Reviews: Thanks so much to; Rapunzelle, Petalwhisker X Fireheart, FallenHope-Angel, CleverPhoenix, dragonlilly1993, DarkBombayAngel, Surrealtraversity, Blaze Queenie, Chibi Mathilda, the Light Shadow, The Cattan Wolf, dragonfire7654321, Defiant Vixen, kaitouahiru, van, Destiny Kitty, pheonix80, golden-issa123 and K. J. Lim for taking the time to review! –glomps-
Chapter 8:
Glancing up from the book in his hands at the clock on the wall above the television set, Miguel sighs a little and shakes his head. "The girls have been gone a long time," he comments.
It's been hours since the girls set off to find Kai some new girly clothes to wear, and by the hours they've been away, Miguel can only suspect that they're not just looking for an outfit for Kai; they're looking for an entire walldrobe.
Maybe he should have gone along with them? Kai is his girlfriend now and he wants to spend time with her. Sure, they've spent time together before they started dating, but they were just friends back then and now it's different.
Ray sits up in the chair he's previously been slouching in and looks at the clock as well. "They're shopping," he says with a sense of disinterest. "What do you expect?"
"Kai won't be too happy if it lasts much longer," Miguel says as he snaps the book shut, not able to fully concentrate on its contents. "She can't stand crowded places."
Ray folds his arms over his chest and nods his head in agreement. "That's true."
"I'm also worried about her ankle," Miguel carries on to say, his blue eyes momentarily glancing at the front door, hoping that she will walk through it soon enough. "She's a fast healer, but it was only yesterday that she twisted it."
Walking around all those shops with a sore ankle wouldn't be much fun at all and it would be doing more damage than good. He'll have to check on it when she gets back, hopefully very soon.
Gwad, he feels so impatient right now. He just wants to be with Kai again, dammit.
"It's hard to believe that we only found out about Kai's real gender yesterday," Claude comments as he walks into the room, taking a seat next to Miguel on the couch. He takes one look at his best friend and smiles softly to himself to find him fidgeting in his seat. It's only been a few hours and yet he's missing his girlfriend severely.
He must admit though, he's interested to see what kinds of clothing the girls have managed to talk Kai into getting. He's pretty sure that if Kai went alone, jeans and plain t-shirts would be the stable of her choice of clothing.
Though, it's fair to say that he's not the only one who is curious, as the others are also littering the room, glancing at the front door in silent intervals.
"Yeah," Ray says as he recalls yesterday's events as well and turns his attention to the Spaniard. While he and the others are still trying to get their heads around the fact that their badass captain was a girl, Miguel on the other hand seems completely at ease with the revelation. "You're taking it quite well, Miguel."
Miguel turns his eyes away from the front door and shrugs lightly, smiling warmly. "It's not that a big of a deal for me. To me, Kai is Kai, regardless of gender. The same with love; you love the person, not for their gender, right?"
Claude stares at his friend for a moment before a warm smile appears on his lips and he nods. "You're right."
Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening alerts to everyone that the girls have returned and Miguel is immediately on his feet, earning a few sniggers from the others.
"We're back!" Hilary's voice cheerfully sings out. "And we brought a guest along with us!"
"A guest?" Ray murmurs, his voice heavy with confusion as he, too, climbs to his feet and walks to the front door.
"I wonder who it could be?" Claude wonders quietly to himself as he moves out of the room as well, stepping out just before Ray, only to collide with something taller, taunt, warm and very, very male. His body tensing at the contact, Claude tilts his head back and finds himself staring into a pair of icy blue eyes, ones that seem slightly tired, but filled with amusement none the less.
"I had no idea you were so eager to see me again," Tala jokes as Claude stumbles a few steps backwards, a light blush on his cheeks.
"Sorry," Claude squeaks as the other looks on with a sense of confusion.
However, a large grin quickly appears on Tyson's lips. "Hey Tala! What are you doing here?" he greets with enthusiasm.
"On a forced vacation," Tala replies simply, dropping his bag from his shoulder onto the floor.
He, however, quickly trains his eyes back on Kai, watching as she walks over to Miguel, placing her hands on his chest as she whispers something to him. As Kai leans in close, Miguel places his two hands on the small of her back, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side so she could speak softly into his ear. Miguel's eyes suddenly flicker over in his direction and Tala raises an eyebrow at the blonde in question before he quickly looks back at Kai, giving her a reassuring smile. They share a few more words before Kai reaches up on tiptoes and kisses Miguel on the cheek, gaining herself another smile from him.
He must admit that they do make a cute couple.
However, he suspects that Kai is actually warning her boyfriend that her older brother will probably pull him aside later on to have a good old fashion chat about the rules he has in place for anyone who wishes to date his little sister.
Oh, and Tala plans to go through that list, just to see the blonde squirm for a moment. He's interested in learning the Spaniard's intentions towards Kai. He knows that Miguel isn't shallow or anything like a playboy, and he's certain that Miguel's feelings for Kai are sincere and genuine; he still wants to put him through the third degree. Just to see how he handles the pressure...and to have a bit of fun while he's at it.
Hey, what's the point of being the older brother if you can't scare the hell out of your sister's dates once in a while?
"We've managed to find so many great outfits for Kai to try on," Hilary says as she holds up the shopping bag, the guys in front of her deadpanning at the size of the bags.
Amongst the males in the room, the same thought is shared; I'm glad they didn't drag me shopping...
Matilda suddenly gives a light tug on Kai's arm, gaining the taller female's attention. "Let's go try some of them on, Kai. I want to see how you look."
A light blush flitters across Kai's cheeks. "I don't know."
"You girls go ahead," Tala says as his customary wolf-like grin spreads across his lips, quickly casting a glance over the guys before turning to look at Kai. "I like to have a chat with my fellow males."
"Tala..." Kai says with a warning edge to her voice before taking a couple of large strides and plants herself right in his face, her eyes narrowing into a fierce glare as she hisses lightly under her breath. "If you scare him away, I swear to God, I will never talk to you again."
Instead of being intimidated by her glare and expression, Tala finds it cute and gives her an innocent look. However, the smirk on his lips ruins the expression completely. "Trust me; I'm not going to do anything."
Kai takes a step back and eyes him off wearily. "Just warning you before hand," she mutters, reluctant to leave.
"Go on, shoo," Tala says as he pushes her away with a shooing motion with his hands.
"Come on, Kai," Matilda says as she grabs a hold of Kai's arm again, tugging her away.
"We shouldn't waste time," Hilary says as she quickly gathers the bags. "There are so many cute outfits for you to try on."
"Yeah, yeah," Kai says as she sighs in defeat, pausing near Miguel to give him a slightly embarrassed and pained look. "Don't you dare laugh at the clothes."
Miguel simply grants her with his usual charming smile and shakes his head lightly at her self-consciousness. "Wouldn't dream of it," he says as he kisses her softly on the lips. "I'm sure you'll look great in whatever they've bought for you."
"I wish I could be as confident," Kai replies with a small smile and a light dusting of red on her cheeks.
They spend a sweet moment just gazing at each other before Tala interrupts them with a forced cough, granting Hilary the opportunity to literally push Kai upstairs to her bedroom. With Kai no longer in sight, Tala and the others walk into the lounge room, where Tala plonks into down onto a chair.
"So," he says, gaining everyone's attention and folds his arms over his chest. "How did you guys find out that Kai was a girl?"
Everyone immediately begins to fidget, the members of Grev being the worst. They look increasingly uncomfortable with the way Tala is looking at him with an eyebrow reaching towards his hairline.
"Um...do you seriously want to know?" Max mumbles as he takes a seat himself...as far away from the redhead as possible.
Tyson nervously scratches the back of his head. "Heh, just promise you won't kill us afterwards."
That immediate gets Tala's attention and he finds himself frown a little as his inner brotherly protectiveness starts to kick in. "That bad, huh?"
Realizing that there was no possible way for anyone to get out of this conversation, Ray decides that the best thing to do is to tell the Russian the truth...as bluntly as possible.
"I'll tell you what I know," he says as leans against the wall, his arms folding over his chest. "It all started yesterday when we were training together in the courtyard. Tyson got a little too enthusiastic with his attack." Ray quickly casts a glance in Tyson's direction, who winces slightly from the memory. He then turns to the silver-haired Spaniard, who in turn blushes darkly and looks away when Tala raises an eyebrow in his direction.
"Startling Claude, who froze in shock," he carries on. "Kai pushed him out of the way, but rolled her ankle and fell into the pond."
Tala blinks slowly. "She fell into the pond?" he murmurs, a slight grin making its presence known on his lips. Seeing Kai waist deep in water would have been a sight to see, especially since he just knows Kai would have been inwardly seething with murderous intent.
"Miguel picked her up and took her inside, into the bathroom," Ray further explains, watching as Tala turns his attention to the blonde, who holds his gaze effortlessly and fearlessly with his own.
Sure, Miguel can be brave in the face of a dangerous Russian. He's dating one of them!
"She had a shower, but forgot her clothes. She went into her bedroom wearing only a towel, but realized that the window was open, and as she went to shut it, Tyson burst into her room, startling her to the point where she fell out the window."
Tala snaps his head up and turns a surprised expression towards Ray. "She fell out the window?!" he practically yells in disbelief.
Ray immediately lifts his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "There's an awning just under her window, and she still had her towel on, so she wasn't hurt....aside from her previous injuries, I mean."
That does very little to reassure the quickly erupting Russian. "Previous injuries?" Tala hisses, well aware that he is making everyone uncomfortable, but caring very little that he is.
"Ah, well," Ray begins to stutter. "Kai twisted her ankle and sprained her wrist yesterday by falling into the pond, you see. Anyway, the awning that probably saved her life was the one that can be clearly seen from the courtyard. And we were surprised, to say the least."
Tala calms down only a mere fraction, his eye twitching at the thought of his little sister in such a humiliating and vulnerable position. "So, how did you get her down?" he asks and immediately feels the tension in the room grow thicker.
"Ah, we couldn't..." Max mutters, sinking away when Tala turns his gaze onto him.
"What do you mean, you couldn't?" he hisses, his patience quickly drawing thin.
The sight of a steadily seething Russian begins to make Max stutter as well. "We, ah, didn't know how to get onto the roof to help her."
The temperature in the room seems to drop a degree or two in temperature.
"Didn't know how to...?" Tala repeats, almost gagging in scepticism before he bristles in mild annoyance. "There are plenty of ways to get onto the roof! If she fell onto it, there was a way to step into it, right?"
Max blushes in mild embarrassment, knowing full well that Tala is right. "We never thought of that..."
If Tala wasn't sitting down at this exact moment, he would have fallen over in reluctance to believe that a group of people couldn't figure out a way to get to the roof to get their scantily clad and injured teammate down!
"They were too busy gawking at her," Miguel suddenly mutters with a sense of bitterness in his voice. He protectively narrows his eyes and throws a quick glance in the direction of a certain neko. "Especially Ray."
Ray immediately turns pale when Tala snaps his head towards him, his icy blue eyes narrow with blatant disapproval, his lips pressed together in a tight line as Ray sinks away from his glare. He had been hoping that no one would mention his...suggestive comments to the raging redhead. That was actually another reason why he wanted to be the one to explain everything to Tala. But of course, Miguel would be the one to tell him. He's just as protective of Kai.
"What?" Tala asks with his voice as cold and chilling as his eyes.
"Apparently, Kai was on the roof for about fifteen minutes when I arrived," Miguel carries on to explain, noting with a sense of amusement that the members of Grev are oddly silent at the moment. "This lot here not knowing how to get her down. I had to hop onto the roof to see if she was alright."
Again, Tala only calms down a fraction. He folds his arms over his chest and focuses his full attention at the Spaniard. "And how did you get on the roof?"
"I used Tyson as a ladder," Miguel explains, unable to stop a smirk from appearing on his lips when he casts a quick glance in Tyson's direction, who winces from the memory.
Tala catches the wince and finds himself revealing a wolfy smirk of his own, just imagining the scene in his head. "Nice," he says, earning him another wince from the boy before turning his attention back to the blonde next to him. "How did you get her down?"
"Hilary finally found a real ladder and I carried her down," Miguel tells him, smiling softly at the memory of Kai wrapping her arms around his neck and holding onto him tightly. "Don't worry, Hilary warned the guys here not to look. Her dignity was left in tack, I promise."
"Good," Tala says with a sharp nod before he suddenly climbs to his feet and gives the blonde a pointed look. "Now then, I think you and I need to have a good old heart to heart.
Miguel easily matches Tala's interrogative look with an expression of confidence. "I look forward to it."
X3 Whoo, Tala and Miguel are going to have a nice little chat about Kai. And we get to see Kai in some girly clothes in the next chapter as well! I hope you look forward to it.
Please review.