Author note

Finally I'm back with a new chapter. Sorry for the long wait. Right now I'm planning to take up my pace at one chapter every second week. My final goal is to reach one chapter every week but still with the same quality as normal. Whatever hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a review so I can improve the quality of this story.

Chapter 9

A memory of the past

Zane walked away from the door that led to Lavender's room deeply concerned about what she was doing. A voice flew through his head: Turn around and look to see if she's is alright.

Zane stopped for a second and turned to look at her door. He was doubtful: Never will ever go into that room. She already hates me enough and this could make it worse. I mean what if she is naked?

What if she needs your help?

I've already asked and she said no.

He decided to leave her and walked away to his own room.

During that time Lavender sat in her room. She had cleaned up the blood from off the floor and herself. She had also cleaned the knife and put back under her bed. Now only seconds after that, she was already planning a new way to hurt Zane, that didnt involve murder. Lavender walked in circles as she thought about what she could do.

I don't want him to be killed. I want him hated and people to be disgusted at him.

Don't say I've stopped you from doing something dumb to just make you do something even worse.

I can frame him in some way to make my other sisters hate him.

The sky was painted with dark clouds as Zane was jolted awake by the sound of his clock. He threw the black covet off himself and stood up just to discover that his clock wasn't where he had originally placed it. Zane looked around his room and discovered that it was on the top of his shelf. His thoughts immediately went to Eriel who played pranks as much as the need to breath air.

Was that really neccesary?

Zane, annoyed by the high-pitched sound, turned the clock off with a huge slam.

Sigh, is it going to be a day like this again?

Everyone had bad days.

After quite the bad morning for Zane, he found himself walking to school with the girls. As soon as he got to school, finding Mitis was his main goal. He then got to his locker waiting for a sign of Mitis. With this being on his mind, he didn't see that a certain person had approached him from behind. The person walked forward to Zane and tugged him by the arm. He looked up and saw a... yellow tail covering his face.

"Guess who?" Nicole whispered in his ear and gave him a small hug from behind. Zane, annoyed by her teasing, sighed and spoke: "Nicole,"

Nicole released him and took a step backwards. "That's the right answer but please add a bit more emotion," she added with a playful smile spread on her lips.

"What's the deal?" Zane said and looked at her with a grumpy face as his bad morning just got a lot worse.

Of course she want's me to help her with some kind of work.

"Come," Nicole answered him and began walking through the corridor, all the while ignoring his obvious ticked off mood.

Zane followed her until they found themselves in an empty class room. Nicole opened the bag that hung from her shoulder, and from it she picked up a pink piece of paper. Zane looked at it with high suspicion with what he knew was to come.

Is she going to force me to write facts for her again?

"I want you to copy your notes from the biology classes to this paper," Nicole said and handed the sheet to Zane. Zane took it from her and muttered something about blackmailing under his breath.

How can she do this without feeling guilty at all? Or is she just hiding it from everyone else?

"And one thing more thing."

Zane looked up at her, wondering what else she wanted to worsen his day. Before he had a chase to react, he was embraced in a hug. The scent of peach perfume invaded his nose. As she held him he couldn't deny that her soft fur and embrace was a bit comfortable, still he decided to say something else.

"Please stop it. Just because every other boy drools over your body, it doesn't mean that I will too. Why do you don't you go hug them instead? I don't think they would mind if you did."

Nicole released him and took a step away from him. "You don't understand anything, do you Zane? The reason that your so funny is that you are different from all the others who would act in the complete opposite way."

"Does that means that you can touch me just because you want?"

Why does she do this to me? Zane thought.

She wants to tease you since you fall in the trap every single time.

Do I?

While Zane was thinking on his own thoughts, Nicole was caught up in her own set.

Why did I do that?

Because you want his attention.

Me? Never. I don't need anyone else. Through my whole life people have admired me for my for my body and that's it. I don't need any real friends. I don't need to search for attention from anyone.

Everyone does, and besides he is the first one that respects you in a proper way so it's just normal that you like him.

Never, never in my whole life will I need a friend! Or try to get attention for that matter!

The situation getting more awkward by the second, Zane decided to break the silence between them.

"So, how was your weekend?"

Nicole's happy mood had been completely destroyed, thanks to her inner conversation.

"You don't have anything to do with that," she snapped as him, before she walked out of the classroom and slammed the door with a thud.

What did I do wrong? Zane thought and happy to walk away, to his next lesson but confused at Nicole's outburst.

In an empty corridor, was Nicole as she waited for her lesson to begin.

Why? Why did I scream at him?

Because you are trying to deny that you like him and honestly, you need a friend to rely on.

I'm not denying anything. Friends are for weaklings.

So why are you so angry about it then?

Zane stood outside the sports hall with Mitis. They had a quarter left until there next lesson would begin so they were just waiting and talking about random things. In the middle of a discussion about cheese, Glory interrupted them. She had just gotten out of her class that ran late nearly every day.

"Hi guys!" she said and walked over to them. Zane immediately noticed that she was a bit shaky in her voice and decided to ask.

"Did something happened?" Zane said and looked at Glory. Glory just looked at the ground, rubbing at it with her foot. After a few seconds she began talking in a low-toned voice.

"When I walked from my lesson, Uran followed me and I think I know what he planned to do..." Glory said and gave Zane a worried look before wrapping her arms around herself.

Why does Uran have any need to hurt Glory? Zane thought and made a choise.

"Glory, he won't hurt you because I will protect you," Glory looked up at him a bit before suddenly leaping in to hug with him.

"That means so much to me!" Glory said as Zane hugged her back.

Later at the Eevee mansion, in the afternoon all the family members who were summoned were sitting around the living room table. Everyone was either sitting on the couch or on the small chairs next to the table. In front of Umbria laid a stack of papers. In the middle of the modern table was a stack of ink-pencils. Everyone but Zane was chatting about different things as she explained what they were doing for Zane.

"We are using schedules to make all utility things work in this family. The system is simple. Every month we decide who shall do what each day. Most of the time, we team people up in groups to make the designated job easier," Umbria said and took the first paper in the stack and gave it to Valerie. Valerie sighed and looked at it. The girls and Zane switched their focus from each other to Umbria.

"Okay we begin with the cooking. Valerie, this time, actually listen to what we say instead of just randomly scribbling down things on that paper. You are already lazy enough," Umbria said and gave Valerie an don't-even-think-about-it gaze. Valerie made a disappointed grin before taking a pencil.

"So what are the teams?" Flaria asked and looked at everyone else.

"I can cook with you," Glory said, while checking that Valerie didn't fritter when she wrote it down.

"Shall we cook, Lavender?" Umbria asked Lavender and tried to make Lavender talk. Lavender just nodded. She still refused to talk when Zane was in the same room. Umbria felt a bit dejected and crossed her arms in disappointment. The room was filled with a cold atmosphere due to Lavender's refusing since it told them a whole story of what had happened earlier. From the day when she nearly got raped until the day she hit Nicole. None of them felt comfortable, especially not Zane, as he was partly responsible for everything.

Valerie ignored the cold atmosphere that Lavender created every time she refused to talk and wrote down their names.

"Then it's me, Zane and Eriel as the last team," Valerie said as she wrote down their names.

Nobody answered her so she continued: "Glory and Flaria will cook on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesday and Thursday Umbria and Lavender will. The rest is for Zane, Eriel, and me. If that's all, shall we do the next thing on the list?"

Umbria nodded and handed out the next paper to Flaria. As soon as she handed it out, Flaria began talking and making an attempt to blow away the cold mood hanging over the table.

"Okay! Time for washing schedule. Who washes who?"

Even if Flaria's joke wasn't super innovative, it at least earned some giggles from the others and serving it's purpose. Nobody was thinking about Lavender and her dark mood anymore.

"I would like to wash Glory," Valerie said and continued with her sisters joke. Flaria nodded wrote them down.

"Well I've always wondered if I could fit Eriel in a washing mashine, so why not?" Umbria said put her arms around Eriel's shoulders. Again, Flaria scribbled their names in the schedule.

"Then that means, that you three will be working together," Umbria said to Flaria as she thought: my plan worked out as I thought, Lavender can't escape. She will understand that she must work with Zane.

"Then I'll write it down. Lavender, Zane, and me."

Lavender was stuck up in her own thoughts, or rather, trying to figure out ways of framing Zane. She hadn't really listened to any of the discussion. That changed drastically when she heard Zane's and her name in the same sentence, her body immediately was filled with anger and rage. She rose from her place on the couch, anger rolling off her.

"Who gave you the permission to make me work with that useless creep?" She screamed and looked at Flaria with a threatening gaze. Zane felt a bit cold when she said that about him.

Please don't tell me that she's gonna rage again Zane thought.

"I did it and now I expect you to follow it" Umbria said, ignoring Lavender's gaze burning a hole through her. Lavender stared at Umbria before she suddenly turning around and rushed it of the room. A loud slam occurred as she shut the door. They heard the thuds form her feet as she ran up the stairs to her room, and one more slamming door before it went quiet.

The silence was then broken by an exhausted sigh from Umbria. She sat down and did a nod to Flaria signaling her to continue. The rest of the meeting they sat in silence.

The next day was a normal Saturday for the most of the people. In the eevee mansion it was a very special saturday. Everyone was up early in the morning to prepare for the days work. That day most of the family members were occupied with cleaning the whole house from the cellar to the attic. Zane, Flaria and Lavender stood outside the washing room getting ready to work. The whole room was occupied by washing machines, baskets, closets, and a shelf filled with cleaning sprays for clothes.

As they entered the room Lavender immediately rushed over to a corner and ignored the others.

Not even worth while to try and talk to her Zane thought and began focusing on the room.

He walked over the white tiled floor to the rows of plastic baskets that stood against the wall.

"What are these for?" He asked and lifted an empty one.

"I suppose it's my job to explain," Flaria said a bit disappointed with Lavender. She walked forward to Zane and began explaining everything for him.

"From the beginning we just threw all our clothes in one big basket, washed it and sorted it. As you can understand it was quite hard to sort everything. Especially all the clothes we had that didn't match in colors. I mean, who knows if it's my blue shirt or Glory's? Or all these white and black clothes? All of us have some black clothes even if most of them come from Umbria."

She stopped talking and opened a closet and picked out a bunch of washing-bags.

"We did at least decided to sort everything in these baskets before washing. Everyone has two baskets with their names on. One for clean and one for dirty. Or job now is to sort out all the colored clothes from the baskets and into a washing bags for each person. Then we take all the white clothes and put them into a separate washing machine," Flaria said and put some washing bags in Zane's hands.

Zane walked over to his basket and began sorting out his clothes. Not many seconds later Flaria walked over to Lavender and demanded her to help them.

"You and Zane are responsible for your own baskets, Glory's and, Eriel's. I take the rest."

In silence Lavender walked over to Zane and took her basket. She began sorting her clothes as she ignored Zane. After a few minutes Zane and Lavender were ready with their baskets.

Zane stretched his had out for Glory's basket with Lavender doing the same. When both understood that they were aiming for the same basket, they both froze in place. Zane in fear of Lavender and Lavender over rage towards Zane.

Now comes the big question. Which basket shall I take next? I need to ask Lavender about this.

Zane decided it was better to ask instead of just wait until she found a reason to hate him some more.

"Which basket do you want?" He said and looked her in the eyes.

Lavender hesitated to answer.

Why don't I just ignore him as always?

Because you can't disappoint Umbria. You have already disappointed her way to much. Not even helping the family would be too much. You may be able to ignore Zane but you can't ignore your life.

But if I...

No. You answer him and follows the rules.

With a shaky voice Lavender began speaking.

"I'll take Glory's."

"No problem," Zane said and went over to Eriel's basket.

See? That wasn't a big problem. He wasn't angry at you in any way. Nor did he act like he was sexually interested in you. Do you understand that boys can be friendly too?

That was just two sentences. He is just friendly because Flaria is in the room.

The three of them continued with the sorting in silence. The time went on and soon all the bags sorted and ready. They then proceeded to put them in the washing machine. Flaria then showed Zane which powder to use from the shelf and how to get rid off dirty spots on the clothes with a specific cleaning spray.

Then they proceeded to take all the white clothes and put them in a washing machine.

"Why don't you have a bag for the white clothes too?" Zane asked Flaria while he emptied a basket off dirty clothes in the machine.

"Because we are to lazy to buy more of them," Flaria answered him and closed the machine.

"That's it. We start it and help the rest of the family while it's washing," Flaria said and smiled.

Zane was standing in the hall with Flaria besides him. Instead of helping the rest of the family Flaria had decided to give Zane a tour around the house. He had seen a few of the rooms but not all of them. Even through Flaria wouldn't admit it, the main reason she showed him around was to avoid cleaning.

"So here is the hall and the main door. The house is built into five sections. The middle section, the east wing, the west wing and the small and big towers. Here in the middle is where we have everything we use on daily basis. The small tower are where we sleep. You probably have noticed that the rooms are round and look like towers from the outside. The big tower is the same concept as the small one, just a few more floors. The east wing is where we have all of the activity rooms like sporting swimming, training, and a few others." Flaria said as they walked along the corridors.

"This house is huge," Zane said as he understood that he had just seen a little piece of the whole mansion.

"Last but not least, we have the west wing which is the most spectacular in my opinion, mainly due to one of the rooms. Oh and then we have the garden along with the huge nature areas behind that. The garden in the backyard is fantastic, especially the hedge-maze. Beyond that we own a lots of the land around our house. Some day if we have time, we could walk to them too."

Lavender sat besidesthe washing machine and waited for it to be ready. Her whole mind was occupied by one thought. Zane.

You need to give him a chance, because he is kind. Your just scared for him.

No, I would never give him a chance to hurt me.

See? You are hating him because you are scared for him.

No, he is a boy! I know what the others did to me! He is going to be the same way to me!

Give him a chance before saying that.

They are all the same. They just want my body and don't even give a shit about how I actually feel.

At the same second Lavender was thrown into a flashback.

(Flashback, One year earlier.)

Lavender was standing in her own room. The only difference was the kinds of flowers that stood on her bench, otherwise it looked like it did in present time. Lavender herself was a bit shorter and had a green dress on her. She was occupied by staring out through her open window, and taking in the lovely scents of a summer-evening. Staring away in the endless horizon she felt a calm atmosphere in herself.

A knock on the door jolted her from her calm state. Lavender turned around to face an Arcanine that was at least a head length taller than her. It was the last boyfriend her friends had forced on her. A sigh escaped her mouth as she thought: They always tell me that the next one would fit me and that this is real love but it feels so bad. When Valerie told me about that rock-star she was in love with, it didn't sound like this at all. Are they lying to me? But why would they do that?

"Up in your thoughts again?" the arcanine said and walked closer to Lavender. She felt how sweat was running down the back and how her heart was thumping faster and faster.

Is this how love feels? Is it normal to feel nauseous? Why does it feels so bad if this is love?

"Hi," she said to him tried to walk forwards but her body froze. He just smiled at her. It wasn't that warm happy smile that fills you with good feelings rather it was a cold one that makes you wonder if the person is going to hurt you. He walked closer to her and said: "I think we should step up our relationship."

A small squeak escaped Lavenders mouth at those words as she wondered what was next. What's going to happen know? All the other ones have been satisfied with kissing so what am I supposed to do now?

She managed to take a breath and speak.

"What does that mean?" Lavender said with a shaky voice. The arcanine laughed and walked right up against her to put his hands her shoulders, looking at girl that was in atwar with herself over what was happening.

"You know, making childrens? Without the children part?" He said and began tugging the edging of her shirt.

Her body froze and she didn't dare to move. Panic was spread all up through her body.

(flashback end)

"So this isthe special room," Flaria said as they stood outside a normal looking door. They had walked though the whole mansion and had looked at all the different rooms. Now they stood outside the room that, according to Flaria, made this part of the house the best. She had already taken Zane's phone and clock with the excuse that no evidence of this was allowed to exist.

"Can you tell me what's in it?" Zane said and let his impatience break through as he tapped his foot against the floor. Flaria had talked about it the whole time and now Zane was tired of waiting.

"Take a look," Flaria said and opened the door. Zane stepped into the room and looked around. The room looked like a normal office room, with a bookshelf, a desk, a chair and some other office things. Then Zane noticed a little hatch that was placed in one of the corners of the room.

This must be the secret he thought and walked over to the hatch. Flaria followed and opened it for him revealing a hole underneath. It wasn't lit up in anyway so Zane couldn't see what was in it.

"What is in here?" he asked Flaria and bent his body right over the hole to get a better view.

"Take a closer look!" Flaria said and suddenly Zane got a forceful shove in his rear. He reacted to slow and couldn't stop himself from tumbling headlong down the dark hole.

(Flashback continue.)

Lavender hadn't a clue about what she was supposed to do. What am I supposed to do? Why does it feels so wrong if it's normal? Why am I nauseous?The thoughts flooded through her head as the arcanine pulled off her shirt. Lavender felt how she was shaking in fear. Why is it feeling so cold in here?She thought and put her arms over her green bra.

"Oh don't try to hide your beauty," the arcanine said and unzipped her trousers. A sob escaped Lavender's mouth. Why is it feeling so wrong if this is genuine love? She forced herself to speak.

"Why is it feeling so wrong?" Lavender asked while the arcanine pulled down her trousers and a green pair of panties were revealed.

"Your just a bit tense because it's the first time, nothing to worry about," the arcanine said before slowly leading her to Lavender's bed. She just wanted to put an end to these painful feelings but didn't know how to do it. I suppose I should just do as he and my friends say and everything will be good.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked the arcanine as feelings welled up through her body that told her that her bed was dangerous, and for some reasons it felt like the bed was the culprit, not her situation.

"Your supposed to obey me, then I will teach you how to do this. Don't worry I've done it with hundreds of girls before."

Lavender nodded as she sat down on the bed besides him. She sobbed and tears ran along her cheek. The arcanine suddenly took her in a steady grip by the arms and turned her so she faced him.

"Don't ever cry, that's just what the weak women do. Oh forget it, all womens are weak," he said and smile began growing on his face as more tears ran along Lavenders face.

"Now I shall teach you what a real man can do."

There we end it. Time to wait for the next chapter. I publish it in around two weeks. Likes and reviews are appreciated.