Kokoa had long since finished loading the minivan and now all that was left for her to do was guard duty against a boogieman who would never come.
"Not like anyone still here during the Summer break would want any of this garbage."
She included all her meager effects in that description with the others' personal items too. Kokoa liked to travel light. Her belongings from her dorm didn't even fill half a box, minus a few items of clothes that needed to be hung instead of folded.
The air conditioning in the dorms was never very good, but it had to be better than the dusty outside heat she was now sweltering in by herself. As sweat trickled down the back of her neck and her back, soaking through her top and bra, she was glad the minivan rear hatch was at least keeping the sun directly off her as she sat there brooding. She was sweaty everywhere and tempted to go just inside the doorway of the girls' dorm, but that wasn't what her Onee-sama had asked her to do.
At that moment she heard the door to the dorms open and stood up to see him approaching her carrying two boxes.
"Took you long enough! Where's Onee-sama?"
She was determined not to let her mind wander off tangentially about "him" as she had earlier. She was her usual gruff self and intended to stay that way with him, mind, body, and soul.
"She probably stopped to help pack Kurumu's room up."
Kokoa let out a frustrated sigh.
"That will take the rest of the afternoon! I'm hot and I'm starving!"
After she snatched the top box away from him angrily and dumped it roughly into the remaining space in the back of the van, Tsukune placed the other box more delicately beside it and took the chance to stretch after freeing himself of his cargo. As he did so, Kokoa's eyes betrayed her intentions and reflexively focused on his bodily form.
"He's certainly not bad to look at. STOP THAT! He's a MAGGOT you idiot! Just keep that thought in your head, idiot!"
She angrily crossed her arms and leered at him as if he had somehow magically made her eyes and thoughts betray her will, but something reached her then that made her instantly drop all her pretenses.
"Oh MY! Is that smell his….."
Tsukune was suddenly stunned to feel Kokoa's hands as they began patting him down like he was a criminal under arrest.
"Um…..can I help you find something?"
With her hands rubbing him forcefully and her nose also sniffed about him frantically, she seemed almost like a bloodhound on the scent of its prey.
"YEAH! You're cut somewhere, I can smell it!"
This made him blush even more so in embarrassment as she appraised him with a look similar to a wine expert sniffing in a glass.
He replied to her statement with a reluctant and awkward tone.
"Oh…..yeah….I cut myself in my dorm room. Nothing serious. I've already washed it off."
He held out his right palm and to his surprise, she nearly pulled him off his feet when she grabbed it and began sniffing it vigorously.
"It was just a scratch, plus it's already healed. It's going to be a while before I get used to healing so fast."
The look of disgust and skepticism she looked up at him with as she clutched his hand intently under her face was nearly painful for him to see.
"Just a scratch, huh? That's crap and you know it! I smell your blood everywhere, and so will Onee-sama, you idiot!"
He didn't have time to pout over his scolding or defend his actions as he again became deeply embarrassed by her nearly putting her entire face into the palm of his hand.
"I can smell blood all over your hand….and…."
Never releasing his hand her head went to his right side and began sniffing at his right pants pocket. Before he knew it her hand was deep inside it. She then pulled out the rosary and after a brief awkward look she held it up to his face with a defiant look of vindication on her face.
"Just for your 'new vampire' education, you can't cover up the smell of blood with hand soap idiot; especially blood as….noticeable as yours."
If he noticed her awkward blushing at the end of her emphatic statement, he was too embarrassed himself to mention it.
"Oh…..I didn't…"
She finally released his and used her now free hand to accusingly point into his face.
"Up until yesterday, there was no need for you to know."
She then crossed her arms and twisted her expression into a disgusted version of contemplation.
"Here's more vampire education for you."
Her mannerisms, despite being a year younger than he was, was far too reminiscent of his Kyoko-nee scolding him when they were children.
"The only thing that makes the smell of blood go away quickly so a vampire can't detect it is vampire saliva."
For some reason, she again began to blush, despite her haughty manners.
"Really? Vampire spit?"
He couldn't help his skepticism, but her reignited anger made him back up a step or two from her fury.
"Well, Worm, if you think about it using an actual brain it makes sense!"
She backed away slightly and explained it to him like he was a three-year-old.
"After a vampire has gone through all the trouble to find a nice, juicy Human to suck on….."
She blushed again while saying this weird statement, but Tsukune winced instead at the reference to humans being "juicy".
"Um….nasty….."
His distaste at the concept didn't slow her explanation down at all.
"…..why would they want to share them? One vampire can live off a healthy Human for that Human's whole natural lifetime without really harming that Human in the least bit."
He almost looked like he was going to faint or vomit as she continued her words, conveniently forgetting the fact that he had happily been the "juicy" human in Moka's life for most of the last two years.
"Two or even three vampires can share one Human and as long as the Human is taken care of and fed properly, they'll live fairly normal lives."
She continued in a professorial fact-filled manner, oblivious to his building discomfort about this topic.
"But one Human and four or more vampires and…..well…that won't last very long."
When she was done, she looked mildly surprised to see his disgusted expression.
"Um….yeah, I suppose not."
After again looking at him as if he were a strange creature from the depths of the sea floor, she turned a nervous eye back toward the girls' dorm.
"We'd better take care of this before Onee-sama comes down and smells your blood."
Her eyes drifted down nervously to the main entranceway.
"Looks like the coast is clear."
Tsukune had a look of confusion now as she turned back to face him with an odd expression.
"Clear for what?"
She blushed profusely now as she pouted, but she didn't answer him. Instead, she shocked him once more by retaking his hand…and licking it.
"Um…..what the…"
He was too stunned to even form coherent words. Seeing this she stopped briefly to look up at him with a disapproving glare over her still pink cheeks.
"Idiot! Don't just sit there babbling like a moron! Keep an eye out for any of them coming down the steps!"
Then she merrily returned to licking his palm, fingers, and webbing as he tried not to cry out at the strange sensations. She couldn't keep the smile and look of pure delight off her face even a little.
"Oh MY! Why does even his blood's microscopic residue have to taste sooooo damn good! It's sooooo delicious! He's like vampire candy! Why did he have to go and wash all that succulent liquid blood off first? It would have been ten times better still! Oh, God help me! I love his blood soooooo much!"
Even Tsukune wasn't so oblivious as to not note the joy Kokoa was experiencing as her tongue and lips happily searched every nook and cranny on his hand for the tiniest leftovers from his hemoglobin. He'd never seen a cat happier to lap up fresh fish than Kokoa looked to have a piece of him under her probing tongue.
Down lower, something began to stir within him. Something he couldn't stop unless she stopped very soon.
"Um…so….how long will this take?"
She again glared up angrily at him, as if he had woke her up in the middle of a wonderful dream.
"A lot longer if you keep making me stop to answer stupid questions every three seconds!"
Instantaneously as her tongue retouched his flesh her joy returned to her expression. Tsukune, however, was near his emotional breaking point. A beautify woman, no matter how mean she was to him, was licking him, with a passion. This was getting very "dangerous" now.
"UMMMM!...UMMMM!"
She was nearly purring like a kitten now and doing a good impression of one too as her tongue luxuriously traced a path up each of his fingers in turn.
"Please don't come downstairs girls, not now! How would I ever explain away Kokoa making-out with my fingers?"
After a few more moments the joy in her expression slowly faded away and after a few more seemingly desperate, probing licks she finally pulled back with a sad and unsatisfied expression showing. For a brief moment, a sudden glint in her eyes made him think she was contemplating biting him so as to get to the real thing hidden from her mouth just under his skin. When she suddenly moved in again he jerked slightly, but she only sniffed his hand a few times.
"Ummmm…so yeah…um…..smells okay now. Just don't put your hand anywhere near Onee-sama's face."
She began to blush and pout angrily again, as if she too were now suddenly ashamed of what she had just been doing to him.
"Um…okay."
For his part, Tsukune was just glad the….."erotic" ordeal was over. It's not like he didn't know Kokoa was beautiful, she was sisters with Moka so how could she not be, but he didn't want his mind to stray too far in that direction and what had just happened dragged his mind further down that path than ever before. His heart still was pounding violently inside his rib cage. He thought it was doing so mostly because of his fear of being caught, but he couldn't lie to himself completely and say that Kokoa's actions alone wouldn't have produced the same effects.
Kokoa then looked down at her left hand and put the long end of the rosary in her mouth like it was one of Mizore's cooling pops.
She again looked like it tasted great to her, but a certain amount of unbridled joy she had expressed before wasn't there this time. When she pulled it back out to place one of the shorter three cross arms in her mouth, she stopped long enough to ask him a chiding question.
"Ummmmm….You didn't put this in your pocket before you washed it, did you?"
He bashfully shook his head, strangely trying to avoid direct eye contact with her.
"Um…..no."
After she was satisfied with her work on the rosary she somewhat reluctantly handed it back to him and he quickly rehid it deep in his pocket.
"Well…I don't smell it on this or your hand anymore, but I still smell it a little. Did you touch the boxes or your clothes with your hand before washing it?"
She started reexamining his clothes with her eyes and hands as he tried to keep her away from near the front of his pants.
"I didn't touch the boxes till I came back in the room from washing my hands."
She sent him another skeptical smirk.
"I don't see or smell anything on your clothes either."
As she stood back up she suddenly seemed to have a revelation.
"Oh! Of course! It's your other hand. You rubbed them together when you were washing the blood off in the sink. Some of the blood got on it before the soap could wash it off."
As she took his left hand now and sniffed it a victorious look swept her features once more. Tsukune's mortified expression as she began sucking and licking on yet another part of his body didn't faze her any more than it had early.
"UMMMMM….Keep an eye on the door Dumb-ass."
Except for that brief irritated exchange she again seemed like she was on Cloud Nine. She didn't even raise her voice at him this time. She even sounded almost pleasant just then.
"Um…..yeah….on it."
After a few moments more she pulled away from the hand with a sad expression as if someone had taken her favorite toy from her.
"I don't smell any blood now, looks like that has fixed you up."
She then turned her back on him and crossed her arms seemingly in her usual irritated mood once again. From his perspective, she seemed annoyed with him as normal. He couldn't see her blushing cheeks or the warring emotions on her mostly happy face.
"That was…"
She wouldn't allow the words "wonderful", "thrilling", or "hot" to form in her mind, not for that "Maggot", but her body had certainly reacted positively towards the whole thing. She could no longer be certain it was just the heat causing her perspiration now. Inside her chest, her heart was practically flying.
As she struggled to regain her composure outside of his direct line of sight, Tsukune finally recovered his own composure enough to thank her.
"Um…thanks. I really appreciate it."
That he said it so shyly, in reference to something so intimate for her, only made her skin flush another, deeper shade of pink.
"Um…..well….it's really not a big deal."
It was a big deal, but she certainy didn't want him to know it.
"Yeah…but….thanks all the same."
Still unable to face him, she did manage to reapply disgust back into her voice now.
"You just make sure you keep this between you and me! You got that Maggot?"
Tsukune scratched awkwardly at the back of his head as he meekly replied.
"Um…sure thing. Not really anyone I think I'd ever want to tell about this anyway."
It was exactly what he should say in this situation, but Kokoa felt tears well up in corners of her eyes. It shouldn't mean anything to him beyond help. It shouldn't mean anything to her at all in the first place but a free snack, but a lump of disappointment that he could so easily dismiss what had just happened between them formed in the pit of her gut.
"Why does it hurt?"
She took the fuel that surprising disappointment gave her and rounded on him with an angry finger jabbing him on the nose.
"Well….GOOD! Now let's just hope Onee-sama doesn't walk onto the boy's side of the dorms and get a whiff of blood from that bathroom sink."
Tsukune's eyes went wide with shock as he remembered something else.
"Let's hope she doesn't, I might have dribbled some blood on my dorm room floor also."
Kokoa nearly gabbed her finger up his nostril when she heard this.
"WHAT? You idiot!"
"Why are you two arguing already?"
They both spun like guilty children caught by their mother at the sound of Moka's voice.
Kokoa was the first to recover from the other girls' sudden appearance.
"Oh! Onee-sama! I was just letting Tsukune here know about the rules for all of us living together! He won't be bothering you. Will you Maggot?"
Before he could manage a reply, Yukari's laughter filled the air.
"Haha! Like you'd be the one to make the rules?"
Usually, Kokoa would confront Yukari head on, but she instead refocused on Moka.
"Here, let me get those boxes for you Onee-sama."
Moka, her arms full, shook her head at her imouto and tilted her head in the direction behind her.
"No need, help the others."
Kokoa clearly didn't want to help anyone but her beloved Onee-sama, so she was quite put off when a weak looking Kurumu abruptly dropped her own load into her arms.
Kurumu then glared angrily at Kokoa and spoke to her in a vicious but low tone only they could hear.
"Here, since you like putting your...hands on things that don't belong to you."
Kokoa screamed out in indignation at her suddenly filled arms, and the strange but rather eerily accurate words of rebuke the tired looking succubus had just said to her.
"OW! A little warning next time!"
She had been even more surprised by Kurumu's angry words, but since she didn't know for certain why the succubus would say something like that to her, it was best to just confront her rudeness with the boxes instead. Doubt lingered in her mind though.
"Did she see us?"
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
Kurumu, clearly not in a good mood, ignored her and kept walking toward the van. As the other's started finding what space was left to put the remaining boxes in, Ruby leaned into Kurumu's ear to whisper.
"Yeah, what was that statement about?"
Kurumu certainly wasn't going to discuss it further now.
"I'll tell you the details later. Let's just say for now….."
Kurumu and Ruby both looked back at where Kokoa was fussing at Tsukune, who had offered to take the boxes that had just been Kurumu's burden.
"….for someone that supposedly hates our Tsukune-kun, she sure doesn't act that way when there's no audience around."
Ruby's eyes widened in mild surprise at this bit of news.
"Oh! Really?"
"Really what?"
Both jumped a bit at the sudden appearance of Moka between them.
"Oh! We were just…..um….."
Ruby jumped in to give the stumbling Kurumu a lifeline.
"…just saying she's ready to get back to the house to cook dinner. I have to admit being tired myself."
Moka and Kurumu both looked at Ruby with some sympathy. Just the night before she had been in critical condition after the battle. It was the healing power of Moka's blood that was the only reason Ruby wasn't still in intensive care right now.
Moka then refocused on Kurumu with a skeptical look. The same look she had sent her when she insisted on carrying some boxes down to prevent the need for a second trip back up to her room.
She couldn't help feeling guilty at how little relative damage she had taken last night while these two were struggling to stay on their feet now.
"You sure you feel up for that?"
In the middle of packing up her room about twenty minutes before Kurumu had suddenly passed out. She was catatonic for about five minutes and it was near the point where Moka was ready to call for the Hospital Annex ambulance that Kurumu suddenly reawakened.
Kurumu now sent her expression of sympathy back a mildly irritated smirk.
"I'm fine now, honestly. There's no way I'm letting any of you floozies cook Tsukune's first dinner in our new home, so just get that idea out of your heads."
Ruby and Moka knew it was all bravado, just like her insisting on carrying boxes down, but they were willing to let it go for now. They both certainly understood why Kurumu didn't want Tsukune to see her in a weakened condition. They both understood her since of pride.
"I really am quite hungry actually."
Ruby added on to Moka's statement.
"Me too! It's been a very long day. I'm ready to get in the tub and soak…..after Kurumu's wonderful dinner of course."
Yukari's sudden voice made the three girls' vision refocus in her direction.
"We're all going to go down and get in the onsen tonight, RIGHT?"
Only the two vampires didn't seem super excited by this suggestion.
After he put the last box down, Yukari suddenly pounced upwards at him to wrap her arms around Tsukune's neck.
"Of course our Tsukune-kun is going to join us, since it's technically his house and all, right?"
Most of the others' eyes began to glow in anticipation at that inticing prospect. After all, onsens are traditionally all nude environments, and non-gender specific.
Feminine voices rang out in a joyous chorus.
"YEAH!"
"No! Absolutely not!"
There was always one wet blanket in every crowd and Moka wore the title with odd pride. Her emphatic declaration drew mostly angry or disappointed glares in her direction.
Yukari pouted with tears near the corners of her eyes as she tried to beg her idol to reconsider.
"Moka-san! Why not?"
Kurumu added her own weight to the discussion.
"Yeah? What's the advantage of living in the same house with Tsukune-kun if we don't get to…."
Tsukune was already violently embarrassed by the new discussion, so Kurumu's mid-sentence seductive wink at him only turned the heat up for him.
"…..enjoy his…um….."
Mizore stepped in to finish Kurumu's statement for her.
"Companionship."
Moka's fiery red eyes fell harshly on the disappointed faces of the succubus and the yukionna.
"You'll have a hard time enjoying anything with my shoes up your backsides!"
Kurumu, despite her weakened state, was defiant as always.
"Bring it on you old Prud!"
Always the peacemaker, Ruby stepped between them before it could escalate further.
"Ladies! We're all a little tense right now and I think it has more to do with being tired and hungry than with whether Tsukune can join us in the onsen."
Moka's expression clearly indicated she thought a naked Tsukune in the onsen was the major issue, even if no one else did.
"Why don't we reexamine the onsen situation AFTER we've had a chance to eat and relax?"
All the other girls rolled their eyes in frustration as Ruby continued to try to defuse the tensions.
"If it's the nudity that's bothering you Moka-san, then perhaps we just all wear our bathing suits?"
Mizore, Kurumu, and Yukari seemed offended by the concept of bathing with any clothes on. They spoke as one in this regard.
"Bathing suits…what the…?"
"Well, …that could be acceptable."
At Moka's partial concession Ruby sent the other three a raised palm of warning to keep them from make a hasty reply and ruin the progress just made.
Into the brief silence, a smug looking Kokoa interjected her opinion with a wry smile.
"Well, that's better, because there's no way I'm getting naked in front of the Maggot!"
Kurumu squinted viciously at the younger vampire as her sarcastic words only came out at a volume for her nearest companions to hear clearly.
"At least not with any of us other girls around, right Tsundere?"
As Mizore and Yukari snickered in response to her words, Kokoa's skin grew red hot and rage filled her face.
"What did you just say? Huh? WHAT?"
Kurumu defiantly leered back at her with her arms folded over her ample breasts.
"I'm not in the habit of repeating myself."
Only now did Yukari and Mizore seem to realize Kurumu wasn't just teasing Kokoa. Suddenly both of them began looking on with renewed interest at the building tension between Kurumu and Kokoa.
Mizore leaned in to whisper to the young witch beside her.
"Wonder what that's all about?"
Yukari never took her eyes of Kokoa, who seemed equal parts enraged and embarrassed.
"I don't know, but I plan to find out."
In frustration, Moka covered her hands with her face before roaring out at all of them.
"Anyway, people! Let's get moving! It will be dark soon! I for one am done!"
Tsukune, who had very strategically hidden behind the van, pretending to rearrange the cargo, finally braved the estrogen filled battlespace.
"The van is almost completely loaded, but we have a small problem."
Yukari's eyes fell instantly on the completely filled rear and middle seats of the minivan.
"There's only room for one person to ride with Tsukune-kun on the way to the house! It's true! It's true!"
"Actually, there's only room for Tsukune now."
Mizore said this calmly as she dropped the last two boxes into the previously empty front passenger seat.
More than one voice groaned out when they saw her do that.
"Well, looks like we're walking then."
Several of the girls who had witnessed Kurumu's collapse minutes before sent her concerned and sympathetic looks now.
Tsukune had a quick suggestion to fix the issue.
"I guess I'd better drive this up to the house and unload it right quick. That way I can come back and pick you guys up."
Moka shook her head at this notion.
"There's no need for that. We walk nearly this far to class every day, we can walk back. It's less than two kilometers away."
If need be she'd carry Kurumu back. She had made them promise not to mention her collapse to Tsukune, and since they all were very concerned for his sake too they had reluctantly agreed to Kurumu's request.
"Well, if you're sure….."
Before he could finish he was distracted by Mizore's sudden appearance at his right side.
"Oh Tsukune-kun, I still have one more item to transport; but I want you to put it behind your back."
He quickly agreed to do so as it appeared she was holding just a body-length pillow behind her back, plus he had nowhere else to put it either.
"Um….sure.
"Oh damn! Not that thing."
Kurumu seemed to recognize the pillow instantly, intensifying the other girls' interest in it.
Mizore proudly handed Tsukune the pillow with a devious little smile and an only slightly embarrassed blush on her normally alabaster cheeks.
Only when he looked down and saw that the pillow cover was a full body image of himself did Tsukune's own cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment too.
"It's my favorite pillow and my very favorite pillowcase. Take extra special care of it, please. It has the image of my future husband on it."
"Oh! Oh wow! Is that…..?"
It was the image of Tsukune in his school uniform, laying on a bed, His tie pulled down, his shoes off, and his jacket nowhere to be seen.
Mizore wasn't done though.
"Of course it's you, my Tskune-kun! Look at the other side."
As Tsukune, red-faced, contemplated not doing as she asked, the other girls looked on in various expressions of anger or jealousy.
"She actually wants to show him that? She's brave, I'll give her credit."
Yukari couldn't help but add her private thoughts onto her public words.
"Where did she get that? I want one too!"
Only now did Tsukune slowly turn the pillow over. Before he made it all the way through, he had caught enough of the image on that side not to want to continue further.
"Was that me in a speedo?"
He braved an embarrassed smile for the glowing yukionna before him.
"Um….well….that's nice…thanks…very flattering."
She then leaned in, pressing the pillow between their bodies.
"It's the best pillowcase ever. I hug it all night long and dream that it's really you."
"Hell! She's proud of that damn thing!"
Like Yukari though, Kurumu's private thoughts didn't align perfectly with her public words.
"That bitch! I wish I had one. I'll make her tell me where she got it for sure now!"
Mizore gently took the pillow out of the mortified Tsukune's hands and lovely arranged it in his driver's seat.
"The only thing it's missing is real Tsukune scent. Here, now you can have a nice, comfortable seat right here. Feel free to take your shirt off too. I don't mind at all if you sweat all over it."
She then turned around and stared at him with feral lust in her eyes.
"In fact, I insist you sweat on it, profusely."
"Where did she even get such a thing?"
If Ruby's curiosity was more than academic, she hid it well from the others.
Kurumu already had a good guess of the perpetrator behind the manufacture of this pillowcase was.
"….really? Take one guess."
It didn't take long for the other girls to answer again in the chorus.
"…GIN!"
Ruby looked away now as naughty thoughts entered her mind too.
"I wonder if Gin could get me one?"
Despite not removing his shirt as she would have preferred, Mizore seemed happy as Tsukune awkwardly sat in the driver's seat and leaned back into the pillow.
"Now it's a warm day so don't be afraid to sweat all over it."
His awkward smile never reached his still mortified eyes.
"Okay, even from you, I think that's a bit much."
His words didn't faze her at all.
"Nonsense! Your comfort is of paramount importance. Just relax and sweat away!"
Moka looked on in rage and Kokoa in disgust, but even Kokoa's mind wandered a bit too now.
"I bet that pillowcase would smell even more awesome with just a little of his blood on it too."
Moka's angry expression then took on a strange look of her own.
"I can't believe I'm thinking this but, I'd like one of those that smelled like Tsukune, maybe with a little of his blood on it."
For some reason, the sisters' eyes met now. Both suddenly felt naked in the gaze of the other and quickly turned back away, just like they had in that awkward moment his room earlier.
Tsukune closed his door and called out to them after he started the engine.
"I'll see you guys up at the house. Hopefully, I'll have the van unpacked by the time you get there."
Moka replied for them all.
"Drive safe, see you there."
He pulled off and headed back down the dusty academy road in the direction that would lead them back to the Chairman's House.
As the dust cloud he made began to settle, Moka rounded back to address everyone.
"Well, we can't let Tsukune unload it all by himself. Let's follow him."
They all nodded and headed off in the direction the minivan had just taken.
Yukari and Kokoa were both disappointed when Moka chose to bracket Kurumu between herself and Mizore, instead of letting either of them escort her back. Yukari understood why though and fell in beside Ruby only a few steps behind the other three.
Kokoa though didn't know why her precious Onee-sama would choose her love rivals as companions over her, the loyal sister.
Then a twinge of guilt hit her. She hadn't been particularly loyal to her Onee-sama today, not by a long shot.
She pouted over it and slowly fell in behind the others.
She couldn't help but look at the other five and think that she really didn't belong with them.
After all, they all had that one major thing in common that she didn't share with them.
…..him.
It was only at her lowest emotional point that she noticed that the two witches were looking back to her with smiles, waiting for her.
Despite herself, she couldn't help but feel instantly better.
Still, she gave them her usual dismissive attitude as she joined them, never once seeing the knowing smiles the two witches exchanged as they all headed back to their new home…together.
Wearing gata and a five crested kimono wasn't how Gin liked to spend his evenings, but the old man had his quirks and traditional dress for relatively informal dinners was one of those quirks. Gin stopped in front of a doorway and gently rapped his knuckles against it. A few moments later Fumiko opened the door and bowed reverently to him.
"Welcome Ginei-san, please enter."
"Thank you, Fumiko-chan."
Katsura was waiting inside and also bowed to him before offering him refreshment.
"Would Ginei-san care for a beverage?"
"No thank you Katsura-chan and you three need to stop with the Ginei-san stuff. I'm the same Gin-kun you have always known."
As he spoke the elegant Yujiko led Haiji out of a back room. To say he looked awkward in his own five crested kimono would be an understatement. It was clear by his timid steps he wasn't used to the outfit yet, especially the gata. Yujiko then addressed Gin after her own respectful bow to him.
"Yes, the same Gin-kun we have always known, but also different now."
Katsura and Fumiko had Gin in a plush chair as Yujiko encouraged Haiji to do the same beside him.
"Indeed, our little Gin-kin is an impressive man now."
Katsura's adoring words made Haiji sneer at Gin.
"I wouldn't say 'impressive'."
Gin smirked back at Haiji as Katsura and Yujiko started to rub their respective shoulders for them. Gin had forgotten what it was like to be so pampered all the time.
Fumiko gently chided Haiji with a smile, knowing already this was how the two young men interacted together.
"Oh, but he is Haiji-san."
Haiji played along, clearly more comfortable with the three beautiful and mature women now than a few hours earlier.
"Just plain Haiji ladies, my father works for a living."
Gin knew that last part was a barb at him, the "trust fund kid", but he chose to ignore it as Katsura found a sweet spot and he let the sensation of her hands' work wash through him.
From over his shoulder, Yujiko praised their guest as well.
"And he now brings home impressive friends for us to entertain."
Haiji blushed suddenly under her approving words and smile and the other two ladies giggled in amusement. Gin could tell Haiji already had a favorite within this lovely grouping.
"If I didn't know better I'd think Yujiko-chan wants to keep you for herself Haiji."
This sent all three ladies into another round of subtle giggling and Haiji's skin flared bright pink.
A moment later Gin spoke up again.
"I have no real need to ask this because I already know the answer, but the ladies are treating you well so far?"
Haiji couldn't seem to stop blushing now.
"Um…far better than I deserve, that's for sure."
Again the ladies couldn't contain their amusement. It was clear they thought Haiji's bashfulness was very endearing.
"They treat us far better than any of us deserve. Did you enjoy your bath?"
Gin left his left eye open to see if Haiji would pass out from the last verbal assault he just sent his way.
"I…um…..well…"
His cheeks were almost fire-red now and the ladies were having a hard time covering their laughing mouths with just the one free hand now.
Gin sighed, satisfied he had thoroughly embarrassed his friend enough, at least for the time being.
"Pretty sure your incoherent response counts as an affirmative."
Fumiko then turned to address Gin in a respectful manner.
"Please forgive me Gin-kun, but I'm afraid you must leave a little early; you are expected on the next floor up."
This made Gin cock a suspicious eyebrow towards her.
"I am?"
Then sudden clarity came to him and he understood what she was trying to tell him.
"OH! They're back?"
She nodded to him as she confirmed his guess.
"Indeed, Tsukiko-san left specific instructions for you to come see her before dinner."
As Gin worked to hide his apprehension, Haiji asked an obvious question.
"Who's Tsukiko?"
Gin successfully avoided releasing a frustrated sigh before responding in an even sounding tone.
"My Aunt, or to be more specific my mother's twin sister and Mom's surrogate mother for Akaio and me when she's not here herself."
He closed his eyes again to enjoy Katsura's soft hands as he continued to speak.
"Mom and she raised all of us as one big family really. I hardly think of my cousins as anything but little sisters as well, really. Don't be alarmed if they're really affectionate with me."
Haiji didn't need to know the whole truth about his "unique" family and how close they all really were. He hoped what he had just said would mollify Haiji's curiosity to a manageable level for the rest of this visit.
"You mean like…..Akaio-san was?"
It was clear from his expression and awkward sounding words that Haiji was still mystified by just how affectionate Gin's sister had been.
Gin knew he was blushing now himself and the ladies' mild and understanding giggles came as their free hands covered their mouths once more. Surprisingly Haiji seemed to have a sympathetic expression for Gin. The thought of three more "Akaios" also hounding Gin clearly was something he found worthy of his sympathy.
Gin sighed as he responded.
"Does their laughter answer your question?"
Haiji swallowed hard and nodded.
"Yeah."
Katsura beamed downward lovingly at Gin from above as she added to the conversation.
"Akaio-san has always loved her little Gin-Gin-kun."
She even lovingly stroked his hair as she said this. His trademark hair band probably wouldn't be back on his head until he was back at the Academy.
"And Gin-kun's cousins try to outdo Akaio-san in their affections for him."
This made the ladies all smile and giggle once more.
Gin very reluctantly stood up then after warmly clasping Katsura's finger for a moment and asked Fumiko another question.
"I assume all three of my cousins are with her?"
She hesitated strangely for just a moment before answering.
"Um…..yes, they are."
Gin couldn't help but notice all three ladies suddenly seemed like they had made a grave mistake.
"I haven't been away long enough not to recognize that look, what's going on?"
Fumiko bowed quickly to him as did the others before answering him in a rushed manner.
"Oh, forgive us, please. It's not for us to say."
Gin wasn't going to be put off this easily though.
"Well, I just decided it IS your place to say."
From her place now at his left elbow, Katsura gently spoke to the other two ladies.
"We shouldn't be discussing family affairs in the first place."
Yujiko agreed with her as Haiji looked from her to Gin for some clarity on what was being discussed.
"Especially in front of dear Haiji-san."
Gin nodded with a frustrated expression on his face.
"OH! I see! You'd rather your little Gin-kun walk into an ambush?"
He knew long ago how to guilt these almost-surrogate mothers for him into doing or saying what he wanted them to.
"No! Oh…very well."
Katsura spoke up after Fumiko surrendered.
"Tsukiko-san and the twins are very excited you are back Gin-san."
Gin gave her a sideways glance then.
"That's to be expected, but there's something wrong with Ayako?"
"Who's Ayako?"
Gin gave Haiji a quick answer.
"My Aunt's youngest, she's…twelve now. Nami and Nishi are her older twin sisters; they'll be fifteen next month. Don't bother trying to tell them apart, it took me years and we were all raised together."
He then refocused on a downcast looking Katsura.
"So what's wrong with Ayako?"
"Well….it's just….."
Yujiko tried to finish Katsura's statement.
"When she found out you were here, she…"
When she failed to finish Gin turned his eyes on the last lady to give it a go. Fumiko looked as if her next words could cause Gin to die. The other ladies had similarly dreadful expressions.
"She said she hated you and didn't want to see you ever again."
They all instantly bowed to him as if telling him this caused him offense.
Katsura then quickly placed her hands on Gin's upper left arm and spoke in a slightly encouraged tone.
"Then she started crying and locked herself in her room."
Gin didn't find that as encouraging as Katsura seemed to.
"Well, that makes no sense. She's always been my little Ayako-chan. Maybe she's playing a game or something?"
The three ladies looked at Gin sympathetically, but it was clear they thought he didn't know what he was talking about.
"You do remember how sad she was when you left for the Academy?"
Gin answered Fumiko's sad sounding question.
"Well yes, but they all were. Akaio and the twins were sobbing like I was going off to die in war. Mom wouldn't even get out of bed to see me off."
"She….well she….."
Yujiko again took over for Katsura.
"She became…..a bit….."
It took Fumiko to finish the statement again though.
"Difficult?"
Katsura and Yujiko nodded as they replied in unison.
"Yes….difficult."
Fumiko nodded to as she addressed Gin directly again.
"Well…..since you left anyway."
It was clear from Gin's smirk that he either thought these three were insane or trying to trick him.
"She'll be fine. She's just been reminded of how she felt when I left, but once she sees me she'll be all smiles and kisses again."
Fumiko's doubtful expression didn't match her forced enthusiastic reply.
"Of course. We're sure she will be much brightened by your presence once more."
Whatever had been going on with Ayako the last two and a half years, it was clear from his confident demeanor that Gin thought he could fix it with relative ease. From their demeanors, it was clear the three ladies doubted it would be nearly as easy as Gin thought it would.
"Well, I better get up there with enough time to spare. The ladies will accompany you to the pre-dinner reception and I'll see you there Haiji."
Haiji sent him back a curious look as he replied.
"Um…okay. I'll see you there."
Gin must have thought Haiji was worried about him not being there to introduce him to Nokiba.
"Don't worry. I'll meet you in the entryway so you're not walking in blind."
Haiji nodded, but he was actually more worried for Gin over what might happen to him one level up. He rather tactfly chose to keep that to himself though.
Gin headed toward the door with Fumiko on his heels before he turned to ask her another question.
"Fumiko-chan?"
"Yes Gin-kun?"
"Where is everybody?"
She only seemed confused for a second before she began to answer.
"Your parents are…"
Gin stopped her with a slight hand movement.
"Sorry to interrupt you but Akaio explained where my parents and grandparents went, and I know Dad and Granddad are always flying around on company business anyway. I'm referring more to my other Aunts and cousins and Great-Aunts. I've never been here with so few family members present. What's going on?"
Yujiko answered him meekly and quietly, so their guest couldn't hear.
"I cannot say. We were not informed of the reasons for their departures. They're all scheduled to come back in a few days' time though. They will be very disappointed in having missed you."
It hadn't been a satisfying answer for him, but he accepted it.
"I see, alright then. I'll see you all upstairs."
Gin had made it almost back to the elevators when a melodic and familiar voice called out to him from behind.
"Gin-kun, please wait!"
Gin turned around with a happy smirk on his face as Katsura approached him with her own wonderful smile.
"I was wondering when you'd make your move."
Katsura blushed slightly as she smiled adoringly upward at him.
"So you have not completely forgotten your Katsu-chan?"
Gin wrapped her in a bear hug which she eagerly returned. He then lifted her off her feet which sent her into a fit of giggles.
"Never!"
As he put her back on her feet, he whispered into her ear as they continued to embrace.
"Sure there's no hidden cameras around?"
"Of course not. I'd never be so familiar with you if there were."
When she pulled back only enough for them to look into each other's faces she lovingly put her hands on his cheeks.
"You are so handsome Gin-kun. I couldn't be prouder if you were one of my own sons."
Gin reached up and clutched her hands with his own.
"And you are just as beautiful as I remember."
She sent him back a slightly vicious looking smirk now.
"And you still lie so sweetly."
This was part of their usual banter when they couldn't be chided by others for the over-familiarity. The truth was he had always thought she was one of the most beautiful people he had ever known, inside and out.
"Not at all, you are just as I remember you. You were the very first woman I ever fell in love with!"
She playfully tapped him on the chest but was also slightly blushing in his adoring praise.
"Oh! Now I know you are a terrible liar! It's not nice to tease an old lady!"
Gin pulled her into him rather aggressively which made her eyes go wide for a second before she began to blush again.
"You're nowhere near old, and you know it's true! I was five when it happened but even now…."
He growled playfully into her ear as she patted him on the back to gently chide him.
"Stop that! Hehehehe! You're making me blush! And if your sister ever heard you say such things!"
When they had done this last he had been fifteen. He liked how him now being almost a full grown man doing the same exact same playful things with her seemed to be having a very different effect on her now.
He could sense that she was now physically and well as emotionally attracted to him.
He playfully nuzzled her on the neck, which made her wiggle slightly in his arm hold.
As he whispered into her ear he could feel her heat up like she never did before for him.
"That's right beautiful, I'm a full-grown man now, and you're still beautiful."
He even let his lips rub against the delicate skin of her neck.
The truth was she had been the first person Gin had fallen in love with. Even now, when she was closer to sixty than fifty, she was still a gorgeous and desirable woman. She was one of those lucky few who never truly get old as they age.
Had Gin had less on his plate already he might have even made a move to fulfill his youthful desires.
"It's our secret. Now….."
He pressed his left hand into the small of her back, right above her buttocks, which made her sigh. He simultaneously traced a line up her back with his right fingers.
"I am a greedy bastard."
He respected Katsura too much to give in to his desires for her, but he was selfish enough to want her to remember this tender moment for the rest of her life.
He then reluctantly pulled back from their embrace and sighed despondently, for more than one reason.
"I suspect you have more for me?"
It took Katsura a moment to compose herself after their warm exchanged. When she had she looked over her shoulder at the closed door to the guest quarters before answering him.
"Fumiko-chan could not say in front of Haiji-san since it is family business, but we all were ordered to leave yesterday morning. Nokiba-sama even paid to put all twelve of us and our families on buses, and we spent the night in the mountains at a company resort. The other servants and their families too."
Gin looked on with suspicious curiosity as Katsura told him more.
"He even sent some of the guards to watch over us. Needless to say, that's when the family members were sent away as well. I heard Tsukiko-san demanded to come back immediately when she heard you'd be here tonight. Rumor also has it that Nokiba-sama and most of the guards were the only people here when those…..awful things, attacked the city. We watched the whole thing on TV from a hundred kilometers away, what happened here and of course what happened in Yokohama."
It was clear from her expression that she had been worried about him.
"Hum…..I see. So the old buzzard knew something was going to happen? Interesting."
Katsura placed both her hands on Gin's kimono front and leaned in to give him a serious expression.
"You must not disrespect Nokiba-sama Gin-kun."
It sounded like she was more worried about his reputation than concerned he was disrespecting his ancestor.
"I know. Still, he knew something was going to happen. That's something I plan to learn more about."
Katsura's expression made it seem like she regretted telling him what she just did, but she was thinking in another direction
"And our precious Gin-kun must NOT put himself in such danger again as he did last night in Yokohama."
Tears were forming in her eyes, Gin pulled her tightly into him again. She snuggled into him as if their temporary physical separation had been painful for her.
"You all know about that already, huh?"
She laid her head gently on his chest and sighed deeply.
"We all saw you on TV! Battling that beast Alucard alongside the New Dark Lord. They didn't get a close-up of your face of course, but we all know our Gin-kun when we see him. We were, of course, very proud, but also very frightened for your safety. You must not do that again!
She had genuinely been afraid for him, as he knew she would be. She wasn't concerned for him because he was her boss's great-grandson, but because he was someone she had honestly loved and cared for all his life.
"So I made you proud, did I?"
Her praise meant more to him personally than anyone in his actual family.
"Of course! All the household was very proud, yet terrified for you! Think of all the tears if you had been gravely injured, or…."
Gin gently tilted her chin up towards him. Tears only enhanced her delicate beauty.
"It's enough for me that YOU were worried about me. I will try to behave more cautiously in the future, for your sake."
Even in tears, she was gorgeous. For a split second Gin almost kissed her on her lips, but at the last second, he diverted to her cheek.
"San, San deserves better from you!"
Guilt washed over him from multiple directions then. San deserved his best, but so did Akayo, and so did Katsura.
He buried those errant thoughts deep inside his mind as quickly as he could and whispered into Katsura's ear.
"I'm still in love with you, you know?"
With tears on her cheeks but a smile on her face, she teased him gently.
"And you are still a wonderful and sweet liar."
Then she shocked him by kissing him on the lips and he thought he'd drop to the floor as he suddenly couldn't feel his legs under him. She had been the first woman he had ever wanted to kiss, and now she had kissed him herself.
It wasn't a kiss of passion though. It held nothing but love for him.
When she pulled back she touched her lips as if they had betrayed her, but awkwardly smiled back to a wide grinning Gin.
"I am….very proud of you. I always have been my sweet Gin-kun."
She lovingly touched his cheek again and then turned to return to Haiji's guest rooms as she pulled a handkerchief out to wipe her face.
A few steps from the door she turned to give him another bright smile before entering.
Gin waved back to her with a dazed smile.
"I would never lie to my Katsu-chan."
A few seconds later and Gin was inside the elevator for the quick trip up one floor. In that brief interval, he allowed his thoughts to collate.
"He knew. He knew Osaka would be attacked as well. He sent everyone but the guards out of the city. Did he know about Alucard and Fairy Tail as well? He had to know about the other cities being attacked too since he knew about Osaka."
The elevator doors opened and Gin stepped off.
"Wheels within wheels, always with you Great-Grandfather. What angle are you playing?"
His thoughts continued to flow as his feet carried him down the hall on autopilot.
"I won't let you use my friends, hiiojiisama. Even if you THINK it's what's best for the family."
In a low voice, he let his last thoughts on the topic slip from his lips.
"Whatever you're planning, I will somehow figure it out."
"Figure out what?"
"OH! Akaio…..I was just….."
She had snuck up on him quiet as the wind. Curly red locks now clasped behind her beautiful head by long pins.
"Why must you be so damn beautiful too?"
Her light red kimono with dark red floral patterns held together by a silver obi. The repeating patterns in the silver obi made it look like lighter and darker shades.
Silver Shadows.
The literal meaning of the kanji that spelled his own name. No one at this gathering but Hajij could fail to understand the meaning behind that obi.
She was declaring to everyone that she belonged to him.
"Thinking?"
The vicious smirk she sent him let him know she thought that a dangerous activity for him to engage in.
"Um…yeah."
If she could hear his irritated tone, she expertly ignored it as she wrapped her arms around his right one.
"Let's hope it was about tonight. You'll be bedding down with me like you promised, right?"
Clearly their "alone time" together in the bath hadn't been enough to satisfy her needs. Gin expected as much though. She had always been possessive and adding physical intimacy to that mix had only multiplied her possessiveness.
In this situation though, Gin saw a chance to get in some rare teasing of his own against her.
"So that's why you're up here? To make sure Oba-chan doesn't have me bedding down with the twins?"
He thought he had landed a decent blow by the twisted up grimace she now displayed, but like usual her mind was on a different path than his.
"Hum! I'm more worried about her than them. They're older and obviously enthusiastic about you, but they're still young and a bit naive. Auntie Tsukiko-chan still does they're thinking for them."
She kept on complaining as they walked on.
"No, it's Oba-chan who would try to alter your sleeping arrangements and I'll not have it. Not tonight."
Gin just had to try to fluster her once more though, for the sake of his own pride if nothing else.
"There's not a small bed in the entire Residence. The four of us could sleep comfortably together without….
Akaio's despondent and desperate expression was all the reward Gin would need.
"NO! Absolutely not! I haven't seen you in over two and a half years! You are MY Gin-Gin-kun! They can wait for their turns and in their places!"
She had even become so angry she dropped her grip on him and pouted as she crossed her arms defiantly over her large bosom.
"Well damn, fine. I know better than to let you down Nee-chan."
Akaio wouldn't be thrown off her angry tirade by this simple concession though.
"Oh! And one more thing…"
"And what would that be, my Akaio-chan?"
A much softer voice than Gin's called out and Akaio's bad attitude seemed to melt away like it was a bad dream.
"Oba-chan! You made it back safe!"
To Gin's mild shock Akaio raced up happily to embrace their aunt whom she had only just seconds before been complaining about. In their generation, Akaio was clearly the Alpha female, but she practically rolled over onto her back for their aunt.
Akaio nuzzled their aunt, Morioka Tsukiko [森丘 月子], with a glowing smile. She looked on her niece as if she was a naughty girl that she secretly admired for her naughtiness. Then the two women went full on Lycan as aunt and niece licked each other on their respective faces and mouths. Gin knew this was a dominance thing among Lycan females, but its erotic overtones now made him very uncomfortable. It would be even stranger now when he saw her do this to their mother and father.
Tsukiko then used her hand to lift her niece's eyes up to meet her own, then after a few brief moments Akaio turned away meekly, but with a happy smile on her face. Satisfied at her niece's full submission to her, their aunt gently kissed her briefly on the lips and then told her in a low tone.
"Who's my favorite niece?"
Akaio blushed happily as she replied slightly springing up and down on her heels.
"I am, Oba-chan."
They then turned together, still embracing each other, to look at Gin, who was trying to hide how ashamed he felt at having been aroused by their previous display.
If the two females felt any shame over their make-out session it didn't show.
"How was your trip, Oba-chan?"
Tsukiko's eyes glowed with joy as she replied to her nephew.
"The trip was sudden and short, and now very much happily over with."
She then looked to her side to send her niece a conspiratorial wink.
"I can clearly see that Akaio-chan's equally brief journey was far more fruitful."
She broke her embrace with Akaio and sauntered up to her now taller nephew. When she was in arms reach she began to tear up.
"You are as beautiful as ever, Oba-chan."
Not only was she like a mother to him but she shared the same face. Outside of their significantly different personalities, the two women also wore their hair differently, with his aunt preferring shorter bob styles while their mother kept hers longer.
She reached up and caressed his cheek as her own tears finally fell down her exquisite face.
"Our silver boy, finally home. Our beautiful Ginei."
She flexed her toes and their lips touched. Gin couldn't help but notice that from behind their aunt his sister now had an unhappy expression. Akaio didn't share well, even with the women she loved and had to obey.
When their lips parted she wrapped him in her arms and he replied in the same manner. Their noses touched and then rubbed. Then she began to lick him around the mouth.
"She's submitting…to me?"
Gin was stunned at first, as he had always submitted to her before now, but he too began to lick back. He realized that she was acknowledging him as a man, fully grown, and her future leader. After a few moments more she laid her face, still wet from the tears, gently on his chest.
She spoke softly after she sighed in utter contentment.
"And look at you now. Our silver boy is now a silver man, and finally home. How I have missed you."
She began to cry more as Gin stroked her hair. Even Akaio was tearing up now.
"I've missed you too."
At that statement, his aunt pushed back from him and sent him a feral smirk.
"You did, did you, really?"
The females of this clan were infamous for their rapid mood swings and the loving reunion was now apparently over.
Time for his punishment to begin.
"Well, we certainly couldn't tell that by your complete lack of presence or communication for over two and a half years."
He had also expected this too.
"Well, I….you see…"
Tsukiko had already turned on her heels and was heading back the way she had came with Akaio smirking back at Gin in her wake.
"You should have heard the excuses he was giving me, Oba-chan."
She grinned back at him as he sent her an angry look that practically called her a traitor.
"I can only imagine."
Gin tried to speak up in his defense.
"….really?"
They stopped at the large double doors that led into Tsukiko's private suit, which she shared with her daughters. Aunt and sister turned to send Gin incredulous and angry looks.
"Yes, really, and our reaction is mild compared to what you truly deserve for your unpleasant…aloofness….these last few years. You should be thankful for the fact that our joy at your return has tempered our displeasure with your unnecessary absence."
In reality, Tsukiko was the Alpha Female of their parents' generation. She had been the disciplinarian. Their own mother, Tsukiko's twin sister, was always a contented Omega at heart. Shy, gentle, loving. She even took care of Tsukiko's needs.
None of that changed though when their mother became the official Alpha Female. She still let her more aggressive sister run the show. They loved each other desperately and complimented each other well, but Tsukiko had some bitterness in her that the ultimate prize had not been hers.
Their mother was elevated above her sister because she had given birth to Gin, the only male of his generation.
As compensation, Tsukiko spent as much time monitoring Gin growing up as their mom. Gin thought he had two actual moms for the longest time as a child. Really they all did. The sisters each treated the children as their own.
Her anger with him now was because she had genuinely missed him.
"Well…I'm…I am very…"
Akaio rescued her brother from having to say sorry, by mildly attacking him.
"Good! Because you should be!"
Tsukiko sent her niece a knowing sideways glance before refocusing on Gin again.
"When I think of all the anguish you caused my poor sister, not to mention Akaio-chan and the rest of us."
Gin didn't feel like an Alpha Male anymore and his contrite and browbeaten expression was apparently pitiful enough for her to finally let him off the hook.
"But we'll say no more about it. You at least seem contrite, and we are so desperately happy you are finally home."
Both women turned back toward the door before they sent glances to each other with mild anxiety showing in their faces.
"You might find some are not as forgiving as we are."
Gin sent his sister a curious look, wondering if that was her way of warning him about Ayako's bad mood.
"Are you ready to see your cousins?"
Gin, so used to doing things his way after almost three years on his own, almost exasperatedly asked if he could just call them what they were, his sisters, but his mind wasn't numb enough yet to let something that risqué slip out in a moment like this, even if no one present would object.
This was a proudly incestuous family, especially the women.
"As ready as I can be."
They walked inside the entrance way and took their shoes off to be replaced by slippers. Before he could move to open the doors that led further in his aunt stopped him with a palm on his chest.
"Stay here till we've had our fun with the girls."
Tsukiko and Akaio walked into the next room while sharing vicious smirks. Gin instantly had a bad feeling about what would happen next.
That was when he heard two similar and somewhat oddly familiar voices from the other side of the slightly cracked door.
Morioka Nami [森丘 永海] and Morioka Nishi [森丘 仁紫] loved to make it so that people had a hard time telling them apart. They even dressed the same, every day. They acted so in concert with each other that sometimes Gin had thought they were the same person, with two separate bodies. The last time he had seen them they had been twelve. At almost fifteen now he imagined, and the vocal changes he heard certainly indicated, that the two straight haired redheads probably looked much more…
"…..feminine."
He sighed at the thought.
That meant they'd want MORE from him now too.
They had also been raised to expect Gin to be their husband and they had been clingy enough of him before they had hit puberty to make him imagine just how demanding they would be about him now that they were nearing full womanhood.
Their words also filled him with trepidation.
"Where is he, Momma? Where's our Gin?"
"Momma! You said Gin-Gin-kun was coming! Where is he? Where is he?"
The two girls were identical and unlike their mother and aunt, they did nothing to try to differentiate one from the other.
"My poor girls. I'm terribly sad to tell you my precious ones but,….our Gin-kun had to leave early…."
From his safe place behind the door, the long silence that followed held an ominous foreboding of a torent of rage that was sure to follow.
Then the tsunami wall broke.
"NO! It can't be!"
"He wouldn't leave like that!"
"Gin would never be that cruel!"
They began to wail and sob and cry. Their lamentations were woeful to hear. Even Gin thought this joke had reached cruelty levels.
He flung the door open and stepped in to chastise the two older women in the room who seemed to have a hard time suppressing their mirth at the twins' emotional expense.
"Wow! You two are really mean!"
Then a skull splitting screech made the oldest three people in the room cover their ears or risk potential brain damage.
"GINEI!"
The next thing he knew he was on his back in the floor being molested by two teenage girls who surprisingly didn't look like they were dressing the same anymore. They even had slightly different hairstyles too.
"Guess they have grown up some."
"Oh, Gin-Gin-kun!"
Nami, who now had shorter hair than her sister was practically grinding herself into his right side as she licked and kissed that same side of his face like he was filet mignon.
"I know! I missed you two too!"
"How could you stay gone from us so long?"
Her still longer haired sister Nishi was imitating her sister exactly on Gin's left side.
He was very glad neither had tried to do the same motions against him from his front side.
He could vaguely make out his super happy aunt and his far less happy older sister watching them from above as he tried not to drown in their saliva.
He had never felt so much like a piece of meat as he did at this moment.
"Alright my loves, let our Ginei-kun up so he can breathe."
It was clear they had no intention of obeying their mother in this case, so Gin finally relented and stuck just the end of his tongue out. Had it had its own personality that tongue tip would be the one guy sent out to face an entire enemy army alone. Two female tongue "armies" pounced on that poor tip. Gin suspected that he might need medical treatment for his tongue if this went on much longer.
Then a whole tongue surprisingly found its way into his mouth.
"From the left, Nishi."
She was full on French kissing him.
Then he saw her fly backward as her lips and mouth parted from him suddenly.
Then a tongue suddenly was back in his mouth.
"From the right now, Nami."
A few moments later that tongue also disappeared as Gin became aware of the twins pulling at each other's hair and shouting at each other.
"Go on then."
It was his aunt's voice, but it was Akaio that next had both screaming girls by the hair pulling them off of him.
She tossed them to either side and growled as she hovered over Gin. A moment later and she helped him to his feet. He was surprisingly woozy after his recent ordeal. He briefly wondered if they had given him a concussion as they pounced him down onto the floor.
"You owe each other an apology. That's not how sisters act and that not how they share."
Gin briefly sent his aunt an incredulous look but wisely bit his tongue before his thoughts formed words.
"Don't they owe ME an apology? I'm the one who was assaulted just now."
He had been too busy focusing around his face to be certain, but he was positive more than one hand had gone where it shouldn't a few moments before, and none of those hands were his.
The two girls sent each other a look, then stood facing each other. They then held both sets of hands together.
"I'm sorry imouto."
"I'm sorry too, imouto."
Since their mother wouldn't tell them who had come out first, bother sisters claimed the honor and called the other little sister. At first, it was a way to tease each other when they were little, but now it was just the way they addressed each other.
They rubbed noses and smiled, as if nothing had ever happened, then both looked again at Gin like he was still delicious fresh meat for them to rip into and devour.
"You'll sit beside me at dinner, right Gin-Gin-kun?"
Nishi immediately countered Nami's request.
"No, he'll sit with me at dinner, isn't that right Gin-Gin-kun?"
Akaio let out an exasperated noise and pulled her little brother into her embrace.
"Gin-Gin-kun will sit beside ME at dinner, and your mother will sit on his other side!"
Akaio was their generation's Alpha Female, but Nami and Nishi together, now that they were almost women too, would be a hard fought battle for his Nee-chan.
The three women growled at each other with glaring eyes.
"Ginei is not some bone for you all to fight over!"
Tsukiko's angry words snapped all three young women out of their rage.
"If you four cannot find a way to all share Ginei's attention tonight, then I will sit you all across the table and nowhere near him."
Even Akaio seemed cowed by this threat. Tsukiko was top female in this room and she had just proved it.
"Ah! The proper manipulation of motivation is a thing of beauty to behold. Now, where is my little one?"
A lyrical tiny voice rang out from the nearby hallway towards the bedrooms.
"I'm here, Mother."
"Ah! There's she is."
Tsukiko's bright smile matched her words. At least for tonight, that sweet voice belonged to her "good" child, based on the expression of delight on her mother's face.
Gin couldn't help but smile too when he saw the beautiful little girl emerge in her purple kimono.
Morioka Ayako [森丘 亜治子] now had the same body her sisters had had when he had first left for Yokai Academy, which meant she was still a cute little girl.
Three years from now though….
Gin was happy at least one of his cute little half-sisters was still just a little girl, especially after her older sisters' greeting that he had just managed to survive.
"Where had the time gone?"
He was still stunned by her changed appearance though, she was nearly a head taller now.
"Ayako-chan, you've….you're so big now! You've grown so much!"
Two whiny teenage voices rang out next to him in unison.
"We've grown too!"
"Yeah, a bit too grown."
He wisely kept those thoughts locked away in his mind.
Ayako had always loved her Gin-nii though, and he her too. He dropped to a knee and spread his arms out wide so she could jump into them as she had always done before.
"I sure have missed my Ayako-chan!"
When the expected impact of a young girl running into his embrace clearly wasn't going to happen, he opened his eyes to see what the problem was.
Ayako's completely placid face wouldn't even look in his direction.
"Ayako, are you not going to greet our Ginei-kun properly?"
The rebuke in Tsukiko's voice couldn't cover up the mild concern also coming through.
Then Ayako looked up at her mother with great sincerity in her features.
"Ginei-nii taught me not to believe in ghosts, Mother."
Everyone looked at each other with perplexed faces before Tsukiko refocused on her youngest child.
"What does that have to do…"
"It's plain Mother, is it not?"
As Ayako went on every face in the room contorted into different levels of mortification.
"Ginei-nii told me there were no such things as ghosts when I was younger and scared. Since Ginei-nii has been dead now for two years, seven months and twenty-two days; even if I see or hear an apparition that looks and sounds like him, I know it isn't real."
Now four sets of concerned eyes moved from the placid little girl to a teenage boy who looked like he had just been kicked squarely between his legs.
She wasn't done "burying" his "corpse" just yet though.
"I, of course, would never be silly enough to talk to someone that no longer exists, even if they show up as ghosts. Shouldn't we be going to dinner now? Great-Grandfather doesn't like to be kept waiting."
After a few more awkward silent moments Gin began to try to mumble out words.
"But…..Ayako-chan…I…."
Ayako walked right past him, never sparing him a glance. She was acting as if he truly were not there.
"You are so ridiculous Aya!"
Nami and Nishi were the first to chide her for her attitude.
"Whatever! More Gin-Gin-kun for us!"
Tsukiko and Akaio approach him from either side with sympathy showing on their faces. He was still there on one knee with his arms outstretched, too stunned by her cold reaction to even move.
"I…I can't….."
With a heavy sigh, Akaio patted his left shoulder.
"She gets like that every time you're name has been mentioned these last two-plus years."
Tsukiko looked as her youngest daughter now patiently waited for them by the door.
"It's how she coped with the separation anxiety from you. Give her a while to get it out of her system and she'll be back in love with her Gin-Gin-nii once again, I'm sure.
Both reached down to help him to his feet. Once there he awkwardly looked in his little sister's direction. She wouldn't spare him a glance.
"I never thought….."
Before he could finish his statement Nishi had him by the right arm.
"Don't worry about Aya, she's just being silly!"
Nami wouldn't let her twin outdo her and took him by his left arm.
"We'll take good care of our Gin-Gin-kun, come on!"
The twins happily pulled a still sad and stunned Gin into the hallway by his arms as Tsukiko and Akaio followed them with Ayako far ahead of the whole group. Gin rather pitifully stared at the back of her head hoping for her to turn around and finally acknowledge his existence.
Akaio leaned in to whisper to her aunt with a concerned expression.
"Do you think Ayako will forgive him before I have to take him back tomorrow?"
Tsukiko sighed wearily before replying in a low tone.
"Let's hope so. I'd hate to deal with her after he leaves again if they don't make up and she then regrets it later. Might have to send her to stay with him at the Academy for a week if that happens."
Akaio then brought up another good point.
"I'd hate to deal with HIM if they don't make up. He's downright pitiful right now."
Tsukiko nodded reluctantly.
"Yes, him too."