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Chapter 7:
Kai has never been a fan of shopping, not because it's too girly or something stupid like that, it's because she cannot stand the huge crowds of people hustling and bustling around her! If one more person 'accidentally' bumps into her, she's going to go mental and kick some ass, and hopefully get thrown out of the shopping district.
However, she doubts that Hilary and Matilda will let her go ballistic on everyone. Her two female companions are well equip to go shopping and are now currently discussing what type of clothes she would look great in.
Looking down at her choice of clothing at the moment; shorts with a tight black singlet top that did very little to hide her womanly bust and a simple pair of black sandals, she could not help but sigh, dreading the types of clothing Hilary and Matilda have planned for her to try on.
Truthfully, though, if she had to go shopping, she's glad that her two female companions are with her. Even though Kai would be happy to just wear a pair of jeans and a shirt, but even those sets of clothing come in many different styles and shades; what would look best on her?
A deep sigh passes her lips as Kai resides herself to her fate, but at least it's for a good cause; they're shopping for clothes for her to wear on her first official date with Miguel.
A light blush appears on Kai's cheeks as she thinks about her boyfriend. It still feels like a dream that she's finally dating the handsome blonde, the Spaniard she has been crushing on for a very long time. She never thought she would ever, ever find someone as wonderfully sweet and kind as Miguel, but now that she has him, she's never letting him go. She would not hesitate in beating the crap out of anyone who tries to interfere with their relationship.
As well as being sexy and talented, her boyfriend is also smart. When asked to come shopping with the girls today, he politely declined, saying that him seeing what types of clothing Kai buys might ruin the surprise for him. But Kai knows that Miguel was well aware that he would be stuck with bag duty.
She loves Miguel a lot, so she's glad he was able to talk himself out of this…no need to make him suffer as well. She'll just have to fall into his arms afterwards and whine about everything. He'll make her feel better; he always seems to be able to do that without much effort on his part.
Yeah, she's very lucky to have someone like him. Who knew falling out of a bedroom window in just a towel as her only piece of coverage would lead to the best thing that had ever happened to her?
Her life has always been on the weird side, but this event worked in her favour, so she has absolutely no right to complain.
"We need to get some more of the basics," Hilary says as she pulls out a small notebook from her purse and begins to scribble notes down. "We'll need at least two pairs of jeans, a couple of dress shirts for slightly formal occasions and then some casual shirts for around the dojo."
"We need to get some summer clothes as well," Matilda points out.
"That's right!" Hilary says as she looks around at the clothing stores, eyeing off all the cool and pretty summer dresses and skirts. Short denim shorts under flowly see-thru tops are so in this year. They look cool and comfortable as well; they'd probably look great on Kai.
Listening to her two companions, Kai looks down at the bags already in her hands. Surely, she's got enough clothes now? Yet, with all the things she's already bought today, none of them consists to be a dress of any kind.
Glancing around at the shops, Kai cannot help but feel a tad out of her depth. There are so many different types of clothing stores dedicated to just woman's clothing; she can see at least fifteen women's stores in a row. She has never really gone clothes shopping before. All she used to do before was go into a men's store, pick out random pieces of dark clothing and then pay for them. She's out of there in less than ten minutes. But this shopping escapade is turning out to be all day long! They've already been here for hours!
Walking past a group of giggling teenage girls, Kai rolls her eyes skywards when she overhears one of them make a comment about her being a skater/tomboy chick or something of that nature.
Tomboy, huh? They have no idea…
Though, she's glad that she can walk around freely as a girl now. This way, she doesn't have to worry about fans mobbing her at every turn and random media personnel following her like vultures. It's great to be able to walk around without some random girl called Kia appearing out of the blue, claiming to be either her sister or childhood friend wanting revenge with an ice Phoenix bitbeast, so something like that.
She would love to see the looks on those fangirls' faces when they realize that their one-and-true-soulmate is actually a girl who holds nothing but contempt towards them.
Almost makes her want to hold a press conference and announce it to the world.
"Oh my god, swimwear!" Hilary suddenly squeals with delight and snares Kai's wrist in her hand, effortlessly dragging her over to a store that seems to specialize in only swimwear.
Kai cannot help but gape at all the different types of swimwear to choose from, most of them from the same style, a two piece with a triangle bikini top, but there are so many different colours. Some of them didn't look that bad, but leopard prints? That's a little…
"You so have to get one of these," Hilary says as she pulls a black and silver two piece off the shelf and hands it to Kai to inspect.
Kai holds up the bikini and frowns at how little coverage it offers. It's quite…small?
"It's a little revealing, isn't it?" she asks.
Going from thick bandages around her chest and tight black tops that cover everything to something as revealing and exposing as a string bikini? Kai doesn't think so! Especially with the way her luck is notorious for, this thing won't last a minute on her without falling off.
Oh God, let's not go there…
"Can't I have something less hazardous?" Kai asks as she sets the piece of swimwear down, eyeing it off wearily. "I mean, this thing looks like an accident waiting to happen."
She has nothing against those girls who like to wear these sorts of things, but really, she isn't as body confident as they are.
"Miguel would totally love it!" Hilary says as she nudges Kai in the ribs, a sly look on her expression.
Kai immediately blushes a dark red. "Really?" she stutters.
"Um, maybe you could wear it under a singlet top or something," Matilda suggests, noting the discomfort on Kai's face and deciding to help her out a little. She wasn't as confident about wearing a two piece like that either, so for Kai, the thought of wearing one must be giving her a heart attack.
Kai has the perfect figure for a bikini, but she is naturally an athletic person, so she would want something a bit sportier perhaps.
"How about a tankini?" Matilda once again makes a suggestion.
Kai furrows her brow, hearing the word somewhere before but not entirely sure what it is. "What's that?"
"Oh, it's a two piece that had the top in the shape of a tank or singlet," Matilda explains as she tugs on Kai's arm and pulls her over to another section of the store. She then pulls off the shirt a black singlet style swimming top with a pattern of a dark purple Frangipani flower printed on the side. With Kai's pale skin, dark colours like this would suit her well.
"It might give you a bit more confidence, if you know what I mean," she continues as Kai inspects the article with a critical gaze.
After a moment, Kai nods, finding this style of swimwear more to her likening. "Yeah, this looks a lot better."
"Let's get a couple bikinis anyway," Hilary says as she hands her a couple of bikini sets. "It wouldn't hurt to wear one under a top, would it?"
"I guess not," Kai says with a shrug and walks over to pay for her purchases, finding it mildly amusing that she's using her grandfather's money to pay for girl's clothing after making her spend years dressed as a guy.
Poetic justice indeed.
"Um, hey, do you like pink?" Hilary asks as they walk out of the store.
"I've never worn it," Kai says as she flings the bag over her shoulder to rest on her back. "I have nothing against it."
"Good, because I found the perfect top for you," Hilary says happily, loving that she can go clothes shopping with someone like Kai. "It's a dark pink singlet top with black butterfly wings on the back. It's so cute!"
"Then, why don't you buy it?" Kai asks. If she finds it cute, why doesn't she buy one for herself?
"Oh, it wouldn't suit me," Hilary quickly replies, waving a dismissive hand at her. "I can only wear light pink."
"I thought we were buying clothes for my date," Kai says as the girls begin to drag her to yet another teen shop close by.
"Oh, but there's so much clothes here that would just suit you!" Hilary says with a giggle, which prompts Matilda to laugh lightly as well. "Besides, no harm in stocking up on clothes for future dates, is there?"
A sigh of defeat passes Kai's lips, resigning herself to her fate. The stores don't close for another couple of hours yet. "I guess not…"
Suddenly, a flash of red catches Kai's eye and she turns, wondering what could have caught her attention. She pauses and squints her eyes as she surveys the crowds. She can hear her companions asking what's wrong, but she doesn't answer. There's this sense of familiarity in the air.
Her eyes widen a moment later in recognition and she quickly hands her bags off to Hilary and Matilda as a familiar Russian with flaming red hair appears in her line of sight. He has one hand in his pocket as the other it holding onto a bag that he has flung over his shoulder.
"Tala!" Kai yells in a tone of surprise and quickly jogs over to the taller redhead, throwing her arms around him in a hug. Dropping his bag in shock, Tala returns the hug with a smile on his face, he too mildly surprised by Kai's appearance. Letting the hug linger for a moment, relishing in the familiar warmth of the young woman he sees as a sister, Tala gently pushes Kai back and looks her up and down.
"Hmm, well, you've grown, haven't you?" he says with a teasing tone in his voice and giving her a slightly perverted grin.
Immediately, Kai's eyebrow twitches and she gives him a look of annoyance. "If I didn't know you were gay, I'd think you were a pervert," she mutters and Tala simply laughs lightly.
A soft smile makes its presence known on Kai's lips as she gives him another hug, not caring that Hilary and Matilda are watching a couple of steps away in surprise. Although Tala can sometimes be annoying, she still loves him like the older brother figure that he is and always has been.
"Why are you here, Tala?" she asks as she pulls out of his arms, confusion written on her face.
"Vacation, apparently," Tala says as he picks up his bag, showing it to her for a moment before flinging it over his shoulder once again. "Spencer and Bryan thought that I might have been working too hard and threw me on the first plane to Japan."
"I must admit, you do look a little tired and weary," Kai says, mother hen mode immediately taking over as she studies his appearance with eyes shimmering with concern. "Do you feel alright?"
"I'm just suffering from jetlag, don't worry about it," Tala replies quickly as he resists the urge to roll his eyes skyward at his sister's concern. "So, what's been going on with you? Why are you dressing like a girl now?"
A light blush appears on her cheeks and Kai presses her lips into a thin line. "The others found out about my gender," she mutters as she tries to push back the memories of being stuck on that God-forsaken roof!
Tala tilts his head to the side in question, the corners of his lips twisting into a sly smirk. Seeing Kai's reaction he knows that this will be an interesting story. "How?"
The blush on Kai's face immediately darkens and she winces from the memories she couldn't hold back. "Way more humiliating than you did," she mutters, which prompts a small chuckle from Tala.
She waits for him to settle down before she tells him about Miguel. The Blitz boys are like her older brothers, as she has mentioned several times before, so they're insanely protective of her. She loves them to bits, but she also loves Miguel with all her heart, so the last thing she needs is for her brothers to scare her boyfriend away.
"It's a long story, but I need to tell you something important first," Kai says with a serious tone in her voice, succeeding in hiding her small sense of uncertainly and fear. "I'm…dating someone."
Tala seems to do a double take and narrows his eyes a little, not entirely sure he heard right. "What?"
"It's Miguel," Kai says. "He's my boyfriend."
"Miguel?" Tala repeats, his eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline. Tala knew that Kai had a crush on Miguel and he would often tease her about it, but even he's a tad surprised. "The Spaniard?"
"That's right," Kai says as she licks her lips nervously, seemingly getting ready to defend Miguel to the death if necessary. She does not need any tension between her boys at the moment.
For a long, silent moment Tala stares at her in shock and perplexity, no doubt trying to come up with a scenario that involves Kai revealing her gender and her feelings to the Spaniard. They spoke not two days ago and she never mentioned anything about ousting herself to the others.
Well, if Miguel is ok with Kai being a girl and returns her feelings, how could he object to that? But, he will give the blonde a quick heads-up. No one hurts his little sister and gets away with it…
"Aw, my girl is growing up!" Tala playfully coos as he pulls her into a headlock.
Kai immediately makes a squeaky noise of surprise and begins to flail her arms around to try and get herself out of Tala's grip. "Let go of me, Ivanov!" she yells, earning some funny looks from passer-bys.
As for Kai's female companions, they're too busy having a giggle at Kai's expense as Tala effortlessly drags her down the street and towards the dojo.
Oh well, they'll just have to continue their shopping tomorrow.
Yay! Tala's here! Am I going to pair him up with someone? Hmm, you'll just have to wait and see!
Please review.