Getting to the reception was harder than Max had anticipated. They had to make sure that none of the staff saw Kai leaving his room. Until then, Kai's chest was left bare, except for the bandages, to promote healing. He was now clad in a long, navy blue coat, as an attempt to disguise himself as a visitor. And as Max saw Kai among the small crowd in the lift, Kai was doing a wonderful job at blending among the people.

Kai, who was now wearing the coat with just the top three buttons done, gave an aura of casualness. His face didn't betray even a hint of nervousness, worry, nothing. Max never understood how one could stay so... well, he never found the word.

******

Ray had completely different thoughts worrying him. As much as Kai attempted to hide it, he was still worse for wear. Well, it was obviously expected that the wound, although almost a fortnight old, was still bothering Kai very very much... It's just that Kai did a remarkable job at hiding it, as he walked straight, his face blank of the pain, that worried him. He had seen Kai endure much worse, and yet never bother to share them with anyone, even if the other person was trying to help.

Kai's endurance had always awed him, but it has always been a source worry too, because this endurance is bound to hurt him in the end. He was constantly second guessing whether he did the right thing in letting Kai out, for whatever call he had to make. On the other hand, he wanted to make sure Tyson was alright. But he did not want to make Kai suffer due to this.

Kai is worried about Tyson as much as you are.... was his only consoling thought.

******

Max led the way to one of those High-tech Videophones located at a secluded area in the communication room, far from preying eyes.

"I thought the security was increased since the last week." he said, uncertainty in his voice, as he glanced the corridor which was quite bare.

"Only VVIPs can have visible security in Japan, Max." Said a distracted Kai, as he adjusted some buttons in the videophone. "Whoever's out there, or I hope there is, will be keeping an eye on who's entering the hospital, and any other suspicious activity around it. They've given me a emergency button.... incase someone does break in through their defenses, which is highly unlikely." He said showcasing a small button from his pant pocket, while he was still busy with the videophone. "They don't think I'd be stupid enough to leave my bed... Well, it's ready."

I glance at Ray, and just like him, he wasn't sure whether Kai was serious or joking, because his face was still blank of all emotions. Ray shrugs and stands next to Kai, putting an arm around his waist, careful to not touch the bandages. Kai tried to throw him off, but he didn't bulge. "You're still worse for wear Kai. Continue doing whatever you had to do. We can't have you falling down in the middle." Ray kept a cool facade, and since Ray was the most muscular of the four, with those biceps, triceps and the beginnings of  a four-pack abbs, and Kai being in a compromising position as it is, he gave in. But he did mumble something about 'immunity' which was inaudible to Max and continued with his process.

I peak in after Ray was given a green signal. After hesitating for a few moments, I took the fact that Kai didn't complain as a sign to stay. After a series of security checks such as fingerprint and retina scannings, female's voice answered,

"Hello sir, please state your name, and the objective of this call."

"Kai Hiwatari, an appointment with Agent Grace."

"Scan in your client ID please."

"I don't have it at the moment."

"Then sir, I'm sorry to say this-"

"But I do know the code! Isn't that enough?"

"The code will do for now. State it."

"RUJN24012005-SMK"

"Access granted. We will shortly connect you to Agent Grace of Level Four. Video will be disabled then on until the Agent wishes otherwise. Have a nice day."

There was no sound in the room, except for the beep, beep, beep of the call.
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No one spoke for the next two minutes. Ray and I were trying to understand what was going on and both didn't dare to ask Kai for details. I was quite sure I had seen the symbol on the receptionist' background but couldn't place a finger on the memory. Before I could dwell on it, the line connected.

"I've been expecting your call for quite some time now Hiwatari."

"The same could be said for m-what the hell happened to you?!" Kai cut his sentence as the video flicked back to life. While the first part expressed a drawl, as though he wasn't bored. But then his voice had taken a dramatic turn to worry. It wasn't unfounded either.

A man with a black sweatshirt sat in front of them. A patch was covering his left eye, his blond hair was barely visible among the bandages around his head. His right arm was in a sling. The face which could once be called handsome now looked gruesome with the number of cuts gashes covering it. The two of us gasp. Nonetheless, his blue eyes shined with warmth.

"I see we have company. Won't you introduce them to me?"

Kai flicked his side of the video on. We suddenly didn't know what to do. I waved uncertainly to the other person. Ray didn't do anything.

"Ah... Its nice to finally meet you too, Mr Tate, Mr Kon. Where are the other two? I thought you were going to let me meet the whole team! You look quite well for a person who was shot not even a fortnight ago..."

"Hmm. The same can't be said to you, can it Grace?" Kai's voice dripped with sarcasm. "What happened to you?"

Agent Grace didn't seem to mind Kai's jabs, another person who must have been quite accummusted to his sarcasm. He continued as though he didn't notice it at all. He offhandedly answered "A messy car crash... I won't say it was an accident, but it surely was negligence. I'm on medical probation for now."

"Surely the reason you have been demoted to Level Four." Kai didn't question him, but stated a mere fact.

"You can't miss the opportunity to rub salt to a would, could you?"

Kai actually smirked at this but continued. "I wish I had the time to banter with you Grace, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Who's handling my case then?"

His demeanor changed as he straightened and and opted for a official tone. "Your case has been temporarily handed to Agent 056 of Level Two."

******

I questioned straight-away about who's handling my case, my fears of Grace's well-being now answered, but also knowing that Grace would not have the answers to his upcoming questions.

His demeanor drastically changed. There was some hint of an apology in his eyes now. Although he was apologizing for something in advance. Kai didn't like it at all. "Your case has been temporarily handed to Agent 056 of Level Two."

Kai raised his eyebrows. It wasn't everyday that an Agent of Level Two would take interest in such petty matters. He was sure that his case didn't qualify for anything above Level Six. Even then, he knew things weren't that good for him. Though he had always played as though he didn't care, he did remember the vague comments Jason had made of his boss on the brief conversations they shared once or twice a week. They weren't quite positive.

Jason was a newcomer at ISA with barely eight months of experience when I met him, or in a literary sense, he stumbled upon me. He had worked at the German Secret Service for two years and was exceptionally talented in the field, it was from there that he had been recruited to the ISA. He had advanced in the hierarchy from Level Ten and was at Level Eight then, which normally takes other Agents a minimum of six to eight years.

I was thirteen then, had a bounty of 7 million Russian rumbles, or in other words 10,000 US dollars in the International Black Market, courtesy of Voltaire and had just entered Japan illegally. I had been on the run for an year by then. I hadn't had a thing for four days straight, and had a serious injury which was developing signs of infection.

He could have become rich overnight if he had handed me to Voltaire. He could have lived the rest of his life without lifting a finger. He could have gotten rid of me by handing me over to the higher authorities. Or he could have just left me there to fend for myself.  He was just there to investigate a tip off he had received on illegal trading at the Tokyo port. Though he always denied it, he knew he had given up by then, running no longer felt right, and if he had left me there, he wouldn't have lived. He knew deep within that he owed Jason his life.

Yet, he nursed me back to health without speaking of me to another soul and had helped me lie low for two years. He had given him his personal contact number,  his personal email and even his address, if there was an emergency. He had used it once and once alone, when he had been recognized at Nara by some crook and he had called some of his friends. He had once again been injured then, and when Jason arrived home that day, from what he later told was a week-long mission, he was bewildered to find Kai with his right hand broken miserable trying to make himself coffee. That was when he swore that he would learn to use his left hand as a backup for all purposes. He had stayed there for two weeks and had disappeared with a note of just six words. Thank you.Will keep in touch. It was one of the few times he had said a 'thank you' since he was five, and he remembered every situation.

Though I wouldn't have understood it that time, he had breached a good number of the codes of conduct laid down by the ISA such as misuse of resources, taking up my protection as an illegal case, giving away the secrecy of him being an Agent of ISA, among other things. This could get him into serious trouble, like losing his job or maybe a short jail sentence too. Yet he didn't mind.

I had gotten to know of all of this just after our First World Championships as Blade Breakers tour had ended and I had immediately cut contact with him. Soon, I was brought before Voltaire as I was still underage and he was my only living family. I contacted him only after an year, when the whole team was kidnapped and stranded on the island. Though I had cut contact with him, he had continued keeping tabs on me and was the person who had informed Mr Dickenson of our location. Soon, Mr Dickenson rescued us and told me of the informant.

He had immediately recognized Jason. Yet he did not speak up. A few days later, Mr Dickenson had done his homework, gotten in touch with ISA, and had gotten me a Client ID. And given his background, he wasn't surprised that the person who had taken up his case was none other than the person who actually him and not anybody assuming things due to his background.

He had heard of him from the very beginning of his and Jason's Accuaintice. Kai still remembered the awestruck voice of Jason when he was talking about Agent Ellis while he used to call me to keep track with me. How his missions and success were so famous among Agent's that he had become a new James Bond, 056 ,yet he wouldn't advance to Level One. How he dreamed that he would be placed in his supervision when he reached Level Three.

When he had contacted Jason the first time officially, he had already reached Level Three. And as per his wish, he had also been placed under Agent Ellis' supervision, but he didn't sound as enthusiastic as he remembered. Jason was bitter about it, though he wouldn't say it downright.  He did remember of how Jason had vaguely told him of incidents where Agent Grace had been especially harsh and strict with him.

Jason answered his unspoken question. "Yes, you heard me right, Level Two. He was my boss, well, he's my boss's boss now but that's besides the point. He has a lot of experience, especially in handling Russian cases and he seemed interested in the case."

Seeing Kai's frown on mentioning his interests, he continued.

"He's one of the best we've got Kai. He's good in what he's doing good, and isn't biased or anything. He minds his business, won't ask you anything that isn't related to the case. He's a bit like you too, won't talk unless asked. He'll give you straight answers." He switches to Russian and said, "Stay careful from now on kiddo."

Kai's frown only deepened, he had guessed something had gone wrong terribly, and Jason's vague cryptic message was more worrying, as though this was going to be the last time they would talk. Before he could voice out, Jason had continued in English.

"I'll forward this call to him if that's all there was..."

"Hmm." And just as the screen changed, he said in Russian "I don't blame you. Forgive me." he had waited for this exact moment so he wouldn't have to see his reaction, a sly smirk and a good amount of teasing that I had grown a heart and all that bullshit.

Neither did want Jason to blame himself for whatever that had happened. Though he didn't know the whole story, he was quite sure that something had gone terribly wrong and he was somehow the reason for it. Nor did he want to see his shocked face on how I had come to such conclusions.

He hoped that his worst fears won't become a reality, but when you're Kai Hiwatari, things take a turn for the worse and worse alone.

******

Words: 2418

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A/N: Sorry for the false alarm. I accidentally posted the update while I was revising the story. Do you like it? Do you feel the story is being dragged? I swear this chapter was supposed to contain Kai's conversation with Agent Ellis and a part of Kai's reaction on Tyson reaching the hospital. But as I was writing, it felt wrong to not explain Jason's (Agent Grace) importance in the story and Kai's life. I didn't want you guys to think he was just another OC used to fill up space. And just for a reminder, nor was Suzie Smith.

Keep voting and commenting!! Happy reading!!