Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ You Wouldn't Know Love ❯ Why Do You Hurt Me So Bad? ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter~4: Why Do You Hurt Me So Bad?

 

“...You're beggin' me to go, you're makin' me stay
Why do you hurt me so bad?
It would help me to know
Do I stand in your way, or am I the best thing you've had?
Believe me, believe me, I can't tell you why
But I'm trapped by your love, and I'm chained to your side...”

 

Notes: Beyblade is NOT mine, okay? I DON'T want it, so DON'T sue me! Love as much as I may Pat Benetar's “Love Is A Battlefield”, it doesn't belong to me and I have resigned to begging for it. “You Wouldn't Know Love”, as I have said in all the other chapters, but I suppose some code makes me have to remember it constantly, belongs to Michael Bolton and shall never be mine. All I own is Leilani and myself, even though my parents like to think that they do... Anyways, enough of my whining and read on. Oh, and, BTW, here's that language warning I had posted previously, all “bad” words are in this chapter. You were warned, so don't come crying to me when you lose your “innocence” because you read a cuss word in my fic...

 

`Please be here,' Kai silently begged as he walked into the ridiculously luxurious hotel.

He wasn't going to wait for the elevator, it would take too long and it would only bring him memories.

 

His feelings towards Leilani had awakened during a ride in an elevator. He had been wandering through a Biovolt subdivision while at Russia. In there, he accidentally fell head over heels for her (literally), when she fell into his arms from a floor above. He saved her and ran out of the building. They found refuge in a hotel's elevator and they recognized each other from their childhood.

He remembered her and, as soon as that happened, the ever-so-stoic, I-don't-give-a-damn-about-the-world, blue haired boy was captivated once again.

 

His hair stuck against his sweaty cheeks as he paced step after step up the several stairs.

His violet eyes scanned absently out a window. The first rays of sunlight could be seen in the horizon. He was so determined. He hadn't noticed he spent the entire night searching for Leilani. But that was what she meant to him. That and so much more...

Finally, after three sets of stairs and four corridors, Kai reached their hotel room.

He tried to steady his shaking hand as he grasped the doorknob, nervous as to what could have happened to her if she wasn't there.

He took a deep breath and turned the knob...

...And was greeted to the image of his beloved Leilani sleeping soundly on the couch.

He noticed the purple lines under her eyes and pondered silently over the fact if she might have spent the entire night waiting for him, too.

He took a few paces toward her and knelt to have eye-contact.

“Leilani?” he whispered as he pulled a few strands of hair away form her slender face.

He loved the feeling of her silky hair between his fingers. She rarely let him touch it, she took pride in it and no one was allowed to even smell it. She always wore it in a braid that reached the top of her thighs, to avoid bothersome stares -well, those and the pain-in-the-ass long hair can provoke-.

Kai found that strangely amusing. Why she had took so much pride in it was beyond him. But, he loved being the only one she allowed to touch the dark strands, even though he only grunted when she told him.

“Don't mess with the hair,” Leilani mumbled angrily through her sleep as she slapped his hand away.

He made a small smile, barely a sultry twist of the lips, and was glad to see that she didn't seem to be mad anymore.

He knew her enough to acknowledge the fact that, when she was angry, she had bad dreams and wouldn't even bother to think about her hair. He had tested her while they were mere children living at the abbey.

He stood up silently and looked down contentedly at the wonderful person he could proudly say loved him. And he loved oh, so much.

He wasn't going to wake her, it'd be rude of him. She was the only person with whom he had this type of considerations. But, on the other hand, she was the only person he loved this way, so it could be explained.

He left to the bathroom. A good shower would cool him off and make him calm down a bit.

`Leilani, you don't seem to have a clue over how much you reel me and how much I love you, do you?' he asked silently as he stripped off his clothes, preparing the water to bathe.

 

Leilani opened wide, green eyes at the feeling of sunlight ordering entry to them.

All was a white blur. She let them focus as her mind pondered something else. She felt a soft, warm weight on her hand. As her mind registered clearly, she noticed it was clamping onto her hand insistently, as if holding it like a treasure.

Suddenly, her eyes focused perfectly as she became fully awake in a second.

She glanced at her digits. Larger ones wrapped them securely. That warm, large hand disappeared beyond the wrist and the young brunette propped herself on her elbow to look down at the floor.

Snuggled against the couch as his hand lay on it, holding hers, was Kai, blue hair a mess.

She smiled down at him. He was so handsome and -he'd kill her if he found out- she thought he looked so CUTE when he slept. He emitted a barely audible snore in his rest that sounded somewhat like a purr.

Leilani absently scanned his clothes. He wore a lose, black shirt and white, boxer-like shorts. She knew he felt comfortable enough, because he had done it before, with her, to sleep in his real boxers. Her smile grew. He didn't do it because Hillary was around and he didn't want her staring at him, just because he knew it would make Leilani uncomfortable.

`He probably knows that I'm not mad anymore,' the braided brunette thought as she began to sit up a bit.

The young boy that slept uncomfortably on the floor seemed so tired. She figured he probably searched for her for a while more than she waited for him.

`He deserves a gift... But, what?' she pondered silently. She stared out the window, at the light blue sky above.

`He never eats any sweet stuff... Maybe I can make him something special,' she thought. She knew that her cooking was awful and she didn't care because she hated the task. But, for Kai, she'd spend her entire life parboiling away, if it were necessary (and if she discovered what parboil meant...).

She wanted to make a gesture to show him how much she loved him and she knew that he was aware of her phobia towards the kitchen.

`It's settled,' she thought with a happy grin. `I'll make him the thing I most hate doing, cookies! And I'll make sure to have them extra-sweet, for him to notice how sweet I think HE is.' She felt more than anxious to get on with her baking, but she had to escape his grip without waking the boy.

She leaned forward just a bit and brushed soft kisses over his digits. She knew how sensitive his skin was there. In reaction, he obliviously pulled his hand to his chest, still lost in his slumber.

`Poor thing, he must be exhausted to not wake with that,' Leilani thought with a slight pout. `I'll get him up in no time, as soon as I finish cooking...'

 

Kai woke to loud yelling from a room nearby.

His eyes tried futilely to register where he was. A faint pain in his back told him that he was on the floor. `What am I doing laying here?' he asked himself mentally.

A soft scent of vanilla brought the night's events back. He had lied down next to the couch in which Leilani slept, after searching for her `till dawn.

He propped himself on an elbow and gave a glance up at the couch. Nonchalantly, he noted the fact that his hand wasn't where he had left it. He held it against his chest, instead of on Leilani's smaller, thinner digits, where he remembered resting it.

She wasn't lying on the couch, either, and he felt a small pang of disappointment at the fact that he couldn't see her nearby. He had wanted to tell her that he was sorry for being so self-reserved at times, and he wanted to reassure her that he loved her more than anything.

Sadly for him, it didn't seem like that was going to happen any time soon.

Those distant shouts that had woken him up seemed to grow louder by the minute and he absently wondered who might be quarreling this time, Tyson with Hillary, Tyson with Kenny, Tyson with Daichi, Hillary with Daichi, or whoever with whoever.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, still waiting for his eyesight to focus. He still felt tired, but he was sure it was well past 12 p.m. by now and he hated sleeping in. Besides, he had a girlfriend to find.

The hotel room's door opened and in stepped a rather grim Ray.

Kai didn't seem to care or notice the lack of joy in the other boy's expression as he walked into the room.

Ray had been with Leilani, telling her step by step, how to prepare cookies. `Cookies for Kai,' he thought, sneering angrily. He still hadn't noticed the other boy that watched him questioningly from the couch nearby.

His eyes scanned the room and he finally registered the two narrow, violet ones that seemed to ask something.

“Good morning, Kai,” he said courteously. He wasn't going to lose his manners with Kai for no reason he could explain to the other boy.

He received a nod in response.

Kai opened his mouth to ask something, but Ray beat him, “she's downstairs, making a gift for you.”

The blunette quirked an eyebrow in misunderstanding.

“She felt sorry for what happened yesterday, she thinks she was over-dramatic,” Ray continued, unaware of the instantly further narrowing of the other boy's eyes.

“It's none of your business,” Kai blurted out curtly. He hated to think that Leilani might have confided in Ray.

For some time now, Kai had noted Ray's feelings had changed towards HIS -Kai's- girlfriend. He knew that the other two were developing a proper friendship, and he didn't mind. But, when he began to notice how Ray seemed to gaze at her, eyes filled with repressed yearning, Kai began to try to tear the friendship apart, or at least make Leilani notice HIM, instead.

He hadn't told Ray that he knew. He hadn't told Leilani, either. As much as he didn't want the couple spending as much time as they did together, he didn't want any awkward situations going on around the group.

“Sorry man, there's no need to get rude though. And I didn't CHOOSE it to be my business, either. Leilani just needed to talk and she-”

“She went to YOU?” the other boy cut him off, abruptly standing his full height, furiously.

“Well, um, yeah. She told me everything, but it doesn't matter anymore `cause you're okay now,” Ray said, shrugging slightly. He didn't like to lose against Kai, but it was pointless to fight with the blunette.

“Not anymore...” Kai muttered under his breath. He had his fists clenched at his sides, which was NOT a good sign for Ray.

The long haired boy thought silently why Kai was so mad.

“Why?” he asked before he could stop the word from slipping.

Kai's eyes grew wide in deeper fury. “Are you messing with me? You KNOW why!” the blunette shouted fiercely as he got closer to the long haired brunette that stood not too far from him.

Before Ray could respond, Kai was speaking again, “because you're damn in love with MY girlfriend that's why!” he yelled as he got tentatively closer to the other boy. Things were definitely going downhill. It wasn't common in Kai to lose it this way. But the thought of Ray consoling Leilani in the way he was used to doing simply revolted him.

“I-I...” Ray stuttered nervously, unsure of what to say. If he denied it, it would be worse because Kai would get madder. But, if he affirmed Kai's suspicions, the other boy would get irritated still, probably asking if he was taking him for a dope.

“Don't deny it because I've known for a LONG time now. I haven't wanted to say anything because you weren't IN MY relationship with MY Leilani,” he emphasized his possession. “But you're getting too close to her, and I'm not fond of getting back-stabbed. I had actually expected for your stupid crush to just end, but you're being too insistent. I don't want her to go around telling YOU everything that happens between us and I don't want YOU going after her anymore,” Kai ordered, his acrimonious face merely inches away from Ray's.

He noted a flash of anger invade the brunette's face and soon enough found Ray responding to his own restrained emotions.

“Fine, I won't deny it! But, I'm not going to end MY FRIENDSHIP with her just because you woke up testy. And, as far as I know, she never stated that she belonged to anyone, maybe she belongs more to me, her best friend, than to you, her... what did you say you were?” Ray knew he was crossing the line and he didn't even know what was making him act so uncharacteristically. Maybe it was the fact that he was getting accused for being the girl's FRIEND, or maybe it was the tone Kai had developed, but, whatever it was, it was getting on Ray's confined nerves.

He crossed his arms, expecting Kai's reaction.

But he wasn't waiting for Kai to pull him from the collar of his shirt and push him forcefully against the wall.

“Don't you even DARE to think that Leilani would prefer you over me. I'VE been the one to be with her for all her life and you are NOT going to just waltz in and steal MY spot,” Kai retorted angrily. His violet eyes were dark with severity and gleamed almost murderously.

Ray's breath caught in his throat. He wasn't sure if he was afraid of Kai, but at the moment, the blunette seemed capable of willingly biting Ray's head off.

But, still, his long-restrained emotions made words slip by his lips without any possibility of stopping them. “She thinks you don't love her and she isn't sure she can be with a person that has no emotions,” he scoffed, watching Kai's reaction.

The other boy's grip faltered for a split second as his eyes widened impossibly larger, then returned to hateful slits.

“You're lying.”

Ray shook his head.

“Then you've been manipulating her to ask for something she knew she couldn't expect.” He hit Ray harder against the wall, making the back of the other boy's head strike painfully against the hard surface.

Kai bent his head a bit and stared at the floor. “She had never had a problem with my lack of emotion. She knew that I love her, even when I didn't tell her. She knew that I was there for her,” he said, putting great emphasis in the word `I', in the being there part.

He lifted his head to stare at Ray's eyes with more fury than the other boy thought he would ever see in the blunette.

The room stayed silent for a few seconds, the only noise audible being the two boy's ragged breathing and the quarrel that seemed to go on in the room next to theirs.

Kai broke the silence.

“YOU'VE been telling her things. YOU'VE been making her lose trust in me. YOU'VE made her grow distant. What have you told her? Did you tell her that you love her and that your emotions weren't fucked up while you were a kid? Hmm?” He was going to punch Ray in any minute if he didn't control himself.

“I would never! I may care for her too much, but that doesn't mean that I'm trying to ruin your relationship with her. You've read me all wrong.” Ray was getting a grip on his own fury before things grew worse. “She loves YOU, and no one else,” he said sorrowfully, his eyes flickering away from Kai's amazed ones.

The blunette's hold on Ray loosened and he pulled away, staring at the floor in bewilderment. Why had he been so angry? He KNEW that the girl loved him. But he also knew that Ray loved HIS girlfriend and he was afraid that their innocent friendship would evolve. Like his with the green eyed girl had, just a year ago.

Kai secretly hoped it would still maintain, but the girl had complicated things by being so wonderful and having one too many admirers...

Before Ray could say anything else, Kai had walked into his room and shut the door with a loud bang.

 

“Good afternoon, koi!” Leilani cheered as she walked into the hotel room and found Kai apparently reading a book. She gave the cover of the book a slight scan. She loved how the boy seemed to read and actually enjoy any sort of those cheesy mystery novels that no-one seemed to care for.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked as she walked over to him and gave the boy a light peck on the cheek.

He tensed up at the contact and she noticed.

She found it weird, but supposed that he was back to his indifference, as always. She held a small basket filled with cookies, decorated with a light blue cloth under them, hooked over the inside of her left elbow. “I made something for you, koi,” she announced, walking around the loveseat and leaning against it, her braid falling over Kai's book.

No answer.

“Okay, if you don't want it, I'll keep it for myself,” she said, teasing him, intent on making him respond. She waited for him to say something, but since he didn't, she used the tip of her braid as a broom against his open book, brushing his fingers with the silky, black strands subtly on the way. “Fine, I won't give you this present, seeing that you aren't interested. But I know of something that'll make you pay attention to me,” she said, her free hand going down to hold one of Kai's with it and placing it on her braid.

Kai kept silent, stiffly letting her take his tense fingers between her own.

“I know I hardly ever let you touch it, nor see it loose, but, I'm going to give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You'll get to pull this annoying little band and touch my hair,” she stated, beginning to curl his fingers for him on the small ribbon at the end of her braid.

For a moment, his fury with her abandoned him, knowing that she NEVER let anyone touch her hair, much less see it unbound. But, unpleasant thoughts coursed through his mind and he roughly pulled her hands and hair away.

He stood up abruptly and threw his book on the seat he had been in. He tried to avoid the confused and hurt face that Leilani made at his actions.

Despite herself, Leilani wanted things to be okay, so she smiled and walked over towards him, sadly noticing that every step she gave in his direction, was one retracting step earned from him. “I made cookies all by myself! Well... Ray helped out, but I didn't let him touch a thing...” She didn't note Kai's expression at the mention of the other boy's name.

`He'd better not touch a thing ever,' Kai thought at her comment. He hadn't noticed that she was getting closer as she babbled on about her cookies.

“...And they've got chocolate chips, M&M's, peanut butter, I sprayed pixie sticks over them and, my favorite and secret ingredient; love,” she said, coquettishly fluttering her long eyelashes as she reached out to caress his cheek.

He slapped her hand away, making sure not to physically hurt her.

Her eyes grew wide and she held her offended hand with the other one. It didn't hurt, yet it did.

What was wrong with him?

“Koi?” she asked, her voice hoarse and her eyes filled with pain.

“Do NOT call me that way,” Kai replied, his fists clenching, trying to keep himself from giving into her sorrowful image and asking for forgiveness. He had never really minded the pun she had adopted to make with his name. He even liked the fact that she called him `love'. But, at the moment, he couldn't hear it.

“Okay, look, I don't know what's wrong with you, but I put a lot of effort into baking these things, the least you could do is accept them,” Leilani responded, placing her hands at her hips.

“And I put a lot of effort into our relationship, yet you preferred to go to Ray when we had a problem. Go take those-those... THINGS, to Ray. I'm sure he'll receive them happily,” Kai snapped angrily, nearly shouting at the frightened and astonished girl. She seemed so hurt by his comments, he could even feel his fists unclenching absently. No. He wasn't going to leave things like this. HE was the one that was hurt and betrayed.

“What-what are you talking about?” she asked, her voice nearly a croak as she swallowed down that sad knot in her throat. She really couldn't understand Kai's sudden onslaught.

“Don't act stupid because I KNOW you're not that naïve,” Kai retorted, cynically crossing his arms over his chest in the same way he used to before he got together with Leilani. He was closing himself in himself. This wasn't good. It had taken a huge labor for the boy to open up and now he was backtracking.

“Kai, I'm not acting naïve, I really don't understand,” she begged, placing her hands on her chest in a painful expression as she gave a tentative step towards the cold boy.

Kai breathed deeply, trying to make his heart adopt a steady pace. It was killing him to hurt her this way, but he couldn't help but feel betrayed by her and the boy he considered his best friend. “You know damn well what I mean! The slightest thing, instead of coming to me, you go straight to Ray and tell him even our most private issues. The guy's in love with you for Christ's sake!”

“What are you talking about? And why are you acting this way? So-so... coldly,” she asked, her voice still sorrowful and her eyes reflecting her utter incomprehension.

“Ray loves you! And NOT like his fucking friend! He wants you and you know that! It must make your ego feel better, seeing that you think you're the fucking `girl in the plastic bubble'. That you're so weak and fragile that no one would even look at you. Maybe that's why you're the guy's friend! You WANT him to drool over you!” Kai accused furiously. “And you said, no, you TOLD RAY that you wanted emotion, right? Well I'm giving you emotion!” he continued shouting, his arms outstretched, as if demonstrating his point. This was just as surely hurting him as much as it was hurting Leilani.

Her hurt expression turned into one of sheer anger, her eyes welling with tears.

“You're lying!” she shouted, her hands curling to fists and her tears falling freely out of her eyes. “And I didn't want emotion like this! I wanted to see you happy! I love YOU, don't you get it?!” It had taken her so much effort to get Kai to understand that what she felt for him was true, just as it had been taking him a lot of effort to get the girl to comprehend that he COULD feel. But, now, all that they had managed to build together, was crumbling apart in scant seconds.

Kai faltered for a second, unsure as to what to respond to her declaration. He didn't want things to crumble. He liked things how they were. He liked to have Leilani near him and he LOVED Leilani. He hadn't a clue as to why he was so mad at her. But, then, a voice, wicked and misplaced inside his mind, reminded him. SHE was the one that was growing apart. SHE was the one that no longer came to him to seek safety. And SHE was the one who had, somewhat, betrayed him by promising everlasting love and taking it away from him.

Leilani just continued, unaware as to Kai's thoughts. “...and, if Ray likes me is beyond me! He's my FRIEND and I honestly didn't know of his fondness of me!” She sincerely was irritated at Kai's accusations, but she wasn't willing to let things go without a fight.

“He LOVES you,” Kai muttered softly. “And if he's such a close friend, then why don't you just go to HIM and leave me alone?” Kai asked, lifting his distant eyes to read hers. He was NOT going to be defeated by her. He would rather surrender than put up with Leilani's fight.

She still had that injured expression in her crystalline green eyes and she wondered where this fight had begun in the first place. She sighed, Kai sounded as if he was serious and he wasn't going to accept any of her objections.

She let her green eyes drift up to meet his as she straightened her anguished figure, lifting her chin proudly, not accepting her defeat. “You know what?” she began softly.

It was a rhetorical question.

“I thought that you loved me and that you trusted me enough to believe when I talk to you. I thought you was my friend,” she gave a sigh and remained silent for a few more seconds. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes and she wasn't going to let Kai see how much damage his words and actions inflicted on her.

She laughed, her voice vacant, devoid of any humor, just a hollow noise. “I guess I was wrong,” she finally stated.

Kai opened his mouth to object but she saw his intentions and lifted a hand to silence the boy.

“It's okay, I guess. I mean, I should've seen it from the start, but I was stubborn. It's my own fault for thinking that you'd actually grow fond of me, ever,” she glanced up at him. His eyes were different. They seemed... hurt? She shook that thought out of her head. That was stupid. She HAD suspected from the start, but had tried to ignore those thoughts and always reassured herself that that was simply one of her doubtful beliefs.

“This whole Ray thing, I'm supposing, was just an act to get rid of me, right?”

Again, Kai was about to contradict to her accusations, before she continued.

“And, if it wasn't, it was the perfect excuse to end this nonsense, hmm?” This was killing her and she wanted it to end quickly, just one swift blow...

Kai didn't say a word. She supposed he didn't want to admit such a thing. That was something one could see coming from the boy. He had an honor of his own to defend; Kai Hiwatari doesn't dawdle. He would go straight to attack the point that bothered him. He may walk out on you, he may ignore you, but he didn't use excuses to avoid his thoughts.

It wasn't that. He was thinking. He couldn't understand how the tables had turned and he now felt so utterly guilty. Each time he tried to object to Leilani's statements, she'd shut him up with her own voice.

Her voice. He loved it and his mind now flickered off to the thought if all the turmoil that was surrounding him and Leilani would make him lose it. Lose HER. Had he made this fight intentionally, as Leilani had so simply stated? No. Why would he do that when he loved her and he knew and admitted it?

Leilani patiently waited for the blow that would just end her agony and, since Kai didn't take the first step, she did.

“Don't worry, Kai,” he visibly flinched at the cold tone in her voice as she worded his name, without it's usual pun added. “I won't bother you and your friends anymore. I'll go to the airport right away to check and see when the next flight to Japan is. Don't worry about the money or my luggage, I'll fix that later.”

With that, she threw the basket of cookies on the armchair, half of the contents spilling on the novel Kai had been reading. She walked past the stunned teenager and toward the door.

Kai wanted to stop her, he wanted to move, to speak, but none of this happened since he felt frozen into his spot. He hadn't meant to make things end. He couldn't believe what was happening and couldn't manage to think of what to say to stop her. They had had many fights throughout their relationship, but never had they been this serious. Leilani had never said she was leaving. She had never seemed as offended and injured as she had seemed just moments before. And they had never fought with such intensity.

`Does this mean goodbye?' he asked himself as he watched Leilani's lithe figure move towards him, only to turn away in order to get to the door. He couldn't even avert his gaze from the place in which she had told him she was leaving.

He didn't want that to happen, but nothing could manage to appear in his mind other than those rosy lips as they coldly announced his loss of heart.

The door opened with a soft creak and then slammed closed.

Kai couldn't summon the strength to look at it, he'd surely crumble if he did.

“Kai,” a masculine voice told him from somewhere nearby.

The blunette turned his saddened eyes to a glare. Don't people know when they are NOT wanted? He turned his death glare to the other boy, enhancing the homicidal image he gave the brunette teen with a deep scowl. He knew Ray never did pay much attention to the menacing looks he gave, but he had too much anger within him and he needed to let some be free.

“Don't let her go,” the other boy said calmly.

“Shut up! You only want me to stop her so YOU can go around, slowly taking away what's mine! I don't want you near me! As for now you are expulsed from the team!” Kai shouted with all the fury he had restrained from Leilani.

Ray had no right to tell him what to do, much less now that this entire mess was HIS fault.

“I'll leave, if that's what you want. But, why are you letting HER leave? What did she do to you?”

“It's none of your business. I told you to get out!” Kai said, pointing towards the entrance door. He really didn't know what had him so mad at Leilani, after all, it truly wasn't her fault she was so lovely, sweet and open-hearted.

“She says that you are the best person in the world. She doesn't want to know what she'll ever do without you and you are ALL she has. You want to take EVERYTHING away from her?” Ray said, crossing his arms. This wasn't as hard as he had imagined it would be, now that he had calmed down and re-ordered his priorities. He was doing this for Leilani and it was... rewarding -he chuckled at the thought- to help out his friends. This was what unrequited love felt like? It wasn't all that bad. He knew that her happiness would be guaranteed always, even if he didn't give it to her.

“If that's what she feels, then why didn't she tell ME?” Kai was still reluctant to accept his defeat. Yet, even though he didn't express it in his actions, he hoped Ray had a good excuse to justify Leilani.

“She didn't tell me, but I suppose that it was to avoid this type of situation,” Ray knew that Kai understood what the other boy meant. During all this time, she was afraid of the same thing Kai was of; getting hurt by the other. They were both afraid of the fact that the other reeled his or her emotions to their own will.

Kai remained silent, thinking and finally understanding the fact that he and Leilani weren't all that different after all.

“What are you waiting for? Go get her before she leaves,” Ray encouraged, giving Kai a friendly smile.

Kai nodded and hesitated as to what to say to the long haired boy that acted as unselfishly as possible, even after the blunette had bitched him only minutes before.

“There's no need for apologies, as long as we're cool, okay?”

Kai nodded and was about to walk out the door, before a painful thought struck him.

Leilani had given up. She thought that he didn't love her and she was NOT going to believe his words now.

What could he do to demonstrate to the girl that he loved, his amaranthine feelings?

 

A.N.: I think this is my favorite chapter. I love testosterone-filled stoic boys! Maybe, though, to fulfill my dream of seeing one of them crack, I might have gotten Kai (and Ray, as well) too OOC. But, this time, I'm not sorry. I'm glad and kind of proud of this chapter. Thanks to anyone who has read up to here and, please tell me what you think of it. I'm not fond of revising, but, if asked politely, I might do it. Tell me what you think: Sapphyre3@hotmail.com.