Gemini, Letters to the Sky
Anxious

She found herself helping in the kitchen when the day of their families arriving home drew near.

More specifically, Ryo and she were helping in the kitchen as preparing food for their returning family members seemed like a good idea to him, but he'd offered to go and pick up supplies when he picked up some items of his own which resulted in Rachel accompanying him. He remained tense the entire time, yet a few girls kept peering around the shelves at them while they proceeded in getting the ingredients. She also learned a bit about picking out ingredients they didn't normally grow on their farm.

From inside the kitchen, she saw craft supplies spread out over the floor, her nephew and niece preparing a nice welcome home present for Lance. In the back of her mind, she felt nervous about seeing her brother again, given the fact – despite the fact she hoped he'd grown up some in the last year, she held personal doubts regarding the matter. "I mean, maybe they became friends? I mean, they were forced to live together in the same place, so they had to put their differences aside."

She'd said this to Luis and Ryo. Ryo definitely hoped so for the sake of his brother that Lance was no longer being antagonistic, yet Luis – for some reason he decided to be a pessimist regarding the whole matter. They also found themselves listening to the radio, taking deep breaths as the news of aliens existing was announced to the world. Rachel shook her head. "Oh, come on. They made us swear to secrecy, so why..."

"They were actually making political plans involving the countries involved in the garrison's space program so that they could best tackle this once it did become news. They knew very well they couldn't keep the secret hidden for long, but they also felt the family's of the cadets should know first." Veronica, of course, had an explanation.

"Yeah, but what are they going to do regarding what happened to Akira."

Veronica let out a sigh. "He wasn't kicked out."

"No, my brother dropped out."

"And was completely free to come back at any time. Iverson didn't push the issue knowing full well Keith needed time to grieve, but the garrison was not the environment to do that – not when everyone was talking about the mission failing due to pilot error."

Rachel leaned over. "So, I think that's rice, but what else are you making?"

"This is tamagoyaki." Ryo pointed his finger at a dish made from an egg which was like an omelet, yet he spent quite a bit of time making it look just right. "The rice is going to be turned into onigiri. I guess you could translate it as rice balls. There's also karaage, how we like to do fried chicken. Then there's also tomatoes and snow peas."

"You're packing them into..."

"Uh, it's called a bento," Ryo answered the question Rachel's mother put forth, yet Rachel found amusement in the fact her mother and sister-in-law were interested in what Ryo was cooking, not to mention the fact Rachel was actually taking an interest as well. What he cooked – he spent almost as much time as they did.

Of course, she also felt slightly useless in the kitchen, given the fact she simply knew how to cook vegetables and such. When they finished, almost everyone piled into the van Veronica brought from the garrison, yet Ryo brought with him his luggage, making her realize he wouldn't be staying any longer. "Come on Rachel. You know that he needs to be with his family."

Rachel let out a deep breath, sitting next to him, suddenly realizing she no longer had the excuse of their siblings' disappearance hanging over their heads. More importantly, she found herself admitting she did in fact like him, which m next to him rather awkward. Ryo, on the other hand, remained tense, taking deep breaths the entire time, they were driving towards the garrison, but for the last few minutes, their hands touched, only for the two to startle.

Her niece noticed and asked, making everything even more awkward.

They then headed to the viewing area, meeting up with the families of the other two cadets who were dragged into that intergalactic mess. In the back of her mind, she didn't know what kind of ship the aliens, in fact, had, remembering a mention of a blue lion when the garrison let them know about their families. Her nephew and niece chatted away debating what the aliens looked like, coming up with more and more elaborate imaginations.

Then came the glow in the sky as the ship Veronica called the castle of lions landed. Rachel wasn't sure whether the ship looked like a castle; in her mind, it looked more like a ship – a space ship, but after it landed they watched the crew be escorted off the ship before they were escorted into the same room the garrison prepared food for them, but the families each took on their own corner of the room.

Ryo looked horribly nervous, but she found herself distracted from his plight when Lance came into the room, rushing over to their mother and hugging her, kissing her on both cheeks, meeting her part way. He then looked over at a girl who entered the room along with the other cadets. Her skin was dark, her hair white and her ears pointed, but she had pink marks under her eyes. Lance turned his head. "This is Allura, the girl I'm going to marry."

"What?" The female alien glared at him, a rather murderous glare.

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Did you ask her about that?"

"What do you mean? I'm going to change as a person and win her..." Lance became distracted, pointing his finger at Ryo. "Wait. What's with the Keith look alike? Is he your boyfriend, because..."

"So what if he is?" Rachel glared at Lance, wanting him to back off. She didn't understand why things were the way they were, but when she glanced up, she saw Ryo stepping away, almost as if trying to hide from someone. The direction he looked – he was definitely hiding from either Keith or Shiro, if not both.

"Hah! He ran away from..."

"Just, stop." Rachel decided that she would walk away and headed over towards Ryo's location, planning on sticking with him through the whole thing, but first. "Sorry. I should have said we weren't, though..." She took a deep breath. "I'd like to, but I'm still not sure if it's the right time. There were some more important things to worry about."

She looked up, indicating for the direction of her gaze to indicate she meant Ryo making up with his brothers when she noticed Shiro heading over towards Ryo, looking rather nervous, yet Keith looked just as nervous. She noticed how he stood next to an alien with purple fur, but then heard Ryo speak. "She's here."

"Who?"

"Our mother. I don't... I don't know how I know that."