Chapter 5

Rei awoke with a start the next morning. For the life of him he couldn't understand why he was so excited. After staring at the ceiling for a few minutes it came to him.

His twin terrors were arriving that evening.

With that thought in mind, he was dressed and in the kitchen in record time. He was just finishing up breakfast when the others filtered in. When he looked up, he was greeted with twin faces of delight from Tyson and Max, and shock from Kai, Tala, and Bryan.

"Um…Rei? Why all the food?" Tala seemed to have finally gotten his bearings back. Glancing at the table, he realized that he had indeed created a feast fit for a king, excusing the pun. Grinning, he replied, "I just felt like it. I've been told that I have a tendency to cook too much when I'm happy."

"I'm not complaining," said Tyson through a mouthful of food. Tala glanced at him with disgust.

"And what's got you so happy now?" This from Bryan. Rei just grinned even wider and turned away. When Tala and Bryan attempted to pursue the matter further, Kai intervened and made them eat.

Later that day everyone was lounging in the living room. Tyson and Max were watching a movie, Tala was trying to get Bryan to look through photos he had taken, Kai was in a corner reading, and Rei was staring out of the window again.

All of a sudden, he sprang up and ran into the foyer just as the bell rang. Everyone looked up at this and followed him.

Rei flung the door open and was immediately caught up in a bear hug. "Rei Kon, damn you! It's been months and no calls, letters, emails. Hell, not even a bloody text…" This tirade continued with Rei standing there, grinning at his friend's gesturing. Everyone save the other stranger at the door, and Tyson, were confused, though Kai understood a bit of what was happening. Rei rambled off a bit of rapid Portuguese, effectively quieting his friend. He invited them in and then turned to the others, his eyes glittering with mischief and mirth.

"Guys, these are my best friends: Junichi and Jinichi Shantos. Ji-chan, Ju-san, this is Max, Kai, Tala, and Bryan. You also remember Tyson, right?" He gestured to each respectively. Jinichi leaped toward Kai and, while grasping the slate-haired Russian's hand in his, rambled off again in Portuguese. This made his brother snicker and had Rei sputtering.

"Jinichi enough." Junichi stepped forward and pulled his brother away by his hair (literally). Junichi had hair the same length as Rei's, pulled back into a braid at the base of his back, as green as peridot with natural green-blue undertones. His eyes were aquamarine and he had a gothic eagle dangling from his left earlobe. He wore a black T-shirt under a white denim jacket with black cargo pants and biker boots.

Jinichi looked exactly the same but had a hawk in the same style hanging from his right ear. He wore a sapphire studded choker around his neck and the same boots as his brother. He also wore a dark blue shirt over a black fish-net shirt with faded black denim jeans.

Junichi turned to Rei and said, "We have a few surprises for you Tiger. They should be arriving in a couple of days."

The doorbell rang. Jinichi sweat-dropped. "Maybe not." "Oops, not good."