Sub chapter 7: Secrets Revealed

"Tohru, why don't you walk Saki and Arisa home?" Hime suggested the next morning.

"That's a great idea! Are you coming with us?"

"No, I have a paper to write." Hime successfully lied. Tohru agreed and waved good bye to her sister.

"Shigure, may you call Yuki and Kyo? I need to speak with the three of you." she asked after she made sure Tohru and the girls left the house.

"Yuki! Kyo! Can you come down here for a moment?" he called up the stairs. Both boys ran down the stairs and joined them at the table.

"Alright, what I'm about to tell you has to stay between the three of us." she begged, making her eyes as pleading as possible. She saw all three nod from under her bangs. "Okay. Well, first off, I don't have weak vocal cords. I just say that so I don't have to talk as much."

"Really? Prove it." Kyo requested, being a lump of grump. Hime narrowed her eyes and began to sing. Her voice came out loud and strong, much like a professional singer's.

"I guess it's gonna have to hurt.

I guess I'm gonna have to cry.

And let go of some things I've loved

To give to the other side.

I guess it's gonna break me down.

Like fallin when you try to fly.

Sad but sometimes

Moving on with the rest of your life.

Starts with goodbye."

Her voice trailed off with the last line of the chorus of Carrie Underwood's 'Starts With Goodbye'. All three boys sat, stunned to silence. "Do you believe me now?" she asked. Her voice was at the same volume anyone else's voice would be.

"My family has a secret as well. I wanted to tell you guys, but I was scared. In all honesty, your curse is so cool! What my family has is very different than any freaking curse out there! And I was afraid that I'd be rejected by three of the most important people in my life." she wiped her eyes, stopping the threat of tears.

"Why would we reject you?" Shigure was thoroughly confused.

"Because my family did." she whispered. "My mother did not have the best relationship with her family, so there was no one out there to help her control her...blessing. It runs on my maternal side of the family, and only the females inherit the trait. I only had my mother to teach me, and my paternal grandfather was the only other person who accepted us. He took her in and allowed her to live under his roof until Mother and Father bought a house together. We were a family. Mother was relieved when she found out that Tohru didn't carry the trait, but it was a different story with me." she slipped a stick of Pocky from its box, nibbling on it to calm her nerves.

"She kept me from the other children, training me to control my abilities." she whispered.

"You still haven't told us what your...'blessing' is." Kyo interrupted. Hime stared at him. Oh yeah.

"Centuries ago, my family lived in what is now known as Alaska in the United States. They shared a home with a wolf pack. The Snow Wolves, they were called. Not a very original title, but that's what they called themselves. Anyway, they lived together. My family were the only ones that knew the Wolves were a special group of guardians. Each Wolf guarded a force of nature; such as how to communicate with the elements or how to find fertile soil. My family and the Wolves shared their territory with a small group of dragons. After generations of harmony in the land, a terrible fight broke the peace. The war between the Snow Wolves and dragons raged for the better part of a decade. By the time the war had ended, every member of the pack had been slain. My family, who fought along side them, had survived. The spirits of the Snow Wolves had intertwined with our own, and had been passed through the bloodline. The surviving dragons went into hiding.
"No one truly knows what happened to them, but we're always weary if they show up again." she avoided their gazes and tried to remember what else to say. "The alpha of the pack hadn't shown in our line for quite some time. That is, until I was born. She carried the burden of all the guarded forces, including her own. She was the Secret Keeper. Because of her, if I so much as briefly touch another human being, all their memories and secrets flood my brain. I immediately know everything about them. That's not the worst part, though. Throughout our lives, because I had skin contact with that person, I will always know how they're feeling and what they think." She took out her black notebook and slid it across the table. "I keep all the secrets in this book, mainly so I don't become overwhelmed. I don't talk either, just to be on the safe side. I'm afraid that if I open my mouth and speak, all the secrets I've kept will just pour out."

All three boys watched her with mixed feelings. They didn't know what to think of her explanation. They looked at each other, a silent agreement passing from one another.

"Not to be rude, but why do you take that medication in the morning?" Shigure suddenly asked. They watched as Hime's face went from pale to scarlet. The teenage boys were dreading the answer.

"Well, it only happens once every other month, but it has something to do with my...um..." she trailed off, becoming more embarrassed. "To put it simply, since I have a wolf spirit in me- complete with the same instincts and senses- I go into a form of heat. I take a medicine that I make to keep my going into heat at bay." She played with her ring as they shared a look. Kyo was the first to make a move. He took her shirt sleeve between his fingers, pushed his shirt collar aside, and set her hand over his heart. His memories and thoughts flooded her senses. All she saw was his family shunning him, his tears streaking his reddened face. A small Kyo watching his family, longing to be part of the kin who avoided him like the plague.

She brushed his carrot colored bangs from his unusual ruby eyes. She offered him a reassuring smile as she curled her slim fingers around the hand that kept hers on his chest. She brought his hand into her space and placed it over her own beating heart. She watched as the light in his eyes changed. He smiled back when the fogginess of her own memories cleared. Yuki followed Kyo's movements, while she replaced Kyo's hand with his. One memory in particular stood out to him, but he didn't press the matter.

When Shigure copied the boys, his movements weren't meant to be of the perverted type. Hime saw that he was actually being serious and meant well. Her heart swelled, the threat of tears made her eyes sting. She smiled widely as she allowed the tears to flow free.