Chapter 7: Just have a good time

"KAE-!"

A dream. Just a dream. In Kai's panic he had forgotten where he was and how he managed to fall asleep. His thoughts settled on 'whoa, dense forest' and 'walk'. It was then his stomach decided to let him know that it was time to fill it now.

grumble

"Shut up…"

"Hungry?"

His heart leapt from the unexpected reply to his indignant and annoyed belly and he jumped to his feet. Spinning around he came face to face with-

"Rei?"

"Who me? Noooooooo…"

Kai let his ruby eyes settle on the neko-jin's cat-like grin and he felt his eyes twitch just that little bit. On seeing this Rei thought it better to strike a conversation. He was never more wrong…

"Soooo you want some fish? I did a load of fishing ya know and well we were all looking for you so I don't know but I found you now so we should really get back to camp and it's not that far away from here. What are you doing here anyway? I mean we don't know what's out here so you better not go on your own. I always figured it would be better if we stayed in a group and oh my god does Tyson annoy me or what? You know he stole my tuna I had a good mind to be-"

I take it back… On seeing this Rei thought it better to strike a one-sided unrequited conversation, on which he was the only one talking: like a steam train whom had overdosed on caffeine (like Max). This, doing nothing for Kai's mental stability in terms of getting mad, drove him to the borderline. Yes, quite frankly, Kai was mad.

"-for a while when it was cooking but we ran out so I went to get some more, actually the others are still looking for you so we better tell them you're here and you're safe and you haven't been eaten by wolves, oh, I didn't tell you about the wolves well you see we all heard-"

"SILENCE!"

"Oh…"

If one looked veeeeery closely, one could see a blue pulsating vein just sitting on the top of Kai's forehead, but that's only if you look close. As close as Rei is looking, but, I wouldn't recommend it because what happens to Rei next could happen to you. For your own safety cover your ears, eyes and turn away.

"Hold on. Did you say wolves?"

"Heh, oh yeah! We heard wolf noises that were really scary. I mean you know I hate dogs right?"

"Yes, after all every time one even steps into a three meter radius of you, I automatically turn into a dog-proof and mobile shield."

"They like you! Anyway, Kenny kept screaming that the wolves ate you. We heard howling all night. It freaked me out. Don't tell them that."

Suddenly, the vein poofed and disappeared. Kai had to turn around to hide his manic laughter.

"I guess we better get back Rei." He stated in the steadiest voice he could muster up.

"Yeah you go ahead, I just, I just wanna soak in some country air."

With a nod Kai reluctantly started to walk away. Purposefully he dragged his feet, going slower than the average pace he usually chose. Something wasn't right, but was it possible that paranoia was kicking in? Maby it was due to the fact that Rei said 'country air' and not 'wood air'. Another quick glance at Rei's small distant figure he went on his way back to camp, where he was originally headed before he decided to lie down next to the river and snooze.

Back at camp…

"Where ARE they?!" Tyson whined whilst appearing half-starved.

Kenny surveyed the area once more for the stoic and the cat and did so until his surveying transformed into panicked and wide-eyed searching.

"Maybe you should calm down Kenny."

Max gave a particularly suited response in his sugar-state.

"Yeah you should totally calm down Ken Ken yeah yeah yeah."

And it was this event which led Kenny to make an unbelievably good impression of a bawling five year old. Arms outstretched ready for a bear hug the little computer freak discarded his loveable laptop in favour for his mean, nasty, and uncaring beyblading captain.

"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

With Kai out of the way he could drawn whoever it was out. Hopefully it was one person, or else he was in trouble. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to tell Kai to leave. Afterall, it seems that Kai Hiwatari is the strongest in the group physically.

"Okay, whoever you are, get your ass down here or I'll do it for you!"

For what felt like a millenia, all Rei could hear was the sound of his echoing voice. Slowly but surely he began to doubt his senses.

"Hello?!"

His cries met with silence. His echoes receded into to the woods and was absorbed by the large mossy trees that surrounded the clearing. The river stole away his call as it rippled by enclosing it in little waves across the rocks' surface. Feeling disgruntled, Rei began to leave.