not to touch the wound on Kai's side, though occasionally tracing her hand over it when she wanted Kai closer to her. After a while of being with each other on the bed, they both heard the door bell ringing and both parted, sighing heavily in between their heavy breathing. "If it's that damn bit-beast I'm going to kill her before she even becomes fully human." Tori whispered, though too tired already to sound angry.

"I'll help." Kai whispered, resting his head back into the pillow.

Tori got off Kai and ran to the mirror, straightening her messed up her before turning to Kai, "I'll go see who it is." She left quickly, Kai hearing her run bare-footed down the hall. Tori opened the door, smiling as she saw her two parents standing there. She looked down, seeing both her parents' hand luggage with them, "So I take it you two are leaving so soon?" she asked, Kai standing up beside her.

"You're so smart." Maria told her sarcastically.

"Nooooo. I'm just observant." Tori corrected, smiling.

Peter turned his head to the side, as though trying to avoid the sight of her, "If you were so observant you'd probably realized your shirt is undone."

Tori looked down at herself quickly, noticing that her father had been right. "Oh right." She said, almost stupidly as she buttoned up her already low cut shirt.

"Looks like someone started off the morning well." Maria smiled towards Kai, referring to what probably happened with Tori.

"Stop joking like that." Peter whispered angrily in her ear.

Tori smiled, "Nothing happened, it was just me being careless."

"That shouldn't be too hard to believe, Tori's known for being careless." Kai called as he entered the kitchen.

Maria turned her head to her husband, "He is right." She told him.

"What time is your flight again?" Tori asked, implying she wanted to get rid of them quickly.

Maria smiled at her, "We leave in three and a half hours so you have all that lovely time to stay with us." She wrapped her arm over her daughter's shoulders.

"Lucky me." Tori muttered sarcastically yet jokingly all the same, the smile on her face showing that.

"We may have that much time till the flight leaves but we need to get to the airport soon so we better get going." Peter pointed out to them.

"Yeah."

"So I take it that since Kai isn't dressed, he isn't coming with us to the airport?" Maria asked, loud enough for Kai to hear her from where he was in the kitchen.

Kai stepped out of the kitchen, opening his mouth to talk to her but pausing for a second before actually saying something. "I'm staying in today and I'll leave you three alone." He told her.

Maria looked a bit disappointed at first but smiled a second later, "That's alright."

Peter put his things down by the door and walked over to Kai, on instinct Kai slowly stepping back a step. Peter put a hand on Kai's shoulder, his eyes holding some sort of warm feeling to them along with some…honesty? "Take care of yourself Kai." He gave Kai's shoulder another supportive squeeze and turned back to the door and picked up his belongings. "I'll be waiting downstairs." He told Tori and his wife before disappearing back down the stairs.

Maria turned to Kai herself no and wrapped her arms around him carefully, still not even sure where it was he had been hurt. "You know where to find us if you need anything and if you're ever in a tournament, see where we are and maybe we could drop by." She smiled happily at seeing him smile and shift in her arms. "Take care of yourself and…I hope you give your friends a chance." She pulled away but kept her hands on his shoulders, the crystal brown eyes surfacing just like Tori's usual caring and worried ones. "Bye, Kai." She whispered, smiling and turning away and walking out the door.

When Kai watched on it was like he was watching the parents disappear and when Tori moved closer to him it was as though time slowed down. She wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her hands on his chest, smiling up at him sweetly. "I'll be home later, if you're not feeling well than take a painkiller and get some rest and call me in case you need anything, alright?"

Kai nodded numbly, just standing there for a moment longer after Tori gave him a quick tender kiss on the lips and left. He rested back against the wall for a second, taking a deep breath. He pushed himself off against the wall and went to Tori's room, lying down in bed and pulling the thin blankets over himself. He lay there for a few minutes, tiredness constantly dragging at him but his stubbornness wouldn't allow him to fall asleep again. So instead of making it easier to fall asleep, he decided to get out of bed and go make himself something for breakfast. He'd heard his stomach grumbling while he'd been lying down and it may have sounded stupid but he was actually happy to be hearing that because at least it showed that things were slowly getting back to normal.

He went to the kitchen and picked up an apple like he did almost every morning. All he did was lean on his left forearm against the counter, the other hand holding the apple to his mouth as he ate slowly, the teenage boy being kept in deep thought the whole time. After a few minutes of being in the same place he shifted, turned and left back to Tori's bedroom. He lay back down in bed and loosely dragged the grabbed the covers back up over him. He leaned over the side of the bed, reaching under the bed in search for something. He finally grabbed something cold and pulled out a laptop and wire out.

Tori had always left her laptop under there but she'd never really used it that much since ever since she arrived in Japan she'd always been busy with things like work at the café, training the team, looking after Kai, school, homework, going to the doctor, amongst other things that she was meant to do.

He plugged the laptop in and patiently waited for it to start up, in the meantime placing it onto his pillow and he turned onto his stomach. He opened up a search engine and hesitated at first before typing something in, 'Anxiety attacks' being typed in with shaky hands and then the results slowly showed up. The closest thing he could find was, 'Types of Anxiety Disorders' and that's what he chose to read. As the page loaded his heart beat quickened slightly, being torn between wanting to read what was on the page or sparring himself a panic attack by closing the page and not reading it.

By the time the page was loaded completely, Kai had decided that he was going to read what was on there, considering he could always close the page if it got too much for him.

Types

Generalized anxiety disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder is a common chronic disorder that affects twice as many women as men and can lead to considerable impairment. As the name implies, generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by long-lasting anxiety that is not focused on any particular object or situation. In other words it is unspecific or free-floating. People with this disorder feel afraid of something but are unable to articulate the specific fear. They fret constantly and have a hard time controlling their worries. Because of persistent muscle tension and autonomic fear reactions, they may develop headaches, heart palpitations, dizziness, and insomnia. These physical complaints, combined with the intense, long-term anxiety, make it difficult to cope with normal daily activities.

Already, Kai could tell things werent going to get any easier if he kept on reading. So far everythign that had been already thrown in front of him had made sense and was very alike to the way he was which didn't make him feel that much better, just made that usual sense of fear that had been written about grow inside his heart. He shook it off as best he could and just scrolled down and kept on reading.

Panic disorder

In panic disorder, a person suffers brief attacks of intense terror and apprehension that cause trembling and shaking, dizziness, and difficulty breathing. One who is often plagued by sudden bouts of intense anxiety might be said to be afflicted by this disorder. The American Psychiatric Association defines a panic attack as fear or discomfort that arises abruptly and peaks in 10 minutes or less.

Although panic attacks sometimes seem to occur out of nowhere, they generally happen after frightening experiences, prolonged stress, or even exercise. Many people who have panic attacks, particularly their first one, think they are having a heart attack and often end up at the doctor or emergency department (or emergency room). Even if the tests all come back normal the person will still worry, with the physical manifestations of anxiety only reinforcing their fear that something is wrong with their body. Hightened awareness (hypervigilance) of any change in the normal function of the human body, will be noticed and interpreted as a possible life threatening illness by an individual suffering from panic attacks.

Normal changes in heartbeat, such as when climbing a flight of stairs will be noticed by a panic sufferer and lead them to think something is wrong with their heart or they are about to have another panic attack. Some begin to worry excessively and even quit jobs or refuse to leave home to avoid future attacks. Panic disorder can be diagnosed when several apparently spontaneous attacks lead to a persistent concern about future attacks.

Kai minimized the window instantly after finishing that bit of writing, his heart beating so fast that he could suddenly feel his head throbbing painfully, stinging hot tears making there way into his eyes, not knowing what bit of what he'd read had really scared him the most. He pushed himself lower down the bed, resting his head on his arm, choking back on tears that welled up. Now he felt like all he was, was just all wrong and that nothing about him was any good.

'Master…'

'Leave me alone.' Kai growled angrily at the bit-beast.

'But Master…'

'I said, leave me alone.' Kai broke down his words, in hopes that the Phoenix would understand and leave him alone like he'd asked of him. Thankfully the bit-beast listened to him this time and left him alone to put together his emotions again. He hated that they were always such a mess these days and it obviously wasn't easy dealing with them all at once, especially since he hated feeling so…weak. He didn't have to suffer with those emotions for very long though because in a couple of minutes he'd fallen asleep asleep again, peaceful hours that passed that made him feel better when he didn't have to deal with nightmares or the world around him.

About an hour and a half after Kai had fallen asleep Tori walked into the bedroom, seeing Kai sleeping there still in the same postion on his arm and with the laptop on the pillow. She walked over to the bed and sat beside him on the bed and on pushing his hair away from his face she noticed the tear streaks on his face. She ran her thumb against his cheeks, wiping away the dampness that was still found on his skin. Then she caught sight of one file minimized on her laptop. She knew she shouldn't violate his privacy but she was worried and if it was that file that hurt him than she wanted to know what it was all about.

She opened the file and quickly scaned the page thoroughly, mouth gaping open slightly at all she read, even more shocked that Kai was reading such things and understood why those tear streaks where there when he slept. She picked up the laptop and placed it onto the ground beside the bed, then leaned down closer to Kai, giving him a peck on the cheek then stopped just above his ear, "Don't worry Kai. I promised you that it'll be alright and I won't go back on a promise." She pulled the blankets higher up on him and fixed his pillow, hoping that if Kai shifted later he'd rest on the pillow rather than rest on his arm the whole time, knowing full well that it wasn't comfortable. She got back up and left the room, stepping into the living room, stopping in the doorway when she saw Denzelle sitting forward on the armchair in the corner of the room, staring down at the ground.

Denzelle looked up, almost shyly and filled with guilt and embarassment, tears glinting in her eyes as she tried to find her voice to speak. "I'm sorry." She said, only loud enough for her Mistress to be able to hear her.

Tori smiled very lightly that the bit-beast had finally come out and said it. She walked over to her quickly, kneeling down in front of the human-Tiger. Denzelle was about to push herself off the sofa, not liking that Tori was beneath her but Tori kept her there, "You've shown me enough respect over the years." She whispered to her. Tori pulled Denzelle into a comforting hug and stroked her long hair caringly in hope to calm the girl. It seemed like the affect of what was to happen to Tori was beginning to take its tole on everyone, including herself. "You've been telling Kai and Dranzer for so long that it'll be alright, believe in yourself what you say." Tori whispered to her.

"I know, so much now, what Kai means when he says that its not going to be any easy." Denzelle whispered in her Mistress' ear, finally taking in the hug and slowly setting her arms around her superior.

"It won't be easy but you'll make it."

"How do you know?" Denzelle sounded so desperate for her own help now and she was scared…anyone could tell because as the time of Tori's death drew near, Denzelle became more like a total human being.

"I just do." Tori replied, tightening her hold on the girl. "You've survived the deaths of your other Masters and Mistresses haven't you?"

"You were different…" Denzelle whispered weakly, "you treated me like I were actually human. They didn't treat me as well as you did."

"But now, just think, when I'm gone you've got your freedom, you don't have to take any orders and you can control your life."

"It'll be…different." Denzelle whispered.

"Different can be good. You said it was a good thing that I was different from everyone else."

Denzelle laughed quietly and pulled away, staring down at her hands in her lap shyly, "And I was right."

"And don't forget…" Tori started, smiling really happily suddenly, "different is fun!"

"That it is." Denzelle smiled.

"Yeah so don't worry too much about it. I'm sure you'll all manage this."

"I hope."

"You will." Tori said confidently, taking Denzelle's hands and pulling her up. She squeezed the bit-beast's hand supportively, "Now…go rest up before you give yourself a panic attack." She told her.

Denzelle smiled, bowed her head to her Mistress and disappeared in her usual white light.

Tori turned to sit down where Denzelle had been, resting her head back and closing her eyes in hope of resting for a few minutes. In the apartment, with everyone, emotions ran amazingly high. Kai's emotions were barely in any order anymore and the fright of Tori about to die wasn't doing him any good. Denzelle feared so much of losing her Mistress that the lash of anger the night before was just a way of dealing with the pain. Tori, well the fact that she was inflicting pain on everyone around her wasn't doing her any good, then there was the fact that she hated that she wouldn't see them any more and then the emotions from the exchange of byes with her parents at the airport were still in her and tears would have started streaming down her face if it weren't for her reminding herself that inside her, there was a battle and she couldn't cry this time.

She felt like she was being watched though and quickly opened her eyes. She smiled, seeing Kai leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, eyes intently fixed on her. On seeing her smile Kai walked up to her, sitting on the arm of the chair she was in. Kai placed a hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly. "You're okay?" he asked her.

Tori smiled up at him, "Fine." She replied.

Kai looked down at her with sudden accusing eyes, eyes accusing her of being a liar. She wasn't fine and he knew it, he could see past the smiles.

Those eyes were already too much for Tori to take but she smiled at him anyway, getting up, kissing him quickly and leaving the room and into the kitchen.

Kai followed her to the kitchen, standing up behind her he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. Tori smiled at his hold on her, placing her hands on his and smiling. "You're not the only strong one." She whispered to him.

"I know that." Kai whispered back, trying a smile of his own.

Tori turned to look at Kai, wrapping her arms around his waist, him doing the same to her. Tori pulled herself back to lean against the counter, pulling Kai with her into a loving and searing kiss. The two pulled away after only a second and on the contact the two had a hot redness grew in Kai's cheeks and Tori smiled at it, finding it quite funny how the boy was so love shy, even after so long.

She closed her eyes, if he'd prefer it that she didn't see him than that was fine by her, then again that didn't mean she didn't know how he was feeling. She leaned in, closing the little gap left between them, another loving game of domination starting off between the two but through it all they still knew how much they cared about each other.

A/N: An extra long chapter for you all, it's a day late but I think it was worth it. Hope you enjoyed it, please leave me a review and tell me what you think. Take care everyone!