"You just had to break the poor kids heart, huh?"

"Yep."

"Gently, I hope."

"...as gentle as I could. Still feel horrible, though." Rei admitted.

Meanwhile, up in Rei's bedroom, Kai sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.

Kai's POV

I'm so...humiliated. What the hell was I thinking?! I knew nothing could ever happen between us. So why? Why did I say that!?

I knew I should have kept quiet about being the way I am. If I had my family wouldn't hate me and my teacher wouldn't think I was some kind of pathetic love-sick puppy. Oh, how is this going to end? Maybe Rei will tell the principle...I'll be kicked out...that'd make my family soooo much happier. First they find out I'm gay, then that I fell for a teacher...perfect.

Ah man...I can feel tears rising again. It's pathetic. Rei's giving me what feels like some kind of time-out, all the while Tala is at home cleaning up the mess that I made. They all look at me like I'm a child! Well no more! Time to fight my own battles and be a man about it!

Normal POV.

Kai looked up from his hands, the sadness in his eyes had turned in to determination. He got up from the bed and grabbed his bag. He moved to the door and took a deep breath. He needed to be soft on his feet, but a sprained ankle was going to make that a little difficult.

He gently opened the door and walked out, trying to be as light on his feet as he could. Anxious, he made his decent down the small staircase. He held on tightly to the railing as he slowly and silently stepped down one step at a time. Almost holding his breath. As he got further down, he heard the sound of the TV coming from the living room.

He allowed himself to inhale properly once he'd reached the bottom, he braced himself before making the 9 or so steps to the front door. He paused. He heard the sound of canned laughter coming from the TV and used the opportunity to open the door as quietly as possible and slip out, gently closing it behind him. He waited for a few seconds before convincing himself he was in the clear and made his way out of Rei's driveway and down the dark, quiet street.

Back at Kai's house, things weren't so quiet. While Tala was driving Kai to Rei's place, his grandfather had come home only for Katya to inform him of the whole situation. Things had been heated ever since. So far they'd been able to get Tala to tell them where Kai was.

"Tala! Where did you take him?" his grandfather demanded.

"Away from here! He didn't deserve any of the crap he was getting off Katya and Sergei!" he argued back.

"Don't talk about your aunt and uncle like that!" Voltaire scolded, "You're only teaching him to run away from his problems!"

"What!? They asked him to leave! Don't try and turn this on me! They're the one's that brought his parents in to it, by the way guys, low move!" He spat at his aunt and uncle, "and then asked him to leave! It was hardly fair to keep him here while they were behaving the way they were!"

Voltaire sighed, "You're right, bringing his mother and father in to it was a terrible thing to do...but you cannot blame us for not welcoming the news with open arms..."

"He knew you wouldn't be happy...he almost didn't tell you at all."

"What do you mean?" Voltaire asked.

Just as Tala opened his mouth to speak, they heard the front door click. All four of them stopped and looked towards the doorway, waiting to see who would come through.

They were all surprised to see Kai hobble in.

"Kai! What are you doing here?! Did Rei drive you back here?!" Tala asked, angry at the thought of Rei bringing him back.

"No...I walked." Kai answered flatly.

"...he doesn't know you left, does he?" Tala sighed, Kai shook his head.

"Wait..." Katya interjected, "Rei? As in his teacher!?"

"Well where else was I going to take him?!" Tala argued back.

While those two were arguing, Kai locked eyes with his grandfathers. Kai felt himself sink. His grandfather's eyes weren't cold or angry. More disappointed and sad.

"Kai, why did you sneak off?" Tala finally asked, turning his attention back to his cousin.

"Because this isn't your battle to fight. I can't let someone else clean up the mess I made..." Kai answered with determination in his voice.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rei lifted his arms up and stretched, his back was beginning to feel uncomfortable after slouching on the couch for an hour or so.

Lee turned to him, "You all right, Rei?"

"Yeh..." Rei sighed, "He's being awful quiet though, you think I should check on him?" he asked, worried, his eyes staring up towards the ceiling.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt..." Lee agreed.

Rei nodded before heaving himself up off the sofa, stretching his back before he head out the living room and up the stairs.

He stopped outside his bedroom door and took a deep breath, he felt nervous. He gently knocked on the door. "Kai...? Kai? Are you all right in there?"

There was no answer.

"Maybe he fell asleep..." Rei reasoned to himself as he gently turned the handle and pushed the door open.

He peaked his head around before his eyes widened as he realised the room was empty and opened the door fully.

"Kai!?"

He ran and checked the bathroom, no sign.

"Kai!? Where are you?!" he shouted frantically as he went back in to his room.

He looked around and noticed his bag was gone.

"Oh no..."

Lee's voice came from the bottom of the stairs.

"Rei, what's wrong?"

"Kai's gone!"

"What do you mean gone?" Lee asked.

"I MEAN HE'S NOT HERE!" Rei shouted in a panic, annoyed at the painfully stupid question his friend had just asked him.

"Sorry, Rei it's just...we didn't hear him leave or anything!"

"I know..." Rei said as he rummaged in his pocket for his cell phone and dialled, holding it up to his ear.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tala felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He sighed and took it out to check the caller, not really wanting to be disturbed right now.

Rei calling...

"Guess Rei's discovered you're not there..." Tala accidentally said out loud.

Kai frowned and snatched the phone from him, he answered it before Tala could protest.

"Tala?! Tala! It's Rei, listen Kai's gone! I'm so sorry he was upstairs and I went to check on him and-"

Kai cut him off.

"Rei, it's me. I'm sorry I left but I had to come home."

"Kai! Thank God you're safe but why did you run off without telling me?!" Rei almost shouted.

Kai closed his eyes, he couldn't give the real reason.

"You know why...and I must fix my problems. Thank you for you help. See you in school." and with that he hung up and handed Tala his phone back.

His grandfather hadn't taken his eyes off him since he walked in the front door.

"Well, Kai. You're here to fix things so let's start fixing...what do you have to say?" Voltaire asked softly.

"well..." Kai began, not feeling so confident any more, "well...I really wish I could say I'm sorry. But I can't."

"What do you mean you can't say sorry?!" Katya hissed, only causing Voltaire to raise his hand to stop her from getting in to a temper.

"I mean I can't and won't apologise for being who I am. I know it isn't what any of you wanted or approve of, but it's the way it is. I tried to forget it and go along with what you all wanted but I just couldn't. I wanted to just pretend it wasn't there and get married like you planned...but when I got that letter from that girl earlier I just felt so trapped...like everything I was supposed to be looking forward to in the future was crumbling away. I couldn't pretend any more..."

Kai surprised himself. Everything just seemed to flow out of him, which wasn't something he was used to. His voice began to raise.

"You've pinned everything on me! Tala came out to you first and that was all fine because you had me to fall back on! But that isn't fair! You all expect me marry someone I don't even know and commit my life to her, have a family and then become the head of one of the largest companies in the world! It never occurred to you that that's not what I want from my life, did it?! You just made my plans for me!"

The four adults listened intently.

"of course we made plans for you. To ensure your future and keep the Hiwatari legacy going!" Voltaire argued.

Kai growled, "But you have Tala! He's working for the company! He and Bryan are way better at that kind of thing than I ever will be! I'm not a business man at all! But instead of looking at who is better for the job you're sole criteria is who's going to have kids!"

Sergei sighed, "OK, we'll play along...what is it you want to do?"

"For God's sake! I'm barely seventeen! I have no idea! I just want to know I'm free to make my choices! Choose my job, choose who I end up with!"

Katya stood up.

"Is this what is this whole 'gay' thing is about? Some kind of rebellion?!"

Kai and Tala both looked at her with a scowl.

"Do you hear yourself?!" Tala shouted.

"This isn't some kind of stupid rebellion! I'm tired of my life being planned for me! Especially when your plans involve me being with a woman! I don't like women and I never will!" Kai shouted angrily.

Katya just looked at him, shaking her head slowly.

Kai was angry now, everything he'd bottled up about the whole thing was finally coming out.

"You know what? Whether you approve or not, this is the way I am. It isn't changing. If you can't stand the sight of me and want to disown me then fine...I'd rather be poor and living in some shitty apartment and be this way than in a wealthy family and miserable married to some gold digging bitch...now...if you'll excuse me, I have school tomorrow..."

He took one more look at them all, staring at him before turning his back and going up the stairs to his safe place. His bedroom.

The next morning Kai's eyes stung as his alarm went off. He'd give anything to sleep more. He'd barely slept all night. He was determined not let it get to him so dragged himself out of bed and got ready for school as normal.

His heart beat a little faster as he went downstairs to the kitchen. His aunt, uncle and Tala sat in silence drinking coffee.

"Morning, Kai." Tala said, breaking the silence.

"Morning..." he replied politely, feeling the tension in the room rise as his voice was heard.

His aunt and uncle stayed silent.

Kai sighed, he knew this was no where near over yet. "Well...I'm going to school, see you later..."

Tala nodded, the other two seemed to ignore him.

Tala watched as his younger cousin left the house, as soon as the door closed he turned back to his aunt and uncle.

"You two are pathetic. He's the one acting more mature than you and he's still at school."

Kai dragged his feet as he walked down the street. Today was going to be hard.

"Hey! Kai!" a familiar voice shouted behind him.

Kai turned around, "oh...hey Tyson..."

Tyson, Max and Kenny ran up to him.

"Hey, man, you all right? You look terrible." Tyson asked bluntly.

Kai sighed, "No...not really..." he admitted.

"What's the matter?" Tyson asked concerned as he put his hand on his shoulder.

"I really can't tell...I'm sorry is very personal..."

"Oh...ok...I get it, but if you want to talk you can tell us anything, all right?" he comforted.

"Thank you..." Kai wished he could tell him, but just knowing he had some friends around was a comfort.

He floated through the day in a daze. Trying hard to concentrate but failing. He knew his friends kept glancing over at him, worried. He had English class last period, he didn't really know how he was going to look Rei in the face, Rei probably wasn't going to be able to look at him either.

He sat at his desk and watched the clock ticking. English started in five minutes, he felt a knot of nerves in his stomach.

Earlier than expected, Rei walked in to the room carrying a pile of books and papers. He looked as exhausted as Kai felt. He set them down at his desk and slumped in to his chair.

The two of them met gazes and Kai could already feel the awkwardness. A few seconds later, Rei offered him a small but friendly smile.

The bell rang, the rest of the students returned to their desks and settled down.

Once the were completely quiet, Rei stood up.

"Ok, good afternoon everyone...so as you know, next week is presentation week! I trust you're almost finished preparing...if not, well, you'd better get moving! This is your last class to work on it, but I want to check your content and give you some advice so today I will call you individually and take you out in the hall to talk about them. Which means the rest of you be on your best behaviour, all right?"

The class nodded, Rei called the first student and made his way out in to the hallway.

Kai sighed with relief, at least he wouldn't be seeing much of him this period.

He tried to block out all his distractions and focused on his upcoming presentation. Just what he needed on top of his current situation, giving a stupid presentation in a language he hardly speaks.

One by one the students got called out in to the hall. Kai was going to be last, which he was grateful for, but the time went by quicker than he'd hoped.

Rei stuck his head around the door. "All right, lastly, Kai? You ready?"

Kai lifted his eyes from his paper to Rei and subtly took a deep breath before gathering his papers and walking out in to the hall.

Rei had brought two chairs out in to the hallway for himself and students. He smiled softly and gestured for Kai to sit down. He did so but avoided eye contact with him.

"So, Kai...are you ready for next week?"

Kai nodded, which was a lie in itself.

"...really?" Rei asked, feeling it wasn't true.

"Kind of..." Kai answered quietly. "I make many notes and I know what I want to talk of...but..."

"it's putting it in English?" Rei filled in for him. Kai nodded.

"Well let me take a look at your notes and I'll see if I can help you out..."

Kai did as he was told, feeling grateful that Rei was acting as if nothing had ever happened.

Only a minute later the bell rang, Rei checked his watch.

"Man! That went by quickly! Can you hold on a little after school and we'll work on it together."

Kai nodded, he'd rather feel awkward around Rei than hurry home to his hostile home.

The pair returned to the classroom and Rei dismissed the class. Everyone quickly put their things in their bags and sped out the room, talking happily.

Tyson stopped at Kai's desk. "Kai...aren't you coming?" he asked a little confused when Kai hadn't packed his things.

"No, I must stay and work on this." Kai answered as he held up his presentation notes.

Tyson nodded and said his goodbyes before leaving.

He and Rei were now left alone. Rei was shuffling some papers at his desk. Once he'd finished he pulled up a chair next to Kai, who was still trying to avoid eye contact.

"I'm kind of glad I can talk to you alone...how...did it go last night?" Rei asked.

Kai froze momentarily. He wanted to tell Rei all about it, ask his advice, like he had done before. But he reminded himself that he wasn't going to be so weak any more.

"I'm not here to talk about that." Kai answered rather bluntly.

Rei was taken aback a little, "I'm sorry Kai, I didn't mean to pry I just wanted to make sure you're all right."

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry about this. But..."

"But what?" Rei asked.

"But for what I said to you yesterday..." Kai's eyes finally looked up to meet Rei's. He knew it was time to make things right.

"I'm very sorry, it was, how you say, moment of weakness? I make you uncomfortable. I want you to know it's over and won't happen again."

It was Rei's turn to freeze. "uh, are you saying you don't...uh...feel anything any more?" Rei asked delicately.

Kai nodded, "I realised...what I was feeling wasn't...what I thought." Kai lied. Convincingly for once. "I realise, you help me so much. I trust you because you know what I feel. I look up to you. This is all. I'm very sorry for making you a bad situation."

Rei stared and listened, translating Kai's broken English.

"Oh...well, I'm glad..." Rei cleared his throat, "and I accept you're apology, let's just go back to the way things were, OK?"

Kai nodded, his face still blank.

"You know, I think I can do this presentation alone. Thank you for your time Mr. Kon..." Kai said as he packed his things and stood up.

Rei blinked, "Umm...all right, if you're sure...I'm here if you need me though Kai. For anything."

Kai nodded in thanks and left a slightly bewildered Rei still sat at Kai's desk.

He stayed there for a moment, thinking about what Kai had said and how he'd seemed...not like his usual self, more hardened and reserved.

"I look up to you. This is all." Rei replayed in his head.

Then he realised something. He felt...sad?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kai pushed the front door open and stumbled in feeling a heavy sense of dread as he walked in to his home. He had a feeling it was going to be another evening of hostility.

Tala came in to the hallway, looking a little worried as he walked to him.

"Kai...I think I fucked up..." he whispered.

"Why? What's the matter?" Kai asked, whispering as well.

"Well we were talking about everything earlier and I mentioned that your friends Tyson was that way too and his family was fine with it...you know, as an example to help...but Katya kind of flipped out and now she thinks your friends are a bad influence on you."

Kai closed his eyes and sighed, his aunt was really trying his patience at the moment.

"I'm sorry, Kai..." Tala apologised.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault she's an ignorant idiot..." he said coldly as he walked in to the living room, knowing he'd find the others in there.

Katya, Sergei and Voltaire were sat in the middle of a conversation. They suddenly stopped and went silent as Kai came in.

"Oh please, don't stop on my account..." Kai said a fake, sweet voice. He stood in the doorway and folded his arms.

"Kai...why don't you come and sit down. We need to talk." Sergei said gently as he gestured to the seat next to him.

"Wow...I'm getting spoken to today?" Kai replied bitterly, not moving.

Sergei looked at him with a hint of hurt. "Kai, please? I don't want to fight I just want us to work things out. Isn't that right, Katya?"

Katya nodded, but Kai could tell she was still mad.

Kai moved across the room and slumped in to the couch. Tala moved in as well and sat cross legged on the floor.

"So...we've been talking...and you're right, we can't change how you are. We can't say we're over the moon about it but regardless, we still love you and you will always be a part of this family."

Kai's hardened eyes softened slightly as he listened.

"but...we are a little...concerned...shall we say, about your school."

"What about my school?" Kai played dumb.

"Well...we think maybe it may be too difficult for you right now. Talking about your future yesterday, we got to thinking, maybe you'd be better off..." he stopped talking and handed Kai a brochure.

Kai glanced at the cover. St. Basil's International School.

"They would be able to teach you English as a foreign language rather than what you're doing now...you'd still leave with the same qualifications and still be taught everything else."

Kai laughed softly.

"What's funny?" Sergei asked.

Kai waved the brochure slightly, "This has nothing to do with helping my grades. This is because you found out my best friend was gay as well and you think he's a bad influence."

Katya stiffened and glared at Tala, knowing he'd told him.

"You've let me stay in that school and struggle my ass off this long! There's no other explanation as to why you're suddenly so concerned about my ability to cope there."

"I know...and we know being there has been hard on you. So we want to make things right. And as for your friend, Katya had some opinions about it, but we know you're not...like that...because of him."

Voltaire decided to speak, "basically, Kai, we don't want to fight any more. You want to make your own choices? Fine. We'll support you. But I always thought you going to a normal school was a bad idea and a big strain for you, so I made some calls to St. Basils. We're going to have a look around tomorrow. If you like it, you'll be able to start in three weeks after the school break. I don't want you to get lower grades because of your English."

"Tomorrow? But tomorrow is Friday, I have school."

"We'll call your school. Don't worry."

Kai nodded before excusing himself and going to his room. He didn't feel like talking any more. He was glad they weren't fighting or ignoring each other, but he knew they still weren't happy with him.

He lay on his bed and flicked through the brochure. The whole idea was so sudden he hadn't really had chance to let it sink in. Was he really moving schools? If he was that meant he would only be at his school for one more week. Sure, he wouldn't have to worry so much about school work. He spent half his time trying to work out what his assignments were.

But...he would be saying goodbye to Tyson, Max, Kenny...Rei...

Maybe it would be better for him. He could get over Rei and not have to worry about pretending not to feel anything for him any more.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, Tyson, Max and Kenny glanced at the clock. School started in two minutes and Kai was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess he's sick today..." Kenny stated.

"Maybe...but don't you think it's a bit coincidental that he looked like shit yesterday saying he was having personal problems and now he isn't here?" Max asked, suspicious.

"Max is right...we should drop by after school and find out what's going on!" Tyson said.

After school, the three of them walked up the driveway to Kai's large house. They knocked on the door and stood back, waiting for an answer.

The door opened and a red haired man stood in front of them.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Oh...hi...uh, we're Kai's friends from school...he wasn't there today so we wanted to come see if he was all right." Tyson explained.

Tala smiled, "You're Tyson, right?" he asked.

"Yeh..." Tyson said, a little confused.

"I thought so..." Tala smirked, "come on in...I'll get him for you."

He led them in to the living room and sat them down before going upstairs and calling Kai.

A few minutes later, Kai entered the room, not looking happy.

"Kai! Hey! Are you feeling all right? We missed you at school today!" Tyson piped cheerfully.

Kai sat down, "Yes...I'm all right...I wasn't sick I uh...had to go somewhere."

"Huh?" Tyson asked confused, "Where'd you go?"

"I looked at new school..." Kai admitted.

The three boys gasped.

"You're leaving?!" Max exclaimed, "but why!?"

Kai sighed, he didn't want to leave his friends. But the school was nice and his family seemed pretty adamant about it being better for him. Deep down he knew it would be, too.

"I'm going to an international school...they will teach me English as well as everything else. The teachers speak Russian so they will help me."

The three of them looked so sad. "But...we won't see you..."

"not at school...but...I still live here, I hope we can still be friends."

Their eyes brightened, "really?"

Kai nodded, "The school is only down town, not so far, we can still hang out."

"Thank God...so what's this place like?" Tyson asked

Kai looked around making sure his family weren't around.

"It's full of snobby assholes. We must wear uniform, it's disgusting. But the teachers seem nice and they have good English classes."

Tyson winked, "Somehow I don't think you'll like your new English teacher as the one we have now..." he teased.

Kai cringed, he hadn't told them anything about coming out to his family or the whole Rei incident.

"Well...I'm sure they will be just fine."

"So...when are you leaving?" Max asked.

"Next week will be my last week..." Kai said sadly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday came. Tyson, Max and Kenny got to school a little earlier than usual. They'd decided that they wanted to give Kai a good send off, and knew that there was only one teacher that Kai had really bonded during his time there.

They knocked on Rei's door.

The door opened and the Chinese teacher answered, "oh..good morning boys! You're here early! What's up?"

"Well Mr. Kon..." Tyson started enthusiastically, "I'm sure you've heard the news by now, so we were wondering if we could arrange something for our last class."

Rei looked genuinely confused. "Umm...I'm sorry guys, I haven't got a clue what you're talking about...can you back it up a little and start again?"

Tyson paused, maybe they hadn't been told yet?

"Um...you've heard that Kai is leaving, right?"

Rei's eyes widened, "He what?! Why?"

Tyson and the other two raised an eyebrow, Rei's reaction was more than they expected.

"Yeh...he's going to some fancy international school and starts after the break, so this is his last week."

Rei was shocked, this was really sudden. He pulled himself together and straightened up.

"I see...wow...uh, I guess we could arrange something..."

"...are you OK, Mr. Kon?" Max asked, his teacher seemed a little flustered.

"Hm? Yes! Absolutely fine! Just a bit sudden is all...it'll be a real shame to see him go..."

"I know...that's why we needed to talk to you as soon as we could!"

Rei smiled, they were good friends.

"OK, well have a think about what you want to do and we'll talk later!"

The boys thanked him and left. Rei closed his door and leaned back against it. There was that sad feeling he'd felt the other day after he and Kai had talked last.

"I think...I think I'm really going to miss him...what's the matter with me?" he thought to himself as he rubbed his face before shaking it off and getting back to work.

TBC

R&R please!