Chapter 8

Yuuji sighed aloud but smiled. It appears Kiyoshi had fun… but once more he was disappointed in himself as Sukuna was the one who played with him. "That should have been me doing this…" Yuuji sighed.

"Bro, this one time I got to disagree with you," came Suiryu. "Since you are a master of the elemental power, yours would overwhelm his, he wouldn't be able to summon a damn thing. Not to mention a wave of your hand and those snowmen are melted. If anything, for once, the asshole was a good opponent for Kiyoshi."

He was about to protest, until he saw the brothers and their wives nodding in agreement. "Yuuji, you would have overwhelmed him, Sukuna at the moment has no curse energy so it was an oddly even match if you consider it. Kiyoshi is still figuring out his power." Explained Junpei's wife Nuwa. "For someone working on his method, Sukuna was a good opponent for him… I am actually rather surprised he was able to hold his own against Kiyoshi."

"Really? I thought he would have lasted a LOT longer." Suiryu said offhandedly.

She shook her head. "Think of how hard he was working, to throw that amount of force as well as the legions he took out. Sukuna used his strength and endurance well, but he was overworking himself since Kiyoshi made him do so. It took your son, Yuuji, about three seconds to rebuild his army. It took Sukuna ten to make the snowballs he needed to fight back. Still, it was a good bout, I rather enjoyed it." Said Shouoso's wife Vyara.

It made Yuuji feel a little better. But first thing first. He went to pick up Kiyoshi… yet, Kiyoshi got up on his own… but his hair was blue fire. He turned to the masses and smirked before approaching.

"How wonderful, I got the support of my sisters to cheer me on!"

The ladies however, sneered. "Raynn, you did NONE of that," decreed Hecate. Her husband Sanso nodded in agreement.

"It was MY power," he said bluntly.

"YOUR power, perfected by Kiyoshi" Suiryu snapped at him. "By the way, you shouldn't take credit if you weren't the one fighting."

"Tsk, he wouldn't HAVE this power if it weren't for me!" he snapped back. "Am I right Yuuji?"

Yuuji… glared at him. There was just something about Raynn he didn't trust, not only that he heard the twins sniveling at the sight of him.

"Momma, that's not big brother… he's scary" whispered Ai.

"We don't like Kiyoshi when he is like this" Wasuke said.

His children have been always good at observing others, not even they like the dragon who is contained in their brother.

"Raynn, come with me, you can at least eat on Kiyoshi's behalf."

The dragon paused, his arms crossed as he announced. "What if I want to do something else?" he said in a challenging tone. "Look, the kid is hungry, but why should I…"

Yuuji had enough of his back talk, he grabbed Raynn by the back of his jacket and began to carry him like a scolded kitten. In fact, this was how his friends use to pull him around, he never realized how effective it was!

But he dragged Raynn to the communal kitchen, he sat him down and got him some leftovers Eso always keeps around if someone gets hungry suddenly.

He dropped them before Raynn and stood there with his arms crossed. "You don't leave this table until you eat something on my son's behalf. He worked himself hard today and I know he hasn't eaten since coming back home. Now… EAT!"

Raynn sneered as he partook in the food.

All the while, Yuuji kept staring at him. He knows Raynn has been coming out more often, in fact, he sneaks around the house when Kiyoshi goes to bed at night, but waits for everyone else to fall asleep before making a move.

Little things go missing. Mainly food at night, but it does explain why Kiyoshi isn't hungry most mornings.

This is worrisome.

"What?!" Raynn demanded as he had enough of Yuuji's staring.

"Nothing… then again… I know you have been wondering about at night when Kiyoshi goes to sleep."

Suddenly, Raynn stopped eating. He paused and stared at Yuuji oddly, almost stunned, like a kid with their hand in the cookie jar. But he then forced a laugh. "Really, what makes you say…"

"Well, my favorite leftovers keep disappearing even when I announced I was saving them for breakfast. I am also aware this is a move dragons do to disrupt order as well as put a strong dragon on edge. One has to be rather sly to steal from a dragon stronger than themselves, don't they?"

Raynn was silent.

"I know you eat my leftovers in spite of me, at the same time. You take over my son when he is asleep. You NEVER take over my child when he is unconscious like that!"

Raynn peered away, rather embarrassed… no… that's not a look of embarrassment that is resentment!

"So what?" Raynn growled. "All I do is stay cooped up in this child and for what?!"

Yuuji growled back at him, so much so it startled Raynn. "And what have you done to help around here otherwise?" he demanded. "I have seen my son train himself, and it breaks my heart to see that occur, at the same time, I'm too powerful to do anything to help him without getting him upset and thinks he is lacking of progress. He's been working hard on what he is able to do since he contains you. Have you even bothered to help him?"

Raynn sneered. "A dragons power is not for a mortal to wield!"

"Then how will my son protect himself if there are dragons after you?" Yuuji asked of him. "He does not have curse energy, since I wasn't born with it. Mine came from Sukuna after he possessed me…"

"Are you still going on about that?" Raynn asked in a board tone. "Yeah, yeah, you were his vessel… WERE. How about you stop living in the past and move on or something… what is it that mortals get… therapy or something?" and then smirked about it.

Yuuji… was getting pissed off with him.

Raynn was about to continue until. He froze suddenly. Like a chill going down his spine he shuttered.

Someone came into the communal eating area.

"Hi Yuuji, I see you had the same idea, lucky for me, Ryomen has a second mouth I can feed as he sleeps…"

He smiled to her. "Hi Chusi… I… I'll be sure to thank Sukuna later for his help with Kiyoshi. It looks like they both had fun huh?"

She giggled. "I think so, he's out cold." She said, but then… her gaze shifted.

She stared down Raynn who was avoiding eye contact with her. She was eyeing him in a sinister manner. "Hmmm, what's wrong, dragon? You look liked you swallowed a frog…"

"Uh… nothing… Miss Tooru… nothing at all…"

"Strange, it doesn't look like nothing…" she said offhandedly. "Either way, make sure you eat well for Kiyoshi. He's a growing boy, and I think he is going to be stronger after today… we have to do this again!" she decreed.

'Great, I am setting up for play dates with Sukuna…' Yuuji thought.

Raynn was suddenly shoveling everything into his mouth. He pounded back some water before shouting. "I'm ready for bed!"

Yuuji nodded. "Chusi, thank you again for today,"

She winked to him before going to the kitchen. Raynn was quick to release his control over Kiyoshi. Who was still out cold from the snow battle. With his son tended to, Yuuji carefully picked him up and took him home.

But still, Raynn is getting a little too bold for his liking. Something may need to be done sooner than later…