Chapter 8

Leiko pulled yoghurt out of the fridge and opened it up just when Mike and Gwen ran into the kitchen. "We got to go now!" Mike yelled, picking his jacket off the rack and pulling out a silver case from the closet.

"And leave Gwen and Kai alone?" Leiko asked, leaving the yoghurt on the counter and pulling her jacket out of the closet.

"What choice do we have?" Mike asked, picking up the case and running out of the room.

Leiko raised her eyebrow as she pulled on her jacket, "Not much." She muttered, running out of the room after him.

She bumped into Kai in the hall and ran past him, "Hey, where are you going?" he called after her.

"Work." Leiko replied.

"And you're leaving me here alone?" Kai asked.

"You have Gwen." Leiko replied, wincing slightly, walking out the door and pulling it behind her.

Kai gasped and turned round and looked down at Gwen, "Amazing, we're not only defenceless but I'm stuck babysitting." He noted.

"I don't need a babysitter." Gwen pouted, crossing her arms.

"I wish I could take your word for it and leave you alone." Kai replied, walking past her and into the kitchen.

"Then leave me alone!" Gwen told him, running after him.

"And have your mother try cave my head in? I don't think so." Kai said, trying to pull out a glass from the top cupboard but his back still hurt too much and he couldn't.

"Want me to get it?" Gwen asked.

Kai raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, "You want your face to end up like your hands and knees?" he asked her.

Gwen slowly looked down at her hands, "You always make me reconsider things." She whispered.

"That's what I thought." Kai said, reaching for the glass again, pulling one down.

"So why have you been so mad at my mommy?" Gwen asked, sitting on the edge of the kitchen table and twiddling her thumbs rather nervously.

"I'm not mad at her." Kai replied, pouring cold water into the glass.

"I thought I heard you and her yelling the other day." Gwen whispered.

Kai walked over to the table sitting down on the chair next to her, "It was a little argument." He told her, taking a sip of water.

"What was the argument about?" Gwen asked.

"Stop being so nosy, would you?" Kai yelled.

"Sorry, just being curious." Gwen whispered, lowering her head slightly.

"Curiosity killed the cat!" Kai told her sternly.

"No it didn't." Gwen muttered, kicking her legs as she stared at the ground. "Satisfaction brought it back." She added, giggling, stopping when Kai glared at her.

Both sat in silence for a minute when they heard the doorbell ring, Kai looked up and out the kitchen door from his seated position to see if Leiko or Mike walked into the house but no one did. "I'll get it." Gwen said quickly, jumping off the table and running out the kitchen door, before Kai could even protest against her actions.

"Check who it is before you open!" Kai called out, he stood up and walked over to the sink, putting his glass in there to be cleaned later. Suddenly he heard something crashing and breaking, sounded like it was coming from the hallway. He ran out there, seeing that Gwen had been thrown into a wooden table by none other than Boris, who had just closed the door behind him as he walked in.

Kai helped Gwen up and stood in front of her. He looked brave but inside he was afraid, fearing what Boris was here to do and what would happen next. "Look at you Kai, looking all brave and protecting a little girl." Boris taunted, walking closer.

"Piss off Boris." Kai spat, stepping back and pushing Gwen back with him.

"I can't leave just yet, I have to finish your grandfather's job first." Boris continued, he steadied a knife in his hand, about to stab Kai with the sharp blade.

Boris fell over, his attacker standing at his right staring down at him. Kai looked at Leiko and Gwen smiled, happy that her mom had come just in time, "I thought you left." Kai whispered to her.

"So did he." Leiko replied, gesturing to Boris.

Kai nodded, "Apparently." He muttered.

"Take Gwen to her room and don't come back down." She ordered him.

"What? What are you going to do?" Kai asked her urgently.

Leiko sighed and turned to him, "Forgive me." She muttered, pushing him and Gwen into the sitting room, then hitting a panal on the door, the metal door shutting tightly. "Just you and me." Leiko informed as she watched Boris stand up, picking his knife off the wooden floor. "What's the matter, still don't recognize me?" she asked him spitefully.

"You're just an obstacle in my way. I don't need to recognize you, you'll die anyway." Boris spat angrily, lunging forward with the knife.

Leiko pushed him off her, slamming him into the wall she was just against, "You've stabbed me once before this time it makes no difference, it can't hurt anymore than it did the last time."

"What are you talking about? I haven't seen you before in my life!" Boris yelled at her, finally pushing her away from him and pulling himself off the wall.

Leiko smirked evilly, "Trust me, you know me. You just can't recognize me while I beat you up, you're too used to seeing yourself as the superior one next to me, this time…it's different." She told him bitterly.

---With Kai and Gwen---

'What the hell is she talking about?'Kai asked himself, eyes widening. He kept close to the wall, hearing the fight going on outside, hearing Leiko continue ranting.

"You took everything away from me! What irritates me the most is that you felt nothing, you felt nothing when you tried to kill me, my child and the one person I ever loved. You killed them and I was left with nothing! How can you be so damn right cold?" The sharp voice continued.

---Back To Boris and Leiko---

"You." Boris whispered, finally remembering.

---Flashback---

A teenage and barely-recognizable pregnant Leiko stood bound by guards in the large stone room, tears welling up in her eyes as she watched the love of her life get shot by other guards, finally dropping to the ground. "What was the first lesson I ever taught you, Leiko?" Boris asked her, walking up to her.

"Not to trust bastards like you?" Leiko asked through her breaking heart. A hand flew right at her, back-handing her and tossing her across the room, crashing right into the brick wall before falling down with a sickening thud. Gripping her stomach as pain jolted through her, she stood up, leaning against the wall for support, determination growing.

Another teenage boy, ran into the room, kneeling down besides the dead body of his older brother. He stood up and tried to run towards Leiko, being pulled back by more guards. Watching painfully as Boris stabbed Leiko in the stomach, seeing her collapse, tears welling up in his eyes when blood started to rush out of the open wound, watching as the guards departed and so did Boris with one last kick to Leiko's frail and trembling body.

---End Flashback---

"Finally remember huh?" Leiko smirked, "Good!" dropping him to the floor, crushing the wrist of the hand that the cold blade laid in. She pulled her gun out, facing it down, starring it right in Boris' face.

Before she had the chance to shoot, Mike walked in, gun also in hand, aiming it down at Boris when he saw him. "You can't do this." Boris told them, laughing, once again feeling superior despite the view of the scene.

"We're all alone…" Mike told him, "Take your best shot." Turning to Leiko, giving her a reassuring nod.

Leiko nodded back, turning back to Boris, tightening her grip on her hand gun and about to pull the trigger when…She shoved her gun into Mike's hands. Tears overwhelming her at this point, she turned and ran up the stairs to her room, out of anyone's sight.

Mike stared on for a second, turning back to Boris and dragging him up, "I won't be so easy on you! So you're out of luck!" he sneered.

---A Few Hours Later---

Kai walked down the hall, stopping in front of Leiko's bedroom door, ready to turn the handle and walk inside, "She'll just kick you out, you know?" A voice said. Kai turned round, seeing Mike leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed, "I've already tried." He added, pushing himself off the wall, "If you want to have your head blown clear off your shoulders than go ahead, be my guest and try to get through to her." He said finally before walking down the hall.

"I will." Kai said, opening the door and quietly stepping inside, closing the door tightly behind him, never taking his eyes off the lone figure that sat on the window sill, staring out at the night sky. "Hey." Kai whispered, only loud enough for her to hear him.

"Hi." Leiko whispered, Kai barely hearing it though.

"When are you going to get out of your room?" Kai asked suddenly.

"When I feel like it!" Leiko replied sharply.

"Don't be selfish! You're scaring Gwen and you're worrying Mike so just go downstairs and tell everyone you're ok!" Kai yelled at her.

"Just leave me alone." Leiko told him, still not daring to look at him.

"So what happened?" Kai asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

Leiko glared at him angrily, "What do you mean, 'What happened?'?" she asked.

"What happened with Boris when you were a kid?" Kai rephrased.

"Nothing important." Leiko replied.

"If you're up here crying over it than obviously something important did happen." Kai reasoned, "And I heard what you were telling Boris." He added when he got no reply.

"Eavesdropping is beneath you." Leiko said coldly.

"Maybe so but I wanted to know what was going on and I still do."

"It's over now so it doesn't matter."

"You're still crying so it does matter."

"Stop twisting things!" Leiko yelled, jumping off the window.

"Maybe I will when you tell me what happened to you." Kai said, seeming unfazed by Leiko.

"You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you huh?" Leiko asked, calming down as she leaned against the window.

"Now you got the idea." Kai smirked.

Leiko sighed, getting back onto the windowsill, staring outside, suppressing tears as best she could before starting, "When I was a kid I lived right next door to Mike and Kyle, two brothers. One day we were outside together and Boris kidnapped us, took us to the Abbey. I hated it there but after a while I began not to care, I was in love with my best friend. Later when I was sixteen I got pregnant, I was scared but it got worse when Boris found out, he killed Kyle and killed the baby and left me to bleed to death but Mike took me back to my room and tried to help me. We tried to leave that night, Boris shot Mike on our way out so he saw no need to go after us, I would die from blood loss and so would Mike." She explained, finally pausing for breath as she wiped away the hot tears from her flushed cheeks.

"Obviously he was wrong." Kai said.

"Yeah, we got to a hospital in time. Social services moved us from Russia to here, thinking we'd be safe." Leiko continued, resting her hot forehead on the cool glass.

"And you were…until you met me."

"Yeah, something like that." Leiko smiled through her tears, "But I don't regret meeting you, it feels good to know that Voltaire's grandson didn't turn out to be like him." She said. "I'm probably the most problematic girl this city has so if you want to ask social services to move you to another home than it's fine, you know." She added, looking at him with a warm look on her young face.

"You may be problematic but that's good, it means I'll never be bored here." Kai said, smiling slightly.

"Yes, that is something I can assure you." Leiko said, "Thanks for the talk…I'm feeling a bit better." She added.

"That's good." Kai nodded, "Ah but what about Gwen?" he suddenly asked.

"Adopted daughter. I always wanted a kid so I adopted her a few years after I lost my own child." Leiko replied, smiling, looking down at the frame that held a picture of her and Gwen hugging.

"And Mike?"

"Kyle's little brother." Leiko replied, laughing slightly at all the questions and all that was being revealed.

"And?" Kai asked again.

"And that's about it." Leiko said, looking at him confusedly.

Kai's eyes widened slightly, laughing a little as he got off the bed and made his way over to the door. He walked out, leaving Leiko to continue staring at the door, confusion written all over her face. She hurried off the windowsill, checking in the mirror that her eyes weren't too red before running out of her bedroom. She walked into the kitchen downstairs, greeting the others with a sweet smile, "How the hell did you do it?" Mike whispered to Kai, disbelievingly.

Kai ignored Mike's question and turned to Gwen who sat colouring at the end of the table, "Hey Gwen, come with me, I want to show you something." Kai said, inventing a quick excuse.

"Sure." Gwen smiled, hoping out of her seat, giving her mom a quick hug before chasing after Kai up the stairs.

"Hey, how are you?" Mike asked quietly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I'm feeling better, thanks." Leiko whispered back in reply, smiling slightly.

"You want to go out for a while? Ice-cream maybe?" Mike suggested.

"Sure." Leiko smiled, "I'll just go see if Gwen what's to come with us." She said before walking out of the room.

Mike looked on disappointedly, he wanted some time alone with her, just a few good minutes alone with her. He walked behind her, watching her open Kai's bedroom door where Gwen sat on the bed talking to Kai. "Hey, we're going for ice cream do you want to come with us?" Leiko asked the two.

"Yes!" Gwen called out happily.

"Gwen, why don't you stay with me tonight, we'll have something to eat and maybe watch a movie?" Kai suggested quietly, smiling slightly.

"That sounds better." Gwen laughed, "I'll stay here with Kai." She told Leiko and Mike.

"Ok. We'll be back soon." Leiko smiled, turning and walking out. Mike mouthed a 'thank you' to Kai and he simply nodded in reply but the look on his face said 'you owe me for this so you better enjoy it!' Mike smirked and shut the door, running down the hall to catch up to the younger girl. Pulling an arm around her, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder, before giving her a quick kiss on her cheek.

The End