This is a vague prequal to 'Stockholm Syndrome'. Some people have asked, and though I'm sure alot of people have forgotten it, I felt like I'd have a little go.
I've had such problems writing lately, so I've been zoning in on my art. I'm truly sorry if this is not up to scratch, but I just want to offer something to say; no I'm not leaving the fandom any time soon. I adore it and I want to add whatever I can.
I'm sorry, and thank you. This is for the KaixRei lj community which is two years old now. And also a 'yaaay' at my wonderful wifey, and a thanks to Tiqi in particular because she loves SS, so this can be most specifically for her. x
Phonecall.
"Are you gonna get that?"
Such simple words should not hold such meaning, but from the moment they were uttered they would never again hold the same dismissive innocence.
Many years later, Takao still wished that no one had answered that call. He'd immediately shake his head after that thought. Not answering it would not have stopped it from happening, but… it would have offered just a few more moments of normal, boring, but contented life.
Rei had been out for several hours to pick up some groceries, leaving Kai before the team captain had awoken. Max had been in the shower. Takao had been watching television as he gulped down a bowl of rice. Kai… Kai had been in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee, waiting for Rei to get back.
And then the phone had rang.
They never spoke of that call, so they never knew that they had all started much more than usual when the first shrill ring had pierced the air.
"Are you gonna get that?" Takao called out around a mouthful of rice.
Kai responded with a grunt, knowing that it was aimed at him since the phone was closest to him anyway. He moved to the hall and picked up the receiver.
Takao couldn't say who he'd wished had answered the phone. Not him. He couldn't have handled it. Perhaps his Grandfather, he was an adult after all. Adults were supposed to deal with important things, not kids like them.
Most of all though, from the moment he had heard the disbelief in Kai's voice to the moment that he would die, Takao wished that it had not been Kai.
"Kinomiya residence." Kai answered, moving into the living room. Takao didn't need to look at him to detect Kai's disinterest. "Yes, this is Hiwatari Kai."
Takao laughed at that. 'Frowning, no doubt.'
"What?"
Takao's amusement turned to confusion. Kai sounded bemused, and that simply was not right. Kai always sounded so sure, not like a worried little boy.
"Yes… No… I- what? No, that's…" The silence was deafening and Takao had found himself frowning. "You must have the wrong person." Kai suddenly snapped, making Takao jump at the vehemence in the elder's voice. More silence followed. "…No."
Takao had known Kai for a long time. Fearless and strong willed, Kai rarely revealed any form of emotion, but in that one word, his heart froze within his chest from the raw emotion with which it was uttered.
He stood up by the second repetition, and turned to find Kai staring with unseeing eyes, shaking his head very slowly from side to side.
Fear struck Takao then. Icy fingers clawing their way across his skin and caused a lump to rise in his throat leaving him with the terrifying urge to vomit. He slowly approached Kai, tip-toeing though he did not know why. "Kai?" His voice trembled.
His voice must have caused a chain reaction, because the word had barely left his lips when the sound of the phone smashing reached his ears, as Kai fell in a likewise manner onto his knees.
And his eyes kept staring.
"Kai...?" Takao whispered again. Terrified, Takao glanced in the direction that Kai was staring into and found that his eyes landed upon the television set. He hadn't noticed before that the news was on; he wasn't usually interested in what it had to say. This time however, his attention was caught by the fact that he knew the street that was being featured. It was just down the road from his dojo, though usually, it was not swarmed with police, press and crime tape.
Finally, however, he noticed a single word in his bewildered state, standing boldly upon the screen, preceded by the word 'bulletin.'
Murder.
He turned back to his team captain, trying to speak his name once more, but only mouthing it when the lump in his throat constricted painfully at the silent tears that streamed from unseeing, empty, red eyes.
He wasn't sure how long he stared at Kai in disbelief. His focus was only torn away from the bleeding, blue face-paint, when he heard Max answer the door, unaware that anyone had even been trying to gain their attention.
When Max had walked into the living room shortly after, ashen faced and flanked by two policemen; Takao turned and vomited.
It had been brutal and frenzied, but how interesting it had been to see their reactions. Takao had always worn his heart on his sleeve, so he had screamed, and shouted and slammed his fists down, sobbing loudly. He had unashamedly cried at the funeral. A week after that he had cracked a smile at a compliment, and two months after that he had laughed loudly at a joke on the television.
Max had shut himself in his room and cried loudly to himself, opting to see a bereavement councillor to help him find closure.
Kyoujyu had just hugged his laptop crying bitter tears accompanied by soft sobs, before grimly focusing upon creating the best Driger model that he could. Hiromi had clung onto Takao, tears wetting his shirt as she buried her face in his shoulder and wailed until she was dry heaving.
After he had heard the news, Kai had shed no more tears. He remained utterly silent, refusing to speak or shed a tear even as they lowered his lover's corpse into the sodden ground. Some criticised him for being heartless, and others overlooked him in favour of the wailing, heart-broken teens huddled together in their sorrow. Those who were close to him, however were unsure, mistrusting his silence and fearing for the emotional explosion they were sure would come…
It never did. Even after they found him choking on his own vomit on a bathroom floor littered with pills, and later in the hospital after the doctors had managed to bring him back from his overdose, nothing showed from behind those glassy, red eyes. He just drifted further and further away.
When Rei died, everyone cried and Kai went mad.
Death has such a strange effect on people.