A.n.: Here's the new chapter. I had to rewrite most of it, since my USB-stick made some problems and I lost the first version of this. That and the fact that I've started writing a new story called 'Like a rolling stone' caused the delay of this update. Sorry! I hope you are still interested in this fic. It is one very dear to me. Enjoy! (And please review if you've got a minute to spare!)

Warnings: None really for this chapter. That might begin in the next one.

Title: When morning comes at night

5. Chapter

Kai was still at the airport, held in a holding-cell. He had been sitting in the cold room for the most part of the evening now. The tiles on the walls held an ugly yellow tinge in some places. It wasn't bright enough to look a happy color, it just looked dirty. Maybe it was, maybe the walls weren't meant to be yellow. Kai sniffed disgusted. That was why it smelled of piss in here.

He tried to think of something else, but he couldn't focus on anything, but his current situation. All he could see was the too small room he was stuck in, all he could smell was the urine previous occupants must have left and all he could hear was nothing. There hadn't been anybody talking to him since they had shoved him in here hours ago.

Kai briefly wondered what time it might be. If he could judge by the darkness slowly creeping in from the small window in the ceiling, then it was surely evening already. That meant he had been in this room for the whole afternoon already.

He had been asked to wait here after they had fired questions at him for over an hour. It had always been the same.

Who made this? Where did you get this passport? Why did you come to Russia? Is the Japanese pass real? So who are you and where are you from? Tell us who made this now, it will be better for you!

Kai had answered honestly.

Who made this? He did not know.

Where did you get this passport? It was his. His family had given it to him, when he was a child.

Why did you come to Russia? He wasn't here freely. He was sent here to live with a new family.

Is the Japanese pass real? They should know it was real. They had inspected it for an eternity.

Tell us who made this now, it will be better for you! He didn't know.

Well it was the truth. Of course he could have given them a bit more information, but that was a technicality. And after they had shoved him in this pit, he wasn't really in the mood to further help them with their investigations.

Kai just hoped they would get him out of this room soon. Even a prison cell would be better than this. It was cold, dark and bare. There was just a bunk bed, which was barely wide enough to sit on it and much to hard to even give the impression one could sleep on it comfortable. Besides this piece of metal there was only a metal bucket in the corner. He wasn't sure if they really expected him to use it as a toilet, but he was sure he wouldn't.

He'd just sit here and wait for someone to come.

They had to come. Had to bring him food and a blanket perhaps. They would want to ask him more questions. Sent him over to a real prison even.

At the moment Kai just wished for someone to open that metal door, to hear a voice, to be let out of here.

xxxxxx

Tyson felt miserable. After they had dropped Kai off at the airport no one really knew what to do. Not even the adults. Mr. Dickenson and his dad had gone to the youth welfare office again after lunch. What for, Tyson didn't know.

He had talked with his dad about Kenny's suggestion to get a lawyer involved, but his father hadn't been so sure for some reason. Tyson hoped it wasn't the money. However Bruce had promised to let it open as an alternative.

'Alternative to what?!' Tyson had felt uncharacteristically angry the whole day. He was used to the fact, that everything worked out in the end. However this case made him feel hopeless.

Max and Rei were in the kitchen, doing the dishes. The had also cooked before. It probably had been a brilliant dinner. Tyson didn't know. He had eaten some but tasted nothing. He felt bad about ignoring his friends, they must be just as worried as him. Still Tyson couldn't get himself to join them.

He sat in the living room. The TV was running. He didn't hear that either.

xxxxxx

Kai felt cold. It had to be night by now. No one had come for him yet. Kai shuddered by the thought, that they had forgotten him here. He had spent some time knocking against the steal door, but the corridor his prison was one wasn't much used, he hadn't heard footsteps outside the whole time he had been in this room, and nobody had come.

He wanted some food, he wanted to use the toilet, he wanted out of here. Out of the darkness (the light had been flicking for the last hour, soon it would be gone out), out the constriction, out of the silence.

If he at least knew that he wasn't forgotten or if somebody else was here, that would help. If the security guys would just come over for a minute, if one of those idealistic social workers would take a look at him now, if his friends would be here to keep him company. All that would help.

Kai could just see Tyson being here with him. It definitely wouldn't feel so dead in here, if the other boy was here. Tyson with all his optimism, with his smiles and liveliness, with his plans and constant talking, moaning, laughing, yes, that thought made this place more bearable.

Thinking about Tyson felt strange. Kai tried to place his finger on the minute he had grown so attached to the other boy. He couldn't. There had been something special about their connection from the very beginning, as rivals and as friends.

And he had promised something. He had to get back.

Kai had calmed down a bit. He walked up and down the room, even though there wasn't much space for walking, but it kept him at least a bit warm. 'What a lousy plan.'

He was tired, he wanted to lie down. He was cold, he continued to move to stay warm.

xxxxxx

The next morning the TV was still running. Some cartoons were playing with Bugs Bunny hopping over the screen. Bruce had come back late the previous evening. Around 11pm Mr. Hooley, the social worker, had threatened Bruce and Mr. Dickenson to call the police, if they wouldn't leave his room and let him retire for the day.

When Bruce had arrived home, three very tired and sad teens had greeted him from their place in front of the TV. He had just sat down with them. The boys had recognized that as the bad sign it was and not asked. No one had moved, non of them had felt like sleeping and it was only hours later that they had nodded of one after another.

Woken up they were all at the same time. At 7am the telephone began to ring. Bruce moved his aching limps. He definitely was too old to spent his nights in awkward positions on the couch. Still he was the first to pick up the phone.

Tyson felt like he had just nodded off. And that probably was the case really. He was dead tired, the world around him was a blur. Still something had woken him. Not the ringing of the telephone, that was only the second thing that reached his waking senses. More likely the movement on the couch. It was nodding up and down with people suddenly getting up.

Tyson tried to push his left ear further in the cushion to at least block the ringing out on one side of his head. He sighed when the noise stopped, only to be irritated by the voice that suddenly started to reach him.

This wasn't nice. Why wouldn't they let him sleep? He hadn't been able to sleep last night. They knew it. It was because they had to bring Kai to the airport yesterday. He had had to say goodbye. So why...?

"They put Kai in prison?!"

That caught Tyson's attention. He opened one eye and moved a bit away from the cushion.

"As if it is such a difference that he is held at the airport. Being held in a cell in an airport is still being held in a cell!" ... "Yeah, okay. So what now?" ... "But his Japanese passport is real, isn't it?" ... "Mr. Hooley is going there? Truly?" ... "We could be at the airport in an hour. If you could make the bookings, then I wake up the kids." ... "Good. See you in an hour. Bye Stanley."

Bruce turned to the kids he was supposed to wake, only to be greeted by three eager and very wide awake teens.

"Dad! What's up? Kai is in prison?" Tyson stumbled off the couch, his body not as awake as his mind suddenly was, when he tried to proceed the news.

Bruce and Rei helped Tyson up and steadied him on his feet, while Max had problems to untangle himself from the blanket he had slept in.

"The Russian officials think, that Kai's pass is fake, they are holding him at the airport. There is a chance we can take him back to Japan now. Mr. Hooley says he has a couple that would probably take Kai in. Since Kai can't enter Russia until they resolved the passport incident, that would be the fastest solution. I told Mr. Dickenson, that we would go to get Kai too, so it would be good, if you could wash up and get a few things you need for a flight fast, because we don't have much time left."

The Bladebreakers were quiet for a moment, not sure if they were still dreaming. But since when would their dreams be this complicated?

"Yeah, Kai's coming back!" Max bounced up and down on the couch. Suddenly he stopped and a sneaky expression came onto his face. "Bathroom is mine first!", he shouted while starting to race across the living room.

Rei counted loudly to three. "I'll get you anyway." And ran after his teammate.

Tyson and Bruce remained standing. "You think this'll really work, dad?"

Mr. Granger didn't know when he had seen his son like this before. So hopeful, so desperate, so afraid. Probably never.

"We'll see Tyson, but everything is looking quite good at the moment. Why don't you go and pack up, so that we can find out?"

Tyson nodded and started to trail towards their sleeping room. The whole situation was so surreal. He didn't understand anything. Kai was coming and going in and out of his life like a bouncy ball. It had been like this from the beginning. Kai who had jumped into hi fight with Carlos and then disappeared until he was back there during the championships, only to leave the team and come back again. He had even stayed with the team here in the dojo until he was forced to leave to Russia and now Kai was supposed to come back again. No wonder that Tyson's feelings behaved crazy!

He reached their living quarters. Tyson remembered the last night Kai had spent here. He had just come back from his conversation with Kenny. May and Rei had already been asleep, only Kai had been sneaking around, when Tyson had stepped into the room.

Tyson went over to where Kai had knelled putting something into a bag. He knelled down on the same spot. Rei's backpack stood right in front of him. Without thinking about it Tyson opened it and felt around it. His fingers only touched fabric for a while until they glided across a piece of paper. Tyson pulled it out. They paper looked old and held an ugly color, that Tyson couldn't name. He opened it and saw the picture of a little boy. He immediately recognized the kid as his former team-captain. Especially the nose looked still the same and those eyes... Under the photograph stood the name Kai Hiwatari, the rest he couldn't read since everything else was written with Cyrillic letters. Only when he closed the paper again, there stood the word 'passport' written in both variations of letters.

Tyson jumped up, when he heard footsteps approach and hurriedly stuck his find into his jeans pocket. 'Oh Kai what have you done?'

Tbc...