Disclaimer: I don't own either show. 'Nuff said.

Look at the end for Author's Notes. ; )

Brothers and Sisters

Chapter Seven

Facing Facts

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Hotaru began telling the story of how she and Rei had been taken and raised, noticing that her sister left shortly after the beginning of the story, but not noticing Heero's later departure. Finishing telling Rei's part, she moved onto her own, holding both the pilots and the senshi captive with things she had not told them before. "So after the lab blew up, my father and I were the only survivors. It was just the two of us for a long time, but my father had changed, he was colder. He was always spending time locked away in his lab, leaving me with his assistant, a woman called Kaori Nite (AN. Gee, I wonder who that could be?). Kaori was awful to me, she would lock me in my room for hours on end and when I would try to tell my father, she would say I was just playing for attention then lock me in the cellar without food when he was gone. While she was with us, I became very sickly; I couldn't do a lot of things. When I was fourteen, I met the girls, with their help I was able to convince my father of what Kaori was doing. He tried to help me and she injured him. I've been living with two others while my father was in the hospital. He doesn't remember me. That's why I had no problem leaving to find Wufei here."

The pilots were shocked, and they didn't even know the whole story behind Kaorinite. The senshi were shocked as well. They had just assumed that Hotaru was sickly because of the initial accident. They hadn't realized that Kaori was purposefully keeping Hotaru weak so that Mistress Nine would be able to maintain a stronger hold over her. They sat in an uncomfortable silence, unsure of how to follow Hotaru's story when Rei ran in from the balcony, past everyone and out the door, leaving a bewildered looking Heero standing on the balcony, his jacket crumpled at his feet. Hotaru immediately jumped up. "Rei", she called after her sister, "What's wrong?"

She moved to chase after her along with a few other girls when a hand stopped her. She looked up into a pair of light blue eyes, feeling an odd sensation run up her arm momentarily before she broke free and ran after Rei.

Quatre shivered from the feelings he got in his momentary contact with Hotaru. His empathic sense had never acted in this way before and he was confused by it. On the normal level, he couldn't sense much above her surface emotions, but when he touched her, it was as if he was inside her, feeling all that she had gone through. He could feel her hurt, anxiety, happiness at finding Wufei, and especially her underlying grief that seemed to be an integral part of her emotional core. He snapped out of it to find that all the girls had left or were in the process of leaving in chase of Rei. Only Minako was still in the room and she was looking at him with worry in her eyes. He smiled at her to show he was okay and she moved towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. This action caused him to feel the warmth and love that was Minako, but she too had a similar sense of underlying pain that was well hidden. She seemed to see his thoughts and smiled warmly at him. "It'll be alright Quatre-san", she said, "we just need to go after Rei." Handing him a small slip of paper she added, "The others forgot, but this is our address and phone number. Tell Wufei that you guys can stop by anytime for that DNA test. Ja!"

And with that she took off in pursuit of the rest of her friends.

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10 minutes beforehand, the balcony…

Rei broke the kiss, breathing heavily, refusing to meet Heero's gaze, afraid of what she might see there. "I…I'm sorry", she said, "I…I shouldn't…I mean I…"

At a loss for words, she turned and ran, dropping Heero's jacket at his feet. Heero stared at the piece of cloth uncomprehendingly for a few moments before realizing what had just happened. Dammit! he thought What the hell am I doing? I barely even know the girl and I end up kissing her. I…I just feel connected to her somehow…and now I've probably scared her shitless. All that talk about men mistreating her and I go and kiss her. Some perfect soldier I am.

His thoughts were interrupted by Wufei storming out onto the balcony, katana in hand. "What did you do to her Yuy?" he demanded, "Why did she run?"

Heero gave them his best "I-will-kill-you" glare, hoping that it would mask his internal conflict and shrugged. "We were talking about circumstances in life. Hers were surprisingly similar to mine. We talked about them. She ran."

Wufei narrowed his eyes at the pilot of Wing Zero. "If I find out you lied to me or that you laid one hand on my sister, I will kill you, slowly, while making you listen to Maxwell here and his inane chatter."

"Hey I resent that!" Duo called to Wufei's now retreating form, "Besides, I thought he still wanted a DNA test?"

"It's a good idea", Quatre said quietly, "I get the feeling that they're hiding something from us and we can't be too careful. Not with so much at stake here."

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Rei kept running, not stopping until she reached the driveway in front of the school. What was I thinking? I just met the guy and I've already spilled my guts to him and kissed him. Not even Yuiichiro knew that much about me and he lived with us for so long.

She sat heavily down on the steps, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. It was his eyes…I felt like I was drowning in them. He knew…he understood…and that's what frightens me.

"REI!"

"Rei are you alright? You're crying?"

She brought her hand up to her cheek, surprised at the wetness she found there. "I'm fine minna," she reassured her friends, "I was just…I don't know…I had to get out of there, okay? Please don't ask me why, I'm not too sure myself really. Right now I just want to go home."

"Alright," Minako said, "No worries. I remembered to give them our address and phone number after you all went running off so I'm sure they'll be by tomorrow for that test. They still seemed kind of suspicious of us after we all went running. Particularly Quatre for some reason."

"Oh and you were particularly watching Quatre for some reason, hmmm?" Makoto asked, a sly look on her face.

Minako punched her in the arm while Hotaru grew thoughtful at the comment. "Now that you mentioned it," she said, "When Quatre grabbed my arm, I got this weird feeling, almost like how I feel when I heal someone, but different. It was so quick I almost dismissed it."

"Seems like we're not the only ones hiding things, huh?" Ami said dryly, "And here I thought this dimension would be little quieter, more time for study you know."

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O.O oookaaaay…here it is people, chapter seven…please don't hurt me but as I had pointed out to me, Heero and Rei immediately having a relationship is kinda unrealistic (well hello, excuse me? Fanfic?). Anyways, this was planned before I started getting reviews so there. I'm kinda tired now so thanks to everyone who reviewed (even those that criticized my last chapter). I was lazy in getting this one out because I went and saw Spiderman and Star Wars (Which, by the way, is so depressing. Anakin is too cute, I don't want him to become Darth Vader. He looks hot in his Jedi outfit). Plus, I just got a part in a play that's going to be in the Winnipeg Fringe Festival!!! It will go towards me eventually getting an actor's equity card which means I won't be paid peanuts anymore (on the rare occasions that I do get paid). So, if you don't here from me in a while, it means I'm working, rehearsing, or working. But never fear, this story is going somewhere if you just be patient (*glares at Heero and Rei who have taken away her remote control* "But I wanna watch the star wars special!" * gun cocks * "eeep").

Um…bye?

Ying Fa

Oh yeah…Yuiichiro/Chad is the worst character ever. I maintain the hope that a very large youma will squash him soon. Read Need and Boys Don't Cry (formerly The Resurrection of Shinigami). They are kick ass stories. Two of my many favorites.