"You want to meet my family?" Hakuei stared at her boyfriend like he had just suggested they moved to Narnia and destroy the witch. Sinbad on the other hand thought it was a great idea.

"Yeah!" he smirked his trademark smirk. "We've been dating for long enough. Why not?" Hakeui could find a million reasons why they shouldn't.

"W-we haven't been dating THAT long." Sinbad raised an eyebrow at her from across the lunch table.

"Hakuei. Last week was our one year anniversary."

"That's not that long…"

"Hakeui!"

"Some people don't introduce their boyfriends to their family for…five years!" she guessed she would be ready by then.

"Sure Hakuei. And those people are snails," Sinbad argued. As she tried to come up with an argument he reached under the table and grabbed her free hand. Glancing up at him the two of them had their own mini stare-down. "What's the problem with it? I just want to come over and say hi, I don't have to become their favourite person. Besides, I know your brother already." Hakuryuu was only a few years younger than Sinbad. Once they had a class together.

Still unconvinced Hakeui shook her head. "Well my family is…why do you want to meet them anyway? Where did this come from?" Sinbad shrugged trying to seem nonchalant, but in truth this was really bugging him.

Flashback (two days ago)

"You haven't met Hakuei's family yet?" Sharkon had asked him on their way back from grade 12 biology. "I thought you two were dating for a while."

"We have!" Sinbad defended himself as he placed his books in his locker. Sharkon shook his head, unconvinced.

"Dude, I've been dating Yamu not even half the time that you have, and I met her dad before we even started officially dating." Yamu and Sharkon had been dating for almost 3 months now, even though the two fought a lot.

Unsure, Sinbad asked his friend, "Is it a bad thing I haven't met them?" Everyone knew how Sinbad used to be the biggest player almost anyone had ever met. The longest relationships he had been in during grades 9-10 and some of eleven would be one week. That is, until he met Hakeui. It was BOOM and he wasn't a player anymore. As far as anyone knew, he was completely loyal to her, no matter how many advances he got from others. But because of his little experience in long-term relationships he was still having a hard time understanding how they worked.

Sharkon shrugged. "Dunno bro. most of my pals at least met their girlfriends family within the first few months, sometimes even on the first date. It's a drag, but it's a girl's way of showing she wants to stay in a relationship with you." Sinbad couldn't believe he was getting dating advice from who used to be the number 2 player at the school.

"By showing you off to her siblings?" it sounded strange, but Sharkon nodded firmly.

"Yup." At his confusion, Sharkon tried to explain. "Look at it this way. Family is usually a big part of everyone's lives. If she introduces you to them that means she's saying that she wants you to be a big part of her life to." That was easy to understand. Hakuei always said how much she cared about her siblings, especially her younger brother Hakuryuu.

"You might be worried that she hasn't introduced you to them yet." Sinbad almost dropped his bag.

"Worried? Why?" Sharkon made a face at his friend.

"Yamu told me how much Hakuei's family matters to her. If she was right, than Hakuei would have introduced you to her family right away. Or at least you would have met them when picking her up from her place." He hadn't. Whenever he went to pick her up she was waiting in the driveway. He never even saw anyone other than Hakuryuu.

"But…I'm sure the thought just hasn't occurred to her right?" Sensing his friends worry Sharkon hurried to help.

"Yeah yeah, of course! She probably just doesn't want you to mess up in front of them." he didn't realize how stupid he sounded until he said it. "I mean no! Her family would love you man, don't worry about it!" sometimes Sinbad's friends could be idiots. Now he was freaking out. Was Hakuei embarrassed of him? They were even planning on going to the same University, and she couldn't introduce him to her family? Not even a hello?

End flashback

Her reaction wasn't helping. "I don't know when you will get the chance to meet my family anyway. They are always so busy, I don't know when they would all be together." His right eye was starting to unconsciously twitch. Why was she avoiding this subject?

"A-and besides, I haven't met your family yet!" Sinbad's parents had died when he was a kid, and he currently lived in a big orphanage owned by some millionaire or whatever. Everyone expected Sinbad to take over his business when he was old enough, that is if he didn't go through with his own plan to work for national security.

"Yes you have. Yamu, Sharkon, Jafar, Masrur, Pisti, Spartos, Drakon, and Hinahoo. You've met all of them." Hakeui had become very close with all of Sinbad's friends. They all adored her caring yet independent nature. At the beginning they just said they were just happy Sinbad was in an actual relationship. Now they were truly happy it was Hakuei he was in a relationship with.

"That's different Sinbad. I know a lot of them from school. I met Jafar and Yamu before I met you!" He couldn't argue with that. But it still worried him that she was avoiding this.

"Okay, that's true. But why can't I meet them? I already know Hakuryuu, what would make the rest of your family any different? Besides, you told me about them!" As he racked his brains for examples, he realized this wasn't true. He knew most about Hakuryuu because he was his friend, but not much about the rest. She had a younger brother because sometimes she had to pick him up from school. An elder brother to, because one time she told him that she was going to her brother's university. Possibly a sister, since once she had to get some earrings for someone's birthday.

"It's not that they won't like you, I…" she trailed over to quickly for Sinbad's liking. Hakeui was a very honest person. It worried him that she was avoiding the subject now. Gently she squeezed his hand and smiled at him. "Just, not right now, okay?" He said okay, there was no way he was going to let it go.

"Why couldn't my sister drive me home again?" Sinbad grinned at Hakuryuu who sat in the passenger seat of his car. A few days after Hakeui and Sinbad's conversation Sinbad decided to take matters in his own hands. Normally Hakuryuu and Hakeui would drive home together, but luckily for Sinbad Hakeui had a spare her last class. With the help of Alibaba (Hakuryuu's friend) they were able to convince her that Hakuryuu was staying after school to work on a project.

"She went home early and asked me to drive you home. Do I turn right here?" Hakuryuu glanced suspiciously at Sinbad, but didn't want to argue with his friend.

"No, you turn left." Spinning the wheel they turned on the road towards the Ren family house. "If you want you can drop me off at the driveway. It's a really long driveway, and there's no point in making you drive all the way up."

"No it's fine. I've come to pick Hakeui up a few times, it's not that far." Hakuryuu didn't continue after that. After a few minutes of silence Sinbad asked him, "Say, how many people live in your house?"

"What?" Sinbad tried to look him in the eye but almost hit a cat, so decided to keep his eyes on the road.

"Your house is pretty big. Do you have a big family?" Hakuryuu shook his head at the question.

"We do have a big family, but the big house is mostly because our unc-er, stepfather needs it. He's a big business owner and he often has business parties at our house, so he needs lots of room. Some of his coworkers live with us too, as well as some maids and servants." Sinbad understood that. His own adoptive parent, or whatever he would call him, had work parties at the orphanage every once in a while.

Driving up the driveway they came to the Ren family's home. Hakuryuu jumped out the passenger seat and Sinbad hopped out the side. Turning he frowned at Sinbad. "What's wrong Sin?"

Innocently he smiled. "Nothing." Still confused Hakuryuu continued to question him.

"Then why are you getting out of the car?"

"Oh, um…" he hadn't planned this far ahead. "Uh…I have to get some class notes." This didn't help him very much.

"You and Hakuei don't have any of the same classes this semester." Snap. Scrambling his brain he came up with an explanation.

"They are for Pisti." Hakuryuu had no argument against that one. Silently the two boys headed up to the large front door and Hakuryuu rang the doorbell. "Don't you have a key?" Hakuryuu shook his head.

"There's always someone in the house, so I stopped bothering." Before Sinbad could comment the door was opened quickly. A man with short reddish brown hair stood at the entrance. He didn't look that much older that Hakuei, but he wore a uniform with a nametag. Smiling Hakuryuu greeted him easily. "Hey Dolge."

The older man smiled easily at the younger boy. "Hi Hakuryuu. School was good?" Hakuryuu nodded as he moved out of the way for the two of them to walk in. At Sinbad he gave a confused look. "Uh, hello. Who are you?"

"Hi, I'm Sinbad." He held out his hand for Dolge to take, but he simply stared at the man. Hakuryuu came to his rescue quickly.

"He goes to the same school as Hakeui and I." Dorji light up and gave Sinbad a smile in return.

"Oh, you know Hakuei? Are you friends with her?" As he took his hand and shook it Sinbad wondered just how he was going to explain that they were a little bit more than friends. Once again, Hakuryuu came to his rescue by asking him where everyone was.

"Today's been fairly strange. As far as I know, all your siblings will be home for dinner." Sinbad couldn't believe his luck. They were all there the exact day he needed them to be. It was so perfect he wanted to hug him. Not noticing Sinbad's overly happy face Dolge continued explaining. "Kouen is in town for a business trip and he's staying with us for a month or so. Koumei is taking the week off school to relax. Kourin and her husband are taking a family trip and decided to come back here for a time. As far as I know all of your other siblings don't have any clubs or activities going on tonight. It's going to be a problem for the cooks since they have to cook so much." Even Hakuryuu was surprised. The only time the whole family was together was on holidays. Kouen was the CEO of his father's company so had to travel a lot, but hardly ever came home. Koumei went to a very prestigious university to become a lawyer, but he hardly ever came home because of the distance. Kourin had never gotten along with the family, so he wondered why she would WANT to come home. It was so coincidental this was all happening that he was suspicious that he was dreaming.

Sinbad, who didn't know anything about how that family worked, found no problem with it. "Any chance I can stay for dinner? Or would that be too hard on the staff?" Dolge shook his head.

"With all the people we already have living in this building? One more person wouldn't make a difference. I'll just ask Toya to put out another plate." Sinbad thanked him than he and Hakuryuu walked away. As they left Sinbad asked him who he was.

"Dolge? Oh, he's from the Kouga clan. His family works as the staff here." Around them more people who resembled Dorji walked around doing various chores. "They are a very tight knit group and this was one of the only ways they could all work yet still live together.

But anyway, do you want me to get my sister?" when Sinbad gave him a blank look he continued. "To get the notes you wanted."

"Oh, right. No, I'll go find her, don't worry about it." Hakuryuu didn't look very comfortable with that idea.

"Really, it's no trouble. You haven't been here before, and it's hard to navigate. Besides, I'm not sure Hakuei would be happy if you found-'' but he cut himself off before he could finish, but Sinbad caught it. Was Hakuei hiding something? "I mean, it's hard to get around here."

"I've got a good sense of direction, I'll find my way around. See you Hakuryuu." Before Hakuryuu could stop him Sinbad dashed away and began hunting for his girlfriend's family.

I don't own any of the characters. thanks for reading. not sure what else to say.