A New Start Chapter 3: First Kiss
Rayne had managed to finish cleaning his house in a matter of hours. He was actually glad he'd taken the time to clean up his house, if only for one reason.
He'd found his mother's ring.
His mother wasn't much of a feminine person; she'd always take jeans and a t-shirt over a dress, and she had no problem playing with action figures and cars when Rayne was little, as opposed to dolls or tea sets. The only thing she ever kept on her that was the least bit feminine was a small gold ring, with a little diamond in the center of it. Rayne had never bothered asking where she'd gotten it from; he doubted it was a wedding or engagement ring, so maybe it had belonged to her mother. It could have even been a birthday gift for all he knew. The point was, aside from a few old photos, that ring was all he had to remember his mother by.
Right after her death, he'd carried that thing around with him everywhere. Then, he'd settled for having it on his bedside table. Then in the drawer of his bedside table. Finally, it had just disappeared into the mess of his house, never to be seen again, until the wolf began cleaning again.
The ring wasn't the only thing he'd found. He'd managed to find several shirts that had been deemed gone for good, his cell phone, and the TV remote. All in all, the cleaning had proved most fruitful.
He quietly walked into his room, shutting off the lights as he went. At least his house was clean enough for company now.
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"You really do live alone, don't you?"
"How could you tell?"
The two of them had just walked into the apartment, and Kyo was getting his first look at the wolf's home.
"Everything has its own place. Everything is organized. If another person lived here, at least one or two things would be messy, since you either wouldn't know where to put them, or hadn't noticed them being out of place."
"I don't know whether to be frightened or amazed by your mind," Rayne said, smiling as he shut the door. Kyo merely walked further into the house, looking around. "Hey, you hungry?" Rayne called out.
"guess so." The wolf grabbed his cell phone, ordering a pizza. It had come down to either having a house phone, or a cell phone. The way Rayne looked at it, a house phone had to stay in the house, but a cell phone could stay in the house or in your pocket. Which do you think he picked?
Twenty minutes later the teens were sitting on the couch, munching on pizza and watching Bloody Valentine. "Dang, it's late," Rayne said, looking at the clock. "Hey, do you just wanna crash here for the night?"
"sure," Kyo replied, knowing that if he went home this late, his father would no doubt yell at him for waking them all up in the middle of the night.
Minutes later, the wolf had walked to the closet in the hall and retrieved a blanket for the cat to use. "Night, Kyo," he called out before going into his room.
The cat didn't reply, instead choosing to snuggle into the couch, pulling the blanket tightly around him. For some reason, he felt better on the inside than he had since their graveyard visit. "Night, Rayne," he whispered before going to sleep.
As days turned into weeks, and Rayne began inviting Kyo more and more frequently. The cat was always able to convince his father to let him go over to Rayne's place, either for a few hours or an overnight. His grades remained high, making truly believe that Rayne and he were doing work for school whenever he went to the wolf's house. Oh, how easy it was to manipulate an adult's mind.
As these thoughts whirled through Kyo's head, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. Before he could process what was happening, his body was jerked back, then slammed into his locker. "Hey Furfag." Kyo very nearly groaned in annoyance.
Cyrus was back.
The teen spun Kyo around to look at him, glaring daggers at the cat. "I bet you thought that was pretty clever. Biting me so you could run away like a coward, right?"
"Do you mind? I have to get to class." Cyrus clenched his teeth, about to punch the cat when a teacher walked by, giving Kyo the chance to escape. Another win for him, in a never ending battle. How hollow this victory felt.
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"Class, we've got a new student joining us today." Rayne just continued to stare out the window.
He wasn't the least bit interested in who this new kid was. The wolf's priorities were with Kyo right now; the cat had been unusually quiet during lunch, not even bothering to answer Rayne's questions, or pretend to be interested in them. "I didn't know you were in here."
The wolf spun around to see Kyo sitting beside him. "What are you doing in here?!"
"I'm the new student."
"What happened? I mean, why are you in my class? The semesters not even half over, but I thought it was too late to transfer classes-"
"I had issues with another kid in my class. They gave me a new schedule so I wouldn't have to put up with him," Kyo explained.
"Oh." The cat didn't appear to want to say anymore about his transfer, so Rayne decided to let the matter drop.
Kyo, meanwhile, was silently grateful for this change. Not only was his schedule virtually free of Cyrus now, but he actually had a class with Rayne. He needed to add this to his pro list when he got home.
After the bell rang, everyone filed out of the classroom as quickly as they could, eager to get home. School was over, and no one wanted to hang around longer then they had to. "See ya tomorrow, Kyo," Rayne said, leaving his friend behind.
Kyo dialed in the combination to his locker, quickly putting his books up before shutting the door once more. He turned around, intent on leaving the building, only to come face to face with Cyrus. "Hey you."
The cat tried to bolt, only to be grabbed by a crony and slammed into the hard concrete wall of the school. "Being a smartass really isn't good for your health, Kyo," Cyrus stated, grinning at his captive. "C'mon," he told the peons, "we don't want to get blood all over the floor."
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Rayne was busy heating up a can of soup when his phone began ringing. "Hello?"
"Rayne?"
Who else would it be? "Yeah Kyo?"
"Can I crash at your place tonight?"
"Um, well...my house is sort of a mess right now."
"...That's a problem."
"Why?"
"I can't go home in this shape."
Rayne's pulse quickened. "What happened?"
"Does your land lady mind blood on the carpet?"
Rayne ran to the door and flung it open, sticking his head out into the hallway. After a few seconds of searching, he found Kyo on the ground, leaning against the wall with a cell phone pressed to his ear.
For a few moments, all Rayne could do was gape at the bruised and bloody black cat. Seeing that his friend wasn't about to do anything soon, Kyo snapped his cell phone shut and tried to rise to his feet, wincing and sinking back to the ground before he even got halfway up as his tail was wrapped around him.
The sight brought Rayne back to reality, and he quickly bent down, grabbing the cat and helping Kyo to his feet. "I repeat, what happened?"
"I got beat up," Kyo spat out, a few droplets of blood falling to the floor as he spoke. Rayne shook his head and helped the weakened cat into his apartment, setting him down on a chair before running into the bathroom and grabbing a first aid kit.
A few minutes later the cat was getting patched up, courtesy of Rayne. "This happen often?"
"Not this bad."
"But it happens. Can't you fight?"
"It was six to one, and they were mad."
"Makes sense. Ok, let me just get your arms patched up-"
The Cat instantly jerked away from Rayne's grasp, holding his arms against his chest. "I can do that."
"Kyo, I just want to-"
"I said, I can do it," Kyo hissed softly, glaring at the wolf. The look in his eyes was normally enough to make people back off. Unfortunately for him, Rayne seemed to be an exception to that rule. "Kyo, let me help you."
"No."
"Kyo, I'm going to look at your arms whether you want me to or not, so just give up." A short fight ensued with Raynes trying to get the cat's jacket off and Kyo trying to keep it on. Kyo was in no shape to put up a decent fight after his beatings, though, and soon the jacket was on the floor.
At first, Rayne didn't notice the cuts on Kyo's wrist. When he finally spotted the red and white lines, however, his work froze, eyes glued to the cuts. As he continued to stare, Kyo felt his stomach knot. "Kyo..."
The black cat jumped to his feet and bolted for the door. Rayne wasn't about to let his friend run off in this shape and grabbed him a moment later, making Kyo cry out when the wolf's arms put pressure on the bruises on his sides. "Kyo, calm down!"
"Let go!" the cat hissed, trying to pull out of Rayne's grasp. The only thought going through his head was to get out of Rayne's apartment and get out of there NOW.
"Kyo, you're making it worse!" Rayne said, trying to reason with the cat. If Kyo kept this up, he'd aggravate his injuries, and they might have to go to a hospital. Finally giving up on using reason to calm his friend, Rayne did the only thing he could think of.
He bent down and kissed Kyo.
Much to his relief, the kiss had the desired effect. Kyo froze, mind trying to process exactly what was going on. After a few moments Rayne pulled away, eye locked with the cat's. "Now listen. I'm not going to do anything about your cuts, and I'm not going to tell anyone," Rayne said slowly, hoping to keep the cat calm. "I just want to take care of your injuries. Alright?"
The cat slowly nodded and allowed himself to be led back to the chair, where Rayne finished bandaging his wounds. He wasn't hungry, and Rayne had quite clearly lost his appetite, so the two of them decided to turn in early.
"Just lie on your stomach," Rayne ordered, draping a blanket over Kyo. Your back has the most bruises, so there's no point in putting pressure on them."
"..."
"Look, just go to sleep. Ok?" When he didn't receive an answer, Rayne placed a hand on the cat's head and gently began stroking Kyo's hair. "Ok?"
"y..yeah."
"Good. Now sleep," Rayne softly ordered, walking into his own room, leaving Kyo alone with his thoughts. It took a while, but finally they were both able to fall asleep.