The Secret (Chapter 4)

*DISCLAIMER* I wish I owned these characters. Then Ryo, Touma, and Seiji could be my own personal little harem boys and Nasty, Kayura and I could order them around all the live long day!

The Secret (Chapter 4)

Kayura and Nasuti returned to the house to discover the male occupants crowded around the computer. Jun sat on Byakuen's back (he's only grown about two inches) in an attempt to see over the sea of heads in front of him. The dialogue flying around the room made for good listening.

"Ok Touma, we know you're good with computers and whatnot," Naaza said. "But shouldn't we leave this for Nasuti to do? She knows the most about where everything is." Touma shook his head and kept looking through her files. Sure Nasuti would know exactly where to begin looking, but Touma had an ulterior motive to his thinking. Nasuti and Kayura hung in the back and waited to hear it. Touma didn't disappoint them.

"Why should Nasuti and Kayura have all the fun?" Touma said to his comrades in arms. "I mean, don't you think it's time we began to learn about this stuff without having to wait for one of the girls to tell us? By looking it up on our own, we also save her some time with all of the studying she is always doing. Think of what she would do with all of that new found free spare time." Touma trailed off as he watched the idea sink into certain heads. Spare time meant time she would now have free for dating. No more 'I'd love to, but I've got so much work piled up.' it would be a dream come true for most of the men in the room. Shu, Shin and Jun shook their heads in wonderment. Naaza didn't bother to shake his head; he vocalized his fear of all their sanity. Anubis still didn't do anything to show which side he was on. The blank expression on his face very nearly put even Seiji to shame. Nasuti smiled at Kayura and shook her head. It was time to make their presence known.

"Need any help or are you guys fine by yourselves?" The men winced. Jun moved closer to Kayura as if to imply that he had nothing to do with anything. Of course it wouldn't take that long for the two ladies to get back to the house-Kayura only had to use her staff. All eyes turned to Touma to see what his response to this one would be.

"Well it's easy. Nasty has to take Jun to that party at his friend's house in a few moments, so we'll just get a head start so she doesn't get caught up in her work and forget." When Nasty opened her mouth to object, Touma was ready for her. "Jun is only talking to either you or Kayura right now after that whole thing during the search, so maybe you can find out what the heck happened." This last was said with a look to the Jun, who looked at his feet. He had disappeared for nearly an hour and sent Naaza and Anubis into a full-fledged panic. Having been in the same group, Shin, Kayura, and Nasty had heard about the whole thing as it happened.

*Flashback*

The young man they had gone to see had owned a small movie rental store. While Shin and Nasty pretended to be looking for a hard to find rental, Kayura had done a quick scan, nothing. While he had the potential, he did not have the orb. The three soon left the store less a new warrior of Cruelty, but Kayura was happy because she got a copy of "Top Gun". Now they sat in a nearby park, waiting for the other groups to call in. Nasty had fallen asleep with her head and Shin's shoulder and Kayura was just leaning on him. Shin was watching some kids play ball. Truth be told, if no one called in, the group would have been quite happy. Seiji had already called to beg a partner switch because Shu spent more time trying to eat then paying attention to their mission. Ryo had called to say he was sick of Seiji baiting Shu; Shu had called to say that Ryo and Seji were being mean to him. Then had been Touma's group, Kayura shook her head. One would think it would have been simple enough to ask that he search with Rajura and Byakuen, but soon after departing, Touma was complaining that Rajura had tried to use an illusion to find the armor orb and freaked the guy out. No sooner had they gotten those two off of each others throats did Naaza call to ask if he could leave Jun with Nasty because he had begun to feel ill and neither he nor Anubis knew what to do with a sick child. Nasty had listened to Jun's description of how he felt and told them to get him some of 'the pink stuff, he knows what I mean.' Since then, Kayura had been all for smashing the communication orbs, but knew they needed them in case a potential turned out to be the person they were looking for.

"Kayura? Pick up your orb, I know you're there." Naaza's voice broke into Kayura's thoughts. Nudging Shin, who woke up Nasty, she got out the orb and blew on it. Naaza's face appeared looking quite upset. Naaza never looked upset. Shin and Nasty became more alert. Naaza cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Hi there, mmmm, well our person was not our new warrior and Jun's gone." Anubis's voice could be heard in the background saying it wasn't his fault. Nasty, Shin and Kayura sweat dropped.

"What happened." Nasuti asked. She was still groggy from her nap and not in the mood to deal with this. The young woman had been feeling tired lately and slept more often than usual. Naaza felt bad to know that he had awakened her from a nap. Looking more uncomfortable than before, he explained.

"Anubis and I turned our backs for one second to look at something, turned around and he was go-wait, Anubis found him." The sound of raised voices could be heard in the background and Naaza turned to show them Anubis holding Jun upside down by one leg. The boy looked tired and had dirt and chocolate smudges on his face and clothing. Naaza turned back to the orb and said. "We'll take him back to the house and get him cleaned up." The orb went smoky and Naaza's face disappeared.

*End flashback*

Since then, the boy had been surly whenever questioned about the incident. Other than that he was the same cheerful younger brother they all knew and loved. Still, the incident still had them worried. It had been agreed that since Nasty was the closest to him; she would be the one most likely to be told anything. Seeing that she was out smarted,Nasty gave in. Ryo smiled.

"And now, since you cannot use the excuse of studying, it's off to bed with you. We don't want you falling asleep while you drive." Nasty nodded and left the room, understanding completely. While it was said in a joking manner, the guys and Kayura were very worried about Nasuti's illness. Kayura had mentioned it to Shuten during their last talk and he had seemed concerned as well.

'Maybe a breathe of fresh air would do them both good." Kayura mused. Just then, Touma let out a shout.

"I did it!" he jumped out of his chair and punched his fist in the air. While he was dancing around the room in celebration, Seiji took his place at the computer and read what he saw there.

"Hey, this is double good news. But it could be bad as well so I wouldn't celebrate quite so quickly, Touma." Touma paused and looked at Seiji.

"What do you mean, it's great news. We could bring Shuten back and ask him what he knows. Maybe he felt where the Ogre armor went." Seiji shook his head.

"Did you read the rest before you started your little party?"

"I hate to cut in on this little spat, but could you guys fill the rest of us in?" Shu said. Seiji nodded and pointed out a highlighted piece of text. Naaza read it aloud.

"During times of weakened periods, a spirit in the spirit realm may not only communicate more freely with loved ones within the other realms, but is also able to be brought back to life and live with them again for an undetermined amount of time, usually for as long as they wish. Be cautious though, if your loved one can get free, so could anyone else-" Naaza broke off as Ryo bit off a curse.

"Does that mean Argo could get out as well? Kami-sama! How many times do we have to kill that bastard? " Ryo continued to rant until Kayura hit him with a couch cushion.

"Argo is under tight security," Kayura reminded him. "And he has no power what so ever. He's not going anywhere for a looooooong time." Ryo shut up. The group sat in the study refiguring their plans for a few more hours. When Nasty stopped in to say she was off to take Jun to his friend's party, they had decided to stick to the original idea of contacting Shuten. If he could actually be brought into their realm, the decision would be his and his alone. That issue settled, they had settled in the living room for a movie. They wanted to wait until Nasuti returned before starting dinner.At least everyone was trying to make sure Shu did.

"And here I thought that within two years you guys would be able to come up with plans more quickly than that." An amused voice said. Eight heads shot up and looked around. Rajura was the first to spot Shuten hovering over them in a dark corner.

"How long have you been eases dropping, Shuten?" he asked. The others looked at Rajura as if he had lost his mind. The former Warlord of Illusion merely pointed. Sure enough, Shuten's shape could be made out floating above them. Having gained everyone's attention, Shuten bowed before answering Rajura's question.

"Long enough to know that the majority of you had ulterior motives to giving Nasuti more free time away from her computer." He said. More than one person became interested in something in the room. Ryo simply shrugged, Shin shook his head. Kayura laughed.

"Surely you're not upset that you're not in the running," she said. "Or are you siding with Shin on this one?" Shuten would have strangled her for making such an assumption, but it wasn't her fault. She didn't know what her words implied because she had no idea how he felt towards Nasuti. He wondered how she would feel once she found out.

"No, Kayura, I am not hoping to be in the race to seduce the Lady Nasuti. Actually, I'm wondering why no one has seen to her. With this new threat, she is in terrible danger. By the way, shouldn't she be back by now?" As if on cue, the door opened to admit a tired looking Nasuti. She closed the door and then leaned against it breathing heavily. Ryo, being the closet, rushed to her side and helped her to the seat Seiji had just vacated for her.

"Nasty!" Shuten cried. He suddenly became solid and shoved his way to her side. Nasuti blinked to see Shuten alive and well in her living room before passing out. Pushing Seiji and Ryo's hands away from her, Shuten scooped her up and headed for the stairs. Shoving open the door to her room, Shuten made his way to her bed and had her settled in bed before the others could overcome their shock. By the time any of them moved, Shuten was already half way back down the stairs.

"Of all the irresponsible things I have seen in my life time. Can't you people tell these things, or do you think everyone is like you?" he roared on his way down. "If she had been attacked while in this condition and harmed, so help me I would have ripped your innards out and served them to you as you bled to death!" In his anger, his face had become a red to match his hair. His green eyes held the flames of Hell, and would have sent lesser men (and woman) running for the hills. Instead he got a cushion in the face.

"Shuten, we love you and we're all glad that you're in the land of the living again." Seiji began.

"But don't ever assume that we don't care about what happens to Nasty again." Ryo finished.

"I think he's over reacting. It's a touch of the flu at worst. She'll be fine." Shu added. "Can we eat now?" Shuten saw red.

"She is not suffering the flu, you idiots!" his shouting was causing the floor to rumble. "She is bonding to the Ogre armor and it is not making it easy for her because she does not have the strength that you have!" Shuten began to walk towards the group in the living room and they all took a step backwards as he continued. "She is the new Warrior of Loyalty and she needs your help to make sure the process doesn't KILL HER!" exhausted from the energy spent being reborn and shouting, Shuten stomped into the kitchen and began helping himself to the dinner that had been lying in wait for Nasuti's return. The others followed him in shock. Shuten glared daggers at them all before tucking into the mountain of food in front of him.

"You know," he said in between bites. "You never truly appreciate food until you go for two years without needing it. Do you think we could order a pizza? I never got a chance to try one of those last time I was here and Jun tells me they are truly something else." His friends stared at him in shock. He drops a bombshell on them and then sits down to eat as if it were an everyday occurrence. Ryo cleared his throat a couple of times and attempted to speak. It took him two tries and his voice still came out with a slight squeak.

"S-Shuten, what did you mean about Nasty being the new Warrior of Loyalty? She didn't come up on the scan as a potential." The others nodded. Shuten put down his fork and sighed.

"She didn't come up on that scan because it was the wrong one. Had Kayura bothered to do a bloodline scan, trust me, Nasty would have been your first, and if I'm not mistaken, only candidate." He resumed eating as they others absorbed this in. Shu was the first to voice a possibility.

"Are you trying to tell us that you somehow impregnated Nasty?!" The others fell over in complete shock at the way Shu's mind worked. Shuten had to hold himself back from killing the Warrior of Justice.

"No Shu no baka," Shuten gritted out. "As beautiful as she is, I don't do incest." Now everyone was truly confused.

"You mean she's your sister? Aren't you guys a bit too far apart for that to be possible?" Seiji shook his head.

"I believe that Shuten is now going to tell us the story of how one day during a trip into our realm, he met a lovely lady with whom he had a one night stand and the result was Nasty making her his only living heir." The others looked form Seiji to Shuten and back. Shuten made them wait. He purposely slowed down his eating and took minutes to bring a bite a food to his mouth, ignoring the waiting crowd at the table. After what felt like eternity (but was actually five minutes) he gulped down a can of soda and sighed with pleasure.

"Aww, this root beer is truly the drink of the gods themselves." He said awestruck. Shu nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes it is, and for allowing you to enjoy such a wonder, you're going to spill the beans before we are forced to beat them out of you." Shu rose as if to do just that, but Ryo stopped him. Eyes on Shuten's face the Warrior of Wildfire looked him over carefully.

"Shuten, you're not Nasty's father, are you?" Shuten shook his head. Half the men in the room let out the air they were holding in. Glad that they would not have a raging father on their hands, ready to curb the obvious flirtation and innuendos. Shuten smiled as he dropped his second bomb of the evening.

"I'm her many times removed Great-Grandfather. And for the record, Naaza, I don't appreciate you accidentally killing my great-grandson before I even knew who the hell he was, but I am willing to forgive you as you were under Argo's control." Eight shocked cries of

"SHE'S YOUR WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" rang throughout the house, waking Nasuti up. The young woman climbed out of bed and made her way downstairs to find a very strange, but comical sight. Shin and Kayura leaned against the cabinets, tears streaming down their faces as they laughed at the scene in front of the table. Even Byakuen seemed to be chuckling. And the cause of this laughter-Ryo, Seiji, Touma, and Rajura on their knees begging for their lives in front of-

"Shuten? You really are back!" Nasty walked up to him and slapped him. "Why the HELL didn't you tell me before or do you always try to kill your family!?"



Aw, how many of you truly saw that coming? Don't lie now. Einway, this is really long, so it might be a few more days before I can get another chapter uploaded. Things will kind of calm down for a few, and then speed back up.

Ja ne!

Marie, the Empress half.