Meeting the family

"So, the reason I haven't been back to see my family in Nagi is that they had sort of…banished me until I had a girlfriend. Since you're my girlfriend, would you mind coming to visit them with me next weekend? We have the extra day off," he asked hopefully. He really missed his mom's okonomiyaki.

"You wa-want me to come visit your family?" she asked, blushing, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Sakie had made it a habit to let her hair down on their weekend 'dates'. Most of it was what they normally did, debate recent trends in science, the unexplored possibilities of demi biology and abilities, and consulted each other on how certain students were doing, but they always ended with something more like a real date. A walk, a hike, dinner, a movie, something where they were able to talk about themselves and not work. He could handle her hair down, almost normally. And he knew how to get himself out of her aphrodisiac when needed.

"Yeah, if you're comfortable with that, I would really enjoy it." he said.

"Um, okay," she said shyly, "I'll clear my schedule. Where and when should we meet?"

And so they made plans. Sakie was nervous, but since Tetsuo's dad had passed away years before, at least she could hide her succubus nature better. They had talked quite a bit about their families, and she knew that his sister was a nurse and his mother was a gardener for a local tourist attraction in Nagi, and while he loved them, they were very persistent. She worried for a while over the fact that she would be meeting her boyfriend's parents dressed in track suits, but better than meeting them and having their son not be able to talk because he was busy being attracted to her. She also fussed over a gift to bring them. Sakie, as a person, would want beer, but that might not send the right message. Finally, she settled on making macaroons, hoping that macaroons would be lucky for her once again.

Tetsuo, for his part, had already called and given his family a heads up about Sakie's abilities, and told them to be completely respectful. His mother, a hold over from when demis were…less accepted by society, had already screeched to him about how inappropriate it was for him to be under the witch's spell, until he told her that they hadn't had sex yet. That quieted her enough to extract a promise of civility and welcoming. His sister, Sakura, had simply scolded him for taking so long to bring her to meet them (they had been dating only a month!). Her promise of civility was given right off the bat, though he trusted it less. Like him, Sakura had a rather ferocious protective streak, and if she thought Sakie was controlling him at all, his sister wouldn't be afraid to go to bat. He didn't worry too much though, after all, how could they not like her? And his mom promised to make her okonomiyaki, so this weekend was going to go well.

They met for the 6 AM train to Nagi, and he accidentally fell asleep on the way there. His dream, which was consisting of him climbing up cliff faces and finding ruined cities at the top was interrupted by his girlfriend appearing as an empress in the lost city, wearing an old fashioned imperial gown, with clearly nothing underneath. She approached him and started kissing and undressing him, before he was jerked awake.

He looked down to see Sakie blushing and leaning away from him, but his shoulder felt warmer. A couple of other people on the train had woken up and were glancing around fugitively.

"Guess I should have gone to bed earlier last night," Sakie said, embarrassed.

"No problem," he said, still a bit flustered from the dream, of feeling her hands on his chest, and…he needed to stop that train of thought, "Uh…I still say that effect is purely hormonal, not psychic." She puffed up.

"Look, we know vampires are able to take foreign blood into their system and use the interacting proteins, which should kill them, to create a reinforced shell on the surface of the epidural, snow women use negative emotions to push their temperatures to the extreme cold, Dulahans have a legit wormhole connecting their head and body, and you're saying that succubi, the demi that has the most effect over other people, is nothing more than an excess of hormones." She finished her last sentence with a shake of her head. "It has to be something stronger than that. I can't sleep in apartment buildings because of that effect, I'd hear about it from neighbors in all directions."

"Apartment buildings circulate air. Your other effect is pheromone based, why shouldn't this one be?" He argued back.

"If it wasn't partly psychological, then simply dressing down wouldn't change the amount of pheromones I release and don't give me the 'your body takes skin exposure as a catalyst', we both know I can trigger through action even if I am dressed down by acting a certain way. Plus, there is no biological advantage that would select for pheromone release while succubi sleep. If anything, it puts them in more danger. There is probably a stronger sense of psychic powers that I could develop that would be advantageous, but people forgot the skill when succubi stopped forming covens."

"So intent and skin exposure," he said with a shrug, "Doesn't mean your psychic. More sex is the evolutionary advantageous. There would have to be significant differences in the brains of those attracted to females and those attracted to males for your theory to be valid, which you have yet to prove."

"Just wait until I get those MRI results back from Dr. Santos, then we'll see who needs to prove what," she challenged, and everything was back to normal.

Though, like he usually did, he set aside the fact that Sakie was comfortable enough to sleep on him as important information for later. It made him feel giddy inside.

"This place is beautiful," Sakie said as they arrived, "Did you really grow up here?" It was an ocean-side town with a strong tourist attraction in the summer. Since it was fall, the place was starting to die down. She glanced around the train station, then let her hair down, making Tetsuo smile before he answered her question.

"Yep, though I lived in a different house than where we are going to be staying. My mom wanted to live closer to the beach to preform tai chi with the ocean in the mornings. I don't complain."

"Big brother!" a voice called, and Tetsuo smiled as his sister waved them off the train platform. Both of them grabbed their weekend bags and headed to meet her. When Sakura jumped on Sakie in a hug, it became clear that Sakura was going to treat his girlfriend how she wanted to. Surprisingly, Sakie didn't flinch away from her touch, and accepted the hug. He supposed Hikari and Saccubae had gotten into the habit of touching her, and it was probably only a problem with men.

"Hey, so nice to meet you, I'm Sakura, this guy's sister. Welcome to our little town," she said, pulling away from the hug. Sakie smiled.

"I'm happy to meet you as well. Your town is lovely," Sakie said. Sakura immediately stepped back and started looking her up and down, and Sakie stiffened, tugging at her jacket.

"Hmm, you dress like a slob, but I suppose you can be excused for that. You're polite, which Mom will like, but you don't look like you speak your mind much, which is going to be a problem when Mom starts walking over you. Looking closer, I can see why people see you as attractive, but it's not showing too much right now, except for your bust size of course."

"Sakura!" Tetsuo demanded, "You promised to be civil. Judging her on her looks at first meeting isn't being civil."

"Don't worry," Sakura waved a hand at him, "I won't chase her off, heaven knows it took forever to get you to bring home one girl, I'm not going to chance her dumping you and leaving you single forever. Trust me, letting her know what I think of her right off the bat is a major relief for her, now she doesn't have to wonder if I'm being polite for your sake and will turn around and threaten her as soon as you leave."

Tetsuo glanced as Sakie, to see her flushed and wringing her hands. "Pardon my incredibly rude sister," he said.

Sakie focused on him again, and her arms started flailing her protest, "No! It's alright. It is kind of nice to have someone be honest with me about what they see. I mean, not that I thought she would ever be mean, she's your sister! And—"

"Perfect!" Sakura cheered, throwing an arm around her shoulders, interrupting Sakie's babbling, "Then you won't mind playing twenty questions with me later when Tetsuo isn't around. Now let's get going, Mom's expecting us."

Sakura started walking Sakie deeper into town, leaving Sakie's luggage behind for Tetsuo to pick up, but he expected that from his sister. He watched for signs that Sakie was getting overwhelmed, but she seemed to catch onto Sakura's energy flow like a blood cell in a vein. Tetsuo was able to relax and focus on what memories Sakura was narrating, luckily she didn't pull out any particularly embarrassing ones yet.

"And here is our house. You'll be sharing a room with me, and Tetsuo goes back to his old room. You ready to meet Mom?"

Sakie wasn't given a chance to answer, just pushed through the garden gate as Sakura called out for her mother. He was really going to have to remind Sakura about the definition of civility. Sakie was trying to protest something about Tetsuo greeting his mother first, but was shot down and taken into the kitchen.

"Mother! This is Sakie Sato, Tetsuo's new girlfriend!" Sakura called, as Tetsuo came up behind them. His mother was eyeing an embarrassed Sakie, who was having trouble figuring out where to place her hands. He stepped around her and bent down to kiss his mother's cheek.

"I'm also back Mother, as Sakura seems to have forgotten," he said peaceably.

"Hmph, I tell you not to come back without a girlfriend, and you bring me a succubus coworker—"

"Mother!" Tetsuo interrupted, "Be civil. You will treat Sakie with the respect she deserves as a person. That is what you promised me."

Sakie wanted the ground to swallow her. His mom was tall, dignified, and it seemed prejudiced against succubi. Tetsuo and his mother were glaring at each other, and Sakura looked on like she was watching a sports match, so Sakie stepped in.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Takahashi? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sato Sakie, and I am honored to be your guest." She bowed, surprising his mom, then straightened and pulled out a cookie container, "I hope you'll accept this gift from me, as a thank you for your generosity."

She offered the container and Mrs. Takahashi hesitated before accepting it. Sakura stepped around to look inside and when the colorful macaroons were revealed, she squealed.

"Ooo, macaroons, I haven't had those since my college trip to France. Thank you Sakie!"

Mrs. Takahashi deflated at the sight, and with a sigh told Tetsuo to put everyone's luggage away.

He nodded, but waited to catch Sakie's eye before leaving the room. He gave her a thumbs up and a smile, making her blush happily, before doing as his mother said.

"Soooo…now that Brother's gone, you ready to start?" Sakura asked, placing a tea set before the females in the living room. Sakie was confused for a second, then remembered her promise of twenty questions.

"Oh, uh, I suppose," she said. Mrs. Takahashi watched with judging eyes, but they weren't already decided like they had been before. It was more like…a re-evaluation.

"Great!" Sakura said, finishing pouring everyone tea. "So, first off, why my brother? You could literally have any guy you want with a touch of your hand, why did you pick my sci-fi obsessed brother?"

"Oh," Sakie said, realizing she should have expected this question. She thought back to the beginning of their relationship, smiling, "I suppose it was because he was so…respectful of me. You raised the most wonderful person I have ever met Mrs. Takahashi. He did his best to pretend that he wasn't effected by my aphrodisiac effect because he wanted me to feel comfortable around him. It took me a while to figure out that he cared more about what I had to say than what I looked like, and that impressed me. He cares so much about his students, and so much about science and how the world works, matching minds with him…I felt human. Normal."

"Hmm," Sakura said, and Sakie looked up, remembering that she had an audience, "You pass the first question. Congrats. Now, next question is what the hell is going on with my brother and demi-humans? This one I've been trying to figure out for years."

"Oh, ah," Sakie tried to think of a good answer, but was interrupted by Tetsuo coming around the corner.

"If you had listened to me even once, you could have figured it out," he said, "I only tried to explain it to you a thousand times."

They started bickering and Sakie smiled at the scene. It was just so…domestic. Family. It was wonderful. She fiddled with the end of her hair, kept down for the occasion, not to be put up until the train ride home.

The weekend continued like that. The siblings would bicker, the mother would watch Sakie carefully, and whenever Sakie was without Tetsuo, Sakura would bombard her with her 'twenty questions'.

Sakie's favorites were:

"Can I dress you up and use you to taunt Tetsuo?"

"Do you ever have problems with lesbians?"

"I hear you do Judo, I do Tai Chi with Mom, will you fight me?"

And of course

"Why haven't you slept with Tetsuo yet?"

The answers to these questions were: Yes, you can dress me up, though I doubt you have anything in my bust size, but you can't use me to taunt Tetsuo. (she did have something in her size, and they spent that first night painting nails and playing dress up. Tetsuo was banished to the garage to fix up his sister's car.) Sure lesbians get turned on and uncomfortable around her, but they rarely act on it, so they weren't really a problem, (except for that one time in Okinawa). Sakie hadn't had a match in a long time, but if Sakura really wanted to, they could. (They did, on the beach. Sakie won, but Sakura put up a fight.) and then of course, the last one.

This question she was not expecting, especially with Mrs. Takahashi right there, but Sakie had to answer. It was her making up for all the loops she put Tetsuo through, accommodating his family like this. The older woman's eyes sharpened as Sakie struggled to answer.

"Uh…I guess it's because I need to take it slow," she confessed, "Tetsuo has done me the honor of letting me control the pacing of our physical relationship, and because he is my first boyfriend, I've had to learn a lot."

"Your first?" Mrs. Takahashi interrupted. Her eyebrows were raised and both girls needed to blink. This was the first question the older woman had commented on. Sakie flushed.

"Uh, yes. See, I always knew that I could get men to sleep with me using my aphrodisiac effect, but I always wanted something more out of making love. My nature makes so that if I don't want sex with someone, I can't touch them. Because of that, and because I hate the idea of controlling men against their will, I learned to flinch away from male touch. I avoided it at all costs, and if someone reached out to touch me to feel my effect on them on purpose, I judo flipped them in defense.

"Now that I have someone I am honestly in love with, I have to retrain all those tendencies to defend myself, teach myself how not to flinch away. But I have to retrain them without being able to take little steps like holding hands or kissing, so it's been difficult. I think I'm almost ready. I learned how to be comfortable around him, how to let little things go, like letting my hair down or taking off my glasses. I even fell asleep on him on the train ride here."

Sakie wanted to curl up now, after admitting all of that to her boyfriend's mother, and she was certainly blushing enough to justify blood loss as an excuse for fainting (somewhere in the back of her mind, Tetsuo lectured about the biological impossibility of that happening, and she ignored him) but she just waited.

What they didn't see was Tetsuo hiding around the corner, like he usually did when his sister was in the middle of her game, grinning like an idiot, holding the majong tiles they had sent him to go get. Wow, he loved Sakie. And Sakura.

"Well don't wait too long child," Mrs. Takahashi said, startling everyone, "You've put my boy through enough already."

The awkwardness was palpable, and Tetsuo was wondering if it was time to break it when Sakie broke it.

"Thank you for your approval," Sakie said respectfully, "I can't help but be curious…well you seemed to really dislike succubi when we met…do you—by any chance, have you met a succubus before?"

No one breathed as Mrs. Takahashi decided on how to answer.

"Yes, I have," she said at last, "And even rarer, it was a male succubus." There was silence.

"Mom! Why haven't you ever told me?" Sakura complained. "What happened? Were you dating Dad at the time? Did you sleep with him?"

Sakie gasped, but Mrs. Takahashi waved away her daughter's questions.

"Calm down child. It was back when I working as the mayor's secretary, and we were at a formal function. I had wandered outside for some clean air, and I saw him, the succubus, with the mayor's two daughters, both giggling after him. It was disgusting, or would have been if he hadn't been dressed to the nines. Of course, as soon as he saw me, he reached out a hand to invite me to join them in a room upstairs.

"He touched me and suddenly I was willing to. I would have followed him anywhere with that single touch, all for the hope of another moment of his attention. Then the mayor rounded the corner with your father, who I had met once before, and the succubus took off with the other two girls clinging to him. I was left flushed, gasping, and I collapsed against a wall. The mayor re-introduced me to your father, and as I flinched away from the handshake, I knew that he knew, and I felt so…worthless. Of course, later, after the mayor left, your father asked where the succubus had gone and who with. I answered, and he made sure I knew that it wasn't my fault, and that it said a lot about my integrity that I hadn't gone with them."

"Wow," Sakura said. "Now things make a little more sense. You could probably have stopped Tetsuo's obsession with demi-humans if you'd shared that story before."

"More importantly," Mrs. Takahashi said proudly, "was the lesson I learned about control and responsibility. That I taught you and your brother quite nicely."

"I agree," Sakie said softly, "Thank you for sharing that story. I regret that others of my nature use them for unsavory means, but I am glad for the lessons you were able to teach your children about self-worth and self-control."

Mrs. Takahashi huffed and fell back against the couch she was sitting on, "If you were an ounce less polite and respectful, I would have made sure to chase you out of here on the first day," she said ruefully. "That was the most helpless I have ever felt in my life, and the thought of someone using that power over one of my children made me angry. You've made it very clear however, that you would wish this trial of yours away if you could, and you do the best that you can. Please take care of my son, Ms. Sato."

"All that is within my ability," Sakie said, offering a hand for her to clasp. Tetsuo decided to make his entrance then, before his sister could open her big mouth and ruin everything.

"You guys sure hid these well," he said, "it took forever to find the right cabinet."

His sister immediately broke out in protest, saying it was his fault for never coming home. Which he replied that he would visit more if they would stop banishing him.

Later that night, after a lovely meal of okonomiyaki, he and Sakie were walking by the beach.

"So, how much were you listening to today?" she asked casually.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean," he replied.

"I'll eat my glasses if you weren't listening before majong."

"I hope you like the taste of red plastic," he teased. She stuck her tongue out, then waited. He sighed. Sakie had gotten too good at reading him.

"I think I've listened to about fifteen of my sister's interrogations of you," he admitted.

"She's only asked me eighteen questions," Sakie said, startled, then calmed. "What did you think of your mom's story."

He took a deep breath and focused on the waves, "Like Sakura, it explains some things. It's going to be hard holding back from asking her more specifically about the effects of a male succubus, considering I wasn't supposed to have heard that."

"That's not what I meant," Sakie said, and waited for him to give her a real answer.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Of course not. Well, something I learned about relationships is that no relationship can exist without being tied up in messy strings of control and connection. Having control and involuntary effect over someone connects two people, but it's when the person uses that control to promote continuous understanding, affection, and connection, that control doesn't become a bad thing."

He glanced over to seek Sakie thinking it over, her thinking face turning pink in the fading sunlight, "I'm trying to understand, but maybe I'm too independent or weird or something, because it isn't clicking." Sakie said, "What's an example? When is a relation about control, and when is it better because it is used to promote understanding and connection?"

"Well…every relationship. As teachers, we are connected to our students by the control we have over their futures, and the time they spend depending on us to teach them. Because we use that time and that control to understand them, teach them, and prepare them for life, the relationship is successful and both parties feel better for it."

They kept walking as Sakie thought it over. "So…me and Ugaki. With his position in the police, he has the control to get me in trouble with the government. As a succubus, I have the power to…seduce him against his will. But because he uses his power to try and understand my circumstances and desires, to connect with me—and I don't try to use my abilities on him—because we both have control that we use responsibly to deepen our understanding of each other, the relationship is successful."

"That's it," Tetsuo said. "Your relationships with men have been odd because you immediately have a control over them that they didn't give you, and it scrambles how the two of you are supposed to act. However, when they understand like I do, that you don't want to control them, you have already a lot on your part towards understanding and connection. Men don't usually have any power over you though, and they aren't inferior automatically like students are, so it becomes unbalanced. They either turn you into an object made for them to try and try to gain power they don't actually have, or they run away."

They started walking again, and Tetsuo let her think.

"Hmm, that makes sense. Particularly with some of my failed relationships." Saki said, gazing at the boardwalk under their feet, lost in the past, "My dad, we could have had equal power, but I didn't know how to restrain my control over him, and he tried to manipulate me instead of understand me."

"It's something instinctive, inherent in the process of social bonds, but putting it into words helps with the unusual situations," Tetsuo said, then glanced at where they were, "We've walked farther than I wanted to, we should probably be heading back."

"Okay," she said, turning around. Her hair fluttered in the light breeze, and he was struck for the hundred thousandth time with her beauty. "So where does that leave us?"

"Huh?" he said, trying to not focus on her hair. Or skin. Or eyes.

"I've always had this control over you, and I've never used it. Why didn't the imbalance send you running?" she asked.

"I suppose my interest in Demi-humans over powered an instinctual problems of control," he said, forcing himself to think back, "Plus, you've never really had the power to make me act against my morals. Mother made sure of that. So it's less unbalanced between us."

"Oh really?" she said with a dangerous lilt, he swallowed. "I think it's something else." And she took a few steps ahead of him and turned to face him in dusk, her skin almost glowing as the moon's light replaced the sun's. She tilted her head to look up at him, glasses falling down her nose to look at him directly. His breath caught, and he didn't move as she continued, "I never put you under my power, not fully, which has made you confident in yourself, but the truth is you that fixed the problem of imbalance by simply giving me control. I earned it by never abusing your trust, but it isn't fixed because you aren't affected by me, it is fine because you don't mind being under my control."

Now, if this wasn't Sakie, if this was a normal relationship, he would challenge her notion of not being affected by him. He'd be able to breathe in her ear and whisper words to make her flush. But this was Sakie, this was not a normal relationship, and in terms of physical control, she was more than correct. He gave her that control that first date, the right to use it. Maybe even before, when he allowed her to affect him and not flinch from it for her sake. Of course, she'd never been so daring in the past, and in this moment, he had no defense against her accusation. He was completely under her control. He needed to tell her the end though, the fact that you want to be under the control of the ones you love, the ones you trust.

Tetsuo couldn't, because he was speechless, gazing down at her, proving her point. But then she fidgeted, and he remembered that while this was a strange relationship, but not that strange, his rules of control and connection still applied. He made her uncomfortable, made her blush, made her panic. His control over himself unbalanced her, and she gave him control over her just as surely as he gave her control over him.

"You're right," he said at last, "I was wrong. It was my control over myself that unbalanced you, but it was the control you gave me that balanced it. You offered to spend your time with me, you valued onto my comments and evaluated my wild theories. You blushed and tried to flirt. You let me push you in new directions, and expand your mind. You allowed me to get to know you without using your effect. You gave me those controls, balancing the relationship, and I never abused them."

Her breath caught and she seemed to have difficulty speaking as he looked at her with that sort of pure love that you only read about in books, something she had once sworn couldn't exist for her. "We both used those controls to create connection. Understanding." Her voice was thick with emotion, a whisper, a prayer, and he raised his hand to touch her face, but stopped just before.

"And we've reached the point," he said, voice thick, hand trembling. The point. That was their word. The tipping point. The point of no return. The peak, the last moment of stability before being swept to catastrophe or safety. The point of existence, and the point of humans as creatures of evolution. The point.

He was expecting her to step away, allow one of them to start talking something science, to go back to the status quo. Instead, she reached up and pulled his hand to her face, letting him touch the skin there, even turning her head to press her smiling lips into his palm.

And she took the final step. The step between them vanished.

A/N: This chapter is the reason I've frozen on this story for so long. Though the story has been complete and mostly well written, I personally have never written anything that even implied my characters had sex before marriage due to my personal views on the subject. Also I'm a virgin, so while I wrote more on the end, it felt inaccurate and wrong, and I ended it where I did. I hope you liked this story. Let me know what you think in a review!

Love,

thecagedsong