5th Contact
"Here, Nia-ni." Natsuki tossed the DearS one of the melon sodas that Khi had brought. The alien caught the glass bottle easily, though she seemed confused. "Onii-chan!" she called, tossing another one, and then one for Ren. He nodded his thanks, then handed one to Ren while quietly explaining that she should wait a minute to open it.
"Ren has never tasted one of these before," she remarked, looking at the bottle curiously.
Takeya laughed from his seat on the floor. "It's a kid's drink, really... but they do taste good!" he quickly backpedaled as Natsuki flashed him a warning look. Khi shrugged sheepishly and looked like he was about to apologize until Natsuki flashed him a warning look. He kept his mouth shut.
"Should I get some cups and let the girls split one?" she asked. Their little eyes all lit up at once.
Takeya shook his head. "They don't need any soft drinks. Water or milk would be better." The teen shrugged apologetically at the little angels as they tugged pleadingly on Takeya. Apparently used to it, he completely ignored their irresistible charms.
"Thanks, Natsuki," Neneko remarked as she took the offered soda. She looked curiously at Khi. "How come you're still wearing your uniform, Khi?"
Natsuki popped the marble out of her soda and looked over at the green-haired boy. "Yeah," she said loudly, "come on, Khi-kun! We're free! You can wear whatever you want now!"
"I..."
Takeya joined in. "I'll lend you some of mine, if you don't have anything else, but I don't think my clothes would fit you. You're still pretty gi- uh... compact."
With a smirk, Neneko shook her head. "Natsuki here pretty much took over your little abode. I think all your clothes are in boxes at the mansion."
"What! Natsuki!" he shouted accusingly. "Do you know how long I've been waiting to get out of this thing?" Takeya complained, tugging on the red collar of the alien clothes.
"Takeya forgot to pack!" Ren explained proudly, wrapping herself around his arm. Her brother shook his head but couldn't hide the smirk that crossed his face.
"Clothes and pornography," Nia announced helpfully. All eyes snapped to her, surprised. Still fiddling with the soda bottle, she looked up. "That's what he complained about forgetting-nii~!" She grinned cheerfully, then went back to fighting with the bottle.
"Oh really..?" Natsuki asked, fixing her brother with a suspicious look.
Neneko raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What did you do with your brother's pornography?"
"I never saw any!" the teen shouted defensively.
"So it's still..! uh... Ren, how do you like the soda?"
"Ren will treasure this flavor forever!" the DearS exclaimed, a serious expression on her face. Immediately the kids began slyly moving closer to their mother. Ren smiled and met Natsuki's gaze. "What are Na-chan and Khi-kun free from? Was Na-chan incarcerated?"
"Free from... Natsuki! You graduated?" Takeya's eyes widened in sudden revelation.
"Of course I did!" she replied, bristling. "Did you think I wouldn't?"
"I didn't realize... has it been... how long ago?" He couldn't seem to figure out where to start.
"Today!" She tilted her head. "You mean you didn't know?"
Khi finally spoke up while Ren sneakily gave each of the little girls a drink. Natsuki met his eyes, and he winked. The distraction was intentional. "The ship is in perfect order, so you must have come back for a reason. If not for Natsuki-san's--," he paused as Natsuki flicked his ear for using the formal honorific, "--for Natsuki-chan's graduation, why are you here?" He rubbed his ear.
Natsuki sighed. Khi was just too stiff. She kind of wished she had braved the vending machine earlier.
"Lady Io wanted to talk to Lady Fina-nii~!" They turned to the Biter, who was currently shaking the soda bottle upside down. Not a drop escaped. "How do you open this-nii~?" she finally exclaimed.
Natsuki tried to hold back a giggle. She shushed Takeya when he lifted his up to explain, instead picking up the plastic tab from her own drink. The teen leaned close to Nia, staring into her eyes playfully.
"We saw a bunch of places," Takeya went on while they were doing that. "There were so many different kinds of people. I had no idea that space was so crowded!"
"Nii..?" Natsuki held Nia's hands in hers, slipping the plastic tab into her free palm and pressing the it to the top of the bottle.
"But Io never liked any of them. Always rejected them after a few weeks or a month. For the past year she's been asking me a lot of questions. All kinds of stuff, really weird questions."
Natsuki grinned and pushed Nia's hand down, popping the plastic nub into the opening. There was a glass rattle as the marble bounced to the bottom of the drink. The teen pulled the plastic tab out and lifted Nia's hands away, the alien's green eyes still staring curiously into hers.
Finally, Nia looked down and realized the drink was open. A huge grin spread on her face and she took a big gulp, jumping a bit when the glass marble clanked around in the bottle.
"Ren was happy when Takeya said we were going back to Earth!"
Takeya smiled at Ren and rubbed her back. "So was I when Io first told me. She still hasn't explained why, but I'm not complaining." He turned his smile toward Natsuki. "It means I got to be here to congratulate my little sister! And let her meet her little nieces!" He looked over, suddenly realizing that the girls were drinking from Ren's soda. "Hey!"
"And Ren gets to taste this heavenly beverage!" the DearS said happily, oblivious to his concern. The girls giggled and hid on the opposite side of her from their dad.
"And I get to show Natsu-nee my new Biter skills-nii~!" Nia exclaimed. "And other skills-nii~!" she added suggestively... but loudly.
The teen blushed and an awkward silence fell on the room. Nia threw an arm around Natsuki's shoulders and scooted closer.
Khi saved the day by redirecting the subject again. "So Lady Io decided it? Where is she?"
Nia looked past Natsuki at him. "Lady Io wanted to talk to Lady Fina!" she explained again. "Watchers and Barkers!"
"You have a new Barker, too?" Neneko asked, adjusting her glasses curiously.
"Yeah," Takeya supplied, "It's Miu."
"Really..?" The landlord's daughter shook her head. "But she's nothing like that other one."
Khi looked up thoughtfully from his drink. "If you look at it from the perspective that a Barker is a trainer, then Miu-san makes perfect sense." He shrugged. "Rubi-san had her own unique method of training."
All three of the humans frowned, thinking of those 'methods.' Natsuki hated the idea of that old hag hurting Nia or Khi or even Ren. The aliens, for their part, seemed unconcerned. It was Neneko, this time, who broke the tension. "What say we get this thing started?" she asked, grinning.
"Oh! Nene-chan! I got something special from Gen-san that I need your help with!"
"Oh..?" Natsuki got up and rushed to the bags, pulling out the box with the prepared takoyaki dumplings. She showed them to the older girl, who crossed her arms and grinned again. "Well, well. I guess we need to see if Takeya left the right pans here."
Natsuki grinned. "While you take care of that, we'll get everything else out!" The teen grabbed the bag of melon bread, pulling out a particularly large loaf. "Ren!" she called, tossing the bread straight to the pregnant alien.
Ren dropped her drink as she reached out with both hands to grab the loaf, already drooling just at the sight of the sweet treat. Takeya laughed and righted the bottle before the fizzy drink spilled out. "And one for the kiddies!" Natsuki called, tossing another, smaller loaf.
"Oh no, no, no." Takeya caught the loaf and held it high. "They don't need unhealthy stuff like this, with all those additives and fillers and junk!"
"But they love it-nii~!"
"What?!" Nia snatched the melon bread from his hand and before he could stop her, had already broken it into three pieces. Grinning, Miuya, Chiya, and Natsuko ran off with their prizes, giggling and flashing innocent looks at their father. "Nia!"
"And one for you, Biter girl!" She tossed another loaf of bread. Then she scooped up the rest of the snacks and dragged the bags over to the center of the room, passing out the chips and crackers and dips.
"Music-nii~!" Nia demanded, mouth stuffed with bread. It turned into a chant, which her little cubs immediately took up.
Giggling, Natsuki moved over to her laptop, hitting a random playlist. As the beat started up, her grin widened. "Way to go, random," she cheered, looking over to the others.
Nia and the girls had all stopped suddenly and were listening. The little ones were twitching a little with the rhythm. Finally recognizing the song, Takeya shook his head and laughed. "Not that one," he groaned.
"Coming up, coming up, coming up," Natsuki sang along, aiming the words at Takeya, "It's Dare!"
The teen quickly rose to her feet, doing a little spin that flared up the bottom of her shirtdress. Her left shoulder toward Nia, she kept singing along. "You've got to press it on you. You just think it, that's what you do, baby!" She lifted her left arm and pointed straight at Nia. "Hold it down dare!"
"I don't even understand most of these words!" Takeya laughed, sitting back and taking a sip from his drink.
Ignoring him, Natsuki began shaking her hips. "Jump with them all and move it!" She was bouncing back and forth a bit as she danced. "Jump back and forth and feel like you were dare yourself to work it out!"
Her nieces and Nia all started moving along, mimicking Natsuki and dancing along with the music. With a smile at Takeya, Ren stood up and joined in. The girls all laughed, and Nia started trying to sing along with Natsuki. "Come on, onii-chan!"
"No way," he laughed. "I'm not dancing."
"Khi-kun!"
The nervous DearS shook his head shyly.
Stubbornly, Natsuki reached down, snagging Khi's arms and pulling him to his feet. As he began to protest, she shoved him over toward Nia who quickly started 'teaching' the alien boy. "Get up, onii-chan!" the teen called again, but he just smirked and shook his head.
Still dancing, the girl refused to give up, but Takeya steadfastly refused. "The song's almost over anyway!" he protested with a triumphant grin.
Eyes lighting up, Natsuki bounced over to the laptop and set the song almost back to the beginning. "Now it's not!" She rushed over and started tugging on his arm, trying to lift him up. "Come on, onii-chan! It's a party! Look how much fun Ren is having!"
"Ren is enjoying this! Takeya should join in!"
He kept shaking his head, shaking his head, and then finally started to get up. "Alright, alright! Just this once!"
"Yay, onii-chan!" the teen cheered before moving back over toward Nia, dancing back to back with her.
"Jump with the moon and move it!" the two girls sang along, "Jump back and forth and feel like you would dare yourself to work it out!"
"Whoo, go onii-san-nii~!" Nia cheered out as Takeya finally got over his awkwardness and started moving with the beat. "Come on, Khi-kun! Don't let Miuya beat you-nii~!"
The boy laughed, looking down at the little one who was bouncing around with no rhyme or reason but lots and lots of energy -- helped in no small way by the sugary drink and snack. "I'll try, Nia-san!"
As the song ended, everyone bent over, grinning at each other and chuckling. Takeya turned as if he was going to sit back down. Natsuki snatched his wrist and spun him back around, shaking her head. He gave her a long-suffering look, but didn't fight back as the laptop spouted out, "Do- dooo yeaheahh!"
"Noooo," Takeya groaned.
"Vi undrarar ni redo alt vara med!" Natsuki sang along in Swedish, shaking her hips. "Armarna upp nu ska ni fa se kom igen! Hvem som helst kan vara med!"
As the energetic song continued in Swedish, the girl started singing in a language more familiar to them. "So come and move your hips," she called out, "sing 'oh ah ah ah!' Look at you two clips do it. La la la!" Natsuki moved closer to Nia, looking in her ears as she kept singing. "You and me can sing this melody! Owah owah ah oh!"
Natsuki turned away and threw her hands up in the air, all of the girls imitating her while Khi looked on, dumbfounded, and Takeya just chuckled. "Dance to the beat, wave your hands together!" She gave Nia another special smile as she sang the next lines. "Come feel the heat, forever and forever!" The teen bounced over to Takeya and lifted his hands up in the air. "Listen and learn: it is time for prancing!" Reluctantly, he started moving along, much to Ren's excitement. "Now we are here with Caramel Dancing!"
"Ooh ooh ooh ah oh ah! Ooh ooh ooh ah oh ah, oh ah!" everyone more or less sang together. Natsuki smiled happily as she saw everyone else enjoying themselves, and even more as she watched the lithe young Biter's hips swaying with the music. She was caught up in the music, moving with the rhythm, and Natsuki found something incredible about that kind of reckless abandon.
The words continued in Swedish, the teen translating it in her head as it went, and that line came up again. Come feel the heat, forever and forever. Seeming to feel her gaze, and the heat building up inside her, Nia looked over just then, an excited and longing look in her eyes. A mischievous curl appeared in the golden-haired DearS' eyes, then, as the song began winding down.
Nia pounced, throwing herself on Natsuki, the heat of their bodies mingling as the two girls crashed to the floor.
"Nia!" Takeya shouted, but then Ren leapt on him, seeming to think it part of the dance. Not to be left out, the little girls dog-piled on Khi, knocking the unfortunate Black Sheep to the ground.
Natsuki lay under Nia, panting and grinning, hands pressed to the alien's hips. Their breasts heaved after the energetic dancing, pressing together as they stared into each others' eyes, their faces moving gradually closer. In that moment, it didn't matter that her brother was there, or Khi-kun, or her little nieces. The next song was starting up, but all Natsuki could hear was the pounding of her own heart in her ears. Her fingertips began to slide under the hem of Nia's pants and she leaned in to press her lips against the alien's.
"Hey, if you're all ready for a break, how about some food?" Neneko called. The smell of takoyaki dumplings seemed to fill the small apartment suddenly.
A bit of drool dripped from Nia's mouth as her attention was suddenly diverted. Natsuki grabbed her head, pulling her back and kissing her hard. Surprised, Nia stared for a second, then grinned and licked Natsuki's cheek.
The two girls stood, moving with everyone else to the food, heat still lingering in their faces.