"Ryuu?" Alek hesitantly called out her beast's name in her mind.
"Yes?" Kiryuu came out from the dark. Her upper body part was visible from the light from above. She knew why Alek had come to this place since she was watching what Alek was seeing and hearing but, she wanted to hear it from her.
"Umm, can you use your power for me? To heal my body?"
"Why? It's YOUR body." Kiryuu began to tease Alek. The girl looked like she was in trouble from all the pressure her beast was putting on her.
"You are kind of the one who made me have all of this." Alek spoke as she showed off her bandaged skin.
"Still, it's your body. Not mine." The dragon told the girl.
"Would you please do this for me? I will do anything you wish." Alek asked. She really wanted to heal herself and swim in the river with Castor and Lee.
"Are you my genie now?" Kiryuu asked.
"For now, yes. I want to these bandages off of me."
"Okay. My wish is to let me come out whenever I want to. Let me take over." Kiryuu told the girl.
"Okay but under one condition. Do not act like yourself." Alek told the beast. If Kiryuu took control of her when she was with her friends, they are going to freak out and get suspicious. Kiryuu and Alek were nothing alike.
"Deal." Kiryuu spoke and forced Alek to go back to the physical world.
"Are you awake?" Rin asked softly. He had been caressing her hair and fighting off mosquitos that were attacking them nonstop.
"Yeah. How long was I gone for?" Alek asked as she raised her head off her cousin's lap.
"About an hour." Rin squinted his eyes and told her.
"Wahh... I'm sorry." Alek apologised to Pollux. She had been on his lap for an hour. It must have been annoying and tiring to stay in that position.
"For what?" Rin was surprised.
"For staying on your lap for a long time."
"Yeah, you cut off the blood supply of my legs." Rin replied to her in a serious tone which made Alek feel bad even more. "Oh no. I don't think I can move." He touched his legs and acted like he was in pain.
"I'm so sorry! Let me massage them for you." Alek panicked and touched his calf.
"Ow!" Rin hissed.
"I'm sorry!" Alek immediately apologised. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She never meant for her cousin to get hurt. "Let me call Jin." She then prepared to jump off the stone.
"I'm kidding, Alek!" Rin grabbed Alek's wrist before she could jump off and run to his brother. "You didn't hurt me. I'm a shapeshifter, remember?"
"Oh." Alek came back to sit next to him. "Then why would you do that?! You scared me!" She then complained like a little girl.
Rin laughed. He didn't expect his cousin to seriously as his sister doesn't even bother to look at him when he acted like that. She knew he was faking it plus, he would never be mad at her even though she's hurt him. The same went for Jin.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He apologised as he continued to laugh.
"Rin!..." Alek's face was red but, she didn't say anything else. "Anyway, I think Kiryuu have succeeded in healing me." She told him when the laughter died down.
"Really?" Rin asked.
"Yep." Alek emphasized the 'p' and began to remove her bandages off from her right arm. She didn't feel the need to tell him or anyone about the deal she made with Kiryuu.
"It's off!" Alek shook with excitement when she saw her wrist didn't have the mark of struggle anymore.
As promised, Kiryuu had granted her wish.
"May I help you?" Rin asked.
"Yes please." Alek answered him with a smile and gave her left arm.
"Tell me when it hurts." Rin told her before he gently began to remove the bandages while she removed the one for her right leg.
"Thank you." Alek told her cousin when eighty per cent of the bandages on her body was removed. The rest was on private parts that she would remove back at the head's house when she was alone.
"Your welcome." Rin smiled at his cousin. "Are you going to swim?"
"Do you think I can?" Alek asked worriedly. Initially, she wanted to remove all of the bandages but, that would make everyone uncomfortable since her boobs were covered in bandages and not a bra. And they wouldn't want to see her boobs for sure.
"Maybe only the legs? I don't know. I've never really been bandaged." Rin shrugged his shoulders with uncertainty. He has never been hurt that bad and, thus, he didn't need to be bandaged up, unlike his brother, who was curious about everything and got hurt doing that.
Alek's smile went off her face and, she walked to the river with slumped shoulders. Why did she ask her beast to heal if she couldn't swim even after she was healed? That was a dumb idea. Who even thought of that? Yeah, Rin. But she couldn't blame him since she was the one who did it.
She sighed as she got into the water until her knee reached then she watched at the happy boys who were playing.
"Hey, Alek!" Jin greeted his cousin.
"Hey, Alek!" Lee copied Jin and they laughed. Lee was cute.
"Hey." Alek smiled at them mildly. God, she wished she was there!
"Are you going to come in?" Jin asked as he swam to her with Lee behind him. Lee didn't seem to have a problem swimming as he looked like he was used to it, which was true.
"I can't." Alek told him.
"Why?" Jin sat next to her and put his curly hair off his smooth forehead. He had removed his white t-shirt and, now, was revealing his perfect abs. It looked like a bar of chocolate was stuck there. His body was basically covered in hard muscles and tanned skin. He must have gotten that from his father, as Lake had the same skin tone. When he spoke, his abs vibrated accordingly. No wonder girls went crazy over him. He was a fun and sweet person. Plus, he was hot. "I thought you went to ask Kiryuu to heal you."
"How did you know that?" Alek snapped her head toward her cousin. Lee had also emerged from the water and sat next to Jin. He looked at Jin next to him and to abs. He looked at his big belly and wondered why he didn't have the same stomach as his new big brother. If he ate green pepper as Pari said, would he become like Jin's?
When Lee was busy trying to make his cute little belly as Castor's, the conversation between the two future heads continued.
"Rin told me." Jin told his cousin. His hair was dripping with water and it ran down his neck. If Alek took a photo of him like this and showed it in school, she was sure the girls would be drooling over him and get jealous of the water flowing down. Not that she wanted to brag her cousin but, she imagined things.
"Oh. Well yes. But Some of the bandages are not ready to be removed.'
Jin laughed. "Okay, well, enjoy watching from there." He went back into the water with Lee in his arms.
"I will." Alek replied sarcastically. "Wait! I want to talk to Lee."
Jin stopped and looked back. He and Lee had the same expression looking at her. "Yes?" Lee asked.
"You told us that your friend, Wren, is a flamingo. Ho did you know? Also, you removed one of your scales when opening the way to the head's house, meaning you " She asked what she has been curious about.
"I've also been thinking the same thing. I think you are too young to have your first shift." Jin looked at the boy in his arms. Lee reminded him of when Iris was little and didn't want to get separated no matter what. Now, Iris doesn't demand to be carried this way, so it was also nostalgic.
"Grandma Heidi is knows Yayoi. Her papa is from Yayoi." Lee spoke. "She made us able to use our powers."
"She is from Yayoi? Wow." Jin spoke.
"That's why you know Wren is a flamingo and, you can use your powers..." Alek connected the dots and nodded to herself. "Well, that was all I wanted to ask. Thank you. You guys can continue with whatever you want to do."
"Let's go!" Castor, once again, turned his back to Alek and ran into the water with Lee like they were age mates. Nothing looked wrong as Jin did act like a four-year-old in a nineteen-year-old's body. He was worse than Alek, who was told to be five-year-old. Alek smiled internally when she thought of it. There was always someone worse than you.
"Jin! Lee! Come up!" Right then, the three heard Rin shouting from the stone under a shade from a tree.
The two boys came up from the water with dissatisfaction. After all, they had just entered. "Yeah?" Jin shouted back as he walked to his brother. Alek had risen from her spot and was following Jin to Rin as she walked with Lee.
"Iris called. It's time for lunch." Rin spoke from the shade. He didn't want to be in the light.
"But I'm not that hungry." Jin and the rest had eaten what Lee had brought back at the cave.
"I told her that but you know how she is." His brother replied. It was actually him who couldn't turn down his sister, especially when she said she helped to cook lunch.
"Fine. Let's go." Jin wore his shirt and, Alek carried the mountain of bandages in her hands. It blocked her sight but, she was still able to see a little.
Lee looked at the people who were preparing to leave and, his eyes welled up with tears. He made new friends but, now, they were leaving him.