Chapter 7

The day of the concert…

"Huh?"

"Really!?"

Toji had no choice, the moment these five brats popped up out of his and Megumi's shadow, he had to get the big guns. Two little girls were straddled to his shoulders, clinging on to him as if their lives depended on it. The boys, they were attached to Megumi and refused to let go.

Yet, when they saw Yuuji and Suiryu, the children slinked back and tried to hide themselves. Suiryu sniffed the air but was taken aback. "Whoa… hey, since when did we get siblings already? Mom didn't even LOOK pregnant!" he protested.

"You're telling me…" Toji muttered. He has seen Lady Tiamat every so often in secret. She would drop by suddenly, he didn't hesitate to feed her the least bit, and yet he found each time she came she ate more and more food. She also took every blanket he made and even asked Choso for extras since he couldn't keep up with her needs.

"Look, I don't care it's happened, the fact remains it has. These are my kids aren't they?" he demanded of them.

Suiryu nodded. "Without a doubt, they have your scent." Suiryu said. "Still, this is rather fast for kids isn't it? Then again, we were a special case…"

"Tell me about it…" Yuuji muttered.

Toji found the boys were shaking before Yuuji and Suiryu, they were utterly terrified of them! "Hey, why are you so scared?" Toji asked.

"Brothers big… brothers eat little brothers." One muttered.

"Ah, old dragon mentality…" Suiryu said. "We don't eat family," he said to them. "I assure you, if we did. Mom would eat us!"

They weren't buying it.

"There you are. Yuuji, Suiryu I've been meaning to ask…" Choso came out of nowhere, but, when he saw the little ones. He paused. "Oh? Who do we have here?"

They were oddly calm around Choso, but he also wasn't a dragon and therefore not a threat to them. "Apparently, Yuuji and I became big brothers suddenly… same with Megumi…" Suiryu explained.

Choso nodded as he looked over the children, he politely introduce himself to them. "Hello little ones, my name is Choso. I'm Yuuji and Suiryu's older brother."

They paused oddly. "Older brother? You are their older brother?" one of the girls asked.

He smiled to them and nodded. "I also helped tend to your mother too, look…" he sent curse energy to his hand, it lit up and revealed the dragon's mark.

"I didn't know you still had that…" Yuuji said offhandedly.

"Honestly, I am just as surprised as you are, but indeed I do have the mark still. As you can see, I am a dragon's caretaker. I am here to help you if you need anything. Okay?"

"So… big brothers don't eat little brothers?" one of the young boys asked.

"I assure you, no we do not." Choso said and laughed. "Yuuji and Suiryu would never do that to you either."

They peered at them oddly once more, slowly letting their guard down.

"How about a meal? Would you like something to eat?" Yuuji asked.

Their eyes widened. "Food? We're hungry!" the five cheered.

"How can they be hungry when they have been eating everything we made…" muttered Megumi.

#

Yuuji took everyone to the communal kitchen.

There, along with Suiryu they made the five new siblings a meal. They kept feeding them until they were full and satisfied with the offerings. "That was SO GOOD!" they purred aloud.

Yet they also grew rather tired and were quick to grab Toji. "What, hey! What are you… let me go!" they pushed him to the wall and made him sit down, from there, they all climbed up on to his lap to fall asleep!

"I didn't sign up for this!" he protested.

"Your kids, your responsibility." Suiryu said with a smirk. "But this isn't a bad thing, you had kids with mom, that's rather remarkable…"

"Shut up…" muttered Toji. "Besides, don't we have a concert to prepare for?"

"Ah, you got me there… hmm, what to do with the sprats…" Suiryu pondered.

Then, the air suddenly got heavy.

Yuuji smiled as he turned and saw mom had appeared, she was grinning from ear to ear as she saw the children asleep on Toji. "Oh look at this…" out of nowhere, she took out a camera and began to take pictures!

"Hey!" Toji muttered. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

Mom paused but sighed. "Because I didn't know if they would have survived." She said honestly. "No one has mated with a human for over 10,000 years, and it's usually a male dragon with a female human… not the other way around. Females tend to view humans as weak and feeble creatures. But you are someone different, but I wasn't certain if they would have made it either. I didn't want to disappoint you."

Toji froze oddly to the news.

"Mom…" Yuuji said gently. "Can I ask you for advice?"

She turned serious. "You are going to have to be upfront with your son," she said bluntly. "As noble as your intentions are, Sukuna knows all too well how to manipulate people, even your son into getting what he wants. Yuuji… sometimes you need to scare your child for them to better understand the situation…"

"Whoa, wait, this is the first I am hearing of this. What's going on?" Suiryu demanded.

Yuuji explained everything to him. So much so, Suiryu himself looked pissed off! "He's… he has a plan for Kiyoshi?! OH HELL NO!" Suiryu roared. "After the concert, we are putting an end to this once and for all, he is not going to come anywhere near him!"

Yuuji felt rather relieved to hear that, at the same time, he doesn't know if this may do more harm than good.

"Look, this is all fun and stuff, but… I can't be stuck to a wall. I got a concert today…" Toji said offhandedly.

Mom snickered. "Oh right, that one… I am going to watch it too. Perhaps we need a babysitter…"

No sooner did she utter those words, did Yua enter the communal kitchen with Shin.