Psychic

46. Secret

When Rai arrived with Callan and Ken on the ship, they were almost instantly greeted by Debra, who ran up to hug Ken. She stopped suddenly and pushed him back. "What took you so long? Three nights?! I was having a heart attack."

"We had to stay with Rai's uncle then we slept out in the jungle because the other kid was all the way on Mount Khoa and when we arrived there it was already night."

Debra crossed her arms, "and you're still missing two kids."

"One's still at the Niji Gardens so we came back to drop this one off." He gestured to Rai as she set Callan down on the deck and went into the hold with him. "And the other one is with-" Roxanne appeared behind him with Reno and Isaac. "Her."

Reno instantly pulled his arm away from Roxanne. Isaac looked around the ship and went to go look over the railing. Reno went to his nightstand on the deck where kept his clothes and grabbed a clean outfit. He took his clothes with him toward the hold when Rai came out of it. "Where is Kiyo?" she asked Debra.

"He went off to the Gardens on his own. Used the ship's computer to talk to a slaver he knew then went to get the kid."

"When did he leave?" Ken asked.

"He got the information last night and left this morning," Debra explained. "He should be back soon if they don't give him any trouble."

"Maybe I should go check on him," Rai thought aloud.

"No," Debra told her quickly. "He wanted to do it alone. He told me not to tell anyone where he went if you came back before he did. Just let him do this. It'll make our lives easier."

Rai sighed slowly as she thought. "It's my cousin who's there... but I think he could manage. Fine but I'll only wait until dinner. He's not here by then, I'm going."

She let the hold door close as she walked back inside but Reno was going to go in but hesitated. He looked at the door but while listening to Debra, Ken and Roxanne talking quietly, almost whispering. "Debra," he called her, interrupting her other conversation.

"Yes?"

"Why did he go?"

"Uh, to shorten the work load, I guess," she shrugged.

He looked over at her and she could almost feel a change in his voice. "You know that's not true." He had gone from simply asking a question to sounding accusatory, as though he were conducting an interrogation.

"Well, he didn't tell me why he was going."

"But you know why," he pointed at her as he spoke. "You know exactly why he's doing it. I want you to say what you think."

"I think he believes that he'll make an impression by doing this on his own."

"On who? Surely you don't think Kiyoshi cares what you think of him."

"On Rai."

"And why do you think he feels the need to do that?" Reno crossed his arms as he waited for a response. "Roxanne? What do you think?" She continued to glare at him, knowing exactly what he expected to hear.

"I think," Debra shrugged, "Kiyo thinks that Rai might actually like you."

"Huh. Wonder what gave him that idea. What do you think?"

"I wouldn't know. I never see you guys together."

"But..." Marlene's voice was loud from the top of the bridge as she watched them from over the railing. "You two seem to spend an awful lot of time together when no one's looking."

"I second that," Debra agreed with Marlene. "I hear that you two were together but no one ever sees it. You know," now Debra was the one to sound suspicious, "you do seem to spend an awful lot of time together considering how much Rai hates you."

"Indeed," Roxanne smiled widely. "We were camping in the jungle and I woke up in the middle of the night and Rai was gone. I went to look for her and it turned out Reno was missing too. How odd."

"Whatever you're insinuating," Reno shrugged casually, "I'd like to say it's true but Rai could not possibly care less what I want. She's regretted saving me from the moment she did it. That's not to say that I don't believe she harbors secret feelings for me but she's just yet to reveal it."

"That's not what you told me," Roxanne answered arrogantly. Reno noticed her eyes looking behind him rather than at him. He looked over his shoulder at Rai standing behind him.

"Did it ever occur to you," he began to answer Roxanne, "that maybe I was just being an asshole?"

"Are you talking about me?" Rai asked him.

"I'm just telling your fans how much you'd like me to fuck you without having to admit that you want it."

"Fucking dipshit." Rai punched him in the stomach. "Isaac," she called to her brother still looking over the railing. "Come inside. I'm making food." He ran into the hold past Rai. Before she could follow him in, she turned her attention to the others. "You guys hungry? I'm making what's left of the eggs. They'll go bad soon."

"I could eat," Ken announced.

"You mean you could eat less," Debra said patting Ken's stomach. "Fatty."

"I'd rather die a fatty than die hungry." Ken hugged her head and she tried to pry herself loose.

"Marlene, come on," Rai called her, gesturing for her to come down. "I got to tell you something."

"Coming."

* * *

As Rai took out everything that she was going to use to cook the eggs, Reno had gone into the bathroom to change his clothes. When Marlene joined her, Rai gave her Callan to carry while he was drinking orange juice from a cup with a lid. Rai then explained everything that happened with Reno in the temple. Her story was protected from eavesdropping ears by the noise of Isaac, Sahalli and Laura playing tag around the table behind them.

Marlene slapped Rai's arm and whispered to her with a massive smile, "you actually kissed him? You liar. You told me you didn't like him and you let him tell everyone that you don't."

"I don't want them to know. They'll just tell me it's a bad idea and I already know that."

"But wait, wait..." Marlene gripped the arm Rai was using to hold the frying pan while she stirred the eggs. "Are you... in love with him?"

"Don't be stupid. I barely know him."

"But you know him well enough to kiss him?"

"He started it."

"Very clever," she said sarcastically. "That's why you saved him, isn't it? You liked him even back then?"

"No, no. I mean, I did but that's not why I did it. Look, he was never a good person but I couldn't just let him die if I was able to prevent it, you know? I didn't think he was going to end up stuck with us."

"But you're glad it worked out that way, huh?" Marlene asked her with a restrained devious smile.

"Maybe a little."

Marlene sighed dreamily as she turned to lean against the counter. "You know...when they got in their fight, Reno told Kiyo that he loves you."

"He told me too. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"He cares about you. Well, actually, you're the only person he cares for. The only person he's ever cared for and he's attracted to you. It's not the way you expect fall in love but it's the way it happened for him. He can't help that."

"Yeah, I guess. I think I just have a hard time believing that he'd be okay with just me."