Sun stretched with a groan, as the first shafts of morning sunlight filtered through the balcony door and landed in a searing band directly across his closed eyes. He blinked several times and brought a hand up to shield himself from the oppressive morning rays.

"Stupid… sun…" he grumbled, before the irony of his statement sunk in. Stupid Sun indeed.

He pushed down into the mattress in a push-up motion and rose to his feet to take in his surroundings while standing atop the bed. Morning had broken, and Blake was nowhere to be seen. The balcony door had been cracked, and Sun hopped off the bed to go and investigate. He pulled back on the wooden frame only to be blinded by the rising sun, and brought up an entire arm to shield his eyes.

A wolf whistle greeted him from somewhere below on the dirt road outside of the mansion, and for once, Sun had no urge to play it up for the ladies. Without thinking, he found himself rolling his eyes and turning to walk back into the bedroom while closing the door behind himself. Nothing about being ogled by strangers felt particularly attractive to him anymore.

He had fallen hard for Blake, and the phantom memory of her touch traced its way down his back once again. His flesh began to shiver as he perfectly recreated where her hands had traced in his mind, and what was either a memory or dream of her resting atop him as he slept. Either way, it was a feeling that he wouldn't let go for a long time.

Sun made his way across the room and to the closed bathroom door, before knocking on the wooden wall beside it. "Blake?" he questioned. After a good ten seconds of waiting for a response, he tried the handle and found the door unlocked. Sun stepped inside and instinctively reached for the toothbrush that was no longer there, on account of having particles of vomit worked into the bristles.

Stupid Sun.

With morning breath lingering in his mouth, he undid his zipper and quickly took care of morning business before pausing in front of the toilet. Carefully, he leaned backward a bit on his right leg, and lifted his left foot to push down the flush handle. Sun smirked as he returned to a normal standing position to watch the tainted water swirl away.

Perhaps Blake was on to something. Maybe it was just a cute mannerism that she had adopted, since most situations that involved flushing a toilet necessitated the washing of hands regardless of how it was flushed. Either way, the action reminded him of her, and so, he planned to add the quirk to his repertoire of habits.

Sun made one final stop by the sink to wash his hands, and scoop a handful of water into his mouth to try to wash out the taste of sleep. With partial success, he ruffled a hand through his hair before sneaking a quick glance at the shower on his left. No towel, no shampoo, and no soap waited for him in or around the area. It would have to wait until he could find Blake.

Or her parents.

A ripple of tension and nausea climbed through Sun's body, starting in his toes and snaking its way up into the pit of his stomach. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Those sensations needed to stop, if he was going to make progress. Every mention or thought of Ghira couldn't bring him anxiety, if he was going to work his way into becoming a part of the Belladonna family. Sun clenched his fists, and shifted his mind back to Blake. He felt the tracing of fingers upon his back again, and opened his eyes.

It was worth it, for her.

Sun offered his reflection a nod before whirling on his heel and heading for his clothing that lay strewn about the room. Funnily enough, his shirt seemed to have fallen from the back of the chair on which he had left it onto the coffee table clear on the other side of the room. He raised a brow at the sight, before scooping it up and pulling the garment on with a mental shrug. Maybe the wind from the balcony door had been strong enough to send it floating.

His bracers were next, before he stepped into his shoes on the way to the door. Finally 'fully' dressed, he pushed the sliding screen aside and walked out into the hall, only to be assaulted by the smell of breakfast food. Sun's stomach lurched, though in a good way. He made his way forward and toward a wide staircase on his right, easily large enough to accommodate three people standing side by side. As he descended the steps, the aroma grew stronger, and so did his desire to fill the rather large hole in his stomach.

The mansion looked quite different in the daylight, and Sun found himself in a large, cube-shaped room after descending the stairs from the upper terrace. Like most of the house, the walls were all wooden, and massive cylindrical columns supported a balcony that stretched all the way around the edges.

On the ground floor, several tables and chairs were spread out to give the impression of a large dining hall suited to play host to parties. Sun ran his hand along one of the tables as he walked past it, and looked up at the tapestries and lights affixed to the upper walls. He had never really bothered to absorb the details of the mansion before, and only then did he appreciate just how much money Blake's family must have had. While the idea of living large and no longer having to scrounge for food did appeal to him, Blake's touch, smile, and company were the real prize.

Unfamiliar with his surroundings as he was, Sun paused and let his tail brush lightly against the wooden floor as he tried to determine the origin of the heavenly aroma of bacon. No less than six doors surrounded him on each side, and in his wandering, he had even lost track of which of the two staircases to the upper terrace he had descended. It was going to be a long stay in Kuo Kuana.

Sun grew fed up with trying to use logic to solve his problem as the sensation of ravenous hunger brought forth a ferocious growl from his stomach. He walked toward the door on the left on the wall before him, and slid it back to reveal a girl with cat ears hard at work in the kitchen. Sun blinked, and realized his mistake- not a girl, but a woman.

Kali Belladonna stood shorter than her daughter, but her maturity was obvious throughout her entire being. From the way she carried herself to her more mature figure to the husky, almost sultry tone of voice she used, everything about her screamed adult to Sun, and not always in a way that he was comfortable with. After all, she had spent half of their initial meeting eyeing him up and making comments about him to Blake, and her eyes started at his abs before trailing up to meet his own as Sun walked into the kitchen.

"Mrs. B? Oh, hey there, I was just looking for Blake."

A smirk curled at the edge of the older woman's lips as she ran a soapy rag around the perimeter of the frying pan in her hand, before lowering it into the waiting water that filled the nearby sink.

"Of course you were. She and Ghira are having a little chat in the room on the other side of the kitchen. Help yourself to some of the leftovers," Kali said. She inclined her head to a pile of what appeared to be every breakfast food in recorded history atop a metal tray. "None of us wanted to wake you before you were ready. The trip must have been exhausting."

Sun willed himself not to drool as he eyed up the tray of pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, and other foods waiting just feet away. As he heard Kali speak, he made the decision to set aside his hunger for what could only be seen as the greater good.

"I didn't mean to sleep so long, actually. Here, let me help you out, first." Sun reached for a dirty plate that was resting on the counter and moved to take his place by Kali, who gave him an amused look.

"Yes, cleaning up messes you didn't make does seem to be your style, doesn't it, Sun?"

He looked down at her, trying to place a meaning behind her words as he turned on the adjacent sink and began to wash the plate in his hands. Just how much did she know about Blake's past... and what he'd been doing with her daughter?

"…I guess you could say that, Mrs. B." Sun thought it best to simply agree, rather than push for details. While Blake's mind was still a bit of a mystery to him, he got the distinct feeling that Kali's could be a carefully-prepared trap, and he wasn't sure what she'd do with him if he made the mistake of getting caught.

"Please. Call me Kali. I'm still young enough to have a little fun," she inclined as she put a dish down into the soapy water to soak. She fixed him with half-lidded eyes as he worked on cleaning his second plate, and Sun gave her a nervous grin.

"Uh, sure!" In a panicked state, Sun began fishing through his mind for a way to change the topic. There was nothing fun about his situation at that moment, and he suddenly felt the need to either deflect Kali's train of thought, or physically leave the room. "So, Blake and I are gonna go pick some stuff up for the house. Is there anything you need, that you can think of?"

"Hm," Kali began. "I'm usually the type to know what I want once I see it." She made a show of putting her pointer finger to her lower lip as she turned to face Sun. The boy found himself holding his breath as he wondered where exactly she planned to place that finger next. He grit his teeth as he found the digit planted firmly into the center of his chest while Kali looked up at him with an unreadable expression as she spoke once again.

"In fact, I think I'm going to tell Blake to let me handle the little shopping run. She and Ghira have been at odds for a long time, and seeing them talk like this is too good of an opportunity to heal a bit of that damage for me to interrupt. You could use the time to get familiar with the house… or even join them," she finished.

Something about hearing him referred to as Ghira made Blake's father seem even scarier to Sun, and the notion of interrupting a conversation between him and Blake was just about the last thing Sun wanted to do. Wandering the house alone also seemed like a recipe for trouble, and so, he offered the one remaining option that he could think of.

"I'll come with you! It seems like there's a lot to be picked up if we're staying for a bit, and I don't mind covering some of it and helping you carry." As Kali gave him a toothy smile, Sun was no longer sure that he had chosen the lesser of evils.

"Well, aren't you sweet? I'll go and grab my card. You busy yourself with some food while I'm away, and then we'll head out to see what we can get our hands on." Kali swayed her hips as she made her way to a door at the opposite end of the kitchen, before looking over her shoulder. "Speaking of," she began, "Blake loves having her ears touched. Just a little something for the future." She shot him a wink, and Sun's cheeks flared as he struggled to come up with a response. He failed to find one before she disappeared.

As his face continued to burn up at the thought of following through with Kali's words, he reached for a clean glass from beside the sink and immediately turned on the faucet to fill it with icy water. He downed the liquid in a few desperate gulps, and set the glass back down onto the counter as he raised his hands to touch his cheeks.

Suddenly, Blake's personality began to make a lot more sense to Sun, and he started to wonder just what he was in for if they continued to grow closer.

Author's Note: It's just not a party until Kali shows up.

-RD