The Undying Rose

Chapter 24

Hello again! Thank you for reading the last chapter but guys, don't forget to fav or follow this story if you like it. It gives a lot of encouragment to us to go on with this.

This fanfic's idea belongs to Sushi-chan99

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Sama and her family members.

We ate biriani that afternoon. Mom made it extra mild this time in case of someone who can't deal with spicy food. Even so, there were some complains. Kanato was a special case as we made him a different dish since he HATED, spicy food. Laito was whining how hot the food was every second. Reiji was struggling not to show any expressions on his face but failed miserably cause his face was looking twisted from pain. Ayato and Subaru was eating normally surprisingly. Yui just ate a spoon then didn't touch the dish again. We thought about all that so we had our special plan B: a side dish of chicken soup that if eaten with the main dish it it'll cool up the tongue a bit.

"Seconds!" Fahd and Omar yelled.

"Third dish!" I ordered one too.

Mom just chuckled and filled up our dishes. As we took them, we had the children looking at us with puppy eyes. Miriam and the two twins had their own special kids meal to eat, but they weren't satisfied and wanted a dish from the biriani too, which mom strictly banned it because they were still little.

We also got looks from another kind of people, vampires to be exact. "Sama-chan, doesn't your mouth feel hot?" Laito asked.

"Nope, why?"

"Why...? I just thought that you were eating too much for a spicy dish like this..."

"You call this spicy? And I thought today mom made it too moldy for you guys..." As I said that I got stares telling me "this chick is crazy!" from them. That's when I got idea. "Watch this..." I said and took a tall red pepper from my dish, opened my mouth and swallowed it whole. All of the six brothers faces twisted from the sight and I tried so hard not to laugh with the food in mouth.

"You're not cute at all..." Ayato commented.

"Thanks!" I mocked him in return.

Both Fahd and Omar looked at me excited. "That's right sis! You wanna continue our competition of who eats the most number of red peppers?!" Fahd suggested.

"Yeah! This is the perfect time to do so!" Omar was interested too.

"Omar you go sit away! You always lose after the 10th!" I said remembering the old times.

"I know! Now this time that won't be the case!"

"Then you're up for the challenge?"

"Yeah and I'll take the victory for myself today!"

The three of us took the red peppers. "One, two, three and..." OUCH! I got a good hit at the back my head. I looked around and saw both of Fahd and Omar in the situation. I looked again and saw mom looking a bit annoyed.

"This isn't the time for this now. You're making our hosts uncomfortable." She said making her point clear.

We all obeyed quickly. "Sorry..." we said.

After we finished eating I went with mom to clean the dishes. To my surprise, Reiji stopped mom from doing so and told her that she was a guest and she shouldn't bother herself. Mom smiled and insisted on taking the task so Reiji had no choice. He completely focused on mom and ignored me as If I was air.

Now if we count the ones that mom talked with, it'll be three: Reiji, Shuu and Kanato. All of them gave positive responses. That leaves us Ayato, Laito and Subaru. I was looking forward to see what she had for them.

After we finished cleaning up, mom went off and I followed her. She walked till she reached Laito who was still cooling his mouth. "Are alright dear? I'm sorry if it was too spicy..."

She put her hand on Laito's shoulder comforting him. He looked at her. "No, Sundos-chan I'm alright..."

Mom's eyes widened. Mine too (How dare he call my mom so casually?!) I looked at mom's face to see her reaction when she...

"Hahahahaha!" She laughed out... hard. Laito's face was ridiculous. She stopped after a while and wiped away some tears from laughing. "Sorry... but I never thought that someone this younger than me will call me ever that..." she chuckled a bit more.

"I'm not allowed to?" Laito winked.

"No." mom was serious again.

"Okay~" Laito placed his arms behind his head shrugging it off.

Mom sat on the opposite side of Laito. "Laito my dear, are you always this casual with older women?"

"Yup. Since they always fall for my looks anyway~"

"Fall for you...?"

"Yeah, don't I look attractive for you?"

Mom was silent for I second. "You look cute as a little boy but..." Laito pouted. "Anyway, I'm not here to talk about this..." mom brushed the topic off.

"Hmm... then we are you here today?"

Mom didn't say anything and just smiled. Then she showed him a box. "Here." She gave it to him.

"What's this?"

"You'll find out when you open it."

He opened it as she told him, then brought out a hat similar to his but different at the same time. He looked at it grinning. "Wow! Is this for me?"

"Yes, do you like it?"

A lot!" He put it on his head. "How do I look?"

"You look good my boy, it suits you like I imagined."

Laito took out a mirror and looked at himself admiring his own face. (Yuck...) then he looked at mom again. "And what's this for?"

Mom smiled widely. "A gift out of good will. To tell you that I'm in your side."

"On my side...?"

"Yes. Since I'll be staying here for a week, I thought that I should make a good relationship with you."

Laito didn't say anything at first. "What kind of relationship...?" He was smirking now.

Mom placed her index finger under her chin thinking. "I don't know... maybe the relationship of a son and his mother?" (So straightforward!)

Laito smirked more. Then he sat next to mom moved his face close to hers. "A mother-kind relationship huh? Then what do you want to do first... you want to start normally or you want to jump to the hard part...?" He was close. TOO CLOSE! I was getting nervous and angry at the same time. What the hell did he think he was doing?! I was having a hard time staying put. Mom didn't say anything but she was puzzled as well. "What... that's not it? Then maybe you want to take control of this...? Okay, as long as it's fun~" Laito said wrapping his hand around mom. (Okay that's it!)

I was about to jump out and smash the flirty bastard when mom said something: "Laito, what do you think a mother's relationship with her son is?" She moved his hands away from her gently. When I saw that, I remembered that this is my mother we're talking about, she's probably gonna solve this better than me so I settled down again.

"Umm... it's exactly what I did... Or did I go wrong somewhere?" Laito looked confused a little.

Mom smiled. "Your whole vision is wrong my boy..." she moved her hands to his neck and started fixing his collar. While she was doing that she explained to him: "You see Laito, a mother is the one who cares for her children the most. She gives care, comfort, guidance and love to them. She mustn't sleep until they do, she mustn't stop struggling until they grow up, and she mustn't ever give them away or make them suffer. If she should give her life for them, she must do it for their happiness." She finished fixing his collar and looked at him. I did so too. He looked serious and didn't say anything. Mom sighed. "Look here my boy, I don't know who gave you that idea of mothers and I won't ask... all I want you to know that I care for you, and you can depend on me when ever you need to. So don't hesitate in doing so."

Laito's face looked sad. Not the same sadness that Reiji had, but it seemed that mom's words got him deeper that I thought. Mom saw that and decided to leave him alone to think the topic over. She moved her hand and rubbed his head. "You get it my dear? Don't let anyone convince you with anything wrong again." She stood up. "Also, don't forget to wear the hat often, that will make me very happy. And I'll make you something different for dinner, anything in mind?"

Laito raised up his head. "N-no, thank you..."

Mom smiled at him one more last time. "Then, I'll make you something good from my mind. And come to think about it, I have the perfect dinner in mind..." she started to move to where I was hiding. I ran to the opposite side. "Maybe I'll make a..." she was muttering something about today's dinner and left Laito just staring at his new hat, agony in his eyes.

I left him like this too and followed mother. (I wonder if his mom did things to him...) the thought of him having a relationship with his mom didn't leave my mind. As much as the how disturbing the thought was, as much how it seemed realistic. Why would he say such things if it wasn't real?

I decided not to think about it anymore since it was driving me crazy. I followed mom to what seemed to be the way to her next target. I soon noticed it was the way to Ayato's room. I rubbed my head thinking about how much ore-sama I'll hear today. When she reached the door she knocked it. "Can I enter?"

Moments later we heard something from inside. "You finally came to yours truly for cla..." he opened the door and found mother. "Oh..." his looked disappointed. Did he think that I was the one knocking his door? (Well our voices are similar a bit but...)

"You're not happy to see me? Or did I come in a wrong time?" Mom tilted her head.

"No... I thought you were someone else, my bad..." he rubbed his head.

Mom smiled. "It's okay, can I go in?"

"Why?" He asked bluntly.

"Umm... no reason. I just wanted to talk. Are you not comfortable of me entering your room?"

"No, nothing like that. But if you have something, say it here and go." (That son of a...)

Mom was surprised how rude he was. "O-okay... I just wanted to give you this..." she handed him a box.

"What's in this?" He looked at it suspiciously.

"A present." Mom said cheerfully.

He flipped the box a little then decided to open it at last. He took out a pair of sports shoes. He looked at the shoes, then at her, then at the shoes again. "How..."

"Did I know? You said that you played basketball so I got you those. Besides one look at you shoes and I knew that you needed new ones." She continued smiling at the confused Ayato. He didn't say anything. "You don't like it?"

Ayato just stared at the shoes for a bit. Then he returned it to mom. "Ore-sama don't need this." He closed the door.

Mom looked at the box in her hand, then she took a deep breath and started knocking on the door again. She sure wanted to make this happen. "Ayato, I can understand if you don't want it, but at least keep it, maybe you'll need it someday." He didn't answer. "Ayato, Ayato, Ayato..." she kept on knocking.

Finally, Ayato opened the door. "Okay I get it! But before I take it, I want to know why did you get me this."

"No reason really, just to make our relationship better."

Ayato was looking at her blankly. "I'm not interested in older women." (Idiot...) I rolled my eyes.

Mom sighed. "You too?" She paused for a moment. "I'm a married women and I have children. Why would you think I would be interested in you?"

Ayato took a while to answer that. "After rethinking this it sounds stupid..."

"It is indeed. I came here today to tell you that you can count on me in anything you need. If you want, I can teach you things too."

"... I don't need that either..." he was about to close the door when mom stopped him.

"Yes you do and I know it." She looked at him with serious eyes.

"Don't talk like you know me!" He raised his voice.

"I don't. But I can tell that your mom, whoever she was, didn't do her role at all."

Ayato stopped. "How did you know..." He stopped himself mid way and glared at mom.

"You can call it a mother's instinct. But that's not important here. What's important is..."

"Then you're saying that you want to come here and replace that b***h and I'm supposed to accept that?" He looked pissed.

I think mom realized that he'll be harder than the others. "First of all, whatever she did, you shouldn't call her a b***h, since she's the one who brought you to this world. Secondly, I'm not here to replace her. Thirdly, I just want to be in good terms with you and help you, nothing more."

"Heh, the one that brought me to this world? And I should be grateful for that? Grateful for her bringing me here and making me live this hell?!"

"Yes." Mom answered and Ayato's face darkened.

"How can you say that like it's nothing?! You don't know anything yet you-"

"Then tell me."

"What...?"

"As you heard. Tell me and feel better about it. That's the role I want to play here."

"..." Ayato was stunned. He had the right to taking in how straightforward my mom was. "She was a fiend... and I don't want to remember her at all..." he muttered.

Mom rubbed his shoulder gently. "You don't have to if you don't want to... and it seems like it's not a good memory anyway. Whenever you're ready to talk about it come to me. And keep those with you you may need this. Okay?"

Ayato looked the shoes again. "Don't expect me to wear this any time soon..." he said in a low voice.

"I won't, but I'll wish for it anyway." She turned to leave. "And tell me the time you have matches and I'll come to see them if I can. Thank you for your time." She left.

As I did with the other brothers I took a look at Ayato's face and he was different from the rest, he looked more angry than sad. But I could see how hurt he was just by remembering his mother. Now I'm 100% sure of the reason they are this way: it's their family, since the father looked nasty too. Every time I hear about this my chest gets tighter and I realize how naive I was to hate them without getting to know what's wrong. But the more I think about it, the more I get lost.

Was it good? I apologize if Laito's part was a little impropriate but I couldn't help but wonder if he thought about it that way. Usually in Japan, curry is the most famous spicy food so I decided to make the brothers try another one from Sama's country. Finally I think that I don't need to talk about Ayato hating his mother no?

Dont forget to leave a review before you leave. Thank you for reading this chapter. See you this Wednesday!