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Written for the Shitennou Forums 2009 Ficathon. The theme this year was song fic. This is the edited version. See author profile for notes and where to locate unedited version.

Gravity (Sara Bareilles)

It was nearing evening. The world was awash in soothing tones of red, pink and orange as the sun sank lower in the clear sky. Cherry blossoms swirled in a gentle breeze. The only sound to be heard was the cawing of crows on the deserted temple grounds. A lone figure sat hunched on the rear porch, legs drawn up against their chest, long, dark hair creating a curtain between them and the world. The figure didn't even stir at the approach of another.

"Can we talk?"

"Go away Niko," came the reply.

"No," Niko said, settling his tall form on the porch beside his prickly friend, "We need to talk about this Rei."

Rei let her legs drop down so that they were now hanging from the porch and glared at her male companion. "What is there left to discuss?" she questioned.

"Plenty," he answered, running a hand through his dark curls in frustration, "You can't just keep running away."

"I'm not running away," she said hotly, "I'm right here, like I've always been. I'm not the one who left."

She turned away from him, unshed tears burning in her eyes. Hugging herself, she struggled for control, focussing on the distant sunset. Behind her, she could hear him take a deep breath. "Is that what this is really about?" he asked softly.

When she didn't answer right away, he placed a hand on her shoulder, gently turning her so that she was facing him. A shock ran through him when he saw her face. Her infamous control appeared to be in shreds as silent tears ran down her cheeks. Numb, he raised a hand to wipe away her tears. 'Talk to me,' he pleaded without words, 'please little sister, don't shut me out.'

Rei pulled away from him sharply. "Don't do that. You don't have the right. Stay out of my head."

"What else am I supposed to do?" he demanded, "You won't talk to me, how else can I make this right? Are you punishing me for leaving?"

Rei stared at the man she once considered an older brother. The years had been kind to him. He had transformed from the awkward pre-teen she had known into a tall, broad-shouldered man. He had grown out his short mop of hair into a curly, mahogany mass that fell past his shoulder blades; longer than was fashionable for men, but it suited him somehow. His dark blue eyes radiated sincerity, something she wanted to trust, but past experience had taught her not to.

'You can't make it right,' she finally responded, 'things will never be all right. The punishment is mine alone to bear.'

Surprised, he answered her aloud, "What are you talking about? What punishment?"

Again he waited as his companion appeared to gather her thoughts. Just when he was about to prompt her, she spoke, so quietly he almost missed it. "Do you remember when you first came here?"

Her voice carried a wistful note, as if she were speaking to herself. He nodded in reply even though she wasn't looking at him. "It was a few weeks after I came to live with Grandpa," she continued, "I remember, it was raining and I was hiding under the porch. Grandpa wanted me to meditate with him but I thought it was boring, so I was hiding."

She hesitated and he took up the narrative. "I was scared that day," he spoke carefully, evenly, his words not revealing the deeper emotions she could sense beneath them, "My parents had been fighting again that day. Loudly, and I knew it was about me. The entire car ride here, my mother wept. It was like she was broken. I didn't cry though, I couldn't. I couldn't feel anything. They left me at the top of the steps with my suitcase and I couldn't feel anything. I stood there for what felt like forever and then…"

"Then you found me," Rei finished, "I was hiding, watching you, waiting for you to move and when you did you walked straight to where I was."

"It was the strangest feeling," he replied, "It was as though you were calling to me and when I found you it was like 'Ah-hah! This is what I was waiting for."

"It was someone like me," she said, "A kindred spirit."

'Family.'

She gave him a tiny smile, "No, not family, never family. Family was what abandoned us on these temple steps."

As though fated, her cell phone gave a shrill cry, piercing the sombre atmosphere that had fallen upon them. "Aren't you going to answer that?" Niko questioned.

Without even looking at the phone, she passed it over so that he could look at the display. Otō-sama. Grimly, he pressed the ignore button and returned the phone to her. "What does he want now?" he asked.

Rei sighed, "He's taken it into his head to marry me off to the son of one of his associates. Whichever one will benefit him the most."

Anger surged in him at the thought of someone selling off his sister to the highest bidder. Her small hand on his arm brought him back to the reality of the situation. He had no right to say anything, even when she looked at him as she was doing right now, sadness evident in her amethyst gaze. "Once upon a time, I would have done anything for that man," she stated, sounding defeated, "All I wanted was for him to take me in his arms like so many of the other fathers I saw around the temple with their families."

"Rei," he said earnestly, grabbing her hand, "He doesn't deserve that kind of regard. He…"

"Anything," she interrupted, "even betray my brother."

That brought him up short and suddenly, it was as if he was back on those steps years and years ago, watching the tail lights of his parent's car disappear into the distance. Sensing where he had gone, Rei's grip on his hand tightened until it became nearly painful. 'I loved you, you know?' she told him silently, 'I wasn't in love with you but you were my world in a way that only a child can comprehend. But… you weren't Papa.'

That last word resonated with so many conflicting feelings: hurt, anger, love, yearning… it was overwhelming and he had to fight to retain his sense of self in the onrush of her emotions. She continued on, seemingly unaware of his struggle, 'It was just before my eleventh birthday and Kaidō had called to let me know that Papa was going to be able to make it this year. I was excited, thinking that Papa knew all about how good a girl I had been and that he would finally take me home. Gods, I was so naïve. I had this picture in my mind of me, you and Papa living happily ever after together, even though it had been five years.'

He remembered that birthday. Rei had been pricklier than usual, jumping on anyone who dared to stray from her carefully laid out routine that day. She had even been sent home from school after making another girl cry with her blunt assessment of the other girl's art project. Niko, in his fourteen-year-old wisdom, had simply given Rei his patented 'disappointed brother' look and carried on with his chores. 'I hated that look,' she said, interrupting his musings, 'It made me feel about ten centimetres tall.'

Here she paused, taking a deep breath. Her instincts screamed at her to stop, to not revisit this buried pain; but it only took one look at Niko's concerned face for her to keep going. 'I was angry at you for that, and then you went out with your friends while I sat on the steps waiting for Papa.'

"I was a teenage boy," he said, not wanting her to hear what his other voice might reveal, "I was too cool, too grown-up to hang out with a little kid."

'I get that now,' she replied, 'Really I do. But back then, not so much. We were in the car on the way to Raintree. Papa and Kaidō were ignoring me, talking about some important bill that they wanted to put before some committee. I… I just wanted them to include me, to talk to me and listen to what I had to say.'

"Rei," he tried to interject, "Please…"

"No," she finally said aloud, "I need to tell you. You need to know."

Giving up speech, she placed her hands on either side of his face and allowed the memories to flow freely.

She sat in the limo across from Papa and Kaidō watching as they debated point after point on some issue that she didn't really understand. Her white dress was itchy and she was thirsty but she didn't want to interrupt. Gazing out of the window at the streets as they passed by she snapped to attention as she spotted a familiar head of curly brown hair. However, as they continued on, the person turned and disappointment flooded her as she realized her mistake. Of course it wasn't Ni-chan. He didn't want to celebrate with a baby like her. He was always off with his new friends lately now that he was a high school student.

"Rei?" Kaidō's voice brought her back from her thoughts.

Kaidō and Papa were looking at her expectantly. "Your father asked you how school was."

"School was fine," she replied slowly.

"Really," her father said sternly, "Then why did I get a call saying you were sent home early?"

Rei winced, "It wasn't my fault Otō-sama. All I did was…"

"Silence," he cut in, "No excuses. I expect more from a child of mine."

"But Papa…"

A sharp crack filled the interior of the limo and Rei brought a hand up to her stinging cheek. "What have I told you about calling me that?" he questioned, "You are no longer a small child Rei and you can no longer behave as such. I don't know what that father-in-law of mine is teaching you."

Rei bristled, wanting to defend her beloved grandfather, but her cheek stung with the reminder of what happened when she argued with her father. "I suppose he's still going on about all that hocus-pocus see the future crap," he continued on.

Kaidō nodded in support of his boss's statement and gave Rei a look that mirrored Niko's from earlier that day. Rei's anger increased and before she realized it, she blurted out one of her most precious secrets, "It's not crap, Niko can see the future. He reads it in the stars."

Her father stared at her woodenly and guilt overtook her. She had promised Niko that she would tell no one about his ability and now she had broken her promise to one of the people she loved best. She spent the rest of the evening in silence, staring down at her interlocked hands.

When they had returned to the temple, her father surprised her by following her in but he ignored her and sought out her grandfather. The ensuing argument was loud enough that she could still hear their angry voices even as she huddled in her bed, pillows tight over her ears. The next day when she got home from school, Niko was gone. There was no trace of him left, as if he had never been there.

Pulling back from the memory, Niko studied Rei's face. Her eyes were downcast, as though she couldn't meet his eyes any longer. "Look at me Rei," he said firmly.

She shook her head stubbornly. "Rei," he repeated, "Look at me."

Reluctantly she brought her eyes up to meet his. "For a long time I was angry," he started out, his mind clearly on the past, "The day after your birthday, your dad showed up with these men who said they were going to take me to a place for 'people like me'. I knew then that you told and yeah, I was mad at you. But as I got older, it got easier and easier to forgive you. You were a kid and you acted out like a kid."

Rei stared, her face unreadable, "I thought about you all the time. Were you mad at me? Were you thinking of me? Where did you go? Why didn't you write? And all of the sudden, here you are. All grown up and looking like…"

"Looking like what?" he asked.

"When I was fourteen," she responded, watching his face carefully, "a man came into town. He was a bad man who hurt a lot of people, but he changed. One of his friends didn't like the change and killed him in front of me and two of my friends. He had your face Niko. When I saw you last week I thought you were a ghost come back to haunt me. I was being punished for not trying harder to save him and for betraying you."

"He wasn't me Rei," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Relaxing slightly, she allowed the familiar act. "I don't know how he had my face, but it wasn't me. You need to stop blaming yourself for the past. We can't change it. What we can do is choose to live in the present."

"When did you get so smart?"

"The stars know all," he replied, nodding his head sagely.

Rei responded with a light elbow to the ribs, "Sorry, I meant smartass."

Getting serious again, she leaned into his embrace. "Niko," she began in a small voice, "I'm sorry. I missed you."

"I missed you too."

The two sat there for a long time, simply enjoying being reunited.

"Hey Niko," an unfamiliar voice called out, "We need to get going."

It belonged to a blonde gentleman standing just underneath the torii looking impatiently at his watch. Niko chuckled and stood, ruffling Rei's hair as she gave the interloper her best glare, "I better get going or he's liable to drag me out of here. I'm glad we finally got a chance to talk."

Rei stood and surprised him by going up on her tiptoes and giving him a hug, "Me too. Don't be a stranger anymore, okay?"

He gave her a wicked grin, "Of course not, I still need you to introduce me to that hot brunette friend of yours." She whacked him lightly on the arm. "Of course, I also need to make sure that you're taking care of yourself and that you don't go off and marry some lackey of your dad's."

Taking her hand, he pressed something into it before giving her a jaunty wave and heading off with his blonde friend in tow. His friend seemed to protest, looking back at her, but Niko merely shook his head and said "Next time" loud enough so that she could hear from her spot on the porch.

Rei stood there and watched until she could no longer see or hear them before she remembered that he had given her something. Opening her hand, she found a set of three identical pins; each crafted as a single golden star.

'Love you.'

'Ditto.'

Something always brings me back to you

It never takes too long.