Chapter 14
Uma Thurman's character, 'The Bride' once said regarding a sociopath assassin, "What GoGo lacks in age, she makes up for in madness." Right about now, I couldn't feel anymore like GoGo. The power to kill is strong, real madness. Why am I furious and mad you ask? You'll find out and to this point, no one has the courage to go against my anger.
Sakura fumbled with her keys as she yawned heavily, trying desperately to enter the key into the lock. After a moment of failed attempts Kai helped her, taking the keys from her and opening the door himself, glancing at Saku as she shot him a short grateful look. She stepped inside and she dumped her bags of clothes by the door, exhaling happily once the pressure was off her hands and arms. She rubbed at her tired eyes as she stepped inside but once she opened them again they fell to a sight that frightened her suddenly. She heard Kai walk up close beside her to see what she was looking at but she held an arm out in front of his chest as she stared on, "Wait here." She whispered, looking back at him as she snuck her gun out of her back pocket and readied in both her hands.
By now Kai wasn't exactly sure what was going on, just that he knew something not so good had happened and that if he didn't stay out of the way he could endanger himself or Sakura so he sat tight, giving her an assuring nod and watching her leave the corridor.
Still on her mark, prepared for anything, Sakura walked over to the knocked-out vampire that lay face down on the living room floor by the window. Keeping her eye out for anything, constantly raising her eyes from her friend to look around, she turned him over, having him half on his side against the wall. She watched as he began coughing violently, his shaking cold hand instinctively going to his mouth as blood spluttered out onto his hand. Still he wasn't aware of what he was doing but his reaction was enough for the raven-haired girl to get up and walk down the hall. Two things on her mind. Tala, and the task at hand of shooting anything that stepped forward. It was harder than it looked. She had to make sure it wasn't a young Russian that she'd be shooting. Whatever she did, she couldn't let her mind wander. But that was the thing about her.
Her mind never wandered in these cases. Ever.
Finding the house empty savour the people she already knew were there, she walked back to the hall where she'd left Kai, fitting her gun behind her again. "You need to remain calm." She told him quietly, placing one hand on his shoulder.
Kai suddenly knew what she was implying and he shrugged out from under her gentle hand, walking past her where his eyes fell onto the scene, finally taking in the full extent of the tarnish the room had been put into. Worst of all, only one person was there. The Vampire. His best friend was missing.
"Just give me five minutes to wake Kyoshi, then we'll look for your friend." Sakura said, walking up beside him. She looked into his eyes from just an angle and just at that she could have sworn she saw a heavy glint of fear in there but she just ignored it and walked over to her fiancé. She shook him lightly, not realizing the full extent of the injuries he'd endured. From behind her, she could hear Kai fall sitting onto the sofa, gaining her attention, "What is it?" she asked him sternly.
"I think Tala's been shot." Kai replied, looking at her with that same glint of fear in his eyes, though trying endlessly to cover it up and hold it back. Once he got a confused look from the girl he jerked his thumb over to the bullet casing on the ground, then just watching as Sakura crawled over to it, prodded it for heat before picking it up carelessly.
Sakura shook her head and tossed it onto the sofa, the one thing that hadn't been turned over, "I doubt it, the casing is practically frozen and it's a twenty-four, only I use those."
"So what is it doing crawling around here?" Kai asked bitterly, frustrated by the scare it gave him.
The dark-haired girl turned back to her friend, tapping at him gently to wake him up, "There was a fight in here about two weeks ago…I shot Kyo by mistake, I burnt my finger on the bullet case when I tried to pick it up so I went to help Kyoshi and I forgot about it after a while." She exhaled watching as through many more winces Kyoshi began trying to sit up.
Kai ignored the whispers that went on between the couple, catching sight of the phone that was on the ground not far away from him. One thought rushed through his mind in a second, Kai had left Tala his phone just in case something happened. It was about as good as time as now to use it. Dialling in a hurry with no consent from the owners of the home, he called his phone, waiting impatiently for his friend to pick up the phone. That wasn't happening though, the line was dead, no one was available to answer. It meant two things; either Tala was dead, or unconscious or too injured to pick up the phone when he called. He put it down on the sofa beside him, snapping rudely at the two, interrupting their quiet conversation in which Saku seemed to be attempting to console Kyo, "Tala isn't answering the phone."
Sakura looked at him with some disappointment evident in her features but then she strongly turned back to her vampire, "We need your help." She whispered softly. Kyoshi graced the tip of his tongue along one of his fangs, timidly nodding in agreement before trying hard to get up.
---With Tala---
Tala opened his eyes gently, rubbing at the back of his head painfully after something had hit him sharply and knocked him out cold. He was met with complete darkness though, he shook his head slightly, wincing yet again as a cut on the back of his head scraped against the wooden ground he lay on. He took a deep breath, slowly feeling like he was being suffocated just under pressure, then his eyes steadily shutting as he fought the weaknesses and exhaustion. He sat up slowly, though hitting his head extremely hard against a close wooden surface. He groaned at the ever-growing throbbing that pounded in his head, his breathing growing harder and harder as felt himself in a tight space, a box of some kind. Spreading his arms to his sides the wall was less than a metre away on each side, much less above him and just close enough for his feet to touch the end of it.
He panicked. He could feel heat growing all over his body, tears growing even faster in his eyes, persistent stinging that suddenly began slipping down his now even paler cheeks. He was choking. He could feel himself choking on each breath that passed between his lips, making the breaths more panic-like, heavier, quicker, deeper, harder. Slamming and rattling sounds filled his ear drums through blood-rushing as he began slamming hard against the box. The coffin. His own death was so close he could taste it. He was trapped for good. They got what they wanted and now they were going to kill him for it.
---With The Others---
Sakura ran faster behind Kyoshi, Kai close beside her, 'Count on Kyoshi to be such a fast runner.' She thought bitterly. The vampire stopped running suddenly and Sakura did too, stopping Kai by grabbing on the back of his shirt. "Why'd you stop?" she asked him.
Kai breathed heavily, his hands on his knees as he dubbed over, looking around, "I don't see him." He breathed out.
"This is where the trail ends…kids don't just disappear off the face of the Earth." Kyoshi told him, looking around them in the dark cemetery.
"As much as I'd like them too." Sakura mumbled to herself, joining the others in searching for the missing teenager. "I don't get it…" she added, walking away from the two. She leant back against a tombstone, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared up into the dark sky, "Think." She coxed herself quietly. Distractions occurred when her phone rang in her pocket, sliding it out of her jeans in a hurry to see who was calling. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she walked over to Kai in a hurry, "Isn't this your number?" she asked him, turning the phone to him.
"Tala?" Kai asked her, locking eyes with her when he looked up from the number.
Sakura shook her head, being a little unsure, "Or someone who took the phone from him," she turned the phone back to her, "I guess we'll find out." She answered the phone, bringing it to her ear, "Yeah?" she asked for someone on the other line to speak.
"Saku…"
Sakura stepped closer to the other two males upon hearing the voice, "Tala?" she asked, "Where are you?" Shrugging unknowingly when the two beside her gave her questioning looks.
"I don't know, I was knocked out and now I'm stuck in a box or something."
"A box? What are you talking about?"
Yet again Tala was close to another burst of tears, another panic attack growing with each short breath he was allowed to take, "All I know is I'm stuck in this like coffin, I don't know where just get me out."
By now Tala had been on speaker phone, Kai and Kyoshi being able to hear the redheads panic as much as Sakura could, "We need to know where you are to do that." Sakura told him, still no sound of emotion getting to her.
Steadily the youngest was losing hope, suddenly shaking violently with the cold and ever-growing worry, "I don't know." He muttered into the phone, almost choking on his shallow breaths.
Sakura growled quietly beneath her breath and shoved the phone into Kyoshi's hands, crossing her arms and walking off to the side. The vampire lifted the phone slightly, his eyes falling onto the girl for only a second before turning back to the phone in his hand, "What do you know that can help? Anything, sounds, smells, temperature…?"
Tala took a moment to answer, closing his eyes in an attempt to block things out and calm himself to concentrate on some kind of explanation. Unknowingly, he took a deep breath, his first since the panic attack only minutes ago, "Its cold here, damp sort of."
"I traced you as far as a cemetery, this place is full of cold and dampness so at least we're half way there, what else?"
Blood was rushing fast to Tala's head, giving him a headache and making being conscious a little more painful, "Shuffling?" he asked quietly at the thought of it.
"What about it?" Kai asked hurriedly, by now feeling as much pressure as his friend.
"I can hear shuffling, like feet dragging."
A heavy thud was heard, then Sakura began cursing heavily in a loud voice and multiple languages no less as she picked herself up from the dirty ground. She noticed the other two where giving her strange looks and she bowed just lightly while rubbing at her sore ankle, "Sorry." She apologized.
"Don't be, just do that again." Kai shook his head and stepped closer to her, actually being serious in his words when he'd told her that.
Though at this point Sakura still couldn't believe it, she stared at the ground beneath her at the small crater she had stepped in, "You don't think…?"she asked hesitantly, staring up at him with disbelief once again in her eyes. She saw how serious he actually was and she turned to Kyoshi, "Cover the phone a second." She ordered him. She watched for a second as her fiancé spoke quietly into the phone for Tala to give them a minute and he covered the phone. Once that was done she walked over to Kai, pushing him into the crater she had hit earlier, then the second Kai hit the damp soil they all heard Tala whimper and panic from the phone Kyoshi still held. She shook her head, disbelieving the situation, she turned to Kyo, her eyes saddening ever so slightly, "You're right…Kids don't just disappear off the face of the Earth, they disappear and go underneath it."
Kyoshi nodded and pulled the phone away from his chest, "Hey Tal…we really need you to calm down right now."
This was the view of things for now. Tala was close to having another panic attack, he was buried who knows how deep under the ground and he didn't even know it yet. All he knew was that he was actually locked in a small space, and that as it was was enough to scare him. Kyoshi felt a great amount of sympathy for him and was trying his best to keep himself and everyone else calm to help get them through the situation. Kai was panicking just as much as his friend was once everything had begun to sink in. He could lose his friend and his mind was going blank at the thought of it. He was always able to handle tough situations but never was his best friend's life at stake like it was now.
Out of all of them Sakura was probably the most calm, of all the people there that where panicking someone had to be the rational calm one and she always took it upon herself to be that person, no matter what her real feelings where and what they were thinking. This heir of calmness she had about her always drove her to do bigger things, it helped her think. Whenever it was a calm situation she didn't do anything decent, she just did whatever came naturally to any person but when put under pressure of making up for everyone else she became the last bit of hope anyone had. She became driven to do what needed to be done. To hell whether or not she could handle it by herself, she was going to try her best at it with no arguments, protests or complaints.
Kyoshi silenced the phone again, walking closer to Kai and handing it to him, "I'm going to help Saku get him out from there, you need to calm him down." He whispered quiet enough for Kai to hear him, though not enough for the other boy to hear over the phone.
"You calm him down and I'll help Sakura." Kai insisted, pushing the phone back to Kyoshi.
"He's your friend Kai, you know him best, just calm him down." Kyoshi dumped the responsibility on him quickly, then ran off to help Sakura before Kai had any more time to argue with him.
Kai didn't want to lose Tala, obviously but he didn't know how to help him. Calming people down wasn't his specialty, there where times he could barely calm himself down just from nightmares, now he was being asked to calm down his friend who was trapped beneath the ground in a coffin, how do you tell someone who was going through that that it'd all be okay? He got the phone off loudspeaker and moved it to his ear, walking away from the others as he exhaled quietly, "How are you holding up over there?" he asked quietly, being unable to think of anything else to ask.
Tala made some quiet hesitating sounds, looking around the box through the darkness, releasing a shaky breath, "I think I'm alright for a while." He whispered back.
Now it was Kai that felt like dieing, he could hear those little hitches in his friend's voice and breaths, so much so that he could feel the boy's fear surfacing again, "Relax…we'll have you out of there soon." Was he trying to convince Tala or himself with that?
"How will you tell the others?" The redhead asked, laughing half-heartedly.
"Tell them what?"
He tried so hard to smile through his tears, he didn't care that he couldn't be seen he just wanted to smile another time, "That I died." He replied.
"You're not going to die."
Sitting up was clearly impossible, turning on his side was worse unless Tala wanted to die faster so he just shifted his body a little to the side, "Really? Because from where I'm lying it really looks that way."
Kai slid down onto the ground against a tombstone, staring up into the sky as he spoke out, "Sakura and Kyoshi are going to get them out. You told me to have faith in them, we told each other to, so just listen to your own advice."
"Neither of us are always right Kai…more to the point I think we're almost always wrong."
The older surfaced Russian looked to his side, watching as Sakura walked over to him, "Don't say that." He whispered, taking in Saku's disappointed features when she knelt down beside him.
"Its going to take us about ten minutes to get him out of there…Hana's men clearly knew what they were doing when they did this to him."
Kai covered the phone, eyes blazing with anger, "I don't think he can hold on ten more minutes!" he spat rudely.
"We're trying Kai…Just try not to let him panic, tell him to take as little breaths as he can at a time and with luck he'll be out here safely with us in a few minutes." The sight of his face falling with more disappointment made her feel a slight cringe in her own heart, something that sprung her hand to rest on his shoulder, "You can take care of him perfectly, you're his best friend, I know there's something you can do to help. Just think."
"I can't think about anything like that at a time like this. If you're so calm than why don't you do it yourself?"
"Because it's not my best friend that's locked in a coffin. At a time like this he'd want to hear your voice, not the one of a stranger." She was stern again, the sympathy for him was gone as quick as it came, "The skin of a coward doesn't suit you Kai, fight it and learn to help your friend when you need to. You're not alone anymore, with friends come great things but also responsibilities." She got off the ground, giving him a small glare, though her heart wasn't really into it, her mind was on something else, drawing her to turn back to help Kyoshi.
"Kai…"
The eldest snapped his attention back to his friend when he heard his name being called, "Yeah?" was the best he could even muster up.
"Be honest…how long do you think I'll be down here?"
"If you keep worrying like this then you're going use up what air you have left." Kai avoided the subject, he'd had good practice at it, with his old team and his new one.
Tala's hands shook slightly, thoughts actually racing through his mind so fast it hurt, the tears in the hot air making him feel worse as they stung heavily, "I'm trapped…in one of the worst places possible, how calm do you want me to be?" he asked.
"For one you can stop thinking you're going to die, we won't let that happen."
Tala wasn't one to look on the dark side of things usually but its surprising what near death experiences can do to a person. Still the bad side persisted in his mind, he just couldn't handle the pressure, he was incapable of fighting off fear for much longer. Right about now he praised Boris' experiments for protecting him from such things as fear for so long, only now did he want that kind of immunity back but it was all gone, it didn't exist anymore. He was human, made to deal with fear when he didn't even know what fear was even as a child. "You know how many times we said that to other kids in the Abbey?" Not even realizing he had spoken.
"This is different!" Kai shot back at him in a scolding tone.
"How is that?"
Kai grew a little more frustrated, as if calming his friend down wasn't hard enough without his negativity. "It just is. Stop worrying for now."
"You sound like you're worrying as much as I am." Then it'd ended just as the phone went dead.
Kai shook his head, he couldn't believe the bad luck they were all having. He ran over to the others, looking down into the hole they'd dug up, "His phone went dead." He told them.
Kyoshi moved stepped down into the hole, brushing off soil from a surface, bringing out the figure of the wooden box beneath the ground. "Doesn't matter, we got this far." The three of them proceeded to brushing off the dirt and moving it out, "So we're sure this is him right?" he asked, looking at each of them.
Sakura gave a strange indifferent look, shrugging slightly, "Well if it isn't we're digging up some other poor soul."
Kai began to look furious, gritting his teeth to hold back fury, "This thing is nailed and screwed shut! They really don't want him getting out of here!" he exclaimed, finding the box unable to be opened.
"Anger isn't going to get you very far Kai." Sakura knelt down beside the wooden-coffin, sliding a pen knife out of her pocket, "Thank goodness this thing has a screw driver." She mumbled, fumbling with the set and beginning to unscrew nails. In the meantime out of the corner of her eye she could see Kyo walking over to Kai, listening unintentionally as he tried to calm him down. She turned her complete attention back to the screw driver just as it had pierced the centre of her palm when it skidded along one of the nails. She winced as it began bleeding out but she continued removing all the nails and screws, the nails being her biggest problem, till none where left and she stood up and kicked the lid off.
In seconds of the lid sliding off Tala was sitting upright again, breathing heavily while tears just streamed at their fastest down his cheeks with relief and fright. Sakura back away from him, giving Kai room to sit by his side and calm him down and Kyoshi pulled off his red shirting to put over Tala's shaking shoulders, leaving him in a black and white t-shirt. Tala argued quietly for Kyoshi to take it back since it was cold out but Kyoshi insisted and just tried to help Kai in calming him down.
Taking in the sight for only a moment Sakura turned, hauled herself out and walked away, "Where are you going?" she heard Kai call out to her.
"Go on home, I'll meet you there." Sakura ordered, walking on, a demonic look taking over her eyes, "I have a keeper to kill." She muttered viciously.
---Back at Home---
Sakura walked into the kitchen where Tala and Kyoshi where. The vampire currently perched up onto the counter, watching while the redhead rested his head on his arms at the table. "Well…at this rate Kai isn't going to be having a good night." She informed the others, sitting at table in her usual place in the corner.
"What's wrong with him?" Kyo asked her.
"Nerves got the best of his stomach." Saku replied. She turned her full attention back to Tala, suddenly remembering something, "Right…this belongs to you." She said hurriedly, tossing him his beyblade from her jacket pocket. "I got it off the keeper at the cemetery." She answered his confused look.
Tala asked hoarsely, his voice still recovering from screaming and crying, "How'd you know it was the cemetery keeper anyway?"
A quiet groan was heard in Kyoshi's direction and Sakura glanced momentarily at him before turning back to Tala and replying, "Because that cemetery has had the same keeper for the past twenty-five years and Kyoshi accidentally killed that keeper a few days ago."
"Oh." Tala muttered regrettably, going back to quietly resting his head on his arms.
Sakura leant forward on the table, smiling softly, "How about I make you something warm to eat? It might do you some good and keep you from ending up like your friend."
Tala shook his head slightly, wincing at that, "Don't go through the trouble."
"Ah it's no trouble, I've got to make something for Kyoshi anyway."
Kyoshi slipped himself off the counter, standing in between the two, "Just make him whatever you're making me, if he isn't hungry then he doesn't have to eat it, then its more for me anyway." He tried to add a little humour to the whole situation, everyone just grew so tense when they'd gotten home.
The raven-haired girl nodded slightly, "Sounds good. In the meantime, go do something about Kai, it can't be healthy." She told him, standing up.
Suddenly Tala shifted at the sound of that, attempting to stand up, "I'll go do it." He said, being interrupted by two hands that pushed him down by the shoulders back into his seat.
"You need to relax, Kyo can handle it just fine." Sakura insisted, jerking her head to the side as indication for Kyoshi to go before the redhead had more time to protest. She bent down to his level at his side from behind him, "You've been through a lot tonight, take it easy and let us do all the work for now." Her tone was warm, kind to an extent but it made Tala relax a little more than he had been before, smiling softly with some happiness as he rested his heavy head on his arms again.
---With Kyoshi and Kai---
Kai breathed out heavily, his mouth gaping open slightly, wincing as he sat down at the foot of his bed, "What do you want?" he asked.
"Just to help." Kyoshi knelt down to be able to look up at Kai, handing him a drink which Kai took and sipped slowly. Finishing it off he began wavering slightly and uncomfortably, his hand shaking so much Kyoshi took the glass from him in case he lost his grasp on it. He moved to sit beside him, taking in the sight of him as breathing got just a little harder and a little more uneven. Watching calmly he saw Kai get up then make a quick brake for the bathroom. He waited there for a moment, staring at the ceiling before getting up and walking inside.
Kai sat dubbed over on the ground in front of the toilet, pressing down on his stomach as he felt like things where just getting worse. "What did you give me?" he asked rapidly, glaring angrily at the boy who sat down on the side of the bath.
Kyoshi smirked vaguely, "Derived from the dried rhizome and roots of the Ipecacuanha plant, i.e Syrup of Ipecac."
Heat rose in Kai's cheeks, feeling even more uneasy by the passing moments, "Why would you do that?" he asked.
The vampire sighed, walking over to him and rubbing his back soothingly, "You got worried out of your mind, nerves got to your stomach and its going to keep making you ill till you calm down or have nothing left to get rid of." Kai had shrugged his hand off, a stupid action but Kyoshi easily accepted it and sat down on the side of the bath again, "Clearly you weren't going to calm down until you got some sleep, to do that your only other option would be allowing yourself to feel sick." In a second Kai did in fact feel sick, the uncomfortable nausea rising in his stomach, "The Brightside to this is that I can talk without being interrupted by you and you have no other real choice than to just sit and listen."
As Kyoshi had said Kai really didn't have the opportunity to fight back or protest whatsoever in the state he was in. All he did was let his hands go to his shoulders which had begun shaking from the cold that his body went under, the heat burning other parts of his body, his face particularly.
"Kai…I'm really sorry I did this to you but I you need to get better for your friend's sake and you need to listen instead of argue for a while." Sympathy filled his voice naturally, looking on at Kai with a degree of care and all his honesty shone through, "This is the thing Kai…you trusted us with your friend, you dealt with comforting him while you left us with the responsibility to dig him up. You trusted us with your friend, why not with yourself?" Naturally Kai couldn't answer, he wouldn't have answered even if he could anyway. "I know you trust us now, I know that much about you but what I don't understand is why you just refuse to let yourself get help. You had a huge scare today, you almost lost your best friend but you'd barely shed a tear even if you were alone. You can't expect us to just sit here and pretend we don't see you hurting, for Tala's sake I can't do that."
Kyoshi got up and walked over with him, placing a hand on his shoulder and staring down at his back, "For all our sakes just calm down around us, if you don't care about us then do it for Tala, I know you care about him enough to at least try." He gave the broad shaking shoulder a little harder before sliding it off of him completely, "The ipecac lasts up until your stomach is empty, so that means it shouldn't last for much longer. I'll bring you something to eat soon." He left before he found anything else he could possibly come up with to tell Kai about. He stepped into the kitchen again, watching Tala sitting at table sipping at a mug of hot soup that Sakura had just made. Lucky for them all that soup didn't take all that long to make, they were starving after the long day. "Food, thank goodness." Kyoshi mumbled appreciatively, picking up the mug in a hurry and rushing to the table.
"Calm down." Sakura told him with a slight chuckle, spinning round to look at him. She walked closer to them, looking over them as they ate just before she placed a gentle hand on Tala's back, "How are you feeling?"
Tala turned his head to the side and looked up at her, smiling softly with his weakness, "A little better." He replied hoarsely, sounding grateful for her gentle tone.
He was still frozen though, the girl felt it on him and smiled back with actual kindness sparkling in her usually dull and cold eyes, "I'll go put more blankets in your room, that way you won't freeze in the night." She joked quietly.
Kyoshi looked up from his food hurriedly, "Ah could you take Kai some water and something to eat?" he asked, almost forgetting about the boy. He watched Sakura nod slowly in reply, turning away to get the drink and food before suddenly turning back and placing her hands on her hips.
"What did you do?" she asked him sternly.
The vampire suspiciously turned back to his food, "Nothing." He replied casually, shrugging his shoulders for emphasis.
Sakura's face contorted to one of disgust, raising her eyes momentarily, "You didn't." she hoped aloud.She didn't get an answer out of him, just uncomfortable silence and a confused look from him, "That poor boy." She crossed her arms across her chest, "Its one thing to do that to me but to him?" she shook her head and turned round to get the glass of water and food, "That poor boy." She whispered.
"He was being stubborn, I didn't have any other choice."
"It's still unfair…"
Kyoshi smirked, "You're just sour because you hate it when I do it to you."
"Damn right I hate it!" Sakura said bitterly, glaring at him. She put everything she needed on a tray, passing off a pissed off glare at him before she left the room and hurried down the hall. She entered her old bedroom, old being the reason she didn't really mind giving it up to the two males. She set the tray down onto the bedside table, ignoring Kai at first as he did to her from the bottom of the bed. She remained standing there in front of the nightstand, resting forward against it with her hands, she sighed quietly and picked up the glass of water and moving beside him, handed it to him. He passed off to her a glare of his own but she just shook her head with a smile on her face, "Don't worry, Kyoshi does the same thing to me, it's actually water this time." She informed him.
Seeming to have believed her claim Kai closed his eyes momentarily and took the glass and drinking slowly to rehydrate himself, honestly thankful for the gentle moisture that ran down his sore and dry throat and cracking lips. Earlier when Kyoshi had given him the drink he'd past off the strange taste to the irritation in his mouth and nausea he felt but now the water tasted just the way it was supposed to so his mind was at ease in that department. "I wasn't expecting something like that from him." He muttered rudely.
"Yeah well the guy is sweet and gentle but can be a real pain in the ass when he wants to be."
"Noted." Kai got up, walking past her and setting the glass down on the nightstand by the tray, sitting back down on the bed but away from where she'd been.
The girl rolled her eyes secretly, it was one thing to be pissed off about what Kyoshi did but the guy didn't have to ignore her too. Keeping that in mind she walked into her old bathroom, rummaging through some objects in the medicine cupboard before walking back into the bedroom and up to Kai while she poured out a subtle transparent liquid onto some wool. She sat down on the bed, passing the wool to him as she clutched the bottly tightly in her hand, "Inhale that, you'll feel better."
Kai gave her another suspicious and questioning look, he couldn't help it, now he wasn't sure whether or not to trust her with whatever she gave him. Though he didn't need to really do much with the wool, the scent on it was strong enough as it was and he smelt it just fine from where his hand was on his lap. Though she took his hand anyway and raised it to bring it to his face before she dropped her hand away from his. The scent was painfully strong, toxic to a certain extent but for some reason it seemed comforting on his sensitive stomach, "What is it?" he asked her.
Sakura smiled, if he asked her something it meant he wasn't going to be quick to shrug her off again, "Isopropyl alcohol, It's used in hospitals to abate nausea until either medication or sleep takes affect. Since you're not under any medication sleep is your only savior since Isopropyl alcohol is about twice as toxic as ethanol which means you can't take anymore of it." She blinked a second after that, tilting her head to the side with thought, "Well…unless you want to incinerate your lungs and let it go to your brain." She smiled softly at that in his direction, and an extremely vague smile appeared on his own face just as he'd closed his eyes.
He was getting frustrated, a little humiliated. She could tell, even when he turned his face away from her, she could clearly see frustration and humiliation under that stone mask of his. His eyes where burning red, she'd moved forward and turned to him enough to be able to see that much but she couldn't understand why he was having that kind of reaction. "Kai…" she began quietly. She didn't get a word from him, he didn't even look back at her, just shifting his head to look at the ground instead. "Is there something you want to talk about? To me? Or Kyoshi maybe?" she tried, she didn't know what to say to him. In so many ways the two of them where so alike, but they were still so different in beliefs. She didn't know what to say and he didn't say anything back which didn't help her at all.
Suddenly she got a better idea as to how Kyo felt when she was like this…if she was ever like this. When he asked her questions, rarely did she ever go completely silent when she was asked questions by the vampire, she'd either yell at him or answer him calmly, or something, anything. As long as she replied with something it was always the way she did it. Kai was different so now she had to think like him as best she could. Thinking about it would only last a moment for her, she could barely sort out the way she herself felt, it was sometimes difficult thinking about another persons feeling's for long periods of time. She nodded as she didn't get a reply from him, "I'll leave you alone to think. Eat while its still hot, then try to get some sleep." She couldn't be bothered to wait for him to answer, a little part of her knew that he wouldn't give her any kind of answer anyway. "We've had a long day, both of you go get some sleep." Sakura said in a very mother-like tone of voice to the two males in the living room.
Tala was curled up on one end of the sofa, cuddling up warmly against pillows and covered in warm blankets. Kyoshi was sitting on the armchair closes to his side of the sofa, sitting forward in the seat to be able to talk and keep an eye on Tala. "Too shaken up." Tala's excuse was.
"Even better reason to try to get some sleep." Sakura insisted, walking past them and into the kitchen.
Kyoshi sighed and raised his eyes to look in the direction she'd left, "You go sleep Saku, I'll make sure he gets some sleep soon." He called to her.
Sakura arrived the doorway, as the two males had expected, a lit cigarette in her hand, "No way," she shook her head, "You have to sleep, you've had enough. I'll stay with Tala."
The blonde vampire turned to look at Tala who looked up at him surprisingly once he noticed the stare, "You're okay with that?" he asked him quietly. He got a confident and sure nod from the boy so he stood up, bending down enough to speak to Tala closely, "If you remember anything and want to talk, just come and wake me." He smiled softly, then stood up straight and left the room as he gave a 'Take care of him' look towards Sakura.
Saku waited until she was sure that he was gone and then moved to take the same place he had sat earlier, "You're holding up okay?" she asked him.
The redhead opened his eyes and lifted his head off the pillow to look at her, smiling at the hint of concern she had hanging off her, "I'm fine." He yawned slightly a second later, resting his head on the pillow, "Tired." He added, closing his eyes in an attempt to stop that tiredness.
Sakura got off the armchair with the sound of that, walking over to the window and leaning against the wall to look outside to pass the time she waited till he fell asleep.
About this point was when she allowed her anger from the day to surface.
The memories of the whole day from other peoples' point of views is what brought her to be so angry. To feel absolute madness going on inside her to kill any living being that crossed her path at the time. She had to admit, killing the keeper wasn't as much fun as she thought it would be. She was so blinded by her rage at the time that she didn't even give herself the time to enjoy the kill. Though, she reminded herself happily that he wouldn't ever hurt anyone ever again. Especially Tala. Now everyone was suffering because of the day's actions. Tala was a train wreck, but in all honesty, taking it better than Saku had originally expected. Kai was feeling guilty and frustrated, frightened that he almost lost his best friend and he couldn't do all that much to help. Kyoshi just wanted to sit down and help Tala but she disallowed him to, the girl knew he'd been through enough in the past few days to need as much sleep as he could possibly get, hence, why she kicked him off to his room to sleep and opted to fight off her burning rage and exhaustion to keep an eye on the redhead.
Said redhead had finally fallen asleep by the time she'd finished thinking about the whole troublesome day they'd all just had. He looked peaceful but her anger still burnt so strong that she couldn't even pass off a sweet smile that would have usually grown on anyone's lips. Still red was all she could see, even after endless minutes of staring in his direction, she shook her head, she couldn't believe her rage but she still couldn't believe the whole day. It was still sinking in. When she tried to be as strong as she was, at the end of the day it took a while longer for it to all sink in. "No body deserves to die like that." Her eyes fell to the icy beyblade on the table just in front of Tala, "No matter what they've done." She added beneath her breath.
A/N: So this chapter had a whole new approach as you can see. I started it out with a thought and sort of narration from Sakura, then the day was carried out in regular sequence like any other chapter except in italics as she explored the day through the point of view of other people in a way. At the end is the point where was the real present, when she was thinking back on the day. Possibly rather confusing now that I look at it and explain it but it seemed to made sense at the time of writing it. I just wanted to try something new for a change.
Strangely enough, Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill was buried alive in the second movie but that's not where the idea came from. The original idea came from the fact that the Yakuza(Japanese mafia) are known for burying people alive, thus its become popular in Japan. That, and there's a song called 'Taion' which means Body Temperature, by The GazettE that is a tribute to a girl who was raped and buried alive. So I suppose the song is a bit of inspiration for the chapter.
Please leave a review and tell me what you think! (I really don't know why I ask anymore)
Take care everyone!