• CHAPTER 176 - UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES

    It’s time to break it out to everybody…but what will they say, considering Judgment Day is nearing?

    “Kai, let’s go to Matsuda and Orihime’s,” I proposed, trying not to sound monotonic anymore. “Everybody else is there.”

    “Okay,” Kai nodded, scooping up his car keys.

    Once we piled into Kai’s car, we left right away. Our communication had been waning again; Kai was keeping his distance from me. It was still so painful for him to be near me; how was it even possible that we made love? Of course, that was seven weeks ago; the contract worsens every day, so it was less painful back then.

    The whole way to Matsuda and Orihime’s, I was twiddling my thumbs. I felt like a horrible person for not telling Kai I was pregnant, but that was why we were going to Matsuda and Orihime’s. Takeuchi and Miku were visiting for a little while too. I would feel safer if I were to tell more people. How horrible; I never imagined I would say I would feel safer with Kai while around other people. What was the world coming to?

    “Hey, we’re here,” Kai cupped his hand over mine.

    I turned towards Kai and forced a smile, “Okay, thank you,”

    “Arisa,” Kai gripped my hand firmly, “if you’re uncomfortable about something, please tell me.” He looked at me sadly. “You seem to be sheltering yourself.”

    “It’s…” I couldn’t tell him, not when nobody else was around. I pursed my lips together. “I’ll tell you when we get inside.”

    Kai’s complexion shifted to worry and I exited the car. Kai soon exited as well and we walked up to the house hand-in-hand. I felt so rancid; why was I hiding such a huge ordeal from him? It would all be over soon; I would break the news out to everybody. Dozens of different reactions that Kai could have were buzzing in my mind; most of which were bad.

    “Arisa!” Miku exclaimed with Toshihiro in her arms as Kai and I entered the house.

    “Arisa is here?” Matsuda walked over. He raised his eyebrows. “Hello, you two.”

    I smiled at Matsuda, “Hi, Matsuda,”

    “What brings you two here?” Matsuda furrowed his eyebrows together, almost concerned. “Is something wrong?”

    “Um…” I stumbled over my words. “Where is everybody else?”

    “In the living room,” Matsuda gestured.

    With our hands still locked together, Kai and I entered the living room and Orihime and Takeuchi were conversing while sitting on the same couch. They both looked over at us and Takeuchi’s face lit up. Takeuchi sprinted over to me and picked me up, spinning me around and crushing me.

    “Arisa! It’s been forever!” he squealed.

    I immediately started panicking, thinking he was going to accidentally crush what I was going to tell everybody about, “Takeuchi, careful!”

    “Oh,” he set me down, laughing. “Are you sick?”

    “Yeah…” I mumbled. I locked my hands together in front of me. “Hey, guys, could you all have a seat, by chance?”

    Confused, everybody took a seat after Kira popped into the room and gave me a rough squeeze of a hug. Kai, instead, chose to stand and lean against the unlit fireplace. He never tore his eyes off of me; his face told me he was concerned, but his eyes told me he knew I was hiding something. If he did know I was hiding something, did he know that it was his child I was hiding?

    “So what were you going to say?” Matsuda asked, snapping me out of my trance in Kai’s eyes.

    The butterflies tore viciously at my stomach, causing me to become a little light-headed. It was either the butterflies tearing at my stomach, or the half-Vampire baby nestling inside of me. I was only seven weeks along but there was somewhat of a visible bump already.

    “Um…” I panicked, fondling with my fingers.

    Everybody was starting to grow concerned, “Arisa, what do you need to say?” Matsuda beckoned.

    “I’m pregnant!” I blustered and immediately covered my mouth.

    The room fell painfully silent and all eyes were glued on me. Tears instantly started brimming my eyes, especially when I looked over at Kai, the father, with his widened eyes of shock, disbelief, and betrayal. It was when everybody noticed me staring at Kai that they stared at him. Everything was backwards; a pregnancy was supposed to be an exciting, momentous thing. In my circumstance, it was an even worse end for me.

    Matsuda looked back at me again, “You’re pregnant?” he stood up, approaching me. “How many tests did you take?”

    “Three,” I mumbled. “They were all positive. And I went to the doctor’s the other day.”

    Matsuda looked back at Kai, “When did this happen?”

    Kai’s face hardened a little and he looked away, refusing to answer. My stomach dropped and I looked down, “Seven weeks ago,”

    Then came the question I had waited for, but feared at the same time, “What about the contract?”

    “Arisa,” Kai interrupted a little coldly. “May I speak with you alone?”

    For a moment, my heart stopped. The room was silent once more as Kai took my hand and started leading me upstairs. Everybody watched me in concern until Kai and I disappeared, entering Kai’s bedroom. Kai released my hand and walked away a few steps, keeping his back towards me. The silence was so painful that I was about to scream to shatter it. Kai was actually scaring me; his reaction was far worse than I imagined.

    “So you’re…pregnant?” Kai asked, hesitating on the last word.

    “Yes,” I squeaked, planting my feet where they were.

    “And it’s mine?”

    That was when my anger sparked, “You don’t think it’s yours…?”

    “I know it is,”

    “Then why did you ask?”

    “I don’t know,” he mumbled.

    I clenched my fists, “Do you think I’m just another Ayame? Do you think that just because I’m pregnant…and with a half Vampire?”

    “Arisa, stop, I don’t think that,”

    My face softened a little and my fists relaxed, “Why do you seem so angry?”

    “I’m not,”

    Kai leaned against the wall, holding his hand on a mirror. I had expected him to sigh or even shake his head, but I hadn’t expected him to tear the mirror off of the wall and onto the ground with his hand. The swirled metal frame bent severely and dozens of shards of mirror launched all over the ground, one of which launched into the side of my foot. I released a shout and dropped onto the ground, holding my bleeding foot. Kai turned around with crimson eyes and anger etched onto his face.

    “Kai…?” I choked on a lump, pressing against the wound.

    Kai stood a couple of feet in front of me, looking down at me with those same angered, pained, hungry eyes. I honestly couldn’t tell if he was seriously angry or if the contract was trying to take possession. Either way, Kai’s complexion plunged a dagger into my heart.

    The tears started billowing out of my eyes and I moved back until I was against a wall, “Please don’t hurt me, Kai…”

    He seemed to snap back into his senses because his eyes faded to gold for a second and his complexion instantly fell. He dropped onto his knees and embraced me closely. I sobbed on his shoulder with trembling hands and he buried his face in my neck. I was so confused; I didn’t know when Kai was ever himself anymore.

    “I’m sorry, Arisa, I’m so sorry…” he mumbled. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

    “It hurts,” I cried.

    “I-I went blind for a moment,” Kai cupped my face, trying to explain himself. He was panicking rather than becoming angrier. “I didn’t want to do any of that; that wasn’t me.”

    I knew Kai was telling the truth because his shoulders were trembling and his eyes were red earlier and he would never intentionally harm me. Once he realized he hurt me, and how afraid I was, he managed to gain control of himself once more. My foot was in pain and my heart was ripping in two, but I was more focused on Kai. If he wouldn’t want the baby, then what would he want?

    “Arisa, the contract…” he mumbled. “The contract could act up any day and then the baby won’t be born.”

    I glanced into Kai’s eyes and my heart dropped even more, “Do…do you even want this baby?”

    Kai paused for a moment, staring at me in apathy. He looked down, “I possess mixed feelings about it. I’m still in shock, mind you.”

    “But what would keep you from wanting it?”

    “The contract,” Kai said easily. “The contract and the fact that it’s a half Vampire.”

    “There have been half Vampires born before, Kai,” I tried to contradict him.

    “Yes, but most half Vampires were born from Vampire mothers,” Kai sighed. “You’re barely healthy enough to carry a human baby, let alone a half Vampire. You can’t do it.”

    My heart stopped, “So…you don’t want it?”

    “I’m not saying that,”

    “But that’s how you feel, isn’t it?” the tears started welling up again. “Even if there was no contract, you wouldn’t want this baby.”

    “Arisa, don’t assume that,” Kai sighed. “I just don’t want it killing you.”

    “Like the contract won’t anyways,” I hissed as tears started falling once again. “Would you rather me get an abortion to lift at least one burden off your shoulders?”

    Kai’s eyes widened at me, “You wouldn’t…” he cupped my face. “Never suggest such a thing; I’d never want you to have an abortion.”

    “If it would relieve some of your stress, then I’d be willing to suffer,” I lied. That was one thing I would never do for Kai.

    There was a very long moment of silence before Kai disappeared and reappeared with a medical box in his hands. Painfully, he removed the shard of the mirror in my foot and I groaned. He removed my sock, cleaned the wound, slipped a new sock back on, and embraced me. Slowly, he moved one hand down to gently press against my stomach. There still wasn’t much of a bump and it was a little tender already.

    “Arisa…may I propose something?” Kai mumbled.

    My heart jumped in excitement and fear at the same time. Whatever Kai would propose would be good or bad. Not neutral, “Sure,”

    “I think…I think I’ll keep you at Matsuda and Orihime’s,” Kai mumbled again. “I believe it’s about time I sent you away.”

    I pulled back and stared at Kai in disbelief, and he looked back at me in all seriousness. I shook my head, “No…no, I’m not leaving,”

    “Arisa, the contract could act up any day now and you’re pregnant,” Kai sighed. “I’m not taking that risk, not as long as you’re pregnant. Besides, we should have evacuated you as soon as I was told the contract was being activated.”

    “I’m not staying here, Kai!” I blustered. “I’m staying with you!”

    “You can’t,” Kai ordered. “I desire what’s best for you and the baby.”

    “What’s best for the baby is being able to see its father!” I shouted again, feeling mature with my talk about babies.

    “We shouldn’t have done this, Arisa,” Kai hissed to himself. “We shouldn’t have taken our relationship to the next level.”

    I pursed my lips together, “So…you regret it?”

    “No, never,” Kai kissed my forehead.

    “Then let’s go home…” I mumbled.

    “You’re not coming with me, Arisa,” he said firmly.

    As I was about to protest, Kai gave me a rough kiss and teleported out of sight. I sat for a moment in shock until I heard a revving engine outside. I dashed to the window just in time to see Kai speed away from the house. Panicking, I darted down the stairs and out the front door, just as the dust started to settle. Kai’s car was nowhere in sight already. He left just like that?

    “Kai!” I called out. “Kai, come back!!”

    I turned around and ran back inside, on the verge of breaking down. I crashed into Matsuda and gripped his shirt, “Matsuda, take me to Kai!”

    “I’m not obligated to do that, Arisa…”

    “Dammit, Matsuda!” I shouted, backing away from him. “I’m not leaving!”

    “Arisa, we’ve already booked a flight,” Matsuda sighed. “We leave for Europe tomorrow night.”

    I pumped my fist against a wall, only to have it crack just a little bit, “I’m not ******** leaving!!”

    The house fell silent once more and the sound of Toshihiro’s crying started building up. Kira came into the entryway, concerned. The tears were streaming down my face; I could hardly make out anybody’s face. I ran past Matsuda and Kira and into Kai’s bedroom. I locked the door—though it wouldn’t make any use in such a family—and I sat down and started to sob.

    “That b*****d!” I sobbed into my arms. “How could he just leave like that?!”

    My heart was breaking; he left me almost as abruptly as when he left me at the orphanage. Hell, it was an even worse of an event as the dream I had when Kai ditched me in Europe. It was almost the same situation, only Kai left me before I went. I couldn’t let him leave so easily; I didn’t want to be separated from him. I wanted to have the baby with Kai; I couldn’t have it and tell it that there was no father.

    “Idiot…” I cried. “Idiot, idiot…”