They walked in silence for two and a half more aisles of the store. Kurumu felt totally exposed now. It would have been one thing for Tsukune to have figured it out on his own, he was part of the bond, it was inevitable. Ruby and that damn book of hers though? She'd never felt this "naked" even in the Academy changing rooms.
She knew she'd have to respond. This wasn't the type of thing you left unaddressed. She also knew it had to be soon. She couldn't afford for Ruby to walk out the doors of this store without having the issue settled once and for all.
Finally, she braved the conversation and tried to speak in a dismissive tone.
"Not saying that what you said just a few minutes ago is true….but if it is…..why would you offer to help me with it? Aren't you in love with Tsukune-kun too?"
She knew it was a highly tangential way of bringing the topic back up, but taking it head on would have been too much for her at this point. She had to get warmed up first before she could tackle it head on. She also knew her questions were a thinly veiled attempt to put the onus back on Ruby.
"Of course I am, very much so. Nothing would make me happier than to be the mother of Tsukune's children and to spend the rest of my days with him."
Kurumu was a bit surprised by Ruby's blunt and earnest response. Ruby wasn't nearly as expressive about her feelings for Tsukune as the other girls. Even silver-haired Moka was downright effusive about her feelings for him compared to Ruby. Still, it was always assumed by them all that she was also was in love with him. You could just tell.
Now Kurumu had solid confirmation of that for the very first time.
Ruby placed a small bag of yellow-skinned potatoes in her cart as she cheerfully replied. Her smile was genuine enough. If Kurumu's silence or subsequent attempt to make Ruby's motivations the conversation topic instead offended her, she never showed it.
"Do you really think we need both carts?"
Kurumu was only slightly surprised by the redirection back to their current activities.
"With this list, we might need a third!"
They again moved a short way down the aisle and again tackled their respective shelves. Only when they began to move once more did Ruby return to the main issue.
"Kuru-chan, you're my friend. If you have a problem it's my problem too. If you need help I will do whatever I can to help you."
Despite being two of rather too numerous competitors for Tsukune's heart, Kurumu felt Ruby was being completely honest with her about her intentions. Which only made her even more wary of Ruby's real intentions.
"Well…thanks. So….yes. We, Tsukune and I, I mean….we."
Ruby gave her awkward looking and stuttering friend as warm smile as she gently cut her admission of truth off for her.
"I know, and unless I'm really off my mark, so do Mizore and Yukari, maybe even Kokoa."
Kururmu was even more surprised by this than the fact Ruby had figured it out. She was especially worried about the last person named. If the sister knew too…..
"You don't think that SHE…."
Ruby's smiled dropped away for a brief moment as the thought of Moka knowing also triggered warnings in her own mind, but unlike her deathly concerned companion, she was able to immediately dismiss this possibility.
"No! Not yet. Which is why we need to get a handle on it before she does know. What does HE know?"
Ruby picked up another item and made sure Kurumu crossed it off the list before Kurumu spoke again.
"Well…it seems I have a hard time blocking my more intense emotions from him, but I'm easily blocking my general thoughts. I doubt other than what you've seen so far he knows any different though."
Ruby nodded with a relieved expression when she heard this.
"That's good. We need as much time as possible. I know you don't have very long. We need to see if there's a way to increase your blocking ability. I'll see what I can find out on the topic."
Kurumu was surprised by this generosity, very much so, but she was still more concerned about Moka finding out.
"If SHE finds out…."
"She won't, not yet, not till she's ready to hear it."
Instead of reassuring Kurumu, Ruby's words stunned her eyes wide open. Nowhere in her heart did Kurumu even fathom Moka capable of excepting a romantic relationship between Kurumu and Tsukune. Especially Silver-haired Moka, and that Moka was apparently here to stay,
"She will NEVER be ready to hear it."
Again Ruby gave her a reassuring smile that seemed completely out of tune with the facts as Kurumu knew them to be. Her next words were equally hard for Kurumu to accept as reality.
"She will, or she'll get as close to it as possible and then we'll help her the rest of the way."
Ruby was an exceptional witch but there was no magic that could change reality so very much to fit this narrative.
A world where Moka let go of Tsukune so Kurumu could have him simply could not possibly exist.
The thought of living without her mate of fate, her Tsukune, terrified Kurumu to her core. When a mate of fate died their succubus died with them, and vice versa. It was a life bond of the first magnitude. Neither could survive without the other. From the moment of union, the minds of both were needed for either to even function.
There were extremely rare cases, one in millions, where a succubus did miraculously survive the loss of her mate of fate, but Kurumu knew firsthand the horrors of that experience. She honestly thought it better for her to die.
"My….my mother, when she lost my father, she almost…died. Honestly, she should have died. Most Succubi don't survive the loss of their mate. You saw me in Reverse Hong Kong when I thought that Tsukune loved Moka more than me, and we weren't even bonded yet. As a shinso, there is the possibility Tsukune could survive, but I know that I will die without him."
Ruby stopped her cart and turned to face her nearly tearful friend. She firmly grabbed Kurumu behind her upper arms and looked intently into her eyes.
"It will never come to that. We will fix it so that never happens."
Kurumu believed her too. She could sense the other woman's complete confidence radiating out of her and into her own being. She had no idea where the confidence was coming from, but it was strangely reassuring.
Still, there was a lot of doubt left in the succubus's ailing heart.
"But how? With Moka, and the other girls….."
Ruby smiled and wrapped her left arm maternally around Kurumu's waist.
"You see us other girls as obstacles in the way of you and Tsukune being together. I understand that, but I don't see you other girls the same way."
Her smile took on a conspiratorial smirk.
"You, Tsukune, Moka, the others; you're my family and the only one I have."
Kurumu often forgot that Ruby was an orphan, twice over now if you consider Lady Oyakata. Last night her new mentor had also died as well.
"Oh, Ruby! I didn't mean….."
Ruby shook her head with a smile to instantly dispel Kurumu's obvious concerns for her.
"It's alright. Now as we continue to shop I want you to listen to how I see things and when we're done I want to see if what I talk to you about makes any sense to you too."
The concern on Kurumu's face dissolved into suspicious curiosity.
"Um…Okay."
Ruby released her grip on Kurumu and they both moved their carts forward once more.
"Good! You see, I see an opportunity to be with OUR Tsukune forever; but it will take a lot of patience, understanding, and compromise, and love to make it happen."
Kurumu wasn't entirely sure where Ruby was going with this but knew that Ruby was meticulous enough to have thought out everything before bringing a new idea up to anyone else. Especially an idea that from her body language and couched words seemed to be a bit controversial.
"I see, well….succubi live off love."
Ruby playfully tossed a box of something over into Kurumu's cart with a bright smile on her face.
"Then you may just get to live a very long life indeed my very dear succubus friend."
Kurumu still was nervous though. It would need to be a hell of a plan to get the "Vampire Princess" to accept that Tsukune was hers now. Also, none of this seemed to fit into Ruby proclaiming that she wanted to be the mother of Tsukune's children either. Whatever Ruby had planned also required Kurumu to be patient and to compromise?
She drove down her doubts and decided it was her turn to turn the tables on the too well-informed witch, if only for entertainment value.
"Interesting, I'll hear this…plan of yours out, and when you're done talking to me about this…opportunity, then you can tell me all about that money Tsukune and you have in your bank accounts."
Ruby was only stunned for a moment before she grinned and shook her head in frustration at not having realized the obvious, given she had already strongly suspected they were mates of fate.
"Fair warning, if you don't want me to know, don't tell Tsukune."
Ruby could only laugh at this all too obvious fact of their lives going forward.
It was a good thing that the girls had altered their appearance because struggling to get three full carts of groceries to the car was drawing lots of attention to them anyway.
Kurumu slapped at the side of the minivan to wake up Tsukune, who despite being bleary-eyed, managed to spring out and open the rear hatch very quickly. As he did so his eyes went wide at the veritable cornucopia of items he now had to help load into the minivan.
"WOW! You guys clean the whole place out?"
Ruby replied with a grin as they both began moving bags from the first cart into the rear of the minivan.
"Almost! You sleep alright?"
Tsukune seemed even more embarrassed than before about letting them do all that work while he slept.
"I did! How long were you in there?"
"Almost two hours."
Tsukune's eyes again widen at Ruby's words.
"Wow! I think I slept that whole time too."
If he was worried he had put them out by doing so, Ruby's happy response had to relieve him of that false assumption.
"Good! You needed it."
Kurumu seemed oddly silent as she held the other two carts from rolling away. Tsukune saw a very distant look in her eyes and was about to ask her what was wrong, when a vehicle pulled up to the newspaper vending machines outside of the store, distracting Ruby and his own attention.
"I wonder if that is that a special afternoon edition?"
Tsukune's ominous tone was echoed by Ruby.
"Must be. We asked inside if they had any extra papers from this morning but they said no."
They exchanged concerned looks. A special afternoon addition should be an indication that more had come to light about the events of the previous night.
That could only be bad news for them.
"We'd better grab one, to see if there have been any…..changes…..since this morning."
Before he could move to do so Ruby headed in that direction instead.
"I'll get it."
She took the now empty first cart up to the cart return before heading back toward the building.
Tsukune's eyes now refocused again at Kurumu with mild concern showing in his features as they load groceries together. She had that distant look still on her face he had seen just seconds before.
"Are you alright?"
She looked up as if surprised to see him there but quickly plastered a forced smile on her face.
"Huh? Oh! I'm good."
"Are you sure?"
He had no reason to doubt her but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to believe her.
"Of course, I'm fine."
Her reassuring words and smile seemed to have no effect on his concern for her at all.
"It's just…..you seem distant. Lost in thoughts."
Honestly, he had had this uneasy sense of her wellbeing since they were at the hospital the previous night but he had no real reason for it that he could figure out. She had, more or less, been usual, boisterous Kuru-chan.
"Who? Me? No, everything is good Tsukune-kun."
She was smiling at him as they unloaded the second cart but he knew, instinctively, that she wasn't being completely honest with him. He also felt like she had become very nervous too, despite the forced smile.
"I don't…well…I don't believe you."
He had stopped loading as stood upright to face her. He looked at her with complete concern on his face now. His intent demeanor made her respond nervously, this time with her own concern showing back toward him.
"What? But I…"
Tsukune just let his thoughts roll off his tongue without judging them beforehand as he watched her eyes widen with each word.
"It's not that I think you're lying to me maliciously. You just…..want to protect me from…..something."
She was fighting hard not to look terrified and was failing miserably. The silence that now hung in the air between them seemed to stretch on forever. She had to redirect his thoughts somehow before he figured out why she had become so much more readable to him.
"Well….since becoming a vampire your imagination certainly has developed."
Her attempt at light-heartedness didn't deflect him at all.
"No, it hasn't. I just…know. I know you're keeping something back. I just don't know…how I….."
"Damn! My mental barriers are not good enough. He's starting to feel my thoughts! What am I going to do? Concentrate!"
Suddenly he seemed to sense that he was the cause of her concerns.
"It's okay Kuru-chan. I trust you. If it's something you don't think I should know then I will accept that. I just want to make sure you're alright, is all. I don't want you to….."
She tried to laugh it off again as she cut him off with a dismissive hand wave.
"I am, silly boy! Don't worry so much. We're all tired."
They started loading the items again, but Tsukune didn't seem capable of letting this topic go.
"Things have changed between us, haven't they?"
Kurumu began to panic again, with the added worry that Tsukune now saw their relationship differently. She could feel something had changed in his mind about her, and she knew what it was.
"I….what do you mean Tsukune-kun?"
"It's just…..I feel I know you much better now. Like we're…."
"Connected?"
She had fallen into the trap of the bond between them and had let her thoughts out too freely. She took a few deep breaths to try to rebuild her mental wall back up as he continued to speak.
"Yes…..like I can feel you. All the time."
She had to find some way to explain it without revealing too much.
"That happens when people become…close. Like we are."
She began loading bags even quicker. The third cart was halfway finished, but suddenly he stunned her again by grabbing her hand.
"I owe you…everything. What you did for me in Reverse Hong Kong. You saved my…."
This was getting way too dangerously close to the real truth. She had to get him off this train of thought or risk exposing everything to him. It's what she knew her own subconscious mind was trying to force her to do. It was unnatural to suppress the mating bond. She was fighting her own instincts now.
She stepped up to him and gently put her two fingers on his lips to stop his words.
"And how many times have you come to my rescue? It's too late to start keeping score now Tsukune-kun."
They looked into each other's eyes and she again drifted dangerously close to their bond in her mind once again.
"You know Tsukune-kun that I would do any….."
"I know Kuru-chan! I do. And you know I….."
"Yes! Yes, I know. I know Tsukune-kun."
Suddenly a single tear dripped down from Kurumu's right eye. A corresponding tear fell from its opposite number on her love's face as well.
"Are you two okay?"
Ruby's concerned words and expression made both jump and awkwardly rub away at their cheeks.
"Oh! Yeah, we're good."
Kurumu quickly followed up Tsukune's words.
"All loaded up and ready to go."
Ruby sent her a particularly concerned expression but soon dismissively smiled to them both.
"Good, we should get moving."
Her smile faded as her words continued, which did a great job of distracting the other two from their previous concerns as they now could refocus on Ruby.
"What's wrong Ruby?"
She gave him a meek smile.
"I'll show you when we're in the van."
They returned the last two carts to the return area and boarded the minivan.
Once inside Tsukune turned back to where Ruby sat on the middle bench seat and inquired again about what had concerned her. He assumed it was something in the newspaper she now had on her lap.
"Okay, now what's the problem?"
Instead of speaking, she reluctantly handed over the paper itself. Kurumu leaned over from the passenger seat to also get a look.
A giant picture of Alucard in his giant demonic form graced the cover with large, bold print going vertically beside it.
[More on the Creatures that attacked Japan. Will they attack again?]
This was of course expected, so Tsukune knew this wasn't what had caused Ruby so much concern.
"Turn the page."
He obeyed her simple request as the two ladies leaned in even closer to see what was on that next page. Another large bold print headline and tagline graced the top of another large picture.
[Is this the face of Evil? Who are these mysterious invaders?]
It wasn't the inflammatory words that drew Tsukune and Kurumu's eyes to it though. After a few moments of silent observation, Tsukune replied in a rather light tone to what he was looking down at.
"Well, you can certainly see my nose in this one for sure."
Both were instantly put off by whatever inside joke Tsukune found so obviously humorous in this rather worrisome moment. Kurumu was considerably more agitated by the image than he apparently was.
"Damn! That's your face for sure, minus the silver hair and red eyes."
Before them was a clear image of Tsukune's face in full shinso vampire blood-armor with wings deployed. Kurumu was correct about his eye and hair color, but otherwise, anyone who knew Tsukune well would know that was him.
"The note in the article below says that the images have been extrapolated artistically from computer-enhanced images. Even so, that's a damn good likeness of Tsukune, and the rest of us."
Ruby's words made Tsukune flip the page again to see more images of not only himself but of all the other girls too. Whoever "artistically extrapolated" these enhanced images was damn good at it.
There wasn't much else he could say about it.
"Yup, anyone who knows me will think this looks like me. Of course, that doesn't mean much. Most Humans I know would never think in a million years that scrawny Aono Tsukune could be…this guy."
The look of concern his two companions sent in his direction didn't seem mollified by his easy-going assessment.
"Maybe that's the case, but it only takes one of those people to make a phone call to the government or press, then…"
Tsukune could only agree with Ruby's point with a shrug.
"I know, and it will happen, eventually. I know this too. It was unavoidable after last night."
From beside him, Kurumu put her hand on his forearm in concern.
"How can you be so…..calm about this? Aren't you worried?"
He shrugged as he smiled back at her.
"I'm not worried for us. After all, we have our Yokai abilities and the Great Barrier to protect us. I am concerned for my family though."
Ruby's expression indicated she was thinking now at a high rate.
"We'll need a backup plan to ensure we can get your folks to safety if they do identify you."
Tsukune moved to turn the page again but Ruby tried to lay her hand on the page.
"We'd better get moving. It looks like more people are coming out and you know Moka won't be happy if we…."
She hadn't been in time though. He had flipped the page and her hand couldn't cover the next image. Kurumu could see it now too. Both ladies held their breath waiting to see how their beloved one would respond to what he now saw.
There were several images on this page all of the same beautiful woman. The headline was also in dramatic bold kanji and hiragana.
[Is this what an Angel looks like? The Mysterious winged woman that apparently saved Japan from the Monsters.]
They both tensed as they sensed him do so too. As they looked upon his unreadable face they tried to prepare themselves for any potential response he might have to seeing..."her".
"Well, they finally got one of these headlines right."
They could see his eyes moistening. Kurumu tensed her handhold on his forearm and Ruby grabbed his shoulder gently as she spoke up.
"Tsukune…."
He finally turned away from the paper with a bright smile for them both.
"You're right Ruby-chan. We better get back and help the others or Moka will surely make us pay for it."
Kurumu then spoke out with concern, pulling his plastered smile in her direction.
"But Tsukune…."
He now gently patted her hand as he spoke.
"And honestly, I think the Yokai Times already has better writing and production quality than this rag. Of course, I'm sure since it's a rushed special afternoon edition, that they had to skip some usual quality assurances to get it out the door. Still though, for an actual paid newspaper staff, not all that great of an effort."
They both wanted to comfort him. They both knew he was suffering, even without a special mental bond. That he was suffering in silence while presenting them with a strong and happy image broke their hearts.
He loved her.
How could he not be dying a little inside to see her in the final moments of her life?
It didn't matter if Tsukune subscribed to "there is only one Moka" theory or not. He had lost at least a part of her last night that he desperately loved, but he loved all the others too much to risk hurting them by saying so.
It wasn't healthy for him and they both wanted to tell him that but neither could find the courage to break his hard-built defensive walls down, at least not now, in this moment.
Maybe once they were all safe at home he would allow himself to grieve?
They both surely hoped so.
"Anyway, let's get back. We're done in the Human World for one day, I think."
As he turned the vehicle on they put on their safety belts with mixed emotions warring on their faces.
"…..um…..yes, we should get out of here."
Kurumu couldn't agree more with Ruby if she tried.
"I for one am ready to put this day far behind us."
As Tsukune shifted into drive and refocused on the way ahead, Kurumu and Ruby finally got a chance to exchange worried looks. To Ruby's unspoken question Kurumu gently shook her head.
That simple, sad head shake could have been answering multiple questions.
No, Tsukune didn't know about the mate of fate bond yet.
No, he's not very upset about the pictures.
No, he really is fine, at least for now.
Or no, he really wasn't fine and just putting on a brave face.
The answer was probably a little or a lot of all of the above though, and that was the problem with Tsukune. He was so willing to please that he could sublimate himself to others needs while ignoring his own.
It was something they both admired in him, and something they both feared for him as well.
The idea of Tsukune losing himself, and not addressing his own pain, caused these two women who loved him dearly great concern as the minivan rolled back towards the tunnel that would let them reenter the dimensional portal back to Yokai Academy.
Neither knew how to fix that particular problem yet, but both would never stop trying to find the answer.
For his sake, and their own.
Gin was only vaguely aware of his own reflection in the glass between him and several stories up of Kansai airspace. He didn't really want to see himself right now. He didn't particularly want to be here either, looking down on the city that was his home.
The emergency services apparently had finally finished clearing up the final bits of whatever that last smoldering fire had been. Only the fading orange light of the setting sun against the far side of the high stratus clouds and the approaching purple hood of night could be seen above the city now.
"Here I am thinking selfishly about myself and my life when the whole World has been changed forever."
Gin took in the view for a few silent moments more before turning sullenly on it as he walked back down the corridor.
"Maybe I really am just a selfish bastard after all?"
A few moments later he came to a stop before a doorway. He boldly reached out his hand to take the latch handle, but once he had it resting there he stopped. A moment later his forehead came to rest on that same door.
"Am I being selfish here too? Wanting San above what...'might' best for my family?"
He closed his eyes as if anything he could possibly lay his eyes on in that moment would cause him pain.
"Why do I have to be…..me? Why can't I be a normal Yokai with a normal Yokai life?"
Gin slowly opened his weary eyes and stood back up to stare blankly at the door, his hand still firmly on the handle waiting to be of use to him.
"Wallow in self-pity some other time."
Gin stepped into a small but richly appointed changing area. Plush terrycloth robes hung from hooks in walnut wood alcoves to his left. On the platforms below each of them were towels.
One alcove was missing its robe. Neatly folded women's clothing sat where the towels were located in the other alcoves. Dress pumps rested in the space below. A purple thong panty and matching bra set were located where the towel that was now missing surely had been before. Her delicate undergarments were proudly displayed on top of the clothes.
She was beautiful in the extreme, she had every right to be proud of her femininity.
Despite being alone here, Gin still swallowed back down the urge to sigh in exasperation though. She was sending him a message by leaving her "unmentionables" out for her one-man audience to see.
Gin sat on the long leather bench against the right wall and removed his shoes and socks, placing them rather haphazardly under the towel platform in the alcove ahead of him. He then stood and removed his clothes. He took up the towel and tossed his clothes where the towel had just been just seconds before. He left his robe on its hook.
Now completely naked except for the towel in his hands he approached the opaque glass doors at the other end of the changing room and walked in.
The humid air hit his senses full force and it took him a second or two standing with the door open before he felt comfortable enough to enter the hot and thick air of the showers. Another bench was on the right but this time it was made of water-resistant wood. On the left wall were shower wands and cleaning supplies on a small full-length shelf that stretched across the shower alcoves.
Gin tossed his towel on the bench and stepped under a shower wand. He tapped a large chrome button on the wall and immediately water poured down onto him.
It was already warm, a luxury Gin took for granted.
He turned the water off after a few moments and began washing his hair and body with the provided supplies. As he did his mind continued to race over his personal problems.
"Surely there is some way that I can have what I want in life. I just need to figure it out."
Having completed the task efficiently and turned the water back on, he rested his palms against the wall as the soap and dirt residue washed down his legs and away into the drain below him.
"Too bad I can't use magic like Yukari and Ruby to just wish myself a better situation."
Another set of opaque glass doors were to his right. Gin stopped the water and stepped up to grab his towel. He didn't use the towel though, as he was about to continue to be wet anyway.
With his free hand now on the door handle, he paused again. He closed his eyes and took a deep steadying breath. Satisfied he was ready now he opened the door into an even more humid space than before.
"I was starting to get worried."
The water vapor in the air was thick and so was the heat, but he could still make out the feminine form in the water through the haze. Normally the onsen would be completely free of anything but water and clean bodies but Akaio was very fond of bubble baths and the cherry blossom scent filled the air.
Gin suppressed another sigh when he realized he'd have to shower again after this or risk smelling a little too much like his sister. He also saw shampoo and body wash beside the in-floor tub. True to her word as always she indeed planned to give him a full bath herself.
Gin tossed his towel onto a rack next to his sister's much neater looking folded towel and robe.
"I would never hurt that old man….much."
Admittedly it was difficult not to focus on her ample bubble covered breasts, but Gin vainly tried to anyway as they bounced rhythmically with her laughter.
"Haha! You underestimate him at your own peril, my dear little brother. There's still a lot of life left in him yet."
Gin grabbed the aluminum handrail as he descended into the bath, apparently undisturbed by the high temperature of the water.
Once he was in up to his waist, Akaio glided smoothly up to him, taking his hands to pull him toward the middle where she had just been. Once there she turned him around and gently pulled him lower into the water by his shoulders.
He didn't resist her, there was no reason to.
That her soap covered breasts now rested softly on his back made Gin happy she couldn't see the expression on his face at the moment, or his growing response now safely hidden by the copious bubbles.
She was exquisite. He put her beauty up beside any woman with confidence.
"She so….soft. Why does she have to feel so damn good?"
Three years ago this would have been perfectly normal to him. Sisters and brothers in this family didn't hesitate to bathe each other or sleep in each other's beds. Sibling affection was expected. Unlike other Yokai and humans though, such activities weren't discouraged after puberty. Quite the opposite! Nothing pleased the family more than a happy accident.
Now…..Gin knew full well what others would think of them if they knew the dark secret of Werewolf kind.
Even other werewolf clans, who had no issue with cousin incest or the occasional sibling marriage, would balk at the extent of sibling marriage practiced by Clan Morioka.
"They'd try to extinguish us."
Such intent multi-generation sibling marriage had only one possible goal, a super-lycan. That was something other clans would never allow the Morioka to achieve if they knew.
His sister's sultry words as she ran her fingers through his hair, lathering up the shampoo, brought him back to the here and now.
"You've grown up a lot since our last bath together Gin-Gin-kun. I've been looking forward to seeing how Mother Nature has blessed you these last couple of years."
Gin was uncertain whether it was his need for his friends' good opinion of him, his own developing scene of right and wrong, or his reignited love for San that now caused him discomfort at what had been considered even by him as normal just a few years before.
As she spoke her hands had drifted from his hair and down under the water. She was reaching around his abdomen and still dangerously lowering her hands.
The pleasant sensation of her delicate touch almost caught Gin completely off guard. He was able at just the last moment to grab her wrists and bring her hands back up to his chest.
If failing to reach her goal had disappointed her she hid it well. She lay her red-haired head against his back and breathed in his scent deeply before releasing a happy sigh as she also tightened her grip on him.
He knew she was willing to lose a "battle" or two since she was certain she would win this "war" eventually.
"You know other sisters wouldn't really care how well-endowed their brothers are."
He pointedly avoided using the word "normal", replacing it with "other". Akaio considered herself perfectly normal and he could only hurt her by implying otherwise.
Akaio parted from him only long enough to fill a hand scrubby with body wash. She replied to him only after returning back to her original spot with him firmly ensconced before her. As she half washed, half messaged his shoulders he reluctantly relaxed as she merrily answered him.
"Well, family pride IS on the line dear brother. You'd be surprised what other sisters do and do not concern themselves with in relation to their brothers, and you and I are no simple siblings, now are we?"
He didn't have a good reply to that. They weren't simply brother and sister. To deny that would be completely pointless.
"That would be a major understatement."
She continued to firmly and slowly dig into his shoulders as she continued to speak in her soft purr of a voice.
"So tense! Was your talk with hiiojiisama that bad?"
She clearly didn't think sibling incest was a problem or worthy of discussion outside of its complete acceptance. Whatever new ideas she might have picked up from other Yokai in her own three years at the Academy clearly hadn't made her question if she should mate with her own brother.
Still, Gin now felt it was time to shift the conversation anyway, even if it was toward that old man.
"No worse than his normal talks with me."
"You know he only wants the best for you, don't you?"
Gin allowed himself to lay his head back on her shoulder as she continued her work on his other one. He rolled his eyes and let out a mild sigh as he admitted he wasn't so opposed to the old man as to think him his enemy.
"Yes, too bad he and I have very different ideas on what's best for ME."
With him laying back on her now, Akaio began to wash her brother's chest too, with a very pleased expression.
"He means well, and he knows what you need to be prepared when it's your turn to lead our family. He wrote that particular book himself, you know."
Despite himself, he couldn't help but love being in his sister's arms. It had been his "natural" state for all his life. She had claimed him as her own even before birth and had been all about him from the very beginning. He had slept in her bed from a young age until she left for the Academy. Had there even been a one year gap between their tenures at the Academy, she might already be the mother of two of his children.
He realized he was getting too comfortable in her loving embrace once again and continued with the previous discussion as a distraction for his mind if nothing else.
"Yeah, I get it. The all-wise Nokiba-dono should be obeyed. After all, he only wants what's best…for the family."
Akaio ignored his sarcasm and took the opportunity to move around to Gin's front. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Gin inhaled sharply as she pulled herself into him, realizing too late that the bubbles had been hiding his lack of self-control from her up until this very moment.
The look of joy on her face when she realized he had been hiding his excitement from her was downright feral to behold.
After biting her tongue playfully at him in joy for a few moments she managed to continue their conversation, despite the call of Mother Nature she obviously felt here in his arms.
"And what's wrong with doing what's right for the family? Would you abandon us for…..her?"
She nuzzled his neck then as he awkwardly responded.
"That's not fair. It's not a competition between the family and San."
She then brought her head back out from his neck and gave him her first disapproving look of the whole bath together.
"Oh? Is it not? Surely you can understand why I would feel differently about that?"
She pouted a moment more, then again laid her head on his neck but this time she did so just to rest it there and enjoy his presence, not to arouse him further.
"One already demands your undivided attention, the other will also want your undivided attention; seems like the definition of competition to me, dear otouto."
She was right, she usually was. Gin let out a frustrated sigh before replying.
"Well…..look on the bright side. San gets one look at our crazy family and she'll probably run for safety."
"You think so? That would be nice!"
Akaio had bounced back to her feet again in mock excitement with her hands on his shoulders and her soap covered bosom bouncing distractingly in Gin's face.
It took great self-control from him to turn away from the beautiful show before his eyes and to direct a rebuking glare upward at his smirking sister's face.
"It's not like we're even dating yet, if ever at all."
She came to rest gently again on him with her arms again around his shoulders and her entire front pressed into his own. They could feel each other intimately and Gin's body was betraying him even more than before. Her head once again in the crook of his neck, she purred into his ear.
"That's true, plus you don't need her; after all, you have me and I'm already too much for you to handle."
He knew she was only teasing him now, so he didn't chastise her for it.
She was in love with him.
In some form, she had been all her life.
He couldn't even blame that old man or their parents for it even. Truth be told she had always demanded his full attention. She may have genuinely fallen in love with her own brother by her own free will.
Gin wasn't sure he could say the same of any of the others in the family though.
Duty and loyalty were the only things even more important than love in Clan Morioka.
"You have everything and everyone you will ever need already here and part of your family. Go have fun with your….siren friend, have babies with her too if it pleases you too. The world belongs to you, my love. I belong to you, always."
"But you deserve so much..."
Two gentle fingers stopped his angry reply.
He couldn't resist her mouth on his neck. Deep inside he didn't want to resist her, and he shamefully knew it.
"Remember you are always welcomed home into your family's waiting embrace. You are always welcomed in your Nee-chan's loving arms. Everything I deserve is here in my arms right now."
Before he knew it she had her tongue in his mouth. He instinctively responded to it's wiggling presence with his own.
He would not push her away either. He hated himself for it, but he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. This was always destined to happen.
He had always wanted to please her. She had been his whole world until she left for Yokai Academy almost six years ago now.
"The best day of my life was the day my precious baby brother was born. I claimed you as mine that day and I have always been there for you since have I not?"
She was undulating slowly on top of him now. Where this was going was already familiar to him. He knew on the flight home when she said she'd bathe him that this was going to happen. It had not been the first time, it undoubtedly would not be the last.
"Of course you have."
She kissed him deeply again before breaking apart and staring down at him with lust, pride, and love radiating for him in her eyes.
"I will ALWAYS be here to support you. You are our family's future leader. I will always be beside you to encourage and strengthen you."
She knew exactly how to wear him down, she always had.
"Do you think I'd ever doubt you, Nee-chan?"
He sat slightly up and willingly pulled her mouth into his own. A few moments later they parted and she had an expression on her face of pure victory.
"No, but I do think you doubt yourself. I'll have none of that. We're a team, you and I. No one will ever understand you or know you like me. I will make sure that you never have to worry about anything."
She playfully used her fingers to pull his chin slightly upwards.
"We belong to you and me."
The next kiss from her was gentle. It was the kiss of a loving sister for her beloved brother, whom she adored just as a brother. She knew he needed her as his sister just as much she needed him as her mate.
Gin hated himself because he knew he was in love with San. Even if they weren't an official couple, he still knew what he was doing now would hurt her if she ever found out.
He couldn't even promise himself that if San and he did become a couple that what was happening now with Akaio wouldn't happen again either.
He wasn't in love with his sister, at least not as much as he was with San, but some part of him was a little in love with the idea of Akaio, no matter how wrong he now thought it was to lust after your own sister.
The weight of his love for her as his sister also sat on top of that romantic love for her, along with his sense of duty to his family, and the expectations of all his elders. Especially that old man.
Akaio wouldn't fight for his love alone, either. Three of their half-sisters, whom he also adored, would expect nothing less from him than what he would give to Akaio. They may squabble amongst themselves but a threat like his pure romantic love for San is something they would unite against, with the full weight of the family behind them too, no matter what the old man had promised him minutes before.
He wanted San, more than anything or anyone else he had ever wanted. On top of his deep love and admiration for her, she also represented his freedom too.
But the weight of his family might crush his dreams of her.
"We always have…"
Gin gave in to the inevitable as Akaio hovered lovingly over him.
As she sat back onto him, he let his thoughts go and gave in to his baser mating instincts.
"…..and we always will."
Letting go of his conscious thoughts, his guilt, was the only way he could think to preserve what sanity he had left to him.
"I really am just a selfish bastard after all?"
Yukari hopped down happily from her perch atop some cardboard boxes as the green minivan came to a halt next to her.
"That's a funny looking guard dog. She wouldn't scare a fly."
At Kurumu's teasing words from the passenger window, Yukari stuck out her tongue and pulled down her eyelid before releasing a sharp reply of her own.
"You could take my place and scare everyone away with those stinky underarms of yours."
Tsukune and Ruby had already exited the minivan as Kurumu angrily replied after taking a quick nose test of her underarms.
"HEY! MY UNDERARMS DON'T STINK!"
Yukari, however, had moved on from teasing Kurumu.
"Sure did take you guys long enough. Hehe!"
Her laughter indicated her naughty thoughts about what might have caused the "threesome" to take so much time, but the others knew her well enough not to indulge her or she'd just get worse.
"Sorry, we had a lot to unload back at the house."
Ruby added details to Tsukune's words.
"You wouldn't believe all the stuff we got."
Yukari redirected a smirk at Kurumu, who was walking past her towards the collection of boxes.
"Good! I'm starving!"
Kurumu shot the young witch an incredulous glare as she walked by.
"You just ate a few hours ago!"
When everyone turned back away Kurumu sniffed again at her underarms, just for her own self-assurance.
"Well, our Yukari-chan is a growing girl."
Ruby lovingly rubbed the excited young woman's head, as Yukari used her hands to illustrate where she obviously soon expected breasts to form on herself.
"It's true! It's true! Pretty soon I'll be a full grown woman. I know Tsukune-kun is looking forward to that day with great anticipation, right Tsukune-kun?"
The attempt at a seductive wink from the still pre-pubescent witch made Tsukune's cheeks flush.
"I…um…"
Luckily only Ruby caught the stunned expression Kurumu sent his way before the succubus could hide it safely away.
Suddenly a firm voice rang out from the entranceway to the girl's dormitory.
"Quit picking on Tsukune Yukari-chan, you know he gets embarrassed easily when discussing girl topics."
Yukari turned to face her lovely accuser with a sly expression of admiration on her face.
"I wasn't picking on him, Moka-san."
For a moment, before he realized who had said that, Tsukune looked to be about to protest the rather lackluster assessment of his ability to discuss "girl topics", but he cut off the urge the second he saw the silver-haired beauty, flanked by the also exquisite Mizore and Kokoa, each with boxes in their hands.
Again Kurumu had to work to suppress an errant expression from forming on her face.
Yukari took his temporarily stupefied state as a chance to tease him further, rushing up to hug and rub against him.
"I know he can't wait for my flower to fully blossom so that the three of us can finally be the trouple we were meant to be, hehe!"
Tsukune blushed now profusely as he stammered out a vague-sounding response.
"You say these things…."
Moka sent Yukari a disapproving look as she put her box next to the others, which made Yuakri part reluctantly from Tsukune, even as she continued to smile viciously about the successful teasing, and touching.
Kurumu, Ruby, and Mizore exchanged odd expressions about something Yukari had just mentioned.
"A…. trouple?"
Ruby, like usual, seemed to be the first to conjecture a meaning behind the unusual phrase.
"A three person…couple?"
Kurumu spun back angrily at the younger witch once she fully understood the meaning.
"No way squirt! The only trouple around here will be me, Tsukune-kun and….."
Inquisitive, wide-eyed looks followed the now completely embarrassed succubus as she turned abruptly away from their probing stunned glares.
Yukari, of course, couldn't let this luscious opportunity go. She saddled up beside the mortified succubus and used her words to dig deeply under her target's now thinned skin.
"Well, well, well ….which lucky one of us is going to be your wife Kurumu?"
Anger and embarrassment warred on her face as Kurumu spun to glare down at Yukari.
"I….I didn't mean….."
Tsukune, who had already begun loading the boxes into the minivan, turned now to address the rest.
"It would be Mizore-chan or Moka-san, they're Kurumu-chan's favorites, but she likes all the rest of you too."
Where before she had been mortified, now Kurumu was forced to cover her mouth to prevent a desperate scream from falling out.
"I…I didn't mean…"
To her only mild relief, all the now stunned eyes were on Tsukune instead of her, who looked back like he didn't understand why they were looking at him so oddly, or like he didn't even know what he had just said was odd in the first place.
Into the silent, void a shrill taunt escaped Kokoa's mouth as a vicious smirk creased her lovely features.
"Haha! BUSTED!"
Kurumu glared back at her over her pink cheeks to awkwardly try to defend herself.
"I just meant that…it would just be…"
Tsukune apparently had begun to feel the need to defend them both.
"Well, it's just Kurumu likes all of us. I don't think she'd not want us all together, like we are now. Right Kurumu-chan?"
It wasn't much of a lifeline, but Kurumu meekly took what help she could get.
"Um…yeah….sure."
Apparently satisfied he had successfully defused the situation, Tsukune went merrily back to loading boxes in the van.
Moka, on the other hand, had a surprising flush to her cheeks too and was avoiding direct eye contact with everyone.
"…interesting…"
She began passing boxes to Tsukune. As Kurumu found the courage to look at the others she saw sympathy from Ruby, got a rather embarrassing wink from Yukari, a vicious smirk from the self-satisfied Kokoa, and Mizore wouldn't even look in her direction. Like Moka, she too had a weird blush to her cheeks.
"So…..what all rooms do we still have left to pack up?"
Ruby was obviously ready to move on from the most recent cause of awkwardness and Yukari provided her with an answer for her question.
"We're completely done with Kokoa's, Mizore's, and my own rooms. There's only one box of stuff left in Moka's room too."
Moka sent Mizore a strange glare as she added on to Yukaris' comments.
"Mizore took care of Tsukune's room for him."
If she were bothered by the suspicious look from the vampire, Mizore hid it very well.
"Well, there's still a box or two left to bring down."
Mizore took the chance now to hand Tsukune back his dorm key as Moka's eyes squinted even more so at her.
As she walked around him, Mizore whispered into his ear on the side away from the others.
"I already boxed up your 'special' items. That box is still on your bed."
Tsukune tried hard not to let his strained feelings show as he replied back to her in low tones.
"I really appreciate it. Hope it wasn't too….well…"
Mizore let out a tinny giggle as she smiled warmly at him.
"Nothing too shocking, some of those I'd like to look at together with you, my Tsukune-kun."
Hearing the beautiful yukionna's last words Tsukune had to double down on his efforts to keep the shock off his face.
"Um…..I….uh….."
"ANYWAY!"
Moka, still leering at them both with suspicion and anger, had clearly had enough of their "unauthorized" intimate conversation.
"That leaves Kurumu's room left to do."
Seeing Mizore finally leave his side, Moka felt comfortable enough again to begin assigning work to the others.
"Yukari, Mizore, and Ruby; please help Kurumu with her stuff."
This drew a disappointed expression from Mizore.
"But she has way too much stuff!"
It drew an even more dramatic looking pout from the junior witch.
"It's true! It's true! She does have a lot of junk!"
Their harsh, if rather accurate assessment of Kurumu's property drew her immediate ire onto them.
"I DON'T HAVE ANY 'JUNK', THANK YOU! All my stuff is of the very best quality!"
The disbelieving look the yukionna and junior witch exchanged only made Kurumu angrier.
Moka ignored them and spoke to her sister next.
"Kokoa, finish loading the van and watch it while Tsukune and I get the last of our stuff."
Kokoa also had a slight pout when she heard this, but gave in to her beloved sister's commands.
"Sure thing Onee-sama!"
She suppressed her natural desire to spend time alone, helping her beloved Onee-sama, in favor of dutifully obeying her instead.
"Not like they'll be alone together anyway."
She found comfort in the fact that Tsukune wouldn't be able to take advantage of her sister's kind nature since they'd be in separate buildings, technically anyway.
As he passed her he gave her a smile. Her normal response would be to stick out her tongue or verbally mock the weakling.
"But he's not a weakling, far from it."
That tiny voice that always seemed to hound her whenever she thought about..."the Maggot" had been growing louder and more frequent these past few months. It had first spoken to her when the idiot ran into her on the first day.
She could smell that delicious blood even now, through his skin.
"That's it! I just want to drain him dry! That's all! That's natural for a vampire to feel!"
It was always the excuse too. It was her excuse that day as she pummeled him for touching her chest. She always said it wherever she noticed...him.
Noticing him had become even harder not to notice over the last few months.
She could still ignore him if she tried hard, but those walls were crumbling by the day.
Was she really concerned for Onee-sama alone with him, or ABOUT Onee-sama being alone with him?
"No! No! No! He's a Maggot! A sister stealing Maggot!"
She tried to wash whatever blank look she had just sent him off her face and replace it with her normal scowl of hate, but it only made him grin more back at her as he proceeded past her.
"Damn you Aono Tsukune! Damn you!"
She desperately wanted to hate him again. Her hate for him was her safety from him.
"...otherwise."
She shook her head violently and scowled as she turned to load the boxes.
She would not allow herself to examine..."otherwise".
The rest of the group headed back inside to finish the last of the packing, as Kokoa, rather slowly, loaded the smallest and lightest boxes she could find.
She was too deep into her own self-denial attempts to notice the varying range of curious looks, some not too happy or friendly, that were now directed at her after that strange expression she had sent in Tsukune's direction just moments before. Luckily for her, her precious Onee-sama wasn't among those looking at her with new-found suspicions.
Moka entered her dorm room for probably the last time and noticed the single open box left on her bed.
Then she corrected herself.
"Not my bed, not really."
Her eyes drifted over the all too familiar room.
"Not my room either."
Her eyes fell onto the desk she had used for the last time just hours before their departure to Hong Kong.
"Also, not my desk, or any of my stuff."
The desk wasn't really hers. It was the property of Yokai Academy like all the rest of the ubiquitously ugly furniture in the now almost empty room.
She would miss that at all.
For her….the 'real' her, the one now free forever from the prison of the rosary, the life that "other" her had lived was just like a movie she had been forced to watch for the last four and a half years.
She had been immersed into that person's life, but not an active participant in it.
"…mostly."
Moka couldn't bring herself to call that other her…by that other name.
Akasha Bloodriver was her mother. A warm and loving mother that sacrificed everything to protect her daughter and the world.
That other "her"? Someone who, though protecting Moka, suppressed her for years, had taken the life that was meant for her, the friends, the experiences.
"….him too?"
They had shared them all in a strange way, but it had always been the other her that took the lion's share as her own.
"Not anymore."
She couldn't think about the wider implications of that strange and now ended relationship now, not yet.
Time would tell her what was really hers and what had belonged to that…"other" her.
She didn't think she would ever believe that that other her had been….her mother.
Last night still didn't seem real. She wondered if it ever would seem real to her. In some ways she hoped it would always seem like a bad dream.
"My mother…is really dead now. She's really gone….forever, this time."
The thoughts were not eliciting the emotions her mother deserved from her only child, and it angered her that she couldn't give her mother the grief she richly deserved.
"Had I really let go of her all those years ago?"
The tears were in her somewhere, she knew it, but she was too numb to bring them forth, at least for now.
Only pictures remained on what had never really been her desk now. Happy faces staring back at her with glowing eyes and warm smiles.
"Not really even my pictures."
In every picture, that "other" her's face stared back at her, almost mockingly. The one with the "other" her and Tsukune particularly rankled at her as she held it in her hands.
"Was he hugging me, or my mother, or that 'other' me in this picture? I don't really know who that person was anymore. Was it ever really me or just her alone?"
She hated the "grayness" of it all, the uncertainty. Clear facts, in black and white, no gray areas, no indecisiveness or confusion, that was what she preferred. There were no doubts when you were clearly right and your opponent was clearly wrong.
She detested self-doubt in all it's forms as a sign of weakness. She hated weakness, and her doubts now about her own existence made her loathe even herself a bit.
She suddenly felt moisture on her face.
"This you can cry over?"
She angrily wiped away a tear and she placed the picture between two stacks of papers.
Tsukune had two boxes on his own bed, one taped firmly up, the other still open wide.
"Well, Mizore certainly took care of my special items for me."
She wanted to show him he could trust her with anything, but he already knew that about her.
Only photos were left on his desk to pack away now.
The one of him with his parents and Kyoko went in first.
The second was of the whole gang together. Like the previous photo, it went into the open box with a smile on his own face as he looked at it.
He was truly grateful they had all made it home alive.
"ALL OF US!"
That emphatic thought accompanied a glance at the final photo left to be packed.
"THERE IS ONLY ONE!"
He clutched her image to his chest but the tears still escaped his eyes. He took a few calming breathes and then managed a smile as he bravely looked down on her image once more.
"Yes, we ALL made it back…..alive."
It was the truth, he told himself.
"There is only one Moka!"
Even if that wasn't the truth, he would make it the truth.
He would show her all the love he felt for both versions of her was still hers to own. He would make it reality. He would force it to be the truth, even if it wasn't
He owed her nothing less.
Thus he could not allow himself to even consider that the one and the other could have been entirely different people.
...otherwise.
He instantly buried that possibility inside his mind and forcefully made himself move on.
He carefully packed the photo away and sealed up the box before stacking it on the other one to make them easier to carry.
He took one more look around the room that had been his place of rest for the better part of the last two years, and couldn't entirely escape the melancholy of leaving this part of his life behind him.
"The one thing I'll really miss about this room….."
Maybe he could feel her watching him. They had done it so many times before.
She had an expression on her face like she was embarrassed he had caught her in the act, but she soon smiled back warmly at him and waved.
He returned the smile and wave as they had always done before.
"There IS only one Moka!"
It wouldn't be their last smile and wave for one another, far from it, but they both had to feel that this was the last time it would be here, high over the courtyard that separated Yokai Academy's boys and girls dormitories from each other.
Surprisingly he welcomed the sadness into his heart as much as the joy.
"…..the very best view EVER!"
Moka put her hand on her window now and he followed her example.
Her lips said what he couldn't hear, but he certainly could feel.
"I love you."
There was only one correct response.
"I love you, too."
Moka pulled away with a slightly sad smile, waved once more, picked up her box, and walked out of her dorm room for probably the last time.
Once her door was finally closed Tsukune allowed another set of tears to stream down his face.
"You're so strange, you'll be living in the same house together with her now. You will only get closer to her now."
He looked back up to get one final look before retreating to the men's room to make sure he removed all evidence of errant emotions from his face.
There she was again, hand on the window, sad little smile on her face.
Had she forgotten something?
Surely she could see his tears now?
Yet his sudden embarrassment turned to shock and then to desperation.
The hair was that familiar warm pink, and the eyes were the perfect emerald shade of green.
As the realization hit him, his heart tried to fly out of his chest.
"Moka…..chan?"
She tilted her head with that gorgeous sad little smile of hers.
He couldn't believe his eyes, though he desperately wanted to.
Then her perfect lips mouthed the words he most wished he could hear her say.
"I love you."
Then as if she had never been there, she was gone.
Every synapsis in his body screamed for him to burst through both sets of windows, but he could not bring his body to move. His teeth ground down in his mouth as he clenched his jaw to fight off the roar of despair that he felt welling up inside him threatening to burst from his lungs.
The air itself hurt to breathe.
He had felt rage before, but nothing like this.
Only minutes later did he look down at his right hand to see three of the rosary's relatively smooth-edged cross points had been dug so forcefully into his palm skin that he was now bleeding all over it and the floor too.
He couldn't even remember having taken it out of his pocket.
Having been so tightly wound up, he now collapsed in a heap on the dorm room floor. He would lay there for several more minutes before he realized the others would come looking for him if he didn't move soon on his own.
Only then did Tsukune find the reserves of strength to move once more, despite the weight bearing down on his own heavily-burdened heart.
He couldn't let despair have him, for her sake if not for his own.
She deserved nothing less from him.