Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Kevin’s POV, ten years prior.

“Once upon a time,” my mother began slowly, her warm voice filling me with happiness, “there was a young monkey named Kiki.”

I smiled broadly, cuddling into her arms, listening intently.

“This little monkey was very sweet and very friendly, but all the other monkeys made fun of him and wouldn’t let him play with them because he was so much smaller than them. They called him names and pushed him around sometimes, but he didn’t let it get to him. He kept his head up every day and smiled even when he had no one to play with. Then one day, he was climbing among the trees of the forest and came across the group of monkeys who had always been mean to him.

They were all upset; their favorite toy had gotten caught in the highest, smallest hollow in the tallest tree in all of the forest. Distraught, they moaned and whined and blamed each other for getting it caught up there. But Kiki wasn’t afraid to go up and ask what was wrong.

First, they told him to go away. Kiki did, because they looked mean. He went home and made tea and went to bed. But the next morning, the other monkeys were still trying to get their ball down. Kiki, knowing now what they were doing, offered to help. They shooed him away again, saying that he was too small to do anything. So he went back home after a day of climbing and read his favorite book, and fell asleep.

On the third day, however, the other monkeys were tired and desperate. When Kiki offered to help, they said simple, “Fine, go about it then,” and up Kiki climbed, quickly and swiftly, toward the top of the tree.

The other monkeys were astonished. None of them could climb that gracefully, or that quickly. They were all too big to get to the top of the tree without the branches snapping, either. But Kiki was just the perfect size. He climbed higher and higher, and finally, he reached the knot in the tree where the toy had gotten stuck. It was wedged into the tree deeply, too; Kiki tried thrice to reach in and grab it, but finally, he realized that he would have to climb in there himself and get it out.

And he did. Headfirst, he squirmed into the little hole,” My mother said, pretending to push her head into an obviously cramped spot. I giggled and rocked on her lap, trying to make the motion myself. She laughed and continued.

“And reached forward and snagged hold of the toy. When he pulled back out and climbed all the way back down to the ground, the other monkeys cheered. They saw now that being small wasn’t a bad thing, and that it was a gift. They all said they were sorry for being mean, but Kiki had already forgiven them. Happily, they all became friends and every day after that, Kiki had lots of people to play with, and he was even more happy then he had been. The end.”

“Yay!” I cheer, still giggling. I clap my hands together awkwardly and smile broadly. My mother chuckles and scoops me up, standing from the rocking chair.

“I wuv you, mama.”

My mother laughed warmly. “I love you too, my little Kiki-bear.”

-x-x-x-

Bryan’s POV, current time.

“Vhat ish he cooing lykch bahby about?”

I hold my breath. He’s mumbling something about ‘mommy’ and ‘wuv’. Tala looks a little disgusted, but it’s so cute I’m about to squeal. I don’t know what ‘wuv’ is, but if it’s going through Kevin’s mind right now, I’m cool with it. I jump, suddenly feeling a smack on my shoulder.

“Vhell?” Madame asks harshly, irritated with me for not answering. I blow out the breath I was holding and flinch under her glare.

“I think he’s dreaming about his mother.”

“Joo tink? Vhell dat von’t hkelp us, vill eet?”

“No, Madame.”

“Sho rvude, joo ahre. And vhy ish he sho teensy?” He continued, looking back and Kevin with a bit of a frown. “Joo both ate my shoup vhen you vere young, and you both strong like bear. But heem? Keetten. Leetle cuddly keeten.”

“Kitten.”

“Oh!” She flares, turning back to face me suddenly. Damnit, why did I just correct her? “Oh, joo insolent leetle- Joo are lucky to look like man, to be like bear. He,” She jesters ertible at Kevin, “Vill never be man, alvays keeten. And don’t joo correct me, Mr. Kuznetsov, I shay keeten however I vant too.”

Ff. Ornery old hag. I nod either way, but secretly curse her out. I like Kevin as a little cuddly kitten, thank you very much. Tala is either snickering at me other choking on something, but I don’t look up at him either way. a*****e.

“Vroll heem onto hish back.” She instructs, motioning for Tala to adjust Kevin’s position for the umpteenth time. He’s won’t stop rolling over and curling into a ball. Time passes, and eventually, Mrs. Barshai stands and proclaims what she plans on doing with the evening.

“I shall go and breeng shoup for ja baby. Joo shtay and keep heem on hish back, ei?”

“Ei.” We both murmur. For those of you who don’t know a lick of Russian, that’s not a word. It’s just a noise. But whatever, it’s always safest to reply with what this woman says unless we want to get smacked upside the head and labeled as rude. She leaves in a matter of moments, and again, Tala and I are alone.

Silence. And then, after fifteen minutes,

“Ya skhazshu po tebe s uma.”

I blink and look over at Tala. You drive me crazy.

“Ti takaya milaya.” I say sarcastically. You’re so sweet.

“Rrastite, ya ne savsem ponyal, chto vy skazali.” He shoots back, evenly, rudely. His eyebrows and narrowed and I know what he’s looking at me like that. I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.

“Da. Y vy.” Yes. You did.

He turns and looks at me threateningly. He opens his mouth irritably, ready to lash out in a chain of insults and swear words, but as he takes that fateful breath, Kevin rolls onto his side and curls up. Snorting, Tala flicks me off and leans in slowly, carefully rolling Kevin back so that he doesn’t wake him. When he sits back, he speaks in English.

“You shouldn’t be here, Bryan. You shouldn’t be doing this to him.”

I remain silent, arms crossed over my chest. I stare straight ahead.

“It’s not fair to anyone. Do what other people do when you get horny and watch a porno or something, don’t kidnap a kid just because you want to ******** him.”

I move to say something and stop.

“And then you go and tell him that you love him… you’re just confusing him, Bryan, he’s too young and innocent to hear that from you.”

“Moya lyubov ne znayet granits.” I say evenly. There’s no borders for my love. Tala laughs.

“Da. Moya s.” Yes, there is.

And he goes on. Yes, there is a limit to how much I can love, because I don’t even know what love is. He explains to me that I don’t love Kevin, and that I’m just horny. I flinch. Kevin told me that the first time I kidnapped him during the tournament; I remember everything Kevin says. Without trying. Isn’t that a sign of love or something?

Kevin rolls over again and Tala rolls him back. He moans and persists to roll to the side again, and as Tala groans and reaches in to push him back, Kevin manages to grab hold of Tala’s wrist and roll around anyway, tugging Tala onto the bed. My ex-captain landed on top of my ex-slave and both made an odd noise, but it didn’t register with me as something to pay attention too until Kevin kept making the noise.

In a flash, I lean in and wrap my large hands around the back of Tala’s jacket. I tug up, literally lifting him off of Kevin and swinging him around to the floor before me. He gags, startled, but Kevin stops whimpering and curls into a ball under the blankets. Okay. He’s okay. I let go of Tala, not taking my eyes off of Kevin.

“What the ********?!” Tala spat, blowing the hair out of his face and sitting up. Drama queen.

“Tala, you up there?” A call. Before I can defend myself, before Tala can yell at me, Lee Yin’s voice echoes up through the floorboards of the loft. We both freeze before Tala leaps up and spins around, bolting toward the hatch. He pulls it open and jumps through, and I hear him land evenly on the first floor. Murmuring voices. Questioning. I flinch, waiting for it.

Three… Two…

“WHAT?!”

One. I stand and move to the other side of the room. Lee bursts in just as I put a decent amount of distance between Kevin and I, but it doesn’t stop the older neko-jin from freaking out. I open my mouth to say something, thinking that I can explain myself. It’s the last clear thought I have for quite a while.

Lee has just lunged at me.

-x-x-x-

Bryan’s POV, quite a while later.

Nnghhaa… hcklebry. Finn? No. Ow.

Head. Hurting. Eyes. Dry. Life. Sucking. At the moment. I groan and carefully open my eyes. Ian, in all his big-nosed glory, is leaning over me. Boy, I haven’t seen him in a while. How ya doin’, little buddy?

“He’s awake, Tala.”

Ian turns away and looks across the room at someone else. If my head wasn’t full of cement, I would turn to look and see who was over there. Kevin? Where are you, baby?