I do not own any of the characters of K. They belong to Gora/Gohands.
I apologize for any OOC-ness of the characters. It's just my take on how they might behave in the event of situations such as these arriving.I also apologize for any grammatical errors that I failed to pick up on.
Summary: How the Red Clan copes with a growing Anna.
Genre: Drama/Humor
GROWING PAINS
by chickypeg
Chapter 10: Happy Meals
Anna murmured softly in her sleep before opening her eyes. She was still lying on her stomach, but Mikoto had withdrawn his arm from her. It lay beside her, his hand fisted into the pillow, right beside her face.
She saw a familiar sleeping expression, where, even in his sleep he sometimes looked disturbed. Whenever he had a nightmare, the shade of his beautiful red would change, just as she saw in his chest area. She could not tell what he was dreaming, and she never read his thoughts unless he unwittingly projected him onto her (such as when he drank). She could tell if someone was blocking their thoughts from her, but she rarely ever pried.
Mikoto had his other arm cushioned under his head. His bright red hair was a stark contrast to his tanned skin, or as Anna saw, a pale grey.
Her eyes moved beyond to his ear where there was a single hooped earring.
A very familiar earring.
She recalled the first time had worn on that earring: Totsuka's personal effects had been returned to them and that earring had been in a sealed, small plastic bag. Everyone had been gathered at the bar. It had been a quiet, solemn atmosphere for they had lost the one person who could walk into the room and brighten the place by simply being there.
Everyone had watched in silence as Mikoto had been handed the bag by Izumo. He had held it in his hand for a moment, then lay it down on the counter of the bar. Then, he calmly took off his own earring. He had torn open the plastic bag in a quick, violent movement. Even Anna, accustomed to him being calm around the bar, even patient and almost happy in battles, had been stunned by the sudden burst of his temper.
The violent red she had seen at that time, and the way it had darkened in the moment of his tearing the bag open in that simple action had revealed to her just how much upset he had been over their dear friend's death.
Then, without warning, he opened the earring and stabbed it into his own ear before closing it, just above where his original piercing had been, shocking everyone. He had clearly placed it in the exact position Totsuka had had his.
A trickle of blood had run down his ear. "What the heck are you doing?!" Izumo had demanded as he immediately grabbed some strong alcohol and soaked it into a cloth. Anna, understanding Mikoto's pain, had calmly taken the cloth from Izumo. She could feel the rage building in Mikoto, a rage that was going to be difficult for him to contain.
Everyone began to sense it and everyone had become anxious by it. They looked at one another in surprise, then at Mikoto, for in their eyes, they saw his red aura. Anna saw blood red, indicating volatile rage.
She had stood up calmly in her chair, her movement distracting everyone. She was on the counter next, standing beside Mikoto, and abruptly, she began gently bathing his ear with the alcohol from the cloth. Perhaps it was her gentle administrations that immediately doused his anger for his aura had receded. Everyone, even Izumo who bawled like a baby if there was a scratch to his beautiful counter remained quiet.
Anna soothed the blood away from around the earring.
She said nothing, neither did he. He had simply let her do as she wished as he lowered his eyes from her as she knelt on the counter, caring for his self inflicted wound.
Anna gazed at that earring, remembering the person who had originally worn it. The person who was currently wearing it let out a loud breath. His eyebrows narrowed and a look of obvious anxiety came over him.
She softly lay her hand on his cheek that felt surprisingly rough under her smooth flesh. "Mikoto," she whispered.
He tensed again for a moment, and then opened his eyes slowly. They slowly focused on her. She removed her hand and simply looked at him.
"What?" he mumbled in a gravelly voice.
"You were having a nightmare, Mikoto," she replied.
He gave a little snort, and was about to turn away. But then lion in him saw his favorite spot on Anna. He caught her by the back of her hair and pulled her down to him. Anna, surprised by the movement, squirmed in his hold, but stopped when she felt his cheek, raspy with a light growth of beard, rubbed against her own smooth one. It was a strange feel for she was accustomed to him being smoothly shaven against her.
He proceeded to nuzzle the hair at her temple, enjoying its soothing softness which seemed to chase away the aftereffects of the nightmare of the memory of the death of a dear friend. Anna enjoyed the feel of him, and was starting to feel very sleepy again, but she was also very hungry.
Her stomach made an abrupt gurgling noise, causing Mikoto to stop. With his forehead pressed gently against hers, he asked. "Are you hungry?" he asked quietly.
Anna shook her head and sought to extract herself from him. As she did so, her stomach grumbled again.
"No matter what you say, you are," Mikoto told her.
"I'm not," she told him firmly as she pushed his arm away from her and moved away from the bed. Mikoto sighed and rolled onto his back. It was a common habit of hers: if she was embarrassed in anyway, she would deny it to death whatever that embarrassing action was.
As Anna slid off the bed and walked out the door, she missed the way his face softened into a very tiny but warm smile.
"Eh? Anna? You're making breakfast?" came Izumo's voice.
She nodded as she cracked some eggs in a bowl. She was standing on a chair at the counter for she was too short to properly reach it.
She picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to beat the eggs with them. There was a portable electric stove plugged on next to her which already had a large frying pan in it that had butter, onions and what looked like sliced up sausages in it. She used the chopsticks to quickly stir around the ingredients in there before adding the egg.
Izumo, wearing on gray pajama pants and a black shirt, took out the two slices of toast that had popped from the toaster. He added two more to it. Like Mikoto, he also needed a shave and already had an unlit cigarette in his mouth.
"I'm sorry I didn't make it for you. I overslept," Izumo apologized.
"It's alright," she told him as she added the eggs. It was clear that she was making breakfast for him, Mikoto, herself and Yata, who was snoring on the couch in the sitting room as well as anyone else who might come in later. Yata liked to stay over on nights his mother worked late. It seemed he would be very lonely if he had to eat dinner all by himself.
"Do you want to eat in the bar? You can watch television there since Yata's still asleep in the sitting room,"
She nodded again as she used a spatula to flip the eggs. She added a bit of cheese and then switched off the stove.
Izumo placed two pieces of toast on the plate for her and then nudged her off the chair. He added some off the egg for her onto the bread and motioned for her to go to the bar. He informed her that he would give her some orange juice there.
When he re-entered the bar with his own food, Anna was there still waiting on him. He suspected that she was quite hungry, especially with that workout from the day before, but it seemed she did not like to eat alone. She never did. From before, Totsuka used to sit with her and eat, or just be with her while she did.
Yata came in, yawning widely. He sniffed the air. "Something smells good!" he exclaimed happily.
"Anna made breakfast. Get yours from the kitchen and meet us back here-bring the King's too," Izumo added.
Yata happily dashed to the kitchen and back with his food while Izumo poured some orange juice for them.
As expected, Mikoto came downstairs and came straight to the bar, attracted by the scent of food.
He sat down to Anna's left. Yata was at her right, already digging in, while Izumo was behind the counter. As Mikoto was not a big fan of orange juice, Izumo gave him water instead.
Mikoto grudgingly ate with a knife and fork as Izumo harassed him to do so.
"This is stupid," Mikoto grumbled.
"You have no class," Izumo retorted.
"Class or no class, there's no point in eating a sandwich with a knife and fork-or drinking orange juice from a cocktail glass," Mikoto said as he glanced at Anna's drink. Izumo was really a fanatic when it came to etiquette at his bar. Seriously...eggs and toast with a knife and fork was just pushing it.
Anna was normally a quiet person, but it seemed that this morning, she was extra quiet. It was like there was a very subdued air about her and she had not asked Izumo to switch on the television yet.
Mikoto noticed and looked at her from the corner of his eyes as he drank some water. She was slowly eating the very end of one slice of bread and had not touched the eggs at all.
Anna, meanwhile, had remembered the person who taught her how to make a simple breakfast.
"Anna, want to help me make breakfast?" Totsuka had asked eight year old Anna who had awakened before everyone else.
Anna looked hesitant.
"I'm sure you're hungry, and you're probably fed-up of eating cereal everyday," the smiling young man coaxed her.
Slowly, she nodded. He took her hand and led her to the kitchen and showed her what to do. He had her crack and beat the eggs, but he operated the stove and had used the knife on anything that needed to be sliced.
"Ah, the eggs Anna has cooked smells wonderful!" he praised.
Anna did not change her usual blank expression, but Totsuka knew that she was pleased by his words. He had been caring for her since she had been six so he had a very good idea of what her feelings were although she rarely displayed them. He was the brother she had never had, and she had loved him very much. It was not because he doted upon her every need, but because he was sincere in his actions and had never expected anything in return.
He placed some of the food on a plate and had told her to eat in the bar. Izumo had come in, and had been impressed by the simple meal Anna had largely helped to prepare. Mikoto had entered the bar and had nodded when informed of Anna's actions.
"The King is just grateful for the food," Totsuka had told Anna as she lifted her toast to eat. Mikoto grunted, but she was glad for she knew he was also tired of cereal.
"Anna, don't eat with your hands. Use your fork," Izumo told her.
"Stop being such a mother-hen," Mikoto told him, using a fork as well due to Izumo's insistence.
"You eat at the bar, you use proper tableware," Izumo shot back at his friend.
"She's only seven," Totsuka reminded him.
"The earlier she learns, the better,"
"Eight," Mikoto said suddenly, startling the other two men.
"What?" Totsuka asked.
"She's eight, not seven," he explained.
Everyone had been surprised that he had remembered her age, and not Totsuka and Anna had blushed.
She had listened to Izumo and ate with a fork, and then the knife to cut into her bread. Totsuka had praised her efforts earnestly. He had made sure she ate all of her food as well, for she had a habit of leaving back some of it. It had come to be that as long as he was with her, she ate everything on her plate, and it was only when he was with her, she did so. Hardly anyone paid any mind to how much Anna ate, as long as she had consumed most of her meal. Most of the time, meals consisted of laughter and fun and playful jabs. So many people around made it so lovely and wonderful.
The breakfast group would slowly become larger as other members of Homra joined in. Some brought their own food, just to enjoy with the others, while others ate from what had been made before or had cereal.
When Totsuka left them, such events became more seldom for the presence of the sunshine in Homra had disappeared leaving a sad, grieving atmosphere.
Anna made it to half a slice of one toast and a little bit of the eggs before she placed her utensils down. She was suddenly not hungry anymore, and there was no Totsuka around to get her to finish her meal.
She hopped down from her stool.
"Anna, you finished already?" Izumo asked.
She nodded. Mikoto and Izumo shared a look while Yata was slowly inching for her leftovers. Izumo slapped away his hand before he could touch them.
"Anna," Izumo's voice called her, stopping her in her tracks.
She turned around and walked back to the counter. Izumo came around from behind it and stooped in front of her. He placed his hands on his shoulders and observed her through his glasses. He placed a hand on her head and tilted her face from side to side, scrutinizing her.
"You're too thin," he said with a frown.
"I'm not too thin," she told him.
"Anna, this is serious," he chided her. "Natsume-san really did tell me that you might be a bit underweight."
Izumo looked miserable for a moment, then he hugged her, surprising everyone.
"What's wrong with Izumo-san?" Yata demanded in a loud whisper to Mikoto.
Mikoto merely shrugged, but he had a fair idea as to what was going through Izumo's mind.
"I'm sorry, Anna," he told her. "I took responsibility of you and I haven't been paying enough attention to you, have I? You might have gone without a tutor the coming semester and you would have become a confused teenager had the Blue clan not reminded us. You're also not eating well. I'm sorry I haven't been looking after you as I should have before,"
Anna accepted his words. He felt different from Mikoto when she was in his arms. They were both warm, but they smelled different and felt different. Mikoto's hair that spiked forward always tickled some part of her face. It rarely had any scent save for an occasional mild shampoo. His clothing was thin cotton and his warmth spilled out from him.
Izumo's hair was soft and smelled of heavy cologne. He wore on more layers of clothing than Mikoto and his warmth did not reach her the way Mikoto's did.
Mikoto was someone whose touch she clung too like a child hugging a favorite toy. He was something deep, and her most precious person.
Izumo reminded her of her father, therefore giving her a different comfort from which she found in Mikoto, but he was still someone very dear to her.
Izumo suddenly lifted her up as he stood. Anna carefully let her arms go around his neck, hugging him back.
When Izumo drew back, he gave her a sad smile. "I won't be able to hold you like this one day, will I?"
Anna did not know what to say, but allowed for Izumo to set her down on her chair again. He pushed the barstool closer to Mikoto's and shifted her plate so that it was directly beside his.
"Eat all your food," he instructed her as he rounded the bar again.
"But I'm not hungry," she argued.
"Anna," came Mikoto's voice.
She looked at him. He gave her a hard look. "Eat," he ordered.
He had never looked at her like that, and it frightened her, so she hurried to pick up her fork again and ate her food. She was halfway done and was about to set down her utensils again. She glanced at Mikoto again. He gave her a glare with his golden eyes and she hurried to pick up her knife and fork.
"Anna really listens to Mikoto-san, huh?" Yata said quietly to Izumo.
"If he looked at you like that, wouldn't you?"
Yata saw Mikoto's glare aimed at Anna decided that yes, he definitely would have.
At that moment, the door opened and Chitose and Dewa entered.
"Ah, you guys made breakfast? We brought some pancakes and waffles," Dewa informed them.
"Well, we're all growing people here so you can still share with us," Izumo told them.
The other two happily joined them at the counter. They pulled out white boxes and shared the pancakes among everyone. They offered Anna and she was about to shake her head, but Mikoto said, "Give her one,"
They gladly obliged.
"Waffle," she told them softly.
"You want a waffle instead?" Chitose asked.
She nodded and he happily gave it to her.
Yata was digging into a renewed pile of food. Kamamoto entered next, closely followed by Fujishima.
"Hey, we bought food you guys," Chitose told them.
"What did you get?" Kamamoto asked.
"Pancakes and waffles," he replied.
Kamamoto looked crestfallen. "I'm on a diet,"
Chitose came near to him with a plate with some pancakes on it, smothered in syrup. "It's blueberry, your favorite,"
Kamamoto made a painful noise. "That's hitting below the belt, Chitose,"
"It's only for today," Chitose coaxed him.
Kamamoto sighed and took the plate. He sat in a booth with Fujishima who had already gotten what he wanted.
Anna pushed aside her toast and went for the waffle. She was going to eat it plainly, but Mikoto grabbed the syrup bottle that he had been using and squeezed a heaping load of the gooey stuff onto her waffle.
Anna looked at him and gave him a little frown, indicating that she did not want it. Mikoto returned a dark look and she turned back to her food quickly.
Eric came in next, barely five minutes later.
"Ah, the starving Chihuahua is scarfing down food," Eric commented snidely in English as he took a seat next to Yata.
Yata, recognizing the word 'Chihuahua', had his fork in his mouth with a mouthful of pancake. He used his free hand to flip Eric his middle finger and ignored him for the rest of his meal. Eric did not seem to mind very much for he simply chuckled at his comrade. Fujishima came by and gave him a plate, telling him to eat as well.
The last two people who entered were Shohei and Bando and they arrived less than ten minutes later.
"Ah...you guys are a bit late for breakfast, aren't you?" Chitose asked them.
"It's ten o'clock. The ones who are late are you guys," Bando told them.
"We all had an early start this morning it seems," Izumo told them.
"Most of the food is gone," Kamamoto told them.
"I ate already," Bando said as he sat on the couch close to the bar.
"I didn't," Shohei commented with a frown.
"There's always cereal," Izumo told him, quite unsure if there was any leftovers due to Yata's greediness.
The look on Shohei's face indicated that he would rather not have that.
"There's still toast and eggs," Anna said softly. Being the psychic that she was, she would know.
Everyone was surprised to hear her speak. She was struggling with her waffle still and a part of her was resentful toward Mikoto for overloading it with syrup for her.
"Yes, there's still some left in the kitchen," Yata informed him and Shohei gladly went for the rest of food. Everyone resumed talking and laughing.
Anna switched from her waffle to her toast and eggs again.
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As a fighter, you need to have proper eating habits. If you continue as you were about to by not finishing your meal, you would have burned more calories than you were consuming, leading to you becoming exceedingly thin and potentially anorexic," Mikoto informed her quietly.
Anna was startled. She hadn't realized that. She watched television enough with the guys to pick up on anorexia and its dangers so she was shocked to know that she fell anywhere near anorexic behavior.
She looked at her food. She would need her energy to do her training. Aside from getting into a habit that would lead to health dangers, one of the reasons why Mikoto insisted on her eating more, and overloading her waffle with syrup was to increase her calories considering her previous hectic workout. It would also give her energy for training session they would be having soon.
It still made her feel like the food, despite how little, was a pile of death to her. To stomach it down was difficult. However, as the atmosphere grew warmer with everyone's laughter, she found that something in her melted and her appetite returned. The more she ate, the quicker she did.
She managed everything except a piece of crust. By that time, everyone else was already full and happy.
"All done, Anna?" Izumo asked her.
She nodded and picked up her juice. She drank it slowly but did not drink it all. She was too full. When Izumo took away her wares, she said softly so that only Mikoto would hear. "It's nice," she murmured to him.
He waited for her to explain. "Like when Tatara was here," she explained.
A wave of sadness and understanding came to Mikoto. He understood her lack of appetite came from the memories of the one so close to her.
He gently placed his hand on her head. Mikoto could offer her no words of comfort, only a simple touch which certainly soothed the grief in her.
They went over what they did the day before in the training, then Anna was taught defensive stances. It was incorporated into the cardio routine they did next, combined with what they had done the day before. The other members had decided to join in too, apparently enjoying the workouts as well. When Anna was made to do push-ups, Mikoto told her that would be allowed to go up to twenty five.
They had her at the punching bag next, where the moves she was taught was put into action against the bag. Of course, little as she was, she did not have enough force to make the bag move very much, but it did take a beating from her. Mikoto used one hand to hold the bag in place while Izumo stood at her side to ensure that she hit at it properly.
The rest of guys were using the exercise machines.
Kamamoto, on an ab machine, pushed himself upright on it as he sweated profusely. "101...102...103..." he huffed as he went up and down, up and down.
"You're really pushing it, aren't you?" Yata asked him.
"105...because I have to burn of those calories," he wheezed out as he pushed up.
"But you didn't eat much,"
"106...those blueberry pancakes with heavy syrup were already 700 calories," Kamamoto stated.
Yata, sitting on a chair, leaning his front on the backrest watched his comrade hit 110 before he spoke again. "700 is quite a lot. Did you calculate it wrong?"
"150 calories per pancake, I had 3. That's 450 altogether. The blueberries in the pancakes were about a cup altogether so thats about 530. There was powdered sugar on those pancakes, I take that up to 560 and the syrup was just over the top, at 140 making it about 700 calories altogether," Kamamoto replied.
Yata gave him a pitying look. "You're a sad dude, Kamamoto-san," He truly believed that he had exaggerated on the calories.
"116...117...If you ever reach the size I did, you would be sad too,"
Chitose chose to wander over around that time. Kamamoto shot him a distasteful look.
"Why are you watching me like that?" he demanded.
"Devil's spawn!" Kamamoto hissed at him as he made it to 120.
Chitose looked offended. "What are you talking about?!"
"Blueberry pancakes you bastard. You're jealous the women come onto me and not you anymore. So you want me to get fat again," Kamamoto accused.
"Have you been drinking again? You're deluded!"
Kamamoto gave him a sick smile. "Just 100 more of these, an hour on the treadmill and a go at the punching bag and those pancakes will be gone. All goooone!" the previously pudgy young man sang to his comrades who gave him a look that suggested that he belonged in a mental institue.
Anna had overheard their conversation. After giving the bag a swift kick, she looked at Mikoto.
"Won't he become anorexic?" she asked.
Mikoto and Izumo watched their hardworking comrade.
"We'll just offer him pancakes if we find he looks too skinny. He won't resist them," Izumo replied.
Anna accepted that, and went back to attacking the bag.
That night, she climbed into Mikoto's bed, half dead and worn out. She collapsed beside him, sleeping on his shoulder, comforted by his warmth. Mikoto awakened to her sudden movement and observed the sleeping face on his arm. He was disappointed to see that she was sleeping on the side that covered his favorite spot to nuzzle.
Anna had a strange dream that night. It was in color. She saw a lion wearing a crown. It was a ferocious lion with a brilliant red mane. The golden colored, healthy beautiful animal, however, looked sad. It was sitting on its hinds in an empty clearing in a forest with its eyes downcast sadly. It got up, moped around in a circle, then lay down with the two front paws crossed over each other. It lay its head on them and let out a huff.
Anna, feeling sorry for it, walked toward it. It caught sight of her and lifted its head. She walked to it, sensing no danger and saw that a pair of familiar gold eyes were watching her. It got up and immediately walked over to her. Despite being small as she was, it was not intimidating in any way. It pressed its nose against her temple and pushed against it warmly. It rubbed it mane of brilliant hair against her head and suddenly, Anna opened her eyes to the real world.
She found herself lying on top of Mikoto. One of his strong arms was around her at her waist, practically pinning her to him, while the other was across her shoulders. Mikoto's body was warm and hard and she was quite sure she could sleep on top of him.
Even with him constantly rubbing his face into her hair like that in his sleep. She realized that she had been sharing a dream with him again, but this was the first time that it was not a memory.
Letting Mikoto hold her the way a child hugged a teddy bear, she sighed and tried to sleep again despite his movements, and despite her sore muscles. She began to dream again.
As she dreamt, she recalled all the wonderful experiences she had over the years with the people of Homra, both when they had Totsuka, and when they did not. Unfortunately, she knew that that time would come to an end soon. Days would melt into weeks which would become months and she would have to leave.
A/N: Delayed chapter, I know and I am so sorry. Been busy busy and I'm gonna be busy busy for the next couple of days. I could have posted earlier, but I wasn't pleased with this chapter and wanted to fix it up as best as I could although I am not pleased with it still and I have not gone over it properly to get rid off as much grammar errors as possible (too sleepy to double check...). I'll double check it when I can and let you know if I edited it.
What's everyone's plans for the holidays?
I have to visit family. Tomorrow. The following day. AND the following day :/
I would really prefer to be home finishing up this story.
Forgive me for the lack of humor in the story, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Happy Holidays, everyone and thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows. They were truly appreciated, and as always they really motivate to keep writing. Thank you so so much.
Have a great day. God bless :)
P.S. The last episode of K is this week :(