Author's Note

I really enjoy writing this, and I hope everyone else enjoys it too.

Uploaded

03/03/2025

LEGEND BELOW

"Onii-chan, can we go out to play?" = Speech.

''Yo, Yuuki, how have you been?'' = Thoughts/Phone calls

Chapter 5

Nightmares from the past

Rated-M

M rating for mature themes, mentions of death, nudity, language, depression, and sex.

Music of the day

Resident Evil CE - Silence of the air

"Rito-kun please… Just listen to me! Please don't run away…" He stood by the doorway, back turned to her, fists clenched tightly by his side. He couldn't bring himself to turn back, to give into her requests, to look her in the eyes. Because he knew that if he did then he wouldn't have the strength to run away.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He found that the voice that escaped from him was carrying more vitriol than he probably intended it to, but he was angry. Glancing down to his open palm he cursed his own body, the pointed fingernails staring back up at him tauntingly, accusatorially.

"You were too young at the time… I didn't know how to tell you, how to bring it up..." She cried, holding her hand to her chest as she struggled to hold back all those emotions that were threatening to tear her apart.

"I made a mistake with you. That's all it was." In her haste, however, she said something that she could never ever take back. She had no idea that it was something that would follow her to her grave.

He glanced back at her, glowing red eyes shining in hurt. His silvery white hair seemed to shine in the dim porch light, the sound of lightning striking in the distance echoing loudly as it illuminated his monstrous form.

Mistake.

She made a mistake.

That's all it was, all he was.

He was a mistake, the mistake, the living proof of her error in judgment.

He was a mistake.

The reality of her words must have shone on his face as he recoiled as if he'd been struck, taking an unconscious step back as she took one step forward. She held her hands to her chest, eyes widening in horror. "N-No, I didn't- You know I didn't mean that." She whispered, shocked at her own words. Why had she said that? Why did she say that?

"So that's all I am to you?" He whispered under his breath, the feeling of his pointed teeth scraping his tongue revolting. "A mistake… huh?" He chuckled a broken sound, taking a step back. Rain poured down his body now, soaking his unnaturally silver white hair almost instantly. "Something to be hidden away? Something to be ashamed of? A monster?"

"T-This wasn't supposed to happen!" She was crying now, tears pouring down her cheeks as she clutched her hands to her chest, claws very much like his own glinting in the dim light of the porch. "It was supposed to end with me. I was supposed to be the last one, not you!" She screamed, broken hearted, destroyed. Her voice was barely heard over the sound of the rain assaulting his ears, his heart racing in his chest, mouth open as he began to hyperventilate.

Why?

Why was she telling him this?

Why did she do this?

Why couldn't he have just been normal?

Why did this have to happen?!

"And for that reason dad had to die?" He muttered, voice flat. He couldn't bring himself to think clearly anymore, the image of the man he'd called father gone now. He felt as if he could see the blood pouring from her fingertips, as if looking at the killer standing right before him.

"It was an accident…" She breathed, horrified. "H-He was scared, scared of me, scared of us!" She began to scream, begging him to see reason, but at this point he just wasn't listening anymore. Perhaps one day he could come to understand, to forgive and forget, but not tonight.

Not now…

And maybe, not even ever.

The haunting look as his father bled out right before him permanently cemented in the back of his mind, clutching fruitlessly at his throat. She hadn't meant to swipe at him, it had been instinctual, uncontrollable. But in the end he still died, and it was her fault.

He couldn't even look at her the same anymore.

"Please… Don't leave me…" She was on her knees now, clutching at his thighs as she begged him to stay. "You're all I have left…"

"Please don't leave me…"

"Please don't go…"

"Please forgive me…"

Lightning crashed in the distance again.

He shot awake from the nightmares taunting him, eyes blinking blearily as he looked around his room for the source of the disruption. The morning sunlight peering through the bedroom window burned his soft brown eyes first thing in the morning, his sleep rattled mind failing to remember when he'd opened it in the first place.

He glanced down upon feeling the warmth on his bare chest, the gentle face of Lala sleeping peacefully on him arms wrapped around him in her sleep downright precious. The anxiety that had wrapped itself around his heart from the horrible nightmares had immediately begun to wane as he focused more on the feeling of her calm heart beating against his chest. Her heart, a real heart, not the mimicry of a sound machine nor a recording of one. She was real, here with him, alive.

A little smile broke out across his face as stared down at the woman who had shoved her way into his life without warning, knowing well that there was nowhere else he would rather be then right there by her side. Even though they'd only known each other for a short time now, he'd come to love her deeply, and would do anything to keep her by his side as long as she would have him.

She mewled in her sleep as he gently rubbed her forehead, parting a few of her bangs to get a better look at her as he leaned forward to press his lips to her forehead in her sleep. He exhaled with a sigh as he went to lay back down, mind thoroughly awake now, but he had no intentions of getting out of bed until she woke up too. He just couldn't bring himself to wake her up.

His head hit the pillow again, a short quiet huff slipping past his lips as he stared listlessly at the ceiling above, eyes dancing back and forth across the dotted surface. He couldn't go back to sleep if he wanted to, mind too rattled to even contemplate that action. Not for the first time he found himself contemplating a lot, too much to count, and too painful to dwell on for long.

Absentmindedly his arms came up to wrap around the woman in his bed, holding her closer to himself as if to reaffirm with his own two hands that she was real, that this was real, that his life was not a lie. She wasn't going to wake up one day and decide that she was done with him, wasn't going to pull the rug out from underneath him and tell him it was some cruel prank. She'd already told him where she wanted to be, and he was happy to accept her with open arms.

Because…

Because he loved her.

He pressed his lips to her forehead again, burying his nose in her strawberry cream locks to blur out the cacophony of mental noise that assaulted his psyche. She was the only thing that brought him that much needed mental clarity, that sense of relief, that something to cling onto. Without her and Mikan, he didn't have anything to live for anymore.

The idea of being alone again was…

Haunting…

Nauseating.

Horrifying.

He didn't know how long he stayed there with her, but he knew time had to have passed when the sun moved again, peeking through the blinds to flit across his eyes again. He had to withhold the hiss that wanted to escape at suddenly being blinded, instead reaching up to twist the handle to close them even more.

It was long into the morning now, but he was all the more content to stay in bed with her until either she woke up on her own, or Mikan woke up, whichever was first.

Unfortunately the decision was made for him when his phone situated on his nightstand began to ring without warning. Glancing to his right in irritation, he had to wonder who in the world would be calling him first thing on a Saturday morning. Sharp eyes narrowing he picked up the device, accepting the video call as he shifted around to face the man on the other side of the screen.

''Yo yo, Yuuki! There you are man, I've been trying to call you all freaking week man! Are you like Batman or something? Too busy to take a guy's call cause you're out fighting crime? Or, wait! Let me guess! You finally go out and snag yourself a baddie? You better have, I'm tired of you being the lonely single guy in this relationship, makes me feel all bad and stuff.''

Rito held the phone away from himself as Kenichi ranted at him, the other guy going off about this or that. And honestly it was just way too early in the morning to be listening to his nonsense, as much as he liked the guy. Still though, he did feel a little bad about having ignored him so much lately. He'd probably been worried sick after learning about her parents and Mikan, so he could understand why he'd been calling so much.

That said, it was Saturday morning, and the guy knew that he loved to sleep in on a Saturday. Waking up at the butt crack of dawn by his phone going off wasn't something he'd been ready for, blankets falling off of him as he reached over to grab the device from his nightstand. It had the unfortunate side effect of waking Lala up from her nap, as his bed wasn't all that big so when they slept together they were practically forced to snuggle to make the most of the limited space.

Not that he was complaining.

"Geez, could you keep it down? It's like seven in the morning…" Rito hissed quietly, a yawn splitting his lips as he blinked blearily down at the device currently blinding him. Kenichi just laughed at the tired face of his best friend, having apparently called on a video chat. Seeing the raven haired guy look so awake and ready first thing in the morning only served to accentuate how not awake he was.

''Oh I'm sorry, I was unaware that you were an old man. Did you stay up past your bedtime again, pops? I heard that they make tea to help people like you sleep.'' Kenichi teased with a shit eating grin, cackling proudly to himself as Rito's eyes narrowed thinly.

"Oh ha ha, very funny." Rito yawned, only proving the other guy's point. Laying down on his stomach, arms propped up on his elbows it gave Kenichi a good view of his friend's face. So when the half naked woman crawled up beside him, shoving her face sleepily into the crook of his neck, it didn't go unnoticed. Lala unconsciously opened her mouth to sink her teeth into that spot on his neck she loved to nuzzle in her sleep, gently biting down as if confirming that he was still there.

Kenichi's mouth fell open in shock, eyes nearly popping out of his head in disbelief. ''No fucking way! You sly dog you actually did it!'' He nearly shouted in excitement.

"Language! And keep it down! Mikan's sleeping in the other room." He hissed under his breath, face turning red at the teasing smirk the other dude sent his way.

"Rito-kun, who's this?" Lala murmured sleepily, blinking bright green eyes open as she stared down at the phone. "Is he your friend?" She asked curiously, shoving her way into the frame to get a better look at him. Just waking up, her brain was a bit fuzzy first thing in the morning.

Rito sighed. "Lala, this is Kenichi, my friend since childhood. He's a bit of a pervert and I don't have any clue how he ever landed a girlfriend but he's an okay guy." He explained blatantly, much to the other guy's dismay.

''Dude! Not in front of your girl!'' He whined, groaning in embarrassment. He sighed, admitting defeat before shaking his head. ''Well, I'm glad you finally landed a girlfriend, man. Maybe you won't be so gloomy all the time now.'' He teased with a genuine smile. ''So how'd you two meet?'' He asked curiously.

Rito opened his mouth to try and make up some excuse to explain her sudden appearance in his life, but Lala was more than willing to explain for him. "I teleported into his bathtub from my space ship!" The pink haired woman explained eagerly, the winged horns atop her head twitching happily.

Kenichi blinked in surprise, eyes slowly trailing from the very realistic horns sprouting from atop her head to somewhere behind her, a long slender black heart tipped tail wagging happily up in the air. His expression dulled when he looked back over to Rito, gauging his exasperated sigh.

''So you ever planned on telling me that you were dating an alien?'' Kenichi muttered under his breath as if Lala couldn't hear him.

"Engaged, actually. And probably…" Rito muttered, smirking at the other man's annoyed expression.

"Was I supposed to keep this a secret, Rito-kun…?" Lala whispered loudly, glancing nervously at her fiancé. Rito shook his head, reassuring her worries with a quick kiss on the lips.

"My friends were going to find out eventually. There's no reason to try and hide you, Lala. I'm not ashamed of you, I could never be." He admitted in a tone that eluded to something deeper weighing on his mind, but he didn't even give her time to process it before giving her a quick peck on the nose that had her giggling like a school girl. "Anyway, why did you call again?" He asked, glancing down at his phone screen.

''Ugh! Rude!'' Kenichi exclaimed in faux irritation, before he smirked. ''I called because I wanted to check up on you man. You've been dodging my calls lately, and with your baby sister moving in and everything we've all just been uber worried about you.'' He got serious now, his playful attitude fading away to something more serious. ''What's going on man? You've can talk to me.'' He asked genuinely, worried for the man he called his best friend.

Rito sucked in a short sharp breath, shoulders squaring up for a moment before the tension left him when Lala wrapped an arm around him, nuzzling her cheek against his own to calm him down. The action was so like a cat that it gave the raven haired guy on the other side of the phone pause. It did seem to have the desired reaction, as the panic that had entered the eldest Yuuki's eyes faded as his cheeks warmed.

Lala had quickly picked up on his love language, and never withheld from him what he enjoyed. She knew when something was stressing him out the quickest way to help calm him down, the right way to ease his stress, and the loving way to pull his anxiety out and toss it somewhere else. How she'd picked him apart so quickly was beyond him, but he never felt the need to question her.

He averted his eyes as the feelings from last Friday morning came rushing all back up with little warning, but this time Lala was ready for it. "I uh… I was sort of freaking out and was just afraid that the world was going to try and… and take her away from me…" He murmured under his breath, flushing when Lala pressed her lips to the side of his neck in a tender reassuring kiss. The lone earring he wore lightly dinked against her forehead, the silver medallion something he seemingly never removed. "And I know I was being-"

''I swear if you tell me that you were being unreasonable I'm going to come over there and kick your ass until you think otherwise.'' Kenichi cut him off with narrowed eyes, surprising the brunette. ''Now then, since I know what's finally going on, no thanks to you, I'm going to make some demands.''

"Pardon?" Rito intoned lowly, but the grin Kenichi sent him had him second guessing his failure to simply hang up already.

''Let me get this straight. Your space fiancée moved in with you like four something weeks ago and she's spent most of that time locked inside either waiting for you to get back from work or just lazing around the house with you?'' He asked seriously, getting a cringe from the eldest Yuuki.

"I don't mind! Rito-kun's house is very nice." Lala interjected, flushing when Kenichi sent her a disappointed glare. "And we go shopping together sometimes too! Usually just for food though…"

''See! This is what I mean! You've got her believing that it's everything too!'' He jumped in. ''So that settles it! I'm coming over there right now to watch Mikan for you two!'' He nodded firmly to himself, grinning widely.

"Whhhy?" Rito dragged out, already feeling on edge.

Kenichi offered him a cheeky grin. ''So you two can go off and have an actual official first date, you idiot.'' He laughed when Rito's face turned red.

A date?

Oh god…

He only just realized that he'd skipped every step of dating a girl and jumped straight into her moving in with him. They even slept in the same bed!

He cringed in embarrassment, much to the other guy's amusement.

"What's a date, Rito?" Came Lala's inevitable question, only furthering his mortified blush.

''Yeah, Rito-kun. Mind keying me in on this too?'' Kenichi laughed.

The eldest Yuuki sighed, realizing that there was no point in hiding it. Feeling suddenly bashful, he turned to Lala with a strange redness to his cheeks. "E-Err, a date with when two humans who like each other want to get to know each other more personally. Most of the time they go on a couple dates before getting engaged…" He muttered in embarrassment, watching as her eyes widened in surprise.

"So we need to go on these dates now?" Lala asked curiously, tail wagging in excitement behind her. "What do we do on dates?"

Rito coughed as he went to explain. "W-Well, usually the guy takes the girl out to a restaurant or bar, somewhere where people make food for them to eat while they hang out together somewhat alone." He explained lamely, but it seemed to get the job done. Her eyes were sparkling in excitement, the idea of joining him on this illustrious human pastime tradition was the most exciting thing she could have thought of!

"Oh can we go on a date, Rito-kun?! Can we can we?!" She was buzzing like a bee in excitement, eyes sparkling with barely contained glee. He couldn't help the tickled chuckle that escaped him at her enthusiasm over a simple date, but he did find it unbearably adorable. He leaned forward to capture her lips in a kiss again, pulling an excited mewl from her as his sharp incisors nibbled on her lower lip.

''Still here dude…'' Kenichi muttered, no shame in watching them kissing.

Rito flushed in irritation. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" He muttered lowly, cheeks red.

Kenichi sighed, waving his hand in defeat. ''Yeah yeah, I hear yah. I'll be there in a hot minute. Cool your jets, you horn dog.'' He teased, pulling a bright red face from his friend before he hung up.

"Rito-kun, what's a horn dog?" Lala asked curiously, making the brunette groan in defeat.

''This is going to be my whole day…'' He thought to himself, turning gradually brighter the more Lala pestered him for an answer. "E-Err, it's sort of slang for when a guy is really horny." He muttered, hoping that would be the end of it.

It was not.

"Oh! Then that means you're horny right now?" She asked with this strangely helpful look, eyes sparkling as her tail wagged enthusiastically behind her bubble butt. "I can help with that!" She exclaimed happily, glad to finally get the chance to show her skills as she reached down below the blankets to tug at the waistband of his suddenly surprisingly tight underwear.

"L-Lala-?" He fell backwards onto their bed, eyes widening in surprise at her sudden forwardness. His words of surprise were muted when her lips came up to capture his own, pining him down with her body. He groaned into her mouth, feeling suddenly hot. He swallowed thickly as her hand came down to wrap around the girth of his-

"Onii-san?" The bedroom door creaked open as Mikan stepped inside, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. She blinked when she looked at the two of them sitting a little strangely on the small bed, faces both red and sweating.

"O-Oh, good morning Sunshine." Rito choked out, trying to swallow down his arousal seeing as they'd been quote unquote caught. Lala smiled nervously down at the little girl, her hand still suspiciously placed underneath the blankets. She seemed to have a daze, mind elsewhere in that moment.

"I'm hungry…" The small brunette muttered out, yawning widely again. "Can you make pancakes again?" She asked meekly, leveling those big brown eyes at him that melted his heart instantly.

"Of course I can." He smiled, cheeks turning red. "C-Can you just give us a moment to get dressed first?" He asked.

Mikan smiled widely. "Kay…" She yawned out again, running back out of the room. The two watched her go before sighing, relieved as the tension left.

Rito quickly got up to get dressed, so he missed Lala's utterly disappointed look as he left the bed. She huffed with a clearly pent up sound, shaking her head as she moved to get dressed as well. As Rito left the room, however, Lala found herself glancing down at her hand, squeezing the air at the phantom sensations of the thing she'd just been holding. Her cheeks turned bright red at the mental image it gave her, her thumb unable to even wrap around to her index finger…

"Lala?" Rito called from the living room, poking his head back in curiously.

She flushed in embarrassment. "C-Coming!" She hummed, quickly running out to join him.

Chapter

5

End