It's All Relative

    "Oh Princess Takun!" Ryo's voice echoed through the cafeteria. Sora felt Takun wake up with a start, almost falling out of his chair. The designer wrapped his arms around Takun's neck and buried his face into the lion/wolf white and black hair. "Your hair smells nice."
        "Oh hi Sora," Ryo added as an afterthought..
       "Nice to see you too," Sora said. "Where's Giselle?"
        "She's at home with the kids," Ryo said. "She's a little scared to leave the apartment with all the attacks."
    "Ryo, you're choking me," Takun exclaimed. Ryo let go of his neck and sat in his lap.
    "So who are your friends?" he asked Sora.
    "Um... this is Arashi, Usagi, and Taiyo," she said, pointing to each one respectively.
    "I'm Ryo Kuroda," he said. "Diva Designer Extraordinaire."
    "Where's Yuhi and Asahi?"
    "Who?"
    "Your adopted brothers? You know the two guys that look alike."
    "Oh them," Ryo said flippantly. "They went to find a table for us to eat breakfast. When are they having breakfast anyway? Giselle made breakfast this morning, but the kids ate it before I got downstairs."
    "So you're the one who gave Takun that Princess nickname," Usagi said.
    "Yes, it's the perfect name after all," Ryo said, running his fingers through Takun's hair. Takun's face was red with embarrassment and anger.
    "I'm curious to know the story," Arashi purred with curiosity. Sora rolled her eyes. Once people realized Ryo and Takun's connection with each other, Ryo  always told the same exact story to anyone who was willing to listen.
    "Well... it all started a few years ago, when Takun was just a scrawny little kid on the streets," Ryo said. "And I took him in for a price of course. To make a long story short, I named him Princess because he was spoiled and bratty, acting like he owned the world. He also looked like a little girl, still kinda does. A girl with a beer belly." He patted Takun's stomach with a smile while everyone laughed. There was a vein throbbing in Takun's forehead.
    "Where are those boys with our seats?" Ryo asked. Sora looked around and saw two brothers waving at them. He waved back. "There they are! Takun, will you carry me there?"
    Takun stood up, carrying Ryo on in his arms, took a step into the aisle and promptly dropped him on the floor before stalking off to the buffet area.
    "Takun, how dare you do that!" Ryo whined. He turned to the girls. "Can you believe that?"
    "You just called him fat," Sora said.
    "You can't deny that he put on a little weight," Ryo said, getting up and dusting himself off. "Bastard. Anyway, did you have sex with him yet?"
    "What? No way!" Sora exclaimed, her face going bright red.
    "Don't lie, it's written all over your face," Ryo smirked. "I'm going to get some breakfast. You bitches better sit at my table." He walked away to the buffet area.
    "Your cousin is quite the character," Taiyo said. Sora nodded, her face still red. 
    "How are you guys related?" Arashi said.
    "He's my dad's little sister's son," Sora said. She remembered seeing picture of his mom and her dad. They had the same bright red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. Ryo and Sora had inherited the eyes, but Ryo had the trademark freckles.
    "What kind of animari is he?"
    "I know he's part wolf and something else, but I'm not sure. He never talks about that side of his family," Sora replied. His black and white cowprint ears were an unusual pattern in the animari world. She wasn't going to mention that he used to have horns when he was younger, before his adopted father had them sawed off. Ryo liked to joke around and say he was part goat.
    "I guess we better join him at his table," Taiyo said. She was clearly amused by Ryo's eccentric behavior.  
    "Good morning," two boys said in unison when they reached Ryo's table.
     Ryo walked back to their table, dragging Takun behind them.
    "These are the twins, Thing 1," he pointed to a boy with black hair side streaked with blue. His eyes were purple with flecks of gold around the rim of his pupil.
    "And Thing 2," Ryo pointed to a boy with black hair side streaked with green. His eyes were gold with flecks of purple around the rim of his pupil.
    "And these are the four of my dwarves," Ryo said with a smile. He pointed to the Arashi. "Pinky."
    "Pink? My hair is magenta thank you very much," Arashi said.
    He pointed to Usagi and Taiyo. "Shorty and Moody, respectively of course."
    "And Chunky," he pointed to Takun, who shot him a look and growled. Ryo took his seat.
    "And who would you be?" Arashi asked scathingly, annoyed to be dubbed 'Pinky' when her hair was clearly magenta.
    "My dear, I would be The Evil Queen," Ryo said. He took a bite of chocolate cake. "Oh goddess above, this chocolate cake is to die for."    
    "Who would be Snow White?" 
    "That would be my wife," Ryo said with a smile.
    "Wife?" Arashi, Taiyo, and Usagi exclaimed in unison.
    "Yeah, my wife," Ryo said. "Giselle."
    "You mean that hot Fire!Works model is your wife?" Arashi asked.
    "Yes and Fire!Works is my fashion line," Ryo said.
    "No way."
    "Oh yes way," Ryo said.
    "Sora, why didn't you say that your cousin was a celebrity?" Arashi asked. "Ryo Kuroda. Why didn't I realize that earlier?"
    "He's not a celebrity," Sora said. "He's an idiot."
    "Oh come on, Foxy," Ryo said. Sora sighed at the nickname. "Don't be like Moody. Anyway, I'm getting more of this chocolate cake."
    "I thought you were on a diet," one of twins said. Sora couldn't tell which one.
    "I am. The see food diet, when I see food I eat it," Ryo said. " The same one you're on, Princess."
    Takun shrugged. He couldn't really deny that fact.
    "Get some chocolate cake with me."
    "I'm eating," Takun replied flatly, his mouth full with hashbrowns. Ryo pulled Takun out of his seat and dragged him over to the dessert bar.
    "So what are your real names?" one of the twins asked.
    "I'm Usagi Ohkami."
    "Arashi Teitora."
    "Taiyo Hiyama."
    "Pleased to meet you, I'm Asahi MacLaine," the twin with the blue streaks said.
    "And I'm Yuhi MacLaine," the twin with the green streaks said.
    "No way! You mean you're the sons of Liam MacLaine, the greatest alchemist of all time!" Usagi exclaimed.
    "I wouldn't say the greatest of all time," Asahi said scathingly. "But yes, we are." 
    "And your mom is Xia Liang MacLaine, the greatest timekeeper of all time!"
    Asahi and Yuhi nodded.
    "Wow," Arashi and Usagi said. Sora could tell they were tempted to ask her why she didn't say anything about her celebrity "family."
    It was awkwardly silent.
    "Hey, guys," Sasuke said with a smile and a cup of coffee in hand. "How are things going?"
    "Awkward," Sora said. Sasuke sat down to them.
    "Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "That's really unfortnuate. Are your families here?"
    "They're out of the country," Arashi and Usagi said in unison.
    "You know where my family is," Taiyo said. Sasuke nodded.
    "What about you, Sora?"
    "Oooh, who is this fine hunk of man who has taken my seat?" someone exclaimed, causing Sasuke to jump. Before Sasuke could open his mouth, a maroon haired animari sat in his lap.
    "You're gorgeous," Ryo sighed. Sasuke was dumbfounded. "Have you ever thought about a career in modeling? You'd be perfect for it."
    "Uh," Sasuke didn't have a chance to respond.
    "You can be my sixth dwarf, Sexy."
    "What?"
    "These are my dwarves: Chunky, Foxy, Shorty, Moody, Pinky, and now you, Sexy. Then there's Thing 1 and Thing 2."
    Sasuke had a smug grin on his face. "So you must be the infamous Ryo."
    "The one and only," Ryo said. "Honey, I can sit in your lap for the rest of my breakfast or you can give me my chair back. Your choice."
    "Why don't I keep this chair and you can sit in Takun's lap?"
    "Brains and beauty," Ryo said patting Sasuke's head and scooting over to sit in Takun's lap. "They just don't make boys like you anymore." 
    "May I have your attention please?" said a chipper voice over the speakers.
    "Damn, who gave that bitch extra caffeine in her coffee," Ryo scoffed.
    "Thank you friends and family for coming to this wonderful day at Aoikin University," she said. "I'm Enna, the head counselor and MC for this morning. We have a special performance from the Aoikin University cheerleaders."
    A bunch of screaming girls in cheerleader jackets and cute blue sweatpants with "Ravens" written on the rump jumped up and down on the stages.
     One of the cheerleaders nodded at the sound crew and they all got into formation.
    Fergie's "London Bridge" started with "Oh shit" until the beat started. They strutted around, shaking their butts and touching their bodies provacatively. Sora noticed a few of the mothers in the crowd following the moves perfectly. The boys at their table looked like a bunch of slack jawed idiots, except Ryo who was shaking his head with disgust.
    "Hold up! Wait a minute."
    "These Aoikin girls know how to get it!"
     The song changed to "Buttons" by the Pussycat Dolls.
    "Loosen up my buttons, babe," the song went. The girls pulled open their jackets revealing tight belly-showing yellow halter tops and they yanked off their snap-away sweatpants showing off their shiny blue hot pants.
    "Go on honey," a mother shouted. The fathers shifted in their chairs uncomfortably while the mothers continued to dance along.
    "This is an embarrassment to the whole female gender," Arashi scoffed as the girls (and their mothers) continued to prance around the stage and give each other lap dances in their chairs.
    The song ended and the crowd went wild out of polite embarrassment. The girls picked up their clothes and cheered as they ran off stage.
    "Thank you girls," Enna said, her eyes wide with shock.
     "Goddess, what a bunch of whores," Ryo said. "I bet you've slept with half of those girls, huh, Takun?"
    "I don't kiss and tell," Takun said. Ryo stared at him, then at the girls.
    "It was the brunette with the rabbit ears," Ryo said, Takun's face went red as he attempted to put on his best innocent face. "And the girl with the orange hair, and the blonde one, twice."
    "I'm not saying anything," Takun said, taking a drink of Pepsi fizz. There was a smug look on his face that he told all his friends about it already.
    "Okay now guys, we're going to be splitting into groups of parents for a question and answer session. You'll be staying here in the cafeteria. Students, please follow your counselors outside, you'll be talking to your advisors.
    "Afterwards, we will be meeting at the Aoikin Student Commons and we will have a campus tour, club fair, and enjoy lunch at the Aoikin Gardens Cafe. Thank you."
    "Well, see you later, kids," Ryo said.