"Mm...how very peaceful it is here..." Ruka sat with her legs crossed on the bench in front of the water fountain.
Her eyes were closed as she carefully listened to the splashing of the water.
She could hear the yelling from in her house behind her. As she listened closer, she could hear exactly what was going on.
It was most accurately, Koi sneaking into Akuma's cooking pot before dinner was over.
"What a fool..." she said under her breath and got further into her meditation, completely blocking out the noises of the outside
world, in exception to the water of the fountain. Her white hair brushed along her shoulders with the wind as she reached peace.

Ruka's eyes widened as she felt both of her eyes twitch.
Not one. No... One would not be enough to express how she felt
after such a statement.
Was it being Asian that made her feel even more violated?

"...." she didn't say a word at first because her reflexes made it so that
the only sound she made was the whoosh of her katana as she drew it out
towards Nara.
Her almond eyes narrowed further as she dragged the end of her blade
along Nara's throat and finally, she spoke.
"Such a deep voice you have..." Ruka broke her silence.
"Would it still be deep if you had no Adam's apple...?" her blade nearly
poked at it threateningly.




"Ruka!" a loud booming voice of authority cut in.
As it rung out, her blade immediately drew closer for a moment before slowly falling to
her side.
The large figure of none other than the Fatherly Akuma approached.
"Dinner's ready and no one is allowed to eat until everyone is pre--" before continuing
his rant, he immediately stopped. The soft voice he used with Ruka was long gone next he spoke.
"YOU AGAIN?! YOU LITTLE PUNK!! YOU JUST DON'T GIVE UP, DO YOU!?"


"I'm ready to go..." Ruka spoke out as she rose to her feet in one swift, graceful movement
as her katana was sheathed once again.
A few steps forward she turned around to face Nara.
There was a brief smile before instantly going cold.
Her white tresses swayed along her shoulders with a kiss of wind.
"I hope that my actions spoke clearly enough to your question, Soncho."
And with that, she continued back home.

As Akuma reached forward with his large, heavy lifter bulging arms to strangle
and tear apart Nara, Ruka spoke out.

"It would be quite impolite to leave the family waiting now, Dear Brother.
Would not want it to get cold either..." she swayed.

As he heard Ruka's endearment of Dear Brother , he blushed and nodded.
Leaving Nara with a death glare before joining his sister, an arm around her shoulders
as he snuggled his cheek against hers like a small bear cub did against it's mother
or fellow cubs.

Dale was sitting upright in his kangaroo form next to the lake as
he watched a few ducks floating along the stream.

Akuma slowly approached, placing his hand on Dale's shoulder before
sitting beside him. Akuma took a different approach, unlike Ruka who
would use her lengthy philosophies against you, he sat there in silence.

A few moments passed before Dale broke out into tears and Akuma
pulled him into a fatherly hug.
Sniffling a bit, Dale peeked out from Akuma's chest to see the baby ducks.



"You're probably wondering..." Akuma started to speak as he noticed Dale's
eyes on a particular duckling. In a row, the babies swam down following the flow,
until one duckling detached and walked up the side of the land before making it to a stick
that blocked the stream.
"Probably wondering why after following all that time, it went it's own way..."

Dale looked up at Akuma with wide, tear filled eyes.
"It's because sometimes we have to go down our own paths..."

The duckling was walking along the stick that blocked the path.
It did an adorable hop and broke the stick, just in time for the other
baby ducklings to get through.

"Sometimes when we go down our own path... People will stare at us strangely.
But no hero was ever stared at normally." Akuma patted his back comfortingly.



"A-Akuma..." Dale spoke softly with a sniffle.
"I-I just want someone to be proud of me for once...
I-I want the one person who matters the most...to finally
look up to ME...I want to be known for something...
Seen..."


Akuma chuckled softly. "You were seen... By all of us...
Even the "enemy" household saw you as a hero at that moment...
I mean, if hugs still mean what I think they do." he gave a playful wink
before putting a large robe that he brought with him over Dale's shoulders.
Right on time for him to transform back.

"Give yourself some credit for once, kiddo." Akuma stood and left Dale.

Dale watched the duck who had took the new route and cleared the path.
He had begun to lead the rest of the babies.
Dale simply smiled to himself softly before heading back inside.

Calibur had left the house after being scolded by Sunni for not helping
clean up. He couldn't stand sweating, it messed up his "awesome" hair.
Spotting a few members of the enemy house across from him, he rose
a brow as he noticed a female with them.

Tearing away his shirt and hanging it along their garden fence, he
positioned himself across from them, doing pull-ups on one of the
oak tree branches. His six pack glistened with his sweat as he counted
each pull-up. "4, 5, 6, maaan I'm awesome. 9, 10, so sexy..." he
gave himself a pep-talk between numbers while glancing over
at Kyoto in a challenging manner.