Chereads / Unlike Others / Chapter 27 - Welcome to the Hidden Kingdom

Chapter 27 - Welcome to the Hidden Kingdom

Friday

"Your girlfriend around anywhere?" Ren walks up to Takeshi as he walks towards the school.

"I told her the same thing I'm going to tell you, buzz off," he grumbles and keeps walking.

"Excuse me Mr.?" She quickly slams him against a wall.

"Ren, I'm not in the mood," he glares at her then pushes her away from him.

"You're going to lose a lot of close people like that Takeshi," she growls.

"Too late for that. I could care less," Takeshi growls back then walks off towards the forest.

"Where are you going?" Ren yells at him.

"Nowhere you should be concerned about," he yells back and keeps walking. She quickly walks after him quietly.

They walk for a while, Ren still quietly following him without his knowledge. He ducks through some bushes and Ren quietly follows, only to be stopped on the other side of the bushes by a sight that blew her mind.

"I thought you were following me… I guess my feelings were correct," Takeshi sighs and looks over at Ren as she stares at the small, kingdom-like town hidden beneath trees and different kinds of forage. Her eyes scan an area where big, dark magenta tents stood near an arena made of stone. She looks at all of the small but fancy houses on, in, and around the trees until her eyes stop on a fancy, castle-like mansion that sat across a medium sized river with a fancy bridge connecting the two lands.

"It's too late for you to walk back. Come on. Follow me. Just stay close," he sighs and begins to continue the walk down the cliff towards the town. Before they reach the area, Takeshi stops and rolls his neck before slowly turning into a completely different person. A green mark slowly grows on his cheek as his eyes turn light golden and his clothes turn from casual, to fancy, almost like a prince would wear. His ears slowly grow a point at the top as his hair shrinks a little.

"Let's go," he smiles lightly then walks into the town.

Creatures of all kinds run, fly, slither, and crawl around the town with an exhilarated buzz as humans and monsters walk and talk together.

"We're friends here. Everyone gets along except for some of those who live outside the area who want me dead along with everyone, and everything here. I try and protect them the best I can," Takeshi sighs, his golden eyes looking around the area then stopping once they reach Ren.

"I guess you could call this my peaceful happy place," he chuckles then looks back at the town. Ren carefully moves closer to him and lightly grabs his hand as they walk into the town. A little girl, about five years old, with light pink hair in piggy tails comes running up to Takeshi.

"Daddy! You're home!" She squeals as she jumps into his arms, her brown eyes sparkling at the sight of him.

"Hey there Kaiki," he laughs as he pulls her into a hug, making him lose hand contact with Ren completely.

"Well, look who's back," a girl a few years younger than them with long, dark brown hair and light brown eyes wearing a crop top and medium short shorts and a necklace with a crescent moon walks over to Takeshi wearing a small smirk.

"Hey Alex," Takeshi smiles at her.

"Surprise, surprise, dad's back," another girl the same age as the one named Alex walks over to them. Small brown cat ears peek out of her head that was covered in long, dark brown, curly hair. Her dark brown eyes study Ren as she continues to walk towards Takeshi.

"Why didn't you put any clothes on Kit?" Takeshi nearly growls at the girl who just walked up.

"I have shorts on under this shirt dad," the girl grumbles as she fixes the sleeve on her overly large light blue shirt.

"Who's the girl, dad?" Kit eyes Ren again.

"A stalker who followed me," he laughs in response.

"Is she our new mom?" Kaiki laughs happily.

"No silly," he laughs again.

"Let's go inside," Takeshi sighs and they all start walking towards the big mansion.

"So Kitesume let her visit from the other house?" he motions at the sleeping Kaiki in his arms as he talks to Alex while they walk into the mansion.

"Yeah. She missed me and Kit so we made an agreement. The others are still with him. Don't worry," she smiles at him as Kit walks off down a hallway inside the huge mansion.

"Ok. Well. Do you mind taking her to bed? Whether it's yours or whatever," he smiles at her.

"Yeah. I'll see you at dinner," Alex carefully takes Kaiki out of Takeshi's arms then turns and walks off.

"Takeshi? Why did they call you dad?" Ren looks over at him as soon as the others left.

"It's a long story. None of them are biologically mine. Alex and Kit are basically the same age as us but, again, it's complicated," he sighs.

"Have they ever seen my version of you?" She locks eyes with him.

"No. I want to keep it that way. The less they know the better," he gives her a small smile.

"Takeshi, why don't you show me around, as much as I know you don't want to," she smirks.

"Ok. Fine," he laughs.