Family Secrets

A/N: Hi! This is Kittehn. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter written by Spirahl. As she said, we don't really plan out our ideas much…so it's basically all on a whim with minimal planning.. -sweat drop- Anyway here's chapter two! -grin-

Kadaj looked up when he saw one of the caretakers, Henry came in the lounging room, then to another door. "Hello Kadaj." He said quietly. The silver haired boy nodded to him and went back to what he was doing, not noticing when the shy man left. He scanned over the old book in his hands, three inches wide with fading brown cover that was wearing down, and old gold cursive letters you couldn't even make out any more.

He looked up briefly when he heard the door open again, only to see one of their new guest, Yuki Sohma. The purple haired boy said a quick apology and was about to leave before Kadaj stopped him, "It's fine." He said, his odd colored eyes glinting. Yuki paused, then came into the lounge/library fully, choosing to sit on a black leather couch on the opposite side of the host.

"Your allowed in any room of our house, except for the southern area." His voice was soft, but held a sad undertone. "May I ask why?" Yuki said with a tilt of his head. Kadaj looked up from the book, studying him, before a small, almost invisible smile graced his face, "That's where the adults of our family had lived."

"I thought you said you were the remaining Blackwell's.." He stated, confused. "We are. That family is gone." His voice said 'ask no more about this subject' and Yuki mentally noted this wasn't something the younger Blackwell liked to discuss.

Ember sighed irritably, running a hand through blood red hair. She looked up and almost smiled as a man walked towards her. Almost. He had long waist length silver hair (A/N: can you tell we like the silver-haired? XD) and molten gold eyes. He wore a white tunic with ivory colored hakamas and white slipper-like shoes. The man always had this thing for white, though Ember thought it was a large cover to fool those who thought he was a devil. Angels always wore white. Youko was the exact opposite.

"You look upset." He stated, sitting next to her on one of the benches in the garden. It had roses carved up on the sides of it and gardenias carved on the base. "Is it that obvious?" She asked, rubbing her face. "Only to those who look. Was it Sephiroth?"

"We have new guest. Four. I got a notice that tomorrow we'd have a few more. I forgot how many." The man nodded. . "And this is…bad?" He asked, almost confused.

"No! Damn it, Seph's already flirting with our female guest." She grumbled. Youko laughed, rich and deep. "That bothers you? It might actually keep the guest here. Since most people get frightened." As he said that he looked up at the house. It was large, holding two separate houses, as large as a mansion. The first part was only connect to the second by a hallway no one could see, as they were closely together. When he first came here, he was reminded of Stephen King's Rose Red house. It looked just about the same.

"Yeah, I know, but still. What girl's see in him is beyond me." She sighed, grey eyes looking off in the distance, past the large gate that went all around the estate. "When will we be free?" She thought, a sad expression crossing her face. "Come," Youko said, standing, "Kurama and I have been working on something. I think you'll like it." Ember nodded and followed him as he went past the main rose garden, 'Nobara koigokoro' which had a concrete area -where they had been- with benches surrounded in a circle, roses all around it and a pond in the middle with Koi fish.

He took her to -as every one revered it to- Kurama's garden, or 'Arai Iki' as he named it. The red-haired girl gasped, a grin coming a second later. They had finally figured out how to do it. Instead of red roses and white gardenias, along with the few hybrid tea roses with they're many colors, the two Foxes were able to change the shape of all the plants, and the colors.

The star clusters were yellow, right next to blue soapworts. Queen Anne's Lace crawled next to a black marble bench and white oriental lilies were next to them. Many other flowers and plants crawled every where, distinctively reminding her of a rain forest.
"It's beautiful." She whispered.

Sephiroth yawned as he went through Yazoo's little reports of the southern side. Rubbing blue/green eyes, he looked at the clock. 11:30 am. God, it wasn't noon yet and he was already tired. Grunting, he got up from the table and went to the kitchen, maybe the cook would actually cook him something. Opening the door, he saw Kyo rummaging the cabinets.

"Looking for something?" The orange haired teen turned to him, "No, not really. Just trying to figure out where everything is." He said shrugging. Sephiroth nodded and looked around. He sighed, "I guess the chef isn't here after all." Looking aggravated, the silver haired man walked to the pantry and pulled out some Mexican rice, macaroni, spaghetti, and tuna.

Kyo blinked at him and moved out of his way. "I thought some one with a big house like this would have a maid or something." He muttered. Sephiroth grabbed a pot and set it on the stove. "We do. We have a whole staff, but our chef likes to disappear at random times." He said grumbling. "Need to fire that damned boy."

The two men looked up as they saw Yuki, Shigure, Caylan, and Kadaj walk in. "Cooking?" The blonde haired girl asked with shinning eyes. Her stomach had been growling earlier and she was hungry. Before the older one could answer, Ember walked in with three other males, one they recognized was Henry while one was another silver haired man and a red-haired man…who looked like a woman..

Ember leaned against the island, staring at her guest. "I should explain the rules tomorrow since we're getting more guest, but I'll get Loz to do it then." She said shrugging. "Now, we have rules, like every other place. One: do not hit on our staff," As she said that she turned to Shigure who looked sheepish. Caylan wacked him upside the head, muttering things about perverts.

"Two: you will have to cook your own meals seeing as our cook is…well, incompetent."

"Not incompetent," Kadaj said, "Just never here." Ember rolled her eyes, 'Whatever. Three: remember, this may just be a temporary stay for you, but this is our home, so please don't do anything stupid like damaging it." Her voice was exasperated. "Four: your allowed in any room of this side, except for our own rooms and the staffs."

"And please don't ruin our garden." The red-headed male put in. Him and his cousin, Youko worked hard on that thing, they didn't need some stupid people ruining it. "Shut up Kitsune." Sephiroth said briefly as he turned the stove on. He was often called 'Kitsune' while Youko was called 'Fox'. They didn't want to get it mixed up. Kurama nodded, but rolled his eyes.

"Yes, don't, I love that place." Ember muttered. "Anyway, five: under no circumstances are you allowed in the southern area, if I find out you entered it, men will be castrated and Caylan-san won't be able to reproduce." Her voice was calm and her face twisted into a smile.

Sephiroth and Kadaj looked at their sister strangely, while the other occupants were silent. "I thought you said not to scare them off." the younger male stated with a flat face. Their older brother sweat dropped, "And you called me an idiot."

" Ano, what's in there?" The blonde girl asked, almost excitedly. Maybe there was something in the other side that was scary? Something to give her inspiration, she got chills of excitement thinking of it.

"The oldest used to live there," Youko said, leaning against the wall, bored like. "The oldest?" She asked, eyes shinning again. "It's none of your business, Caylan-san." Ember stated coldly, before giving Kadaj a quick nod and leaving the kitchen.

"Maa, she seems angry." Shigure said, looking out the door. "Aren't we all?" Kurama asked, before also taking his leave. Youko shrugged and smiled seductively at them, mainly Yuki, then walked to another room, one connected to the kitchen. Henry said something about checking the grounds and meeting up with some one then left.

"Hm.. Oh, every Friday write down anything you need, write your name on it, what you want, how many, what kind, etc. Those days are shopping days." Sephiroth said while stirring the macaroni he was making. He didn't look over to see if they nodded.

"O..k.. Well, I'm going back to my room." Caylan said. "Can you wait a little longer?" Kadaj asked, "Yazoo should be down soon to show you around." The blonde hesitated, but nodded.

"Sure. Hey, do we get some of that?" She asked, pointing to the food Sephiroth was cooking. Said man turned and grinned lewdly, "And what would I get in return for allowing you to eat the food I've cooked?"

"Bardus." She said, twitching, trying to conceal the redness on her face. His grin widened, "Quemadmodum incultus, Amor." She twitched again, not caring he understood her, "I am not, nor will I ever be, your love." Sephiroth turned around, his grin turning into a smile, "We'll see about that."

"Besides, you have ridiculously long hair."

-twitch-

The hallway had no lights, and the flash light seemed almost dim against the darkness. His breath was ragged, and the air smelled awful. Why were the doors closed? The doors were never closed. Ever. He whimpered, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He felt like he was being watched.

-Sccccic-

He turned fast, flash light following, and shone it against the wall. Eyes wide, he walked to it, scratch marks as long as his arm stood against the once fine cherry wood walls. Blinking, he touched the spot and pulled his hand away to see red glinting on it in the light. Blood.

Looking back at the wall, he ran. Ran to the door that had never been closed before, to where his momma and dad were. He had only seen them once in his life, and he was only suppose to see them again when he turned sixteen. That was the law of their home. Children stayed on the right side and adults stayed on the left, and although he had never been to the adult side before, he knew that it wasn't suppose to be like this.

He grinned, the door was right in front of him. Sighing, the young boy stopped running and walked to the door, almost scared. It was opened a little, and through the crack of the door, more foul smelling air assaulted him. Coughing, he pulled up the top of his black shirt to cover his nose, at least now he could breathe. Pushing at the door with the hand holding the flash light, he stepped in. His bright blue eyes went huge at the scene in front of him.

"Oh..my..god." He whispered. Bodies that looked dead laid everywhere and the floors had long scratches on them. The stairs that went up to the second floor were broken through and the banister was shredded to pieces, barely staying to the stairs. Hearing something move, he turned, eyes still wide.

"Shou… Shou! What happened?!" He yelled. Shou Tucker was a scientist, his family had hired him because of their fascination with the abnormal. The scientist came over to him, groaning as he limped. His left arm was shredded, showing bone and muscle, while his right was bent at and odd angle from the elbow. His clothes were ripped, showing gashes and other wounds on his body.

"Se…phiroth." He gasped out. Falling to his knees, and groaning in pain, the brunette looked up at the young boy. The blonde boy ran to him, and kneeled next to him, "Shou, Shou what happened?" He asked frantically. The scientist looked at him, eyes already dulled with on-coming death.

"I'm sorry Sephiroth. I'm sorry, it was my fault. You must leave here now, you must, and never come back in! Never!" He fell to his side, gasping in air. It was getting hard to breathe. His eyes met the heir's, who was frightened. "Only their blood can heal us, only her will can control us." He recited, like a script. Giving a shaky smile, " You'll know what to do, just follow the rules." His eyes closed.

Sephiroth sat in shock, still staring at the man who just died in front of him. Then he ran. He dropped the flash light, not caring, he had a photographic memory, so he could navigate. Getting to the door, he went through it and closed it quickly, then ran back down the hall way to the side he was suppose to stay in. Opening the door again, he went through and closed it, vowing to put a lock on it.

He slid down it, breath ragged, and tears of fear running down his face. "Big bro'er?" He swiftly turned his head to a little boy with spiky-ish brown hair and bright blue eyes. "Loz." He said, sighing in relief. "Big bro'er, wha 'appened to ou?" Sephiroth gave a confused look, "What?" Loz giggled and pointed to his hair. Sephiroth stood up and walked to a mirror hanging the wall across from him.

"AHHHH!" His hair had turned a silver color, while his eyes were glowing cat-color of blue green. Turning quickly, and forgetting about Loz, he rushed to the family doctor. Skidding to a stop in front of the door-

"You could fall down stairs to your death, you know." Sephiroth looked behind him, smirking as he saw the blonde girl. "Following me?" He asked. She colored slightly, "No, I was just walking around."

"Mhm, sure." Caylan bristled, "I was just going to the garden, you prick!" The silver haired man walked up to her and ran a finger down her cheek, still smirking, "Now, now Caylan-chan, it's not nice to call your host such words." His voice and words were soft and light, but his eyes held a dangerous flicker. Caylan shuddered and swallowed. She was so out of it, she didn't notice him leaving.

"What… happened?" She questioned herself, completely confused. Shaking her head, she started to walk to the gardens again, muttering curses under her breath. "Stupid hosts."

A/N: Ello. Sorry if this was short. -sweat drop- I'm still getting used to the idea of a joint story.. -bigger sweat drop- Anyway! I hoped you liked this chapter, please give us some feedback (we could really use it ) and tell us what you think. There are a few things that needed to be explained in this chapter, and later chapters, but I guess we'll do the later chapter explaining for...well, later.