"So, you guys are new here?" Akira twirled the spaghetti around her fork tines and put it into her mouth. It tasted bland to her, like most food. After all, she was a vampire. Even if she didn't like blood all that much, it was still her main source of energy. What she really was craving was something cold. Ice cream. Still, she ate the meal in order to appease Shin and his friends.
"Yes, we transferred here the day we met! I think it was fate; don't you?" Shin asked. He was doing most of the talking here. Kino snorted. "If you count trying to keep a brother away from his sister 'fate', then yes." Kino seemed to have serious beef with the issue in question. His eyes never seemed to leave her face. Akira found it strangely uncomfortable, but it did remind her of a certain brother...
"Are you all related? Your last names..." Akira blurted the question. They seemed close, but so different and distant at the same time. Carla glanced at her, finally speaking. "Tsukinami Carla and Shin. Kino is--"
"Here you are."
Akira felt a glacial presence at her back. At the table behind them were all of her brothers. She groaned inwardly. She smelled trouble.
"Uh, here...I am?"
Akira stupidly parroted Reiji's statement. He stood above her, staring down at her with folded arms. "Why are you with these..." His lip curled. "Degenerates? Return to our table at once." Reiji's magenta gaze lingered on Kino, as all their eyes did. "Aren't you..."
Akira collected herself and returned his glare. "So what if I am? You don't own me," she snapped, hackles raised.
Laito chuckled and grabbed her hand. "Oh, but we do! Bitch-chan."
"How many times must we tell you, Chichinashi?" Ayato was in her personal space. "We take your blood, and one day it'll be. Your. Body." He jabbed a finger at her chest with each word.
She felt Shin step in front of her slightly, hands raised placatingly. "Now, now, guys...Akira--"
Kino interjected, tapping his chin with a smile. He sidled up to Akira and ran his fingers through her hair. "What if someone else took her body first? Or, if she gave it to them willingly, unlike how you simply took it...?" Akira met his heated copper gaze, and felt her breathing quicken.
Kanato, enraged, shouted. "No way!" He gripped Teddy so tight the stuffing bulged at the top of his head.
Subaru held Kanato by the back of his blazer to stop him from pournign on Kino. "Enough!" Subaru's eyes burned. "Get your ass, right here." He pointed aggressively to the spot at his side.
"Quiet, all of you." Shu raised his head slightly, enough for him to catch her gaze. "Listen to them." His head flopped back onto the table.
Tense silence hung for several seconds as they faced off against each other in the dining hall. Why did they want her to go back to them so badly?
A large, gentle hand touched the crown of her head. "You should go," rumbled Carla, his panty-melting baritone muffled by his scarf. "Family first." Akira looked at him. He never spoke, but he seemed kind, like his brother. Shin and Kino's arms slipped away as she stood and dusted off her skirt.
"Thank you for the meal." Akira dipped her head respectfully and went to join her siblings. Ayato immediately held her by the waist in an iron grip. "Don't even try to run," he growled. On her otherwise shoulder, Laito leaned his head on her shoulder and licked the exposed part of her neck. "You're ours."
"Oh, excuse us. You should take him, too. After all, he belongs with you."
Carla nudged Kino forward. He glanced back at the Tsukinamis with surprise, but it faded into a devilish grin as he drank in the sight of the Sakamaki's shocked faces.
