This story contains twincest / incest. If you don't like it, then don't read it. Simple. Please don't flame me with words like 'wrong' and 'gross', et cetra. You're not going to change mind, so really, what would be the point.

The first chapter isn't much, but we will pick up momentum as we go along. And this is going to be moderately long...but updates are going to reflect any and all feedback I receive. Hint hint. So don't forget to hit that little 'review' button down at the bottom. : - D

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Steps

Aya + Aki

By: L 0 K I

Absconding

And in today already walks tomorrow

–Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Aya stared at the repeating pattern on the wall, her mind also falling into repeating patterns.

"Did you hear me, Aya? I know it's a lot to ask, but it really is the best way---for all of us."

Aya started, taking a deep breath. "What about Ceres?" Even now she could feel the Tennyo, pushing at the boundaries of her mind just at the sound of her brother's voice.

"I've found a way to suppress her. It's something Kagami-san came up with. I'm not sure of what it is, or how it works, but apparently it does work." What he didn't mention was that he knew this because he heard a conversation he wasn't supposed to hear, about an experiment he wasn't supposed to know about.

Suppress Ceres?

Suppress Ceres...

Was such a thing possible? It seemed since her sixteenth birthday her life had stopped being her own. In a strange way, she and Ceres had come to a sort of truce---but she wouldn't stop trying to kill her brother, and for that, Aya would never accept her presence in her life.

She felt for Ceres, she feared her and she pitied her. And Ceres felt for her, was possessive and protective. But these feeling were vague and general---and too easily overcome by her rage.

So, yes. Yes, she would suppress Ceres if she could. If only to suppress the danger she was to everyone around her.

She tried to kill her brother...

Her mother...

"But what about..." Touya. Yuuhi. Suzumi...

"What, Aya?"

"Nothing."

"You're worried about everyone, right?"

It warmed her, how well he knew her. "Yes," she breathed, furtively edging closer to the phone.

"You know I'm right about this, Aya. Ceres has vowed to destroy our family, and she has the power to do just that. Okay, that family has turned against us. I'm not really worried about most of them, but I am worried about you.

"If we stay here, the Mikages will keep coming after us. Yuuhi, Suzumi, Kiyuu-san---they will all be dragged into this...Touya, too."

Her breath caught at that, as he knew it would. And a loop of some unidentifiable emotion coiled tighter inside him. He was glad Touya was in confinement at the moment, otherwise there would be no way for them to get away.

Touya...He appreciated Touya looking out for his sister, but...

His hand clenched tighter around the receiver of the phone, the plastic creaking slightly in protest.

But Touya needed to understand. Aya was special. And she was vulnerable. And Touya was a part of a life that was going to hurt her.

Touya needed to stay away from his sister.

"Touya," she whispered faintly.

"Touya would want you to be safe, Aya," he pressed on, his gold eyebrows furrowing slightly. It wasn't like him to play on his sister's emotions---not so relentlessly anyway.

Whatever works, something placated softly in his mind.

Whatever works to keep Aya safe.

( And by your side. )

Yes, he nodded to himself, relaxing again.

A sigh flitted through the phone. A sound, oddly enough, composed of equal amounts of relief and resignation. "You're right, Aki."

He abruptly slumped against the wall he was leaning on, feeling as if her gentle concession was a spell that had removed his bones and turned him into warm liquid.

"Aya, Aya, I'm so sorry. I love you, you know. I don't know if I ever tell you that anymore, but I really do."

Aya closed her eyes a moment and smiled weakly. "I know, Aki, and I love you, too." She opened her eyes and her smile became a trying grin. "But you definitely don't say it often enough."

A slight huff that was part amusement, and part something else. "Well, if that's how you really feel, then I'll have to take steps to prove you wrong." Whatever it was in him that had tightened at Touya's name, suddenly loosened pleasantly, sending slight fissures of pleasure through him.

They were all they had left in the world, and together they would be fine.

"I'm going to hold you to that, you know. It's about time you recognized my greatness," she said in her most haughty voice.

You can hold me any way you like. Came the unbidden and dark thought. He shook his head hard, pressing a tight fist down over his heart.

"Great annoyance, maybe," he muttered on auto-pilot. There was a slightly affronted 'oi!' in the background, but he went on quickly, not wanting to get diverted with unimportant details, and not wanting to examine his own thoughts too closely. "Can you be ready tonight?"

A long pause.

Tonight? Only a few hours away from now, she thought dimly. Only a few hours left...with Yuuhi, Suzumi, Kiyuu-san...

"Aya?"

Touya...

"Aya!"

Mom..."Tonight?"

Aki put his hand over his eyes, pressing down on his temples. Convincing her to go had been easier than he had anticipated. Convincing her to go now, well...

"Yes, tonight. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that we'll be found out."

"But..."

"You can't tell them, Aya. They can't know what we're planning," he gentled his voice, wishing that he could take away her sadness, but at the same time, slightly envious of all the people that were there in her life now, despite everything. It seemed that all he had was her, and they couldn't even be together. Not with the Mikage family. Not with Ceres.

(Not with Touya?)

Not with Touya, he thought, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I know," she finally conceded grudgingly, "and I get it. But---I just wish I could leave them a letter or something. Suzumi-san and Yuuhi have done so much for me."

"They've done so much because they care for you. They want you to be safe, Aya. But no one is going to be safe while we're still here. Do you want Kagami-san to hurt your friends just to get to you?" He took a shaky breath, then continued more quietly. "Do you want Ceres to kill me?"

"Of course not! Don't even say things like that," she snapped, her free hand sliding around her waist, clutching at the vulnerable flesh right above her elbow. The subtle scent of blood perfumed the air around her, while Ceres' demanding voice died in her head under the heavy weight of her own thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Aya," he sighed, strangely happy at her vehemence.

An almost audio gathering of her composure. "All right. I'll be ready to go tonight, and I won't tell anyone. Where do we meet?"

It was like he could breathe again, for the first time in weeks. "The bridge, where you fell, tonight when ever you can slip away unnoticed."

"Okay, I'll be there."

"And Aya..."

"Hmm," she said distractedly, thinking of never seeing Touya again. Or any of the others. Maybe someday...

"I love you."

"I love you, too. See you tonight."

Abscond

\ab-skänd\ vi [L abscondere to hide away, fr. ab-, abs- + condere to store up, conceal, fr. com- + dere to put to depart secretly and hide oneself --- ab-scond-er n

Synonyms: Run away. Escape. Break out. Leave suddenly. Make off. Flee. Take flight. Run off. Desert. Conceal. Hide. Keep hidden.

TBC...