Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 22

"Get away from the window" Kiku snapped, grabbing Kyung Soo and Yong Soo and dragging them backwards. "We need to... uh... right.. um..."

"Should I close the curtains?" Leon asked, flicking the corner of one of them.

"No" Kiku hissed. "You'll do no such thing. Just come away and stay away okay?"

"Why?" Mei asked, peering through the window again from behind the plant pot. "Who is it?"

"It's them" Kiku nearly shouted, hauling her towards the door and ushering his siblings out into the hall, closing the door behind him. "It's them, but it's not just Kuro and Xiao this time." He turned to the twins. "It's you two as well, and seeing as there's you two, there has to be a Mei too, and I'd bet that all of them are here right now. We need to tell Yao." He shoved past them and ran down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Hey Aniki, there's some people outside that Kiku says are the counterparts" Yong Soo shouted.

"Shut up" Kyung Soo laughed silently, punching him lightly. "It's not funny."

"You're smiling though" Yong Soo pointed out.

"That doesn't matter" Kyung Soo snorted. "It's a minor point."

"Both of you" Kiku sighed.

"Since when did you get so paranoid?" Leon put a hand on his shoulder. "Chill out Keeks. It'll be fine. I mean, they were just standing there. It's not as though they're going to get in at any point right?"

They all froze, holding their breath, waiting for the shattering of glass as someone burst through the window and tried to kill them all.

"They're not like that. They're silent. You don't know they're there" Kiku whispered. "They could be anywhere."

There was another pause as they waited for something to jump out from some obscure place they wouldn't have ever expected.

"Okay" Mei said. "So, we've gathered that they're not hiding anywhere unexpected and freaky."

Again, they waited for nothing.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous" Kyung Soo rolled his eyes. "And where the hell is Aniki?"

"I don't know" Kiku sighed. "But we need to find him."

He took a careful step towards the living room, his siblings following him almost as silently. Almost. They got to the door, pushing it open slightly and peering in. It was dark and empty. They stood - five heads peering through a small crack in the door - staring at the darkness for a second.

"Boo!" Yong Soo shouted, making everyone jump, turn and shout.

"What the hell Yong?"

"This isn't funny Yong Soo"

"Like, shut up"

"You're a disappointment to us all, this is serious."

Yong Soo burst out laughing, clutching his side and the door frame. "I'm sorry, but that was too good an opportunity to miss, and you should've seen the look on your faces! It was priceless" he cackled intot he door.

Kyung Soo clamly walked up to him before all hell broke lose. Punches were thrown between the twins, shouts being chucked between them. After a second, Leon stepped up to try and pry them apart and ended up getting punched in the process. He then proceeded to, unhelpfully, get involved in the fight too. Kiku and Mei stood just inside the living room staring at them in an exasperated way.

"Well..." Mei said aside to Kiku. "I guess at least it means that no one else is here right?"

"Yeah, but if you mean no one else, then that includes Yao" Kiku glanced at her. "Which means that he's not here."

"He could be... asleep?" Mei suggested. "Or..."

"Hai" Kiku nodded.

Mei paled. "Oh dear. B... but... he's probably asleep... right?"

Neither said anything, just watched the younger three as they continued in their battle, unaware of their older siblings worries.

"Should we do something about them?" Mei asked, eyeing them.

"As you pointed out, there's no one here so what's the point?" Kiku sighed and sagged onto one of the couches.

"But the people outside" Mei said, getting everyone's attention.

Kiku leapt up again and charged to the window, peering out. This time, instead of Xiao and the twins, there was a girl and a boy whom he didn't recognise, but felt like he didn't need to.

"Are they still there?" Leon appeared behind him and flicked up the corner of the curtain before reeling backwards and letting off an inhumane shriek. "Bloody hell it's
me! What? It's me! How!!"

"What?" Mei stared at him and then went to take his place before pretty much imitating. "What?!"

Kiku stayed looking out of the  window for another couple of seconds  before ducking out from under the curtain. "Okay, so we know that they're there right?" They nodded. "So where are the other two? And if all of us are there, where's Kuro?"

There was a silence as they took it in.

"So..." Yong Soo started. "We're under attack?"

Kiku shrugged. "If that's how you want to look at it then yes."

"But..." Kyung Soo said. "Nothing's happened yet."

"Nothing happened in the first five odd months of the second World War" Leon pointed out. "So Kiku, you've dealt with this before. What do we do?"

"That was a while ago" Kiku muttered. "And not a time I'd like to remember."

"Plus neither you or your counterpart really had a physical form during the whole thing did you?" Mei asked, receiving a nod in response. "See."

"That's not the point" Leon hissed. "He knows more about this than I do alright, so that's what I'm going off."

"Yeah well..." Mei started.

"Okay" Kiku said quietly, but just loud enough to shut them up. "Let's just think about this for a second. As we know, they've not made any moves to attack us..."

"Yet" Yong Soo interrupted, getting jabbed in the ribs by Kyung Soo.

"Thanks" Kiku sighed. "As I was saying... uh..."

"No moves to attack us?" Mei repeated.

"Oh yeah" Kiku scratched the back of his head nervously. "Okay, so as Yong Soo helpfully pointed out, yet. They haven't moved yet, but they might do, so we need to be prepared for anything like that to happen alright?"

"So, like..." Leon started. "What're we going to do?" He was replied by a chorus of ideas.

"Call someone?" Mei suggested. "We could call someone and tell them about this. Maybe they'd come over to help."

"Find Aniki" Yong Soo said. "That comes first."

"Just go out there and beat them all up" Kyung Soo shrugged. "I mean, we have knives in the kitchen."

"Nothing" Kiku said, being drowned out by his siblings. "Okay. We call someone first. That gives them the longest amount of time to come. Then, we find Yao."

"So... who d'we call then?" Leon asked, glancing towards the window. "I'm sure they won't stay put forever."

Kiku hesitated for a second before sighing. "Batukhan."

Note
Batukhan - Mongolia