Welcome back! Thanks to Hi Kitsune and BBleached for those great reviews! I'm glad you liked Kai in my story. Well here's the next chapter...


Chapter 5

He stood in front the door, one hand raised up to knock on it. But every time he tried to make contact with the wooden surface, his entire body seemed to freeze. Should he do it? Would he? Could he? What would happen if he did? And what if he didn't?

So many questions… But what were the answers? Were there any answer at all? Only one way to find out…

He took a deep breath, and half-heartedly knocked three times.

"Coming!" a feminine voice called out. He had less than a minute. Should he turn around and forget everything? Or should he stay and… and what? The sound of footsteps on the other side of the door stiffened him. His mind was screaming at him to walk away, but his body seemed to have stopped responding. The door opened with a soft click, revealing a pair of curious honey eyes. The curiosity soon turned into delight. The rosy lips stretched out into a smile. "Ray!"

He didn't respond. His throat had become dry. 'I can't do this! Not to her,' his mind screamed at him. But it was drowned by a deep alien voice, the voice of Truth. 'She doesn't suspect anything… yet.' His right hand unconsciously moved into his pocket.

"Baby!" the unsuspecting petite girl continued excitedly. "This is amazing! Can you believe it? I was just thinking about you! And here you are right now! I'm so glad."

Glad? His mind gave a hollow laugh.

"O' don't just stand outside! C'mon in!" With that she threw her arms around his neck and placed a soft kiss on his lips. She giggled, blushing slightly, and bounded into the house, not noticing the way his body had stiffened at her touch, or that he didn't respond to the kiss. So obvious. So naïve. He shivered involuntarily as his fingers brushed over the cool metal in his pocket. 'You shouldn't be glad.'

Slowly, he made his way inside the house. She was standing before the kitchen counter, with her back to him, and talking animatedly. "…of course it was Ming Ming who actually gave me the idea. She sure knows how get her men! I mean only last week…"

'I don't have to do this! It's not worth it!' He clenched his hand around the smooth surface of the metal, as Truth once again voiced its opinion. 'Such an innocent girl. If only she'd open her eyes and wake up from her ideal dream…"

"Ray?" He looked up to see a shade of concern across her eyes. "What's wrong, baby? You seem so… quiet. Is everything okay? Did you have a fight with Lee, Mariam or any of the others? Or was it those two friends of yours? What happened?"

What happened? That's not the question. It's 'what will happen?'

"Ray? Speak to me. Say something…"

"Mariah…" Was that his own voice? So emotionless? So cold?

"What is it?"

"I…" He could almost hear his own voice shouting at him, 'Don't!' But he was no longer in control of his words or his actions.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

Mariah's eyes widened as he pulled out his hand from within his pocket.

Ray's eyes snapped open as a peal thunder roared across the overcast sky. The inky black sea in front of him roared angrily, its waves hitting the embankment in rage. Even with his sharp neko-jin senses, he could barely make out the cityscape around him, due to the heavy downpour. Rain? Had he really been so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice when the rain came down?

Ray shivered as the cold hit his drenched form. 'It's getting late,' he thought. 'I'd better get going. No use lamenting over the past. What's done is done… Right?' A pair of horrified tear stained eyes flashed before him. Ray shook his head to clear out his thoughts, and pushed himself off the railings. He waited till the signal turned red, and carefully stepped off the sidewalk. He offhandedly looked towards the cars that had halted on either side, when he noticed a silver Chevrolet standing amidst them. He squinted slightly. 'Is that Tyson? Is he back already?' Ray was surprised as the door by the passenger seat suddenly and violently flew open, banging into another car.

However, before he could've pondered on it, the shrill screeching of tyres made him whip around. Ray's eyes widened as he saw two beams of bright head lights skidding wildly across the road, heading straight towards him. His neko-jin reflexes immediately kicked in, making him leap out of the way. But his balance betrayed him. A sharp pain shot through his head, as it collided with the hard concrete. His vision blurred with agony. The squeal of tyres against the brake was becoming painfully louder. Ray could barely make out the blurred form of a huge tyre heading for his face. The tyre gradually grew bigger, till it occupied his entire field of vision. His eyes closed on impulse, waiting for the painful hit…

Ray felt a strong force move his body… but not the way he had been dreading. Something warm had enveloped his body, and was dragging his torso behind, while pushing his legs in the opposite direction. The screeching became deafening to his ears and Ray could sense something big passing above him, as his body was compelled to pivot at a right angle.

The wild cry of the tyres began to tail off, and the rhythmic sound of the rain picked up. Ray's head throbbed dangerously as his consciousness threatened to give away. He could hear the buzzing of distant voices all around him.

However one particular voice drowned them all.

"Are you okay?"

The proximity of the deep voice made Ray aware of another presence besides his own. Slowly and painfully, he forced hid eyes to open.

The last thing he remembered, before his world turned black, was staring at his own reflection in a pair of unfathomable amethyst depths.


The rain pummeled down onto the sleek silver car as it made its way through the heavy traffic. The wipers worked frantically against the windscreen. The roar of the raging black sea combined with the thunder to create a wild symphony of nature. A distant red light made the Chevrolet slow down, and finally come to a standstill behind a minivan, amidst a fleet of other vehicles.

Tyson cut the engine, and sank back into his seat. For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, his eyes wondered over to the motionless figure beside him. Kai had his head bowed, his dense bangs shielding his eyes yet again, and his arms were crossed over his chest. The 'Famous Hiwatari Pose' as Tyson himself had named it a few years earlier.

'Same old Kai,' Tyson thought helplessly. Even after training with Kai for three years at the BBA, Tyson still found him confusing. Kai was just as aloof and enigmatic as ever. His way of thinking, his logic, his attitude, his words…they were completely different from any other living being. He always looked at things with a different point of view, and had an uncanny ability to bring out facts, which everyone else believed, did not even exist in the first place.

The lawyer frowned slightly, as that day's earlier event came back to his mind. He twisted around and grabbed a folder from the backseat, next to a dozing Max. He took out a stack of photographs, from the folder and scanned over them minutely. But after a while, he gave up and fell bank into his seat with a sigh.

'Kai!' Tyson screamed out mentally. 'What on earth did he see in these pictures? I know there's something that caught his attention. Something vital. But what? WHAT? The case may be difficult ... but the investigator is impossible!'

Tyson bit back a groan as Kai's earlier words rang through his ears. 'You'll never be able to prove Ray's innocence if it's the murderer you're looking for, Tyson.'

'What did he mean by that? Does he believe Ray committed the murder? No, that's not it. He would've simply stated it then. His words… He meant something else… something… deeper…The murderer. It's not the murderer we're supposed to focus on. But why? Is there someone else we've overlooked? Someone who knows more about the murder? Or what if… No... Wait… Hang on… The murderer! Suppose he knows we're after him, and is trying to stay out of our path. So, if we decide to ignore him… he might let his guard down and give himself away! But those photographs… what connection did…'

Tyson suddenly sat upright as a thought struck him.

'What if the killer hasn't finished his job yet? What if there's someone else on his hit list? The pictures! The killer must have left behind some sort of clue, at the crime scene, which led to his next victim. Kai… he must have figured it out. That's why he told me not to go after the murderer… because the murderer has to return for his next kill!'

However Tyson's excitement did not last long, as a very disturbing thought came to his mind. His eyes widened in realization.

'The next victim… the photographs… there are only two people in those pictures…one is Mariah Wong, who has already been killed…so that means… the other, the one who is going to be killed, is—'

Tyson was jolted out of his musings by loud crash beside him. He turned to find the passenger seat empty the door next to it wide open. "Brat!" the driver in the car, next to his own, was yelling abuses while fingering a deep dent on his door.

"What happened?!" Max was finally awake.

"It's Ka—"

Both Tyson and Max whipped around as a loud squealing of tyres against brakes, broke through the night.

"What's going on?" Max asked worriedly, as he craned his neck out of the window. Tyson did the same. But he could not see anything due the row of cars that were in front of him. He could just barely make out two faint beams of light, at a distance, that seemed to spinning around wildly. An out of control car. "Kai!"

Both Tyson and Max jumped out of the car and made a beeline for the mishap. They made it there just in time to see a black minivan skid across the road and crash into the barricade. Its bonnet crashed open at the impact and a cloud of dense smoke began to rise from it. Its windows were completely shattered.

'Tyson! Look!" Tyson turned to see Max pointing at something on the middle of the road. He gasped in horror. The familiar figure of Kai Hiwatari was lying on the road; his arms were wrapped protectively around another form.

"Kai!" both Tyson and Max yelled out as they rushed towards the Phoenix's side. A large crowd had already begun to accumulate around the two figures on the road. The two BBA members pushed their way through the excited mob. By the time they arrived Kai was already up. He was crouched on one knee, while the other was holding up the limp figure in his arms.

Even without looking at the face, Tyson could easily identify the lifeless body. The long raven hair and the feline features were enough to tell him who it was. The killer's next victim…

"Ray!"


I hope you understood how Kai had saved Ray. Ray slipped and fell directly in the way of the runaway car. But Kai got to him first, and rotated his body around so that, instead of being run over by the car, they passed under it.

I know this chapter's kinda short, but I wanted to begin Kai's investigation in a fresh chapter. Don't worry, Kai will start his work from the very next chapter!

And don't forget. The case maybe difficult to solve, but the investigator is impossible to solve! So if you think that Kai would make things clearer, you are greatly mistaken. ;) Hat's off to the enigma!

I'll be looking forward to your reviews! Tell me whether I'm doing any good or not...