Chapter 6

Junichi opened the door to reveal three large carrying cases on the door step. He took hold of one and signaled to Jinichi and Rei to get the others. Once the carrying cases were inside, Rei turned to the brothers.

"What on earth is in those…cages or cases, what ever they are?!"

"Well…" The brothers glanced at each other, then back at Rei. "Why don't you open them and find out for yourself?" Rei arched an eyebrow suspiciously but stepped toward the cases anyway. He was just opening the first one when Max spoke up.

"Rei, wait. How do you know that there isn't some dangerous creature or something in those cages? You should be careful Rei. You don't even know if these guys are trustworthy!" Rei continued to fiddle with the catch as he replied.

"Max, I've known these guys since I was eight. I highly doubt that they would attempt to injure me intentionally. Besides, it just isn't in them to be malicious, is it….loves?" He had succeeded in opening the cage and was gazing into amber eyes that glowed in the darkness of the case. Rei stepped backwards quickly as the creature stepped out into the light.

Max yelped as he saw what it was and hid behind Kai. He was joined by a whimpering Tyson. Tala had backed up against a wall and even the seemingly android like Bryan was paralyzed with fear. Kai seemed a bit startled but only grew curious as he saw Rei's reaction. He initially had stared with shock at the large Bengal tiger, but then his features softened as he cast a grateful look at the twins. He was then knocked slightly off balance as a white Siberian tiger rubbed itself against his legs. Rei ran his fingers through both tigers' thick coats before they stepped before the large cage. They got the latch open and jumped back as a third tiger leapt out.

Rei gaped at the sight of the massive Sumatran tiger. He reached out a trembling hand to tough it. When the contact was accepted by the beast, Rei fell to his knees, flung his arms around the tiger's neck, and buried his face in the animal's think coat. The others, save the twins, looked on in shock.

"Umm, Rei? Watcha doin'? And…why are you hugging a FUCKING TIGER?!" Rei kept his face hidden for a few moments before turning to the twins.

"Where and how did you find him? Let alone get him to see me!"

"Well, we were thinking, what would be the perfect gift for Tiger? Then it came to us…"

"What better than three tigers for a tiger?"

"So we went to China…"

"Back to your true home…"

"And started hunting around for Gaos over there." A gestured reference to the Sumatran tiger.

"Glaze and Avalanche were with Mia as you well know." Another reference to the Bengal and Siberian tigers respectively.

"So we arranged for them to be brought here…"

"And pleaded with Gaos until he decided to come as well…"

"And here we are with three tiger…"

"One relatively harmless…" Avalanche.

"One overprotective…" Glaze.

"And one overprotective, possessive, and over reactive…" Gaos.

"But they came early…"

"So the surprise is ruined." Jinichi pouted. He was nudged by his brother.

"Relax, there's still one surprise he doesn't know about. We can give it to him tomorrow." Jinichi brightened at this.

"That's right! Rei-Rei, you'll love it. But that's all you get to know."

Rei looked back and forth between them with a bemused expression on his face. He opened his mouth to question them, then though better and shut it. He opted for a smile and said, "come on, you guys must be tired. Why don't you go take a nap and I'll wake you when dinner's ready? Take those three with you all right?"

"I don't suppose we get a say in all this?" chorused the twins. Rei just smirked. Kai stepped forward. "I'll show you your rooms. Come on." He turned and walked out of the room. Jinichi and Junichi rounded up the tigers and followed Kai.