Meltdown

[callingxforxblood]

Kaito smiled back before looking over at the rest of his family. Fiore had put Di down and Sia had instantly pounced on him.

"Food's done!" the big man yelled and the twins howled in excitement as they leaped off the couch to go and chase down the yummy food the Great Dane made. "Kaito, you eating?" When the vampire shook his head, Fiore turned to the young lady. "You ma'm?"

[†Arisen†]

"Oh, uhm, please," Aliya smiled at Fiore, "Thank you."

Di perked at the sound of food, his ears standing and he sniffed the air, despire his werstling with the dog. Ana, the cat, smiled a bit, following after the twins.

[callingxforxblood]

Fiore smiled at Aliya as he set down another bowl of clam chowder on the table for her and pulled out a chair. Kaito pulled out a chair for Ana and then sat down across the table from Jayce and Jayden who soon engaged him on a conversation over whether sleeping on the floor was more comfortable then the bed. Sia had let Di go and grabbed his hand, trying to yank him towards the table.

"Fiore makes the best food," she explained matter-of-factly. "If you don't get there fast then Jayce and Jayden will eat your food. Also, they're not very good at cooking, things tend to burn, so you should find your own food when they're cooking."

[†Arisen†]

Aliya smiled, taking a seat, "It smells good."

Di followed curiously, nodding and crawled into the same chair as his sister.

[callingxforxblood]

Sia settled down on the chair that was only slightly higher than everyone else's and peered happily into the clam chowder that was placed in front of her. Fiore always knew how much she liked and he had also given her an extra slice of sourdough bread to drag through her soup. The little girl bounced up and down before digging into her meal with gusto.

~~

Fiore smiled at Aliya as he wandered over to his place at the table only to be caught up in Sia's storm of chatting and laughing as he sat. The twins were arguing as Kaito looked at the group that had become his and Alex's family before glancing over at Aliya and winking.

"They're a rowdy bunch."

[†Arisen†]

The girl smiled and nodded, "Thats because you've only got boys here. Boys are usually rowdy."

She grinned him, chuckling a bit.

[callingxforxblood]

Sia snarled at Aliya as she looked up from her bowl of soup and leaned forward towards the other female.

"I. AM. NOT. A. BOY." the little girl snarled, bristling up as her ears pointed forward and her yellow eyes narrowed.

Fiore gave a warning growl to the puppy but she yapped something back at him that made Jayce snort into his water glass and Jayden pale underneath his tan. The big man looked affronted before reaching over the table and whacking the pup against the side of her head.

[†Arisen†]

The cat twins were on edge when Sia started to snarl, and they bristled as well, their ears back and baring their teeth. They silence when Fiore growled and watched the pair interact.

Aliya exhaled softly, "I know you aren't a boy. You're special--you don't count when I'm talking about them, all right? I wans't trying to upset you."

[callingxforxblood]

Sia yipped at the impact, more stunned than hurt, before glaring at Fiore and starting to sulk. Kaito watched impassively, a small grin flitting over his face at the puppy's impudence. She had always been a fiery little thing and that was probably what had made Alex adopt her in the first place; she reminded him of himself. Sia finally looked up, her ears perking forward through her short, boyish hair cut.

"Really?" she asked carefully. The puppy hadn't had another woman around in a long time and it was a big change for her to have a feminine presence in the house.

~~

Fiore watched the puppy's interaction with Kaito's Aliya with a careful eye. He had tried to teach the whelp some manners, but she always seemed to be getting underfoot or doing something unladylike.

"Behave," he growled softly to her before turning his attention to Jayden and Jayce who were arguing over who Anastasia had picked the name up from. "I don't care who taught her the word, you're both going to be punished if you don't clean up your language around her! I don't want that puppy shocking someone else!"

The big man sighed. Sometimes, it was hard to have a puppy around when he was so old.

[†Arisen†]

The succubus nodded with a smile, "Of course. Besides, why would I include you when I'm talking about the boys."

She gave Anastasia another smile.

[callingxforxblood]

Sia nodded at that, satisfied before continuing to eat. In a record few seconds, the pup had slurped down all her soup and she looked up at Kaito with a plea in her eyes.

"Can I go outside now?" she asked, her eyes practically begging him.

"It's too dangerous right now, Stasia," the vampire told the little girl, glancing over to see if Aliya was done so he could continue talking to her.

[†Arisen†]

Aliya smiled when Anastasia started to eat before eating herself. The girl hadn't had anything to eat that day really and was soon done with her soup, blinking a bit in shock at the empty bowl in front of her before smiling at Fiore.

"Thank you, Fiore. it was great," The succubus smiled.

[callingxforxblood]

Fiore gave a slow smile. The rest of the family usually didn't compliment his cooking so it felt nice to be appreciated for once. He glanced around the rest of the table before standing up.

"Would you like me to give you some more, Miss Aliya?"

[†Arisen†]

The girl smiled, "Later, I think. It so filling. If I had more I might explode!"

The cat twins giggled a bit before they began eating as well, purring happily.

[callingxforxblood]

Fiore nodded, grinning still and watching over the kittens' progress on their food as he picked up his and Aliya's bowl. Sia was scraping the bottom of her bowl with the crust of her sourdough bread and both sets of twins were still engaged in eating. Kaito watched Aliya silently, willing her to turn around and look at him. There was somewhere he wanted to take her without the others around.

"Ali, would you like to see something?"

[†Arisen†]

Aliya looked up, watching Kaito for a moment before slowly nodding, "... Yeah."

She reached over and patted the kittens, "You two behave now, you hear?"

They yowled happily, resuming their eating.

[callingxforxblood]

Kaito reached out his hand towards Aliya to pull her out of the room. There was someplace special he wanted to show her- Alex's old bedroom. He wanted to erase some of the bad memories she had of her brother and show her what had happened during the time that he was away from his sister. The vampire thought it would help her deal; it had certainly helped him when Alex had killed himself.

~~

Sia watched Kaito walk out of the room before leaning her head on her hand and watching the twins. They were odd... She'd never seen cat shifters before, well, house cat shifters at least or shifters her own age, but they were different. Very different. The girl watched the other kids curiously before looking at Jayce and Jayden who were touching each other under the table again.

The puppy sighed. They were weird too. Fiore called whatever they did "incest," but she didn't know what that word meant. Before Kaito and Aliya left the room, she asked both of them, "What does incest mean?"

Jayce and Jayden paled before glancing at Sia and then to Fiore who was trying to stifle a smile.

[†Arisen†]

Aliya took Kaito's hand, starting to follow him, but paled when she heard Anastasia's question. The twins blinked, and looked at the other's reactions, now curious. Di gave a questioning mew, while his sister went back to eating.

[callingxforxblood]

Kaito paled as well, glancing down at Stasia before up at the twin hounds were staring at him with double expressions of horror passing over their faces. Fiore's gaze was slightly more steady though he was still in shock over how easily the puppy had blurted out the phrase.

"Weeell," Kaito stalled, "it's when two people who are related by blood....well," here he glanced at the hounds, "they, um, well they...."

"They like each other!" Jayce finished earnestly, glaring at Kaito for replying with such a bumbling answer.

"They love each other," Jayden corrected. "Very much."

Sia nodded slowly before glancing between the two sets of twins.

"Like Di and Ana!"

[†Arisen†]

Aliya scratched her head a bit, "...Well, not like Di and Ana exactly. Uhm...."

She looked over at Kaito, "Like him and my brother. How they loved each other."

She hoped she didn't upset kaito with what she said and gave his hand a tight squeeze.

[callingxforxblood]

Sia nodded wisely after taking in this wisdom from Aliya and Kaito before glancing at Jayden and Jayce. That made sense, especially cause sometimes she saw them kissin' on each other.

"So are you two in incest?" she asked curiously.

Jayce paled further as did Jayden before Jayce went over and picked up the puppy before glancing at Aliya and Kaito furtively.

"How about we talk about this a little later, Anastasia?" he asked, trying to remain calm. "We'll explain once Kaito and Aliya leave, how about that?"

Sia glanced at Kaito and his lady before nodding. Some things were to remain in the family and Aliya, while she was close, was not family.

~~

Kaito felt reassured after feeling Aliya's hand squeeze his and realized that Alex might not be the only one he loved like that. He thought his feelings for Aliya were merely platonic, brotherly, but....there was something else there though he wasn't exactly sure what it was yet.

[†Arisen†]

Aliya giggled softly before looking back to Kaito, "You wanted to show me something, right?"

Now that that little distraction was out of the way, they could focus on the task at hand once again.

[callingxforxblood]

Kaito looked up at the succubus again and smiled, nodding a little.

"Yeah, I wanted to show you a special place," he answered, leading her out of the kitchen and up the stairs towards one of the bedroom. His hand hovered over the knob unsurely for a minute; he hadn't been in the room in a while since the memories were a little too sharp still, but he hoped since Ali was with him it wouldn't overwhelm him. Softly, he explained, "This is Alex's room. I wanted you to see what kind of man he was before he lost his mind due to my brother."

[†Arisen†]

"..." Aliya didn't respond, but queezed his hand tight. She looked up at Kaito and gave a soft nod.

She didn't want to see, but at the same time, she did. She knew, she knew she had to see. Aliya had long since accepted that her brotehr wouldn't be found anywhere anymore, that she wouldn't find him hiding behind a corner trying to scare her like when they were little, but now... Now she was starting to think otherwise.

[callingxforxblood]

Kaito grabbed the knob, slowly slinging open the door and almost expecting to find Alex waiting for him in the room. It hadn't been so long ago that he would open this door when he got home just to say hey and end up with his lover in his arms. Nor had it been so long ago that he had wasted lazy days lying on the bed with the man either. Despite Aliya being with him, the memories still came up to try and smother him and the vampire had to forcefully keep his expression blank.

[†Arisen†]

Aliya squeezed Kaito's hand tight, not meaning to inhale the way she did.

"... It looks the same..." she said softly. The room was laid down exaclty the same as it had been for him back home. He'd tried to keep it as close as possible, she could tell. The pillows had even een tossed on the bed in the same haphazard way.

Slowly, she let go of Kaito's hand and stepped in, looking around. Mermories flared up and she could remember him redecorating and rearranging back home. He'd been trying to make it as close as he possibly could to look like this. For hours, he'd just stand there, and look at everything, and now she knew why.

[callingxforxblood]

Kaito leaned against the door frame, letting Aliya have her moment as she looked around the room. There were massive windows along one side that were tinted with special UV protection so that Kaito could come visit during the day. The bed was a mass of soft pale gray sheets and comforter along with several pillows. The walls were white and covered with Alex's paintings though the one directly behind the bed was painted red. The floor was carpeted and the vampire's feet sank into the plushness.

Moments of Alex's life were flung out over the room, mini pieces of him. The closet doors were still open, his clothes were all over the floor, a half-finished painting hung on the art easel. A sketchpad lay discarded on the nightstand. A photo of Kaito and Alex also shared the small table with one other photo frame which Kaito went to brush his fingers over before beckoning Aliya over as his eyes traveled over the bed.

The sheets were tangled and mussed from where he had dug himself into them for the nights after Alex had left. He had stayed in his lover's bed, trying to catch his scent, and mourning as it slowly faded away from the cloth. When he had died, Kaito had rushed through the room, pressing his nose to anything that might smell like Alex, but the only thing he'd been able to find was a small plush dragon toy that the vampire had won for the incubus at a street fair. The toy had sat in Alex's bed day after day and carried his physical and psychic scent and Kaito had slept with it every night since.

"What do you mean it looks the same?" he asked softly.

[†Arisen†]

Aliya still stood in the center of the room, much in the way her brother had done when he'd come back.

"... he did his best... to make his room look like this... I don't think he was really happy that he didn't get close enough in the end..." she said softly.

her eyes moved to the half finished art piece and she watched it a moment, "...If mom and dad could see this...."

But, she shook her head, moving to Kaito's side, "... I wish he could have stayed here. he was so at home here.... At school, he was constantly teased and harrassed. And if they weren't making fun of him, he was by himself."

The succubus rubbed her arms, shivering a bit, "After my parent's accident, I managed to keep some of his things if you want them. I put them in a closet--I can't look at it anymore."

[callingxforxblood]

Kaito's eyes widened at Aliya's admission, not sure what to say at the moment. Hearing that Alex had tried to make his room at home look like his one here made the vampire sad, but he hadn't known about any of this.

"I never knew that he was tortured like that at school. Why would anyone do that to Alex? He was gorgeous," Kaito murmured.

The vampire picked up the photo and handed it to Aliya. It was a picture of her and was the one that had let him know who she was.

[†Arisen†]

"Because he wasn't.... normal, I guess," she said softly, "... He always stood out at school."

Aliya blinked at the photo that kaito had handed her and simply stared at it a moment.

"... How did he...." it looked fairly recent, at least from before Alex had returned.

"... I really... I didn't think he'd really remember me. I was just his baby sister. A-and he was stolen when I was five...I didn't think..." The succubus slid to her knees on the carpet, holding the picture tight. "If he was so close then why.... why....."