Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Alarming Attachment ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: DefiantVixen 
Kai speaks with Asia's father about the possible explaination behind her unruly behavour, only to receive an odd request.
Anime/Manga: Beyblade Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.16.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 332 | Status: Completed
Kai speaks with Asia's father about the possible explaination behind her unruly behavour, only to receive an odd request.
Anime/Manga: Beyblade Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.16.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 332 | Status: Completed
Alarming Attachment
Summary: It was suppose to be a relaxing vacation, but for Ray it’s anything but. Meeting a girl called Asia who annoys him and dealing with Kai who appears annoyed with him, what’s a neko to do? And what is it that Kai is hiding?
Pairings: Ray/Kai, One-sided Ray/Asia
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Anime Beyblade or any character associated. I do own Arista “Asia” Rainstorm. She is an original character and all likeness to people living or dead is purely coincidental. This character is not based on anyone else’s character, again if any likeness, it’s purely coincidental.
Warning: Female Kai. Usage of a female OC. She is not the hero of the story, and the fic will not be centered on her. Any fans of OC pairings should leave now. Do not ask me to turn this fic into a Ray/OC or any other canon character/OC as I cannot stand such pairings. I have no hesitation in bashing my own created characters.
AN: In this chapter we learn a bit more about Asia and why she’s the way she is today. Of course it wouldn’t be right if there wasn’t some Ray/Kai fluff thrown in as well for good measure. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you and enjoy the latest chapter.
-
Chapter Sixteen:
Ray ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Truthfully, after all the excitement of finding out why Kai is dressing as a guy and finally getting his feelings across, he plain forgot about the reason why they were in the hospital in the first place.
They were here because of Asia.
Just what were they going to do about Asia? Was there anything they can do?
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence as they all thought about the dual haired brunette and where she could be right now. From what they knew, Asia was in this same hospital somewhere, under police surveillance. Whether she meant to push Kai down those stone steps or not was irrelevant. She assaulted Kai, causing grievous bodily harm and she must be punished for it.
Perhaps it would be best if they simply left town and not have to deal with Asia ever again. Just forget the whole thing and move forward. After all, Ray now has Kai as his girlfriend. He’s got some planning to do.
He said that he wouldn’t get her in a dress, but he can’t help but wonder what she would look like wearing one. He never thought she would wear a skirt, but Hilary got her in one, and a small part of him thought smugly that she did it for him to enjoy. And enjoy it he did. Kai looked great in a skirt, her long slender legs going for miles. Her milky white skin was a contrast to her black top, but it suited her so well. She had a natural beauty about her, and her current shy and uncertain personality only added to her attractiveness. She looked almost delicate, but Ray knew from firsthand experience how much of a spitfire she really was.
Throwing Asia to the ground with a flick of her wrist came to mind.
She was nothing like Asia, and to be quite frank, Asia’s got nothing on her. Asia was pretty, but not beautiful. And it appeared to Ray that she put a lot of effort into her appearance, believing that it would get her wherever she wanted to go in life.
And that lead him back to the question at hand; what about Asia now?
“I want to speak with Mr. Rainstorm before we leave,” Kai suddenly said as she moved to grab her crutches on her own.
Kai’s announcement quickly pulled Ray out of his daydreams. “Kai?” he said, as he blinked his amber eyes, confused.
Kai ignored the expressions of shock on everyone faces and grabbed her crutches, reluctantly taking them and placing them under her arms to use. She hated to show any sign of weakness, but she also hated to prolong any injury, so she decided to simply bite the bullet and use the crutches as they were intended.
“I need to ask him some questions regarding Asia,” she explained as she placed her uninjured foot on the cold floor and wobbly took to her feet.
Ray immediately made his way over to Kai’s side and helped her to stand up straight. “Kai, it might be best if we just leave it,” he said, not wanting to put the beautiful female under any more stress, but he inwardly knew his words were in vain. Kai was a slightly stubborn person, and when she wanted to do something, very little got in her way.
Still, that didn’t stop him from trying.
“Asia’s sick, Ray,” Kai said bluntly, but not derogatory. “There’s something wrong with her, there has to be. Losing a loved one is no excuse for what she has put you through,” she added the last part softly; a light blush adorned her cheeks as she said that.
Ray felt a sense of warmth enter his heart when Kai said that. She obviously wasn’t angry at Asia for pushing her down the stairs, but the way she treated him during their stay at Motel Fig Tree.
“Or what she did to you,” Ray reminded as he took a step forward and pulled Kai into his arms, startling her enough to drop her crutches in surprise and she fell against him. Kai’s arms fell limply by her sides as her chin came to a rest on Ray’s shoulder, whose arms wrapped around her body tightly. One arm was around her waist, the other entangled in the strands of her hair, messing up the bun Hilary did roughly moments before. Ray was mindful to her injuries so he didn’t hold her as tightly as he wanted, but he held her tight enough so she wouldn’t be able to push away.
A light smile made its way onto his lips as Ray pulled Kai’s feminine body against his, noting on how much softer it was compared to his. Despite being quite a strong person, Kai had a surprisingly slender body. She was thin, but not an unhealthy thin, with only slightly feminine curves. Still, she was a very beautiful young woman, and he was still in awe at how well she managed to pull off the façade of being a badass male. Bounding those pert but tender breasts of hers must have been torture.
But after doing it for so long Kai must have been able to live with the discomfort.
In the neko’s arms, Kai was blushing a bright red. While Ray was either oblivious to the other occupants in the room -or didn’t care in the slightest that they were watching silently from the sidelines- Kai wasn’t so brash. She felt them staring at her in surprise, or in Hilary’s case, dreamy amusement.
“Ray?” she stuttered.
“Something else must have happened,” Ray said as he continued to hold her close, but after a moment he pulled back and held onto her by her arms so she wouldn’t fall. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Kai looked into Ray’s eyes, her blush melting slightly at the concern within his eyes. “I’ll be ok by myself,” she replied and gave him a soft smile. “But thanks anyway.”
Ray gave her a small smile of his own, one that held a sense of reluctance to it as he allowed Kai to hold onto her hospital bed again and he retrieved her crutches. He helped her become steady on her feet and followed her through the door. They quickly found a nurse that pointed them in the direction of their intended target and they stopped a corridor away.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Kai?” Ray asked one last time for good measure.
Kai rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I’m only speaking with Asia’s father, not Asia herself. She won’t be attacking me a second time, I can tell you.”
Those are fighting words, Ray mused to himself as he watched his girlfriend –he can’t get enough of saying that word- walk over to the hunched figure of their gracious host as he sat on those hard waiting chairs outside of a closed door room. He looked tired, weary, like he has had enough of everything. Ray’s eyes softened with sympathy, knowing that the kindly gentleman was another victim to Asia’s abuse and manipulation.
As he turned his back on the scene to give Kai the privacy to speak with the older man, he hoped that Kai would find the answers she seeks. And maybe some answers to his own questions.
“Mr. Rainstorm?” Kai said as approached the man that appeared to have the world on his shoulders.
Slowly, the slightly graying man looks up; his brown eyes dull in color before a flash of recognition appeared. “Oh, it’s you,” he said, not bitterly like Kai expected, but with very little emotion at all.
“Um, yeah…” Kai said awkwardly as she moved to take a seat on the other end of the row of plastic chairs, leaving a few empty seats between them. An awkward silence fell over them as Kai played with the hem of her skirt, pulling at the loose threads as her mind reeled to find something to say.
“It’s good to see your injuries aren’t that serious,” Mr. Rainstorm said, interrupting the deafening silence between them.
“Just a few cracked ribs and a hairline fracture in my ankle. Nothing I can’t handle,” Kai said quickly and played down her injuries. To her they were nothing, but everyone else thought they were pretty severe. She fell into silence again, not used to these meaningful and serious conversations. This would be the third one she had today and she still wasn’t used to them.
“How is your daughter?” she asked as she kept her tone respectful, and while Asia didn’t seem to have any, Kai, herself, did and she wasn’t going to stoop to Asia’s level by calling her what she really thought of her. Especially not to her father. He’s been through enough as it was.
“They had to sedate her,” he replied, his tone holding a hint of bitterness to it.
Kai visibly winced and looked down at her skirt, noting that her hands where still tugging at the hemline. “I see.”
“She woke up and started screaming something about how that witch stole her soul mate from her,” he continued, sounding reluctant to say anything, but appearing that he needed to get a few things off his chest and talking was the only way. “She wouldn’t stop struggling so they had no choice but to sedate her.”
He suddenly sighed and leaned back in his chair, appearing exhausted as he stared at the closed door in front of them. “The police are speaking with her now.”
Kai looked up at the door as well and realized that it must be Asia’s room. She felt a sense of unease at being so close to the one responsible for her injuries but she pushed it aside. She then gave a deep sigh as she looked at the floor again in discomfort.
“She was talking about me,” she muttered when she remembered that Mr. Rainstorm mentioned something about a witch. However, she got the feeling that witch wasn’t the word used.
“How cliché, huh?” she suddenly muttered, a wry smile on her lips. “Two girls fighting over a guy.”
Of course Asia didn’t know that she was a girl at the time, but that was beside the point.
“She…always did go a bit overboard sometimes,” he murmured to himself more so than to Kai, but she heard it none the less.
Kai pivoted in her seat to face him. “You said she changed after her mother was killed. What did you mean by that? What happened?”
Mr. Rainstorm remained silent for a long time, simply staring at the door in front of him. Kai was afraid that he might be ignoring her, which he had the right to do as they were talking about his own flesh and blood in a less than positive light. But then he suddenly gave a deep sigh and leaned forward in his seat again to rest his elbows on his legs, looking like a tired and broken man.
“The community was great, supportive and sympathetic,” he said before adding bitterly, “Maybe a little too much.”
Kai tilted her head to the side in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“They gathered around Arista, telling her it was ok to be angry, to be sad, to let it out,” he explained. “They would counsel her, and I use the word counsel very loosely, until she either screamed at them in complete anger or burst into tears.”
Kai could feel the bitterness in his voice, and while a part of her could understand why the community tried to get a reaction out of Asia as in many cases when a child loses a parent, they become closed off from the world. But she understands how annoyed and frustrated Mr. Rainstorm would be. As her father, it was his responsibility to help her through the tough times. What should have made their bond stronger appeared to have the opposite effect.
“That was ok for the few months after the death, but for years afterwards, they would pity her, letting her get away with anything. She stole from shops, beat up other kids in the streets for their belongings and was disrespectful towards her elders.”
He gave another sigh and ran a tired hand through his slightly graying brown hair, his expression marred with slight anger and frustration. “And everyone was ok with that. It was always, ‘oh leave her be, she lost her mother. She can’t help herself’. No one ever told her that it was not ok to be violent and rude. I tried, but she wouldn’t listen. And…”
“She became a little too much to handle,” Kai said without meaning too and quickly realized her mistake of judging Asia in front of her father, but instead of a scowl for picking out a fault with his daughter, Mr. Rainstorm simply gave a tired sigh, his posture slumping forward even more.
“Yeah…” he said before he lifted a hand and placed it on his forehead, his voice breaking. “I feel like the worst father in this world.”
“No, don’t say that,” Kai was quick to interject and she lifted a hand to console him, but hesitated as she knew deep inside the last thing this man needs is the victim of his daughter’s wrath trying to console him. “You’re a great father. You can’t help the cards fate has dealt you. Maybe now Arista will finally see that her attitude wasn’t doing herself any favors.”
Mr. Rainstorm didn’t have the same optimism. “…I don’t know.”
Another silence quickly fell over them and Kai found herself poking at the design on her shirt, mildly wondering why Hilary picked this one out for her. Angel? Yeah right. Ray seemed to like it, though.
Focus at the task at hand, Kai, she ordered herself.
“What are you going to do?” Kai asked softly, looking at the older man sitting a few seats away from her.
“I don’t know that either,” he said. “I don’t think I can handle her abusive ways anymore.”
“She needs proper counseling, not the pretend kind the community offered her,” Kai said, not sure that it would help, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. “She’s…in a lot of trouble, you know?”
If at all possible, his posture became more weary and tired. “Yeah, I know. Unless you drop the charges?”
Kai felt her heart restrict at the words. While she doesn’t want to hurt the man next to her, she simply can’t let his wayward daughter get away with what she had done to her, to Ray and to everyone else she hurt in the past.
“I can’t do that,” she said softly, with a hint of regret in her voice. “If I do that, she’ll never learn, you know that.”
Another depressed sigh. “Yeah, I know.”
“I’m sorry,” Kai said with sincerity as she grabbed her crutched and staggered to her feet, not used to her walking aids yet. “I truly am.”
Mr. Rainstorm lifted his head, his gaze holding guilt and regret. “So am I.”
“We’ll be leaving tomorrow,” Kai said as she bowed her head forward as far as she could without toppling forward. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“Could you see Arista before you leave?” he suddenly requested.
Kai snapped her head up to look at him with disbelief. “I’m afraid I might do more damage than good at this point…” she trailed off when she noticed the pleading look in his eyes and she sighed deeply. Not many people knew this, but Kai can’t stand to see a male of any shape or size cry. It began back in the Abbey where she witness many of her fellow bladers burst into tears either from fear or pain. The sight broke her heart.
“I’ll think about it,” she said as she turned around and began to move away. She felt torn. She didn’t want anything to do with Asia, hell if she never saw her again it would be too soon, but she can’t deny her father’s request as he was not the one who deserved to be punished. And the fact was if they left now; there would be too many niggling questions left behind. What should she do?
“Kai?”
Kai looked up and found herself in front of her boyfriend, who in turn was looking at her with concern. “I’m ok,” she reassured, but sighed deeply when she dropped her crutches and fell against his chest once again. Her chat with Asia’s father took more out of her than she thought it would.
“What happened?” Ray asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist, letting Kai rest her chin on his shoulders. Guy or girl, Kai was still taller than him; not that it bothered him too much.
“He wants me to see her before I leave,” Kai explained. “Do you think we should?”
Ray hesitated; stiffen at the thought of seeing Asia again. “…I don’t know.”
Summary: It was suppose to be a relaxing vacation, but for Ray it’s anything but. Meeting a girl called Asia who annoys him and dealing with Kai who appears annoyed with him, what’s a neko to do? And what is it that Kai is hiding?
Pairings: Ray/Kai, One-sided Ray/Asia
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Anime Beyblade or any character associated. I do own Arista “Asia” Rainstorm. She is an original character and all likeness to people living or dead is purely coincidental. This character is not based on anyone else’s character, again if any likeness, it’s purely coincidental.
Warning: Female Kai. Usage of a female OC. She is not the hero of the story, and the fic will not be centered on her. Any fans of OC pairings should leave now. Do not ask me to turn this fic into a Ray/OC or any other canon character/OC as I cannot stand such pairings. I have no hesitation in bashing my own created characters.
AN: In this chapter we learn a bit more about Asia and why she’s the way she is today. Of course it wouldn’t be right if there wasn’t some Ray/Kai fluff thrown in as well for good measure. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you and enjoy the latest chapter.
-
Chapter Sixteen:
Ray ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Truthfully, after all the excitement of finding out why Kai is dressing as a guy and finally getting his feelings across, he plain forgot about the reason why they were in the hospital in the first place.
They were here because of Asia.
Just what were they going to do about Asia? Was there anything they can do?
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence as they all thought about the dual haired brunette and where she could be right now. From what they knew, Asia was in this same hospital somewhere, under police surveillance. Whether she meant to push Kai down those stone steps or not was irrelevant. She assaulted Kai, causing grievous bodily harm and she must be punished for it.
Perhaps it would be best if they simply left town and not have to deal with Asia ever again. Just forget the whole thing and move forward. After all, Ray now has Kai as his girlfriend. He’s got some planning to do.
He said that he wouldn’t get her in a dress, but he can’t help but wonder what she would look like wearing one. He never thought she would wear a skirt, but Hilary got her in one, and a small part of him thought smugly that she did it for him to enjoy. And enjoy it he did. Kai looked great in a skirt, her long slender legs going for miles. Her milky white skin was a contrast to her black top, but it suited her so well. She had a natural beauty about her, and her current shy and uncertain personality only added to her attractiveness. She looked almost delicate, but Ray knew from firsthand experience how much of a spitfire she really was.
Throwing Asia to the ground with a flick of her wrist came to mind.
She was nothing like Asia, and to be quite frank, Asia’s got nothing on her. Asia was pretty, but not beautiful. And it appeared to Ray that she put a lot of effort into her appearance, believing that it would get her wherever she wanted to go in life.
And that lead him back to the question at hand; what about Asia now?
“I want to speak with Mr. Rainstorm before we leave,” Kai suddenly said as she moved to grab her crutches on her own.
Kai’s announcement quickly pulled Ray out of his daydreams. “Kai?” he said, as he blinked his amber eyes, confused.
Kai ignored the expressions of shock on everyone faces and grabbed her crutches, reluctantly taking them and placing them under her arms to use. She hated to show any sign of weakness, but she also hated to prolong any injury, so she decided to simply bite the bullet and use the crutches as they were intended.
“I need to ask him some questions regarding Asia,” she explained as she placed her uninjured foot on the cold floor and wobbly took to her feet.
Ray immediately made his way over to Kai’s side and helped her to stand up straight. “Kai, it might be best if we just leave it,” he said, not wanting to put the beautiful female under any more stress, but he inwardly knew his words were in vain. Kai was a slightly stubborn person, and when she wanted to do something, very little got in her way.
Still, that didn’t stop him from trying.
“Asia’s sick, Ray,” Kai said bluntly, but not derogatory. “There’s something wrong with her, there has to be. Losing a loved one is no excuse for what she has put you through,” she added the last part softly; a light blush adorned her cheeks as she said that.
Ray felt a sense of warmth enter his heart when Kai said that. She obviously wasn’t angry at Asia for pushing her down the stairs, but the way she treated him during their stay at Motel Fig Tree.
“Or what she did to you,” Ray reminded as he took a step forward and pulled Kai into his arms, startling her enough to drop her crutches in surprise and she fell against him. Kai’s arms fell limply by her sides as her chin came to a rest on Ray’s shoulder, whose arms wrapped around her body tightly. One arm was around her waist, the other entangled in the strands of her hair, messing up the bun Hilary did roughly moments before. Ray was mindful to her injuries so he didn’t hold her as tightly as he wanted, but he held her tight enough so she wouldn’t be able to push away.
A light smile made its way onto his lips as Ray pulled Kai’s feminine body against his, noting on how much softer it was compared to his. Despite being quite a strong person, Kai had a surprisingly slender body. She was thin, but not an unhealthy thin, with only slightly feminine curves. Still, she was a very beautiful young woman, and he was still in awe at how well she managed to pull off the façade of being a badass male. Bounding those pert but tender breasts of hers must have been torture.
But after doing it for so long Kai must have been able to live with the discomfort.
In the neko’s arms, Kai was blushing a bright red. While Ray was either oblivious to the other occupants in the room -or didn’t care in the slightest that they were watching silently from the sidelines- Kai wasn’t so brash. She felt them staring at her in surprise, or in Hilary’s case, dreamy amusement.
“Ray?” she stuttered.
“Something else must have happened,” Ray said as he continued to hold her close, but after a moment he pulled back and held onto her by her arms so she wouldn’t fall. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Kai looked into Ray’s eyes, her blush melting slightly at the concern within his eyes. “I’ll be ok by myself,” she replied and gave him a soft smile. “But thanks anyway.”
Ray gave her a small smile of his own, one that held a sense of reluctance to it as he allowed Kai to hold onto her hospital bed again and he retrieved her crutches. He helped her become steady on her feet and followed her through the door. They quickly found a nurse that pointed them in the direction of their intended target and they stopped a corridor away.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Kai?” Ray asked one last time for good measure.
Kai rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I’m only speaking with Asia’s father, not Asia herself. She won’t be attacking me a second time, I can tell you.”
Those are fighting words, Ray mused to himself as he watched his girlfriend –he can’t get enough of saying that word- walk over to the hunched figure of their gracious host as he sat on those hard waiting chairs outside of a closed door room. He looked tired, weary, like he has had enough of everything. Ray’s eyes softened with sympathy, knowing that the kindly gentleman was another victim to Asia’s abuse and manipulation.
As he turned his back on the scene to give Kai the privacy to speak with the older man, he hoped that Kai would find the answers she seeks. And maybe some answers to his own questions.
“Mr. Rainstorm?” Kai said as approached the man that appeared to have the world on his shoulders.
Slowly, the slightly graying man looks up; his brown eyes dull in color before a flash of recognition appeared. “Oh, it’s you,” he said, not bitterly like Kai expected, but with very little emotion at all.
“Um, yeah…” Kai said awkwardly as she moved to take a seat on the other end of the row of plastic chairs, leaving a few empty seats between them. An awkward silence fell over them as Kai played with the hem of her skirt, pulling at the loose threads as her mind reeled to find something to say.
“It’s good to see your injuries aren’t that serious,” Mr. Rainstorm said, interrupting the deafening silence between them.
“Just a few cracked ribs and a hairline fracture in my ankle. Nothing I can’t handle,” Kai said quickly and played down her injuries. To her they were nothing, but everyone else thought they were pretty severe. She fell into silence again, not used to these meaningful and serious conversations. This would be the third one she had today and she still wasn’t used to them.
“How is your daughter?” she asked as she kept her tone respectful, and while Asia didn’t seem to have any, Kai, herself, did and she wasn’t going to stoop to Asia’s level by calling her what she really thought of her. Especially not to her father. He’s been through enough as it was.
“They had to sedate her,” he replied, his tone holding a hint of bitterness to it.
Kai visibly winced and looked down at her skirt, noting that her hands where still tugging at the hemline. “I see.”
“She woke up and started screaming something about how that witch stole her soul mate from her,” he continued, sounding reluctant to say anything, but appearing that he needed to get a few things off his chest and talking was the only way. “She wouldn’t stop struggling so they had no choice but to sedate her.”
He suddenly sighed and leaned back in his chair, appearing exhausted as he stared at the closed door in front of them. “The police are speaking with her now.”
Kai looked up at the door as well and realized that it must be Asia’s room. She felt a sense of unease at being so close to the one responsible for her injuries but she pushed it aside. She then gave a deep sigh as she looked at the floor again in discomfort.
“She was talking about me,” she muttered when she remembered that Mr. Rainstorm mentioned something about a witch. However, she got the feeling that witch wasn’t the word used.
“How cliché, huh?” she suddenly muttered, a wry smile on her lips. “Two girls fighting over a guy.”
Of course Asia didn’t know that she was a girl at the time, but that was beside the point.
“She…always did go a bit overboard sometimes,” he murmured to himself more so than to Kai, but she heard it none the less.
Kai pivoted in her seat to face him. “You said she changed after her mother was killed. What did you mean by that? What happened?”
Mr. Rainstorm remained silent for a long time, simply staring at the door in front of him. Kai was afraid that he might be ignoring her, which he had the right to do as they were talking about his own flesh and blood in a less than positive light. But then he suddenly gave a deep sigh and leaned forward in his seat again to rest his elbows on his legs, looking like a tired and broken man.
“The community was great, supportive and sympathetic,” he said before adding bitterly, “Maybe a little too much.”
Kai tilted her head to the side in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“They gathered around Arista, telling her it was ok to be angry, to be sad, to let it out,” he explained. “They would counsel her, and I use the word counsel very loosely, until she either screamed at them in complete anger or burst into tears.”
Kai could feel the bitterness in his voice, and while a part of her could understand why the community tried to get a reaction out of Asia as in many cases when a child loses a parent, they become closed off from the world. But she understands how annoyed and frustrated Mr. Rainstorm would be. As her father, it was his responsibility to help her through the tough times. What should have made their bond stronger appeared to have the opposite effect.
“That was ok for the few months after the death, but for years afterwards, they would pity her, letting her get away with anything. She stole from shops, beat up other kids in the streets for their belongings and was disrespectful towards her elders.”
He gave another sigh and ran a tired hand through his slightly graying brown hair, his expression marred with slight anger and frustration. “And everyone was ok with that. It was always, ‘oh leave her be, she lost her mother. She can’t help herself’. No one ever told her that it was not ok to be violent and rude. I tried, but she wouldn’t listen. And…”
“She became a little too much to handle,” Kai said without meaning too and quickly realized her mistake of judging Asia in front of her father, but instead of a scowl for picking out a fault with his daughter, Mr. Rainstorm simply gave a tired sigh, his posture slumping forward even more.
“Yeah…” he said before he lifted a hand and placed it on his forehead, his voice breaking. “I feel like the worst father in this world.”
“No, don’t say that,” Kai was quick to interject and she lifted a hand to console him, but hesitated as she knew deep inside the last thing this man needs is the victim of his daughter’s wrath trying to console him. “You’re a great father. You can’t help the cards fate has dealt you. Maybe now Arista will finally see that her attitude wasn’t doing herself any favors.”
Mr. Rainstorm didn’t have the same optimism. “…I don’t know.”
Another silence quickly fell over them and Kai found herself poking at the design on her shirt, mildly wondering why Hilary picked this one out for her. Angel? Yeah right. Ray seemed to like it, though.
Focus at the task at hand, Kai, she ordered herself.
“What are you going to do?” Kai asked softly, looking at the older man sitting a few seats away from her.
“I don’t know that either,” he said. “I don’t think I can handle her abusive ways anymore.”
“She needs proper counseling, not the pretend kind the community offered her,” Kai said, not sure that it would help, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. “She’s…in a lot of trouble, you know?”
If at all possible, his posture became more weary and tired. “Yeah, I know. Unless you drop the charges?”
Kai felt her heart restrict at the words. While she doesn’t want to hurt the man next to her, she simply can’t let his wayward daughter get away with what she had done to her, to Ray and to everyone else she hurt in the past.
“I can’t do that,” she said softly, with a hint of regret in her voice. “If I do that, she’ll never learn, you know that.”
Another depressed sigh. “Yeah, I know.”
“I’m sorry,” Kai said with sincerity as she grabbed her crutched and staggered to her feet, not used to her walking aids yet. “I truly am.”
Mr. Rainstorm lifted his head, his gaze holding guilt and regret. “So am I.”
“We’ll be leaving tomorrow,” Kai said as she bowed her head forward as far as she could without toppling forward. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“Could you see Arista before you leave?” he suddenly requested.
Kai snapped her head up to look at him with disbelief. “I’m afraid I might do more damage than good at this point…” she trailed off when she noticed the pleading look in his eyes and she sighed deeply. Not many people knew this, but Kai can’t stand to see a male of any shape or size cry. It began back in the Abbey where she witness many of her fellow bladers burst into tears either from fear or pain. The sight broke her heart.
“I’ll think about it,” she said as she turned around and began to move away. She felt torn. She didn’t want anything to do with Asia, hell if she never saw her again it would be too soon, but she can’t deny her father’s request as he was not the one who deserved to be punished. And the fact was if they left now; there would be too many niggling questions left behind. What should she do?
“Kai?”
Kai looked up and found herself in front of her boyfriend, who in turn was looking at her with concern. “I’m ok,” she reassured, but sighed deeply when she dropped her crutches and fell against his chest once again. Her chat with Asia’s father took more out of her than she thought it would.
“What happened?” Ray asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist, letting Kai rest her chin on his shoulders. Guy or girl, Kai was still taller than him; not that it bothered him too much.
“He wants me to see her before I leave,” Kai explained. “Do you think we should?”
Ray hesitated; stiffen at the thought of seeing Asia again. “…I don’t know.”