Leaving You
I felt so lost without you,
And now I have to leave,
I'm feeling such sweet sorrow,
Was life with you a dream?
'Hey, Rei. Have you seen Kai around today?' Rei looked up from the book he was reading.
'Kai? I don't think I've seen him for over three days. He only shows up in the middle of the night when we're all asleep. You know that. Why are you asking anyway?' Max looked down at the envelope in his hands.
'He got a letter.' He held it out for Rei to see.
'A letter? That's kind of weird. Who would send him a letter here? Aren't we supposed to be on holiday?' shifting his broken leg to a more comfortable position, he handed the letter back to Max. 'I suppose you'd better leave it on the counter. He'll find it if he ever gets in.' Max nodded.
'I guess so. Thanks Rei.' He left the room and Rei returned to his book.
Kai opened the door with quiet expertise. Then he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, all without making a sound. As he sat down silently at the table, to eat the snack he had made for himself, his eye caught sight of an envelope, resting against a vase at the other end of the table. Reaching over he picked it up, frowning curiously. Looking at the address, he suddenly realised that the letter was for him.
'Weird.' He murmured to himself. Ripping it open he pulled out the letter inside. It was hand-written on pale yellow hospital paper. When he saw the signature at the end of the page he gasped. It was signed Elaine Hiwatari. It was from his Mother.
Rei yawned loudly. Leaning heavily on his crutch, he made his way into the Kitchen. Even though it was quite early in the morning there was someone there before him.
'Kai?' he whispered. Slumped across the table was Kai. He was asleep. There was a letter clutched in his hand. Sitting down on the opposite side Rei leaned over to shake Kai's shoulder.
He gave a startled yelp and tried to leap back as Kai grabbed his arm in a sudden movement. Kai looked surprised to see Rei, as if he had expected something worse. Maybe he had, thought Rei, wincing. Kai had an iron grip on his arm and Rei still had cuts there that hadn't healed yet.
'Kai, you're hurting me.' He gasped. Kai looked shocked and pulled his arm away just as suddenly as he had when waking up.
'Sorry.' He mumbled, looking down at the floor. Rei frowned, examining his arm to cover his discomfort. Had it just been his imagination or were Kai's eye's slightly red, as if he'd been crying?
'I…' Rei looked up at Kai again but he was still looking at the ground.
'I have to go away.'
'What?' Exclaimed Rei sharply.
'I have to go away. I might not be coming back.' Rei stared at him in confusion.
'But…why?' Kai ignored his question.
'Will you tell the other's? Tell them I'm sorry for …for being such a jerk.' He got up and walked to the door.
'Wait! Kai!' Called Rei. Kai stopped in the doorway. 'Is this about…what happened? You know we don't blame you for that. It wasn't your fault Kai.'
'Rei. This isn't about that. I can't explain it to you but…I have to do this Rei. For myself.'
Kai stepped out into the hallway and Rei watched as he paused one last time.
'And Rei?…Thank you.' Then he was gone.
One Week Later
The only good news of this week past had been Rei. The doctor had said he was allowed off the crutches. Unfortunately this really was the only good news. Since Kai had disappeared, this time without even nocturnal visits, the whole gang had been downhearted. They were meant to be going home to Japan tomorrow but they could hardly think of leaving Kai behind. Hilary, who had come with them for the tournament seemed to be the worst hit along with Tyson. Hilary had always mistrusted Kai and had made it known but she realised now that they had been better off with him around to bully them. She blamed herself for driving him away. With this misery and doubt driving through her she had left the house early that morning to walk the streets of Moscow.
'Why would you leave now Kai? Don't you know we want to be your friends?' She grimaced slightly at this. How hypocritical could you get? Before he had left them, Hilary had been distrustful of Kai. Deep down in her mind she had had the thought that was racking her conscience now he was gone.
'Maybe if he left, things would be better'. The thought made her feel ill now that she could see how miserable the lot of them were without Kai's gloomy face about.
A soft flake of pure white snow landed gently on Hillary's upturned face. She pulled her jacket tighter around her and turned to start back to the hotel.
As she did so, something caught her eye. She stopped. Peering into a small dark alleyway. At first she couldn't figure out what it was that had caught her attention. Then with a sudden gasp of shock she realised. Huddled in a limp bundle of rags was a body slumped against the cold iron of a large skip.
She only made the connection when a dull bruised eye opened slowly and the icy blue depths drew her in. Slowly, cautiously, against her better judgement, she approached. The eye closed again and Hilary was caught with a sudden sense of urgency. She knelt down quickly.
'Hey' she called reaching out to try and shake the stranger into a more conscious state. 'Hey, are you okay?' the eye opened again. The second eye was too swollen for any movement but the look from just one was enough for Hilary to draw back her hand in shock.
A shiver ran through her as she saw blood smeared across her palm. A low groan came from the person and he tried to turn away from her. The slight movement seemed to cause even more pain because the single eye clamped shut and blood ran from his lip where he had bitten himself in distraction.
'Hold on!' gasped Hilary. Now that she had found this fading life she realised that she didn't want it to leave. Reaching quickly into her bag she grasped for her mobile and, pulling it out, punched in the emergency number.
'Hello? Yes this is an emergency. I'm on …uh…' she looked around for a street sign. 'I'm on Old Arbat Street.' She was silent for a second before, ' I'm in a side alley. There's uh…a person. He's badly hurt…okay. I'll wait. Thank you.' She hung up and looked back at the stranger. The eye was open again. Staring at her now with a strange mix of dread fascination and pure confusion. The icy, blue orbs reminded her of someone.
'They told me not to move you.' She said hesitantly. It was more to break the silence than to comfort him and they both knew it.
Hilary was about to speak again when she realised that the strange character was trying to say something.
'wh…why…' She looked at him strangely. Not quite understanding.
'Because moving you will only hurt you more.' She frowned. The eye closed again and she thought she saw a slight smile playing about his lips. It only lasted a moment though, before she noticed he was shivering violently.
'Here' she said, placing her warm fur-lined coat over him. 'You must be cold.' The eye shot open again, this time the ice blue orbs were filled without confusion.
Hilary was about to comment when the sound of sirens reached her ear.
'The ambulance!' she cried, jumping up. 'Stay here' she said quickly before running to the entrance of the alley.
As the stretcher carried him into the ambulance, he reached out and caught Hillary's hand in his own.
'Thank you.' He whispered softly before closing his eye and finally surrendering to oblivion.
As his head fell to the side, the hood that had covered his features fell away. Hilary gasped in recognition. It was not the first time she had seen that blood red shock of hair.
'Tala' she whispered. It's Tala.
