Tortured Soul

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update, it got a tad hectic. I'm gonna try and get a few chapters up over this week to try and make up for it.

Well here's chapter 5, hope you like it. Oh and *_* is a dream sequence cos AFF doesn't like italics.

Chapter 5

Max and Hillary walked in silence, it was a very uncomfortable silence. Finally, it was broken.

“Have you been to see Tyson this morning?” Hillary asked the blond blader.

“I went round to see him,” replied Max “but he didn’t answer. Either he was still fast asleep and didn’t hear me or he’d already gone out”.

“Probably still asleep.” Hillary said with certainty. “He can sleep like the dead, trying to wake him up during the World Championships usually meant Hiro using a bucket full of cold water.” Max laughed.

“That sounds like Tyson. Did Hiro need to use the whole bucket?” asked Max through his laughter.

“No” Hillary replied. “The first few drops on his forehead usually did the trick”. Max was almost in stitches. He wished he’d been there to see that. Hillary started laughing too. “One morning” she continued “we were stood over him, Hiro holding the bucket. The first few drops didn’t work, he kinda twitched then rolled over. That was his mistake,” Hillary said with a matter of fact tone. “Hiro poured a cup over his exposed back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard someone jump quite so high, or scream so loud.” Max was holding his sides to keep them from hurting.

“How long before he started talking to any of you again?” Max asked when he could breathe again.

“About a week.” Stated Hillary flatly. Max couldn’t stop himself anymore and he broke into full blown hysterics. Hillary followed suit and the two of them laughed until they couldn’t breathe. “After that” continued Hillary, when she’d managed to take in oxygen “he never slept in late again”.

The two were close to a bench and by unspoken agreement decided that they should sit until they regained some composure.

It took a few minutes for their laughter to subside to mild giggling, they took in ragged breaths and used their hands to wipe away the tears from their eyes. Max looked at the girl sat next to him, her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes were blinking rapidly to remove the tears caused by her laughter. She was holding her side with both hands as if she was trying to stop it from splitting.

‘She looks so beautiful’ thought Max. ‘Ok, now’s as good a time as any’. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, then shut it again so quickly that he bit his tongue. He made an undistinguishable noise and quickly put his hand to his mouth.

“Max, what’s up?” Hillary asked, she looked up to see the blond blader covering his mouth with one hand. Her eyes narrowed in concern, one hand automatically reaching for Max’s to see what he had done.

“I us bi my ongue” Max mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

“You just what?” Hillary asked in confusion.

“I bi my ongue” Max tried again, moving his hand and pointing to his tongue.

“Oh, you bit your tongue” said Hillary, understanding finally dawning on her. She bit back a giggle and Max frowned at her.

“It really hurts” Max said in a whine.

“Sorry” Hillary managed to stop giggling, she reached out to touch Max’s face and he flinched. “I just want to make sure your tongue’s ok” she said “either open your mouth a little or stick your tongue out”. Max complied, and stuck his tongue out at Hillary. “Oh, it’s fine. It’s not even bleeding.”

“It’s not? Oh that’s good”. Max could feel Hillary’s hand on his chin and it sent a thrill through him. She was touching him so gently, of course she had touched him before but this felt different. “Um, Hillary?”

“Yes Max?” when Max didn’t carry on talking Hillary looked up into his eyes. They were staring straight into her own with an intensity that made her breath catch. She began to pull her hand away from his chin when one of Max’s hands moved fast to stop her. He held onto her hand like it was a lifeline, keeping him afloat.

“Hillary, I…” Max looked away suddenly and drew in a deep breath. He exhaled slowly and turned back to face the girl sat next to him. “I wanted to tell you something. I came to your house, not just to walk you to the BBA, I needed you to know that I…” he was babbling, he knew he was but the words he wanted wouldn’t come. “What I’m trying to say is…”

“Max” at the sound of Hillary’s voice, Max stopped. He’d been so focused on what he was trying to say that the sudden sound had stopped him dead. “Just say it”.

“Ok, I…I really like you Hill” there, he’d said it. “I wanted you to…” Max’s words were cut off when Hillary leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Max’s eyes widened in astonishment, he hadn’t expected that. A slap, yes, a kiss, not even in his wildest dreams. He squeezed the small hand in his own and brought up his other to hold Hillary’s cheek. Closing his eyes, he let the kiss deepen and felt Hillary respond with more pressure.

After a few minutes the couple pulled apart, their faces flushed and their eyes locked on each other. In Hillary’s eyes Max saw a myriad of emotions, happiness, joy, pleasure and desire. He hoped his eyes were saying the same to her.

“Max” Hillary began.

“Um, what’s up Hill?” Max said contentedly.

“What took you so long?” She asked.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

*He was lying on the grass. He knew this place, but he couldn’t remember why. The breeze felt great as it softly blew past him, the grass soft as it tickled his bare arms. He knew that blue sky, had seen it before a while ago now. Blinking, he shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun. It seemed too bright, shinning down upon him. His eyes widened in recognition, this was the place that Kai and he had battled for the last time. They often came here and watched the clouds, just thinking. How could he have forgotten? To him, this was their spot, their special place. Nobody else really came here except to find them. His heart skipped a beat when a thought occurred, if this was real, Kai would be here, Kai was always here.

Slowly he turned his head to the left. Sure enough, there was Kai, he let out the breath he’d been unconsciously holding. Kai was in his usual outfit, the long scarf blowing gently in the breeze. Kai was staring out into space, day-dreaming it seemed. He silently wished that he was the one Kai was thinking about.

His words caught in his throat, he couldn’t speak, couldn’t say what he needed to say. He looked at the floor as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Taking a few deep breaths, he finally lifted his head to look at Kai.

“Kai I…” when Kai’s head didn’t move to look at him, he continued, “I wanted to say…sorry.” He’d said it, the easy part was done, now for the hard part. “I’m sorry I ran away from you, I’m sorry if I upset you. It’s just…I kinda…Kai, I kinda, maybe think I might sorta have feelings for you.” Kai’s head still hadn’t moved, he was still staring at that one spot in the distance. The only change being that he seemed to be sitting a little more rigidly.

“Kai, I’m saying…I love you!” he said forcefully. Why was Kai ignoring him? Suddenly Kai began to fade, it was like seeing the afterimage when you switch off a T.V.

“What’s going on? Kai, what’s happening?” panic entered his voice. Something was wrong, why was Kai fading like that? “Oh God” he breathed, why was he suddenly in pain? He’d been fine a second ago, where had this pain come from?

“KAI!” he screamed to the disappearing figure. “KAI!” Just before Kai faded completely, he saw his head move imperceptibly to look at him. He reached out to grab onto Kai, to bring him back into focus, but his hand went right through his shoulder.

“KAI!”*

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

“Tyson?” Kai could have sworn he’d heard him. He put his hand to his shoulder and frowned. For just a second, he’d felt something touch him. He’d been sat here for hours waiting for the annoying blue haired teen. ‘He really should have been here by now’ thought Kai, ‘it’s not like him’. Kai sighed heavily, why did that loud mouthed brat make him so annoyed? ‘It’s just that Tyson can be so…so…argh! What am I thinking? Why does this bother me so much? I should just forget him and get on with my life’. So why couldn’t he? He ignored his own question, pushing it to the back of his mind.

Kai looked around quickly, just to see if he really had heard Tyson, this was their spot after all. When he didn’t see him in the immediate vicinity, he stood fluidly. Stretching his arms up above his head, he leaned from side to side, stretching out after being sat for so long.

When he felt ready, he headed for the BBA training grounds. Tyson was there, he was sure, after all, where else could he be?

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

For a second, Tyson couldn’t remember where he was. It was cold, the bed was hard and lumpy and the sun fell in broken lines across his face. He ached, his chest and stomach hurt and his eye felt funny.

“Where…” Tyson opened one eye and stared at the brick wall opposite. Suddenly it all came flooding back to him like lightning had just struck. He sat bolt upright in bed, then winced as the movement sent pain shooting through his body. Boris, he’d been kidnapped by Boris. He was going to use him for something, but before that he’d let those two brick walls beat him.

Tyson didn’t remember being brought to this room, but then he’d been unconscious. He took the opportunity now to look around the cell. Brick walls, concrete floor, a toilet that looked like it had never met a bottle of bleach in its life let alone a toilet brush, a chair and the bed he was sat on. A thought hit him, Dragoon. Where was Dragoon? Did Boris have him?

On the chair, Tyson noticed that some clothes had been left out for him. He looked down at himself, pushing back the thin sheet that had been covering him. His clothes were gone, all that remained were his boxers, when the hell had they stripped him? Perverted bastards. Tyson’s cheeks flamed red at the thought that his captors had removed his clothes while he was unconscious. What else had they done to him?

He stood from the bed as quickly as his injured body would allow and picked up the clothes. They weren’t his style but they would have to do, no way was he standing around so exposed. As he pulled on the green, rough feeling trousers, his mind wandered to the dream he’d been having. It had felt so real, so much so that he could feel Kai’s presence.

“Kai” Tyson spoke aloud. In the dream he’d told him how he felt, he’d admitted that he loved him. He didn’t think he could do it for real, not face to face with the real Kai. Anyway, he may never get the chance, he had a very bad feeling about what experiments Boris wanted to perform.

Tyson heard footsteps coming towards the door of his cell. Quickly, he pulled on the scratchy shirt and buttoned it, who had picked these clothes? Whoever it was obviously still lived in the 70’s. There were voices now, getting louder as they grew closer.

“The boss wants him now” said the first voice.

“What if he’s still asleep?” asked the second.

“Then we wake him up don’t we” replied the first ominously.

“How do we do that then?” the question was left unanswered for a heartbeat or two and then “Oh, I like that idea”. Tyson really didn’t want to know what idea it was that he liked.

The door to his cell opened slowly, light from the hallway spilling into the room. When the two men saw that Tyson was already up and dressed, their faces fell. Tyson mentally gulped, grateful for the fact he had already awakened. He looked at the two brick walls that he had come to think of as dumb and dumber and sighed.

“Wait a sec, let me guess, Boris has decided to let me go and you two are my escorts out of the building?” he asked, a touch of hope intermingled with the sarcasm. Dumb and dumber just looked at him, confusion evident in their features. Here were two men obviously not hired for their intelligence.

“Boss wants you” said dumb “come with us”.

“Resist and we get to take you by force” said dumber, a little too brightly.

“I think I’ll come quietly” said Tyson, he sighed heavily he just couldn’t resist, he had to say it. “Take me to your leader”.