A Month Of Kaider

Eight: Fixing Lots At Once

Cinder lets her head fall on the table.

Ignoring the dull ache that immediately arises, she shuts her eyes and sighs.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Kai asks her quietly, already having predicted this and moved her food tray to avoid Cinder getting a face full of mashed potato.

"I don't know, something feels wrong," Cinder mumbles, keeping her head on the table.

Kai puts an arm around her and rubs her shoulders. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No."

"Do you want to mumble about it?" Kai asks, pushing her hair back.

Cinder laughs fleetingly, turning her head to look at him. "You're unreal."

"I sincerely hope that isn't true," Kai replies, smiling.

They share a smile, Kai patiently waiting as Cinder bites her cheek and stays silent.

"Winter won't talk to me," Cinder says finally, frowning sadly.

Kai thinks for a minute. "Has she damaged her vocal chords?"

"No?"

"Is she perhaps having a bad time at the moment? You tend to go quiet and she does share your genes."

Cinder gasps, nodding. "Kai, you're a genius."

"So I've been told." Kai winks. "Go and talk to her."

"Thanks, Kai." Cinder kisses his cheek before getting up and racing to the textiles room.

And, just as she'd thought, Winter is hunched over a long, yellow piece of silk.

"Winter?" Cinder asks hesitantly.

Winter looks up but doesn't say anything so Cinder walks over to her and coughs. "I'm sorry."

She watches as Winter stops sewing to look at her with a puzzled expression, then carries on: "I'm sorry for avoiding you, I thought you were avoiding me."

Winter smiles. "No, I'm not avoiding you."

"Winter, what's going on? You've not properly talked to me for almost a week."

Winter sighs, fiddling with her hands. "My, uh, hallucinations have been getting pretty bad."

Cinder's face softens; she knows how real the visions can seem to Winter and she's seen the damage they can cause to her confidence and self-esteem.

"Have you talked to someone about it?" Cinder asks as gently as she can.

"No, and I don't know who to tell," Winter confesses.

It's just then that Cress walks in, and spots them. "Oh, hey guys!"

"It's over there, and it looks really beautiful." Winter smiles and points to the dress Cress had designed, which is what she'd come to look for.

Cress blushes. "Thanks."

Cinder grins as well, but for a different reason. "Hey, Cress, isn't your Dad a doctor?"

Cress nods. "Yeah, why? Are you guys hurt?"

Winter, catching on, shakes her head. "It's not physical..."

"Oh?"

Cinder looks to Winter, silently asking if she's okay with telling someone else about her condition. Winter nods after a moment so the two of them turn to Cress, who looks extremely nervous.

Between the two of them, they explain Winter's problem, Cress filling in the gaps.

"Do you want to come over this weekend? My Dad can do an assessment and try to help you, if that's something you're comfortable with?" Cress asks kindly.

Winter nods happily. "That would be wonderful."

Cress fidgets for a moment, glancing at Cinder. "It has to be by yourself though."

Cinder laughs. "Don't worry, Winter's done this before, we're okay with that."

Cress looks relieved, beaming. "Oh, good. Are you guys coming to eat?"

Cinder can see the hesitance in Winter's eyes but she nods for the both of them anyway, not wanting Winter to be alone if she's feeling down.

"Winter, come on, I'm sure that Jacin wants to see you."

"We all want to see you," Cress adds, smiling encouragingly.

Winter nods. "Okay."

Cress quickly puts her dress in one of the cupboards and Winter packs hers up, Cinder watching the two of them and tapping her feet in rhythm to nothing in particular.

The three of them make their way back to the dining hall, slipping into the seats the others had saved for them.

Jacin immediately whispers something to Winter, who laughs brightly; Cress slides next to Thorne, stealing one of his strawberries; Cinder kisses Kai's temple, just before sitting down, as an act of gratitude.

"Did you fix the problem?" Kai asks softly.

"Yeah."

Kai beams at her and Cinder decides now is the right time so give him something in return.

"I want to show you something," Cinder mumbles, pulling Kai up.

The others barely even bat an eye, all of them used to each other leaving without much warning.

Cinder leads Kai the media room they use solely for programming, logging on to one of the computers and opening up the program they'd learned about the day before.

She would have brought him to see it yesterday but she hadn't quite figured it out then and she didn't want to get Kai's hopes up only to shoot them down again.

"Is that...?" Kai trails off as Cinder nods excitedly.

"We can use it for Nainsi," Cinder whispers, grinning.

Kai's eyes light up and he wraps his arms around her, smiling. "Thank you."

"Not yet, we don't know if it works."

"True, but you're helping, which is more than I should be able to ask for."

Cinder shakes her head. "It's the least I can do."

Kai pulls back, lacing their fingers together. "It's really not."

Cinder frowns at the statement but doesn't dwell on it too much, instead deciding to explain the software to Kai, who nods along even when he looks utterly bewildered.

The two of them stay there until Cinder's teacher walks in. "Oh, hello."

"Sorry, I was just showing Kai the program from yesterday," Cinder explains.

He smiles at them. "That's fine, but you probably need to head off now."

Kai smiles as Cinder starts logging off. "Thank you so much."

"No problem. I can't report you for learning, can I?" He chuckles.

Cinder rolls her eyes, pretty sure that he would have if Kai hadn't been there. He's probably the only student in school who can compromise with every single teacher, and most of the students as well.

As they leave, Cinder asks: "Are we working on it today?"

Kai shakes his head. "I'm awfully sorry but my parents have invited some guests over for tonight."

Cinder nudges him. "It's okay, we'll do it tomorrow."

Kai nods, grinning, his eyes sparkling.

Cinder suddenly starts to see why all the girls in her year – and other years – try so hard to flirt with Kai.

She's on the verge of trying it herself.

This story has over 700 views on FFN - I'm so elated :) Anyways, see you - aka anyone who actually read this - tomorrow!