Now we focus on Ikuto hanging with the fellows; Yuki's brothers and cousins to have a guys' day as well as give Ikuto some advice on how to take care of Yuki.

Brothers' Duty

A few weeks go by and it's a hot summer day out and Mason thought it was a great idea to spend time with his brothers; Seto and Marcus, alongside with his cousins Takashi and Jacob to have a little bit of summer bonding and some cooling off in the lake with a waterfall and they brought in Ikuto to join in on the fun. Ikuto follows them and he told Mason, "I'm really looking forward to hanging out with you guys."

"Hey, don't mention it. It's just us guys doing a little bit of male bonding." Mason replied.

"So...what are we doing?" asked Ikuto.

"All of us are gonna cool off in this huge river with the waterfall. It's like really scorching out here." Seto answered.

Ikuto wiped the sweat from his brow and agreed with that and said, "We need a dive."

"Glad you said that. This is a little tradition that started when I was 18 whenever me and my friends get together or if Seto and my cousins join in to cool off when it gets really hot outside." Mason answered.

"Skin diving." Takashi responded.

Ikuto was completely surprised to hear that it's about skin diving, but also stoked up about it and he said, "Amazing. I usually skin dive on my own."

"Well...it's a group skin dive. Trust us...freedom has never been cooler." Jacob added.

As soon as they got to the huge river with the waterfall, the guys threw all of their clothes and placed them on the tree branch so they wouldn't get theirs mixed up and got in the river and just swam their hearts out, leaving behind any inhibitions they had behind and Mason and Seto swam underwater as Jacob, Takashi and Ikuto did some horseplaying around the water, splashing each other and as Seto and Mason popped up, they were definitely in for some water fights.

Ikuto was the first one to splash Mason, but Mason splashed back and Seto assisted as well and did a little swimming contest to determine who's faster and to Mason's surprise, Ikuto's a much faster swimmer and fierce competitor, which impressed Mason a lot.

Afterwards, they swam up towards the waterfall and it has felt a whole lot cooler as the water soaks up every single fur in them and it relaxed them very faster and Marcus took it all in as he stood up and raised his arms up to feel the water all over him and he said, "Doesn't this feel awesome?"

"It would be if we didn't see your tiny wolf ding-dong." Takashi pointed out.

"Screw you, man." Marcus said, laughing.

Marcus then got back to the water and gave Takashi a noogie and Marcus said, "If you got it, flaunt it. Don't be afraid to show it off."

Ikuto chuckled and sees the kind of bonding they got and it shows that they obviously love each other as brothers and cousins and it gave him a huge perspective on how Yuki goes by everyday while him and the rest of the boys kept playing around and Ikuto just joined in for the fun.

An hour went by and all the guys were dried off and half-clothed as some of them sat down on the ground wearing mostly shorts or pants as they looked at the clouds. Mason could tell that Ikuto passed every single amount of qualities he has when it comes to Yuki. He looks up and tells Ikuto, "Hey, this is pretty much an awesome guys' day out and...also a chance to sorta tell you a few things about you dating my sister."

"Yuki?" asked Ikuto.

"Yeah. You know, when I first saw you with my sister, I kinda have that instinct in me that wants to shield her in case you tried anything to take advantage of her." Mason responded.

"You have?" asked Ikuto.

"Yeah. It's just because I'm doing everything I can to make sure that she's okay. It's an older brother thing to protect my little sister." Mason added.

"That's very true. Sometimes I make fun of her on what guy she always have a crush on, but there's a reason behind it...so that the so-called 'one for her' wouldn't be such a jerk-faced, egotistical, machismo doofus that wants to treat Yuki badly." Seto added.

That even surprised Ikuto to hear that from Seto, who usually gets on Yuki's nerves, but has also noticed a protective side to him that's hidden and Ikuto said, "How come you don't show it to her?"

"We have too much fun getting on each other's nerves." Seto answered.

"Aside from Seto's unorthodox ways between him and Yuki, he does make a valid point. We protect Yuki in different ways of our own. At first, I gave you the cold shoulder...but when you volunteered with us and our dad for some yard work as well as helping him be an apprentice for the day at his workshop, I can tell that you're a hard worker and you seemed to be part of the family more, especially when you babysat for our younger sibs." Mason explained.

"I'm different than most guys. I could never do anything to take full advantage of your sister." Ikuto added.

"Treating a girl is the most important thing for a guy to do. There are ways to treat a girl and there are ways not to treat a girl, but the only choice you make is to be respectful to them." Takashi chimed in.

"Exactly. My mom always gave me a list on all the good points about how a guy should treat a girl; courteous, polite, kindness, understanding, sympathetic, compassionate, honest, humble and the most important...respect." Jacob added.

"My mom does the same for me growing up. She always told me that I should always honor and cherish the one girl for me and I would always defend her for the rest of my life. Being a berserker wolf and all, my temper will always come in a very short time and I can control it, but when my friends, family or my loved ones are in huge danger, it extends." Ikuto said.

"It's normal to protect the ones you care about, but Seto's kinda nervous about you using it on Yuki." Mason responded.

"Yeah, when uncle Akashi told us about all the things about berserker wolves, the one thing that scared me is their temper. If you're gonna date my sister...even if you guys get into arguments, don't lose your temper and use that as an excuse to hurt her." Seto added.

"I'll never do anything to hurt your sister. I made that promise to myself and to her and Akashi knows that as well." Ikuto added.

"You're a very honest guy, Ikuto." Marcus added.

"I just hope you know what we're saying can give you some insight on what we do for Yuki." Mason said.

Ikuto nods his head in understanding and said, "I do. You guys want what's best for her and to look out for her. And I feel the same way too."

Mason nods his head at that and he feels great that Ikuto's a part of Yuki's life as well as the Bushido-Akio's life and he's a great guy as well and Mason could see that Ikuto's got plenty of respect for Yuki and everyone else too and he thought to himself, 'They are meant for each other.'

"Hey, Ikuto...I'm gonna give you a little initiative on how you're in the Bushido-Akio's." Seto said, with a mischievous smirk.

"How?" asked Ikuto.

Seto gets up, walks over to Ikuto who's already standing up and what happens next surprised Ikuto...he gets tackled by Seto and they fall into the water together as they were soaking wet and afterwards, Seto was laughing hysterically at this and he said, "Now you're in!"

Ikuto shook his head as hard as he could to get the water out of his fur and he looked at Seto and asked, "What was that for?"

"It's how we show love for anyone who's gonna be a new member of the Bushido-Akio's." Seto answered.

Mason chuckled at this and he said, "You've passed the test, dude. Might as well get used to us."

"No worries, guys." Ikuto said, smiling.

Very awesome advice. Good thing Akashi's not there! Stay tuned as we Kari Raven Okami, Akashi's daughter makes an appearance!