Rage

Chapter Five

Ryo's house was, for lack of a better word, madness. I was greeted at the door by his absolutely gorgeous mother who could easily pass for his sister. Then, I faced the chaos inside.

He had three brothers and a sister, all of whom were under ten. They were running around and playing and being the messy, noisy children that they were.

Ryo laughed at my overwhelmed expression, "Not used to kids?" He asked, grinning.

"No," I replied, shaking my head, "I only have an older brother and, as far as I know, no cousins."

Just as Ryo was about to say something in response, the only girl in the mix came barrelling up to him and threw herself into his arms. "Help! Kazu is chasing me!" She squealed, and Ryo lifted her up.

"Who are you?" She asked me, her dark eyes wide as she looked up through long lashes. This child was already beautiful.

"I'm Taylor, Ryo's friend. We're working on a project together." I informed her, returning the angelic smile she offered. "What's your name?"

"I'm Mika!" She suddenly giggled but, before she could tell us why, a little boy ran to us, with chocolate-coated fingers. He was just as perfect-looking as his siblings, though he couldn't have been older than eight, at least three years older than the little girl, Mika.

"You're home!" He yelled, throwing his arms around Ryo's leg and hugging tightly. This resulted in the two remaining kids also doing the same.

I found myself chuckling at the scene and Ryo's face. He was laughing, clear affection for his siblings reflected in his eyes. I smiled slightly as I made eye contact with him, holding his gaze until we were interrupted by the doorbell.

"Do you mind getting it?" Ryo asked, "I'm a little occupied." He mock glared at the children who were still clinging to him.

I giggled, heading towards the door and pulling it open. My smile faded as I took in the sight of Julio, his scowl in place and stinking of cigarette smoke.

"Hi." I said, softly. I didn't want to be rude, but I didn't particularly want to be nice, either.

He ignored me as he walked past me and into the house. He took off his shoes in the entryway, probably seeing all the others by the door and his consideration surprised me a little.

I followed him to where Ryo and his brothers had now shifted position and were wrestling on the floor, with Mika cheering them on.

"You wanna get started?" Julio said, interrupting the moment, "I need to leave."

"Okay," Ryo said, easygoing as always as he extricated the small creatures that were hanging onto him.

They grumbled for a moment, before climbing off their brother and rushing off to do something else. I heard them call for their mother, too, and could hear hints of her irritated reply. She did, however, sound amused.

"You wanna go up and work in my room?" Ryo asked and I shrugged noncommittally, not minding anything.

"Oh, for the love of God, stop flirting and just go. Does it really fucking matter where we do it as long as we do it?"

True enough. I almost laughed at his tone, but then realized who it was. Besides, he had accused me of flirting with Ryo, which we most certainly were not doing. I shot him a dirty look the moment I registered his comment.

"Okay, fine." Ryo said, sensing the obvious tension in the room. "Let's just start. We have two weeks to do this and I have soccer every other day."

He played soccer? That was probably what gave him those lean muscles and that hard physique....

Julio was giving me a knowing look and I blushed, realizing I'd been caught staring. At least it hadn't been Ryo who'd caught me.