CLAIMING KIN by Salome and Talon

In the Bath

By Salome and Talon

Warning: Shota. Smut. Kinks of many varieties. Don’t read it if you don’t want to.

Sesshoumaru rolls and cracks his neck. It has been a long damn day. Traveling home from a mission he had not wanted to handle in the first place. Arriving to find a disaster had taken place, and the disaster was his brother. Meeting, identifying, controlling, and…claiming Ken. He scratches his groin when he is certain no one will see it. He needs a bath. He needs someone to give him a bath. Or someones. He needs some adult, female, submissive, naked companionship. …But first he will go check on the pup.

He sleeps deeply. The shift happens in the deepest sleep as Ken submerges and Kin emerges. The dreams hover between frightening and comforting, and he whimpers occasionally. When his eyes open, it is dark, and he is alone. And he hurts. Ohhh...his bottom hurts. He feels it gingerly, wondering if the other self...Ken...Oniisama had called him a different name!! He remembers that!! Oniisama did not whip Ken, did he? No. There are no welts. No injuries except the throbbing bruise on his face where his other self had run into an unexpected corner. But...it is dark...and he is tucked into Oniisama's bed...but where is Oniisama? He whines softly in his chest.

He is relieved that the youkai-child did no serious injury to his servants. True, the slash marks on the cook’s head assistant will likely leave a scar. True also that he had to listen to an hour of Jaken’s reporting on all the work he did to calm everyone and keep the news from reaching his father. He doubts the last, but there is nothing he can do about that. He arrives at his chambers and finds all is still and quiet. The guard outside his door verifies that there has been no disturbance or problem from the child since he was left there. Sesshoumaru nods and enters.

His heart stops for a moment when the door opens, light from the torches outside shining inside. His eyes adjust quickly, but his nose is even faster. "Oniisama!!"

Has the child been awake this entire time? It has been hours. Surely not. “Yes, Ken...” He breathes in his brother’s scent as he walks over to the bed, and he realizes the youkai has receded. His eyes confirm: the markings are gone. “Kin?” he asks, unsure exactly how their relationship works.

He rubs his eye sleepily. "You gave him a name," he smiles. "We like that. I woke up, and I was all alone and it's dark."

“Yes, it is night.” He stretches. He is stiff, uneasy in his body. “I need to bathe.”

He crawls out from under the blankets, wincing only a little. "Can Kin come? Kin can wash your back, Oniisama..."

Sesshoumaru sees the child wince. His eyes narrow. He is immediately inundated with contradictory emotions. The child is injured. He is no longer youkai. Sesshoumaru is responsible for him. He cannot consider only his own needs. He loathes this. He smells blood. He is upon the child in an instant, lifting him into his arms and looking at the sheets for blood. The child would suffer in silence and the damned servants would let him bleed to death before they checked on him. Whether dangerous youkai or wretched hanyou, they care nothing for him. Nothing: how Sesshoumaru himself once felt too.

"Oniisama? What is the matter?" He's happier now, being held. He touches his cheek gently. "Silly Ken...he did not see the corner. Runs too fast inside." He sighs a little, though. "Not enough room to run outside. Oniisama? Kin is all right."

The bruise is not his concern. He can smell and feel that the child is well enough, though he wishes to inspect him fully. Kin must heal quickly, whether in youkai or hanyou form. Considering his appetites, Sesshoumaru is glad of this. Yet the child is not wrong to wish to bathe with him. Warm water, herbs, salts: none of this will go amiss in ensuring the child is unharmed. And he will check that nether region himself. He denies to himself that his intentions are for anything but the child’s wellbeing. He grabs a fur from his bed and swaddles the child in it, his mokomoko wraps around too, of its own accord. Then they go to the door, where he orders the servant to have a bath drawn for him.

He loves the warm and snuggly feeling. And Oniisama's bath is BIG. The servant would fill it with water from the hot springs below part of the castle. He sucks his finger from one hand as the other pets mokomoko gently. "Did you do lots of work while Kin was sleeping, Oniisama?"

Gods, when the child touches his fur, it takes effort not to swat his hand away. No one touches his fur. Not his mother, not his lovers, not even his father…except when he particularly wanted to hurt him. It is incredibly sensitive, with a mind of its own. It loves to touch the child, and the child cannot seem to stop touching it. He feels, at quiet moments like this, with the child casually touching his fur, as if the two are having a relationship of which he is only an observer.

He looks up and reaches for Oniisama's face. "Oniisama has his thinking face on. Did..." He hesitates, but he has to know. "Was Ken good for Oniisama?" His voice is soft, and whisperish. "He doesn't mean to be bad..." It feels...very right to call his other self by a name. He knows his other self liked it too.

Because they must wait for the bath, he brings the child to his favorite chair. It was his mother’s, the chair she held him in so often as a child. When he moved into his own, adult chambers, she had it brought to him, so he would think of her, invite her to visit often. And she would sit in it and they would talk, and stay close. He closes his eyes a moment, then opens them again. It has been a long time since he has invited her to this room. He wonders what she would think if she saw him now, moving to sit in the chair with his brother in his arms. “Ken asks even more questions than you do, Kin. He worries that you miss your mother. But he wishes to stay here, too.”

He lays his head on Oniisama's chest, and listens to his strong, slow heartbeat. Mother's heart flutters like a wounded bird, but Oniisama's is always slow and steady and strong. "I do miss Mother. But..." He doesn't know how to explain it himself. That he is happier being with Oniisama than he was with Mother seems...disloyal…when Mother only loves him as best she can. Oniisama is quiet. Sometimes he is that way. Kin can be quiet too, but his bottom aches. Not in a bad way, he thinks. "Kin likes to be near Oniisama," he says simply.

First the way he caresses his fur, and now resting against his body. Who is he to this child, and why? The child has a mother, and Sesshoumaru is certainly no father—not like his father, in any case. He is astonished to discover this in the moment: he knows what he wants…perhaps. It has a great deal to do with seductive control, protective ownership. He wants the child dependent on him, entirely beholden to him. His father has not sought such from him, and though he can be cruel, he can also be so much more…and he is always a good and wise leader. No, what Sesshoumaru seeks from the hanyou is not the stuff of a future leader, as his father is making of him. Nor need it be. The pup is no Alpha, that much is more than clear. So, he does not know a name for what he wants, but he can feel the rightness of it. That will do. He reaches a hand into the furs and caresses the child’s soft flesh again. There is nothing quite like the touch of it. “While we wait for the bath, Kin, tell Oniisama about your life with your mother.”

He makes his happy, soft grunting sound at Oniisama's touch. "Mmmm...Mother?" He thinks for a moment. "I sleep with Mother, unless Papa has called for her, then I sleep with Hana and Nokimi. In the morning the servants come to bathe mother and make her ready, and the pups have their breakfast while the mothers are prepared. Unless you are a baby or still nursing. Then you stay with your mother, or with another mother. The mothers eat breakfast while they are being made ready. If it is warm, we can play in the garden. If it is raining, we stay with our mothers, or play in the big common room that connects all the chambers. Some of the pups are given some lessons. If they are in favor, or are strong. Mostly...mostly the bigger pups dominate the smaller ones." He always submitted...Ken always fought. Mother cried either way.

Sesshoumaru strokes the child’s small body distractedly as he listens. He knows the way court politics and life work. He knows how the child’s life must have been. He has seen the garden from a distance has probably seen his Kin at play. He regrets having asked the question. The answers intrude. Anger him, though they should not. He trails a claw along the child’s shoulder, then stops. He thinks about the expression “in favor.” Kin smells “out of favor.” He also smells like sex. The servant comes to tell them the bath will be ready momentarily. He hates announcements that declare that another announcement (that the bath is truly ready) is forthcoming. He waves the servant away, and lifts Kin’s head from his chest gently. He looks into the creature’s shining eyes, into his innocence. He thinks of the walls that have surrounded his body and mind. And he thinks of other walls, new walls, better walls, that will both free him and keep him safe.

He cocks his head to one side as Oniisama looks at him. "Kin likes waiting for Oniisama better than playing with his brothers and sisters." He smiles and wriggles in his brother's grasp. "You liked the other me. You would have punished me already if you didn't." He realizes that with some relief. Mother said she loved him...but he knew Ken frightened her. He tried to tell her that his youkai would never hurt her...but she never understood.

“I liked Ken, child,” he says, now toying with the boy’s hair. “If he misbehaves, I will punish him and not you. But Oniisama knows Ken will obey him. Ken belongs to me as much as you do, Kin.” A thought occurs, as the image of the walled garden remains in his mind as the child’s wide eyes continue to peer up at him. “Would you like to accompany Oniisama the next time he travels?” He regrets it the minute it is out of his mouth. But the feeling it gives him when he thinks of exposing the child to the world under his guidance and control… The feeling is good. His father will not like it. His upper lip twitches. That is good, too.

"Yes!! I always want to be with Oniisama!!" He bounces a little in the fur and the mokomoko, and the mokomoko squeezes a little and threads between his legs, just in case. "Oniisama won't let me fall, moko-sama!!" He giggles at the tickly soft sensation. "Is it time for the bath yet, Oniisama?"

The fur wants to fuck the child as much as he does. They will have to, sooner or later. Hard sex and soft fur…yes, he will have to soon. “Come, child, let us see.” He lifts him high and kisses his tiny, soft mouth. “Ken is delicious,” he says without a trace of a smile, “but you taste even better.”

The steaming water is deep, and the servant is nearby...a bathing servant...female and dressed for bathing the lord. Kin frowns a little. He knows what bathing servants can do. He looks up at Oniisama's impassive face, then down again at the sunken bath. He realizes for the first time since he woke up that he has clothes on. Over Oniisama's seed-smell, and his own smells. He wonders how that happened.

Sesshoumaru puts the child down at the edge of the huge, beautiful bath. He has a love of soaking in steaming hot water that he knows is probably dismissed as an excuse for sex with bathing servants. And, in truth, to keep his fetish a secret (for he fears it is somehow a weakness to love creature comforts such as bathing), he fucks every bathing servant he can. He thinks he may recognize this one from the birthmark on her bare shoulder. Now, though, he has other needs to attend to. “You may go.” He waves the servant away. He turns away and reaches down to begin to undress Kin, then realizes he would rather watch. He removes his own dirty garments and steps into the fragrant water. “Come let me clean you, child.”

He fumbles with his obi hurriedly, happy that the servant is leaving, and he puts his clothes down with Oniisama's. He puts his arms out though because the shallow end of the bath is away from Oniisama, and the deep end is deeper than he is tall. "Yes, Oniisama."

Arms stretch out to him…and all he can do is look at that tiny prick, and those infinitesimal balls. Since they are alone, and the damned child smells so ridiculously good, with his own scent and that of his greedy brother on him, he hoists him into the water and draws his mouth across his body, then sucks the flaccid genitals into his mouth. He is certain he could subsist on that sucking alone.

He whines, happily, his legs moving to rest on his brother's shoulders. "Oniisama!! Ohhh!! Kin likes that!!!" It makes his bottom ache less too, something he can hardly think of when his skin goosebumps everywhere.

He lowers the child to the water, coveting, as always, the smallness of his body, how easily he can be maneuvered and tasted and touched and used—the gorgeous portability of the creature. Reluctantly but only temporarily, he releases the genitals from his mouth and places the child’s bottom into the water. There is no way the child cannot be sore, but he troubles about it no more than the child himself. Still, clean is good. Sesshoumaru brings the child to sit on his lap in the water, facing away from him, and slides up against a tub wall. Let them acclimate to the heat awhile, relax together. He might like to wash the child’s hair…and feel the child’s hands in his own locks.

He gasps and swallows at the hot water touching his sore bottom. "Owwwie..." He pants in short, hard breaths as he gets used to the hot water. "My bottom is sore, Oniisama..." He leans his head back against Oniisama's chest. "It is not a bad hurt, Kin does not think."

He lifts the child onto his knees and reaches a hand beneath, touching him gently and washing him with warm water and gentle fingers. He feels no crusted blood, nothing to worry him. But he checks. “You know why your bottom is sore, yes, Kin?” he says, reaching for soap, cleaning him carefully.

He shakes his head. "No, Oniisama. Sometimes it gets a little sore when Oniisama puts his fingers there, but not sore like this." He holds very still while Oniisama washes him. It hurts, but in a soothing way.

How is it the two halves of the child do not communicate something this important? Does Ken wish to keep the knowledge to himself? He cannot worry about betraying one self to the other. The situation becomes absurd when he looks at it that way. And yet, the way his cock jumps at the thought of entering that tiny cavity, he knows he feels differently about the two. “Where is Ken now?” he asks, moving his hands to other body parts, enjoying his slippery skin.

"Away. He went away while we were sleeping. Sometimes it happens like that. Sometimes he is close when I am awake, but mostly he is not. Sometimes I am close when he is awake, but mostly not." He sighs. "I am not very good at controlling when he comes out."

“Do you want Oniisama to keep him safe when he comes out?” He tips the child’s head back and indulges himself in running long fingers through his tangled hair.

He whines softly. "Yes, please. He likes you Oniisama...oh Kin likes that..." He wriggles happily at the sensations.

“Kin,” he says, watching the white strands fan out in the water, “you obey Oniisama because you see his authority, and you seek his protection.” He finds smaller words. “Oniisama is strong and you know he will not hurt you. Ken wants to be as strong as Oniisama and he does not trust that he will not be hurt. Do you see?”

"Yes. Also he worries." He is quiet for a moment, then... "They punished Ken many times. But it did not stop him. So instead when he misbehaved again, I was whipped." It did not happen just once...but after the second time, his other self tried very hard to behave. He did not mind taking Ken's punishments. But Ken minded Kin being punished for things he did not do.

He envisions the life of this complex child and does not like what he sees. He wants it to be gone. Simple. Wants to replace it. With himself. With control. “I did not punish Ken.”

He nods. "I know. I checked. And he promised he would not hunt the servants. So I know he did not. Kin still doesn't know why Kin's bottom hurts so much, though."

“Shall I tell you, Kin, or should Ken? I do not understand why you do not know now. But I promise you I did not punish him.” Why is it so important that the child know this? He is so passive now. “Wash yourself, child,” he admonishes, attending to his own body now.

He reaches for the soap and obeys, frowning a little. "I do not know, because Ken is away. He did not tell me, and I was not near when it happened." He washes carefully, his skin everywhere. "Kin cannot bring his youkai like he should be able to." He looks down. He can't control his youkai at all. Because he is hanyou. Worthless, disgusting hanyou. He had not thought of himself like this for days—until Oniisama had gone away and left him with the servants again.

“Then Kin will learn,” Sesshoumaru says, matter-of-factly. The water feels damned good on tired joints and his well-worked cock, too. His fur curls around him loosely in the water, and he longs to wash his hair. “Would you like to wash Oniisama’s hair, Kin?”

"Oh yes!!! Kin LOVES Oniisama's hair!!!" He giggles at moko-sama floating and rippling in the water.

He wonders when the sensation of speaking before he thinks about the implications will stop. Only when out of the presence of his brother, he is certain. He decides, for the moment, not to care. There is something alluring in imagining the child touching him freely. He props Kin up on the ledge behind him and lets him dangle his feet. He submerges, enjoys the feel of wet heat all over his body. He takes in a single stroke the length of the tub and turns back to the child. Emerging from the water, he tosses his hair and fur back over his shoulder and splashes Kin before backing into his embrace.

He watches, enraptured as Oniisama submerges, then comes back up all wet and dripping, and he giggles at the big splash of water on him, sneezing once and then carefully putting his fingers in the wet, heavy hair. "Is there soap you like Oniisama?" He pulls the hair into his lap, his legs dangling on Oniisama's strong shoulders alongside his youkai markings.

Sesshoumaru quickly realizes he cannot remember the last time he has washed his own hair. Though he pretends the task is meant to display his power over bath servants, the truth is he loves the feel of fingers threading through his long, silver tresses, and massaging his scalp. He has taught the various servants well what he does and does not like, and they teach one another so he is never more than mildly disappointed if one or two favorites are elsewhere at a given time (he likes variety more than anything…or has liked…). Now he is risking something different. And his patience is significantly higher than for even the highest youkai bath vassal. He turns his head and points to the fluted vial painted with white blossoms. Its scent is pale, letting his own icy musk dominate. “Bring that one, child.”

He has to move, crawl over to reach it, but he comes back with no problems, settling back down and carefully pulling the stopper out. The scent is faint...and pretty, and he carefully pours some out into his hands, then begins to even more carefully stroke them through Oniisama's hair, starting at the front. He doesn't drop any or let any drip into his brother's face, and he concentrates, hard on what he's doing.

The sight of the child, crawling away, is too delicious to miss a moment of. The plump thighs, tiny genitals dangling between them, little round ass: gods, he thinks, allowing the child to minister to his cleansing, he has become enamored of it all. The tiny hands work industriously, and he is certain there is a look of intense concentration on the boy’s face. He reaches a hand around and between the child’s legs and toys with whatever he can reach.

He gets more soap and begins to work it through the thick, silky strands, and giggles when Oniisama's hand sneaks back to touch him. Obligingly, he scoots forward because he knows Oniisama likes to touch him on his dick and balls. And his dick likes the touching. It gets hard faster these days. He wonders if Ken liked the touching too. He squirms a bit, but once he has the soap all worked through to the very ends he returns to the top and begins to scritch gently with his claws, wondering if Oniisama will like what he likes so much when Mother washes him.

Sesshoumaru tips his head back to enjoy the sensation of those small hands. What they lack in skill they make up for in…in his hand stroking that tiny cock. And he does like those little claws. They truly will need to explore what he can do with them. He wonders whether the full length of his hair will actually receive the cleaning it needs, or whether he truly will care. Each testicle is like a perfect candy in his palm. He loves to weigh them gently and make the child squirm.

He pants slightly, and he really does try to focus on what he's doing. He wants to do a good job on Oniisama's hair. He scratches around his ears. They're not on the top of the head ears like his...they're like all other youkai ears. Well...not Hana's...she has ears like Oniisama's, but she got picked on a lot because her ears have furry tips of red and gold. They're pretty. But...does Oniisama like around his ears scratched? His dick is hard.

The teasing is too good. He releases the child and submerges in the water again, to get the soap out. When he comes up again, knowing and relishing, as always, that he looks like a silken sea demon of a far-off legend, he places his hands around the sides of the child and brings his face directly to that hard little puppydick. He shakes his fur—or it shakes itself—its true independence is as illusory as his complete control over it, and water falls over them both as he indulges his mouth with this miniscule treasure.

He whines and giggles at the shaking of water everywhere...moko-sama rippled and shook and Oniisama...OHHH...he has come to like this feeling an awful lot. "O...oniiiiiisama..." His mouth is hot and his tongue...it does...THINGS!!!

Again he explores what is so small and at the same time so entrancing. His tongue brings it up to press against the roof of his mouth, where he feels the sweet skin that hides the head even when he is erect, like now. The sound of his name from the child’s mouth in arousal is like a charm, a prayer, the worship he craves. He hums in his throat, and points his tongue to circle inside the foreskin. He wants to draw out a treasure that he nevertheless knows he cannot have more of until the child grows.

His fingers grip Oniisama's hair before he really knows what he's doing. And even after, he doesn't know much of anything except the hot, sucking feelings and the warm tingling of everything everywhere. It makes the soreness of his bottom stand out in sharp contrast to all the good feelings, but strangely that is not a bad feeling either. He squeaks when the pointy tip of Oniisama's tongue makes him gasp for breath. He doesn't know exactly why it feels so much, inside his skin there, only that it does. His cock is so different to Oniisama's...

As he feels the child’s desire rise, his own cock bobs in the water. He is tempted to retrieve that bathing servant to allow him to fuck and suck at the same time. And yet, he still wants to be sure that little ass is healing as it should. He removes the cock from his mouth (knowing he will receive some delicious whimper, whine, or squirm at the teasing) and spreads the child’s legs hard enough to reveal the other erogenous zone that, too, deserves his oral ministration.

He is spread WIDE. And tipped back a little on his elbows, and he protests wordlessly, whining as Oniisama's mouth goes away from his hardness. And he pouts. But only for a moment, because his curiosity overrides his pouty feelings. "Oniisama? What are you doing?" He giggles a little, because he realizes he can't see his own cock in this position. His belly is too round!

As in most of life, there is no need for words. And yet the child speaks. He sees the redness but no blood. Swollen, perhaps, but no real damage. The beauty of youkai healing delights him. He brings his mouth forward to lick, to indulge.

His eyes go WIDE at the feeling. He is so sore there...and it hurts, but feels SO good at the same time. "O..ohh...oniiii...Kin likes that...please..."

Yes, Onii likes that too, he thinks. Do all children taste so good? In this of all bodily places. The child still wets the bed on occasion and has to dart out of the room to defecate most of the time because he pays so little attention to his body’s needs. He laps and laps as he spreads the little wrinkle wide. The tip of his tongue darts inside then draws circles. He knows he must not fuck the child again, but damn how he wants to. He withdraws his tongue and lightly bites and nips at sensitive inner thighs and tiny cheeks. The child’s response is an increasing portion of the pleasure in their indulgence.

He feels...so hard now. And shivery and melty inside, and he can't stop whining and writhing. He feels so spread...and Oniisama's breath and mouth is so warm and hot and...and his tongue prods and pokes and...he can't move very much, but he wants to, and he's already fallen back on his back and...and..."Please...please Oniiiiiiisamaaaaaaa!!"

Oh that whine. It should be bottled and sold, but Sesshoumaru would be an instant addled addict. And he would buy it all. Oh, he must tease the child more. He is too delicious to devour so quickly. He scoops and brings him forward, sits him up. Fingers toying lightly between his legs, he says, with utter seriousness, “Tell Oniisama how it feels.”

He pouts at the stopping, but keeps his legs spread, because he feels SO stiff and Oniisama's fingers are so good. "It makes my belly feel hot and melty. And my hardness gets stiffer. Does Oniisama like it? Should Kin do that for Oniisama too?"

“Just tell me, Kin. Tell me more.” If he were one to smile, he would be smiling. “Oniisama enjoys your hardness, Kin. Oniisama wants you always hard like this for him. He will help you learn to be so at his touch…even at his command. Is it good to be hard and please Oniisama?” His cock strains at his own words. His fur thrashes and settles around the child’s body.

He tips his head back a bit, snuggling moko-sama a little. "Oh yes!! It is good to be hard and please Oniisama," he says eagerly. "My hardness loves Oniisama!! When Oniisama was licking Kin's sore bottom, it made my hardness so harder!! It hurt but it felt good too. And Kin wanted more of the feeling good hurting. Moko-sama is heavy when he is wet!!"

In an instant, Kin is lying back again and Sesshoumaru is over him. His tongue reaches out and laps at his bottom while his cock and balls fit perfectly into his mouth. He is careful of his fangs, though he would love to unleash them. So many contradictory emotions. But one goal now: to feel the child burst into his mouth again. He scoops beneath his back and pulls him in. Sesshoumaru’s groin is pressed hard against the bath’s edge. He grinds against the stone. It is smooth, but still rough against his sensitive erection. He enjoys the small pain as he begins to suck the toy-prick in earnest. How hard can he make the boy cum?

He shrieks loudly and the sound echoes all around the bathing chamber. Little feet attached to little legs scramble on broad shoulders as he is held securely and sucked impossibly hard. His arousal skyrockets in a matter of seconds, partially from conditioning, and partially...well...because of the licking and sucking and ONIISAMA!! He jabbers, unaware of anything he is saying, if he is speaking words at all. His belly is HOT...and he feels like he is about to fall and fly at the same time.

My sweet, hard little brother, Sesshoumaru thinks. So hard, so little. I will never let you go. A vision of the child in one year, five years, ten; at his feet, at his side, in his bed. He will tease and delight and groom and adore and own this little beast—hanyou and youkai—for all of his life. His cock chafes, and he lets it. He pulls, draws on the little shaft, needing to taste that pale, unseeded fluid. Now.

His back bows into a perfect arc when he explodes into Oniisama's mouth. Never...he never...he does feel like he is falling, but Oniisama's arms are holding him, and Oniisama would never let him fall. His cry is silent, but the arc remains for several seconds as he comes; and as he collapses into the warm, safe arms his entire body twitches before relaxing into a brief black-out.

He lets the cum stay in his mouth. He will not swallow it, nor will he yield the little member until he is certain there is no more to be taken. The way the child peaks, strains and collapses, is delicious. He finally releases his prey, lets him curl up, and watches him a moment. He tastes the liquid, moves it around with his tongue. Certainly, it has little flavor—far less than his own. Little texture either. So: it is the capturing of it that is precious. He swallows at last, and feels surprisingly contented, especially given that he did not climax himself, nor even get active stimulation, apart from the rough grinding. He dips beneath the water’s surface again, and pulls himself out. A quick dry with a towel, and then he retrieves robes for himself and his perfect little pet, lying ridiculously unconscious beside him. Oh, he will build the boy into stamina and it will be such pleasure to do so.

He makes a little mewling noise and blinks blurry eyes. "Oniisama?" Oniisama is his first thought upon waking...no matter what these days. Everything is warm and wet and...oh...he feels so...so...good. He smiles, contentedly.

“Come, child, we are clean and it is time for sleep,” he says, now robed. He scoops the child up into a thick towel and carries him off. His damp fur wraps softly around them both, and the castle’s dark quiet surrounds and comforts them, too.