It is a lovely day in Kamakura as she got off the train station. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, everything was so wonderful. It would be even more wonderful when she got to the Maple Inn.
"But whhhhyyyyyy?!" Grif cries as he endures his lecture from Sarge.
"Because in the time since something significant happened, we've all gotten jobs while you're still on your ass, eating our hosts food out." Sarge grumpily explains.
"Well, everyone else makes enough money to keep us stocked while simotaniously paying Kouta and Yuka back, so what's the point!" Grif asks.
"The point is that you're lazy!" Sarge exclaims.
"Yeah. You need to start pulling your weight." Simmons joins in the conversation.
"Which would be around 1000 pounds, probably." Tucker quips, also walking in.
"Beat it, blue. This is Red team confidential." Sarge orders.
"Why the fucked You wanna make a roast confidential?" Tucker questions.
"Oh! I love burgers!" Caboose pops out of nowhere.
"We're not roasting burgers over a fire, Caboose. We're roasting Grif." Tucker sighs.
"I love Grif burgers!" Caboose exclaims.
"Wait, What?" Simmons questions.
"Did I hear the suggestion of a barbecue?" Donut pops in.
"No, Donut." Simmons sighs.
"Hell yeah." Grif says at the same time.
"Enough! We ain't roasting burgers and Hot Dogs over a fire!" Sarge exclaims. "We need to give Grif an exaggerated punishment."
"Actually, I could be down for some burgers for supper." Tucker says.
"Fuck yeah! Start up the grill, Donut!" Grif exclaims.
"Hold, Donut!" Sarge orders. "And you, stop confusing everyone with this barbecue nonsense.
"Who are you talking to?" Tucker asks.
"All of you." Sarge states.
At that moment, the front gate opened to reveal a 14 year older girl with short black hair.
"Surprise brother!" She exclaimed. The smile on her face vanished instantly at seeing the strange armoured people in the middle of a heated argument.
"Just punish Grif anyway. We can all just enjoy the barbecue while you do that." Tucker says.
"Dude, What the fuck?" Grif exclaims.
"What? Did you think I was defending you?" Tucker questions. "Years in the canyon and you still act like you don't know me."
"Don't worry Tucker, we know you." Caboose says. "We know and love you even though you're not as good as Church."
"As good at Church at what? Aiming? Everyone's better than Church in that department." Tucker exclaims.
"Yeah. He makes stormtroopers look accurate." Simmons adds.
"Hello new person!" Caboose exclaims.
"Caboose there's... oh." Tucker along with everyone else take notice of the girl standing at the gate way.
"S-Sorry! I must have the wrong address!" The girl exclaims, clearly embarrassed.
Before she can leave, Kouta comes charging out of the house.
"Kanae!" He exclaims as he runs over to her side. "It's so good to see you again."
"Brother, whats with all the strange people in your yard?" Kanae asks.
"Hey, that's not very nice." Caboose says.
"But Caboose, we ARE strange from her perspective." Simmons says.
"Or anyone's perspective." Grif adds.
Kouta sighs as he massages his head, knowing about all the explaining he has to do.
Inside, Kanae sits with her brother along with the multi coloured soldiers who seemed just absolutely insane in one way or another. Not only where they there, but there was another girl about her age with short brown hair in a similar hairstyle to her own as well as two other girls around Kouta's age, those two piquing her interest the most. One had short brown hair while the other had long pink hair with additional bows in it.
'Hmm, has Kouta finally found a girlfriend for himself?' Kanae coyly thought. Before she asked him about that, she decided to tease him a little. "Well, Kouta. I didn't realize you missed me so much you decided to get a replacement."
Mayu flushes a bit at this accusation.
"Hey, I didn't replace you! Mayu was in a bad situation, we took her in to help her." Kouta defends himself.
"Just like you help me when I'm in a tough spot." Kanae scootchs over to Mayu and drapes her arm around her shoulders. "My dear sister, can't we agree our dear older brother is such a sweetheart, perhaps too much for his own good?" She over dramatically says.
"Uh, yeah he's really nice, but someone being too nice is rarely for their own detriment." Mayu nervously replies.
"It's almost like watching you talk to girls." Grif quips at Simmons. "Only Mayu's not stuttering every few words."
"So, wheres my dear cousin Yuka?" Kanae asks.
"She's gone out shopping. I hear she wants to make you something special for coming all this way to visit, but don't tell her I told you that." Kouta says.
"Well, why wait around here for that to happen! Lets get out and look around town!" Kanae exclaims. "No need to sit here all day!"
"She's like the complete opposite of Grif!" Sarge exclaims. He then leans over and whispers to Kouta. "I knew I made a good call making you an honourably red. In no time, we'll have your sister as your comrade on the winning team."
"Brother! Could you take me to all those places you used to draw at! I'd like to see them!" Kanae exclaims.
"Uh, sure. No problem." Kouta responds.
"Anyone else wanna join us on our fun little hike!" Kanae asks, subtly looking at Aiko and Kaede, hoping they would join so she could talk with them one on one.
"Pass." Grif says.
"Well, nobody wants to carry around your fat ass anyway." Sarge says. "I'd like to come with, not just for the exercise, but to get to know our potential new member!"
"Well, I suppose it would be alright." Simmons says.
"If you drew these places, I would like to see them and maybe try to draw them myself to better my own art!" Aiko agrees.
"Eh. Why not? Nothing else to do around here anyway." Tucker agrees.
"Yay! Hiking with friends!" Caboose exclaims.
"Diablos no. Prefiero quedarme con el vago. Me deja sola la mayor parte del tiempo." Lopez responds.
Mayu nods her agreeance.
"Oh, yeah! That could be fun!" Donut exclaims.
"If it's alright with you, I'd like to come along." Kaede agrees, seeing this as not only a chance to spend more time with Kouta, but to get to know his sister better too.
Kanae truthfully didn't want the reds and blues coming along, but she wasn't whole heartedly against it. 'I suppose when they stir up an argument that pulls Kouta's attention away will be my que to see which of these girls is right to be my sister in law! They're both pretty attractive, Kouta's really lucky with who ever he presumably has feelings for.'
Before long, Kouta was leading the party along the mountains just outside of the city, luckily with the Reds and Blues casual wear on so they won't draw attention to themselves when walking though the city or bumping into who ever happened to be up there.
"Hm, this place feels familiar to me and I don't know why." Tucker says as the group travel up hill.
"What? Like deja-vu?" Simmons asks him.
"No... I don't think so..." Tucker replies.
"Come on men! Lets shift this hike into overdrive!" Sarge exclaims.
"Oh come on, Sarge. It's a hike, not a drill. We're supposed to go at this slow." Donut says.
"He's right. We're supposed to enjoy the walk up here as well as keep an eye out for anything good to draw." Kouta explains.
As Kouta was talking to Sarge and a few others, Kanae maneuvered herself to walk beside Kaede.
"Soooo, how did you and my brother meet each other?" Kanae asks her.
"Oh! We met not too far from here actually around... 8 years ago I think." Kaede explains. "He came at just the right time."
"Ohhhhhh! Tell me more!" Kanae squeals.
"I was betrayed by someone I thought was a friend and my pet dog was beaten to death by bullies." Kaede explains. "He came at my lowest point and brought me happiness. I've thought of us as good friends ever since."
"I see..." Kanae says, slyly. "You almost make it seem like theres more going on." Kaede's reddening face was confirmation enough. "So you are just more than friends." Kaede quickly grabs Kanae and brings her in close.
"We aren't together-together, but... I want to be close to him like that." Kaede explains. "He's so kind to me. He's accepted all the largely unusual parts of my myself without hesitation. But I'm afraid those parts might end up being a burden to him sometime in the future as well as... I think Yuka might be after him romantically too."
"Yuka? Pffft!" Kanae exclaims. "No need to worry. I don't think she's interested in Kouta in that way. And whatever differences you're referring to, I know for a fact my big brother would never see them as a burden. You should ask him to take things further."
"No! I... I don't think I can. Not now at least." Kaede frantically says. "Can you just... keep my feelings for your brother between the two of us?"
"Don't worry Kaede, I can do my future sister in law the pleasure of keeping a secret for her." Kanae winks. Kaede blushes again at the notion in her statement,
"Hey! Whats this?" They hear Donut say. Looking onward, they find a building among the forest with its own trail heading toward it. Kids were all around the building, playing amongst themselves while adults watched over them.
"I didn't know there was a daycare centre this far away from the city." Simmons says.
"Now I know why the path here was so familiar!" Tucker exclaims.
"Yeah. This isn't a daycare Simmons. It's an orphanage." Kaede says with a tone of bitterness. "Specifically, the one I was raised in before you all adopted me."
It is then the children followed shortly by the adult caretakers take notice of the group.
"Impossible..." one of the older caretakers mutters.
"Rika, do you know those people?" Another caretaker asks. Rika whispers to the caretaker who seems to take on an expression of understanding. "I see, but are you sure?"
"You'd have to have been there and she's hiding them under the bow I suspect." Rika continues. The other caretaker hesitantly nods before ushering the children inside of the building. "So, whats all this?"
"Uh nothing, just passing through on our hike." Kouta responds.
"I see..." Rika musses. "And Kaede, these are your... friends?"
"Nice to see you remember me too, Rika." Kaede says in a flat tone. "And these are my friends AND family."
"With how strange you are, I never would have thought you would have gotten close to anyone. You sure never did when you lived here." Rika says. Jaws drop at insult just dropped, and from someone who at one point was supposed to take care of Kaede.
"Well I did. I take it I wasn't missed." Kaede states.
"Oh, we sent out a search party and everything, but once we couldn't find you I just assumed you joined with whatever animal your horns come from." Rika said.
"Wait, horns?!" Kanae exclaims.
"Yes! Horns!" Caboose yells.
"Not now you two! Read the room." Aiko scolds them.
Kaede gawked at the cruelty of her former caretaker. Rika always made her distaste with her clear, but like all the caretakers in the orphanage, it was subtle. Seems she couldn't be bothered to hold back now.
"I hope you don't say things like that to any of the other kids that came here..." Kaede growls, her mind running with possibility's of what she could do to her now that she had the ability to ensure Rika couldn't ever speak again, among other things.
"Of coarse not. Its clear that who ever any of those kids parents were weren't zoophiles." Rika says. "When we found you in the forest, I didn't understand at the time but I've since learned that you were simply in your natural habitat. No wonder who ever your human side comes from left you out there."
"Holy shit, shut the fuck up woman!" Tucker yelled.
"Your the lowest of scumbags." Sarge says. "Even lower than the blues."
"Yeah!" Simmons chimes in. "Damn, if I had to live in this place, I would have snapped. Have to hand it to Kaede for her self control." He mutters.
"Kaede is a much better human being than you could ever be!" Aiko also jumps to her defense, Mayu furiously nods to that.
"Yeah you... meanie!" Donut exclaims.
"Yeah! Meanie!" Caboose adds.
"I feel like you two could have done better with that." Simmons says.
"Like you're one to talk." Tucker offhandedly says to him.
"Hey, where'd Kaede and big brother go?" Kanae asks as she looks around. The others look around to confirm Kanae's statement.
"Oh shit, she must have run off again." Tucker says.
"Kouta probably saw her go and went after her." Mayu says.
"We've got to find her. Come on." Tucker leads the way, though not before flipping Rika the bird.
I wanna thank the guest and Wyran Cost for their ideas. Really helped me move forward. I have this little arc already written and plans for how the next one will go down thanks to you guys. On a somewhat related note, I already had the Kanae stuff written out before the suggestions so I'm taking credit for that. The stuff where Kaede stumbles back across the orphanage, that goes to the guest though. Thanks again to you and Wyran cost because I also intend to write in the other ideas you two sent my way.