Do You Trust Me Enough?

Rim: All right…I see that writing this story is seriously difficult not because I don’t know what to write, but it seems everything is stopping me from writing.

Akito: As one of your muses, I find that to be bullshit.

Rim: Well I didn’t ask you…let’s just move onwards with this story. Hope everyone likes this chapter.

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Kai walked into the mansion, immediately welcomed by the on duty maids and butler awaiting his return. Auburn eyes shifted over the individuals before he continued his trip upstairs towards his room. Nobody bothered to ask him if he wanted anything, or where he had been, everyone knew the routine when Kai disappeared, regardless of if his grandfather was home or not.

Growing up around the mansion, Kai found that it was simpler to sneak in and out the house when he didn’t seem suspicious. Over time of developing his scowls and cold glares, coming and going proved easier than sneaking around. There were probably only two or three times, when his father was around, that the old man questioned him of his whereabouts during the day. Interrogation never lasted long, seeing that Kai was in one piece, nor was he brought home by police officers. Voltaire’s number one rule, do what you want as long as you don’t bring shame to his name. It was as simple enough as that.

Continuing his trip up the stairs to his room, Kai went over all the details in his head for that evening’s party. First he would put up all the bags he had recently brought this morning. As he expected when he left word with the Bladebreakers to train on their own since he was dealing with business, they went over to Zeo’s house to make sure his angel was all right. Worry had stirred the other boys during the two days Zeo didn’t show for training.

Kai had excellently feigned indifference of the angel’s lack of attendance, though his blood raced with anticipation as plans swelled in his brain. He planned carefully everything he said, sending three of four boys to find out what happened to their friend, leaving Kai time to deploy his plan, leaving similar cards at each of their houses, then delivering Zeo’s personally to the maid. He no doubt had suspicious Tyson, Max, and Rei would check their homes to find out if invitations were delivered to them.

Rei would probably convince Tyson and Max that he (Kai) needed a chance to get to know them all on a deeper level than what he has been showing. With them needing to understand him better vice versa, this being the perfect opportunity for it. Tyson would whine as the moron tended to do that Kai couldn’t really want to get to know them. Then like always, Max would step into the conversation to persuade Tyson into the idea. Once Tyson agreed, Zeo naturally would follow, not wanting to seem like he disliked Kai.

They would all be there no later than eight, to make a good impression on Kai. Tyson would try to put aside his comments for the evening, Rei would thank Kai for inviting them, and the other two Bladebreakers would follow along in his example without hesitation. Tyson would be more resistant in thanks, waiting for Kai to make a snide comment or something. But that night Kai would be the perfect host. He would not excite the daft baboon. Maybe a comment or two…he could not let Tyson become suspicious of his plans, as if the moron could use his brain cells effectively in the first place.

He would show everyone around the mansion, taking them on a tour of all the different wings in the mansion. Once the tour was over, they would head into the dining area where the maids would be finished setting up the table with the banquet. Kai could stomach Tyson’s gluttony for once, ignoring it while the others told him to have manners and restrain himself. He would make light conversation with everyone. Making Zeo feel that what happened between them was nothing more than a fluke, and relaxing and taking his mind of things.

Once dinner was over, they would retire to one of the recreation rooms on the lower level. Eventually Tyson would feel the effects of dinner, not just his food lust, but part of Kai’s ingenious plan. After that, everything would fall in place. Kai couldn’t wait until Zeo would run into his arms after finding out the truth.

“Master Kai,” the voice of one of the maids broke through Kai’s thoughts. With a scowl, he turned his eyes on the dark eyed girl bowing her head in front of him. Beside her was another maid, this one with short orange hair, one of the newer girls to the help his grandfather had hired.

“What do you want?” Kai growled, finding the woman flinch under the tone of his voice.

“I…I…” the maid stuttered, her body shaking visibly with terror.

“I said what do you want,” Kai demanded, growing agitated by her presence with each second that passed.

“Master Kai, I just wanted to tell you that the chefs have finished the first few courses of the meals you wanted prepared,” she blurted out. “Is there anything special that you wish the rest of us to do in preparation for your dinner tonight?”

“No,” Kai replied walking past her. “Just make sure that everything happens like I want it to. If I do not find that things are not going the way I want, then someone will have to take responsibility for it.”

“Yes Master Kai,” she said quickly.

“Good,” Kai said.

“Master Voltaire’s grandson is such a spoiled brat.” Kai heard the other maid whisper to the first one, who tried to shut the girl up, well aware of Kai’s hearing being excellent to a fault at picking up things. Stopping his tracks, Kai tilted his head back, finding the first maid continuing to bow, the second one stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Did you say something that I should know about?” Kai questioned the orange haired girl.

“She said nothing Master Kai,” the first maid replied, trying to save her friend from suffering at the dual haired young man’s hands. She had only heard bits and pieces of what happened to her best friend Hanashi Mizuki after going into his room to relay a message from the boy’s grandfather. She could not forget the piercing screams which echoed down the wings in the mansion.

“I wasn’t talking to you girl, silence your tongue,” Kai ordered, his eyes remaining fixed on the brash red head in front of him. “Now what was it you said before hand girl?”

“As my friend state, Master Kai, I said nothing,” the orange haired maid bowed.

“What’s your name girl?” Kai questioned.

“It’s Rie Nishikawa, sir,” the maid responded.

“You just recently started working for my grandfather, isn’t that right?” Kai smiled.

“Yes sir, I have,” Rie remarked.

“I suggest that you hold your tongue in my presence before you find yourself back out on the streets with no where to go,” Kai warned. “You have not seen a spoiled brat yet in me. I doubt that you want to see something like that, so mind your fucking words.”

“I told you I said nothing, sir,” Rie voiced, her tone dripping with irritation. Kai saw this one would be a problem now. His grandfather was getting sloppy hiring whatever pretty girl he saw fit, instead of hiring ones who would obey his commands without question or back talk. Kai would quickly nip this one in the bud before thorns could settle properly.

“My dear Rie, would you mind helping me with the bags I’m carrying. I would be less burdened to open the door to my room if you were to carry them for me,” Kai smiled, the edges of his smile sharp, but not enough for the girl to notice. “Forgive my rude behavior, would you? I see that you are a worthy adversary who I should not take so lightly.”

“All is forgiven, sir,” Rie smiled. Kai saw the edges of her mouth turn into a triumphant smile at his ‘surrender’. Her eyes blazed bright as she walked up to him, taking the bags within Kai’s hands. “Where do you want me to take these bags?”

“To my room,” Kai spoke, while letting her lead in front of him. The other maid paled, seeing the flare in Kai’s eyes.

“Master Kai,” the other maid started.

“Go back to your duties,” Kai ordered.

“Y…yes sir.” She scurried off, leaving Kai in the company of the new maid Rie. Turning his eyes back to the back of the other maid, he followed her, instructing her which room was his room. He was even nice enough to open the door for her, so she could place his bags down on the bed.

“Is this all you need sir,” Rie questioned, turning back to look at him, but finding Kai locking the door to his room, his eyes remaining on her the whole time. “What are you doing?”

“We need to have a little talk my dear Rie,” Kai said, slowly walking up to her, the girl backed away from him, falling into a familiar stance of a person familiar with karate. He of course spent his childhood training in Russian fighting styles back when he was at the abbey.

“What do you want to talk about?” she demanded. “I’ve heard about you, I’m not about to take any bullshit off you because you’re my boss’s grandson. I know karate, so you try anything and I’ll send you into a world of hurt.”

“Oh really, I would like to see you try that,” Kai smirked. Kai easily moved out of the way of her rush, quickly slipping behind her and pinning both of her arms behind her back before slamming her head to the ground. Holding her in place even while she squirmed, Kai chuckled. “That was certainly a poor effort, Rie.”

“Let me go you bastard!” she squirmed.

“Why? So you can hit me?” Kai questioned. “I don’t think so, now for our talk.”

“What do you want to talk about?” she growled.

“Your obedience, Rie,” Kai said. “I will not allow you to think that you are going to be my equal or even stand up to me. I despise anyone who questions me, or talks back to me. You are nothing more than a worthless bitch in this house, I call all the shots and even if my grandfather did hire you, I will fire you any time I want without his consent.”

“That’s a lie! You can’t just do that,” she shouted.

“I lie?” Kai said. “How rude of you to say something like that, maybe I should show you what I do to those who I despise.” Getting up from off the girl, Kai watched her spring up at him, but he easily side stepped her attack, kicking her square in the chest. The girl flew back, hitting the wall with a bit of a cry. “It looks like this is going to be fun for a little while.”

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Zeo brushed back his bangs, continuing to braid his hair into a tight braid. When he was eventually done, he stood up from the chair and walked over to his mirror, looking at his reflection. He was nervous, he didn’t know what to expect from Kai or this little dinner thing Kai was hosting. For the evening he chose a simple pair of brown pants with a long sleeved light blue shirt.

“Master Zeo,” Rika walked into the room with a short smile.

“Yes Rika?” Zeo turned to look at her.

“Your friends are here, you should hurry up and leave so you don’t be late,” Rika advised. “And be sure to have a good time.”

“I will try Rika,” Zeo smiled. The green haired young man didn’t know still what to expect. Would Kai really try something at the party? And Zeo still hadn’t told Rei the truth about what Kai said. He didn’t know how the neko-jin would react to the news, or if the other would be heartbroken. Maybe Rei would get the courage to ask Kai himself…then again, that wouldn’t be a good thing. If Kai put it like he had with Zeo, Rei was surely going to not be in too great a mood.

“Zeo,” Rika said, breaking through his thoughts.

“Oh…I’m sorry, I should probably get going, huh?” Zeo said. “I’ll see you later Rika.”

“Bye Zeo,” she smiled as he walked pass her out the room. Heading down the stairs, Zeo could hear the voices floating up to meet him halfway. Stopping for a moment, Zeo considered that maybe this would be the night that he told Tyson how he felt. Then he could find out the truth, whether or not Tyson was in love with Max like Kai said, or did the older teen lie about it.

Summoning up the rest of his courage, Zeo continued down the flight of stairs. Tyson and the others looked up from their conversation to greet Zeo. Tyson was dressed much like always, blue jeans, yellow shirt, baseball cap turned backwards. Surprisingly, his red coat was missing from his attire. Max was in orange pants with long baggy green shirt. Kenny and Rei were dressed much like they usually dressed.

“You guys managed to get the coat away from Tyson,” Zeo joked. “I’m surprised I thought I would never see the day when that coat was missing.”

“I didn’t think it was necessary,” Max grinned. “So I talked him out of it.”

“Or rather you distracted me while you had Chief and Rei hid my coat from me,” Tyson accused.

“Oh, but you really look better without it,” Rei nodded.

“I have to agree with Rei,” Kenny added in. “Now if we could only get you to where another color besides yellow.”

“What’s wrong with my shirts? I’ve been wearing yellow since I was small,” Tyson said.

“That’s the problem,” Max pointed out. “We want to see a change of attire. One day we’re going to raid your closet, hide all your shirts and then go shopping for you.”

“Oh, thanks a lot,” Tyson huffed. “Some friends you guys are.”

“Thank you,” Rei smiled, only to get a glare out of Tyson. “All right, we’ll leave you alone, Tyson. We should really get going you know. Kai will be expecting us soon, we shouldn’t be late.”

“Or he may not let us in and torment me by eating while we’re standing outside,” Tyson said. “You know, he’s cruel and all.”

“There you go again,” Max shook his head. “And you really wonder why Kai’s always mean to you at times. It’s because of remarks like that.”

“Well, don’t you think that it’s true?” Tyson said.

“Enough Tyson, Kai really isn’t as bad as you think of him,” Rei interrupted. “Now we really should get going.”

“Rei’s right,” Kenny nodded. “We shouldn’t talk so bad about Kai. He is after all inviting us to dinner. And don’t say that it might be a ploy to kill us through poisoning Tyson.” Tyson closed his mouth with a light pout but didn’t say anything else towards it.

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Kai finished dressing in the all black attire as there came not on his bedroom door. “You may come in.” An auburn eye shifted to the opening door, and the figure in the doorway. The head of Rie was bowed to him, her form shaking with fear. “Do you have something to report to me, Rie?”

“Your guests have arrived, sir,” Rie spoke ever so softly.

“Good, have the others usher them into the common room, I shall be down shortly,” Kai said. “Oh and Rie before you go I have one thing I must say to you. Look at me because I don’t want to tell you again.”

“Yes, Master Kai.”

“Don’t go downstairs, I don’t believe they will find you horribly attractive right now,” Kai smirked, seeing the girl lift her face up to him, tears glistening on her cheeks. Her face looked as if she was hit head long by a semi. Her overall appearance, that of a victim surviving the venting of a maniac.

Her left eye was by now completely swollen shut and was discolored with a variation of dark purple to black. Her bottom lip was split open; her nose had long ago stopped bleeding mucus and blood. Her right eye was just as bruised and swollen, but not as worse off as the left one. Bruises covered most of her exposed upper body. Deep handprints grooved her neck with black marks highlighted with a tint of purplish-blue. Her uniform barely covered her now ripped and tattered to the point another fight would expose her completely. Her hair continued to remain in disarray, coated thick with blood he had not let her wash out yet.

“Do I make myself clear, Rie? You’ve done good to learn your place, that I might even reward you tomorrow by having the family doctor exam you. Now I want you to go do as you’re told,” Kai smiled.

“Yes sir,” Rie bowed her head once more, leaving the room.

Standing up from where he sat, Kai went over to the mirror examining his reflection. “Tonight Kai, we will finally get the thing we’ve wanted for a long time.”

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Rim: And yes, I will end this chapter on the note of Kai being crazy and talking to himself. All right, the next chapter will take Kai’s plan and put it well into action. What that plan is, you’ll have to wait until next chapter.

Akito: Mind going ahead and planning the chapter out genius?

Rim: Shut up Akito…all right everyone, hopefully I can update in two weeks because soon I won\'t have to go to school Woo hoo, I have approximately 12 days left of school that I really need. Then starts my summer vacation...this is the only great thing about my high school with the fact I have EOGs this year. Just two more major tests and I can stay home and sleep and write.