Akaya whimpered as he huddled under the covers, trying to block out the pain.
"Akaya?" asked Yukimura, whisper soft. "Akaya, what are you doing here?"
By here, Yukimura meant in his and Sanada's shared bed. "It hurts," Akaya whispered in reply. "It hurts!"
Yukimura was instantly worried. "What hurts? What's wrong?"
Akaya whimpered again and shook his head, clenching his fists tighter in the comforter.
"Genichirou," Yukimura called. Sanada, on Akaya's other side, rolled over with a grunt.
"Genichirou!" Yukimura called again, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Hmm," said Sanada, obviously not fully awake.
Yukimura sat up. By what Akaya could hear, Yukimura threw his pillow with precision and power expected of the House Leader into Sanada's head. Sanada immediately sat up and flung the pillow off of him. "What? What happened?" he murmured, obviously still half asleep.
"Genichirou," said Yukimura sweetly, and even without looking, Akaya could feel the murderous aura behind the sweet smile that was bound to be there. "I called you twice. Akaya isn't feeling well. Please call Renji in to check on him."
"Yes, Seiichi," Sanada said obediently, then got up and left.
Akaya groaned as another wave of pain swept over him. "It hurts, Mura," he whispered to Yukimura, the whites of his eyes turning red.
Seiichi noticed the look and recognized it. He quickly pulled the younger boy into an embrace. "Shh, calm down, Akaya," he said soothingly. "Everything will be fine."
Contrary to popular belief, Akaya, who was of demon lineage, was very needy for attention and affection despite his bloodlust. Seiichi, who acted as a sponge, had soaked up some of Akaya's memories, and through them found out his history. It wasn't a very cheerful one.
Akaya's father, a full demon, had been killed when he was found in the Kirihara residence. His mother was spared because she had been out that day and claimed she didn't know he was staying in her house. Akaya was, at the time, a normal-looking child, and his mother told the authorities that Akaya was her son and that she was a single mother. The police accepted this story and left them alone.
Akaya's mother warned him to never, under any circumstances, let them find out his true identity and kill him for it. Akaya agreed to it, of course, but it was all for naught the moment his powers started to manifest physically, in the form of horns, fangs, a tail and tiny black wings. His mother, to her credit, did all she could to protect him, but there was only so much she could do before somebody found out and reported them to the authorities.
Akaya watched in horror as the police took his mother into custody. His mother shouted and screamed and tried her very best to protect her son, but it was all useless, and her thrashing caused her to hit her head on the wall. She died, and Akaya stared in horror.
Slowly, the shock settled in, and Akaya's eyes turned red in anger. "You killed my mother," he whispered dangerously. "You killed her!"
His mind went blank and the next thing he knew, all three of the officers who came to take him away were dead. Akaya was covered in blood, and instantly he knew that he was the one who had killed them.
Akaya did the only thing that made sense to him– he ran. He let his instincts guide him, and he ran until he couldn't run anymore.
And he ended up in front of Rikkai House.
Renji came in, looking the most disheveled Seiichi had ever seen him, and Seiichi assumed that Genichirou, who wasn't the most... gentle of people on his best day (nights with Seiichi had been discounted, of course), had practically (or maybe literally) dragged him out of bed in his worry for the youngest Stranger in the house. Akaya held a special place in each of their hearts and everyone knew it. It was something about his innocence, his optimism that was such a contrast from the others' darkness.
"What's wrong?" asked Renji, sitting on the bed. Seiichi shook his head and pressed a kiss to Akaya's head before releasing him for Renji's examination. "He says it hurts everywhere," said Seiichi, his worry showing through his tone. "What do you think?"
Renji frowned. "It could be that Akaya is a Stranger who is able to sense the powers of other Strangers as they activate," said Renji as he checked Akaya's pulse. "He could be more sensitive to the power because of his direct bloodline to a pure Stranger, but this is all theoretical. I suggest we get Seigaku House's newest recruit, Oishi, to have a look at him."
Seiichi selected telepathy from the arsenal of powers he had absorbed over the years and contacted Seigaku House's Leader, Tezuka. Normally he would have contacted their mentor, Ryuuzaki-sensei, but she had gone to coach a tennis team in the Kanto tournament. She was one of the only Strangers who dared go out amongst the humans. It was somewhat dangerous for her at her age, though; she was already 45, and Strangers had a shorter lifespan than humans.
But, of course, Seiichi was going off topic.
Tezuka-kun. Is Oishi-kun free?
Ah, Yukimura. Oishi's gone out with Syuusuke and Echizen to retrieve a new Stranger.
Oh. Well, never mind, I'll contact Hyoutei's Akutagawa-kun instead. Thank you for your time, Tezuka-kun.
Likewise, Yukimura.
That was one of the things Seiichi liked about Tezuka; he never stretched anything out longer than it had to be.
"Oishi-kun isn't in," said Seiichi out loud absently as he connected to Hyoutei House's Leader, Atobe. Their own mentor, Sakaki, was another Stranger who dared walk the human world on a daily basis. He was currently at a musical convention of some sort under a different name.
Atobe-kun. Is Akutagawa-kun free?
Yukimura, Ore-sama is in the middle of his shower. What is it you need with Jirou?
Our Akaya is feeling some sort of pain, possibly due to an ability to sense new Strangers, much like your Hiyoshi.
Hmm. The symptoms?
Just a tingling pain, like needles stabbing at every inch of his skin. Seiichi had picked up a bit more than a normal person did through the comforting hug he had given his protégée.
Certainly sounds like Hiyoshi's power. Very well, Ore-sama and Jirou will be over in ten minutes.
See you then.
"Akutagawa-kun and Atobe-kun will be over in ten minutes," Seiichi relayed the message to Renji and Genichirou. "Until then, I will calm Akaya down so he doesn't destroy anything," Seiichi decided as he pulled the whimpering half-demon into his arms once again.
Both men nodded, and Renji stood up. "I'll wake the others and alert them of this development," he said. Seiichi agreed with him. The team would be worried about the little half-demon, and heaven knew Genichirou couldn't do the waking up. He'd end up slapping them all across the face. A little wry smile from Renji told Seiichi that the data man was thinking the same thing.
"I'll go with you," offered Genichirou, oblivious to the thoughts of his best friends.
"No," said Renji hurriedly. "I'll be fine."
"Why don't you make us all breakfast?" suggested Seiichi, smiling sweetly. "I'm sure that Marui-kun will be very hungry when he wakes up."
Genichirou grimaced at the thought of his beautiful masterpiece waffles disappearing so fast down Marui's gullet it didn't seem like the redhead could actually taste them.
"Please?" Seiichi added, using The Face. The Face was something that nobody in the world could say no to, and Genichirou was no exception. Seiichi knew this, and often used it to his advantage.
"Yes, Seiichi," said Genichirou with a resigned sigh.
"Chin up, Gen. Let's see a smile," suggested Seiichi, but everyone knew that a 'suggestion' was just a euphemism for an 'order' when it was issued by Seiichi.
Genichirou smiled.
Seiichi smiled back widely. "You look very handsome, Gen. You may both go."
Renji half-bowed and Genichirou went over to peck Seiichi on the cheek, then they both left the room.
Seiichi smiled fondly. Rikkai was a family, a replacement for all the family each of them had lost, and it was going to stay that way forever. No matter what.
Keigo and Jirou were ushered into Yukimura's room by a few very worried housemates. They tried to mask it, of course, because Rikkai hated to show weakness. Keigo's Insight saw through everything, though, and he could clearly see the worry in every twitch.
Yukimura was looking very fragile and yet very motherly in his pajamas as he hugged that little demon to his chest comfortingly. Personally, Keigo thought that the demon was one of the most annoying people he had ever met, but obviously Rikkai thought of him fondly.
"Hi Yukimura-kun!" greeted Jirou, cheerful as he always was when awake. He bounced over to Yukimura and tilted his head. "Kirihara-kun is hurting, huh?" he commented to himself, tapping his chin. "Well, let me have a look!"
Yukimura released Kirihara from the warm embrace and Jirou proceeded to do a routine check-up, starting with two fingers to the patient's forehead, then moving down to the neck, and then to the arms, abdomen and legs. As usual, Jirou's more serious side came out as he examined Kirihara.
Keigo wasn't thrilled at the sight of Jirou running his hands all over another man, but it was strictly professional, and this was a patient who needed help. He wasn't jealous. He wasn't jealous, damn it!
"Hmm," said Jirou, gently placing a hand on Kirihara's heart. "Your Yanagi was right. He's developing a new ability. He'll get used to it soon, but right now the pain is too much for him to handle." Jirou's hand glowed a soft green that, Keigo knew from experience, was warm and made you feel like you were on the most comfortable place on Earth.
"Right now, I'm sending in a bit of power to soothe his pain," continued Jirou, "but Yukimura-kun should absorb my power and knowledge of treatments later. You have to wean him off the healing slowly, bit by bit, like humans do with morphine."
Yukimura nodded in understanding. Keigo theorized that in his time in a human hospital, Yukimura had picked up a few things about that sort of thing.
Jirou's green power could be seen being carried to all parts of Kirihara's body as the heart pumped. Jirou himself had a focused look on his face, and Keigo marveled at how professional Jirou could be when the time called for it. Normally, the blonde boy was ditzy and cheerful and adorable in every way, but now he was serious, and truth be told, Keigo had been a little scared the first time he saw that focused and determined gleam in Jirou's eyes. He'd half-thought some evil was possessing Jirou, though common sense won and Keigo accepted that 'serious' (as well as the 'get the hell away from my boyfriend you goddamned bitch!' variety of murderous) was a part of Jirou that showed itself on occasion.
Jirou's hand faded back to a normal color and he grinned widely at Yukimura. "All done! I just put him to sleep for a while," he added, nodding at the already sleeping Kirihara. "Because I have a feeling he's been up for a while with the pain."
Seiichi smiled and nodded at Jirou's consideration. "Thank you, Jirou-kun," he said, relieved. "We wouldn't have known what to do without you."
Jirou smiled and saluted cutely. "All in a day's work, Yukimura-kun!"
Atobe cleared his throat, looking impatient and annoyed. "Now that the issue has been dealt with, we would appreciate it if you would send us back home, Yukimura," he said, crossing his arms. "I had planned extra mental training with my team, and I'm sure Oshitari is letting them slack off in my absence."
Seiichi selected teleportation from his mental room of neatly organized abilities and bade them a brief goodbye before trapping them in a white sphere and sending them off with a little blue spark.
It took a moment of watching Akaya sleep peacefully for Seiichi to realize that he had forgotten to absorb some of Jirou's power. Seiichi allowed himself to utter a curse once, then sighed and decided that it would just have to wait till later.
Yukimura joined his team at the breakfast table in his proper clothing as he settled into the seat at the head of the table. "So how's Aka-chan?" asked Niou casually, stealing a piece of bacon off of Yagyuu's plate. Yagyuu calmly stole a slice of Niou's ham in retaliation and said, "Yanagi-kun was right, I assume?"
"Hff ahkfa awfright?" asked Marui through a mouthful of food. Sanada, in the corner, was sulking in a very pink, very girly apron, though no one but Yanagi and Yukimura noticed. "He can't understand you if you speak with your mouth full, Bunta," Jackal reminded the redhead with a light nudge to the side.
"There is a 96 percent chance that my theory was correct, 3 percent chance of the repercussions of Sadaharu's juice only affecting Akaya-kun now, 1 percent chance he is dying due to unknown reasons," said Yanagi, spooning multiple baked beans into his mouth as he did so.
"Why the 1 percent?" asked Jackal, curious.
"Because I only know 99 percent of all the illnesses that can kill," said Yanagi calmly.
"...How do you know that you only know 99 percent if you don't actually know every illness in the world?" asked Niou, frowning.
Yanagi put a forkful of ham into his mouth. "Just a feeling," he said after swallowing.
"A feeling," repeated Niou disbelievingly, rolling his eyes.
"Akaya is fine," said Yukimura after tracing the conversation back to its original source. "Yanagi-kun was, as always, correct in his assumption."
"Of course," said Yanagi, sounding less arrogant and more matter-of-fact.
"So now we have our very own little Stranger tracking device instead of having to borrow another House's every time it's Rikkai week!" cheered Marui, spraying crumbs on Niou and Yagyuu.
"I'll kill you!" exclaimed Niou angrily, slamming his hands on the table dramatically as he rose from his seat and glared at Marui.
Yagyuu calmly extracted a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped his face with it. "Do you... have a death wish?" he asked, low and dark as he took off his glasses to clean them off. The dark, murderous aura around him was almost visible.
"Niou-kun, Yagyuu-kun," said Yukimura, his tone mild with underlying steel. "This is the breakfast table, not the training grounds. I understand your anger, but you may take out your frustrations on Marui-kun later, during training."
Niou sat down and Yagyuu placed his glasses back on his face, murderous aura gone. Marui's mouth fell open in horror. With Yukimura, one had to read between the lines. Marui, having read between the lines, understood that Yukimura was going to give them the opportunity to beat Marui up later. Crap.
Yukimura paused, scrutinizing Niou and Yagyuu. "Also," he added. "It would be nice if you wouldn't pull your tricks this early in the morning."
Niou and Yagyuu exchanged a glance. Then Niou-pretending-to-be-Yagyuu shifted back into his original shape. Yagyuu-pretending-to-be-Niou removed his Niou-wig and passed it to Niou to stow away in his hammerspace.
"Holy crap," said Jackal, glancing between the two. "Since when have you two been able to pull of each other's personalities so well?"
"It was Niou-kun's idea," said Yagyuu, removing his colored contacts and replacing them with his usual opaque glasses. "He thought it would be interesting if we could deceive our opponents into thinking we were each other and reveal the truth in the middle of battle."
"Well," said Yanagi thoughtfully, "it would throw them off for a little bit."
"Genichirou, come have breakfast with us," suggested Yukimura. "Stop sulking and have some of your cooking."
"I've already eaten, Seiichi."
"Well, then, at least have a cup of tea."
"No, thank you, Seiichi."
"I insist."
"...Yes, Seiichi."
Yukimura smiled at his team, his family, as he set his fork and knife sideways on his plate. "Alright team, training will commence in an hour. Please be ready for it by then. Excuse me."
Yanagi hummed once Yukimura had left. "Seiichi ate 30 percent quicker today. Genichirou, I suggest you follow him once you've finished your tea," he added, nodding at Sanada.
Sanada caught the drift that no one besides he and Yanagi seemed to notice and gulped down his tea so quickly his housemates wouldn't have been surprised if he'd swallowed the tea leaves as well. "Excuse me," he murmured, then hurried down the same corridor Yukimura disappeared into.
"What just happened?" Jackal asked, blinking.
Niou blinked, his quick mind processing the conversation and came to a conclusion with a sly grin. "Oh~ I get it," he said, nodding. "So subtle. That's expected of our leader, really."
Marui frowned. "What?"
Yagyuu, catching on thanks to Niou's mannerisms, merely shook his head. "You don't want to know, Marui-kun," he said. "At least, not from Niou-kun."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean, huh, Yagyuu?"
"All I'm saying is that you can be rather... crude at times, Niou-kun."
"It's part of my charm, baby."
"Of course it is."
"What's with that tone?"
"Nothing. I'm agreeing with you."
"You're not. You never agree with people."
"We're talking about me, not you, Niou-kun."
"Yeah, I know. You never agree with people on the inside. On the outside it's smiles and agreements and on the inside there's something there that thinks that the person is a complete idiot."
"...You said it, I didn't."
"Bastard!"
Renji chuckled as the pair bickered. Hiroshi, before Masaharu had come to Rikkai House, had been very antisocial and reclusive. He preferred to hide behind his mask of politeness instead of truly voicing his opinions. Nobody had managed to coax him out of his shell.
And then Masaharu came and not so much coaxed him out of his shell than broke the shell open with a sledgehammer, and now Hiroshi couldn't have been happier than he was when he argued with Masaharu.
Seiichi and Genichirou were upstairs screwing like rabbits, Masaharu and Hiroshi were bickering like an old married couple, Jackal was attempting to break the argument up, Bunta was eating his body weight and Akaya was sleeping peacefully.
Renji smiled. All was right with the world.
Or, at least, Rikkai House.
