A special thanks to FTA92, Dana, KageNekoReborn & DEMON KING DANTE for the reveiws


Battlefronts

Chapter 7


I sat in the little cove that Tai had led me to yesterday, watching as the sun's rays finally hit the water. The smell and feel of slightly damp sand and the salty water was enough to make me feel completely relaxed as I kept replaying the disaster of a dinner in my head.

The table had been elongated to make room for the extra guests. I had been sandwiched between Kari and Taka while poor Tai had ended up next to that weirdo Zach. The flirtatious smile and touches the blonde had been giving Tai had made my blood boil. Unfortunately this meant that my temper, and therefore tongue, were not fairing too well.

Sora seemed to have come to the conclusion that Tai's surly behaviour was my doing and for some reason taken personal insult for it. She made pointed digs at me which began to erode the control I was exerting to keep a reign on my temper. After a particular snarky response to a horrible comment, Kari and Taka intervened. Taka by initiating a friendly conversation with Zach about himself while Kari tried to divert Sora's attention by asking Mimi about some fashion thing she been a part of.

The kick I got from Taka had been a warning – I then made sure to keep my mouth full at all times. Zach was happy to talk about himself at length and gave Tai coy looks as he rattled on. Nudging Taka I rolled my eyes slightly which both Tai and Taka noticed. Taka had pinched me while Tai flashed me a quick smile. Zach stopped talking briefly and a weird look flashed across his face. Sharing a glance with Taka I had seen Tai jump slightly and go a little pale. Leaning back in my chair I had been able to see Zach's hand sitting on his seat mate's leg. A sharp command from my father to sit properly had meant my chair hitting the ground. Irritated I had seen the sly smirk on Zach's face.

For some reason (I'm still trying to figure it out) it had made the anger I kept leashed overflow. Only Taka's nudges, pinches and finally stepping on my foot had prevented me from completely tearing into the new guy and that snotty bitch Sora.

Unfortunately breakfast seemed to be a repeat of the dinner from last night. The stupid blonde thinking making not so subtle passes at Tai. Sora and I kept sniping at each other and the two peacekeepers, Taka and Kari did their best to direct people's attention into other pursuits. It took a flat order from my father for everyone to shut up and behave. The tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

Annoyed with the overzealous attention Zach was paying to Tai I excused myself early from the breakfast table, appetite gone. Pretending to go to my room to read I managed to sneak out, gear in hand for a day at the beach. I was glad Tai had taken me to this place – the water was calm enough for a nice swim…

Stripping down to my smalls I took a chance and jumped into the water. It was still a little chilly but it seemed to wash away all the negative crap from last night and this morning. Lazily I swam the length of the cove a few times and finally let the water take me to the shore. As I turned to swim out again, a movement to the right caught my attention. That momentary lapse of concentration was my downfall. A large wave swamped me; it turned me head over heels a couple of times until I finally whacked my head against something hard. Dazed and desperate for breath I tried to rise to the surface. Panicking I clawed upwards and choked as my body took a breath of salt water. Black lights began to dance in front of my eyes and finally I felt my body begin to get heavy.


*ts*


I walked into the clearing in time to see T.K. floating face down.

"Shit!" I swore. Throwing my gear onto the ground I raced into the water and grabbed the younger man. I flipped him over and noticed he wasn't breathing. With strength I didn't know I possessed, I hauled him to shore in no time and promptly put him into the recovery position. Scooping water out of his mouth, I quickly rolled him onto his back. I took his pulse and put my ear to his mouth, listening for the sound of him breathing. His heart seemed to be working but it wouldn't be much longer if I didn't get his breathing started again.

Pinching his nose closed, I tilted his head and breathed into his mouth, counting as I did. It only took a couple of tries before he coughed. I reacted quickly and made sure to put him back into the recovery position. I watched with concern as he coughed up water. Finally the sight I wanted to see – sapphire blue eyes looking at me.

"Are you okay?" I asked anxiously looking him over any problems. When he replied in the affirmative and cuffed him lightly.

"What the hell were you thinking?! You know you shouldn't have been swimming without someone nearby. You are only supposed to be walking! Now I'm going to have to call your dad and get him to take us back to the hospital." I scolded angrily. The fear at seeing him floating in the water like that had scared the hell out of me.

"Please no!" He begged me. "I'm sorry Tai. Please don't make me go back. Please. I'm okay. Really!"

I glared at him as he tried to get up. "Lay down you idiot!"

T.K. flinched when I uttered those words and curled up into the foetal position, protecting his face from my angry gaze. Surprised, my anger began to melt away – I pulled his arms away from his face long enough to see a tear roll down his face.

Shock filled me. I watched as the prickly teenager's body shook with quiet sobs. Closing my eyes I breathed out the last of my anger. Hauling the un-resistant blonde into my arms I rubbed his back gently.

"I'm sorry Teeks. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Man! You scared the shit outta me. I thought you were dead." I tried to explain. The tears continued. I continued to rub his back and waited for him to cry himself out.

"I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry." He stuttered, pulling away from me. He wouldn't look at me as he moved to a proper seated position. With an internal sigh and an imaginary smack upside my head I moved into a kneeling position. I grabbed his face and titled his head up. Seeing the hurt and confusion in his eyes stabbed through me like a knife. Continuing my examination I tilted his head from side to side inspecting his head for signs of injury. T.K. pulled away and refused to look at me.

"Hey." I said gently. "I was wrong to yell at you but you really do need to go to the hospital."

"No." he said in a quiet voice, face turned towards the ocean.

"Teeks. You could have exacerbated your concussion. A doctor needs to check you out." I said urgently.

"I'm not going. Leave me alone!" he snapped trying to stand.

I grabbed him and held him down which only served to make him angrier. It didn't take long for it to turn into a scuffle. I managed to end it by pinning him down. My eyes met and held sapphire blue.

"Enough." I said sharply.


*ts*


Looking up into Tai's face all I could see was concern. Shame rushed through me but it wasn't strong enough to wash away my fear of going to hospital. The older man was sitting on my chest which was making it harder to breathe – my lungs still hurt from inhaling water.

"T-T-Tai. Get. Off." I managed to strangle out. I wheezed as I struggled to gain a full breath.

"You'll behave?" he said sharply. I nodded my agreement. He glared at me until I answered.

"Yes." I replied fighting for breath. Finally Tai go off my chest. I managed to get myself into a seated position - however Tai decided to push my head between my knees. My breathing became slightly easier.

"Promise me that if you start to feel nauseous or faint you'll tell me. Otherwise I will force you to see the doctor right now." Tai said next to me in a serious tone.

"Okay. I promise." I said weakly.

For a few minutes we sat there in silence listening to the rise and fall of the waves. The sun began to dry me out. I basked in its warmth and inhaled the clean air into my poor abused lungs.

Flashing back to the awful meal of last night I snuck a glance at Tai. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Arms resting over his knees as he tugged and pulled at something in his hands, a frown on his face.

"Are you okay Tai?" I asked, at a loss for what to say (for once in my life). He looked at me with a dazed expression on his face.

"Fine." He replied shortly before returning his attention to the water. He had an almost wistful look on his face. It dawned on me that he missed being able to surf. I looked at my hands guiltily before coming to an internal decision.

I nudged him with an elbow. He looked over at me again. "Why don't you go surf with Kari and Taka?" I said quietly with a sinking feeling. I kept a smooth mask on my face making sure to lock down any possible escaping emotions.

"No." he said with a quick shake of his head.

"You don't need to babysit me. You can go and have fun. I'll go back to the house and rest." I said quickly before he turned away.

"T.K. – no offence but you need someone with you. Since you and Sora don't get along it would put Matt in a really difficult position so it can't be him. You can't go surfing so you shouldn't be near the action. I haven't known you for very long but since you and your brother are quite similar, I could see you struggling to stay put on shore. I got a very strong impression that you dislike Zach, so he and Mimi are out of the picture. I'm the only logical choice." He said in a voice that brooked no disagreement.

Instead of saying something cutting I actually thought about the statement. He had hit the nail right on the head. Again. "You miss it though." I countered.

"I'm not going to die if I don't surf." He said pointedly. He shifted his weight – if he had been standing it would have been from foot to foot.

Narrowing my eyes I looked him straight in the eye. "What's the real reason?" I asked coolly. My guess had been right – Tai had that deer in a headlight look.

"You need someone with you." he repeated.

"Nu-uh." I replied quickly. "Spill!"

When he still refused to answer I thought quickly back over last night's dinner. "Are you by chance trying to avoid Zach?" I asked slyly. The tiniest flinch at the name made me feel smug. Now I had hit the proverbial nail on the head.

Tai gave me a sideways look. "How about we move to the shade? It's getting a bit warm." He replied, deftly trying to avoid my question.

I lurched to my feet and gave a big stretch. While Tai picked his stuff up from where he had left it I grabbed my towel and spread it out under the shade of the trees. I waited for him to sit down before I began again. "Well? It's that Zach guy isn't it?"


*ts*


I thought I had managed to dodge the question about Zach but T.K. was like a pitbull. Once he had sunk his teeth into something he wasn't going to let go. "Yes. Okay." I said grumpily.

A smile played at the corners of his mouth. Seeing that smile made me relax – he was starting to trust me. Wanting to keep that trust I elaborated for him. "His antics last night made me uncomfortable. I am happy to be affectionate with family and friends but complete strangers touching me are a whole different kettle of fish."

"Tai. The first time you met Taka and I you hugged us both. We didn't know you from Adam." He pointed out.

"I don't normally. Your mum has told me all about you and Taka and some of the shit you get up to and I felt like I already knew you." I replied.

His eyebrows furrowed as he thought on the statement. "Mum told you about me?"

"Yeah. She's really proud of how well you've done with training. I know for a while they were worried about the trouble you were getting into at school and when you started kendo it seemed to have a positive effect on you. She mentioned the time that the pair of you pulled a prank on Yukio?" I said, tilting me head and watching him.

He groaned and rolled his eyes when I mentioned Yukio. "Don't think you can change the subject on me. You don't like him do you?" he managed to move the topic back.

With an internal sigh I took a few minutes to think on his question. "To be honest with you? No. I find his behaviour a bit creepy and possessive. What's your issue with him?"

He looked me over, with a blank face. "I can't pin-point it."

"Oh, please. You've got to do better than that." I scoffed.

He flushed and a stubborn look settled across his face. I raised an eyebrow at him which only seemed to make him angry. "I just don't like him okay?!" he bit back.

I assessed his defensive behaviour. "To use your own words…C'mon. Spill!"

I flashed him a smirk when he glared back at me.

"Nothing to tell." He said tersely, almost a dare to prove otherwise. I just laughed in response. I'd get it out of him sooner or later.

I dug into my bag and tossed him a packet of sandwiches. "Here. Enjoy."

"Thanks." He replied before tearing open the packet and began to devour them. It didn't take long to polish that off as well as one of the apples I had packed. While I finished my own lunch he emptied one of the bottles of water.

"Anyone would think we didn't feed you!" I laughed between bites. He mumbled a reply before lying back on his towel. Tilting his hat over his face it didn't take him long to fall asleep.

Settling back against the tree, I lazily muddled over the defensive behaviour. That boy was a puzzle…

A terrified no! hit my ears. I jerked back into the real world and saw T.K. curled into the foetal position trembling. "Teeks?" I said shaking him. It didn't take long for terrified sapphire eyes to open and latch onto mine.

"Teeks?" I repeated worried. The boy launched himself into my arms again, tears streaming down his face. Horrified I sat there and cradled the shivering young man in my arms, waiting.


*ts*


All I could hear was a calm voice and feel a warm body holding me as I wept uncontrollably. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop the torrent of tears and emotion from breaking out. The dream was back with a vengeance and it was only the arms surrounding me that prevented me from swimming out and never coming back.

The calm voice and gently hands managed to soothe away my terror. Now that I was 'conscious' I felt so dirty…unclean and deeply ashamed. I tried to pull away but those arms only tightened instead – holding me close.

"It's okay Teeks. Relax." Tai's voice was soothing. I tried but the desire to wash myself raw was overpowering me. I tried to wriggle out of his arms. He wouldn't let go.

"Tai?" I said, starting panic rising. He let me go but as I moved away, grabbed my arms.

"Hey." He said looking into my eyes. "It's not your fault. You know that right."

I shook my head, disagreeing with him.

"Seriously Teeks. It's not your fault." He said earnestly.

I bit my lip wanting desperately to believe him but it just wasn't true. "How'd you know?" my voice cracked on the last word.

"I'm a soccer coach in my spare time. I work with a lot of young kids – both female and male. A couple of my charges acted in ways similar to you. One of my youngest charges, he was only 6 at the time, admitted to me what happened. I was horrified to find out one of the older coaches was dealing inappropriately with him. When I mean inappropriate I mean groping. It seems as they got older the abuse changed. This bastard groomed them for sex – vulnerable children who had no proper father figure. I reported the bastard to the police but no charges were laid. The only positive thing was the club owner kicked him to the curb and helped provide counselling for the boys. She was so angry that this had happened. She also did another security check on all of us and provided training in how to deal with this sort of situation. If I meet that coward again I will ruin his life." He said with a lot of heat. I could feel the rage emanating from him directed towards the creep that had hurt those poor children.

His eyes bored into mine. "Let me assure you Teeks – you did absolutely nothing wrong. The person that hurt you is a perverted human being and deserves to live the remainder of his life behind bars. Those bastards get a taste of their own medicine in prison. Know this – I will not let him harm you, I promise you."

I nodded my head. The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. "I was 10."

His nostrils flared and his eyes watched me like a hawk.

"I used to love playing soccer so much. Taka and I both played after school. One of the coaches offered to give me some extra coaching after practice so I could get into the junior premiere league team. He didn't offer this to anyone else in the team and I was so flattered. After a few months he started touching me on my bottom and legs. I didn't say anything because he told me it was to help my posture. A couple of months after that he began touching me…down there. That's when his manner changed. He warned me if I told anyone no one would believe me – I would be branded a trouble maker and thrown out of school and not be able to try out for the league. It got worse and worse over the next 6 months until he started forcing me to…do things. So I started acting out – refusing to go to practice, cutting classes. Anything possible I could to avoid him. He started to come to my house when mum was working and try to get to me. I told Taka what was going on so when he began to come to the apartment I went to Taka's and refused to go home until mum picked me up after work. The creep tried to convince my mum that I needed to go to practice so he could stop me 'getting into trouble'. I didn't know this until after I flipped out at mum when she tried to make me go. I disappeared for a couple of days and refused to go home. I think Taka's grandfather guessed what was going on. While I hid out at an older friend's he and Taka's mum encouraged my mum to send me to the dojo instead. The principal had to intervene and change my classes around because he discovered that the coach had a vendetta against me. Sensei made sure I was kept busy by giving me one on one time with himself and Yukio. Taka later told me that Sensei had warned the coach if he came near me again he would beat some sense into him. Everything is going better but I just hate that creep so much!" I couldn't control the shivering as I told Tai what had happened. I'd never told anyone but Taka about it.

His head tilted to the side as he studied me. "Teeks. What was this man's name?"

I hung my head in shame. "Coach Ikikowa."

I heard a sharp inhalation of breath followed by a couple of viscous expletives. I looked back up at Tai with wide eyes. "That son of a b**ch!" was the final exclamation.

"I'm gonna strangle that bastard!" The rage that seemed to smoke of his body made me jerk away in surprise.

"You know him?" I asked with surprise.

"That's the bastard that hurt my poor boys." He hissed angrily.

Shame and despair overwhelmed me. This was entirely my fault. If only I had spoken up sooner.


*ts*


END OF CHAPTER

Hi Everyone.

Thank you very much for your patience! Unfortunately work and Uni have been extremely hectic so I haven't been able to dedicate the time the story deserved until just now. I hope you like the chapter.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Constructive criticism and ideas are always welcomed.

Love

Storm