A young boy with black and white hair look around, scanning his surrounding for some signs, his silver eyes constantly shifting.
"Yargh!" a noise reached him before a small body hit him. Unfortunately for the owner of the body, the young boy had prepared himself, catching the person easily.
"Let me go!" the owner of the voice, a much smaller boy, with white hair and similar silver eyes, around the age of 8 squirmed, trying and failing to escape.
"Good attempt, baby brother. But, I'm going to punish you for that," the older boy gave an evil smirk, making his little brother squirm harder, to no avail.
"Hahahahaahah!" the sound of laughing can be heard from across the garden, the older brother showing no mercy as he gave the smaller boy the tickle treatment.
"Ryker, I yield, I yield!" As the younger boy finally surrendered, Ryker let him go. The smaller boy fell on all four, gasping for air as he glared at his older brother.
"Why are you looking at me like that Ezekiel, you should know you don't stand a chance against me," Ezekiel pouted at his older brother's reminder.
Shaking his head, he walked toward the house, though mansion is a more apt word to describe it. Ezekiel followed, grumbling along the way.
As he entered, he was greeted with the sight of 3 younger children, playing with each other. Well, two of them playing while the last one, the only boy, was reading.
"Big brother!" as soon as she spotted him, the smallest of the trio yelled before running towards the older boy before jumping, causing him to stagger a bit from the impact. Her long white hair tickled Ryker's nose, making the older boy brush her hair in an attempt to move it.
"Let's play big brother! No, let's explore! There are so many interesting things outside," she blabbered, Ryker rubbing her back as she rapidly blasted question after question.
"Sheena, let him speak. If you don't let him speak, he can't answer you," the other girl, black hair crowning her head, told Sheena, making the younger girl pout.
"But I have so many things to tell him, Ilina," Sheena replied, before giving her older brother another hug and another barrage of questions.
"You will never going to get her to stop, Ilina," the other boy with black hair and glasses spoke, before going back to his book.
"Do you think you can do better Esran?" Ilina asked, annoyed by the glass-wearing boy's nonchalant attitude.
"No, I don't want to do something futile," he answered, briefly looking at the second oldest in the room before going back to his book.
Puffing her cheek in anger, she looked at the other boy, giving him a glance before asking, "Have you tried to ambush big brother again, and failed, again?" While it may sound like a question, everyone who heard it knew that it was just a confirmation.
"One of these days I'm going to catch him off guard," not bothering to answer, Ezekiel loudly proclaimed.
"Unlikely, the chances of that happening is zero," Esran's words are like cold water, making the other boy pout.
"Well, look like you not having any fun at all Esran. How about we get him to know the meaning of joy?" Hearing his older brother say such a thing, the calm look on his face morphed into one of fear, feeling as if he were a mere bunny in front of a beast.
As for any prey, their first instinct is to run away, though, in Esran's case, he barely takes his third step before being grabbed by the monster which is his older brother. He tried to escape, but similar to Ezekiel, lacked the strength to do so.
Soon, his laughter rang around the house, followed by the laughter of Ilina, Sheena, and Ezekiel, the last one trying to jump on him but failing, resulting in him being tickled for the second time for the day.
-x-
"You big meanie," Sheena muttered, the other three looked at their big brother with child hostility.
Ryker merely laughed, leading the quartet towards the dining room, dinner had been prepared by their parents.
"Mama! Papa!" Sheena, being the bundle of energy she is, ran towards their parents, leaping towards their arms.
The older male laughed as he caught his enthusiastic daughter, brushing her white hair.
"Papa! Big brother is being a meanie," she tattled, making the older man look at his eldest with a questioning look. In return, Ryker made a tickling motion, making Papa nod in understanding.
"Of course, my little girl. Your big brother will have a serious talk tonight," Sheena smiled triumphantly before sticking his tongue out at Ryker.
Unnoticed by the younger siblings, Ryker's brows furrowed. He could hear the tone that his father used, and to his confusion, it was similar to one of distress.
Deciding to confront it during the talk with his parents, he nodded, "Alright, I'm ready to be punished for being a meanie," he said teasingly, pinching Sheena's cheeks as he said it.
Pouting, she adorably glared at the older boy, only stopping when food was placed on the table. Deciding that food is more important, she focused on the food, the others followed suit. Being tickled really builds up an appetite.
After dinner, the quartet walked towards their room, briefly making a stop at their younger siblings' room. Meanwhile, Ryker heads towards the living room, his instinct telling him something wrong, but knowing what is wrong, he decides to wait.
Soon, both his parents entered the room, their faces looking as serious as Ryker had ever seen them.
"Ryker, we need to tell you something,"