Chapter 2: Aichi

The water in the pond swayed slightly in the breeze, sending short ripples along its surface as Aichi sat on a concrete slab beside it. The koi there always kept him company whenever he felt alone. And he needed them now more than ever. He let out a heavy sigh as all of the days' anguish finally caught up with him.

He felt more depressed than he had in weeks. Ever since he had reunited with Kai and joined the others at card capital, he had felt...happy. And it made him really excited after Q4 had won the regional tournament and earned their spot in the nationals. But it had turned into this.

No one had come to check up on him in the hours he had been gone from home. He had told Emi he was going to the store, but here he was. He had lied to his little sister all because he wanted to be alone.

I'm sorry Emi, he thought.

He had gone out of his way to be alone, but for some reason, he kept thinking of everyone else. He sighed once more and buried his head in his knees as he pulled them closer to his chest, feeling defeated yet again.

He knew that Kamui and the others were probably at the card shop, hanging out like any other day. But he couldn't go there. After all, he didn't belong there. He never did. And he should've realized it.

After a moment, he lifted his head and looked down into the pond at a group of koi that had crept up to nibble on some fallen leaves in front of him, but not even that could distract him from his overwhelming sadness.

You can't go back, he told himself. You're not good enough. You'd just get in the way.

Just then, the fish reminded him of Kyou's taunting words.

"Little fish..."

Aichi hung his head as all of the insults he had endured clouded his mind. As much as they had hurt him at the time, they rang true to him now. Everyone had been right about him. He couldn't deny being the weak-willed person that he was.

I don't belong with everyone. He thought to himself, gazing absently at the pond. "I belong here, just like I always have."

"Especially not with Kai."

Tears began to cloud Aichi's vision, obscuring the fish as Ren's words rang in his head.

"Not again!", he scolded himself, wiping them away with his bare hands. He had cried enough today. He jumped when someone spoke up from behind him.

"Ah, there you are."

Aichi instinctively turned toward the voice, forgetting all about his tears.

It couldn't be.

Kai's expression looked as stoic as usual as he glanced down at Aichi, not seeming to mind his crying eyes.

Aichi quickly wiped off the rest of his tears and turned to face Kai.

"K-kai-kun! What are you doing here?"

Kai took a couple of steps until he was standing beside Aichi and inspected the pond before returning his gaze back to the young boy.

"I was on my way home and ran into Emi." Kai spoke. "She asked if I would check up on you for her."

"Emi..." Aichi felt thankful for his sister's thoughtfulness.

"Well, it doesn't look like you're in any trouble." Kai turned to leave, seemingly uninterested. "If you want to stay here, then that's your choice. I won't tell you to go home or come back to Q4."

Aichi looked up at Kai's profile, wondering if he had any of his own reasons for going after him.

Kai continued. "As I said before; Anybody who wants to quit should quit."

The atmosphere was heavy as Aichi thought about his friend's words. With Kai there beside him now, he started to have doubts about what he truly wanted.

Kai started walking away.

"So, you're alright with me staying with you?" Aichi asked timidly. "I-I...I mean...you aren't mad at me?"

That stopped Kai in his tracks. He turned back toward Aichi.

"Is that what you've been worried about?"

Aichi smiled sadly. Was he that easy to read?

"I let you down." He admitted. "Both you and Kamui-kun. You weren't able to move onto the finals. And I could tell it was really important to you. It's all my fault, just like Ren said."

Kai's expression turned mildly hostile

."Ren said that?"

Aichi held back another onset of tears and could only nod his head in response.

Kai sighed and took a seat beside the fragile Aichi, feeling just a little responsible for the boy's current state. "What else did he say to you?"

Aichi tried his best not to cry, but it was getting harder to hold himself together with Kai suddenly hanging on his every word at the mere mention of Ren. A part of him didn't want to talk at all. He just wanted Kai to notice how sorry he was. For everything. He wanted Kai to tell him that it was okay. That he could cry as much as he wanted. But he had to give Kai an answer.

"H-He said..." Aichi struggled to speak, almost as if Ren's words had placed a spell on him. "He said I don't belong with Q4...especially not with you. That you could have been in the finals if it weren't for me."

Kai's eyes narrowed at the harsh words. Instead of going after him during their last encounter, Ren had attacked Aichi out of hate and jealousy in an attempt to scare the boy off. It was selfish and immature.

Kai mentally reprimanded himself for getting Aichi involved in his own regretful business.

"Ren." Kai whispered. If his goal had been to piss off Kai even more than he already had, it was working.

Aichi couldn't hold back any longer; he wanted his pain to stop.

Before another word could leave Kai's mouth, Aichi reached out for him and buried his face in the folds of Kai's jacket, clinging to it as if his life depended on it.

"Kai! I...I'm so sorry!" Aichi choked on his words. He gave up trying to say anymore as all of his fears took over. He sobbed and pressed his face against the smooth fabric, hoping Kai would understand.

Kai was surprised by the sudden urgency in Aichi's voice. He knew that the boy was fond of him, but this felt like something more.

"Aichi," was all the older boy could bring himself to say.

Kai flinched as Aichi began trembling, just as he had before his match against Tetsu.

He must be terrified. Kai thought. But...why? Ren's doing?

Unsure of what to do, but wanting to put his friend at ease, Kai gently put one of his arms around the boy and gently pulled him against his own body in an attempt to comfort him.

Aichi was mildly shocked by the embrace, but was more than happy that Kai hadn't pushed him away. He brought his arms around Kai, strongly gripping his jacket in response.

"Picture it in your mind," Kai whispered.

Aichi lightly gasped at Kai's words; the words he had always cherished but somehow managed to forget. His eyes widened as if he'd just awoken from a dream.

"I'm not mad at you."

Aichi let out a sigh of relief at hearing those words. As he finally calmed down and collected himself, he slowly pulled away from Kai. He felt extremely embarrassed, but was too emotionally exhausted at this point to try and hide it.

Kai noticed his weak demeanor and stood. "C'mon," he offered. "I'll walk you home."

Aichi nodded absently and carefully got to his feet, rubbing at his tired eyes once he was standing beside Kai, who was in the process of removing his jacket.

"Here," he handed the jacket over.

Aichi nodded timidly as he brought the jacket to his face to wipe himself off.

Once he was comfortable to show his face again, Aichi lowered the jacket and they began walking.

It wasn't long before Aichi fell behind.

"Kai-kun..."

Kai stopped to check what was wrong. "What is it?"

Aichi stared at the ground, unsure of whether or not he wanted to ask Kai a personal question.

"What was..Ren to you?"

Kai didn't respond right away. Instead he looked across the street from where they were, looking lost somewhere in another world.

Aichi didn't look away from Kai's eyes, searching their depths for some kind of answer. He felt bad for asking such a question after telling Kai that he wouldn't bother him if he didn't want to talk about something, but he felt somehow involved now. He had to know who Ren was.

"Ren is a part of my past that's trying to interfere with my future." Kai finally said. "Now let's get you home." And with that, he continued down the street with Aichi slowly catching up beside him.

The answer hadn't been very revealing, but for some reason, just being with Kai; the fact that they hadn't been separated after everything that had happened, made him extremely happy.

"Thank you, Kai-kun." Aichi smiled, looking up with hopeful eyes at his role model.

Kai smirked, honestly happy to hear the joy return to Aichi's voice once again.

"Don't mention it."