Project LOSS

Chapter 16

After a relaxed but bumpy bus journey home, Kai stood at the entrance to Old Town as his companions and new friends said their goodbyes. Tobias shifted nervously from foot to foot before approaching Kai.

“Before you go, I really want… to… to ask you something, but… erm… I’m nervous…” he stammered, eyes gleaming with the hope Kai would cut him off, offering reassurances and kind words. Kai did not. He stared blankly at the young man, eyebrows raised, dreading to imagine what his biggest fan might request of him.

“Oh jeez, just spit it out, will you?” jibed Sky, pushing his friend lightly on the shoulder.

“What is it?” Kai asked in as casual a manner as he could muster.

“Fight me?” Tobias asked after a short pause.

“Fight you?” Kai confirmed, unsure he heard correctly. Even though his hearing was better than perfect, he occasionally had a tendency to hear the things he wanted rather than what was being said.

“Yeah. I want to test my strength; see how I measure up against the great Kai Jonas.”

Tobias gave Kai a small smile. “I know I can’t beat you … I just want to know what it’s like to fight someone really strong since I’m stronger than anyone in my city…”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Kai stated. There were plenty of people Kai did want to hurt, but Tobias was not among that number.

“You know… being strong doesn’t make you feel strong. Beating weaker fighters day in day out makes you feel like a wuss. Like the bully in the playground pushing around the little kids.” Tobias looked up at Kai. “You understand that?”

“I do, sort of. I guess it’s different for me. I was born this way.” Kai shook his head. “But I don’t want to fight you.”

“Oh… go on, please?” Tobias whined, seemingly obsessed with the idea of getting beaten by the man he idolised. Or maybe he honestly believed he stood a chance. Who knew? To be fair, Vrethie probably did, and would surely fill Kai in on the mental subtext later in the evening.

Not in the mood to continue arguing, Kai fell into a lazy fight stance; his feet shoulder-width apart and his fists raised to guard his face. He tapped Tobias lightly on the shoulder, testing the water, before bouncing back and blocking the return punch with ease. Kai danced, light on his feet, blocking kicks and punches with such gentle grace as to not damage the weaker fighter.

“Come on, hit me!” Tobias shouted and was rewarded with a blow that thrust him up a few feet into the air.

“Woah!” Tobias cried as he jumped back onto his feet, wobbling slightly.

“Was that full force?” Tobias asked, much to Kai’s amusement.

“No.” He laughed. “That was a ten percenter.” Kai lied to be kind. It was more like one per cent of his full fighting power.

Kai had become expert at reigning in his strength and measuring the blows he doled out with mathematician-like precision, after years of dishing out accidental injuries, crushing ribs in hugs and breaking bones with playful taps.

Tobias seemed delighted with this response, undeterred by the huge margin by which he fell short in comparison.

“Give me a twenty percent!” he urged, perhaps a mite foolishly. Kai kicked Tobias squarely across the shoulder blades, making sure to sweep rather than crush and distributing the force evenly to avoid breaking bones or bursting a lung. It occurred to Kai that his fighting style was more geared toward preventing dishing out damage than it was to causing pain or injury. Although a strange concept, it gave him hope that he possessed more humanity than he previously credited himself with.

Tobias was propelled at least thirty feet before making a crash landing and skidding another ten feet in the dust. Shaking himself off, he walked back to the group with a slight limp but was otherwise unharmed.

“No man,” he whined, “in the face!”

Kai raised an eyebrow. “Really? In the face? Do you not like having teeth?”

“I can live without them.” Tobias grinned.

“Don’t do it,” the others chimed in, apparently valuing Tobias’s teeth more than Tobias did.

Vrethie laughed softly, shaking his head. When Kai looked to him for an explanation, Kai was given a look that said, ‘I’ll explain all later.’

“Oh god no!” Vrethie cried, startling the rest of the group.

“What is it?” asked Kai, instantly worried. Whenever Vrethie cried out in that manner as it usually indicated a crisis.

Vrethie looked at Kai with tear-filled eyes. “It’s Milo.”