~Chapter 19 – All in One Piece~

            "Why are you training so hard again? It's been hours since we got back you need to rest."

            Kyungsoo looks up to the trees where he heard the voice, at the sight of Kai he just glowers at the other and returns to practicing his punches and kicks on the vertical log.

            "You're overworking yourself over something ridiculous," says Kai quietly.

            Kyungsoo pauses mid punch, "No it's not, my skills are lacking and it's clear I'm the weak link in the team. Sehun, Luhan, and you are all-"

            "Lacking too," finishes Kai seriously as he jumps down from the tree to stand before Kyungsoo, "We're all lacking in some area too, we're not any better than you. We're a team, we all view each other as equals and you should view yourself on our level too not lower than us."

            "The mission failed because of my lack in skills," replies Kyungsoo harshly, he refuses to look at Kai a part of him feels like he's ashamed of his blunder so all he wants to do is simply hide from his teammates until he feels like he has redeemed himself. Until he feels like he deserves to be on their team as a fellow contributor rather than the weakest link.

            Kai's silence even adds on to Kyungsoo's dark thoughts, 'Even Kai can't deny that fact.'

            "I thought you were the reasonable one in our team," announces Kai suddenly.

            Surprised by the response Kyungsoo snaps his head up to meet Kai's gently smiling face, there's no blame or condescending look just understanding and slight worry.

            "One failed mission doesn't define us or our worth, there's going to be plenty more in our futures not every mission can be a success and that's just something we have to accept and learn from," Kai pats Kyungsoo's head and ruffles his hair lightly.

            Kyungsoo feels his heart skip a beat at the caring sight but quickly covers it up with a scowl and swats Kai's hand away while the younger just grins.

            "Let's go take a break, I'll get you into a better mood. Don't worry about the failed mission too much we're all learning from it too," adds on Kai optimistically.

            Kyungsoo looks away as he feels his spirits lifting just from Kai's reassurances, he might be blushing or he could just blame it on his hours of training earlier but he still agrees to go with Kai nonetheless.

            Kyungsoo blinks a few times as the grogginess of sleep begins to wear off. 'Such and old memory… Our first failed mission years ago… Why did I remember that…'

            Kyungsoo feels someone running their fingers through his hair and it feels relaxing enough for him to fall back asleep again, he's seated on the floor while his head is leaning on the side of Kai's bed although it's not the ideal position for sleep Kyungsoo doesn't really mind too much at the moment.

            "Are you awake?"

            The voice jolts Kyungsoo upright immediately his sleepiness completely evaporating and he thinks that he may have imagined it if it wasn't for the startled look that Kai was giving him right now.

            "You-You're awake," says Kyungsoo breathlessly.

            Kai gives Kyungsoo his usual sheepish grin as he sits upright, "Yeah, I feel like hell though."

            Without much hesitation Kyungsoo's usually cooled temper takes a turn for the worse, "You should! You managed to reopen your previous wound that I fixed up, lost even more blood than the last time, created new wounds for yourself, and worse of all scared the flying out of all of us! We carried you to the closest inn we could find while freaking out over whether or not you were going to make it, none of us are medics are you insane!? You were the most injured out of all four of us but you still put yourself in more danger, I'd have rather been the one that got injured than you!"

            Kyungsoo was breathing rather hard after he got everything he had to say off his chest.

            "Finished?" asked Kai calmly.

            Kyungsoo glared at Kai as an answer.

            "I'm taking that as a yes," replied Kai as he patted the empty side of his bed silently telling Kyungsoo to take a seat.

            "I don't want to sit I have to check your wounds again to see if they stopped bleeding," said Kyungsoo curtly.

            Kai sighed, he was more than glad that he was able to wake up to face another day but he didn't think that he would have pissed Kyungsoo of all people off, "Okay, please check my wounds."

            Kyungsoo grumbled something under he breath before going to take out their first aide kit, he places it on the bed while he kneels on the floor so he's eye level with Kai's wounds on the latter's torso. He's just about to begin undoing the bandages when Kai speaks up again.

            "Sorry for worrying you."

            "You didn't worry me, you scared the living daylights out of me."

            "Sorry…"

            Kyungsoo shoots Kai an exasperated look and sighs, "Why…"

            Kai crinkles his brows, "Hm? Why what?"

            "Why did you get in the way? That kunai could have hit a vital part, it could have killed you if you moved too far. Do you have any idea how horrible it would have been if your life ended here on this mission because you were defending me? I would have rather taken the kunai than you, that way even if we were both injured at least we would have been guaranteed to be alive and conscious," Kyungsoo looked at the wounds Kai acquired on this mission as he talked he wished he could have done better for the treatment but this was simply the extent of his knowledge on medical treatments for open wounds.

            "Kyungsoo I just moved, it was as if it was a reflex, my thought when I saw that kunai head right for you was to stop it at all costs," replied Kai seriously, "I wasn't going to just