Chapter 7
Once their performance was done four of the band members, Danny, James and Kyoshi walked off stage exhaustedly, down the hall and into the back room after their two hour show they had just put on, finally feeling the real strain. Sakura was just as tired but had jumped off stage and walked to the front table to get Kai and Tala before picking up a strong drink that the bartender had ready waiting for her.
The three walked down the hall in silence, Kai farthest behind as always. Saku opened the door slowly, then stepping inside and walking to the other side of the room without stepping on Kyoshi who was sprawled on the ground. Kai and Tala stopped in their tracks once they reached the door, Tala's hand on the door frame as he stared on confusedly at the collapsed member of the group. They both watched as James fell back onto the sofa, lying down comfortably while Danny lifted Kyoshi's head slightly and put a cloth underneath before walking over to the sofa and sitting back.
Saku stopped from sipping her drink and locked eyes with Tala's slightly worried ones, "This is what a band is like after a good performance." She commented briefly.
"Yeah, the more exhausted you are after the better the show must have been." Kyoshi said from the ground, pulling the cloth from under his head and placing it over his face.
'At least he's conscious.' Tala thought, sounding a little relieved even in his own head.
"That sounds about right. All the singers that died on stage gave the audience a killer performance." Kai said sarcastically.
Saku faked the sarcasm with him and continued with it, "I know right? If I have to die soon I hope it's like that."
Kyoshi moved the cloth off his face and glared across the room at Sakura, her just giving him a look that asked 'what?' and a non-verbal reply was quickly sent back to her, one that wasn't readable amongst the rest of those in the room.
"Do we know you two?" Danny asked suddenly, realization suddenly dawning on him.
"We're with them." Kai replied, jerking his thumb over at Saku in the corner.
Danny looked over at Saku questioningly, looking for some back up on the boy's excuse. Sakura sighed and nodded, "They are." She reassured monotonously. She got another nod from Danny before he went back to relaxing his head against the back of the sofa, Sakura placing her glass on the table before sliding down against the wall to the ground. "Take a seat somewhere; we'll leave once everyone is okay to." She said, looking over sharply at Kai and Tala.
Tala glanced over at Kai, a little confusedly as he looked on questioningly. The Bladebreakers team captain shrugged slightly, moved out of the doorway and closed it behind him before walking to the side of the room and sat down against the wall. Tala remained standing by the door, looking around at all the people in the room, each one even more different then the last.
"Oi! Didn't you hear me? I understand you might enjoy standing but you're going to get tired like that." Sakura spoke loudly, making her band mates flinch from the sharp voice that cut through the air, while that same voice made him shoot out of his thoughts again.
Tala looked over at her, shaking his head slightly before sitting on the floor by the door. He sat there quietly listening to Danny and James argue about who's turn it was to drive home while in his head he was commenting on how neither of them looked like they should be driving. Danny's shaggy black hair fell in front of his face mostly by now, parts of it sticking to his forehead and cheeks with sweat.
When Tala looked up at the group again the two males in question where hauling themselves off their leisurely positions and put together their things to leave. He had spaced out for too long to figure out who was going to be doing the driving but he really couldn't be bothered at the time to figure it out. Following a few more minutes of silence aside from the few words Danny exchanged with Kyoshi and Sakura before they left the other four alone.
Once Danny and James left Kyoshi attempted to get off the ground slowly, scooting over to the sofa and lying down over there, "Saku…be a good hostess and get those two something to drink would you?"
The dark-haired girl groaned slightly and stood up, pulling her wallet out of her back pocket and tossing Kai her membership card of the bar, "Go get yourselves something, telling him to put it on my tab while you're at it."
Kai caught the card in a second and tossed it back in one movement, "We don't need something to drink."
Tala sat there in silence, resting his head back against the wall as he sometimes ran his fingers through his red hair. He was just as tired as the band now. He'd spent the whole day awake talking to Kai or just relaxing on the sofa trying to ignore the excessive heat that plagued the whole country at the time. He really couldn't help but feel drained and distracted by the heat; his body just wasn't used to such weather conditions.
"You're speaking for yourself and forgetting about your friend over there, the guy is spacing out too much." Sakura walked over and knelt down in front of Tala, startling him at first.
Tala shook his head quickly in a protest, "No. I'm fine." He said quickly.
Saku gave a shrug and uncaring look before standing up, "Suite yourself." She fell back onto the sofa Kyoshi had been sitting on earlier, Tala finally taking in the fact that Kyoshi was no longer present in the room.
Tala looked over at Kai and whispered quietly the question on his mind, "Where'd Kyoshi go?"
Kai's eyebrows furrowed slightly with confusion, wondering aimlessly why his friend hadn't noticed the boy leaving, "He went out back to smoke." He answered quietly anyway.
"You're acting even more spacey than Kyoshi." Saku said coldly. This was her character, serious tough love. No one really knew whether or not she cared when she said such things or if she was just in a bad mood or something but when she spoke it was always blank, giving them no reassuring answer. "Go get him something to drink." She ordered Kai coldly.
Kai nodded, quickly stood up and walked out of the room in a hurry to get his friend something to drink. He walked up to the bar's counter, ordering a tall glass of water. He waited for it by looking around the club, noting that people were already on their way out, who could blame them? The entertainment was exhausted and had left and it was almost one-thirty in the morning. He picked up the glass once it hit the counter, tossing the money onto the wooden bar and walked back off in the direction of the small long corridor. Surprising him, Tala was running down the hall and had grabbed his arm as he passed, "Get rid of the drink we have to go." He heard the red-head say quickly in a whisper.
The older Russian blader dumped the glass onto a table and let himself be dragged out the door before jerking Tala back and stopping to question him, "What happened?" he asked, gripping onto the red-heads soldiers brutally.
Tala took a deep breath, effecting to calm himself down to speak. He took one more deep breath, grabbing Kai's shoulders and pushing against him slightly as he tried to regain his balance from the sudden stop, "There where gunshots in the alley, Sakura thinks Hana went after Kyoshi so she told me to run and wait for her by her car."
Kai nodded once hearing the explanation, grabbing Tala's arm, "Lead the way then." He said quickly.
Tala nodded, grabbed Kai's arm and ran down the street to the car park where Saku had said it was. The whole time he ran he could hear Kai close behind who had made him let go of him. He didn't mind that but he was glad that Kai was at least giving him the chance of doing things the way he wanted to for once. The two arrived at the car park, both sighing heavily as they stood at the entrance. The car park looked like it was miles long, filled with cars of all kinds in lanes for as far as they could see. "How do we find it? There's got to be at least ten black sports cars in here." Tala was out of ideas at this point.
The eldest Russian pried the electric key out of the other boy's hand, then walking over to the stairs that where in the corner by a building. Tala walked up beside him as Kai fumbled with the key and hit the button to open the car, looking out over at the lot of cars. One car in particular in the middle of the lot lit up and obviously opened; singling out that that was the car they were looking for. The red-head smiled over at Kai, silently praising the boy as the two walked back down the steps and to the car. The two slid into the back seat of the car, locking it once they got inside to wait for Kyoshi and Sakura. "Kai…you think they're alright?" Tala asked. The boy was resting his forehead against the back of the front seat, his forearms pressed tightly against his slender stomach as he stared into the black leather.
Kai exhaled heavily and sat back comfortably, staring at the grey covered ceiling of the car, "They know what they're doing." He stated coldly.
A sudden pang of fear ran through Tala's body, he was worried…about absolute strangers, "That's not what I asked you." He said.
Kai didn't know how to answer his friend anymore these days. When Tala had Boris' implants in his brain, Kai could easily talk to Tala because the two where always thinking on the same level and from the same point of view but now that they were out Tala didn't know his own personality and he was constantly asking Kai questions that he wasn't sure how to answer properly. He thought for a moment and tried to come up with the best reply, one that sounded comforting but one that didn't sound like a complete lie, "They're probably fine." Was all he could come up with.
A knock was heard on the glass window of the back seat, startling Tala as he hurried and looked out the window, seeing Saku standing there panting heavily and mouthing for them to open the door. They did so and Saku jumped into the front seat, snatching the key out of Kai's outstretched hand. She started the car and exited the parking lot in a hurry, "You two are alright?" she asked them, glancing up to see their reflections in the mirror.
"We're alive. Where's Kyoshi?" Tala came up with the quickest answer to her question just so he could ask his own even quicker, just a little bit of worry evident in his voice, not wanting to make any of his concern obvious to the girl.
"He ran off after the shooter, I'm going after him but he can take care of himself, he's fine." The car came to a sudden stop about two minutes later and Sakura got out of the car. She turned back quickly to the open door and peered in again, her hands gripping the door, "Wait here, alright?" she asked hurriedly, in need of some form of reassurance from the two 'trouble makers' as she'd so nicely put it in her mind. She heard two more shots coming from inside a nearby building and she just shouted another "Wait here." Before slamming the door shut and running down the street, away from the other two.
Tala looked on worriedly out of the window, his expression speaking thousands about the way he was feeling about the situation. "Tala don't worry." Kai said, crossing his arms and sitting back.
The red-head's anger grew slightly and he looked over at Kai out of the corner of his eye, gritting his teeth and replying, "I didn't think worry was controllable."
"Well it is." Kai said angrily, "I manage to stop worrying." He added. The younger Russian forced open the door quickly and jumped out; slamming the door tightly before running off in the same direction that he had seen Sakura run in. Kai shook his head rapidly, getting out of the car and following close behind Tala to keep the boy out of trouble. The two stopped in front of a building that was still being constructed, the whole thing dark on the inside once you looked through all the stone slabs and white dust clouds. Kai looked over at Tala, seeing a bit of uncertainty on his face, "You're sure this is where she ran to?" he asked quickly.
Two shots sounded through the air and Tala glared at Kai quickly, "I'm pretty sure." He replied.
The younger boy was on his way to run inside the abandoned building when Kai grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back again. He gave the younger boy a sharp warning look, one slightly tainted with concern as he spoke, "Don't be reckless, you have to be careful." He reminded him.
Tala smiled and nodded towards his friend, glad that Kai was able to feel a bit of fear and concern once in a while, especially for him. The two ran inside, stopping to move more carefully once Kai had almost tripped over some broken slabs. The two where drawn faster to the area when more sounds of gunshots began echoing through the clouded air. When walking on the two saw some light illuminating a room on the far end of the broken building and a form slowly walked out in a hurried but steady pace, always looking behind her at the lit entrance.
The skinny form belonged to none other person than Sakura who's eyes instantly fell widened when she saw the two there. She ran up in front of them, grabbing Tala's shoulder quickly, glaring at both of them, "What the hell are you two doing over here?" she tried hard to keep her voice low through her anger and frustration but didn't succeed all too much. Suddenly five shots where fired, one after another before an almost scream was let out by Kyoshi in the room Sakura had exited from a moment before. The two boys with Sakura where alarmed by the sound and both stepped forward quickly to walk into the room but Saku held them both back, "Let's go." She said quickly, turning them round and pushing them forward.
"You can't just leave him." Kai turned back around, yelling at Sakura.
Tala turned round and glared at her, at the same time some disbelief being evident in his blue eyes, refusing to believe that Sakura was just willing to leave Kyoshi behind like that. "What if he's hurt?" He asked suddenly.
Sakura's eyes blared with angry fire, gritting her teeth and replying, "He'll be fine, keep moving."
Kai shook his head and muttered, "You're brutal."
Tala shook his head too, pushed past Saku and ran straight past her and into the room she'd just exited. He was able to hear Kai running up behind him and Saku calling them to stop but it was too late and the teenagers had arrived in the room. Tala was the first to see it, his eyes widening and his mouth gaping open in shock upon seeing it. Kai's appearance was just about the same, the only difference being that he wasn't as disgusted as Tala was who turned away for a moment from the sight.
Kyoshi was holding a man up against a wall by his shoulders, feasting on his neck with the blood dripping down the body while the man squirmed and gripped the stone wall as he tried not to cry out in pain. He was almost done but then Kyoshi heard the footsteps behind him and a light banging against the wall. He finished up quicker and turned round quickly, letting the body drop to the ground with a sickening thud. His mouth was kept slightly open and blood curled over at the corner of his mouth and sliding onto his chin. Upon seeing Kai and Tala staring at him he felt terrible, even ashamed and just to the point where he wanted to crawl into a hole and die a quiet and quick death.
Kai and Tala glanced at each other, both of them finally taking in each others amazement before both turned back to Sakura. The girl had her hands up against a powdered white stone wall, gently banging her head against the wall with frustration.
---An Hour Later---
Kai and Tala still couldn't shrug off the picture of all they had seen earlier, both still not being able to take it in. "You really need to rewind and repeat all this again." Kai told Sakura, watching as she sat down on the arm of the sofa.
Sakura sighed, shook her head and rubbed her temples, "What exactly is there to explain? He's a vampire, that's it."
"You should have told us earlier." Tala stated coldly.
Saku rolled her eyes at that comment, "Right. 'Hey, I'm Sakura, an assassin and that's Kyoshi, a real vampire.' Somehow I don't think that would have worked." She said bitterly, glaring daggers at the two.
"I still don't get it." Kai muttered.
"Don't you know what a vampire is?" Sakura asked.
Kai shouted, "Of course I do!"
"Then what is there not to get?"
Tala put a hand on Kai's shoulder, keeping him from lashing out again, "How did it happen?" he spoke for his friend.
Saku sat forward, resting her hands on her knees, "That's not in my place to say any of that, you can maybe ask him yourself later if you like but what I can tell you, or more like, what I can assure you is that he doesn't hurt innocent people. He never takes a person's life unless the person is either evil or on the brink of death."
Kai began to protest, shaking his head and standing up, "That's not even human. How would he manage living like that if he only drank the blood of those that where evil or dieing? He wouldn't manage."
"He starves for most of the time. I'm a constant blood donor for him to survive and I do it willingly. If it were up to him, he would have killed himself a long time ago because he hates living like a vampire but he's doing it for me and to be able to help people like you." Sakura continued to explain, even though a part of her knew that a lot more questioning and distrust was going to follow all her words.
Kai sat back down and turned to Tala. A look on the boy's face said that he wanted the chance to say something and Kai gave him the opportunity to do so, clearing his mind for a moment from all the anger to be able to listen to his friend. "He hasn't hurt us so far, Kai. He's harmless. We thought Sakura was always the one we should be more wary of, not Kyoshi so we shouldn't change our opinion of him until there's something we should actually worry about."
"Being a vampire isn't enough?" Kai asked him quietly.
Tala softened but gave Kai an annoyed look just for the comment, "He hasn't hurt us yet has he?"
"No but he could."
"But he hasn't so for now, my opinion of him is remaining the same." Tala said deciding.
"Kai…" Sakura began, sounding sincere and kind suddenly and softened up a bit as Kai looked over at her, "I know you're concerned for your own safety and your friend's but Kyoshi is one of the kindest people you will ever meet and won't come close to hurting anyone. The guy is in his room, humiliated you saw him acting like that, the last thing he needs is you not trusting him because of it. He didn't want to tell you and didn't let me tell you because he wants to try to live a life away from being a vampire. The problem is that it's hard to separate yourself from what's been put into your blood." She explained with a sense of kindness and understanding in her voice, the most they've seen of her ever since they'd met her. Her voice was tinted with just a bit of anger though; probably anger for having the one she loved alone and upset and all Kai could do was judge about it.
Kai looked over at Tala, a longing in Tala's blue eyes awaking something in him that made him want to give Kyoshi some other chance and not to change anything. The older Russian looked back over at Sakura and nodded slowly, taking in some acceptance on the subject at hand.
Sakura smiled for only a second, it flashed onto her face and disappeared again and she nodded curtly, "I'll be back soon." She got up and left the room, walking into Kyoshi's room. The boy wasn't there, surprising her a little since he would usually be lying on his bed when he was upset about something. She walked back into the hall, turning round the corner and finding Kyoshi out on the fire escape by himself. She slid open the window and stepped outside, standing behind Kyoshi who was sitting cross-legged on the escape with a mug of hot coffee gripped tightly in his hands. He looked up at her once he heard her come outside behind him; he smiled gently before turning back to the scenery of the city.
She sat down beside him, staring out at the city with him. She looked at him out of the corner of his eye, "Shinpai shinaide." ("Don't worry.") she turned back to looking away from him, feeling his eyes on her again.
Kyoshi had a childish look of confusion on his face again, his eyes holding questions, "E?" ("Sorry?")
Saku looked over at him again, her eyes holding no emotion as she spoke, "Shinpai shinaide, maa ii deshou." ("Don't worry, its okay.")
Kyoshi turned his head away from her, looking up at the sky, "Ah." He whispered. He rested back slowly against the wall, his spine touching the harsh stone wall through his thin clothing which felt uncomfortable. He stared up into space absent mindedly, he soon felt Sakura crawling over to him. She slowly snaked her arms around his torso, smiling gently into his neck before giving the soft pale skin of his neck a gentle kiss, doing the same on the corner of his mouth. She got off the ground soon after that small action of comfort and jumped back inside the house without another word.
Kyo sighed sadly, tears stinging his eyes enough to blur his vision of the moon and sky that illuminated the sky above him. He finished sipping his coffee, coming to the end of the mug when he decided he should be getting back inside. He silently hoped that Kai and Tala were already in bed, or at least not in the apartment at all so he could get to his room without seeing them. He snuck back into the house, creeping quietly down the hall and stepping into his bedroom. He placed the empty mug down on his bedside table, refusing to go into the kitchen that night just in case someone was in there. He sat down in the middle of his bed, crossing his legs and taking deep breaths.
He heard footsteps pass by his bedroom but he just ignored them as best he could until someone stopped in his doorway where he could feel someone's gaze on him. He opened his eyes quickly upon hearing the person stop and stand there opposite him. Tala stood there quietly, his hand resting against the entrance. Kyoshi felt some heat rising in his cheeks, feeling embarrassed again.
Tala remained where he was; he had promised Kai he wasn't going to get within a metre of Kyoshi just in case something happened so he stayed in the doorway where he knew he was safe. "We're both sorry." He said honestly.
Confusion shone onto Kyoshi's face, making him choke on his own breath slightly which resulted in a small cough. Once it cleared he looked up shyly, "What for?" he stammered.
The red-head was slightly surprised that Kyoshi didn't know what he was talking about, after all, it did seem to have made a large impact on Kyoshi's strength and pride but he opted on answering anyway, "For judging you about this whole vampire situation. Nothing's changed."
Kyoshi couldn't help but smile slightly, nodding and speaking a quiet, "Thank you."
"I'll see you in the morning then." Tala added quietly, nodding.
Kyo got off his bed and was about to walk past Tala to leave his room, "Yeah, good night."
"You're going out?" Tala asked quickly, watching the boy walk into the living room.
Kyoshi slid his gun off the table; he'd placed it there once he'd gotten into the apartment, thinking that after Kai and Tala had found out what he was they wouldn't even trust him with his own gun anymore. He put it in his back pocket while looking up at Kai, "Yeah." He replied quickly.
"Isn't the sun coming up soon?"
Kyo turned to the window that was behind him by the sofa, he turned back to Tala before walking over the door, answering casually, "It's got another four hours. I won't be out long. Good night." He left quickly after his final good night, not making any more eye contact with the boy. The strange bit of it all was his mood swings within the past few hours. He thought about each phase of his emotions through the whole day as he walked on for a few minutes, a destination planted so firmly in his mind he didn't need to watch where he was going.
The emotions ran through out the whole day, from the moment he stepped out of his bedroom and went into the kitchen to make his coffee. He hadn't taken Kai and Tala's first distrust personally as he'd said but when he got into Saku's bedroom to relax so much had begun flooding into his mind he was too week to keep up with it all at once. He could remember his feelings of the moment so clearly, he felt them all over again, the light stinging in his eyes, the quick breaking of his heart, the throbbing in his head, he felt it all over again, just like he when he was lying on the bed.
Saku had whispered 'let me see…' in his ear in Japanese, he knew she'd be able to see so close to his soul he'd be able to feel her there and he didn't want that. He wanted to hold her off from knowing his emotional imbalance for as long as he could, sooner or later he knew she was going to get a hold of him, he just thought he should at least hold it off for as long as he could.
All he remembered next about that part of the day was her trying to comfort him, he was in her arms, laying close to her again and he couldn't have felt safer but he'd completely lost his voice and chance of speaking and she left him alone again. Out of the whole afternoon that was as far as he remembered, knowing that when he got to the bar he'd fallen asleep in the back room on the armchair. Saku had just woken him up at the best and worst time of his sleep, his own death. He'd woken up in one of the worst ways, being hit and jolted straight out of it. The worst way of waking up when you're dreaming about falling to the ground to your own death but the best time for waking up was just before you actually hit the ground in your sleep.
Tears were running from his eyes like streams, forming puddles at the collar of his red shirt. He picked up the pace when he felt the heartbreaking feelings increase more and more, putting a greater amount of pressure on his body. He arrived down by the beach, stepping off the stone and onto the soft dry sand. He looked behind him, looking up at the rocks, seeing the black railings at the very top shining in the moon light through his blurring vision.
He sat down on one of the large rocks, staring out at the sea as best he could through the tears that slipped off uncontrollably. He hated this for it to have to come to this point. He didn't want to be doing this but he was left with no other choice than to just sit there and let it all out peacefully.
The blood loss. He blamed the blood loss for everything that was happening to him. If he hadn't been turned into a vampire then he wouldn't have to live as some creature of the night that fed off people's lives. He didn't want to take the lives of other people but that didn't mean he wanted to die either. He was too…kind to suck someone's blood just so that he could live. To take someone's life for your own, killing something natural and beautiful so that he could live as a monster. All these thoughts, true thoughts, helped the sudden flow of the tears as he closed his eyes, listened to his own conscience and the sound of the sea against the shore in the background and the feeling of raindrops from the sky above him that fell gracefully onto his own body. The first bit of rain the country had had in months.
The boy was interrupted as he almost always was, his phone ringing and vibrating in his jeans pocket. He drew a sharp breath and held back the tears while he slipped his phone out of his pocket, almost choking on the salty air from the sudden air he'd taken in. He looked down at his phone, 'Saku, Calling' written on the screen. He flipped it open quickly and placed it to his ear, then steadily spoke out into the empty surroundings, "Hello?"
"You can't sit out and cry in the rain all night." Saku said coldly on the other line.
Kyo refrained from sighing, otherwise she'd get more suspicious or he'd anger her and he didn't want either of those to happen, "I'm just out for a walk. I'll be back at home soon."
Saku exhaled, a small knocking sound being heard quietly over the phone, Kyoshi guessing that she was leaning against the wall or shelf somewhere. She took a quiet moment for herself and the boy was about to hang up on her due to the absence of her voice when she spoke again, "Kyo, you have no reason being out there. There's nothing there that you're not allowed or incapable of doing over here."
Kyoshi was a little taken aback by her words, moving his phone away from his ear and onto his lap for a moment. How many times had he heard her actually say that? He was sure that she knew he was breaking down, so why did she tell him to go home to do it? She hated it when he broke down at home because she took it upon herself to help comfort him but that wasn't her thing, she thought that she wasn't any good at it. By the time he lifted the phone to his ear again the line had gone dead completely. He slowly moved himself off the rock he'd been sitting on, his feet touching the damp sand again. He looked out over at the sea for one more minute before his shoes made footprints in the sand as he made his way back to the house slowly and calmly.
For minutes of walking he went back to bottling up his emotions as best he could so that he could avoid people staring at him on the street and he could at least go back home with a brave face to show Sakura he hadn't broken down. Sadly for that to be proven to her it would only be assuming that nothing bad happened when he got back to the house. He was on the brink of emotions, one slip up and he could lose it completely and he didn't want to in front of her. He knew her better to know that she wouldn't accept it; it was why he felt the need to say sorry after every single time he broke down.
She'd constantly repeat though that there was no need to apologize. Sakura was strict and reckless but she was far from being heartless, especially in such cases of emotional discomfort, most of all of someone she loved so much. He arrived to the front door of the house before he knew it, about to put the key in the lock when the door swung open suddenly. He looked down at Sakura who stared back at him a little sharply, softening up slightly once she'd seen it was only him, "I was just about to come and find you." She announced quietly.
"You hung up before I could tell you I was on my way back." Kyo said, the most perfect excuse he could come up with on such short notice.
Sakura nodded carefully in some understanding, opening the door wider for him to step back inside. He did so and walked into the living room, staring outside the window as he pulled off his open red shirt that had been clinging to his body from the rain water that had fallen on him while he was outside. He placed it on the sofa and moved over to the window. Sakura stood up beside him, handing him a black towel to dry himself off with.
He took a quick look at her features, seeing them as plain and stoic as always. He stepped back slightly so that he could pull off his white t-shirt without hitting her accidentally. In a slower movement as he kept his focus on the scene outside he took the towel from her and wiped at his chest and stomach slowly.
Sakura crossed her arms and looked out the window with him, "It looks like the rain stopped." She noted aloud. She saw Kyoshi nod in agreement and she quietly added, "Although I'm pretty sure it'll start again soon."
Kyoshi pushed open the curtains a little more and looked up at the sky properly, "I doubt it, the clouds are breaking up, there shouldn't be any more for days."
Saku smirked slightly, turning away and walking to the other side of the room and leaning back against the dressing table, "I know what rain I'm talking about, do you?" she asked.
The blonde looked at her suddenly, finally taking in what she'd said and understanding what she meant. The idea of the rain was never about the actual rain outside; she was referring to him crying. The heat of the country lasted as long as his blood withdrawal and emotional hiatus had gone on for and the rain began just as he'd finally broken down. Down to every second of the timing, it was perfect. The boy sat down on the stool that was by the window, glancing back outside rather than look at Sakura for any longer.
Footsteps where heard coming down the hall and arrived at the second entrance to the living room, standing there and staring at the two that stared him down before Saku shot at him bitterly, "What?" she rudely asked Kai with a glare.
"I'm thirsty." He replied, trying to maintain his calmness.
"Help yourself to a drink." Sakura jerked her thumb over to the kitchen, Kai doing as he was asked to and disappeared into the kitchen. Saku took the moment to walk up to the middle of the room, sitting carefully on the wooden coffee table in the centre of her living room. Her eyes remained fixed onto the ground and remained quiet until Kai left the kitchen with a glass of water and walked down the hall back to the bedroom he shared with his friend.
Saku turned from looking down the hall back to her fiancé, smiling faintly at him with a bit of kindness in it, "You have some time to open up. I know I don't permit it usually but there's nothing wrong with doing it when you need to." She explained gently.
Kyo gave her a blank look, almost uncaring and not understanding, "So what do you expect me to do?" he asked her.
The girl shrugged slightly, her hands still gripping the table, "You had no problem crying outside in the rain, it should be easier to cry in here, all you have to do is look around and remember." Kyo knew what she was implying, he was meant to take that as an order or as a guide on how things where meant to plan out but he couldn't allow himself to truly look at the room. Looking at a room is seeing the walls, the furniture and the decorations. Truly looking into a room meant going deeper than that, looking into the memories and history of the room and taking it in and letting it take you over completely. "Look." She ordered again.
She always had this kind of power over him. She could always intimidate him, someway or another and not once in a while, almost all the time. It wasn't that he didn't know how to be in control, it was just that what she said was always to do him some good and despite his shyness he was a stubborn person and he needed someone who could intimidate him into what he needed to do. Although, just the sound of her voice was enough for him to get that sinking and breaking feeling in his heart again and didn't even need to look up at the room.
Before he even knew it he was already choking on his own breath again, being torn apart between letting go and holding it back. You'd think that by now he would've learnt that there was no point in trying to hold anything else back because it would just slip but nothing stopped him from trying his best. He rested his elbows on his knees, one hand against his forehead to support his head as he got caught up in the choking and sobbing all over again. He ran his fingers through his hair but found his head was too heavy and moved back to using his hand for support, one hand on the side of the stool to keep him up right, the other supporting his throbbing skull. His face contorted to one of pain, discomfort, sadness and some anger all at once, those being the only emotions that where even slightly deciphered.
The raven-haired girl continued to watch from the coffee table, placing her hands to the back of the table and leaning back on them slightly. She didn't move, even flinch after that, just watching from that position like it was none of her business to do anything for him at the time. It wasn't until she began hearing cracking sounds in the boys sobs that it began to worry her even slightly, just making her uncomfortable in just watching him like that. Cold, scared, alone, crying, hurt, pained, depressed, a heartbreaking sight. Just one of those views that would make even the coldest of people feel something in their hearts for the being that was being shattered. The boy was always in so much control over what happened to him, what happened to his emotions and his body but it was times like these where he lost all that control that he'd strived for over the years of being human and a vampire.
Saku slowly got up, walking up to him and standing in front of him but he was obviously too caught up in himself to even remember she was in there with him. Her left hand by her side moved vaguely before she placed it on his that was holding onto the stool. The touch was a rough one initially, coming from the years of work she'd done and gun handling but the skin didn't matter because in seconds it softened up and became kinder, making it feel warmer. Holding onto the hand properly she lifted his off the stool, his arms muscles tensing up a lot and trying to grab on tighter to the hand that flew away from his head and onto her hand to keep him from falling.
He never had to worry though, she assured him of that by only standing in front of him. She took apart both his hands off hers, placing both of his around her waist before snaking her arms around his neck and pulling him closer to her shoulder. He peered over her shoulder, his cheek against hers as his crying only got worse with the gentle and warm embrace he felt he was in, slowly sliding his hands higher up her back. His emotions where only getting worse by the second, but he grew even more scared of having Sakura so close when he was like this. He was so scared that he was disappointing her that he didn't know what to do with himself but the little soothing sounds she was making and the caressing of his hair was enough to keep him going until he knew he was out right exhausted.
Sakura didn't dare say a word while all this was going on with him, just pulling him closer to her so he could rest against her with comfort and ease. She just randomly looked around the room, sometimes looking out the window or at the ceiling but after a while looking at him and his visible run of emotions was more important to her. The on pour of emotions was something almost new for her to see coming from him, particularly because she was hardly ever around when these kinds of things happened. Not even sure if it ever happened this badly. The girl continued running her fingers through the boy's blonde strands of hair, feeling the soft strands between her fingers as she pulled his head closer to her shoulder for comfort.
The two didn't know how long they were there for, or how long they would remain in that same position for but neither of them opted to move enough to check for the time. Kyoshi was preoccupied with dealing with his emotions, while Sakura was too distracted by the boy's sobs to even bother thinking about how long they'd be like that for. The whole time, Kyoshi knew that eyes where on him but was choking on his own sobs too much to be able to speak out and protest against being watched. He was currently dealing with the discomfort of being so close to Sakura, his cheek against the side of her neck.
Down the hall, Kai and Tala had heard the beginning of sobs, as Kai hadn't closed the door behind him when he got back with his drink. They got out of the room they had been sharing and peered down the hall to try to hear any words that accompanied the cries that were heard but no words came, just sobs and that was it. The two moved more down the hall to see what exactly it was that was happening and saw the sight of the couple huddled together.
Sakura's hand guided Kyoshi's head closer to her shoulder, letting him bury his face in the side of her neck, an action that made the two bladers give everything some more thought. They figured Sakura really must have a serious amount of hope and trust in Kyoshi for making such an action. How many people do you know wouldn't mind having a vampires mouth less than inch away from their neck? You don't need to be a rocket scientist to answer a question like that because everyone would come up with the correct answer of 'None'. Which obviously reflected Sakura's trust in Kyo for allowing him that close to her neck; she displayed her large amount of trust in him with one bold action. If a pure blooded mortal had so much loving faith in something that could take her life, then there must be some sort of logical explanation behind it. The only one that made any sense would have been this…Kyoshi was in no way dangerous!
Both watched the two with some intent, coming to realization that the two hadn't had any plans of moving any time soon so quietly made their way back to their bedroom. "Do you really think he's that dangerous?" Tala asked quietly.
Kai had his eyes fixed onto the ground as leaned back against the door, closing it soundly behind him as he'd entered the room, "He seems…harmless." He whispered, more to himself than the other.
The younger blader sat back onto the bed and looked up at his friend, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking." He whispered back. He waited another moment, watching Kai lie down in bed and stare up at the ceiling blankly. "He looked really hurt. What do you think was wrong with him?"
Kai shrugged, being unsure himself at the time, "Possibly…Sakura was being honest about him hating his life as a vampire."
Tala turned over onto his stomach on the bed, and looking at the wall a little disappointedly, "I don't see what good could possibly come out of living as a vampire."
"Sakura said he's living for her and for helping other people but still, that doesn't sound like a good enough reason to live a life that makes him miserable."
"He must really love her to be living like this." Tala whispered.
Kai obviously had to disagree though, "I think he's still here for a bigger reason."
Tala sighed and shook his head, a small smile on his face, "Love is never enough for you is it?"
Kai shook his head numbly, "No, it isn't."
The red-head turned over onto his back, resting his head onto the soft pillow and staring at the ceiling like his friend was, "I'll bet you anything that its for love."
"I'll bet its something bigger than that."
A/N: Another chapter for you all. Hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review.