A.C.: I had to rewrite the whole thing all over again because I accidentally wrote a file over it when I was transferring stuff between computers. -Sobs- ahh well, 's not like I have anything else to do riiiggght? Bleh.

Whoo, a new update, must be a new record.

Disclaimer: wish I owned it...

Warnings: As always, watch out for the rampant use of grammar

For reference in case you're confused...

Ian as Ivan

Spencer as Sergei

Bryan as Boris

Boris as Balcov

Tala as Yuriy

Hiro as Hiroshi

Tyson as Takao

Hilary as Hiromi

-

-

The anger disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. Kai let out a small sigh which became a cloud of moisture in the air. The rain had receded somewhat, but it was still drizzling and Boris could no longer read the other's face through the veil of water. And neither could Kai his.

"Get rid of that thing."

Kai leaned against the pick-up's door. He brushed his bangs back but the silver bangs flowed back down, obscuring his eyes. The slate-haired Russian seemed to sag until he seemed to have compressed onto himself entirely. Boris' grip on Sergei grew tight and his nails dug into the unyielding cold flesh. He fought the urge to shudder and turned around. He wrapped his arm around the blonde's waist and threw the burly arm over his shoulders. Not that he couldn't carry the man but he doubted that people would react well to a skinny Russian holding up someone twice his size in bridal style.

"Why do you turn your back to me...?" there's no amusement, no noticeable anything, just resignation of what is to come. "You could easily..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Boris interrupted, tucking the larger man's corpse closer to his side. "Hate you too Hiwatari but unfortunately..." he grimaced as if he had bitten into something bitter. "...That is no longer my choice to make."

-

-

Yuriy released a muted moan of frustration and disbelief as he circled the blonde's body which had been healthy and living mere hours before. One hand went up to his hair and twisted the fingers around the claret strands, the other hung rigidly at his side useless. He let his right hand rest upon the dead man's closed eyes. It was at times like these that asserted Yuriy's status as a leader. The anger was palpable in his eyes, pain, drugs and drowsiness doing nothing to lessen the intensity of the arctic colors. He looked absolutely stunning, he looked positively murderous.

"What. Happened."

"Saint Shields," Kai answered, which was in Boris' opinion, a murder just waiting to happen. Yuriy moved very quickly for a man who was suffering from after effects of poisoning. And whatever painkillers that rushed through his veins to numb the nerves did nothing to slow him down as he tightened his hand around Kai's upper arm. Water droplets scattered all over the floor. The blunette winced at the rough handling though he did nothing to get out of the redhead's grip. Gritting his teeth, he continued "they took him as bait." Yuriy's nails furrowed in further,

"What did they want?" he intoned quietly, perhaps out of the respect of the half-Russian in his grip.

"Suzaku."

Yuriy's lips lifted lightly in an caustic sneer.

"And you let him die for that damned thing."

There was loud hissing noise from beside them which met an untimely end through Boris' hand. The pale-haired man was not looking at the pair directly; Ivan seemed to have bloated like a toad. Yuriy paid them no heed as he let go, Kai stumbling back as if he had been punched in the stomach. Shuffling his feet, the blunette tugged his torn jacket closed and wrapped his arms around his chest. It was an action so unlike Kai's that for a moment the redhead was sorely tempted to ask if he was alright.

He didn't and retracted his arm back at his side. He swayed on his feet as a sudden wave of vertigo washed over him. Kai pulled at the edge of his orange-and-white sweater long just enough for him to regain balance and back off onto the couch were Sergei was laid. He slapped his bandaged hand over his eyes and tilted his head backwards, not at all perturbed that he was nearly sitting on the dead blonde's legs.

Between asking for a glass of water and more painkillers, Yuriy spat out a word that more than aptly summarized the situation at hand.

"Fuck."

-

-

"...Where are you going?"

"What are you doing up this late Takao?" Hitoshi asked finally as he kicked his foot into his shoes. There was a loud yawning noise behind him as the blunette stretched his arms and rubbed the remnants of sleep from his eyes.

"...mmm...heard you... going out... where are you going?"

"I have some business to take care of."

"Like yesterday...?"

The deep blue eyes were becoming clearer. Hitoshi reminded himself to breathe. He didn't know anything; Takao was being a typical, nosy, brotherly self.

"It's not about that."

"You're hiding something." Suddenly agitated Takao continued, "...stop lying to me!"

"Takao..."

"I heard gramps say stuff about you when you went away! He said that you're dealing with a wrong crowd and that you'd get in trouble someday and...!" the younger Kinomiya immediately shoved his hands into his mouth. He swallowed Hitoshi turned around, his eyebrow raised high.

"He said that to you?"

A nod,

"About me." Hitoshi shook his head, "he doesn't know shit." Takao shook at the profanity coming from the normally taciturn man. "Takao," he warned, walking up to his brother and ruffling the navy locks. "Go back to sleep."

-

-

They moved Sergei into another room where his body would be prepared for cremation. The funeral would be private, just a handfuls of ashes into the wind and the ocean to be forgotten. He wouldn't even get a gravestone to say who he had been to all of them. And perhaps that tiny detail hurt the most.

Boris' chair bumped softly as all four legs make contact with the carpeted floor. Immediately he tilted it forwards, his arm hanging over its back as his head rested on the back of the chair. The chair reared before settling down with another dulled noise. And like clock work, his legs flexed repeating the motion over and over again.

"Leave him be Ivan." Boris tried but the blunette was relentless.

"So you're going to send a half-dead man..."

"Yeah," Yuriy responded disinterestedly as he nursed a bottle of vodka he seemingly produced from thin air.

"Without backup..."

"If he needs one, he'll get one."

"Just because he knows Saint Shields best..."

Yuriy sighed and swallowed another mouthful.

"That sounds about right..."

Ivan snarled,

"He got off the fight worse than you. There's no way he's going to come back in one piece and you know it. If you need someone to go, send me or Boris. Dammit Yuriy, you can't fuck Kai over just because you're angry."

"I'm not angry."

Boris rolled his eyes,

"'Course you're not, you're just bat-shit crazy."

"As I recall, it isn't my job to eliminate Hiwatari if he got to be a problem."

"Ooh... back to last names, got kicked out last night or something?" Boris jibed snidely but quickly sobered when he realized the implications of Yuriy's words. "Heh... how'd you know that?"

"Walls have ears," Yuriy reprimanded mildly, slamming the bottle down on the side table in front of him.

"So you're letting Saint Shields do the dirty work for you. That is so unlike you, what's the matter? Saving a few drops of blood won't keep your hands any cleaner."

"It's not about that..." The redhead had a dark look on his face as he paused, brooding. "If he comes back," he pronounced slowly, "he's free to stay."

"This is his house," Ivan interjected,

"You know what I mean"

"You're blaming him for Sergei."

"You weren't there Ivan,"

"What about Boris?" Ivan tried and elicited an offended 'hey,' from the platinum-haired man.

"Blames aside, it is true that he indirectly participated in Sergei's death. If he had handed her over we could have taken it back."

"If he had handed that damned thing over, he would have been dead!"

"What?"

"You sleep with him every night, you've seen it. Or were you so preoccupied that you didn't even notice what was going on under your nose? You heard quite a bit of our conversation, but you didn't hear the whole thing. Don't you get it, Kai. Died."

The redhead turned away from the volatile teenager.

"Ivan, Kai does not need you to defend himself."

"Yuriy, if you haven't noticed, he's not healing anymore. We all had or bit beasts out and it speeds up our healing. Counting Cyber Dranzer or whatever crap he picked up, he has three. By all accounts he should be fucking immortal."

"Handling bit beasts puts a strain on..."

"You know that's not the whole story!" Ivan shoved his hand up his hair and tugged at it furiously. Slightly calmer he continued, "Ok look. What if I said that they were the same? What if Kai can't accept this part of himself because it would mean that he was something less..." Ivan's voice turned into a bare whisper. "... Something more than human?"

Boris looked up sharply, he had not been told of this part before.

"It doesn't change a thing," Yuriy's eyes had a faraway look to them as he stared into the wall. "It doesn't change a thing at all."

-

-

Kai heard, felt and knew every single word that passed through the walls and the floors. He shed the ruined jacket quickly and threw the over the chair beside his desk. Perhaps one of the maids could repair it later, more than likely it would be thrown out. Fumbling around his drawers, he took some bandages and wrapped them tightly across his chest as he could. He didn't know the extent of the damage, he had not taken the time to look in the mirror but knew that he should be getting some professional help because the taste of metal in his mouth had only strengthened over time.

He punched a wall and winced.

'...stay?'

He closed his eyes and shook his head as if to chase away a nightmare. A bead of sweat trickled past his jaw. He punched the wall again and rasped,

"Be my guest."

-

-

"Master Kai!" the girl let out a scandalized gasp as she came into the room, exchanging nervous glances with a manservant.

Kai stood with his back to them, his chest and left shoulder swathed in bandaging.

"Sir," the manservant spoke up hesitantly, "That is not a wound you can shake off easily, you should at least get it looked at by Kotone-san or even Sergei-san." Unbeknown to them, Kai's hand clenched tightly as he tugged a shirt over his head—they didn't know.

"Master Kai..." the girl tried again,

"I'm going out, don't tell the others."

"Too late," Kai jumped. Boris shoved his way between the two servants scratching the back of his head.

"Boris." The blunette said flatly. Boris opened his mouth and closed it again.

"You've got Ivan hopping mad at Yuriy." to this Kai nodded absentmindedly, waving the two servants off as Boris closed the door behind him. "Ok, they're pretty much laughable I'll give you that but in terms of numbers? They've got us there hahn? Kai, you are insane." Kai said nothing, "Ivan told me that he could no longer feel..."

"Still a Blitzkrieg," Kai interrupted with a mirthless glance, "As for Ivan... it was an unfortunate advantage that no longer matters"

"You're still insane."

"I'm giving them a warning."

"I'll just go and reserve a room for you in Tokyo General Hospital shall I?"

"Hn, I can afford to clean up this mess one last time."

"Don't make him too comfortable." Boris muttered darkly. It was the one time the platinum-haired man had shown any outward reaction to the death of his blonde partner. Kai pulled on his jacket and uttered the only reassurance he could afford to give,

"I won't"

"Just come back in one piece bird brain."

Kai smiled.

-

-

"Kane Yamashita."

"Yamashita Kane," the blunette corrected automatically. The girl cocked her head and leaned forward. He wasn't sure how he knew this person was female; from the cloak draping her from head to toe he could barely make out her green eyes. But there was something about her, her cat-like movements to the lilt of her words that reminded him so badly of another girl laying in a coma in the room above them.

He cleared his throat, "what do you want?"

"I... or rather my leader has a proposition for you."

Kane was already walking away, wanting to be alone to mull over the day again lost to fretful waiting. The girl glided up to him. She was taller than him, perhaps by a few inches. That alone irritated him and made him walk a little faster. Unfortunately for him, she had no trouble keeping up.

"Leave me alone."

"How rude."

"Get away from me."

"Don't you want revenge for your teammates?"

"Already tried ...doesn't matter."

"And if I said it does matter?"

She blocked the oncoming fist easily with her left hand.

"I've already tried. What more do you want from me? They were already strong back then, I am nothing compared to them."

He had been right, she was a girl. The hood of her cloak slipped down past her dark hair and pooled against her shoulders.

"If I said I could help..."

"You can't help me."

"The powers of a bit beast are miraculous, you should know." The blocking hand became a finger that guided the fist sideways. "It's true that Cyber Dragoon is a disappointment next to the original but, I believe it makes him more dangerous."

"I told you, I. Failed."

"And I told you, you have another chance." He saw her smirking and felt another surge of irrational fury filter through him. "Are you interested?"

-

-

Kai let out a low hiss.

"I can still smell the blood on you." Yuriy sighed as he lightly nipped the fabric on Kai's shoulders. The half-Russian looked strange without the usual white scarf around his neck. Yuriy backed away and inspected him in the yellow light.

"This seems to be a popular trend today" Kai mused, "you should be resting." The redhead stared at him and quirked his eyebrows, the slate-haired teen sighed. "It's ok, make it up to me later." Yuriy didn't say anything but then he didn't have to.

Kai held a gloved palm to the redhead's mouth, his lips pressed against the back of his hand. Kai lipped the top of his middle finger before biting down. Yuriy bit back viciously at the underside, his nose squashed against the fourth finger and the pinky as he designated to leave his mark on the young man before he left. Kai squeezed his eyes shut and squinted, staring enthralled into the iridescent aqua blue. He whispered a quiet 'I'll come back,' and gently flicked this tongue against the leather.

Drowsy, Yuriy closed his eyes then opened it.

Kai was gone

And so was the pain.

-

-

A.C.: I like Miriam a lot for some reason (even if I did kinda sorta turned her into a murderess). Guess she was easier on the eyes than most. Mariah's way too pink for me -laughs- eh, wrote and rewrote the last scene a couple of times but... it still doesn't look right...!

And... Damn this story is turning out to be longer than I thought

-

Ayatsuji- well me... I haven't taken a single, decent, grade-correct, non-asian, high school (or middle school) level English in a looooong time... err since I graduated middle school for the first time... -counts fingers then fails- Can only imagine what I sound like to the rest of the world hmm...

And thanks D glad that you liked it.

Ma.anda- -looks up looks down looks sideways and down- I can't tell if I explained things or not, hope it helps... x3

YuriyTalaIvanov- obviously I can't tell you anything, thanks for reviewing )

Miako6- uhh you're going to have to be more specific than that. Umm about Ivan, he has an almost nonexistant connection with Kuro Suzaku that makes him sensitive towards Kai for some reason or another.