Title: Imperfect Countenance

Author: YaoiGoddessNekoJin

Rating: T

Warnings: Yaoi, Language, Violence, Implied Rape

A/N: Okey dokie, I have a new chapter. This one should prove to be quite eventful. ^-^ I am sorry for the delay in getting an update done. The other day was my b-day and I kinda slacked off for a bit. Also, thanks again to everybody who is reviewing my story. It makes me smile! ^-^ A special thanks goes out to Map of the Stars and IcePrincessMoonFaerie who have reviewed every chapter thus far. You guys rock and your reviews amuse me. I look forward to them each time. XD I'm so glad that people seem to be liking this story so far and I really hope that this chapter doesn't disappoint. Enjoy!

Chapter IV

After Rei's little melt-down, there was still about an hour left before they all had to be at the studio. Kai, unsure how to deal with the inconsolable boy, had pulled them both onto the bed, claiming that it would simply be easier on his own back. For the next couple of minutes, they sat in pensive silence, Kai with his back against the headboard with Rei leaning against his chest. When the sniffles had all but subsided, Kai glanced down, unintentionally meeting the boy's puffy eyes.

"Are you going to tell me what that was all about?" the bluenette asked. Rei hesitated for a moment, thinking his answer through carefully.

"I-I...um...it was nothing." he finished quietly, trying in vain to hide his face from prying crimson eyes. Kai just continued to stare at Rei, eyes seeming to peer into the Chinese boy's very soul.

"Rei." he said sternly. He really didn't know why he was pushing the boy so hard. It wasn't like he actually cared or anything. No, the only people he cared about were Tala and Bryan. They had been his closest friends since they were all children and they were more of a family to him than his grandfather was. Kai had learned at a young age that the only person that you could trust and depend on was yourself. His two best friends had been the only ones to ever gain his trust and, even then, he was wary. But now, here he was, trying to actually help somebody else. It would almost be laughable, if it weren't so pathetic. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true. Over the past few hours, Kai had been growing quite fond of Rei. That was part of the reason he had been lashing out so much, not that he was pleasant to begin with. These feelings that had, only recently, been making themselves known scared the living daylights out of him. The thing he was afraid of most, though, was becoming weak. Because, in the end, that was what these types of feelings always led to. The only option was to push away any possible threat. Which was exactly why the fact that he couldn't seem to help but comfort Rei unnerved him so much. Kai suddenly realized that he had been zoning out when he heard Rei begin to speak.

"Um...well...a few years ago, I watched my parents die..." As Rei told his tragic story, Kai sat, captivated by the tale. It was almost like watching a train wreck. You knew you should look away, but something made you just stand there and keep staring like an idiot. He never imagined that the rough time in Rei's life would have been anything this horrific. Even though he tried hard to fight it, he felt himself begin to feel terrible about the way he had been treating the other. Kai knew he had a problem, but, until now, he never had a reason to try and control his anger.

~x~x~x~

Rei had never been held the way Kai was holding him now. He had really never been that close to anyone, besides his parents, of course. But, even amongst his small circle of friends, there wasn't anyone who seemed to want to make an effort to get closer to him, so he just let it be. He wouldn't attempt to force a stronger bond on anyone. Which was why, even though this man was brash, rude, and violent, Rei found himself wanting to know more about him. He wanted to tell the bluenette about his life and learn about the other's life in return. On the one hand, he was reluctant to say anything because he wanted to avoid bearing his soul to the arrogant prick. He didn't want Kai to feel obligated to feel sorry for him or treat him differently due to the events of his past. If Kai was going to be nicer to him he wanted it to be because he wanted to. On the flip-side, however, he desperately craved to just get it out; to be able to trust someone so deeply that he felt completely at ease telling them his darkest secret. Maybe he wasn't able to put much confidence in Kai at the moment, but, hopefully, sharing his story would put his mind at east; for the moment, anyway.

~x~x~x~

It took Rei about half an hour to get through the whole story. He had vaguely noticed that, as he continued telling his tale, Kai's arms had gradually tightened around his waist. As he reached the end, he lay his head down on the strong chest behind him and let out a woeful sigh. One of the Russian's pale hands moved up to smooth down his, somewhat messy, black hair. Rei looked up in astonishment at the, surprisingly gentle, touch. He never imagined Kai could touch anything so tenderly. As he peered up through inky bangs, he saw an emotion he didn't recognize swirling in crimson eyes. Not a second later, he could feel a small puff of warm breath on his face as firm lips descended upon his own. Rei's eyes widened in shock, his brain scrambling hysterically for an answer to what was happening. Why was Kai kissing him? His thought process totally ceased when the hand that had previously been in his hair, slowly moved to the side of his face. Chills ran through Rei's frame when Kai's thumb caressed his cheek. The kiss was chaste and lasted until both of them needed air. When they pulled apart, both of their faces were flushed and they were breathing heavily. Rei smiled softly, causing Kai to do the same, and didn't utter a word as he lay his head back on Kai's chest. He sighed happily when a hand moved back to his hair and continued its petting. Rei felt his eyes droop, emotionally exhausted by everything that had occurred that morning. The motion of the hand proved successful in lulling him to sleep within minutes; his sleep, for once, not haunted by dark images of death and desperation.

~x~x~x~

Not too long after their exchange, there came a knock at the door. It was time to leave for the studio. After Kai woke Rei, he didn't say another word. They were now all piled in the limo, about fifteen minutes from their destination, and the unpredictable man still hadn't spoken. Kai was too busy participating in an internal battle to acknowledge the people around him. He was currently wondering if he was dying. The insanity brought on by throes of death could explain his recent behavior. This was so unlike him. He was Kai Hiwatari, for goodness' sake. Hiwataris didn't randomly develop feelings for anybody! And yet, he could sense that he was starting to foster...affection for Rei. As much as he disliked it and as much as he tried to fight it, he knew that there would be no escaping it; only acceptance. Kai glanced at Rei using his peripheral vision. Those liquid gold eyes, that shining raven hair, his soft tanned skin, who would be able to resist that? He was decidedly failing in that endeavor. Kai abruptly turned his attention to the man sitting in front of him when he felt eyes boring into his head. Bryan shot him a questioning look when their eyes met. Kai just shook his head, as if silently saying, 'later' and turned his gaze back to the scenery, beyond the glass barrier, just when the limo slowed to a stop.

~x~x~x~

Rei exited the vehicle, feeling less than exuberant about doing his job today. Kai hadn't said one word to him since they had kissed and it was really beginning to bug him. What if he regretted it? What if he did it, not because he liked Rei, but because he felt obligated to? All of these unanswered questions and 'what ifs' were taking their toll on his sanity. He, honestly, didn't think that he would be able to get in front of the cameras and act like there wasn't anything wrong; especially with Kai there. Rei set his jaw, clenching his teeth, and walked into the building.

The photo shoot had, actually, gone far better than he thought it would. The photographer had been insanely happy with Rei and his 'natural talent' as he called it. He hadn't even been worrying about Kai, seeing as he had been absent the entire time. Actually, come to think of it, Tala and Bryan had also been missing. Rei's curiosity was mildly piqued by the situation, but he put it out of his mind for the moment. After the shoot, Judy talked with the cameraman and arranged plans for the following day. Max walked up to Rei, a huge grin on his face.

"Rei, you were great!" he said, making Rei duck his head in bashfulness.

"Thank you, Max." A sudden rumble sounded from his stomach, reminding him that he never did make it to breakfast that morning. "Hey, you wanna go check out the catering?"

"Sure." They both made their way to the long table, that held a variety of foods, and began filling up their plates. When they were finished, they went to one of the corners of the room and stood there, eating and chatting. Max cast Rei a funny look when he paused, finger sandwich half-way to his mouth and staring at something beyond his shoulder. Rei was...confused, to say the least, at the sight that greeted him. Well, needless to say, he found Tala and Bryan. They had just re-entered the main room from one of the doorways on the opposite side of the studio. They both looked quite disheveled, Tala more so than Bryan. Tala was trying to smooth out his unruly hair, a flushed look on his face. Bryan, for all of his...stoicismwas only slightly better than the redhead. The lavender-haired man's clothes were more wrinkled than they had been earlier in the day and he wore a smug, sated look. As his brain slowly put the pieces together, Rei found himself blushing darkly. Tala and Bryan? Bryan and Tala? No...surely not...right?

"Rei, what's the matter?" Max inquired, head tilted slightly. Rei turned back to the blonde, just missing the matching smirks that were sent his way. Tala let his eyes slide to the man beside him.

"So, what do you think about him?" he asked his companion. Bryan shot the redhead a strange look.

"What brought that up?"

"I don't know...its just, Kai seems different today. It's like that boy sparked some internal debate and I was wondering what kind of vibe you got from him." Bryan appeared to actually give this some thought before answering.

"Well, he's far too easy to pick on. Aside from that, though, he's exactly the kind of person we were warned about. He may seem kind and naive, but he's probably just being deceptive to throw us off guard." Tala just 'hmm-ed' in response, face slightly pensive as they both approached the subject of their discussion. When both boys in front of them turned, Tala's expression was quickly replaced with a sly look once more.

"Hey there." he said smoothly. Bryan rolled his eyes at the man's antics. Rei fidgeted with his sleeves for a moment before answering.

"H-hi. Hey, Tala. U-um, what were you guys up to?" As soon as the question left Rei's mouth, he knew it had been a bad idea. That thought was only confirmed when both men smirked quite evilly. Tala threw an arm around Bryan's shoulders and turned, pressing his body firmly against the taller man's side.

"What do you think we were doing?" he purred. Rei's face heated up again and he tried to look anywhere but at the two.

"R-right." he stumbled over his words. "W-w-well, have e-either of you s-seen Kai?" Tala looked at Rei in surprise, though none of it showed on his face.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I was just wondering. I haven't seen him since we got here and he hasn't spoken to me since we left the hotel." The change in subject gave Rei the confidence he needed to speak with the redhead without stuttering. Tala looked at Bryan and they both raised a brow.

"Why would he have a reason to make small talk with you? This is just a job, not some vacation. None of us are here to make any friends." Rei was stung by Tala's words. Sure, they had been sort of mean to him, but Rei was the kind of person who tried to always look for the best in people. Besides, out of all three Russians, Tala had seemed like the most amicable. 'I guess that just goes to show that you can't always read people correctly.' he thought to himself.

"Hey! Don't be so rude!" Max piped up, startling Rei. The raven-haired boy turned to look at Max like he was crazy, though with an underlying sense of gratitude. He chanced a nervous look at the other two, kind of expecting them to murder the blonde. When they did nothing more than glare, Rei sighed in relief then grabbed Max's arm, dragging him away before he could endanger himself further. When the got far enough away from Tala and Bryan, Rei stopped walking and released the boy's arm.

"Thanks for standing up for me, Max, but you need to be careful around those guys." Rei said seriously. Max just grinned at him.

"I'm not scared of them. Those guys act really tough, but they're not that bad."

"How do you know that?" as soon as the words left Rei's mouth, Max began to look very sheepish and nervous. He fiddled with his hands for a moment before turning big, blue eyes back to Rei.

"Well...I...sort of heard Bryan talking to Tala on the phone last night. He thought I was asleep."

"W-what was he saying?"

"Not too much, but they are surprisingly loving towards each other. From what I could tell, the three of them have known each other for a long time. He was also telling Tala that someone hired by Kai's grandfather has been following them. I think he said his name was Boris."

"Do you know why?" Max shook his head.

"No, but, from what I gathered, he's the only family Kai has left. I don't think he's a very nice man, though." While Rei's mind was churning with this new information, something seemed to catch Max's eye and, with a wave, he ran off. 'So, Tala and Bryan really are together. I wonder why they don't seem to like people that much. Could it have anything to do with Kai's grandfather?' Rei managed to completely block out the rest of the world as he thought about the Russian trio. He wanted to know why there would be someone following them. His mind eventually turned to Kai, though. He wondered why the bluenette hadn't spoken to him since that morning. Why did Kai even kiss him if he was just going to act like nothing happened? Rei felt strangely hurt by that. He didn't completely understand why yet, but he wouldn't be opposed to a repeat performance. Something about the man intrigued and mystified him. But the question still remained, did Kai kiss him because he was developing the same sort of feelings for Rei? Or, did he do it because it was just a one-time whim? Rei became so wrapped up in his own little world, that he never noticed that the person he had been looking for entered the room. It wasn't until a shrill giggle and a flash of blue caught his eye that he turned to look. His eyes lit up and he smiled when he saw Kai, however, the smile soon faded at the sight that met his eyes. Attached to Kai's arm was a bleach-blonde girl, who Rei swiftly recognized as one of the photographer's assistants. She was laughing at something Kai had said, batting her mascara-caked eyelashes in what she thought was a flirtatious manner. Rei felt his eyes stinging slightly at the way Kai was looking at her. It was like he was enjoying being with her. And, when she rose up on her tiptoes and pressed her gaudy, pink lips to Kai's, Rei felt like a weight was crushing his chest. So, that was it, wasn't it? He had just been playing with Rei the whole time. Rei had told Kai, the first person he had told, about his parents and it had all been a...a...joke. Suddenly, he felt like a fool. He felt used. Having the strong urge to get out, Rei startled everyone by taking off running. He ran out of the studio, ignoring the calls for him to stop, and kept going, tears beginning to roll down his face.

~x~x~x~

By the time Rei had stopped running, he was gasping for breath. It had gotten dark and he had no idea where he was. He started shivering when he felt the first droplets of icy rain hit his skin. Rei kept walking, knowing that if he stopped now, his feet would begin to ache and he wouldn't want to continue. His tears, that were still falling down his face, created a warm sensation as their heat mingled with the rain's cold. He couldn't believe he was so stupid. He was getting worked up over nothing. Of course Kai didn't like him, he had been nothing but mean since they had met. But, Rei had still hoped. That kiss had felt so right and he couldn't ignore the feelings that it had stirred up. Kai probably thought he was an idiot for acting like such a child. He, Tala, and Bryan were probably laughing at him right now. Rei didn't want to stay in New York any longer. He just wanted to go back to Japan, go to his apartment, and never come out.

Rei didn't realize that he was being followed until he heard the scrape of asphalt behind him. He tried to turn, but felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Spots began dancing in front of his eyes and someone grabbed his hair, hauling him into a nearby alley. Still dazed, Rei wasn't able to put up much of a fight when he was slammed against the brick wall of the dark, dank alleyway. He was, however, able to finally see who his attacker was. Rei's entire body began trembling in fear when he looked into the evil, inky eyes of the middle-aged man in front of him. The man had cropped, brown hair and was tall, easily towering over the Chinese boy. The lecherous grin on his face made Rei's stomach churn violently. He suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to vomit. The man leaned into Rei's face and whispered in his ear.

"You don't know how long I've waited to meet you like this." After that, it was as if the floodgates burst. The man wrapped a large hand around Rei's neck, easily throwing him to the ground. Rei grunted in pain when his already sore head made rough contact with the hard ground. He was in a near panic now and he tried to scramble backwards and away from the menacing figure. The man just laughed at the boy's efforts at escape. He then lowered himself to the ground and sat on Rei's legs so that the boy could no longer move. Rei was more scared in that moment than he had ever been in his entire life. He was completely at this maniac's mercy. His amber eyes snapped open when he felt his shirt being removed. The boy was unable to hold back his tears and, for the second time that night, he broke down. He vaguely noticed that the man had a knife when he felt the slight metallic bite as the knife was used to cut his clothes away. Rei shivered when the man leaned down and licked the shell of his ear.

"Shh. Don't cry. Just enjoy yourself." he said gruffly.

~x~x~x~

To say that Max was worried would be the understatement of the year. Rei had just up and ran off and he still hadn't come back yet. It had been several hours and now the sun had set and it was raining. In the months that Max had known the boy, nothing like this had ever happened. The blonde was pacing the hotel room, wringing his hands. Judy had sent him back a couple of hours prior while she and Bryan were out looking for his errant friend. He was ripped from his thoughts as the other two Russians entered the room, scowls on both their faces. Max gave them a questioning look.

"I don't see what all of the fuss is about. He just left for a while." said Kai, throwing his wet jacket on the floor. Max glared before stalking over to the two.

"The fuss is because this isn't like Rei. He's never done anything like this before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything." Tala chimed in.

"Did you even bother looking at his face as he ran out? He was devastated. Something was wrong and he was upset. We have to find him! I have a really bad feeling about this." Kai sighed, admitting, only to himself, that Max was right. There was definitely something wrong and it was all his fault. The only reason that he had responded to that girl's affections was because he was trying to prove to himself that he wasn't beginning to like Rei. He hadn't intended for the boy to see them, but, once he noticed Rei's attention, he had played it up, going so far as to let the girl kiss him. When he had seen the look on Rei's face as he ran out of the studio, Kai had felt like running after the boy. He soon decided against it, though, his mind telling him that he shouldn't. He was now regretting that decision.

~x~x~x~

Rei was cold, shivering, and hurting. He couldn't believe what had just happened was real. Rei had never been intimate with anyone before and that made his experience all the more traumatizing. The man had been rough. Rei knew that he was bleeding, could feel its warmth against his frozen skin. His voice was raw from trying to yell out for help and screaming in pain. His breathing was shallow and he knew that he probably had a few broken ribs. He felt dirty, like he had been tarnished and was less human for it. How was he supposed to face anyone now? Just when Rei had been praying that the man who had done this to him had left, he heard shoes scraping against the ground. He turned his head slightly, looking up with dull eyes. The man, now fully dressed, stood over Rei with the previously discarded knife in his hand. A flash of renewed fear shot through him, causing his entire body to jerk in pain.

"Now, now, don't be scared. I'm just making sure that no one else can have you." Rei closed his eyes when the man brought the knife down toward him, slashing across his face. He yelled out weakly and turned his head away as slash after slash was made over the expanse of his body. What seemed like an eternity later, Rei dimly heard the receding footsteps as he was finally left alone. He felt numb and like he was floating, but his body felt leaden when he tried to move. As Rei was left to die, the warm, crimson pool under him ever-growing, he welcomed the darkness that fell over him.

~x~x~x~

TBC...

A/N: Gasp!