Note: Disclaimer is as of the first chapter.
Warnings: Mild-swearing...nothing you can't handle. :D
Chapter 2: Princes(ses), Birthdays and Trials
Word of Robert's immediate approval of Tyson Granger got around the school (boys gossip too), and the aforementioned freshman soon attained the privileged position of 'princess' of the school. Tyson was blissfully unaware of his new found royal status and over a short period of time became one of the more popular kids in school.
Kai constantly watched from his corner as the bluenette chattered at a mile an hour about practically everything. Tyson was always looking spiffy in his uniform, even though the sleeves of his blazer were always folded to the elbows and his red-and-green tie askew half the time. Kai chewed his cud on the differences between the boy he always fought with in the playground and the young man just on the cusp of adulthood.
He must have grown a lot smarter over those years to have attained the school's prestigious scholarship. Kai feigned stony disinterest but watched as Tyson chattered with some friends as he sat on his desk with his feet planted on the seat. He had gotten tight with Max and Kenny, the bespectacled genius of the cohort. He was taller and Kai had to admit that there was a certain grace in everything he did which had been absent when he was still only a loud, uncouth boy who dug his nose and relished in flicking his pickings at people. He was very handsome and in a lot of ways pretty too...especially his eyes. What had happened to bring on such a change?
"It's called puberty," he heard Tala's voice close to his ears. He shrugged Tala away, concealing the start he got from the sudden intrusion. He couldn't believe that he had said it all out loud somehow. Either that or Tala was a bloody mind-reader.
"Hn," Kai grunted and closed his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest as usual.
Tala took his seat in front of Kai, straddling the chair, and eyed his friend curiously.
"Why are you wondering about that kid over there?" Tala asked. He looked over his shoulder at Tyson and added appreciatively, "A real looker isn't he?"
"He didn't used to look like that," Kai found himself saying involuntarily.
"Well, looking like that now, he can't be very ugly as a kid," Tala pointed out. "Who was he to you in the past anyway?"
"Nobody. Just a kid." Kai's reply was laconic. In truth, he desperately wanted this conversation over, which, he argued inwardly, was uncalled for since he had nothing to hide. Where was the teacher anyway?
"Fine be that way. But something tells me...there is more than meets the eye in this whole thing."
"Cut it, Ivanov. I don't do relationships remember? They are a waste of my time."
"Indeed," Tala said simply, but his smile said a whole lot more.
Kai cursed under his breath but on impulse looked over. He saw that Tyson was looking his way. When their eyes met, the bluenette smiled a very familiar yet tantalizingly new smile. Kai didn't smile back, only darted his eyes away and closed them once more.
Seven-year-old Tyson Granger never knew how to bake.
Yet after detention with Kai that particular day, he wanted to bake something for the cold, overly serious boy.
"You mean you never had cake before?" Tyson asked, dark, wine-coloured eyes growing rounder by the minute. "Never ever? EVER?"
Kai, then a child of eight, crossed his arms and scowled before wincing at the sharp pain in his face where a dark shadow was spreading from one of Tyson's blows.
"Never," he answered angrily. "Now will you shut up?"
"Quiet, you two!" the teacher in charge of detention snapped from the front of the empty classroom.
"But it's your birthday tomorrow, right?" Tyson whispered insistently. "How come you never told anyone?"
"Because I don't want any idiot celebrating it, moron!"
"Quiet Hiwatari! Otherwise it is double detention for you and your grandpa will be informed."
Kai blanched at the mention of the old man and settled back, gritting his teeth at the injustice of it all. He turned to send a death glare at the boy sitting next to him, but Tyson had his face forward, angelically quiet and seemingly deep in thought for a boy so young. Kai looked at him for a while, willing him to turn so that he could have a staring match. Despite the intensity of Kai's glare, the younger boy did not turn. However, when detention was over, Tyson actually looked over at Kai and disarmed the older boy with a wide, wide grin.
"See you tomorrow!" Tyson called out as he ran down the corridor. Young Kai stood at the doorway staring after him.
It was strange how memories work. How the fights they had seemed vague at this age, and all he could remember was that the fights always psyched him up for anything. So what if he returned to the Hiwatari second mansion to find his grandfather there with the cane. So what if he was caned after that for fighting in school and creating a bad image for the family. The fights always made every other thing pale in comparison. However, despite their significance, one completely unrelated moment stood out above all the rest in Kai Hiwatari's memories.
Eight year old Kai Hiwatari waited in the playground just outside of the school. He was not going home until he had a fight. That day he would win. Granger is late, he fumed as he rocked himself gently on a swing. Letting out a frustrated grunt, he kicked the dirt with his sneakered foot. Coward! he wanted to shout.
Something was thrust up to his face. Something that smelled like dirt. Kai drew back and looked down. Something dark, resembling garden soil (and smelling like it) was packed into a disposable cake tin. On it, were small stones arranged to spell his name wrongly as "Ky", and eight colourful candles placed in an arc over the name.
He looked up into the radiant face of his daily opponent just as the younger boy cried out, "Happy Birthday Kai!"
"Since it is your birthday today, we will not fight okay?" young Tyson said as he handed the astonished older boy the mud pie. "I went home straight after detention yesterday and got all the stuff ready before making this. Grandpa would not let me use the oven, so I thought this would be just fine."
Kai looked down at the packed mud in the silver plate. It was heavy, being packed as tightly as it had been. He felt a little strange, especially when Tyson started to sing a birthday song for him. The first time he wanted to celebrate his birthday, his grandfather had admonished him severely. There was no time in the world for such things, the old man had told him. Only power. There was space for only power; the building of an immense business empire. Kai had been brought up that way ever since.
Right then he held a plate of mud and did not know how exactly to react. A part of him for some strange reason wanted to break into a smile, and another screamed out the irrationality of the whole affair to him.
He picked the latter, as always.
"You can't eat dirt, twerp."
He half expected Tyson to start looking hurt and cry. No such luck. If there was something about Tyson that kept drawing him, it was the fact that Tyson never did things the way Kai always thought he should. The younger boy sat in the swing next to him and started playing on it very contentedly.
"Maybe someday, Kai, I will make you something you can eat. How about that? But that would be years and years from now when I grow up and grandpa will let me do things!" he said as he swung, his face looking towards the distant sky which was by then starting to gain a rosy tinge.
Before Kai could reply with anything, Tyson jumped from his swing and started running off, shouting over his shoulder, "Tomorrow we fight! And I will win!"
Kai felt as if he lost that day...but it had not felt like a bad loss.
Kai was late getting home, and when he got home, he sullenly told one of the servants to get him a small flower pot. Once the item was delivered to him, the servants watched curiously, as he locked himself up in his room. The next day, the cleaning maid found the small pot filled with dirt and a small seedling was already starting to appear. The pot had an unlighted candle stuck into it and some stones strewn about the top of the soil. He forbade anyone to touch it, and could only trust himself to water the plant as it grew over the years.
This of course, he never told anyone. How such a child had created so profound an impact on him was something he could hardly fathom.
"Heads up Kai! Dream like that and you can kiss your good looking face goodbye!" Ray's voice pierced through his veil of thoughts and shortly after that, Kai saw the soccer ball that was hurtling his way.
With a grunt, he jumped, caught the ball with his chest, and kicked it to Tala in the midfield. CCA [1] was such drab work, especially when it was the trials for the newcomers. After the sophomores and seniors had their little match, the soccer trials began. Kai and Ray followed the rest of the soccer club members to the side of the field, outside of the playing area. They plonked themselves down on the grass with their water bottles to watch the soccer trials. Tala and Bryan took to playing commentators, calling themselves Ali and A.J, much to the amusement of everyone else watching.
The freshies were not too bad, although Kai did spot some who could barely dribble to save their asses when the time called for it. He turned to Ray and his look said everything. Ray only smiled, shook his head and took another gulp of water.
A noise from the tracks surrounding the field caught Kai's attention. Apparently, the Track-and-Field [2] trials were on the same day. Unlike soccer, they had a lot to cover, so theirs spanned over a period of two days. He spotted a familiar head of blonde locks among those warming up for the running numbers and glanced at Ray knowingly. Ray's eyes were already locked on the figure to notice Kai's look.
Kai was about to turn back to the trial on the field when something else caught his attention and made him do a double take. Among those warming up, at the same time talking, and smiling to Max was Tyson. He was clad in only a plain, white T-shirt, tucked loosely into running shorts and Kai did not fail to notice how slender Tyson's body was, as if puberty never happened.
The runners took their start positions. Max was not in that particular number, so he stood to one side and looked like he was going to cheer Tyson on. Tyson grinned at his friend and crouched into the start position. When the gun went off, Kai was almost taken aback when that boy shot out like he had been on compressed springs. He's fast! he found himself thinking. It was the 400 m run and all that could be seen of Tyson was a sort of white streak around the soccer field. Even those on soccer trial stopped to watch.
Tyson came in first with plenty of room between him and the person in second position. Max ran up to him once he was at the finish line, and Kai saw the senior-in-charge read out something from his clipboard to Tyson, who beamed and high-fived Max. Kai saw that Kenny was there, carrying his precious laptop as usual...and Robert was there as well, seated in the viewing gallery of the grandstand with the rest of his aristocratic coveys. Kai felt his face twitch a little at the sight of the purple-haired young man.
The 1600 m trial came next. Tyson was an amazing short distance sprinter, but not much of a long distance runner. The honor of the title went to Max, who was one to pace himself out rather than use up all his energy in a single burst of speed. Once the gun went, he was off, but he did not push himself any further up front, until the next round, and subsequently gaining speed until he was at his last lap.
When the 1600 m took place, Ray's attention was once more on the track rather than the soccer trials going on in the field. He caught Max's attention and the blonde brightly lifted a hand to wave as he ran. Ray grinned and showed him a thumbs-up sign. Tala and Bryan were, fortunately, back playing commentators and did not notice the exchange; otherwise, Ray knew that they would not let him live it down.
The locker room was packed as the trials all ended at about the same time. Boys were clamoring, mostly half-dressed, to get their things from the lockers or, were simply pulling their weight around, for boys, no matter what their age, would always be boys. The older ones were quick to exploit their authority to gain spaces on benches. In one corner, a squeak sounded, followed by raucous laughter where some freshman actually got playfully groped. With all that was going on around him, Ray found himself praying hard that no one would come onto Max.
Just as he spoke it in his heart, the very object of his locker room anxiety came out of the bathroom area, clad only in his jeans, with a towel across his shoulders, and a waterproof bag for his clothes swinging in one hand. Ray ducked behind the safety of his opened locker door and put on a magnificent show of rummaging through his things. He had noticed all that span of pale, blemish-free skin and it was making him burn right to the tips of his ears.
However, a voice made him look around his locker door once more and he was just in time to see Michael, the school's star baseball player approach Max as said boy was taking his T-shirt from his locker. Michael's smile was almost seductive and definitely spelled "coming on to you". Ray watched, poised to step in when he had to. The locker room was apparently a favored place to get kinky.
"Wow Max!" Michael exclaimed as he approached the younger guy who still had his T-shirt in his hands. "You were good out there on the track!"
"Gee, thanks!" Max replied brightly, taking the time to put on his T-shirt. "And you are?"
Michael winced a little.
"That must hurt," Kai remarked from where he sat tying his shoelaces.
Undeterred by Kai's remark which he had overheard, Michael held out his hand and introduced himself, "Michael. Michael Parker. Star of this school's baseball team."
Someone could be heard groaning and another gagging, but Michael valiantly ignored them.
"Nice to meet you, Michael," Max returned, shaking his hand.
He was a little surprised when Michael didn't let go of his hand after the handshake. Michael was leaning in closer by then and Max looked on, a little puzzled.
"So Max, do you have—"
Whatever he wanted to say, he couldn't complete because something hard smacked straight into the side of his face with great force. He fell to the side and started cussing, forced to let go of Max's hand.
"What the fuck was that?!" he exclaimed, clutching the side of his face and sending a glare around.
"Oops! My bad!" a voice called from the crowd of snickering boys, and soon a certain red-head emerged. He bent over Michael as he scooped up the baseball he had just previously thrown Michael's way.
Tala helped Michael up and with a great quantity of concern in his voice went on to say, "Oh! I am so sorry, Michael. My pitching really needs work."
"I can fucking see that!" Michael shrieked right into Tala's face as he stood up, cupping a hand over the fast-bruising side of his face. "This will take weeks to return to perfection!"
Tala made a great show of brushing the grime from Michael's shirt front and said, "I think you are the one to show me how it is to be done, Michael. How about we..."
He led Michael away from the bewildered Max, out of the locker room, and as he passed Ray and Kai, he gave the former a knowing wink. Ray took the cue and smiled his thanks.
As Ray went over to Max, Kai noticed someone else emerge from the bathroom, clad in his T-shirt and jeans, rubbing his long hair dry. All eyes turned appreciatively to the newcomer. Kai saw, for the first time, the midnight hair hung loose, unconfined by the band which always tied it back. From some angles, he realized, Tyson could easily pass of as girl. Someone gave a whistle, and Tyson blissfully unaware, went straight to where Ray and Max were, where his locker obviously was.
He passed where Kai sat. By then Kai was already looking away but he waited till Kai looked up again before smiling and continuing on his way. Kai found himself not a little puzzled. He did not know what to make out of the bluenette. Since day one of school, Kai had expected Tyson to bound up to him and start chattering the way Max did Ray. Yet, Tyson kept his distance and never spoke a word to him. Kai, who liked his solitude and quiet, wasn't sure he liked this silence between them. Kai wondered whether Tyson even remembered him after all those years of absence.
Kai's silent musing was disrupted when something wet stung his face. He looked up to see Tala, returned from where ever he had left Michael, flicking a towel at him. The second assault caught him in the eye and he cussed. Kai looked at Bryan who was rolling deodorant onto his armpit. From the way Bryan was grinning at him, Kai didn't think he was going to be much help in stopping his boyfriend. Tala prepared the towel for another assault.
"Fuck you, Ta—"
Kai's words was cut off abruptly by a distant rumble, a rumble which made everyone, including himself, groan.
Footnotes:
[1] CCA: Co-Curricular Activity, in other words out-of-class club activities. In my country, co-curricular simply meant it is compulsory, as opposed to extra-curricular activities.
[2] Track-and-Field: Athletics, I think they call it.
Next chapter: A Re-meeting in the Rain and an Unforeseen Dinner