(Reminder!) Disclaimer: DGM will be mine when Tyki stops being sexy and Hoshino-sensei stops drawing gorgeous artwork and decides to become a ballerina. Also, the term "white-coats" for scientists was borrowed from James Patterson's Maximum Ride series. Sorry J.P. and Hoshino-sensei for doing this, I hope you don't mind, but you're just so brilliant that I had to share your genius with everyone. =)

((Minus the fact that I made Rhode a yaoi fangirl in this chapter. That was just me being selfish with your characters, Hoshino. =P))

And a HUGE THANKS and a hug, and a big cookie, and internets to my wonderfully hard-wortking beta, SilentKiller1. =D Tha-ank yo-ou!~

--- Love from, CK

Chapter 5 : Nobody Til Somebody Loves You

An hour later, Tyki emerged from the grocery store and adjusted the collar on his white shirt as the sun's heat began to beat down on him. The Portuguese NECO was dressed in a stuffy outfit that he usually kept in the back of his closet; an outfit that he only dug out whenever errands needed to be run in town.

The outfit consisted of a pair of flawless black dress pants and the white dress shirts that Tyki loved so much. This was paired with a black tailcoat and a pair of polished shoes. A tall black top hat and a set of pristine gloves completed the look, although they existed to hide Tyki's wolf ears and sharp nails more than anything else did. The tailcoat was similar in purpose, as its long length was perfect for hiding Tyki's thick tail.

Any NECO who was without a Master was a walking target for humans to pick up. To avoid being targeted, Tyki had – before he known the others – used this disguise on many occasions to fool humans into believing he was a wealthy human duke. It had helped him over the years not to be trapped by a Master, and after joining Yuu, Lavi, and Allen, he had continued the disguise with a slightly different persona – namely, he was a wealthy duke who owned NECOs of his own.

Through this disguise and the acting abilities he had honed over the years, Tyki had been able to help the others go into town without ever having to worry about one of them being kidnapped.

The door to the grocery store chimed suddenly as Allen came trotting out, carrying three bags of groceries.

Tyki winced at the sight, knowing the milk alone had to be ridiculously heavy to carry, and Allen was supporting all the meat products, fruits, and everything else they had bought.

Tyki quickly went to grab two from Allen's hands, yet failed when the boy managed to smack at his fingers without dropping any bags

"Tyki," Allen whispered lowly, "you're supposed to be pretending to be my Master. Walk a little bit ahead of me. I'm fine with the groceries."

"I know that boy, but the bags –"

"NECOs usually carry their Masters things," Allen said, as if Tyki didn't already know. "So walk ahead of me and let me carry these. I'll be fine."

"But they're heavy," Tyki whined childishly.

"My left arm is stronger than a regular person's though, remember?" Allen countered, gesturing with his head to his disfigured blood-red appendage. The silver-eyed boy smiled reassuringly. "I. Will. Be. Fine. Now go, before someone gets suspicious as to why I'm giving orders to my Master."

Tyki sighed in defeat, trying to push the guilt out of him. He turned his back on the young boy and began walking away, muttering a soft "Stay close behind me."

Allen obediently did so, keeping in stride with Tyki's relaxed gait as his silver eyes took in the life of the town with eager eyes. He rarely went into town since it usually Lavi who went with Tyki. Still, Allen was amazed at how loving, friendly, and nice human Masters seemed to their NECOs, despite what Yuu had always told him about them.

They seemed so much… purer, than the human scientists Allen had known.

Even now, as he looked around, Allen could see a NECO and her Master laughing together as they left a hair salon, a young NECO boy smiling as he followed three human children into the grocery store, a human girl walking into a music store, two NECO men walking hand in hand with human women, a human man buying a large assortment of candy –

Allen stopped in his tracks, his eyes unblinking from the man in the candy store.

"Boy!" Tyki barked, his voice a perfect imitation of a Master scolding his NECO. Allen quickly ran to Tyki, who had gained some distance since Allen had been daydreaming. "What did I tell you about staying behind me?"

"I think that man is doing the same thing we are," Allen said quietly, so only Tyki could hear him.

Tyki's ears perked beneath his hat. His golden eyes swept the area quickly, but he saw no sign of anything suspicious.

"You think there's another NECO in disguise here? Who?"

Allen nodded to the man who was now leaving the candy store, nodding in thanks to the clerk. He was dressed in a spotless black suit and top hat similar to Tyki's own. He carried a brass cane in his left hand and white gloves were pulled over each of his hands.

"That guy," Allen began, "I'm positive I saw a tail under his coat."

Tyki eyed the man's back and his posture for a long moment then shook his head. "I don't think so. His posture is too good for a NECOs and his clothes are expensive, without a doubt. You do not see that with NECOs … well, unless his Master is impossibly rich. But that man is human, trust me. It must've been your imagination."

"But I was positive --" Allen whined, allowing Tyki to lead him again.

"Well, you were wrong. Loser," the Portuguese NECO teased, ruffling Allen's hair until it was a mess. Allen squawked and quickly tried to shake it back to normal.

"Jerk!" Allen said, trying to hide a grin as he nudged Tyki's shin with his foot. "You're so mean to me, Tyki."

The elder waved a finger gently. "That's Master Tyki to you, boy."

"Tyki!? Is that you!" a shocked voice cried. The two NECOs turned, and saw that the man from the candy store was standing directly behind them now.

Tyki, for the first time in what felt like forever, was speechless.

He floundered for words as a pair of stunning golden eyes – the exact same colour as his own – blinked back at him.

"…Sheryl?" Tyki said, his top hat going lop-sided.

A grin so wide it nearly broke the stranger's face bloomed suddenly, and then the man threw open his arms.

"My beautiful baby brother!" the man cried, and Allen was stunned when Tyki had to put a hand on the man's forehead to stop the stranger from kissing him.

The stranger struggled to push himself further towards Tyki, but Tyki just laughed – a jerky sound that slowly gained volume and mirth until Tyki was shaking with the force of it. Tyki soon pulled his a look-alike into his chest and hugged him, letting the strange man kiss his cheek instead of his lips.

Suddenly, there was a feminine giggle in Allen's ear. Yet before he had time to turn around, a pair of thin arms had looped themselves around his waist and a large shadow simultaneously loomed over his pale form.

"Uncle Tyki, is he your mate?" a girly voice cackled.

Yuu was stalking the kitchen, unable to resist looking out the window every few moments for any sight of Allen's white hair. Lavi sat bedside him, doodling on a scrap piece of paper.

"They'll be back soon," the redhead offered in a weak attempt to get Yuu to calm down.

"Shut up! I know that."

There was no sound except for the scribble of pen on paper and Yuu's feet tapping along the cold floor. Then one of his midnight ears twitched towards the stairway and the living room that descended from it.

"Narien, get upstairs!" Lavi shouted before Yuu could. "Yuu is still here! He'll catch you!"

The sound of feet running along stairs was easily audible, followed by the sound of a door closing upstairs.

Yuu and Lavi had finished "talking to" the brown-haired boy about an hour ago, at which point Lavi had told him that if he was tired, he should have a nap in Lavi's room.

Which was, basically, nothing more than Lavi's way to subtly hint that 'you should stay upstairs until Yuu decides killing you and hiding your body from Allen is a bad idea'.

Yuu's eye caught movement in his peripherals. He immediately moved closer to the window, hoping it was Allen. He did not like being away from his moyashi for too long.

He caught sight of dark hair and a large bulky figure on the horizontal and all of his mental alerts went off.

"There's someone here."

Lavi turned at the sound of Yuu's voice.

"Is it Tyki? "

"No. Trespasser."

Lavi jumped to his feet with his red ears flying back.

"Humans?" Lavi asked, but was promptly shoved towards the stairs by the cat-NECO.

"Stay here. Guard the house and make sure the brat doesn't get out." Then the midnight-eared man was out the door, prepared to fight for the second time that day.

Lavi floundered for words, but then there were footsteps on the stairs and Narien bound into the room, gripping Lavi's arm.

"Allen?" Narien said, brown ears perking and his tail waving. "I'll go welcome him back!—"

"Wait! No, its not – do not go outside! Stop!"

"For goodness sake, Skin is always running off," Sheryl sighed out, lumbering up the hill alongside Tyki, Allen, and his daughter. The larger man had run up ahead, claiming to have smelled something tasty.

"Ah, don't worry," Tyki said. "The big man can do what he wants. I mean, its not like he will get lost or anything if he has such a good sense of smell. He can track us."

Rhode merely giggled, clinging even tighter to Allen's arms, making him wince. She hadn't let go of him since they had met, and he was beginning to lose the circulation in his arm. Still, he had failed to get her to let go.

Rhode's head suddenly snapped up to the horizon at the same time her father's did. Allen was minutely confused, and when he looked to Tyki for an explanation, he saw that he too was looking towards their home with a furrowed brow.

"What's going on?"

Tyki cast him a quick glance then took the lead up towards the house.

"Blood," Tyki said and Allen's heart pounded in his ears, blocking all other sounds for a minute. Then Allen practically tore himself from Rhode and ran. Tyki followed quickly, his family following close behind. Their feet pounded against the firm ground and weak grass as they hurried after Allen, emerging onto the tip of the hill and froze as the scent of blood finally hit his nostrils.

Tyki skidded to a stop behind Allen as soon as he caught sight of what was occurring outside their home.

Yuu and Skin were fighting like, well, a cat and a dog.

Yuu had a long gash running up his left arm and something akin to burns around his neck, but both were already showing signs of healing. Skin looked to be slightly better, covered in minor cuts with only one major cut showing sign of blood.

"STOP!" Tyki barked, and Skin dropped his fists. Yuu didn't move, still crouched in an aggressive stance and his pupils slit in suspicion. Allen bolted for his lover and glared at Skin for a moment before turning to face his lover worriedly.

"Yuu! Are you okay?" Allen cried, able to stand the thought of his mate in pain. "Skin is Tyki's brother! He didn't hurt you too bad, did he? Do you want me to get some band-aids?"

Yuu merely scoffed and stared at his lover, as if silently asking why Allen thought band-aids would be helpful in a situation like this. Allen's silver eyes never left Yuu's face as he waited for his mate to answer. After a moment, Yuu just scoffed and stood on shaky legs. He shook off the weakness he felt before he suddenly felt Allen kiss his bleeding knuckles, licking the blood and dirt and stinging sensations away.

However, the tender atmosphere was popped like a balloon as Rhode burst over the hill and took in the scene for all of three seconds before she immediately let out an excited squeal.

Yuu pivoted and prepared to attack again, yet when he saw Tyki walking beside the young girl and another NECO who looked suspiciously like Tyki's lost twin, he paused.

Rhode, meanwhile, was now pulling on the arm of her father's shirt and was grinning like Christmas had come early.

"Ahahaha! Daddy! Daddy, I want him as my mate!" she said. She burst into another hysterical peal of laughter at the sight of how her Uncle Skin was bleeding from what could almost be mistaken as a critical injury. She tugged on her father's hand insistently again, yet Sheryl said nothing, merely eyed the Allen with a raised eyebrow.

Tyki's wide-eyed gaze quickly turned from a bloodied Skin, to a defensive Yuu, to a giggling Rhode. He had to admit, he had not been expecting to hear that from his little niece's mouth. (He meant the 'mate' comment, of course. Sadistic laughter at the sight of people bleeding was something you became accustomed to once you met Rhode.)

"Hmm," Sheryl began before sighing loudly, "sorry Rhode, but you know that Allen already has a mate. Daddy can't give him to you."

Rhode looked up at her father in surprise.

"Allen? Oh Daddy, I'm not talking about him," she scoffed out. "Don't get me wrong, Allen's cute and all, but he seems more like a big-brother type to me. I want that one –"she pointed a bright-pink fingernail and grinned madly "– to be mine. Heehee! The one who's face got all funny when he saw all the blood!"

Narien followed the fingernail's invisible path to his own chest, before he finally realized that Rhode was pointing at him. His chocolate eyes went wide at the same time Yuu's blue ones did.

If that brat has a mate of his own… Yuu realized. Then he can't lay a fucking finger on my moyashi.

"Since I'm the alpha in this house, I say he's all yours," Yuu said, before Narien could utter a sound. Rhode grinned before she ran over to hug the stunned brown-eared boy, plopping herself into his lap.

"Rhode! Be careful, Narien's injured!" Allen cried out, after seeing her squeeze the Indian-NECO the same way she had been squeezing him since they had met in town.

"Ooh, his name is Narien. Hahahaha! Sounds funny!" she crooned before turning her eyes back to the Japanese teen. "Hey, who are you, by the way?"

"Che, shouldn't I be asking you that? You're outside of my fucking house."

"Watch your language!" Sheryl barked, his teeth bared at the fact that this NECO had the audacity to swear in front of his innocent baby girl.

"Yuu, watch your swearing," Allen said, gently elbowing his lover in the side.

"Shut. Up." Rhode suddenly gaped with wide amber eyes. Allen was shortly afraid that Yuu had offended her, but her eyes were filled with glee. "You're Yuu? Like, as in, Allen's mate?"

Yuu nodded once, suspicious as to what she was trying to imply. Before he could analyze her any further, however, she started cackling again.

"Oh my GOD! Allen, he is sooo good-looking! And he has such cool muscles! And his hair is sooo pretty! And he gave me a mate! Allen, I would totally hate you if you were not so cute! He is amazing! And tough! You are soooo lucky! AHAHA!" she cackled.

"I know," Allen admitted, with a pleased swish of his tail. "Yuu is wonderful, isn't he? And he's all mine."

Yuu tried to stay suspicious of the girl – really, he did – but upon hearing how she had praised him and made Allen cuddle into him like this, Yuu relaxed at the sight of her. He managed to suppress the smirk of masculine pride he was feeling, but his tail had begun to wave in approval of the girl.

She was… decent.

Sheryl's gold eyes suddenly turned to Lavi, who was standing awkwardly by Tyki's side. Sheryl smiled at him and held out a gloved hand, saying, "I'm sorry, but I never caught your name."

"It's Lavi. Nice to meet you," Lavi said gratefully shaking the man's hand.

"Ah, Lavi. It is a pleasure to meet you as well. You are another one of Tyki's new 'little brothers' I take it? Just like Allen?"

Tyki barked out a laugh before Lavi could reply. "Of course not! Allen is the only one who's like a little brother to me."

"Wait," Skin growled out, his gravelly voice silencing Tyki. "Rhode took that kid as her mate. And the kitty cats are each others mates, right?"

Tyki nodded in confirmation, used to his brother's dumb way of stating the obvious.

Yuu was about to cuss the larger man out for daring to call him a 'kitty cat' of all things, but was interrupted by the same gravelly voice.

"So, wait, is the bunny your mate?" Skin said pointing a large finger at the redhead.

Sheryl's gold eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He let out a loud hysterical chuckle, patting his larger brother on the shoulder before saying, "Skin, for heaven's sake, you're so foolish sometimes! Hahaha. I mean, Tyki is a purebred NECO who comes from the prestigious No-Ah family. He's never taken a mate before, you know that, and yet you honestly think his mate is this scruffy –"

"Yup, Lavi is my mate. My bunny. My quierdo. My love. My everything. He's sexy as hell, isn't he?" Tyki said with his dark ears perking. He took Lavi's hand in his own, kissing the back of his palm.

Sheryl froze at the sight, his mouth parted in the middle of his speech. Tyki appeared not to notice, as he continued.

"So everyone, this Lavi! And Lavi, of course, this is my brother Sheryl and my brother Skin. Oh! And quierdo, you have to meet this pretty thing over here!"" Tyki exclaimed, running over to grab Rhode.

The second Tyki had turned his back, Sheryl and Skin both turned their eyes to the defenseless Lavi. The redhead felt his stomach twist at the looks he was being given.

Skin was scowling at him, grinding his large fangs together and muttering to himself. Meanwhile, Sheryl looked like he had just drunk sour milk, his mouth no longer smiling but puckered in what was clearly an unpleasant manner. And Lavi did not miss the way golden eyes flickered over his eye patch or his unruly red hair with distaste.

"Here we are!" Tyki said, pulling the young girl behind him. Sheryl was suddenly looking pleasant again and Skin turned to stare at the house. "This is my niece, Rhode! And my goodness, she is getting prettier every day, aren't you, cher? How have you been?"

"I'm great Uncle Tyki," the girl said, giving him a smile that could only be called sickeningly sweet. Tyki just kissed her hair, adoring the way she laughed at him.

He remembered how Sheryl had found the young girl one day after a potential bidding. Everyone in Tyki's old home had been of a special and incredibly rare bred of NECO that had been called "No-Ah". Because of this, all of them were incredibly desirable. Only 14 of them had ever been made, and it had turned out that neither of the potential Masters had been wealthy enough to buy Sheryl that day.

As Sheryl described it, he had passed by Rhode as she was hiding under a bench in a reception area. She had been playing and hide-and-go-seek with her handlers. Immediately, Sheryl had "fallen in love" with the girl, and before any of the white-coats could stop him, Sheryl had snatched the girl into his arms and had deemed himself her father. Rhode had not protested –in fact, she had become more obedient and less likely to torture her caretakers because of it – so no-one tried to separate the two.

That had been almost 6 years ago, and Tyki had felt positive he would never see this "family" of his ever again. And despite that, he would never admit it, Tyki had always had a soft spot for the girl… even if she did have some slightly sadistic ideas for games.

"Well, I hate to be rude," Sheryl began, "But, shall we take this inside? It is rather windy out here..."

Lunch came and went, and with the extra company, Allen had let Tyki and his brothers take the table while he and the others stood and ate off the kitchen's island.

Tyki had (unfortunately) dragged Lavi to the table with Sheryl and Skin. It honestly amazed the rabbit how Tyki seemed oblivious the dirty looks he was being given! Then again, Tyki was probably so excited to see them that he may have been doing it subconsciously.

Lavi sighed to himself, trying his very best not to let his ears fly to his skull as he collected the dirty plates from the table. He was doing this as an act of please-stop-looking-at-me-like-you're-going-to-kill-me, hoping to gain some respect from the two larger men.

It failed miserably, however, as Skin growled at him for taking away his plate before he had gone back for a third helping. In comparison, Sheryl had observed Lavi's fingernails as he collected his plate -- noting that they had dirt under them and that they were calloused from years of writing and reading. Sheryl's expression wasn't one of approval.

Tyki sighed in happiness at the feeling of fullness in his stomach before whistling to get Sheryl's attention.

"So, you wanna go out for a smoke? I'm dying for a cigarette right now."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, a smoke would be lovely," Sheryl said. "It'll give us a good chance to catch up and discuss certain matters. Like mates, for instance."

Lavi couldn't help but wince at the tone. Tyki's eyes narrowed in confusion as he too caught the odd tone in brother's voice. Skin grunted, already moving up from the table.

"I'm coming too."

"You smoke now?" Tyki asked in surprise.

"No."

No more elaboration was given from the burly man.

"Ah…. Well, alright then," Tyki said, rising as well and leading the way outside, his two brothers trailing behind him into the orange and pink sunset.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, Rhode leapt into the chair opposite of Lavi, eyeing him with a wagging tail. She stared at him for along minute, unspeaking, until Allen finally spoke to break the silence.

"Umm, well I'm going to go into the living room and bandage Narien's ear," Allen said. He looked to Narien, as if to ask if this was all right, and the Indian NECO nodded with a bright smile.

"Of course. Thank you so much," he said.

"No trouble," Allen replied, grabbing the ointment for the Indian boy's ear before nodding with his head for Narien to follow him. The brown-eared boy all but crawled after Allen, his eyes unblinking from the platinum boy's back.

Yuu moved instinctually to go after his mate, not wanting Allen to be alone in the living room --- where there was a couch that could be used for all sorts of things – with that thing called Narien.

But, he had more fucking strangers in his house and they (unlike Narien) actually looked they could be a threat. So Yuu was forced to stay in the kitchen, where Rhode was in plain sight and Skin and Sheryl were clearly visible from the window. After all, Skin had been stronger than Yuu had anticipated, so who knew what the hell Tyki's other brother and his creepy daughter could do?

"So then!" Rhode began, eyes unmoving from Lavi's face. The redhead felt the need to run from the room, yet he couldn't fathom why. As if reading his thoughts, the girl merely smiled, her wolfish fangs causing more panic to rise in Lavi's chest. "Did you have a Master before you met Tyki?"

Lavi nodded, cautiously replying, "Yeah, I travelled with a Master – Master Bookman -- for 8 years. He taught me a lot about, well, everything. Ask me anything; constellations, animals, history, medicine, and I can answer ya."

"Anything?" Rhode challenged. Lavi nodded at her. "That's so cool! Okay, new topic! How long have you and Uncle Tyki been screwing? You're the one on the bottom right?"

Lavi's face paled and his crimson ears flopped onto his head, disbelieving of what the girl had just said.

"Oi," Yuu snapped, "does your fucking Daddy know you've got such a filthy mouth?"

"No. Are you going to tell him?" Rhode said calmly. Yuu eyed her and then shrugged. Rhode smiled at him in thanks, muttering a "Thanks Uncle Yuu!" before refocusing on the other NECO.

"So Lavi, was it? Back to answering my question! Besides, I just wanna know why he chose you," Rhode protested weakly. "Tyki's never taken a mate before, so you're obviously important to him. I just wanna, since Uncle Tyki left us, has he gone soft and does he bottom now? Or is he still man enough for me to call him my Uncle? Besides, I like you. I don't think Daddy or Uncle Skin do though…"

"No shit," Lavi muttered, more to himself than the young girl. "And uhh, wow, this feels weird saying this to a 10-year old girl –"

"I'm 12," Rhode pouted.

"—but no, I'm the, uhh, one who bottoms. Tyki is still, umm, on top?"

"Okay, thanks!" she chirped. "That's good to know. And do not worry too much about Daddy or Uncle Skin! They'll soon like you!"

"I highly doubt that," Lavi said, recalling how both men had gazed at him in disgust.

"They will, " Rhode insisted. "Because I like you, Daddy will like you. He trusts my judgment on people. Plus, all I have to do is tell Uncle Skin to like you or I won't share my candy with him, and trust me, he'll be nice."

The front door swung open and the lazy scent of smoke drifted in.

"Watch, I'll prove it to you!" Rhode said quietly, as if sharing a secret. She winked at Lavi, and before he could protest, she was already holding her father's hand and dragging him back into the kitchen.

"Daddy! Daddy! Guess what Lavi just did?"

Sheryl's eyes narrowed to slits, the gold in his eyes going to a dark bronze and Lavi immediately recoiled.

"Did he hurt you, baby?" Sheryl said in a barely-restrained tone.

"Haha, of course not Daddy! He gave me the last piece of cake! It was chocolate and it was delicious! He is so nice! Tyki is lucky to have a mate like him. I really like him, Daddy."

Sheryl blinked, looking stunned, and his eyes immediately became gold again. Seeing the change in her father, Rhode quickly continued.

"Too, he was telling me about all sorts of things! About places all over the world and how to say things in different languages and all about the stars and stuff! Oh! And wanna know what he told me Daddy? My name means 'beautiful princess' in a different language!" Sheryl eyes softened at the smile on his daughter's face.

Lavi felt sweat dripping down the back of his neck, feeling unsure of how to respond. First off, since when had he said any of that?! And secondly, he had never heard of a name quite like Rhode's before, but he was about 99% positive it did not mean 'beautiful princess'. In any language.

"Of course, my precious little angel. It's because a beautiful princess is exactly what you are," Sheryl crooned, nuzzling his daughter's cheek with his own. "Aww. What language was it?"

Lavi froze in pure horror. Shit. Rhode was going to get him killed. Sheryl was going to attack him and kill him and --

"Croatian," Rhode replied effortlessly. "Wanna know what he said your name was in Croatian?"

Lavi froze again.

"No, no, sweet thing, that's alright," Sheryl said and Lavi found he could breathe again. "As long as I know you're a 'beautiful princess' Daddy doesn't care what he is. So long as he gets to spoil his beautiful little princess as much as he wants."

The two wolf-NECOs then began 'aww'-ing at each other and crooning ridiculously sappy words, but Lavi was more stunned by the fact that Sheryl (at one point) looked directly at him and smiled.

It was true, Lavi noted, Rhode did seem to be making an impression on her father.

Still, that mistrust in Sheryl's eyes had not completely faded. It was still lurking in the background and Skin did not look any friendlier than he had earlier. Tyki just looked very confused in comparison.

"Lavi, I didn't know you spoke Croatian," his mate replied, running a hand through his dark curls. Lavi forced a smile on his face and tried to convey with his eyes that Tyki should shut the hell up.

"Of course I do," Lavi muttered through clenched teeth. "I must've forgotten to mention that one to you."

"But you have a photographic memory," Tyki pouted. "Quierdo, --"

"Oh my gosh! Daddy! Daddy!" Rhode suddenly shouted, pointing out the window. "Look at the bunny outside! It's sooo cute!"

Sheryl immediately turned and Skin followed.

"Bunny?" Skin said, lumbering out the door with child-like fascination.

Rhode grabbed the large man's hand and followed him outside, muttering something about how the two of them should catch it. Her father swiftly followed, not wanting his baby girl to get dirty or hurt.

The door was left wide open and Rhode's gleeful cries began to fade as they went farther from the house. Yuu cursed to himself before swiftly going out the door too, following the idiots that Tyki called 'family'.

Lavi, now alone with Tyki, waited patiently as Tyki sauntered over to him, sitting down beside him and kissing his lips. Lavi allowed the entrance of his mate's tongue for a moment and snaked his arms around Tyki's neck. He pulled away to smile forcibly at his lover.

And then he kicked Tyki in the shin as hard as he could.

He was mildly pleased to note that Tyki fell out of the chair and cried out some sort of curse in Portuguese.

Huh, must be the rabbit genes that make my kicks so strong…oops…

Yuu suddenly strode back in through the door. He took one look at Tyki on the floor before pinning Lavi with his gaze. Lavi shrugged sheepishly, and taking that as a response, Yuu continued uncaringly past then, disappearing from sight.

"Quierdo, what the hell!?" Tyki said a moment later.

"You idiot! Don't you know when to shut up? Rhode was saying all those nice things about me and then you had to open that large, ridiculously talented mouth of yours! God, you almost made your brothers kill me! As if they don't hate me enough!"

"My brothers do not hate you, Lovely," Tyki said sternly. Lavi puffed out his cheeks in anger.

"Yes, they do! I mean, are you blind? The big one looks like he wants to eat me! And he calls me 'bunny'! And Sheryl looks like I … I… I don't know! Like I spat in my hand and told him to shake it!"

Tyki' s expression didn't change. Lavi's single green eyes narrowed in warning. If Tyki wanted to fight him on this, Lavi would fight with everything he had, and win.

And then Allen made a large squeak that was easily audible from somewhere in the next room.

The tension between the two lovers instantly dissipated as both swiveled to look towards the living room. Lavi couldn't help but roll his eyes, feeling more at ease now that Tyki's brothers were gone. The rabbit NECO whistled cheekily, muttering, "Damn it, Yuu. At least take it upstairs if you and the moyashi are going to do that!"

"What the fuck are you talking about rabbit?" the familiar voice snapped from next to his ear, making Lavi flinch at the sudden and unexpected proximity. He spun on his chair, only to see Yuu was frowning down at him.

Lavi's brow furrowed as he pointed at the living room.

"How did you get here so fast, Yuu?"

"Fucking moron I walked past you to get milk from the fridge. Now what the fuck are you two …"

Yuu's eyes suddenly shot up as he took a swift look around the kitchen and then to the outside window, where Tyki's siblings were running around animatedly.

A dangerous aura suddenly seemed to fill the air as Yuu turned slowly back to the red-eared rabbit. Tyki stood and inched himself before his mate defensively.

"Where the fuck is my moyashi?" Yuu demanded quickly.

"Don't you remember? He said he was going to put … " Lavi's face paled. " Shit. "

There came another keening noise from Allen in the opposite room.

Allen who was in the same room as Narien.

Alone.

All three NECOs seemed to instantly realize what was going on. Tyki grabbed Lavi's hand and ran for cover. Yuu ran for the living room, and saw red.

Narien had Allen pinned to the couch, his lips sealed overtop of Allen's.

Allen's silver eyes were wide, while Narien seemed too lost in the moment -- his brown eyes closed in what was obvious pleasure -- to notice how Allen was struggling to get out from beneath him.

"ALLEN!"

Narien snapped his head up, and Allen snapped his fist into the other boy's jaw, scrambling over the back of the couch. The pale boy stumbled over his own feet as he landed, and then all but flew into Yuu's arms.

And Part 2 should be up in a while. Lol. This, along wityh Part 2 was supposed to be one chapter, but theb I realized how ridiculously long the whole thing was, so.... yeah. Woot.