Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Once A Thief ❯ Honour Among Thieves - Part III ( Chapter 9 )

Kali notes:  I told everyone I'd update faster! This chapter contains TyKa moments, a little chat between Tala and Takao, and more TyKa moments. Enjoy!

 

Disclaimer:  No own! No sue!

 

Warnings:  Yaoi (unless you're on ffnet; then you get shounen-ai) - eventually, language, dramatic angst, and other adult content.  Don't like it, don't read it! This chapter: some more angst, and a much needed TyKa moment.

 

Pairing:  TyKa; others include Tala/Hilary, mentioned Rei/Mariah

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Chapter 09: Honour Among Thieves - Part III

 

“It happened about ten months ago.” Takao began, fingers curling around his tea cup to absorb its warmth into his own body. He could still feel the same chill spreading its icy tendrils through him as the one that had poured over him that afternoon he'd gotten the phone call that would change everything in his life. “I was back in Japan, and so was Hiroshi. My brother and I had made an agreement when Gramps passed away that we would always come home to celebrate Gramps' birthday with Dad. It was supposed to be a reason for the last of our family to get together and spend time with each other - from no matter where on the planet we all may have been. So Hiro and I came home the week before Gramps' birthday and we made plans to make a small feast and invite our closest family friends to join in.” Takao looked sideways at Max. “Max had already left for America by then. I think he'd been there for about two weeks already, or we would have invited him as well. As it was,” Takao turned and glanced at Kenny and Hilary. “We'd invited these two, and Kenny's parents, and some people Dad knew. Oh, and a few neighbours and a couple of Hiro's friends he'd gone to school with. Of course these people brought a date or whatever with them, so there were a few strangers in the group. But everyone seemed so normal and happy that we'd never notice anything suspicious.”

“What happened?” Director Dickenson asked gently when Takao seemed to fall silent and get lost in his memory.

Takao shook himself and sighed. “It all happened kind of fast. Most people were gone. It was getting late in the evening, and it was a Sunday. Hilary had gone home, too, right Chief?” Kenny nodded and Hilary frowned, trying to remember the night herself. “Yeah. As far as I know Kenny was the only one still around. He'd stayed to help us tidy up after the party. I was also staying at his place for the week I was in Japan, since the house was in such bad shape, my old bedroom and Gramps' room - now Dad's - were the only two liveable bedrooms there were. Hiro was staying in my room for the duration of his stay, which was going to be somewhat longer than my own. I could have slept on the floor, I didn't care, but my two elders ganged up on me and told me to find somewhere else where I'd at least get a decent night's sleep. So…Kenny's apartment, on his pull-out bed sofa.

“But anyway, Kenny and I finished cleaning and we said goodnight to Dad and Hiro and we left.” Takao's hands began to visibly shake and both Kenny and Max reached out and took one hand between their own, silently gripping and lending him their strength. Swallowing, the bluenette continued in a rough voice tinged with the helplessness he'd felt then and still felt even now. “I had this weird feeling as I walked away, and I kept thinking I'd forgotten something or that I was being watched. But I shrugged it off. I shouldn't have. I should have turned around and went back…I…”

“Easy, Takao.” Kenny squeezed his hand, interrupting. “Breathe, now.”

Takao closed his eyes for a minute. When he opened them again, the stormy blue-grey of his eyes, normally so vivid and bright, had dulled and held a wealth of despair and self-flagellation. “There was still some tidying to do so Kenny and I went back early the next morning. When we got there, the main doors to the dojo - which Dad, Hiro, and I had boarded up to keep anyone from going inside where it was dangerous to walk, what with the holes in the floor-boards and the rotting ones, too - the main doors had been torn open, completely trashed, and there was no sign of my Dad or brother.

“I freaked out. Kenny had his hands full for a while until I had calmed enough to speak coherently and phone the police. While we waited for them, we did a quick walk through the house to see if anything was missing other than my family. Nothing in the house seemed to have been touched, which was odd, but in the dojo…” Takao trailed off, going pale and shaking with emotion. “Dragoon. They had taken my family's sword. It's older than anything you can think of, and family legend is that a blue dragon named Dragoon once was saved by an ancestor however many centuries ago, and in gratitude the dragon chose to become the Kinomiya's Guardian spirit. Supposedly, to always watch over the head of the Clan, Dragoon sealed himself into my ancestors' sword. I don't know why anyone would want to steal it. It's not useful, it isn't really that pretty to look at since it's so old it's crumbling a little, and other than maybe its historical value, the only people it's worth anything to is me and my family. Gramps…” Takao choked back tears. “Gramps left the dojo, the land, the house, and the sword to me. I'm supposed to be the head of the family now, the protector and keeper of my ancestors' home. And now, not only have I lost the Dragoon sword, but I failed to protect my family and care for the lands generations of Kinomiyas have lived and died on!”

Kai couldn't take it anymore. He reached out, turned off the recorder, and got up to move around the table to the distraught bluenette. Swinging the chair around so that Takao faced Kai and gave his back to the room (a startled Max and worried Kenny being forced to release his hands), Kai crouched down and looked up into Takao's eyes, overflowing with tears of shame, guilt, and deep, deep sadness.

“Takao, you listen to me.” He ordered, keeping his voice quiet and steady, though the steel in it was enough to scare the bluenette into confused attention. “This is not your fault. Things happen that are beyond our control sometimes, and no matter what sort of things we come up with that we could have, or should have, done or said that may have prevented something from happening, the fact remains that `what ifs' get us no where. There is no blame to be placed. This is not your fault.”

“I'm not placing blame! Not on myself! I didn't steal the sword or kidnap my family! But I ignored my intuition, and I have failed my responsibilities that Gramps trusted me with. Me. Not Dad, or Hiroshi. Me!”

Kai shook his head, eyes hard as he grabbed Takao's shoulders and proceeded to try and knock some sense into him. “You haven't failed anyone, damn it!”

“But…”

“No! Have you, or have you not been doing everything you can with the situation you face to get back the sword and your father and brother?”

“Kai…”

“Answer!” Kai demanded sharply, not letting his lover say anything but a response to his question.

“Yes.” Takao whispered, staring down blindly at his knees while tears poured down his cheeks.

“Haven't you given up everything to try and save them? Your reputation, your career, your happiness, even your personal honour?” The younger man's head whipped up and he glared, furious - just as Kai had intended with that question. He didn't really believe what he was saying, but it was getting results.

“Yes! Damn you, yes! I'd do the same fucking thing all over again if I had to!” Takao shouted, his chest heaving with emotion and his eyes suddenly shifting from dull to flashing rage. “What are you trying to get at, Hiwatari?!”

Relief rippled through him and Kai dropped his hands to rest on Takao's knees as he sat back on his heels with a small smile. There was the fighter he'd fallen in love with. There was the never-give-up, risk-it-all spirit that had drawn him like a moth to a flame so many years ago.

“Taka, my love, you're going above and beyond the call of duty to your ancestors. Gramps couldn't be any prouder of you than I am, knowing what I do now. And for the record, you still have your honour. Ah!” Kai held up a hand when Takao opened his mouth to refute that. “Shut up. Your honour, if anything, has probably become greater than it had been. Had you bemoaned the situation, sat around doing nothing, and never done your best to try and get them back, then I think you'd have failed, and I would be supremely disappointed.” He met Takao's gaze and smirked, squeezing Takao's knees affectionately. “After all, the man I fell in love with is no coward. He's a warrior. His heart is wider and more open than the skies, and out of all the other people on this planet that are far more worthy of him, he chose me.”

By this time, they'd both forgotten everyone else in the room, and Takao's eyes had gone wide. He couldn't believe that such…poetry had just poured out of Kai's mouth. Kai. His lower lip quivered, and with a hoarse cry of the older man's name, slipped out of the chair to throw himself into Kai's arms, weeping uncontrollably. Kai caught him and pulled him close, burying his face in Takao's mass of midnight blue hair and wrapping his arms around him tightly.

Takao clung to Kai, face buried in his shoulder as sobs wracked him. He could hear Kai murmuring something into his hair, and although he didn't quite hear the words, he recognized that they were meant to soothe and calm. Added to that was the way Kai was slowly rubbing his back. After several minutes, which felt like an eternity, his weeping subsided and Takao sucked in a few shuddering deep breaths, remaining slumped against his lover and not willing to move ever again. He snuggled into Kai's warmth with a sigh, one hand still clutching Kai's shirt in a fistful, and eyes closed.

He felt Kai's lips brush across his forehead briefly before Kai spoke.

“Taka? Talk to me, please?”

“I'm okay. I'm sorry, Kai.” Takao responded, somewhat embarrassed.

“For what?” Kai tipped up his face and gently wiped away the moisture still clinging to Takao's cheeks from his tears. “I'm glad you're not trying to hold all that in any longer. How's your stomach, love?”

Shrugging imperceptibly, Takao licked his lips and sighed. “It's burning a little, but it'll go away.”

“Can I take you to a washroom to wash your face and stuff? You'll feel better…”

“Okay.” Takao didn't feel like arguing about anything anymore. He was too tired. Compliant, he let Kai help him to his feet, an arm encircling his waist to hold him upright. Blinking the grit away in his eyes, Takao looked around. “Hey…where'd everyone go?”

“They probably went outside to give you a few minutes.” Kai smiled a little and brushed a light kiss to Takao's temple affectionately. “Come on Kinomiya. Let's get you cleaned up.”

“Wait…” Takao stopped him just as he was about to open the door. “Kai…”

“What is it?” The crimson-eyed agent asked, studying him questioningly.

“What you said…did you mean that?” Takao was blushing, something that had Kai raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“You know I don't say anything unless I mean it. What exactly are you wondering about?” He leaned against the door, arms folding over his chest.

Takao shuffled his feet, staring at the floor. “I, ah, well…all that stuff about being a warrior…you don't really think that, do you?”

Laughing shortly, Kai couldn't resist reaching out and ruffling the younger man's hair affectionately. “Love, aren't you the one who took on that dumbass kid in high school who thought it would be fun to bully me in the hallway? Even though I didn't need the help? You've lived in a dojo all your life. I can't count the number of times I watched you train with Gramps after school. If you're not a warrior, then I don't know who would be.”

Smiling a little, Takao looked up and nodded. “Thanks. I…guess I needed to hear that.”

“Come on.” Kai took his hand and moved to open the door, pulling Takao close to him again in an unconscious need to protect.

Takao leaned into Kai and nodded, letting him assist him. “Yeah.”

Out in the hallway, everyone's quiet conversations immediately ceased and the group gathered around the two in concern.

“Takao! Are you okay?” Kenny asked anxiously. Takao smiled a little and patted his friend on the shoulder reassuringly.

“Yes, Chief. I'm okay.” The bluenette looked around at everyone and blushed in embarrassment. “I'm sorry I got so emotional. I'd like to finish making my statement, if that's okay with you, sir?” He met Director Dickenson's eyes steadily, and the old man nodded in agreement, stroking his beard.

“If you are certain you feel up to it, then of course we would like to hear the rest of it, Mr. Kinomiya.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

“Director, I'm going to take him to the washroom for a moment.” Kai tugged Takao away from the group and led him away. He paused outside the door when he noticed Tala had followed along behind them.

“What?” Tala blinked icy blue eyes at his partner in an attempt to appear innocent.

“Takao doesn't need both of us to help him. Shoo!”

Intervening, Takao squeezed Kai's arm around his waist to gain his attention. “Kai? Would you do me a huge favour?”

Kai looked down at him suspiciously. “Okay. What do you need?”

“I would normally have my night time dose of medicine about now, so I was hoping you would go get it for me so I can take it now before I start talking again?”

“But I…”

“Please?”

Kai couldn't say no to those eyes that were so tired, sad, and unbearably ancient for his age. “I'll be right back, then.” He said, glancing at Tala. “Stay with Tala until I get back, okay?”

“Sure. Thank you.”

The dual-haired man grunted and hurried off with purposeful strides.

Takao sighed and looked at Tala inquiringly. “You wanted to talk to me?”

The wolf raised an eyebrow. “Aren't you astute. Yes, I do.”

Weary, Takao made a sweeping motion with his hand, a gesture to `please, regale him.' He really just wanted to clean up, take his medicine, finish his statement and go to bed. But the red haired agent had this determined spark in his icy-blue eyes that said plainly he wasn't going to be put off.

“Alright. I'll make this quick. I believe you.”

Takao goggled at him.

“Yeah, okay. Don't go getting all sappy or anything. Just because I believe you doesn't mean I trust you.” Tala held up a hand before the bluenette could open his mouth. “Kai's my partner. He's also my best friend. I've known him for nine years now. We met at the UNA academy in St. Petersburg, both of us trying to pass the tests to become full field agents. I'd been there for a year and a half already, training and doing what I could to further myself.” Tala's mouth turned up in a grim sort of smile. “I'm Russian, Kinomiya. We tend to be suspicious and paranoid of our own mothers at the best of times - our history is long, bloody, and full of intrigues that make most spies look like Inspector Gadget. And on top of that glorious heritage, I'm wolf. We are pack animals and we are quite distrustful of anyone or anything that isn't pack.”

Tala leaned against the wall, crossing his arms as he spoke. Takao mirrored him, his back to the doorframe of the men's washroom, though he didn't cross his arms. Instead he had them tucked behind his back, clasped loosely as he listened with a glimmer of interest. He had wondered how Kai had met this strange man, and it sounded like Tala was going to share that information without being asked. So he nodded to show he was listening and waited for the wolf to continue.

“My point is that I have many reasons for not trusting you so readily. It took me a few years to even trust Kai enough that I would agree to be partnered with him.” Tala shook his head. “And I, at that point, already thought of him as a friend. But anyway, where I come from, it is difficult - extremely - to make something of oneself beyond the class and position one is born to. Being part wolf - enough that I couldn't even try to hide it - and to be born of a poor, low-class family of peasants, made my choices for betterment that much shorter a list. It didn't help that I was orphaned at five years old. I'd been in and out of state-run children's homes, Church-owned orphanages, and yes, delinquency `homes' most of my life. I have family but none would acknowledge me or my parents because of our wolf blood. So the only true choices I had were to join either the army or the Church.” Here Tala grinned, a wolfish, toothy grin of vast amusement. “Well, I happen to enjoy life and the things that make it worth living - all of which option B would have demanded I give up. Which left me with option A. I signed up with the Russian army at sixteen, and I trained hard to rise through the ranks to a Captain.”

Takao blinked, mildly surprised. “You're a Captain of the Russian army? Huh. You don't look like a Captain to me…”

Tala started, somewhat taken aback. Then he laughed, delighted. “Thank you! I appreciate that.” He snickered a bit more then composed himself. “I've been working at trying to lose the formality and stiffness being a soldier and an officer of an army had drilled into me.” He got a small smile from the bluenette at that and shrugged. “It was never my idea of fun, either. But it beat the hell out of the priesthood option.

“Anyway, when I was twenty, I was recruited by the UNA. They routinely scout and recruit new agents from among the educational institutions, military, and administrative offices of its member nations, and the Russian UNA scout took notice of me. I was still quite young to have already become a full Captain in an army the size of Russia's. I will admit that it was partly due to my wolf DNA that I advanced so far, so fast, but whatever. I got recruited and found a better life, a better career, and a better path for my life to go on, and I seized it.

“At the Academy, I was one of the youngest recruits there. Normally, they make recruits - with assistance financially - go to university and get at least some kind of degree first, if they haven't already, but they do make exceptions for military experience. Lucky me. I'm not so sure I'd be able to do the whole university thing.”

“Tala, as interesting as all this is, what's your point?” Takao wondered. He could feel his eyes getting heavy with the need to sleep, and this story deserved his attention. Half-asleep on his feet as he was, Takao couldn't give the redhead that attention very well.

“I'm getting there. As I had said, I'd been there for a year and a half, training, when Kai showed up. If I was a star to the Academy's program, he was a fucking prodigy. I'd just turned twenty-two when this silent, way-too-serious, eerily confident nineteen year old kid of undeniably mixed heritage - most obviously partly Asian and the rest Caucasian - pops up out of bloody nowhere at the entrance exams required before formal field agent training is granted. I'd never seen him before in my life, and I knew everyone else at that exam because they, too, had all been there for several years of training and preparation.” Tala shook his head, remembering his rather annoyed amazement at the skill and ability his younger partner had displayed at those exams. “We were taking the same exams. I was a desk agent -as are all recruits unless they specifically branch off into field agency. The kid completely blew us all out of orbit. No contest. Most of us still passed, of course, since it's not a competition, but he simply wowed the Academy dumb-struck.

“I remember watching as he underwent the physical testing, and I can still see the freaky, unrelenting determination in his eyes to succeed. I had my reasons for being there and doing what I did, but so did Kai. It was in every movement, every breath, ever expression he wore. For a while I wondered that it didn't consume him and eat him alive. He bordered on obsession - the not-so-healthy kind.” The wolf tapped his fingers against his arm thoughtfully. “I was sure if he kept going as he was, he was going to burn out and burn up. But he persevered. And in the end he was the absolute best there was at the Academy.

“When the testing was done, and the results came in, we were given two months to choose where we wanted to be assigned and to make arrangements to move and stuff. By this time, my curiosity had gotten unbearable. I had to know what was driving him. I'd gotten to know him a little over the testing period - as much as one could claim to `know' that guy, I suppose. He didn't say a whole lot, then. He still doesn't but he's a lot more talkative then he ever was altogether, I suspect.”

We were in the locker room at the gymnasium, cleaning them out and packing our stuff up when I finally got nosy and asked why the hell he was there and what was motivating him through all that. His answer was simple and completely unexpected. I figured it was because he had something to prove to someone or as a way to bring some bad guy in his past to justice - or vengeance even. But I couldn't have been more wrong.”

Takao raised an eyebrow. “What did he say?”

Tala's eyes met the bluenette's head on and he replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, “To find the person he loved more than anything and tell them hoe much he loved them.”

Takao's breath hitched and his eyes went very wide, growing shiny with moisture.

“I thought he was crazy, honestly. But I didn't give it much thought after that - for a while, anyway. It wasn't until after I discovered we'd both picked the European UNA offices to work with that I began to take an interest. He intrigued me We eventually began our formal training as field agents, and occasionally we'd run into each other on `missions' and in training exercises. We seemed to work well together.

“Then one evening after a particular exercise - based on missing persons scenario, by the way - that Kai seemed to show signs of burn out. I wasn't surprised, not after how hard and fast he'd been pushing himself. So I told him there was a bar I knew that was quiet, cheap, and served quality beverages and food. He gave me that `fuck off' glare of his, but I just shrugged it off and invited him to join me. I even offered to pay. He was wary, suspicious, and not a little bit curious. I could tell. It took some persuasion - in the form of a logical argument that he needed to eat sometime so why not there? - but he finally followed me to the bar.”

“I think I see where this is going.” Takao couldn't help snickering.

“Oh you bet. You want someone to let down their guard enough to pry into their lives, you get them wasted. Though, I didn't have to do much. He pretty much did it to himself of his own accord that night. I got quite happily buzzed along with him, of course, but I'd fully intended to in the first place. Anyway, Kai was in that liquored fog that makes you talk without knowing it, and the whole tale of his long lost lover comes pouring out like a bad teenage soap opera.” Tala shook his head at the memory. “Poor kid had it bad for you, Kinomiya. And I couldn't help feeling for him, especially in my own wasted state.”

Takao was smiling to himself, picturing his lover drunk, talkative, and somewhat mussed. I wonder if he's as adorable drunk as I think he'd be? He mused silently with a blush. Then he shook himself out of dream-mode at Tala's, “Ahem.”

“Sorry. I was picturing Kai drunk. Was he cute?” Takao couldn't help asking, blushing even more.

“I guess. You should see him in his reading glasses, though.”

Takao sighed. “Someday, I hope.”

“Listen, my point in telling you all of this…” Tala tried getting back on track before Kai showed up again and he lost his chance to talk to Takao. “I got to know Kai well after that. He needed someone to talk to and occasionally unburden himself on when the going got tough. He joined the UNA with the sole purpose of gaining access to UNA resources and sources in order to go out and search for you. I respected his talents and skills as an Agent first, and later I respected and admired his determination and pure will to find you. It was what got him up in the morning and made him keep living.

“So what I'm trying to say is that he loves you. Never doubt it. And because he does, and because somewhere along the lines he became my friend, my partner…pack, Kinomiya, I want you to know what I will stand with him through this thing, no matte what happens or what he decides - even if I think it's a mistake. I'm already pretty sure I know what he's willing to do and how far he'll go, and I'll follow.”

Takao raised his gaze to meet Tala's once more, and the bluenette gave a slow nod of acknowledgement.

“Thank you, Tala.” He said softly. “I'm glad Kai has a friend like you at his back. I'm glad he hasn't been alone all this time and I'm glad he won't be alone should things go awry.”

Tala shrugged. “Like I said, Kai is pack. I take care of my pack even if they don't want me to.”

“Still, thanks.”

The two men stood there for several minutes longer in companionable silence, waiting for Kai to come back. When he did, he looked from one to the other suspiciously, as if he sensed some kind of change in their attitudes toward each other.

“Alright. What kind of nonsense do I have to deny?” He asked with a huff.

“Nothing!” Takao replied, brightening at the sight of the little pill box in Kai's hand. “Is that my medication?”

“Yes. Here.” Kai held it out to him and gave his partner one last questioning glance over his shoulder as he followed Takao into the washroom. Tala just shrugged and grinned mischievously.

Let Kai think he'd told Takao something embarrassing. It would do his partner some good to loosen up a little.

Takao swallowed the pills Kai gave him and grimaced at the taste. “Yuck. Those are gross.”

“That's how you know they work.”

“I'm sure.” Takao rolled his eyes and turned on the water at one sink to wash his face. “Thanks…for getting it for me.” He said, splashing water on his face and reaching for some paper towel to dry off with.

“Hn. What were you and Tala talking about?”

Takao winked at him with a grin. “Nothing special. I just wondered how you two met, and he told me.” The grin widened when he saw Kai pale a bit and his crimson eyes wider. “Relax, Kai. It wasn't humiliating.”

“Says you.” The older man grumbled, staring at the floor. “I must have been a complete fool then to him. I don't know why he stuck around.”

The grin faded into a soft, affectionate expression, and Takao stepped up to his former boyfriend, raising a hand to brush his fingers along Kai's cheek. “You weren't a fool. You knew what you wanted and you did what you had to in order to achieve your goals. And you had the most powerful motivator there is spurring you on - love.”

Kai looked down into silvery blue eyes that spilled over with emotion and sighed deeply, catching Takao's hand and pressing that palm to his cheek firmly. “Yeah. I did. I had screwed up big time, Takao. I wanted a chance to set things straight and…to prove that I deserved you. I don't know why, out of the far more pleasant people around you, you chose me but I was…content. I had never felt like that before in my life, but whenever I was with you something inside me calmed and burned at the same time.”

“Kai…I want you to know…I mean, even with all this chaos…I still…”

“Taka…” Kai whispered hoarsely and bent down a little to capture Taka's lips in a fiercely tender kiss. With a low sound, Takao's hand slipped back to hold the back of Kai's head as they kissed, his fingers sliding through the dark grey strands and gripping. His other hand clutched at Kai's shoulder while Kai's arms wrapped around him in an oddly protective way.

Neither wanted to, but eventually they slowly managed to separate from each other, and take a step back from one another.

Heart pounding, Kai unconsciously licked his lips and tasted Takao there. He closed his eyes against the rush of excitement and worked to steady his emotions.

“Kai?” Takao hesitantly asked in a yet breathless voice. Kai opened his eyes and let the bluenette see just what he was feeling then - no barriers or excuses. “Oh, Kai…” The younger man offered a tentative smile and held up his hand. “I can't believe you went through all that just to find me.”

“I'd do it again.” Kai accepted the hand, lacing their fingers together, palm to palm, and squeezing lightly.

“I know. I promise not to disappear ever again.”

“I promise never to leave without telling you everything ever again.”

“I know.”

Before either could say or do anything else, the moment was interrupted by a polite knock at the door and the blonde head that poked inside cautiously.

“There you two are. Everyone's waiting for you guys.” Max told them, stepping inside briefly. “You okay, Takao?”

“Yep. I'm fine, Max. We're coming.” Takao smiled and the blonde tilted his head in curiosity at them. But whatever he was thinking, he didn't share it or say anything more.

“Okay. Director Dickenson wants to end this at ten o'clock, no matter if you're done your statement or not. He wants you to get your rest, pal.” Max waved. “So hurry back! I'll see you there.” He left them to themselves again.

“Are you done here?” Kai asked. Takao nodded and let him lead the way back to the conference room. Outside the doors, Takao paused and took a deep, settling breath, releasing it slowly. Kai watched him and raised an eyebrow in inquiry as he reached for the door.

“I'm ready. Let's get this over with.” Takao said. Kai pushed open the door.

****************

Kali's Notes: Well! I think we're finally ready to start moving on with the story. Took me long enough, right? *sheepish grin* Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters! Like I said in the last update, I'm sorry I won't be responding directly as I did before. If you do have questions or something, however, I will be thrilled to respond by email. See my bios on any of the fic sites for info on how to contact me. Anyway, keep on enjoying my work! Please R/R!!!!