Kai vs. Deli: Part Eighty-Six

     And the finger-owner had more than a finger to work with. She slid a black glove over one paw, then another over the other. Not to say that they were especially noticeable over her black fur. Quickly, she proceeded with strapping snug night-vision goggles over her eyes.

     Kai was ready. She jumped up onto the stool below the air vent and pulled its cover off, sending it clattering down to the floor. Shoving her backpack in first ahead of her, she slipped into the ducts with another quick hop, being just small enough to fit inside, and started crawling through to her rendezvous point.

     She stopped once to check her gauge watch, several numbers beeping on the screen. She didn't know what any of them meant, but she had thought the watch looked cool when her brother had bought it for her the week before.

     In a minute she was right over another vent cover, peering down through its slits to find her target just below. A faint grin found its way onto her lips as she zipped open her backpack. Rooting through it, she soon pulled out the key equipment to her operation. Putting them on all four paws, she silently opened the vent and whispered, "Suction activated. Go time!"

     As her cousin Deli scowled and bent down to pick up the bait litter on the floor, Kai dived out of the vent and landed squarely on his back.

     "What the--Kai, get off of me! Get off now! What the heck--!" Struggling to reach her and pry her off, the Draik flailed around for a minute or two as she giggled cheerfully at his endeavor.

     Finally, he stopped, growling furiously at her as he tried to at least look over his shoulder at her. Kai, latched onto him with a suction cup in each paw, wasn't bothering to contain her laughter at that point, enjoying the successful prank.

     Deli eyed the wall behind them. Kai suddenly stopped laughing. With a quick grin of his own, giving his wide-eyed cousin only enough time to whimper, he charged backwards.

     --

     Five minutes later the little Xweetok was sipping dejectedly on some grape soda through a straw, covers pulled up to her waist as she lay in her bed. Fill, a Gray Gelert, was standing over her, sighing, "Kai, what have I always said about bothering our cousins when they come visit?"

     She kept drinking for a few seconds, thinking, but finally lowered the can and pitifully answered, "I dunno..."

     "I said not to."

     "I don't remember that," Kai said after taking another sip of her soda.

     Fill shook his head at her, sighing once more. Nonchalantly, he said, "Really, Kai, what are we supposed to do with you?"

     Deli, leaning on the frame of the bedroom's doorway, offered, "I have a few suggestions."

     "Shut up, Deli," Fill replied just as calmly, not even looking over at him.

     The Mutant, a trace of his previous grin still there, shrugged his shoulders and wandered off again. Kai snuggled back up in the warm embrace of her pillow and took another drink. But the can was empty by then, so she just slurped on the droplets remaining. And kept slurping. Fill soon raised his eyebrows at her.

     The house was at peace for a few hours after that as Kai rested up from her adventure of sorts. Deli was quite appreciating it, too, being left alone to watch one of his favorite shows. Fill was just reading some book and Arti, his sister, had earlier dragged off their last sibling Blustra to one of her ditzy friend's parties for the rest of the day.

     While some commercials were showing, he took the time to visit the kitchen, though staying only long enough to grab a bottle of "Frenny's Lemon-Lime Juice" from the refrigerator.

     But as he closed the fridge door, his eyes automatically narrowed as he glanced to his right. In a low voice that he was very used to using, he growled, "Fill wouldn't want you on the counter, Kai. Get off."

     The Xweetok, sitting up on it with her legs dangling over the edge, looked amusedly back at him and snickered in response. "I'm not on the counter."

     The Draik took a few steps toward her. "Fill wouldn't want you on the counter, Kai. I'm going to smack you off."

     Her smile immediately faded and she pushed herself off, landing with a small thud back on the tiled floor. Annoyed, she grumbled back at him, "You don't have a sense of humor at all, do you? Can't even take a joke."

     "Actually, I thought it was hilarious when I painted the hallway with you."

     Defiantly, she stuck out her tongue at him and ran off back to who-knew-where-else. Deli ignored her, instead glancing at the clock hanging above the pantry door and sighed wearily. He had four more hours to last until she and Fill headed back to their place, visiting for the day only because his sister Flame was throwing a party with his other siblings Astra and Inu over at their house.

     An hour passed with no more Kai encounters for the Draik. Lying sideways on the couch in the living room, head propped up by his arm, he had flipped over to some crime drama when his favorite show had ended a few minutes ago.

     Eyes half-closed, he was barely paying attention to it at all, but he still didn't have much anything better to do than watch. One of the main characters had just found a vital clue in their robbery case, meaning another perfect crime had been foiled.

     Suddenly a little red dot appeared on the lead detective's forehead. It wasn't stable, either, and it wasn't a part of the program. Deli frowned. Hoisting himself up, he looked behind the couch to see Kai sitting on the top of bookcase behind him, shining a laser pointer right at the Neovision set.

     But Deli didn't get up. His cousin peered at him with a delighted grin, waiting for his reaction, but the Draik only glared back at her. Turning back around and getting himself comfortable again, he decided to wait her out. She'd get tired before he did. He didn't even care about the stupid show.

     Ten minutes later the light was still shining brightly on the screen, and Deli had underestimated how annoying it was. He hadn't even noticed, but one of his eyes was even twitching; he was reaching his boiling point.

     Suddenly, the light flicked off again. Deli calmed down and smiled, still not looking back at Kai. That had been easier than he'd thought it would have been.

     Suddenly, two more red dots popped up on the screen. Deli's eye twitched again and his frown also returned in full force. He got up, slowly and surely, and even more slowly turned around to face the little runt of an adversary behind him.

     Kai, previously giggling to herself while holding up the two laser pointers, quickly noticed him. They stared at each other for a few seconds longer, the Draik's eyes almost glowing red, and then the Xweetok flipped off her toys. A moment later, she leaped off the bookcase and ran screaming back through the hallway, Deli stomping after her with his fists curled.

     The screaming ensued until Kai, in her hysteria, found herself in the convenient dead-end of a corner of the laundry room, Deli looming over her with the intent to do physical damage.

     "Think about this rationally, Deli!" she pleaded, eyes wide with terror. "I was just bored--I didn't mean to--I thought it was funny--find some forgiveness in your heart--I look adorable, don't I--?"

     The Draik didn't verbally respond, but the cracking of his knuckles could be heard loud and clear.

     Back in bed, Kai was holding up a pack of ice on her head and whining to her big brother. Fill, putting another can of soda on her bedside table, glared over at Deli and said, "She's just restless, y'know. You do need to lighten up when she's around."

     His little sister wasn't really hurt, but she had been given a couple of bruises for sure. He glanced back over at Kai. "Tell you what: to keep out of Deli's hair for a while, let's a play a board game."

     "Monsters and Mayhem!" Kai immediately cried, springing forward.

     Fill raised another eyebrow at her and even Deli turned around to give her an annoyed look. The latter gruffly countered, "It's a tabletop roleplaying game, not a board game, and it's a complex game that you never learned how to play."

     "Teach me!" she replied.

     "You're implying that I would play with a domesticated monster like you?"

     The Xweetok eagerly nodded, grinning. Deli opened his mouth for a preplanned response, but since Fill was staring at him so hard he could feel the gaze boring into his skull, he instead rolled his eyes and grunted, "Whatever. But it'll be a dual adventure, so we'll be enemies."

     The Gelert rushed to gather the game equipment, arms full of rulebooks and papers when he returned. Deli pulled a stool up next to Kai's bed and started spreading out the general stuff before him, talking while he went. "Since Kai is new to the saga, we'll begin a new adventure. I'll also be the game master, since I have the most experience playing."

     "So, first, choose what kind of character you want to make," Fill explained to his little sister while he spread out some dice for everyone.

     Kai stroked her chin for a little while as she decided. Finally, after not even really knowing what she was even deciding, she exclaimed, "A fifty-foot-tall, fire-breathing super Draik!"

     "You can't be a Draik, dolt," Deli snapped. "Draiks are monsters."

     Kai looked at him with wide, almost unbelieving eyes.

     "You're playing one of the heroes," he continued, "someone that slays monsters like Draiks. But since I'm your adversary, I can design a faerie-gifted version for myself to roleplay."

     Kai tried her hardest not to break out into hysterical laughter, but she couldn't help releasing a giggle. Even Fill had cracked a grin at that point, but managed to restrain himself from anything else. Deli ignored them, not caring to understand their humor.

     The game soon began, Kai eagerly rolled her dice to determine her "first standings," as Deli explained. At least an hour of completely unintense play later, her enthusiasm for the dice-rolling had faded along with her smile.

     "Okay, a seven-two and five," Deli said, looking between the numbers Kai had rolled and his manuals. "Your knight takes a mighty leap at my stone golem and cleaves him in half--rather, he would have if he hadn't tripped before his mighty leap. Your whole attack is fouled up and my golem merely smirks down at you as he prepares to stomp your butt into the dirt for--"

     He rolled some more dice. "Fifty-four points of damage! Two more and your knight gets to visit the afterlife."

     Kai looked at all of her charts again before replying. She examined her stats, glanced at her reserved abilities and checked Deli's stats. Finally, she smacked away the papers in front of her and declared, "This is a stupid game! I'm done!"

     She jumped up and ran off as Deli pulled a stray piece of paper off of his head, grinning widely. "Oh, no."

     He stacked together all of his own charts, stood up and walked off. Fill sighed as he rested his chin on his fist.

     Soon they were both back in the living room, watching Neovision. They really had nothing else to do, as Fill had finished his book and Deli didn't have anything else to occupy himself with. Silence had ensued long ago, save for the program that they weren't really paying attention to anyway.

     The show went to commercials as Deli slouched down a bit more. Fill glanced down at him. Breaking the silence, he stated, "Y'know, Deli, sometimes I think Kai likes you even more than me, Arti and Blustra."

     Deli glanced up at him with a frown, not appreciating the brewing conversation. He grumbled, "Sure she does. I'm her favorite target in the whole wide world."

     "That's not what I mean," Fill placidly replied. "You're really her top playmate. I think it just so happens that the way she plays annoys you."

     "Yes, it annoys me! That's it! Brilliant observation, cousin," Deli said.

     Fill rolled his eyes and continued, "It's like when I told her you were coming over earlier: it made her day. She didn't cackle and rub her paws together as she plotted how to ruin your life; she started jumping around all over the place and yelling, 'Deli's coming! Deli's coming!'"

     Deli didn't respond, but he kept staring at Fill. The latter reached out to pat him on the had sarcastically, continuing, "It's true. She--"

     "You gave her forewarning that I was coming over?" Deli snarled, Fill instantly retreating his arm as his cousin pulled himself up and out of his chair and shoved an accusing finger in Fill's face.

     "You say she's just a little angel? Well, I say she's a demon in mini-form! The brat may have you hypnotized, but she hates me, the universe and everything! She's probably stalking me right now, and if she isn't then she's getting ready to!"

     He glared maniacally at the Gelert for a few seconds longer, eyes almost glowing red. Finally, he sat back down with a whump, crossing his arms and legs as he continued to stare forward at the dull commercial then on.

     He glanced at Fill only once more, asking with a huff, "What time is it?"

     Fill glanced at his watch and meekly muttered the time to his cousin. They both remained quiet for a long while.

     But they were soon not alone. From the hallway peered two sparkling blue eyes, narrowed mischievously as the owner of them clutched a small, plastic club in her two paws. Deftly, she moved out from the hallway to beside the bookcase behind the sofa. Her grasp was not sweaty as she slowly lifted up her weapon. In one swift motion, she leaped up through the air, roared her adorable battle cry, sailed over the sofa and delivered her club smashing down into Deli's seat.

     Without Deli in it. As her club collided with a cushion, Kai kept sailing over the sofa and crashed onto the floor in front of it. Groaning, she slowly stood up and rubbed her bruised head.

     "Sorry, Kai, but Deli left," Fill explained as he flipped through the Neovision channels.

     "Well that's obvious... Mr. Obvious!" Kai retorted irritatedly. "Where'd he go?"

     "I mean, he left," Fill repeated. "He headed back over to his place early."

     Kai stopped rubbing her head and stared up wide-eyed at her brother, apparently shocked. "What? But he was supposed to leave an hour later than this!"

     Fill grinned down at her. "I guess he figured the remainder of a party was a better fate than this."

     Kai climbed up onto the sofa next to Fill and sighed. Another silence came over them, a strange thing with Kai. But soon she turned to her brother again and asked, "When will he come visit again?"

     "Dunno," Fill replied. "He could come back at any time, I guess. We'll never know until he comes again."

     Kai nodded and started rummaging between the sofa cushions with her paw. She quickly pulled out a pair of slick shades she had been hiding there for no particular reason and put them on, coolly answering her brother, "I'll be ready for him."

The Temporary End

I, the author, would like to thank kevinlin1216 and katopia12 for proofreading this. And I would also like to thank the latter for allowing me to use her pets. Honestly, I don't think I could've written this story without her special help there.