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"Maybe..." he relented as he leaned in to give Nani a brief kiss, though he knew that wasn't the case. Maybe she had missed the look in Seiji's eyes.

Maybe not everybody had been as forgiving about his leaving for awhile as she had been...

Sellexi gave a chirping giggle and planted a kiss on his cheek as well before reaching for Nani again, apparently not wanting her to feel left out. Daddy was back, and this was a happy time! Everybody should be happy!

Zhane held her a little tighter so she wouldn't fall, trying to reclaim the good mood he'd come in with.

"I'll have to go back eventually." he told her, following her into the house. "Still not done getting settled in and figuring out where I'm going to go from here."

He wasn't going to be able to stay there much longer, that was for certain. The minute he'd walked in the door, it was clear that things were much different now between he and his parents. He'd done well driving the idea home that he was no longer their little boy...and while it was exactly what he'd wanted - to be spoken to and treated like an adult - it was also strange. It felt like something small and innocent had died forever and he'd helped to kill it.

"But I don't have a curfew anymore, if that's what you're wondering." he added, smiling a bit, trying to ignore Seiji's retreat into his room.

"I'd love to stay." he told her, setting Sellexi down in a chair beside Ren so that she could have a sandwich as well. "For the evening, at least. I have a couple things I'd like to talk to you about later on. .....if you have time, I mean."

With Seiji in the mood he was in, he half-expected to be told to come back another day. And he really wouldn't blame Nani if that was the case, in spite of how much he'd missed her.

He had reciprocated the embrace, smiling warmly at her, and had been about to answer her, when Ren had spoken, effectively cutting him short.

"He told you that?" he asked the little girl, fins perking a bit in intrigue. It wasn't really what he'd wanted to hear, but at least it explained things.

Of course running off looked bad to a child. Seiji hadn't been there for the discussion, he hadn't been old enough to understand Zhane's reasons for wanting to leave for awhile. Add in the fact his mother had probably not been terribly happy to wake up and find him missing the morning after, and of course he probably looked like a giant jerk.

He vented a sigh, lowering his eyes. Nothing was ever easy. "Should I talk to him?" he asked, looking back to Nani.

Sellexi, for the moment, seemed to be perfectly fine out of the water as she chewed on her sandwich. As she got older, she seemed to depend on it less and less, in fact, being able to enjoy gradually-longer periods out of it to be with Seiji and Ren. Getting around on her tail, however, was something she was still learning. If she made an effort of it, she could operate it a bit like a snake's, but not for long. The friction hurt her after a short while.

If only they'd learn to live in the water...

Zhane let Nani go, looking over his shoulder in the direction Seiji had gone for a moment. "I'll be back." he assured her before padding off after the young dragon child. His eyes scanned the doorways as he passed them by, looking for the room that belonged to Seiji, before arriving at one that was closed and stopping before it.

He'd never actually tried to have a meaningful talk with a kid who wasn't his sister before, he realized. Running through his head the topics that might come up, he drew in a breath and gave a knock.

He remained in the doorway, watching Seiji's reaction to seeing him there with an inward sigh. This definitely wasn't the same boisterous little toddler he'd left behind a month ago.

"Hi, Seiji." he greeted, putting on a pleasant tone despite the pall the child's mood cast across the room. When it wasn't returned, he chewed his lip a moment. "....think we can talk for a sec?" he tried. If he was told to get lost, he supposed he'd have to until he felt like expanding on why he was behaving this way.

The words were like a slap in the face as the faint smile Zhane had ventured toward the younger boy faded away into nothingness. "What...?" he asked after a moment of silence.

His mind raced. Who'd put THAT idea in his head? Had it been Nani? Kayla? Rose? He shook his head faintly in disbelief, not sure if he should feel betrayed or ashamed of himself that he'd given that impression. "I....no. No, not at all." he said, trying to shake it off and having a hard time of it.

"Where'd that come from?"

He leaned against the threshold of the doorway, venting the sigh he'd been holding in as he listened to Seiji speak. At the question, his tail gave a small flick behind him.

"Well, its kind of a long story." he told him in a voice that felt calmer than it had a few seconds ago. Hearing it from school was not nearly as bad as hearing it from someone in the house, after all. Feeling like he was a fly under a microscope aside, he found himself very impressed with how much Seiji had grown mentally. He believed Phae, when she was about that old, was just getting a handle on learning to pronounce some of the more complex names in one of her butterfly books

"Mind if I come in?"