and we're back! back again. YEAH we're back, tell a friend -is shot-
A sudden crash and a startled screech reminded Hakuba that his father was still alone in the kitchen. Obviously, the only reason cookies were on the table was that the fridge and freezer were full. But when the blonde teen arrived, he found a situation MUCH more aggravating
Kaitou yelped as Hakuba ran off, moving to follow him; only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"Kaitou.../What/ is he hiding?" Kyo asked slowly, voice slightly tense. Kaitou glanced after his boyfriend, looked at Kyo, and sighed shakily.
"...You...Promise you won't hurt him." He murmured; Kyo blinked.
"Why would I-?"
"/Promise me/!" Kaitou snarled, and Kyo flinched.
"Of course, I promise!" A moment's hesitation, then Kaitou sighed. "Well..." One, choice sentence later..."WHAT!"
Hakuba was glad he had dressed for the night's heist so early. He was able to get a shot off at the siren before his mother's tentacles shattered his gun, and wrapped him up like his surrogate father was now being hung. The fat man was unconscious, thankfully. He wouldn't see the damage should it come to that.
"Kaitou-!"
"Hakuba!" Kaitou didn't wait for Kyo to get another word in, lunging into the house. Only to skid to a halt, gazing in horror at the creature currently residing in the kitchen. "...Oh my god..."
"Kaitou, get /back/!" Kyo snarled, grabbing his nephew and yanking him behind him.
"LET GO OF ME!" Hakuba screeched, wriggling from her grip long enough to speak. "Why should I, my estranged son? After all I did for you... you had to run off and mingle with the food source." her voice was soft, luxuriously British, and seductive as hell. That and she wore no shirt though her scales were DEFINATELY not coming up that high.
"Why hello, Siier." Kyo greeted coolly, reaching up to rip off the necklace dangling from his neck. In a split second blue speckled wings sprouted from his arms, entire chest covered in matching feathers. "I suggest you put the boy down." He added in a low hiss, eyes glowing dangerously.
"But he's my baby. And he has been VERY naughty, coming up here and meddling with human affairs. He's even gone so far as to start dating your little fledgling there. So let me take mine so you can deal with YOURS, Rat-wings."
"But, Siier, there's a small problem with that." Kyo hissed, rising to his full height, talons scraping the ground sharply. "/My/ fledgling has chosen /your/ minnow as his mate. And if you honestly think I'm going to let you make off with him without a fuss, you have another thing coming, /fish stick/."
Hakuba watched helplessly as Kaitou stared at the average siren. The poor kid looked like he was about to faint. However, the young siren had one last defence. A broken shield is always better than no shield at all. He started to hum.
Kyo glanced sharply at the sound; he had long since gathered up the ability to ward off a Siren's music, so the humming didn't even faze him. /Kaitou/ however...looked properly dazed. "Kaitou!" Kyo snapped, whirling around to glare at Hakuba. "What are you doing!"
Hakuba couldn't answer; he was too busy keeping his pathetic notes even despite the increased tightness around his chest from his mother's tentacles. /Kaitou, can you hear me? /
Most people's first reaction upon hearing an unknown voice in their mind was to freak; however, Kaitou was only half-awake at the current time, so it didn't faze him. /Yeah, I can hear you.../
/I need you to stay calm enough to attack her. By ANY means necessary. I am betting you know where the knives are and yur Uncle Kyo has a dagger at his waist whichever you can get first. /
/Attack her? / Kaitou didn't question it; maybe because of the spell. Maybe because he had no reason not to do as Hakuba said. Maybe...because his newly awakened harpy instincts were screaming at him to defend /his/ mate. Hakuba was his...Something snapped. How dare she. How /dare/ she! How dare that slimy wrench /dare/ touch his Hakuba! Kaitou didn't even realize he had grabbed Kyo's dagger until the Harpy cried out in shock. But by then it was to late, Kaitou launching himself at the siren, slashing out at the other.
Hakuba watched as his boyfriend severed the tentacle holding him, and now he hummed in pleasure as he launched himself between his mate and the mother. He knew there was a VERY good reason he always carried a second gun. The small human weapons were VERY effective against the sea creatures he was related to.
"Kaitou!" Kyo shrieked, grabbing his suddenly enraged nephew; what the hell had gotten into him all of a sudden! The young harpy merely snarled, struggling uselessly against the other's grip, trying desperately to attack the female who dared lay her slimy paws on Hakuba.
Hakuba, throwing his now useless gun from him, inhaled deeply. It had barely worked on Kaitou, so he was going to have to touch it up JUST a sminch. He noted that the grown harpy saw the sign and covered Kaitou's ears and blocked his own with magic. Then Hakuba released a wail that would make a banshee herself quiver in fear.
Kaitou proceeded to thrash and snarl, oblivious to the hands covering his ears, still focused on one thing and one thing only. Which was the very thing that Kyo was quite determinedly keeping him from doing - and good /lord/ that mini-siren had a voice! Even with his magic up Kyo could hear the faintest echoes of the shriek; and it made his skin prickle.
Hakuba closed his mouth a good twenty minutes later to find his mother on the ground, whimpering. He might be half-human, and unable to sing, but that didn't stop him from being a teenage windbag.
Deeming it safe, Kyo released his hold on Kaitou - instantly the harpy flung himself at Hakuba, tackling the siren to the ground and checking every inch of the other, he could reach for damage. Meanwhile, Kyo frowned - he had the weirdest thing he was forgetting something..."KYO!" Jii came bursting through the front door. Oh /yeah/!
Hakuba looked up at the elderly man whom stood before him. Jii was tall, lean and, despite his obvious age, there was no doubt in hell that this man could VERY easily impersonate kid, thereby playing the part of a distraction.
"What on earth are you doing! You were supposed to come here, get the Prince, and...And...WHY ARE THERE TWO SIRENS HERE!" Jii shrieked; Kaitou blinked. "...Prince?" He asked slowly. There was a long silence, and then Jii rounded on Kyo.
"/You didn't tell him/!"
"I didn't tell him."
"YOU DIDN'T /TELL/ HIM!"
"I did /not/ tell him."
"Um, sorry to break up the argument, but... does someone know how to tell if a fat man is breathing?" Hakuba asked gently from the sidelines, where he knelt beside his fallen father. He SERIOUSLY couldn't tell. But it didn't matter, because a moment later a tentacle shot out, grabbed him, and the female siren made off with him, cackling
"Hakuba!" Kaitou shrieked, lunging forward - only to be grabbed from behind, yet again, by Kyo.
"Kaitou, we don't have ti-KAITOU!" Kyo yelped when the body in his arms suddenly went limp. "Kaitou...?" He whispered, only to cringe when the teenager's body began to shudder violently. Ooooh...Cue hysterical sobbing. Lovely. "Jii, stay here with Kaitou...I need to go...Inform the council of this." Kyo muttered, passing the sobbing teenager to the older male, and then exited the house in a single bound.
Hakuba yelped as he hit the water, and a moment later, he resurfaced, appearing as a siren, before his wrathful mother. Oh, THIS was going to be /pleasant/.
"Young master..." Jii whispered; Kaitou merely sobbed brokenly. "He's gone..." Kaitou whimpered, burying his face in the other's shirt. "He's gone and it's all my fault and I should have stopped her and I should have done /something/ but I didn't and he's gone and /it's all my fault/!" Yes, Kaitou was having a mental breakdown. And poor Jii was stuck right in the middle.
Hakuba winced as his mother clawed at the delicately woven and neatly hidden bindings that held his hair in the appearance of a normal male. He knew how to undo it all with one little trick, but he was going to keep the elder woman in the dark, just for being a bitch. unless he started to... oh, there was the scent of copper. Time to intervene.
Kaitou finally passed out due to stress – much to the relief of one very awkward old man – when a sudden shadow loomed over top the two.
"Jii… WHAT happened here?" came the cool hiss, and the old harpy cringed, looking up into the 12 sets of burning eyes.
"What's wrong with the Prince?" Kafin exclaimed, dark purple feathers glinting in the light of the room.
"Nothing… just… just emotional stress…."
Riko gazed out from behind her fellow council members, and then raced forward, her hard eyes softening.
"Oh~! The poor hatchling! This really HAS gotten him rather worked up." She cooed, gathering the unconscious boy into her chest. "Best get him home~!" she flew off, still carrying her Prince, leaving the others to Jii.
Hakuba was finally able to swim without the elder woman following his every move. She had wandered off, to do whatever she did when she wasn't there. He was, regrettably, not THEE most interesting person on the planet. Especially when swimming in a circle around some non-descript rocks. He was about to swim back towards shore, when he noticed a slight movement in the reeds a distance off.
It was some time before Kaitou stirred once more.
"He's AWAKE~!" Kafin exclaimed, and in their rush, the remainder of the council and Jii crushed him into the couch.
"Good morning, Prince, how do you feel?" Leo asked, smiling happily. Kyo waited through the long silence before the dark blue eyes rose to meet his, blank and flat. Well, hello Poker Face, nice to meet you. The elder male thought.
"What's the matter with His Majesty?" someone asked quietly.
Kaitou remained motionless. Kyo sighed, and then turned to his fellow council members.
"The… the Prince has found a mate." He started softly, and winced as the council exploded.
"OH~?"
"Who is it?"
"Can we meet her?"
"Is she pretty?"
"Is she harpy or human like your mother?"
"Come, TELL US!"
"I PREFER ROGERS! Mmm, corn syrup."
"Shut up Arese…."
"Guys, guys, everyone, calm down!" Kyo attempted to quell the noise, and reinstate order. However, that was a problem, as all council members were the same rank, therefore it was difficult for one member to control another. The only person who could control /all/ of them… was, well, not really present at the moment. "There's going to be several… unpleasant things about this… First; not a she."
There was a soft gasp from within the gathered harpies, as they fell quiet.
"Second, yes, he IS rather pretty. Third, his name is Saguru Hakuba." Kyo continued to explain slowly, trying to put off the revelation that would throw things into chaos. Care fully he rounded his shoulders, then stated "…and he is being held captive by a siren." Skip topic entirely. For now…
There was another gasp, and then they all turned towards Kaitou, wanting to know what the little Prince wanted done.
"Majesty, we will NOT let this injustice stand!" one harpy exclaimed, causing a cheer of agreement.
"Give the order; we'll hunt that wretch to the ends of the earth!" another round of approval. Finally, life seemed to spark inside the teenager.
"…You would?" Kaitou murmured, clearly surprised.
"YES!" multiple harpies cried at once. "So is he human or harpy?" someone tacked on. "And what's he look like?"
Kaitou flinched internally at the question. Poker face, poker face... there, just enough… he glanced at Kyo, whom nodded slightly at the meaningful look. The elder harpy tensed against the envisaged fury.
"Neither…." Kyo paused. "He is of the same blood as the one who stole him."
A long, confused silence. Then it clicked; as expected, the entire group swelled into an undignified uproar. No babble was discernible. Somewhere else, far, far, far, far away under the water, a certain blonde Tentai sneezed viciously. Back to the living room.
Yoria took the time to inspect her guests, and then returned to the kitchen. She was busy carving a cake out of a block of chocolate for her baby. He would LOVE it.
"Order in the- May we have order in the- Arese put the torch down where did you even GET that?" Needless to say, Kyo was having some trouble silencing his fellow councilmen. Then one of them - to this day no one ever found out /WHO/ - made some form of lude comment about Hakuba's state of being.
"SHUT UP!" and a hush fell over the crowd as Kaitou leapt to his feet, fury evident in his face. The council visibly shivered. Kaitou inhaled deeply, trying to calm down. Then, realizing exactly his position, rounded his shoulders and continued in a much calmer voice. "Hakuba's species is irrelevant. /No one/ is allowed to insult him, understood?" he asked, voice lowering into a hiss, as he eyed every harpy present. "He is my… he is my mate. And I will protect him – against his enemies, or against any or /you/."
The crowd trembled, and then collapsed from nervous shock. Except Kyo, who was standing on the wrong side, and Jii, whom was enjoying a book and some tea over in the corner. The warm smell of baking chocolate lured the emotionally drained youth from the place he still stood, still breathing hard from rage. Kyo squeaked when he realized what he smelled, and dashed after the teen.
"KAITOU WAIT- did you even CHEW any of that?" Kyo stared at the boy sitting on the floor, inhaling his way through a fourth piece of cake.
"Dmghe?" Kaitou asked innocently, dark brown crumbs going flying.
"Cake!" Mrs. Kuroba squealed from the far end of the kitchen. "Kaitou, eat SLOWLY, you fool, or I'll set my tiger on you again." Kaitou's eyes immediately widened, and he swallowed heavily.
"N-no need for THAT!" he squeaked, standing, and backing away from his unfinished cake. He watched his mother nervously. Kyo watched his nephew. Wait for it, wait for it… "I feel ill…" Kaitou suddenly groaned, gripping his forehead. Ah, there we go.
His mother immediately fussed over him, checking for a fever.
"Yoria…" Kyo asked softly, walking up behind his sister-in-law with a sad smile, and taking her shoulder gently. "I… I hate to ask this… but I need you… to cut down Kaitou's chocolate consumption… a lot."
"WAIT WHAT? WHY?" Kaitou yelped, pulling free of his mother.
"Harpies are physically incapable of digesting chocolate, in much the same way that Siren cannot digest rough grains, like oats."
Kaitou's face was turning an interesting shade of red. Calmly Kyo gave a wave of his hand, muting his ears – but 'conveniently' forgetting to warn the others.
"WHAT?" Kaitou screeched, so loudly that a couple miles away a miniature detective known as Conan yelped in surprise and crashed directly into a tree, to the amusement of a darker-skinned detective.
"Kaitou is what is known as a chocoholic." His mother translated. "He lives off of it, and will eat it with next to anything."
"Ow… my eardrums…" a harpy whimpered, his head ringing. Gods their Prince had a voice….
"Please tell me you're joking you MUST be joking don't take my chocolate away from me I won't let them take you MY PRECIOUS!" Kaitou wailed, looking quite ready for another breakdown. Why was he loosing /everything/ he loved?
"Well, the fact that he isn't dead yet means his human half is proving quite useful. Now, Prince, back on the topic of your lost love, have you any idea of his current whereabouts?" a younger council member asked gently, straightening his toga.
Kaitou settled down after that, poking his stomach. He felt a little queasy – he could usually eat a WHOLE cake without getting sick, so this was definitely affecting him somewhat – but the councilman was right. He wasn't dead. Hallelujah! However, all happiness aside, Hakuba was still gone. He felt awful all over again.
The toga-wearing harpy looked concerned as the Prince's face fell. "The sooner you tell us, the sooner he can get to him, and get him to you, Prince. So please, cooperate just for a moment. And Arese, no more Vodka for you."
"Where?" Kaitou yelped, drawing the rest of the council to find the threat. Jii chuckled.
"Not the person, young master, the drink itself was being referred to."
"Oh… oh…" there was many exchanges of worried mutters and confused looks.
"Meh?" maybe the boy's mother would explain.
"Nothing, nothing." She stated sweetly. "The boy is just distraught about his lost love, that's all. I do know he's British though, so you can use Jii as a reference while I get Kaitou fixed up, ok? Okay!" and she shoved her son from the room, leaving the old harpy to the mercy of the council. Kaitou didn't complain to being removed. As expected, all the harpies turned on Jii, whom sweat-dropped.
"W-well the young master has told me quite a bit about his adventures with Hakuba-kun…" the old man admitted.
"Well, what did he say?"
"Where do we start?"
"If we find the kidnapper, are we allowed to kill her?" and thus started the game of 20 questions.
Meanwhile, back with our idly bored Hakuba searching for food in the reef, swimming in circles, and nothing interesting was happening. Until an elderly woman swam, out of the coral and tackled him, gleefully swinging him about in the ocean. Grandma was allowed to hug him; he'd not seen or heard from her in 10 years! This, for a young siren, was FOREVER. He hugged her back, tightly. She wasn't a big Meany like his mother. Had she been able to bake cookies, he didn't doubt that she would.
"HAKU-KUN!" she squealed, hugging tighter, squeezing the air out of him. "Look at you, you're so BIG now!" she swam in a circle around him, and then poked his ribs. "But LOOK at this, just LOOK. What have they been feeding you?"
"Gran, the human doctors say I'm a good weight…"
"Human doctors know nothing!" she rebelled, and dragged him out into the open water, towards the cave she'd apparently adopted as her own. Hakuba entered, and was pile-drived by his family. Mostly cousins and aunts whom were old enough to remember him. This equated to 41 aunts, 13 uncles, 425 cousins collectively, as well as a swarm of fish that seemed to behave as dogs do, and gathered around his person to inspect the newcomer.
"Your Aunt Bria has had 8 minnows, Uncle Carej has had 16, and Aunt Jeofa has had 13…" and off she went, introducing every siren he didn't know. And some he did. And some six times in a row, and finally he was allowed to tell his story of his disappearance.
"So when I was 6-ish, in human years, I-"
"SIIER!" a loud voice split the water, and a gold and purple siren flitted in and out of sight, swimming in tight circles. There was a clear note of panic in his voice as the siren drew concerned mutters and worried glances.
"?" Hakuba was very confused. Where DID his mother go?" then he sighed. Must- not- be- detective- no- mysteries- for- TODA- oh, fuck it. He quickly swam outside. The remainder of his family followed, concerned.
Then several hisses echoed through the water at the sight of the intruder. A black-feathered harpy, sharp yellow eyes glaring down at the water. His family looked vengeful, and started to hum, but were stopped by the harpy's intimidating glare.
"Don't waist your time." She snapped at the water. Gran glared.
"What do you want, Soria?" the elderly siren demanded.
""I'm scouting." She replied haughtily. She surveyed the crowd, and her eyes landed on Hakuba for a moment, before she switched around her gaze, then fluttered off elsewhere."
"Good riddance, come on, Haku-kun, tell more story." Came the soft invitation, as she guided her grandson back into the cave. Hakuba nodded lightly.
From a vantage point, Soria smiled as she watched them leave. The Prince would be SO happy! She took wing back towards the Prince's nest.
After Hakuba was fed, he was informed all about the harpies.
"Stupid bird brains… the LOT of them." One stated.
"No sense of right or wrong." Another assured.
"Disorganize- what was a harpy doing out here?" the purple/gold siren asked. There was a general rumble of agreement.
"I don't know." Hakuba stated. He knew alright. Kaitou was after him. "But I know that the humans, or at least the Japanese ones, whenever they loose someone or something, they send lots of people out to try and find the person or object. Maybe they lost something?"
"But the Council hasn't made any action since..." A sudden silence fell over the crowd. "You don't suppose..."
"It couldn't be..."
"This is /bad/..." A sudden ripple of tension was among the Sirens.
"Haku-kun let me explain something." His grandmother murmured softly. "The Council Member's are like...a wolf pack. Without their alpha, they fall apart." She explained, waving her hands in various patterns. "Quite some time ago, the Harpy Prince...passed. Dead or missing, we don't know - but it was obvious that he was gone, for the Harpies fell apart. Without a Prince, they lack order. They're easy prey." She sighed, a thin frown on her face. "The fact that the Council is moving again...means they have a new Prince. And that is very, /very/ bad news for the Sirens. We've grown used to having absolute freedom...But with a new leader, they'll be whipped back into shape and start reclaiming territory..."
"But… laws, rules! Anything? Moving in on one another's territory CAN be resolved; the humans do it all the time. I worked with law enforcement, I KNOW, first-hand, that there are laws against that. Anti-hate, anti terrorism, trespassing violations…I think there are 4 or 5 books on the entire topic…"
There was a long silence. Eyes stayed away from each other. However, it was too late, when two sets met, and everyone burst out laughing at once. Hakuba pouted in the middle of it all.
"/Laws/, he says~!" someone hooted.
"Oh, we MUST remember to be PROPER LAW ABIDING CITIZENS~!" another crowed, and they just laughed harder. Hakuba's grandmother shook her head lightly.
"Oh, my poor Haku-kun, the human's have brainwashed you." She sighed.
"May I be excused." He stated, quite red in the cheeks.
"Oh, of course." She smiled, as if the hysterics around them weren't happening.
"OOOH~! Don't TOUCH me it's against the /laaaaaaaaaaaaaw/~!" the little ones were playing tag as he left. He shook his head at the antics. Children were so very immature at times… but that's what they got for being children. Carefully making sure he wasn't followed, he eased through the water until he found the coral he'd attached his suit to. His tie was long gone, but that was the least of his worries. Several minutes later, he was on the shore, dressed human, and running barefoot for Tokyo.
"So I say we move at dusk!"
"No, idiot – their eyes are BETTER in the dark, I say DAWN."
"But there's more /humans/ then!"
Kyo glanced away from the verbal battle; one quick glance confirmed his suspicions. Sighing, the harpy exited the front door, and sat beside his nephew, whom huddled under a blanket on the bottom step. "Kaitou?" he asked gently, ruffling the boy's spiky hair. "Kaitou, what's wrong, other then the obvious?"
"I… I don't know. I just… am I doing the right thing? What if Hakuba…" His voice cracked, obviously fighting back tears. "What if Hakuba /likes/ it there? Soria said he had … had family… what if he hates me for attacking them? What if he wants to stay with them? What if-" and Kaitou broke off with a haggard sob. "Why is everything so /complicated/?" he yelled, burying his face in his knees. "I want to go back…" he whispered. "I… I want to go back to before I knew what he was, what /I/ was… back when it was just me, and him, and our chasing games…"
"He chased you?" Soria asked gently.
Kaitou glanced up at her gently, and then laughed in a broken sort of way. "Yeah… practically every week… actually… it seems like… like it was such a long time ago…" he murmured, gazing into the distance drearily. "It was /fun/. I enjoyed it – actually encouraged him…" he added quickly, not wanting any of the harpies to get the wrong idea, and think Hakuba was some evil person out to get him.
8 pages later... you bored yet? please say no when you R&R