Moon Princess
Light in Darkness
"Do you really have to leave Shiro?"
Keith's voice drew the young man's attention away from his breakfast, the milk dribbling from his mouth. The spoon clicked as Shiro set it down, his hand quickly grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth. The corners of his mouth twitched up as he watched his younger brother. Keith was in the middle of buttering his morning toast, his mouth twisted up into a pout. It was going to be one of those days. "We've talked about this before."
"Yes, and I don't want you to leave."
Shiro reached for his coffee and took a deep drink, closing his eyes as he savored the drink. He set the cup down and cleared his voice. "Again, as I've said, we've talked about this. It's my job, for starters, but when I get back I'll have enough money that we can take a break, maybe go on a bit of a vacation."
"Yes. To Japan so I can meet your family." Keith frowned, looking at his toast, going back to scraping his knife across the top. Chances were he was far more concerned with the noise made by buttering his toast rather than actually eating at this point.
"Yeah. Do you want to meet Ryo?"
His younger brother shoved a piece of toast into his mouth. "Not really. He hates me."
Keith leaned back, his toast still sticking out of his mouth, his arms crossing his chest as he watched his legal guardian. Shiro frowned, wondering what to say next. "Ryo doesn't hate you."
"He's always yelling at you over the phone about me, for taking you away from him."
"That…" Shiro took a deep breath. "That's not what happened."
"The entire family hates me because I took you away."
"Keith."
"Well, they do."
The corners of Shiro's mouth twisted slightly. His fingers tapped the top of the counter, wondering what to say next.
"I'm sorry I caused you to be estranged from your family."
"Don't be." The young man let out a laugh, one he quickly realized hadn't amused Keith at all. "It's my choice."
"No. It was my dad's. He dumped me on you when he disappeared. He knew you wouldn't say no. You should have said no."
"Keith…" Shiro took a deep breath. "How about you finish your breakfast, then we can go over what your daily routine is going to be while I'm gone?"
"It's the same as it normally is, except you're not here."
"Uh, no. It's not just that I'm not going to be here." Shiro watched Keith stare at him. "So, how about when I get back, we get a pet? Well, maybe not until we get back from Japan of course, but…"
"You said I couldn't have a pet."
A laugh escaped from deep within Shiro's lungs, a short one. "And why did I say that?"
"Because I'm not responsible."
"Yeah, but you're going to be taking a lot of responsibility on while I'm gone, so if there aren't any issues, I don't see why we can't get a pet. I'm kind of looking forward already to see what you pick out." Keith would most likely pick a cat, although Shiro would honestly prefer a dog. He watched Keith's eyes widen, getting that glint Keith got when he saw something that was figuratively shiny. It was the first time Shiro's mentioned getting a pet, but it seemed to cut the comments about not wanting Shiro to leave.
V
"I don't want to meet this Keith Kogane kid. I don't care that he's likely distantly related to us, and that's why you were asked to take him in."
"Come on Ryo. Don't be like that. Can't you be at the launch. It would mean…" Shiro closed his eyes, hearing Ryo interrupt him.
"I'm not going to be there if he is."
"Ryo…"
"Don't act like you haven't done anything wrong, Takashi!" His other younger brother snapped, quite irate. "You think that just because a few years have passed that I'll finally be fine with this kid you replaced our brother with? I don't care that we're the same age. I want nothing to do with him. He's not Akira! Yet now you're wanting me to show up and pretend like there's nothing wrong."
"Well, yeah. I did ask that you not…"
"You used the words 'that subject'! You couldn't even bring up Akira's name!"
"Ryo, I couldn't say anything because Keith's listening, and…" Shiro's eyes snapped shut, a clicking sound indicating that his other brother had hung up. He turned to look at Keith, only to find himself letting out a deep sigh.
Keith had those puppy dog eyes of his, but his lip was trembling. "I don't have to go to the launch."
"Keith…"
"It's your family who's supposed to be there, Shiro. That's what the pre-launch event is about. Not some strange kid that you're pretending to be your brother."
The older of the two felt the corner of his mouth twitch up. Ryo and Keith were different, and yet there were certain ways that they thought the same. Reaching out, one finger poked Keith in the forehead. "Except we are family. Nothing is ever going to change that. Remember that I'm going to be introducing you to them, the rest of the family when I get back."
Keith let out a deep breath, folding his arms across his chest, indicating he was being stubborn. "Your family, not mine."
Shiro took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. You're still family."
"That…" Two dark eyes looked at the ground. "Only because you're my legal guardian."
This made Shiro frown, and one of his calloused hands reached out to ruffle Keith's head. "You are family, because I say so."
That didn't settle Keith down, but he didn't say anything else.
V
"Have you told Keith yet?" Matt sat in the chair, unbuckling himself so he could float around. He'd moved his mike from his mouth, as it would be awhile until they could communicate with Earth again.
"I'm telling him when we get back." Shiro let out a chuckle. "I'm going to tell him nice and slowly by slowly introducing him to one family member at a time, so he's not overwhelmed."
"Now you're just making excuses. I know your dad wanted you to keep things secret for whatever reasons he did, but we also discussed the fact this isn't good for Keith."
"I know. I tried getting Ryo to come to the launch. I wanted him to be the first one Keith met. I was going to start by explaining things to Ryo, and…"
"Hope he didn't blab that Keith and he are twins?" Matt shook his head.
"That…" Shiro tilted his head. "I was hoping I could get him to understand that overwhelming Keith isn't the best idea."
"Shiro. This is the brother who's pissed at you for replacing Akira with Akira. He's going to be even more pissed that you didn't tell him sooner, but that you kept them apart."
"Just imagine how Keith will react." Sam piped up.
Matt frowned. "Okay. So maybe telling Keith is not the best idea, but the longer you hold off, the worse it is going to be."
"Don't worry. I'll tell him as soon as I get back."
V
Getting back of course took longer than he thought, and when he was finally around Keith – well, Matt was unfortunately right about waiting too long.
There was no way to get a private word in at the shack, not with the other soon-to-be-paladins there. Thankfully though, nobody asked why he had clothes at Keith's place, or pried into their personal business. Of course, Katie knew that Keith was his sibling, though to what depth she knew that Keith knew or not, he didn't know. And he hadn't known until a bit later that she'd known.
As for Hunk and Lance, well, Hunk it didn't matter, as he was good at keeping secrets, but Lance… that was a horror waiting to happen.
He'd hoped there'd be a chance to talk to Keith, but the thing was, first he found himself having Keith stay behind to wait for the red lion, then separating to help Katie of all people find her dad and brother, letting his own brother go off on his own. Add in the factor that Keith was good at hiding away and avoiding people, or that there were so many things to be done, so when Keith wasn't avoiding him, there was no chance to talk.
He'd hoped they would have a chance to talk.
And then the Blades of Marmora disaster occurred.
Specifically, he'd noticed something was wrong, and had hoped that Keith would tell them, as they were family. However, he hadn't realized how much his younger brother's world had been shaken up. Goodness knows their father had left the knife out of the picture never telling Shiro, but there Keith was, saying he was like a brother, having Shiro walk away as if there was no connection what-so-ever.
Yes, that Shiro was fake, yet it stung so bad. And let's not forget the fact Shiro saw his worst nightmare playing out in front of him. Keith was getting hurt, but he might also die. Truth be told, he suspected that Kolivan was watching him just as much as he was Keith, yet Shiro struggled with not running in sooner. He finally had to go in when the red lion started attacking, knowing it was time.
Then, an even worse disaster occured with the activation of the blade.
Which was problematic, as thinking back, Shiro didn't remember his mother with purple skin. Yes, that night Keith was born was a nightmare seared into his brain, but the sight he saw, well, let's just say he should have known better than to get in the way of Allura. His mother very clearly had Altean markings, yet here Kolivan said the only way was to have Galra blood in them.
Though, to be honest, Shiro felt there might be some missing information in there, though who between him and Kolivan was missing the information, he did not know.
More important, Kolivan telling Keith he was part Galra made explaining to his younger brother their family relationship practically impossible, but some part of Shiro didn't want Keith to know at all. Even worse, the red paladin said something he'd never expect to hear Keith say, that after they finished this war they found themselves thrown into, he'd go looking for his family. A horrible dread crept up, a deep sinking feeling that Keith would get seriously hurt.
In fact, at that moment he should have been happy they were going home, yet at that moment he felt like the distance between him and Keith had grown. The plans he'd had prior to the Kerberos mission were shattered into tiny pieces he didn't think could ever be picked back up, let alone mended. Worse, what with being captured, he couldn't say anything regarding the pre-Kerberos plans, but there was also the fact…
He was so proud of his younger brother, yet couldn't say anything.
Shiro held no qualms letting Keith remain leader, but found himself biting his tongue every time Keith insisted Shiro should take back the position. He thanked the black lion for not rejecting Keith like everyone else did, which in turn provided a mental safety net along with his blind pride in his younger brother. Yet, because Keith didn't know, explaining why simply refused to slip from his tongue.
More specifically, he felt like their bond was breaking, that he was going to lose the one thing in his life that held said bond together. The bond was what kept him going in the area, for Keith, after all, was his light, the bright spot in his light. With Keith, life wasn't boring, or dark, but filled with wonder. Letting Keith go…
That was the hardest thing he ever did, knowing Keith would likely hate Shiro forever once he found out the truth he'd kept hidden. The hate, Shiro felt he could live with, but not the fact said hate came from something he did.