Hi Guys!

Sorry this took a while, I did say it might take a bit at the mo.

I got a review from someone saying they were confused, if anyone's confused just tell me and I'll try to explain it, kwl?

KK, lets get on with it, here we go!

Street Life

Chapter 13

Kai sighed heavily as he looked around the place he would now call a home. He had looked before but had been pretty groggy. It wasn't exactly friendly, but he had been in worse places and at least the people weren't out to hurt him this time.

After his little chat and agreement with Panther, the leader had left the room, leaving Kai to the mercy of the others sitting round him. None had spoken, almost like they expected him to talk first. That wasn't really going to happen, so Kai decided to have a look at the place during the silence. It was the type of room you would expect in the sewers, including the awful smell, but it seemed he was already getting used to it, he would have to if he was going to stay here. He counted three tunnels where you could come or leave, and one of the tunnels had water leaking in. Luckily it didn't cover much of the floor and all the people on the ground had somewhere dry to lie on. He counted another two tunnels but these seemed to be caved in with rocks and some other green stuff…lovely… There were also a few crates on the floor, taking up what little room there was left in the place. The only light in the room were from a few candles littered about on a few small ledges.

"A-Are you feeling better?"

Kai's head snapped back to the group of people, looking for who spoke. His gaze travelled to Ali Cat. He watched as she rose to her feet and made her way over slowly. She sat down next to him with delicate grace and stared at him.

"Well, are you?" Her voice sounded as if she was trying to be careful with him.

Kai sighed, the girl deserved an answer, "Yes, better then before."

Ali Cat smiled, "Good! Do you…wanna meet everyone?"

"Kai looked at the others, "…I…guess…"

Ali Cat's smile spread wider and Kai wondered how a street girl could possibly be so happy.

"I'll Introduce everyone!" she said enthusiastically. She jumped of the ledge and raced over to the first person and hauled them off the floor.

"Hey! Watch it Ali Cat!" Said the girl.

Ali Cat ignored her, "This is Fiona. We call her Foxi."

"Nice to meet you" Said Foxi, nodding her head to him politely. Kai nodded back.

Ali Cat let go of the girl and moved on, hauling up the next person.

"This is Rorie, We call him Lion King or L.K. He has a short for his nick name, weird ain't it?" She giggled.

Rorie rolled his eyes at the girl then went over to Kai, hand out stretched, "We've met, are you gonna shake my hand this time?"

Kai gave the boy a slight smirk and reached out his hand, clasping the other boy's hand in a strong grip. 'May as well get used to them' Kai thought to himself.

L.K broke the hold, gave him a thumbs up, then sat back down. Ali Cat smiled again before picking up the small green haired boy, the boy smiled shyly.

"And this little dude," Ali Cat said, "Is L.K's lil' bro, Adam. But we call him Buggy."

The small boy looked up, "Hi" he said quietly, waving his hand a little. Kai nodded to him. In that one word Kai could tell he had the same accent as L.K.

"He's a little shy, but he'll talk more as he gets to know you." Ali Cat gave the small teen a hug before picking up the other young one in the group. This girl seemed a lot more confident.

"This is Sharon, otherwise known as Raven. She lives here with us but her family isn't to far away in one of the other chambers."

"Nice to meet you," she said nicely. Kai continued to nod.

Ali Cat moved over to the last girl, she went to haul her up but the girl rose before she could.

"I don't think so, Ali Cat" The girl said with a smirk.

"Right," she said," This is Jade, a.k.a Viper. She's going out with Panther and so she feels she's superior to us, she also gets very big-headed at times and looks like a monkey…"

"Excuse me!" Viper said losing her smug look, clenching her fists.

Ali Cat giggled before jumping away, "What, you think you can catch me?"

L.K laughed, "Ya know ya can' catch Ali Cat, Vipe, I wouldn' try it."

Viper stared at Ali Cat, "Why do you insist on insulting me every time you introduce us to new people?"

Ali Cat shrugged and smiled innocently.

During all of this, Kai watched not speaking. Though it didn't show, Kai found the play fight quite amusing, it was almost funny…

Ali Cat turned back to the boy on the ledge, giggling slightly, "Well, that's everybody! Except Panther, but you know him anyway." Kai nodded one last time.

Ali Cat returned the gesture before looking at a watch on her wrist, Kai guessed she had stolen it.

"Hey guys, its getting pretty late, we better head out and do our duties round the town" Ali Cat said turning towards the others, "I'm sure Kai would like to rest a bit more alone, too."

"It's okay…" Kai said, he didn't want to make them leave on his account, he would not be a burden.

"Don't worry, we're busy anyway, you wouldn't usually think living here was a lot of work!" said Raven, "Come on, Buggy." She grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him out with her. They both waved goodbye as they left through the tunnel.

Viper gave a small wave before she too followed out after the two younger ones, not saying a word.

"Well, we'll be off too then." Said Foxi, taking L.K's hand in hers, "Coming, A.C?"

"I just need to finish up here." she answered.

"Okay, see you later girl. Goodbye, Kai"

L.K grinned, "Yeah see ya later, dudes."

"Goodbye," Kai said back politely, then he turned to Ali Cat.

"Are you leaving too?"

"Not just yet, I can't leave without giving you breakfast!" she said as if it were obvious. She got up from where she was and walked over to a crate on the side of the room "Do you want anything in particular?"

"I shouldn't really take your food, I can get my own…" Kai was feeling more and more like a bother by the second, and he hated it.

"That's crap! I'm not leaving you hungry and this food belongs to all of us. You're one of the group now so 'us' means you too. And as such you can have as much of our food as you like. In this team, we share everything!"

Kai stayed stubborn, "I wont take your food" he insisted. 'They have little already' he thought 'It wouldn't be fair for me to take it'

Ali Cat scowled back at him, "Oh, stop being stupid!" Kai growled at the comment, "You have to eat something, we wouldn't let you stave even if you didn't agree to join us." By this point Ali Cat had retrieved some sandwiches that looked to still be pretty fresh out of the crates and was bringing them over.

" Besides," she continued, "You're still injured and you wont get better right if you go hungry, so eat it!" She finished, half placing, half slamming the sandwiched down next to Kai.

Kai stared at Ali Cat in slight surprise. She had been so happy not long ago, yet suddenly she was nearly yelling at him, talk about mood swings. She was certainly a very unique girl.

Ali Cat's scowl darkened, "Well? Are you going to eat it or not?"

Kai closed his eyes to the girl and turned his head away. An obvious no.

Kai heard the girl growl, before he was suddenly shoved onto his back on the ledge. He opened his eyes to find that the girl had him thoroughly pinned to the ledge. Her legs pinned his chest and stomach down while she held down both his arms with her own. He winced as the girl put slight pressure on his wounds but didn't mention it.

"What do you think you are doing?" he demanded. He didn't like the look on her face.

Ali Cat smirked, "Sometimes, Panther doesn't 'feel like' eating, this is how we get him to eat. I thought seeing as you're so much like him, it would work on you too!"

"And what exactly do you do?" Kai asked, suspiciously.

"It's quite simple really…" Ali Cat started.

She started to move Kai's arms down by his sides. Once in place, she moved her legs so that she straddled Kai's waist with his arms trapped too. This left her hands free.

"And then…" she nearly whispered and giggled at Kai's expression at her position. It was mostly hidden but there was still slight shock.

One of her hands reached over and grabbed a sandwich she had left next to them. She tore a piece of large enough to fit into a persons mouth.

"Then, basically, you just…" Her free hand reached forward and clasped itself on Kai's nose. She giggled again as Kai shifted in her grip but couldn't shake her off. Ali Cat had the piece of sandwich waiting and ready.

"You can't keep you're mouth closed forever Kai!" She giggled happily.

Kai grimaced as he felt the air in his lungs start to run out. Normally he could hold his breath longer but he had not been ready for it. He closed his eyes as he continued to refuse the life-needed air.

"Come on! You can't hold on!"

She was right he couldn't hold any longer. Kai opened his mouth to take a breath he needed. He tried his best to close his mouth before she could do anything, but she was too quick. She shoved the sandwich in with incredible speed. He grimaced as he tasted the food in his mouth and found he had no choice but to chew it and swallow. When the bite disappeared, he shuddered before scowling up at the girl, who was laughing her head off.

"Haha! You should have haha seen your face Hahahaha!"

Kai continued to glare in vain, and couldn't help noticing how she had quickly become happy again, she really was weird. 'Cute-weird' Kai thought, mentally slapping himself for the thought.

Kai waited for the girl to calm down again, before speaking, "Was that really necessary?"

"Well, you were the one who wouldn't eat! Now can you do it by your lil' lonesome? Or do I gotta get toughty wufty again?" she said in a baby voice.

Kai's eyes narrowed, Get off me and I'll think about it…"

Ali Cat pouted, while shaking her head" Nut uh. You gotta eat it or I'm staying right here"

Kai growled, "Okay, fine! Now get off!"

"Yay!" The girl cried. She jumped off him and watched in amusement as Kai sat up, obviously annoyed with the whole thing. Ali Cat continued to smile, and gestured to the sandwiches next to him.

Kai rolled his eyes and sighed, but reached down and took the food. Ali Cat's smile broadened as he took a bite and swallowed. She clapped her hands like she would to a child.

"See? Wasn't that easy?" she giggled.

"You're pushing your luck…" Kai warned.

"Okay, okay, I'll quit it." she said plopping down next to him, but her triumph smile didn't leave her face as he continued to eat.

"I knew Panther's treatment would have the same effect on you." She said, "You too are so alike."

Kai looked up from his food, "Why doesn't Panther eat?"

Ali Cat's smile faltered slightly, "Every now and then, he gets depression. I think we all do at some point, some more then others. We all have our own ways of dealing with it and Panther doesn't eat. You wont find many people around here who hasn't had problems like that. Even I have my sad days…"

Kai didn't answer, but turned away and continued to eat his food.

Ali Cat sighed, "Don't you ever get bad days?"

Kai hesitated for a second, before answering, "A lot of days in my life aren't happy, you get used to it."

"Oh? Why were they sad?"

Pause, "Probably the same reasons your days were sad." 'Great, I'm opening up again, what is it about her? Why do I let my guard down?' he asked himself.

"Maybe. We're very different on the outside you know but the damage is the same on the inside. You choose to mask your feelings while I choose to fake them…"

Kai looked up 'Fake them?' he thought 'Is that how they change so suddenly?'

Kai watched as the girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before jumping up with a big smile on her face.

"This convo is waaaay too upsetting! We don't wanna get all down in the dumps! Gotta stay positive!" She seemed enthusiastic.

Kai frowned slightly, eating the last bit of his sandwich without realising, then asking a question before he could stop himself, "Are you faking, like you said?"

Her smile faltered again but didn't vanish. She answered quietly, "Maybe a little…"

Suddenly, Kai found he understood her all the more……

"Well, anyway, you've finished eating so maybe you should get a bit more sleep." She said, "You sure do heal quickly don't you, I bet with good sleep today, you'll be up and about tomorrow and I can show you around!"

Kai let out a smirk, "Sounds cool"

Ali Cat nodded her head, "Well I guess I'll go now, I gotta get to my own duties! See you later" She said waving.

"Bye"

Ali Cat turned and made her way over to the tunnel. Kai watched as she hesitated.

Suddenly she dashed around and rushed over to him, she bent down and placed a soft kiss on Kai's cheek.

"Bye…" she whispered, before dashing away and through the tunnel before Kai could say anything.

Kai's eyes widened. His hand gently came up to touch his cheek, where he could feel a small tingling left by her lips.

"Goodbye…" He whispered to himself.

Yay! All done for now!

Please please please! Leave a juicy review for yours truly! Even if you didn't like it!

KK, See ya round Guys!

Drentai Dragon