The Tale of Trust

by Bonnie-San

In this new world, the bond between an Attacker and his Weapon means everything. But when the past finally shows it's true self, the things you are looking for might be closer than you think.

5. Chapter 4

Title: The Tale of Trust

Author: Bonnie-San

Word count: 10327 words

Disclaimer: Yeah, well… I tried to steal- *cough* -borrow my favourite character some time ago. Takao Aoki sent Bryan at me to get them back… Let's just say I'll think twice before trying it again… I think…

A/N: Wow, I'm baffled. It's done. I've been working hard on this one and I can say that if it wasn't for Sparkleshadowcat then you would have had to wait even longer for the chapter to be finished. She helped me a great deal. But then again, I also waited for my dearest friend AxelsDancingFlames. Because I wanted her review of Chapter 3 before I put chapter 4 up. And finally I got it! =D

Well, at least I made up for it by writing the double length of what I've written so far, right? Again, this isn't Beta-read, but anyway…

Hope this will be to your satisfaction =) … Enjoy!

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-*-.-*-Chapter 4-*-.-*-

The morning sun rose along the horizon making the birds sing their morning tune to signal an early start of the day. In the outskirts of Moscow, one blonde American was starting to slowly wake up to the beautifully colourful sunrise. Waking up at his own pace he felt peaceful and was perfectly at ease. He couldn't help but to marvel over the possibilities the new day could bring. The previous day he had found not only that he wasn't who he thought he was but also learned that he could do so much more than first thought possible. His life had taken a turn for the better now and the feeling of appease would be hard to break. He would have to hope that it wasn't a onetime deal and things would go back to the way it used to be. Getting out of the bed he started to get ready for the day. While putting on his last piece of clothing he heard noises and movement from the kitchen. It almost sounded like an argument going on. Max' curiosity peaked, so he stepped out of the guest room he temporarily slept in and walked in to the kitchen to find both Kai and Rei in there. Rei stood by the fridge as if about to open the door to it but never making the movement while Kai sat by the table staring at Rei judgingly. Or glaring might have been a more accurate description. Neither of them had seemed to notice that they had received company.

"Do you hear me Kon? Don't you dare take even a single step out of the house today." Wearing a distant look Rei didn't answer acting like he didn't even register the words thrown at him. He waved away the threat and finally opened the fridge and took out a carton of milk. Two strong arms quickly gripped Rei's arms and stopped the motion as he was going to pour the milk into a frying pan and when Rei looked down he seemed surprised that he hadn't been about to pour the milk into a glass. He turned to face Kai but managed only to turn half way due to the fact that that said person was holding his arms in place.

"You know Kai, I can take care of myself."

"And I'm supposed to believe that when you were about to put your milk in the pan. Face it Rei and go back to bed where you won't be in the way."

Rei snatched his arms from the hold and pushed Kai away to get free. He put away the pan again and poured some milk into a glass instead before he put the carton back in the fridge. "I'm not going to the damn bed. I'm not sick." Kai almost growled. Rei was too stubborn sometimes, especially at times like this.

"You might as well be." He saw that he had lost Rei's attention again as he had got stuck in front of the door to the fridge once more. Kai sighed in frustration. He slapped the back of Rei's head and the force managed to get his focus running again. This was going to be a very long day, Kai could tell by the knot he felt in his stomach. He took notice of Max' presence when he made ready to walk away but still addressed Rei. "If you don't pull it together before I decide to leave I will make sure you don't follow. Max, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid and get hurt. I have no need for a broken Weapon." Max paralyzed at the sudden attention as Kai walked straight past him leaving Max alone with his responsibility. Rei glared after Kai.

"What a grouch." He muttered under his breath and sat down by the table rolling the glass of milk between his fingers. The blue sparkling eyes that had been following the Attacker out shifted over to his new charge and sat down on a chair to join him.

"What was that about?"

"What..?" Rei seemed a bit distant again, though Max could see him trying to pull it together.

"That dispute just now, mind telling me what Kai was on about?"

Rei leaned back and exasperatedly turned away from Max to hide his true feelings over the matter. He took a sip from his glass before he answered. "He thinks that I'm not at my full potential today, that I'm not alert enough to meet Tala and Bryan."

"And…? Is he correct? You do seem a bit spaced out."

A frustrated sigh escaped Rei's lips as he tried to force the tension in his shoulders away. "I guess. But I won't ever let him do this on his own." After drinking the rest of the milk he stood up and started to walk out of the kitchen, again muttering under his breath. "If it wasn't for this godforsaken rain…"

"Wait!" Max bolted up not really ready for his charge to get out of his sight yet. Getting on Kai's bad side this early on wasn't part of his plan. He saw Rei stopping and turning around. "Where are you going?"

"Away from the never ending rain. It never seems to stop. At least I try." Rain? There was no rain. Max had woken up with the beautiful sunrise shining through the window. Seeing Max' worried look Rei reassured him. "Nothing's wrong. I'll be up in my room meditating. Oh! Max, would you do me a favour?"

"Yeah, sure. You name it."

"It's starting to get a bit late. It's almost noon, so would you wake Tyson up for me? Thanks." And without waiting for an answer Rei left Max alone in the kitchen to ponder over the request. It took a few moments to register the given task.

"But how do I find his room?" He asked in a whisper to the empty room. Realizing that he would have to manage by himself he mentally prepared. If he didn't know where it was, he would find it on his own. This couldn't be so hard now, could it? And luckily the house wasn't that big. Stepping out into the hallway and skimming it through, he found that he had been to every room on this level. That meant that Tyson's room had to be on the upper floor. Max ascended the stairs and immediately located Tyson's sleeping area. And how could he not? It had a big sign on the door. Opening it Max slipped inside, leaving the door slightly ajar.

The room was… messy, for lack of better words… and big. Much bigger than first expected to be. In the middle of room, with only the headboard against a wall, a sprawled Tyson slept soundly on his bed. The cover was lying on the floor and it appeared that Tyson had forgotten to take off his gray socks before he went to bed. Besides that he only wore his boxers and his yellow t-shirt. Max walked over to the bed and shook him. "Hey, rise and shine sleepyhead." When he received no respond at all, he tried again, a little more powerfully this time. "Come on, Tyson. Wake up." This time Tyson groaned in his sleep and rolled around so that he was lying on his stomach. Max scrunched his nose in displeasure and started to slap Tyson lightly on his visible cheek to at least get some kind of reaction except snoring out of teen. Trying to unconsciously get away from the light abuse Tyson turned yet again in his sleep only to fall off the bed with a loud thump. It was quiet for a few moments before the snoring kept up with the race. "Oh, come on!" Max shot his arms in the air to gesticulate the frustration he felt. "This is unbelievable! How can someone sleep through that?" Bracing himself with the challenge ahead, he browsed the room in search for some fresh ideas or something that he could use to wake the sleepyhead. The cover couldn't be ripped away as it was already on the floor. Water would only leave things in a mess afterwards, so that was too out of question. But what else could he do? He heard the door creek open and twisted around. In the doorway Kai was standing with his arms crossed, an unreadable mask had plastered on his face.

"This is not what I told you to do." He stated accusingly.

"Rei told me he was going to meditate. I didn't want to disturb him then."

"Hn." Kai made to turn and walk out of the room but got stopped by Max' outburst.

"Kai! How do you wake him up?"

Kai snorted at him. "Try using a fire hose."

"You think? Would that really work?"

Kai saw no need to answer the questions and instead expanded his original order. "While I'm away it will be your responsibility to make sure the others behave."

Max nodded. "Sure thing. When will you be back?"

"Whenever I decide to."

"Uh, okay… have a nice day then and I guess I'll see you later." Max waved him goodbye with a big grin as Kai walked away leaving Max alone again with the still snoring bundle on the floor. He sloppily pushed up the sleeves of his t-shirt. "Okay Tyson. Now it's just you and me, so just bring it on."

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Kai shut the door behind him wearing a solemn face. He leaned against the door and ran a hand through his hair. That kid would be a real pain in the ass to get used to, he could already tell. Wasn't it enough that Mr. Dickenson had made him take care of the spoiled little brat that pestered him every day, and now he had to babysit yet another person. How superb. He pushed away from the door and went over to his shared room with Rei and walked in without bothering to knock. Inside he saw Rei meditating on his bed turned away from the door and reveling in the sunlight shining upon him through one of their windows. Kai closed the door behind him and walked over to lean against the window sill to shadow Rei from the sunrays. With the light suddenly gone Rei irritatingly opened his eyes finding hard crimson eyes staring him down. But if it was a wondering stare or a condemning one he couldn't tell. He then closed them again to continue the meditation, ignoring the Attacker until he would speak his mind. When Kai saw Rei beginning to disregard his presence he decided to speak up.

"How's the weather going to be tonight?"

Anyone who knew Kai knew that this question was very odd to hear coming from his mouth. But anyone who really knew Kai would find it odd if he didn't ask it. Considering the situation, how could he not. And Rei didn't blame him for being extra cautious. But he had to disappoint him. "You know, most wouldn't even consider disturbing me when I'm meditating. But you and Bryan are something else, aren't you." Rei untangled his legs and stared up at the ceiling. He could feel the burning impatience for contentiousness that told him to cut to the case drill through him, but somehow he just wasn't able to summon the energy to do little else then to try and filter away the noise hanging in the air. And it was going to get worse, it always did. He lay back on the bed putting his arms behind his head. "I'm no weather forecaster. If you want to know then why don't you go and check with your lovely news on the Television?."

"What does your instinct say?"

"That it's going to be one hell of a day."

Kai pushed away from the window. That's all he needed to know. "You're staying home today."

Rei jolted up straight. "Say wha-? Hell no! You are not going alone."

"I'll bring Tyson then, and he can bring Dragoon. But you're staying here. That's an order."

"Screw the orders, what can Tyson do against Biovolt, huh? Even if he got his sword he wouldn't be in the same league. Face it Kai. Yes, it's going to be a tough environment to make a stand in and yes, it will probably kill us both if things goes out of hand. But you can't seriously believe that I will just stay behind and watch you stride towards your own demise. We've been at this for years and I've been there with you from the very start. I will not let you push me away when we are finally beginning to get a glimpse of what might be the finishing line. We are in this together, whether you like it or not."

Kai's eyes widened as he stood there in shock. This was a first for him. In the 7 years that he had known Rei he had never yelled at him nor outright cast aside a direct order like that. Sure Rei had disagreed with him a lot of times and always told his opinion. But it had never been like this. Rei has always trusted Kai's judgment about what was needed to be done in order to succeed.

"Fine, you can come. I'm going to the library and will come home in time for dinner. Take good care of yourself until then. We'll need it." And with those words he left Rei alone to gloat his small victory and continue on with his well needed meditation.

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"Seriously Tyson, how the in the world can you sleep so heavily?" Tyson sat on his bed with his cover around his shoulders and followed Max' movements around the room. A big yawn escaped his throat before he could stop it and he slowly stood up to put on some clothes to start his day. Max' gaze wandered over the different things that littered the floor and walls in a try to better identify the person the room inhabited. What caught his attention was that even if the room was very messy there was one place that was still clean and tidy and very well taken care of. Upon a bureau stood a gorgeous sword on its stand and what hit him the most was that it almost seemed to radiate a strong sense of power. Or maybe not, Max wondered. At a second thought it didn't seem that forceful at all but it sure was shining with glory.

"He's a beauty, isn't he?"

Max turned around to see Tyson standing behind him fully clothed and ready for the day. Max had to smile as he recognized the fondness in the voice and looked back at the sword. He had to agree with Tyson, he just couldn't believe that he missed it when he first got in here.

"It's a real looker. What kind of a sword is it?"

Tyson looked proud at the comment the sword recieved. "Oh this is one of a kind alright. I've been training sword fighting ever since I can remember and never have I ever seen a more powerful sword than that."

"That's… wow. But really? How come?"

"He's thousands of years old, and he's been handed down from generation to generation through my family. You can really feel the energy he's gathered through the years. It's truly awesome!"

"Usually people refer their dear hobbies as a 'her', yet you say 'he'. Why is that?"

"Because Dragoon is not a girl." Tyson said with a big grin like it was the most obvious thing in the world and waiting for what he knew would come.

Max fully turned around and looked at him with big questioning eyes. "Dragoon?"

Okay, not the reaction he expected. "You… don't know? Oh man, of course you don't know. I keep forgetting, you're from another part of the world. You know, why don't we take this over a big and yummy breakfast, huh? I can't tell a good old myth on an empty stomach." As to amplify the statement Tyson's stomach growled loudly.

Max let out a laugh and nodded. They began to walk down to the kitchen. "Sure. Now that I think of it, I haven't had anything myself yet. The commotion this morning made me forget about breakfast completely."

Tyson stopped suddenly in the door opening to the kitchen making Max walk right into him and stumble backwards confusedly catching the looks of Tyson's baffled face. "…Commotion? What kind of commotion?"

"Well," Max unconsciously fidgeting with his fingers nervously. Why did he feel like he had said something wrong? "When I woke up I found Rei and Kai arguing over… something."

"They did? Those two? What were they fighting over?"

"Now I didn't say that they were fighting. They argued over whether Rei got to leave the house today or not. Kai didn't look very happy."

"Since when does Kai look happy?" They then entered the kitchen and Tyson went to look out of one of the two windows in there. "It's starting to get kind of cloudy. How bad was he? Rei I mean…"

Max sat down by the table and rested his head in his hands while watching Tyson setting the table. "Distracted to say the least. He was about to pour milk in the frying pan but Kai stopped him before anything happened."

"And I bet the look on Kai's face must have been priceless. How could I have missed that?"

"You were asleep, Tyson." Suddenly they heard the front door slam shut loudly and they both skipped a heartbeat. Max turned slowly to Tyson. "Does he usually do that?"

Tyson gave Max his attention. "What..? Who?"

"Kai."

"Slamming the door? No, actually, that is kind of odd. He must be in his sourpuss mode again. How do you know that it was him?"

"He told me that he was going somewhere today. And isn't it weird? Kai told me to keep an eye on both you and Rei."

Tyson's jaw dropped, feeling the insult hit him. "Really? He said that to you?" To Max' surprise Tyson slammed a hand to his face and started laugh a kind of creepy laugh that steadily grew louder. Suddenly it stopped. "He must be doing this on purpose. All to badmouth me when I won't be around to talk back." When Tyson then sat down and made himself some sandwiches he started to register the other part of what Max had said. "Why the hell did he leave Rei's care in your hands? Things must be really bad if he's going to put Rei's wellbeing in the hands of a stranger."

Max nodded for an answer. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly. But shouldn't he have left mine and Rei's responsibility in your care? He knows you so much better than I."

"Yeah, you would think so right? But he didn't."

Tyson gulfed down a sandwich and Max poured himself some cereals while chit-chatting about other small things instead as they knew they wouldn't get any more answers when the only person who knew them was out of the house and probably most unwilling to answer. When they had finished their breakfast they decided to move in to the living room instead. They saw through the only window in the room that it was beginning rain lightly outside and the day had taken on a gray tone. Tyson took a seat in the three seat sofa making himself comfortable while Max took the armchair. The blonde sighed lovingly and motioned towards his supposed-to-be Attacker. "Why don't you start telling me about that sword now Tyson? I've waited long enough."

Tyson shone up. "Oh yeah, I had forgot about that. You should listen real hard to this legend, because this one is good. Where I come from there is a very old legend about a great dragon that used to live in the skies and guard our sacred land. He was so great that the beats of his wings created the winds that blew through the air. One day a great and evil fire controlled by a strong sorcerer created havoc in the neighbouring countries, warning Dragoon of a danger that was yet to come. He was surprised of how fast this fire could spread and was too suddenly struck by its scolding heat. As the wind-creature Dragoon was he did what he was best at and used his powers against this big threat. But even if Dragoon's powers were astonishing so was this flame's. So instead of causing any harm to the fire the wind only seemed to feed the flames and make it stronger and more alive. In defeat Dragoon had to retreat to his close friend in another neighbouring country that hadn't had the misfortune to be targeted yet. This friend of his had the power to create water out of thin air and Dragoon, with his wind, would then be able to move that water around. So they decided to join forces and fight against the darkness that was roaming and conquering the lands. When the fire finally reached them they stood tall and were ready for any onslaught.

"The battle went on for seven days and seven nights and at the last dawn of the battle Dragoon's close friend in his weariness suffered a fatal blow and fell to the ground. Realizing that he wouldn't make it he used his last ounce of strength to seal away the power of the evil flame to leave the sorcerer all alone and died with that last heroic act. This gave Dragoon the advantage he needed and with an agonizing roar for his fallen companion he went for the killing blow that would extinguish the evil sorcerer for good. The attack hit square on but Dragoon noticed that his magic hadn't even touched the man. So the dragon tried again and again but all it did was to tire itself out. As Dragoon felt his powers coming to dry empty, he suddenly and unexpectedly hears someone arriving to the area from a distance. Tiredly he sees a wandering mortal, a samurai with a walkingstick, stumbling into the battlefield. With no options left Dragoon decided to try to make a deal with him. If the samurai promised to slay that evil man who had embodied the powers of the evil fire then Dragoon would give him the strongest sword to ever exist on earth. Hearing the price samurai agreed with the terms and Dragoon began to seal his own powers and himself inside the sword the samurai had carried with him. With this new sword and his own skills the samurai managed hold his end of the bargain and with the remaining day at hand he managed to kill the sorcerer off for good. The wandering samurai then continued his journey beyond the horizon with a new story to tell the world. As the time flew by the wandering samurai decided to settle down and got a family to which he, of course, told his tale of the two godly creatures that fought side by side and rescued the world from the evil flames that threatened to burn everything to darkness. As it is, the sword was never used again because of the hard-controlled power it contained and it is said that the sword is even now still guarded by the family of the samurai that helped save the world."

Max sat completely captivated in the armchair and had to shake his head to get back to reality. "Wow, Tyson, that was…" Tyson a grin pulled at the corner of his mouth and you could see the eagerness and impatience in his body language. Without warning Max began to laugh out loud. "Seriously, the greatest sword to ever exist?"

"Don't you start with that as well! Kai said the same damn thing. Come on dude, show some faith to your humble partner."

"But you said it never left the samurai's family."

"It didn't!" Tyson's grin widened as he saw Max began to add two and two together.

"It can't be! If that is true then you would be a living descendant to a great warrior."

"Exactly"

"Oh, that is so cool!"

Tyson's grin disappeared and he crossed his arms over his chest. "But then again, it's just a myth. And I have no way of telling if it is true or not."

"You know, this myth reminds me of something I heard when I was a kid." Max put a finger to his mouth and looked up in a try to remember the complete story of what he had heard. "I think it also was about some great fire that was about to devour our land." As the rest deluded him he sighed in defeat. "But I don't seem to remember."

"Ah, it doesn't matter, it will come back to you some day. I promise."

A low smattering signaled the start of small raindrops that began to fall more steadily against the window and Tyson and Max fell silent, just listening to the soothing sound. Tyson then put on the TV and started zapping between the channels while Max was still stuck deep in thought, still trying to remember the story he had heard many times as a kid. After some tries he gave up and began to think of the other event that had occurred so far today. What perplexed him the most was that he couldn't seem to grasp what exactly had happened earlier. "Tyson?" He spoke out loud. "What's wrong with Rei?"

Tyson dragged his eyes away from the television screen to eye Max skeptically. "What are you on about? Nothing's wrong with him."

Max raised his hands defensively. "No I didn't mean it like that. When I saw him in the kitchen he… Yesterday he told me that he didn't have any memories of his past and then today he said something about the rain… and I was just wondering, that's all"

"Oh, you mean that. No, that's normal. It's nothing to worry about. It happens every time it starts raining."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that out already. But why?"

"Because he's not human." Tyson grinned.

Raising an eyebrow Max saw through Tyson's words. "And we are?"

"Hm, you got me there. He has this spirit inside of him that makes him more sensitive to the sound of rain. You should see when it's storming outside. Oh boy, that's a sight."

"He has a spirit inside him? How is that possible?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

"Oh and speaking about Rei, you think that we should check up on him? He was really gone this morning."

"Maybe you're right." Tyson said and stood up with Max following his example shortly afterwards. They began to together walk out of the living room and up the stairs again to get to Kai and Rei's shared room. Tyson stopped in front of the door pouting and muttering to himself, but talked loud enough so that Max could hear him. "I still don't get why he choose you."

Before Max could even attempt to reply to that comment Tyson opened the door and walked in to the room. Inside, silence hung in the air so thick that you could almost feel it. Max stopped in the middle of the room and spun around a turn to take the whole room in. It was the first time he had been in there and he got kind of disappointed. In contrast to Tyson's room this one didn't leave much of an impression at all. It was clean, but not overly clean, and what surprised Max the most was that they didn't seem to have any personal belongings here. He heard Tyson quietly call him over and walked over to the blunette who motioned him to look at the bed he was standing beside. Upon the covers was Rei lying on his back fast asleep. Tyson's eyes had been shining up and were stuck on the sleeping figure in front of them.

"Okay, this is interesting. I'll be the one to wake him up for a change." He was about to shake the sleeping body when he was stopped by a hand to his shoulder.

"Don't. Kai told me to make sure you didn't do anything stupid. Let him sleep, he needs it."

A big smile grew on Tyson's lips but his tone of voice revealed the underlying mischievousness. "Oh, but I can't miss out on an opportunity like this." As Tyson began to shake Rei the touch made Rei shot up his slit cat-like eyes. In a single movement he took hold of Tyson's arm and jerked him down on the bed as he himself moved away so Tyson wouldn't land on him. He turned Tyson around while moving to straddle the Attacker's stomach and then used one of the clawed hands to pin him down by the throat. The other arm Rei rose to strike down at the assailant but when he saw that it was just Tyson he stopped himself. He clenched his hand instead into a fist and hit it on the bed next to Tyson's head.

"For god's sake Tyson! I could have hurt you real bad. What were you even thinking? …Don't answer that. You weren't!"

"And good morning to you too, Rei."

Rei moved off Tyson and dusted off his clothes. The claws had retracted but his pupils were still slit as he gave Tyson a warning glare. "Next time, try to actually think before you act."

Tyson stood up as well and crossed his arms on his chest, puffing up his cheeks. "How the hell was I supposed to know that you would freak out on me like that, huh?"

"I wasn't freaking out… I think.. I was dreaming…" Looking out of the window his slit eyes became normal again and he started spaced out.

Max, who had been pushed to sit in the only other bed in the room, decided to jump in. "What were you dreaming about?" To Max' prediction Rei didn't answer so he walked over to him and nudged him on the shoulder. Rei spun around to face Max wondering what he wanted, so Max repeated the question and Rei sighed.

"I don't know… All I remember is a forest and something red but about that's it." A yawn forced its way out of Rei making him show his white sharp teeth and he stretched. "Now if you don't mind I would rather continue my sleeping." Next thing he did was to grab Tyson in the ear and Max in the collar to drag them across the room and throw them out of the door. "Now stay out!" And the door slammed shut.

Max and Tyson laid sprawled on the floor. They both quickly stood up to get out of the humiliating poses. Tyson started to complain out loudly to Max. "This is just fantastic. Come on Max, let's go somewhere else. Kitty's in a bad mood." When they were about to walk away the door behind them was kicked open revealing Rei standing tall and glaring them down. Tyson greeted that with a big smirk.

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It was late in the evening and the sun had left to make way for a fully light embraced moon. In the street lights trees and buildings were rushing by at a steady pace outside of the cab window as it was flooded with water from a heavy rain. Kai's eyes shifted back and forth as they followed the greenery in the grey atmosphere lazily from inside the car, but those things weren't the focus of his mixing thoughts. When he had gotten home from his little trip to the library he had found Rei keeping Tyson in a strong hold against the hallway floor near the living room while threatening Max with a remote control to dare make even a single movement to help Tyson. After having to pry Rei away from the others he had found out that it was indeed Tyson who had fired Rei up in the first place. It took him some time but after a while Kai finally got an explanation.

"As well as I could manage with someone calling me Kitty-"

"You call that managing?" Tyson had expressed unbelievably. Rei gave a hard warning glare before he threw the remote he had still kept in his hand at Tyson. Unfortunately for him Tyson had reflexes so he had managed to duck in time. As the remote hit the wall behind Tyson into many pieces.

"As I said, I could manage that you called me a kitty, but you damn well crossed the line when you decided to call me a maid."

"But it turned out okay anyway. And we're still very good friends, right Rei?"

"Sure Tyson. Of course we are. But friend or not. mock me like that again and I can't guarantee your safety."

Kai had to give it to him. Tyson had the guts to rile up those stronger than him in order to get stronger himself. But that really wasn't the way to do it this time. Sure, after that fight his Weapon had been a little more present but because of that fight they had had to order out. And he did prefer Rei's cooking over junk food any day.

Kai became aware of the objects outside of the window that started to slow down to a stop and he glanced over to the left to take in Rei's form. Rei had his eyes closed and arms and legs crossed, looking like he was in deep thought or meditating. He hadn't even noticed that the cab had stopped in the first place. Kai sighed inaudibly and stepped out of the car into the rain to walk over and open the car door on the other side. "Give me one reason not to pay the driver to drive you home again." The rain hit Rei's side and Kai could see him flinch.

"Because you said that you wouldn't leave me behind." He stated simply. Kai snorted and forcefully threw the door close but Rei caught it before it slammed shut and stepped out of the car. Kai paid the taxi driver and the cab raced away leaving the two of them alone. They had arrived to a part of Moscow they didn't know all too well. It was a closed down school made of some buildings, they didn't know how many. They walked pass the main building and arrived to a schoolyard that was surrounded with five brick buildings that created a wall around the yard.

This was it.

"So you finally decided to show up?" Tala's mocking voice thundered throughout the area and welcomed Kai and Rei as they entered through the pathway. The rain seemed to increase in intensity and poured down even harder than before to completely drenching everything that wasn't covering under shelter. This day was not turning out well at all and Kai was starting to regret coming here. But he wouldn't falter, he had to do this. He owed them his best and he was going to help them get their minds straight again. Looking back at Rei he saw -or more correctly, felt- Rei trying to concentrate to his best capacity. And he actually succeeded to seem unaffected too, but somehow his focus dangled just out of his reach. Kai looked back over to his childhood friends now standing before them with viciousness colouring their very beings. Bryan's chuckle echoed shortly afterwards to follow up his partners mocking.

"Never knew you were such a suck-up Kai. Your eyes tell me you're actually glad to see us. Your so called friends are making you soft."

"-What do you want?" Tala injected and stared hardly at his friend. Cool blue met deep expressionless crimson.

"Why did you leave?" Kai monotonously asked while mentally preparing himself to get disappointed and got surprised as he heard Tala's laughter beam up the room. And it wasn't a nice laugh either.

"Why we left? That's what you wanted to ask? Get a grip Kai. Why else would we leave if not for power?" Lifting his hand Tala inspected it as if seeing something that the others couldn't. "He promised and we received."

"-And you didn't join us. That would make you the antagonist of this sad little fairy tale" Bryan cut in while grinning maliciously at Rei. He finally would be able to bring that little bastard down once and for all.

Kai then felt the temperature around him decrease drastically to a chilly level and he could see his breath condensate in the moist and heavy air in front of him. It made him itchy. What he wouldn't give to be able to pound some sense into those thick skulls of theirs.

Without knowing it, Kai had begun to unconsciously release Rei's power in his eagerness to bring them back. So without warning Rei cried out and began to charge against the opposing pair, startling Kai out of his inner musings. Rei increased his speed to emerge in the air behind Bryan with a fist raised to strike him with a back swing to the head but Bryan simply moved a step forward making Rei miss. Rei crouched down to swing his leg low towards Bryan's feet but Bryan back flipped over Rei putting his hand on Rei's head for fake support and landed behind him, lowering his hand to Rei's neck pinning him in place. That malicious grin was still plastered upon Bryan's face.

"That can't be all you got. You used to be faster than that." His face shone as the realization sunk in. Could Boris actually have made them stronger than he thought? "Come on Tiger, Give me your best try." Rei winced at the extra pressure on his neck and quickly kicked Bryan in the stomach with both legs, using one of his hands as support on the ground, pushing Bryan back making him release his grip on Rei. As Rei stood up and turned around Bryan punched him in the face sending him flying all the way to where he started, to where Kai was standing.

Kai had watched the display while paralyzed by the sudden charge but as Rei landed on the ground diagonally in front of him he started to become aware of his surroundings once more and got his mobility back in control. The chill in the air didn't help his bodily stiffness and he knew that this was going to make this battle so much harder than it normally would be. This setting just wasn't in their favor. Was it even natural for the temperature to drop this low in such a short period of time? He returned his attention to Tala who was watching this show with an amusement that wasn't supposed to be there. He knew Tala well enough to know that. And by observing the situation Kai began to realize that if they wanted to have a chance of success they would have to go all out straight away as a surprise attack.

"Rei, Get up. This is very serious. I need you to release my seal."

Rei stood up wobbly and wiped some blood away from his mouth before he turned towards Kai and actually started to register Kai's words. "…What? But Kai I can't do that! I promised not to. Don't you remember-"

"I don't care!" Kai hissed back in a tight voice. "I'm ending that deal. The odds aren't exactly with us here."

Rei pondered on the facts. "I see your point. But even so, if I do as you say here it won't do us much good anyway. Rain isn't the weather for our benefits."

"I know, that's the reason we need to go all out. We need to end this fast. What do you think Tyson would say if we didn't get home?" A small smile appeared on Kai's lips but it quickly disappeared again. "Rei, we need to cooperate here. I'm letting you go all the way."

Rei froze. "All the way? But… do we really have to?" Kai gave him a flat stare that told Rei not to argue. He sighed in defeat. "At least wait with that last stage until there is no other choice."

In the meanwhile Tala and Bryan had stood waiting for them to come up with a plan and was getting rather impatient. It wouldn't be fun to beat them if they weren't ready. That would take the whole point of this battle away. Tala was standing with his arms crossed and his foot tapping the ground. "Are you two done soon? I want to get back before the sun rise." He saw Kai and Rei turning their focus toward him. "Good. Now how do you like my new ability? I don't even need Bryan's help to use it."

"So you are the one lowering the temperature around here. Hn, I should have known." Kai said with a scoff. Rei's eyes widened in a sudden curiosity and a slight hope.

"How?"

"Let's just say that you aren't the only one who is special anymore, Rei."

"Are we going to start this anytime soon? I'm getting bored here with your useless chatting. What are you, old ladies?" Bryan shot in with no regard for the edge in his voice.

Rei smirked as he started to gather enough energy to release Kai's powers. "Have it your way then."

Immediately Kai exploded with fire and the flames started to form a circle of fire around both Tala and Bryan blocking them from seeing further than that ring. The heavy rain drops that fell from the sky began to hiss at the heat and evaporate as Tala and Bryan both sunk down into a defensive stance and moved to stand back to back. The fire seemed to sparkle green at different points at different times and they both began to look around themselves to cover their sighted area. Out of nowhere a green gestalt stormed out of the fire and hit Bryan to the side which sent him down to the ground and it disappeared in to the fire again. Where the green blur had vanished in front of Tala he saw Kai appear and wasn't prepared for the punch he received in the stomach that made him land upon Bryan. Tala rolled backwards and stood up again as Bryan pulled himself up too so they were facing the same direction. Behind Tala Kai appeared once more out of the flames but this time Bryan wasn't down and felt the disturbance in the wind. He swung a hit behind him towards his partner and Tala with his fast reflexes managed to duck in time. The punch hit Kai straight in the chest and he fell backwards where a green power leaking Rei was ready to catch him. When he was steady Rei made him bend forward so he could jump up to stand on Kai's back and take a leap out over Tala. On the way down he grabbed hold of Bryans face and slammed him down to the ground with him only to disappear in to the fire again. Tala quickly stood up and took a hold of Kai's neck where he stood bent forward and tugged him down on the ground. He then quickly took a seat on Kai's back and secured his arms in a lock. Tala felt the urge to smile at the advantage he had but resisted it. And to his surprise, Kai stayed in place beneath him.

"Rei!" Kai instead yelled out loud into the air. "I need more!" As on queue Tala felt Kai himself heat up and he involuntarily let go of Kai's arms as he had to jump off Kai to get away from the scolding heat. When Kai stood up as well he began to radiate a red colour and his very being dried off the rain that landed on him. He snickered. "Let's see who'll win this Tala… you with your coldness or me and my fire."

In return Tala lowered his head but Kai didn't leave his view. "And the winner walks out of here alive, I get it. And I accept the challenge. Bryan! Keep the nuisance away from us."

Next to them Bryan was lying on the pavement on his back with his eyes closed. He had had troubles opening them due to the heavy raindrops that landed on his face. Steadily his rising laugh broke through the thick atmosphere. Sitting up he rested an arm on his knee and locked eyes with Tala who was still looking untrustingly at Kai. Bryan couldn't help but to grin widely.

"Now, that's more like it." He stood up dusting of his drenched legs. "Finally I get to counter attack that sneaky little bastard for real. Give me my power Tala!"

"Already one step ahead of you Bryan. Now work your magic and catch that tiger." Tala then gave all his attention to the blunette in front of him. Around them the wind gathered to pick up a decent speed and was moving about in harsh patterns as the temperature in the air dropped even further to where the raindrops began to feel like liquid ice. The flames around them flickered in a desperate attempt to stay alive before slowly getting blown out by the combined force of the cold rain and wind and it revealed the empty moonlit schoolyard they stood in. Tala made the first move and attacked Kai head on with a hard kick to the side. The still red glowing Kai raised his arms to block it and glided away a bit by the force. He took hold of the leg and spun Tala around to throw him down into the pavement.

"Where are you, Rei?" Bryan said mockingly out in the air and smirked maliciously. He searched the roofs and dark shadowed corners for Rei but couldn't find him. Bryan berated himself, how hard could it be to find a green power leaking freak? Hearing something hit the ground he snapped his head in that direction and when he saw that it was Tala who was down he unconsciously took a few steps forward to reach out and help his partner. But he stopped in his tracks as he registered a sparkling sound from the thickly clustered clouds above and looked up in time to get struck by a big green bolt of lightning. Smoking slightly, he fell down to ground and when he gathered his wits he rolled as quickly as possible to the side. As expected, Rei had jumped out from his hiding place to body tackle Bryan while he was lying down but missed to make a small crater in the pavement instead. Bryan threw himself up and simultaneously placed a well aimed kick to Rei's stomach that made him fly backwards and accidently hit Tala as he was about to send another kick in Kai's direction.

Kicking Rei off him Tala stood up and took a hold of Rei's shoulders to kick him in the back. It sent him straight into Kai who easily caught him and steadied him. On his way up Tala had grabbed a small stone from the pavement and now threw it at Bryan in annoyance. "Didn't I tell you to keep the nuisance away?" He walked up to stand in front of Bryan. Even if Tala were smaller built, he still stood proudly and seemingly looking down at Bryan.

The stone had hit Bryan's right eyebrow and it started to bleed. A hand went up to press the wound to stop it from letting blood in to his eye. "My mistake Tala. Won't happen again."

Kai let go of Rei when he knew that he could stand on his own. "Don't you usually keep an eye on your surroundings?"

Rei shook his head and glared at the insult thrown at him. "Yeah, I do. But Bryan doesn't. When will you learn that?" The voice was shaking and Kai could visibly see that the drenched Rei was freezing. disappeared

"Hn," And he didn't care. Kai leered over to where Bryan and Tala were bickering with each other. "While you're here, give me more power."

"I have given you enough." Rei argued but Kai stomped his complains.

"My flames get killed by his chilling aura combined with the heavy rainfall. I need more." Hearing a sigh from his partner Kai knew he had won.

"I get it. But I don't know how much more I have to give." Then Rei disappeared in front of Kai's eyes and Kai felt the triumph swallow him.

As Kai and Rei had taken their time to talk, Bryan and Tala had come to an agreement. When Rei vanished from their sight Bryan distanced himself from his Attacker by stepping forward, keeping Tala securely behind him, and used his hands to guide the wind to circle him. Then he just waited. Waited for what he knew would happen and Rei wouldn't be able to keep hidden for much longer. He prided too much in his speed to wait for someone else to attack. Out of the corner of his eye Bryan saw a green sparkle and he quickly sent his wind in that direction. When he hit something he smirked and made the wind circle the target instead. Realizing all too late that he had been caught Rei could do little else than to stop and try not to move. His green leaking power got cut by the mere air itself before it merged up only to be cut again by the same wind. He was trapped.

Bryan began to laugh out loud. "Did you really fall for the same trick again Rei?" He took step after step closing in on Rei. "Don't they say that you should learn by your mistakes?" He faltered on his stride but quickly straightened his posture.

Rei smirked at Bryan. As Bryan had said, he had got stuck in this situation before, and he had gotten out of it as well. It would be interesting to see if he could do it again. When Bryan saw Rei's smirk his eye twitched and let Rei feel the consequence of it. Rei winced as the air cut his left cheek and his right thigh at the same time. Stopping mockingly close to Rei, Bryan began to tease him but he stayed far enough away in case Rei would screw the pain and attack him anyway. The smug smile never faded from Bryan's face.

"What's wrong Bryan? Don't you dare come here and face me like a man?"

"Nah, I'm more like a man who wouldn't come too close to a newly caught prey. And like that man, I'm waiting for the beast to tire himself out so that I can toy with him later."

"Yeah, you wish." Rei couldn't help his shaky voice that showed traces of exhaustion. "We both know that we are both too tired for those kinds of games anyway." The air shut him up as it cut him again on several more places all over his body.

"You might be correct about that, but you should look at your own position first. I'm not the caged animal here."

"That would be bad, wouldn't it? Lucky me I'm not an animal than." Rei gave Bryan a big smirk and disappeared again in front of Bryan's eyes. He quickly fazed back behind Bryan whispering in his ear. "What was it you said about mistakes, hm?"

Bryan ducked as Rei made a back swing aimed at his exposed neck so that Rei missed the intended target. Bryan then shot up again head-butting Rei's chin making Rei fly back and fall on his back and bounce backwards over to lie on his stomach. Glancing back Bryan lifted an eyebrow at Rei. "That you should learn from them."

This time though, Rei stayed down.

.

Meanwhile, As Bryan took off towards Rei, Tala was the one to walk over to Kai and they mutually decided to take a short break as they both had to catch their breaths for a short while. As Tala stopped in front of him Kai crossed his arms over his chest and they reached back to the days before Tala and Bryan had taken off. At least Kai did. Tala tapped his foot in impatience and glared hardly at Kai. "Spit it out before I get bored."

"Why did you leave?"

"Are you deaf? I already told you-"

"-The real reason this time."

Tala paused. It was as if he didn't know how to answer that question. Kai smiled inwardly and felt very content with what he got. But quickly Tala spoke up again to cover his waver. "There is no other reason-"

Not wanting any more excuses Kai made a punch forward which Tala had to use his reflexes to catch and he caught it with both his hands. Kai with one hand free used it to actually hit Tala straight in the face this time sending him backwards. As Tala had Kai's wrist in a tight grip he tugged Kai down with him and they fell down together. Kai put a knee threateningly to Tala's Solar Plexus and took Tala's throat in a strangling tight hold. Feeling Kai's hand around his throat heat up to an unbearable degree Tala panicked and let go of the wrist to find a way to pry Kai off him. Then he noticed that it wasn't just the hand that got unbearable. It was whole Kai. Compared to before when Kai's very skin glowed red, now he was alit with a red raw power and the flames of that power radiated a scolding heat, heating the air around him. On the brink of fainting due to oxygen loss someone pushed Kai off Tala and dragged Tala in the collar along the ground away from Kai. Kai stumbled backwards and tripped on something that was on the ground. Raising himself up, Kai noticed that the thing lying on the ground was his own Weapon.

There Rei was trying to push his own body up to continue to fight. When Kai looked down upon Rei he could see Rei's wavering attention. "I still need more." The scolding voice hit Rei's ears as coldly as the rain that fell from the sky and he met Kai's glowing, power-greedy eyes from where he was sitting. Rei glanced across the yard to observe Tala and Bryan making ready to give their all in one last clash and swallowed loudly.

"I cannot do that Kai. I don't have much strength left."

Kai dragged Rei up by his collar. "Do your job as my Weapon and give me my power. Then I'll give you yours and it will be a fair trade."

Rei's eyes widened. "Are you trying to kill me again?"

"You're saying you can't handle it?" The tone was simple, and yet so very condemning.

And not sure if he actually could handle it Rei became dead serious, but what choice did he have? "…No, I'm not." Giving Kai the last energy he could give Rei felt Kai too letting him go all the way. His normally leaking green power thickly changed to form a Tiger around Rei and Rei stood up on all fours. He growled and showed his razor sharp fangs while his nails hardened. They saw Bryan release what appeared to be a big white, blue shining, falcon that rose up high in the air and every beat of its wings made strong gusts of wind that plowed the things that got in its way. As Rei started to run he vanished with a lightning flash and a fire soaked Kai directly ran to Tala to charge an attack. Even the hard wind of the storm couldn't extinguish Kai's newly made fire and the rain evaporated even before the drops hit Kai's skin. Coming forth to Tala he centered his power and flames to his fist and hit Tala right on the cheek. Kai didn't wait and made a fire filled side kick to Tala's side which he caught head on and flew down to the ground.

As he quickly heaved himself up again Tala noticed that the fire that hit him started to spread all over him and he yelled out Bryan's name. The said one made his falcon make strong beats with its wings and the fire on Tala blew out slowly. While the fire blew out he counter kicked Kai away from him and sent him flying to where he started his run.

Rei emerged behind Bryan and used his lightning infused clawed nails to scratch Bryan along the back. Bryan clenched his teeth at the pain and as quickly as possible turned around to give a punch to the person behind him. But he only hit the air as Rei had already disappeared and Bryan turned back again. With a cry the falcon in the sky dove down to protect its master and clenched its clawed feet in the air in front of Bryan. A pained roar broke out in the night and in the falcon's grip was Rei. Its claws had pierced Rei's either shoulders and made deep holes in through his muscles. Rei who didn't give up saw his chance to attack and let Falcon get electrocuted by green high voltage lightning bolts that fried the bird like a chicken and it retreated back into Bryan. Blood spilled out on Rei's already stained white shirt but he didn't even notice it at the moment. In a last attempt to get the enemy down he screwed the speed he had and put all his strength in to one last punch that hit Bryan squarely in the head and made him fly into the nearest surrounding building, breaking the wall. As Bryan didn't get out of the small cavern created, Rei let out a breath and while holding onto his bleeding shoulders he stumbled backwards a few feet. He looked up into the sky feeling the raindrops fall on his face and he praised the lord that he made it out okay. His green tiger formed aura disappeared and he weakly closed his eyes.

Suddenly Kai flew in to Rei startling him and making him strain his body to not fall again and steadied Kai where he was. Kai broke free from Rei and instinctively stood in front of Rei to protect him from any more assaults. The last effort had taken the last out of Rei and he fell forward to the ground, unconscious.

Breathing a little heavily Kai stopped up to look around himself to assess the situation. His flames around him were gone and he was soon as drenched as the other three. Behind him Rei was lying unmoving in the gathering of water on the ground and just out of his reach. In front of him to his right Bryan was lying inside the wall, unconscious and in front of him to the left Tala was standing tall and seemingly unmoved by the battle. But his ice blue eyes spoke out louder than his actions. Both Tala and Kai knew better than to believe that Tala was anything but worn out.

"If you think that this is over then you got it all wrong. Next time we'll see each other, we'll settle this for good." Tala's eccentric voice almost seemed repressed in the falling rain and windy weather. Kai's hard glare made him shift uncomfortably before he turned around to walk away.

Kai looked through his dripping wet fringe that clung to his face. "Why don't you just kill us and get over with it?"

Tala stopped at the low but threatening voice. "Tsk, and what would be the fun in that? Besides, orders are orders and I don't have the strength to carry the three of you back to the Abbey all by myself." His head snapped to Bryan as if just remembering that he even had a partner and he sighed bitterly. "I will have to leave you two for now. Be sure that I will come back." He stumbled over to Bryan and kneeled down to be able put Bryan's arm around his shoulders and start carrying him away, but in sudden realization of his weakened state he collapsed under Bryan's weight. Swearing at the fact that he let himself fall to this state he used what little extra strength he had to push Bryan up along with him and slowly he and the unconscious Bryan made it through one of the pathways between the buildings and out of the schoolyard.

Kai's eyes hadn't left Tala's movements for even one second as he witnessed them leave. When they finally got out of his sight he immediately fell to the ground breathing even heavier. He crawled over to Rei and saw the big puddle of red that mixed with the water beneath him. Seeing that Rei's white shirt was trashed with holes and stained with red all over he felt the pang of guilt hit him hard and he placed his forehead on Rei's back, gripping hold of Rei's wrapped tail of hair. Surprisingly it wasn't torn off like it usually was by Bryan's sharp winds.

"Sorry Rei… I'm so sorry…" Kai said between ragged breaths and pushed himself off Rei. Not having the energy to sit up he fell backwards so that he was lying on his back on the ground next to his Weapon. Eyeing the steadily falling raindrops that the sky seemed to cry, Kai took a few deep breaths. Then everything slowly faded in to black.

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A/N: And that was chapter 4. Oh, there is so much thought put behind this chapter (/story) that I'm exhausted, really. And do you know how annoying it is to write down and keep track of four people in a fighting scene? They tend to split up. What ever have I dragged myself into? Blergh. Never mind, I guess it will have to do. If the battle was messy then give me a heads up and I will try to make it better next time around, but as it is. I'm actually happy with the outcome. It's my first written fighting scene, if you don't count the little mess I wrote in the first chapter.

Until next time!

/Bonnie