Last (?) chapter!
Disclaimer: Cardfight! Vanguard is not mine.
Bursting in, the blond gently laid the unconscious brunet on his bed and closed the door behind them. Finding a cloth and a basin, he filled it with cool water, and placed the soaked cloth on Kai's forehead. His fever had grown since leaving school and if it didn't go down soon, there was going to be a big problem. He was startled when his phone began to ring. Picking it up, he was surprised to find that it was Ren. He had given the redhead his number a while back, when Ren was still taking care of Kai the first time, but he had never expected him to actually call other than that one time. He answered the call, hesitantly asking,
"Hello?" The redhead's response was uncharacteristically worried, as he said
"Miwa? Have you seen Kai? He hasn't called back even though I told him to when he called about 2 hours ago! He's not in the best condition to be wandering either!" Miwa couldn't help but glance over at the ill brunet, cursing to himself that he shouldn't have pushed Kai so far when he clearly hadn't regained all his strength yet.
"Yeah. He's at his apartment. I'm with him. He fainted after our cardfight and he's running a fever right now. Don't worry, I'll take care of him."
Ren was fairly surprised at this. Kai had fainted after a cardfight? Thinking back to how the brunet hadn't remembered the game at all, he understood what Miwa had intended. Smiling, he knew that Kai was in good hands. Bidding the blond farewell, he proceeded to call Aichi, who had also been worrying about the green-eyed boy.
Back in Kai's apartment, Miwa phoned his mom and told her that he would be staying with Kai tonight. After hanging up, he glanced at his friend again. While he was talking with Ren, he had heard mumbled words come out of Kai's mouth, something like "Stop," and "Don't hurt them." Now, it was getting worse. Kai was rolling on his bed, a tormented expression on his face. He wanted to wake the brunet up, but wasn't sure if that was the best idea.
Tangled up in black tentacles, Kai helplessly watched as he was shown fight after fight; each one more painful than the last. The worst part was, he was in every single one. But something wasn't right. There were red markings underneath his eyes and a cruel smile whenever he beat his opponents. As well, his opponents seemed very strange when they lost. They gained the red markings as well. Kai couldn't understand what he was being shown. Finally, a voice spoke in his mind.
"Kai Toshiki, do you recognize what you are seeing?" The voice was cold and disturbing, piercing through Kai's heart like a sword.
"N-No…" he stuttered. If it was possible, the voice sounded like it was sneering.
"These are the sins that you have committed while Reversed."
"R-Reversed? What is that?" The voice laughed at his confusion.
"You don't need to know. In any case, the fight right now is between you and your best friend, Miwa." Kai's head snapped up.
"Miwa?!" he screamed, in shock. The fight played out in front of him, showing him exactly what he did to the cheerful blond. Kai could only watch in horror as he Reversed his best friend with his own two hands. "M-Miwa…" he managed, as he saw his friend become a mindless drone.
Back in the real world, Kai was crying out, tossing and turning more frantically. Miwa moved to the boy's side worriedly, watching as his best friend fell victim to the torment of his dreams. Climbing up onto the bed, Miwa quickly pinned his friend down before he could hurt himself with his thrashing. However, Kai continued to attempt to escape. Tears streamed down the brunet's pale cheeks, an unseen torment trapping the poor boy in his dreams.
"Kai! Wake up! Kai!" the blond pleaded. But his friend wouldn't open his eyes. Shaking the brunet's shoulders, Miwa continued to beg for Kai to open his eyes but to no avail.
"I…did that to Miwa?" Kai let his tears run down his cheeks. Void snickered.
"That's not all. This is your fight with Sendou Aichi…" Kai tried to clamp his hands over his ears but the black tentacles restricted his movements.
"Stop! I don't want to see this! Stop!" he pleaded.
"Stop!" the brunet begged. It broke the blond's heart to see his best friend in such anguish but despite his best efforts, Kai just wouldn't wake up.
"Ai-Aichi…" the brunet whispered as he watched his best friend get Reversed. Void laughed at the brunet's misery.
"That's not all… Suzugamori Ren is next…" Kai's head snapped up.
"No! No more! Please!" he begged.
"No more! Please!" the brunet's voice cracked as he screamed. Miwa began shaking the brunet harder than ever; anything to get him out of the nightmare he was trapped in. Still, the older remained trapped in the prison of his dreams.
"I…I'm so sorry…!" the brunet shouted in the empty space. Void's voice called out to him in the dark.
"You can't be forgiven for anything that you've done. Do you think that any of them would forget what you put them through? Don't forget, Kai Toshiki. This is your sin."
Screaming, Kai's green orbs bolted open as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. The first thing that he noticed was that he was being pinned down. Still trapped in the fear of his nightmare, he frantically started thrashing about, effectively knocking over Miwa who yelped when he was thrown off of the bed.
"Kai! You're awake!" Miwa shouted as he helped himself up. However, he was greeted with vulnerable green eyes that stared back at him. Surprised by the display of emotion, he let Kai bolt out of his apartment. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he called after the brunet only to be ignored. Miwa pulled out his cell phone and sent out a text to Ren and Aichi telling them that Kai was currently missing. The three of them split up, each looking for the missing brunet in his favourite places. To make matters worse, it soon started raining and with the condition that Kai was in, he shouldn't be out in the rain.
It was only when Miwa entered the park where Kai frequently took naps did he find him. Standing alone in the rain, the brunet allowed himself to get soaked, as if washing away all his sorrows. Sending out a quick text to the other two searchers, Miwa neared the drenched boy only for him to turn towards the blond in fear and try to make an escape. However, his hopes of fleeing were quickly dashed as all of the park's exits were sealed by Ren and Aichi. Looking around, he saw the three of them advancing and he looked around desperately, looking for any method of escape. Seeing that there was none, the brunet simply stood in the rain and waited for the three of them to reach him. Miwa was the first to speak up.
"Kai, what happened? Why did you just run away like that?" Kai flinched at the accusation, not wanting to reveal the reason why he had fled his own apartment. Ren was next.
"Is there something wrong? What happened?" Their kind words were too much. Why did they even care? They should hate him after what he did! Aichi was the last one.
"Tell us, Kai-kun. We're worried about you." That did it. Tears ran down Kai's cheeks, camouflaging with the raindrops pelting down on them.
"Why do you all care?! You should hate me after what I did to all of you! I nearly Reversed all of you and I nearly killed Aichi! Why are you all," the brunet's voice broke as he finished off his question, "…being so nice to me?"
The three looked at each other. This was what was bothering Kai? Slowly, the redhead embraced the soaked boy in a warm hug.
"Kai… we would never hate you. We know that what you did while Reversed wasn't what you wanted. It's ok…" Ren patted Kai's hair as he attempted to calm the crying boy down. Aichi joined the hug as well.
"Kai-kun… it's ok. Even if it wasn't, we forgive you. We forgave you a long time ago…" Finally, Miwa joined as well.
"Kai… We don't hate you… You're our friend. Friends have to look out for each other. We'll always be looking out for you. So stop crying, alright?" The brunet wiped his tears away and nodded, sniffling. He staggered, his physical limitations finally catching up to him. Pitching forward, he was caught by his three friends. The last thing he said before blacking out completely was,
"Thank you."
Should I end it here? Or should I make another chapter? Tell me what you think! Read and review please!