Disclaimer: I don't own the original FY characters; I own Kei, Taki, Lily, Jason, their kids and any other person who isn't a FY character.
Thoughts
Memories
~*~Review Response~*~
~Jamie - How ya holding up? Don't forget, I'm here for ya girl! Glad the last chapter made you laugh. You are so possessive of Hiroshi! *laughs*
~Cortney - I wasn't even thinking about Star Wars when I wrote that but looking back on it, it does look a lot like Star Wars doesn't it?
~Rhapsody - I hope you read the sequel and read this too. I will be finishing the Afterthoughts collection.
~Lady Viola - Good to see you again. You're quite welcome for the heads up. I thought you'd be interested. I finished the first one, you can be sure I'll finish this one too.
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Jason stared up at the ceiling in the middle of the night. He'd fallen asleep for maybe a few minutes and when he woke up he was still in this strange world. 'Why couldn't I have been dreaming? This is insane…' Very carefully so as not to wake anyone, he climbed out of bed and left the inn.
The night air was cool. It felt good. Very faintly, he heard a pair of feet shuffling around in the dirt. He went to find out who was doing it. The person he found was small.
"Hey, who's there?" He called into the dark. His eyes were quickly adjusting.
"It's just me." The small figure stepped into a slightly better light.
He recognized the girl as one of the twins he'd met earlier, he just wasn't sure which one. "Which one are you? I don't remember."
"I'm Naoko." The short-haired girl smiled. "You look lost."
"I feel lost…" He sighed. "I don't know what to believe."
"Is that why you're up? Worrying about if this is real or not?"
"Yeah…it's bothering me…none of this seems possible." They were walking down the street together.
"Truth is stranger than fiction." Naoko played with the dog tags. She wasn't sure how long she could hold out before she accidentally called him 'Dad'.
"I suppose. You seem comfortable with this. Why are you up?" He looked down at her.
"I wanted to see the stars. You can't see this many at home." She looked up as she watched.
"Where do you live?"
"A few minutes away from Tokyo. It's a nice place." She smiled. "Daddy did a good job picking it out."
"Must be a good guy…" He shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah. He's cool."
"And your mom?"
"Mom's the best." She bit her lip. "Lily didn't tell you everything when she was trying to explain what was goin on to you."
"What do you mean?" He stopped.
"She didn't tell you where me, Nyoko and our friends come from…"
"Aren't you from my world? I got that part."
"We are…but we're also from the future…" She walked a few steps a head of him before stopping.
"The future? Being here was a hard enough pill to swallow, Naoko…"
"I know…but I know I'm gonna screw up and call you Daddy soon. You're my father in the future…so I figured I'd try to make it as easy as possible…" She lowered her head. "Aunt Lily never said anything about it 'cause she knew you wouldn't believe her."
"Damn straight…I can't believe you're trying to tell me you're my kid…"
Naoko took off the dog tags. "I knew you wouldn't. You gave these to me when I was about two." She handed the small plates to him.
He took them. 'These are mine…how did she get them?' He reached into his shirt to see if his were still there. Indeed he still had them. He looked back and forth at them.
"They're the same. There's no point in trying to find something wrong with mine." Naoko shrugged.
"If you and you sister are my kids, who's your mother? No woman in her right mind would stay with me to raise kids."
"Mom did. You and her have been together for about 20 years and married for 16 or 17, something like that."
"Who is she? Must have one hell of a patience…"
"Mom's name is Nuriko."
"Nuriko? That girl with the purple hair?"
"Uh-huh." She sighed. "You and Mom fell in love when you came to Japan to tell Aunt Lily that her family was looking for her."
Jason paled, though it was difficult to tell in the darkness. "How…how did you know about that?" His adoptive parents' plan to find Lily wasn't even finished. "Only about 4 people know anything about that! We aren't even ready to go!"
"Daddy, weren't you listening? I'm from the future, duh!"
"Oh my God…you haven't said anything to Lily about that, have you? Or any of your friends for that matter?"
"No. She doesn't need to know now. That's up to you to tell her."
"How comforting." He groaned. "I am not looking forward to telling her…"
"It's not something to look forward to. It was a job that was forced onto you."
"I guess…but if I'm not suppose to meet Nuriko until then, why am I here now?"
"Because there's this guy, Reizo and he's from our time. He's trying to make sure all of us don't exist in the future…"
"I see…this is all so weird…"
"I know…he particularly wants Akane dead, so he'll be going after her parents first and foremost…then he'll go for the rest of us…"
"Akane's parents are?"
"Kei and Tasuki. Tasuki's the red haired one."
"Kei, huh? Never figured her for a mother…then again…I don't think I'm much of a father figure…" He mused.
"You'd be surprised…you really are a great dad, whether you know it or not." Naoko held onto her father's hand.
He smiled. He wasn't completely sure he believed her, but she did give strong evidence of what she claimed. Strong enough for him to believe it was possible. "Thanks Naoko…"
"Naoko, are you out here?" A voice called out for her. It was Nuriko.
"Over here!" Nuriko found Naoko with Jason.
"What are you doing up? Nyoko made me wake up and look for you when she saw you weren't in bed since she doesn't know the town at night. She was worried." She sighed.
"Sorry. I brought her out here." Jason lied. "I was up anyway and she wanted to see the stars." Most of that part was true.
"Oh…okay." Nuriko stared at the man who the girls claimed was their father. He was incredibly handsome in the moonlight.
"If Nyoko's worried, I'll go back." Naoko scurried off into the dark back to the inn, leaving her parents alone.
They stood in silence for a moment. Neither knew that the other knew about the girls.
"So…getting used to being here, Jason?" She asked nervously.
"A little, yeah…" He shrugged.
"Not enough to sleep though, right?"
"Yeah…" He was amazed by how well she could read him.
"It always takes a little while for people who just came to get used to it around here."
"Oh…okay, I guess…I still don't understand why I'm here."
"I'd answer that for you if I could, but I don't know either." She shrugged. "Do you believe those kids are from the future?"
Jason fiddled with his chain. "Yeah. I do…"
"Really?" Nuriko was surprised. "What makes you believe them?"
"Naoko said something to me…there's no way she could have known about it unless she was telling the truth…"
"What did she say?"
"It's a…family matter…something I'm afraid will come out soon…"
"What is it?"
"If I tell you, do you promise not to tell anyone, especially Lily?" He looked at her in the darkness.
"Sure. I promise." She looked back at him.
"Lily has some…unfinished family business…fact is, she the owner of everything that ever belonged to her parents now. She has to come back home to get it. She's not gonna be happy when she finds out about it…"
"I'm not sure I follow. Why is she away from her parents and why won't she be happy?"
"Her parents are dead." She gasped. "Have been for a while…she left a couple years ago…never to come back I assumed…she won't wanna see what she ran away from…"
"I see…" Nuriko lowered her head. "She certainly doesn't seem like the type who's lost her family…"
"She doesn't let anyone know…would you let someone know if you lost someone close?"
"N…no…I guess I wouldn't…" Nuriko thought about her own sister.
"Hey uh, I shouldn't be putting all this on you now. I just met you. I don't think it's right."
"It's okay. I don't mind." She smiled. "I guess we should go back to the inn though before someone else wakes up."
"Yeah…I guess." Jason nodded. They began to head back to the inn.
In the shadows of an alley, Naoko and Nyoko watched their future parents. Nyoko elbowed Naoko. "Did you really have to tell him?"
She elbowed back. "Better I tell him than slip up and freak him out even more!"
"Ugh! Come on!" Nyoko dragged her sister back to the inn.
"Hey!" Naoko protested as they ran through the dusty night streets.
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Akane was the first up in her room the next morning. Taki, Kei and Kimiko were still asleep. She sighed to herself. Being in the same room with her mother and practically being the same age as her was just plain weird. She climbed out of the bed and walked down the hall. She slipped into Kouji and Kano's room. The men slept while baby Kano was already awake. She smiled. He looked up at her with wide eyes as if he recognized her as the one who saved him.
"Don't sleep much, do you?" She picked him up and cradled him in her arms.
He cooed happily. She giggled softly and sat in a chair. While smoothing down his soft hair, she carefully studied him. In 18 years, the sparkle in Kano's eyes stayed the same.
"Don't you ever sleep?" Kano was sitting up in bed.
She turned, suddenly surprised by someone talking to her. "What?"
"I asked if you ever slept. The sun just came up." He said softly so as not to wake his father.
"I slept. I just got up too." She smirked. "I think I like you better when you can't talk."
"Hey!" He looked mildly offended but also interested. She had, intentionally or not, just said she liked him. "Anyway, what are you doing up?"
"I couldn't stay in a room any longer with my mom who is only 2 years older than me…"
"How do you think I feel? I'm the only one that's here twice." He looked down at himself as a baby.
"True…very true…" She mused. "You are such a cute baby…" She cuddled the baby, ignoring the older Kano.
Kano blushed furiously. 'What the hell is she doing?!?!'
She looked up at him suddenly. "So what do we do now?"
"What do you mean?"
Akane put baby Kano back in bed. "With Reizo…we don't know where he is. Every moment he stays here, the more trouble we're in…"
"Yeah…that's true…" He sighed. "We should get the others and decide. It concerns all of us."
"And our parents?"
"They don't believe us. We're gonna have to do this on our own."
Akane closed her eyes. "I guess…let's go then…"
After changing out of their nightclothes, the 8 kids went into the inn restaurant for breakfast. They sat in a quiet corner where people wouldn't notice them. All their parents were still asleep for the time being.
Akane stared into a glass of water. "So…we've sorta changed the past already, how do we stop it from changing it anymore?"
"We gotta get Reizo. He doesn't belong here anymore than we do." Toru gulped down some food. "But we don't know where he is…"
"He probably with his demented dad. Why don't we just go get him?"
"Two reasons." Kano crossed his arms. "We don't know what he's planning. He may want us to go find him and his father could come and kill our parents. We also can't get there fast enough. It's probably a 3 days ride to Kutou. By the time we get there, he could be gone. Toru and Toshiro are just amateurs at magic. We don't know what could happen if they teleported us there…"
"So we're staying here?" Kimiko asked quietly.
"For now…" Hiroshi nodded.
While the kids talked, the adults woke up and found a place to listen in on the kids. Jason was the only one who didn't need anymore proof they weren't lying. He just sat there. Lily noticed how quiet he was.
"Why are you so quiet?" She asked him in English.
"I have my reasons. I don't need to figure out if they're lying or not." He answered back in English.
"What? Last night you didn't even believe you were here. And what do you mean by believing them? You don't know what they said to us earlier."
"How little you do know…Naoko told me a lot last night."
"Like what?"
"Who she is. She showed me the dog tags. And she said something else to me…"
Lily quieted again. "What was it?"
"I don't wanna talk about it…" He stared at the floor. 'I don't wanna talk about, I don't wanna do it, I wish I didn't know about it…'
"Oh…"
Kei and Taki cast glances at each other. They wanted to know what changed Jason so quickly.
The seishi were more interested in what the kids had to say that in a conversation in a language they didn't understand.
The kids were oblivious to their parents watching. "It's not like we can ask our parents for help. They don't get it…" Toshiro sighed. "So what can a bunch of kids like us do?"
"We can really only wait for him. We also can't let anything happen to our parents in the mean time." Akane shook her head. "If he attacks, all we can do is watch out for them."
"And what is it exactly we look out for?" Kimiko ran her hands through her hair.
"Anything that doesn't fit with the past. Kano knows what's supposed to happen, right?" Naoko finished her breakfast.
"Sorta yeah…I do know basically what's supposed to happen…"
"You sound unsure…" Akane looked up from her food.
"Well, it's not like I'm sure of every little encounter that took place in the time before the war…" He shrugged.
"Well, you'll just have to do your best." Kimiko smiled.
"And what do we do when we find Reizo?" Nyoko piped up.
"I'll kill that bastard, I swear…" Kano clenched his fist.
"Kano…" Akane looked over at him.
"What?"
"I don't think you should kill him…" She bit her lower lip.
Everyone stared at her. Kano gave her a funny look. "Why the hell not?"
"I don't think Kanako would want you to kill him…" She lowered her head. "She died protecting you because she didn't want one brother to kill another…family shouldn't kill family, even if it's Reizo…"
Kano buried his head in his hands. "You had to bring that up, didn't you?"
"Look, I'm sorry…" Akane put her hand on his shoulder. "But it had to be said…"
"Then who's gonna kill him?" Kimiko asked. "We can't let him run free once we find him."
"I will. He's gonna pay for that 6 inch gash he put in my head…" Akane touched her forehead. "Besides, might as well carry on the family tradition of killing Kutou generals." She smirked. "When I get my hands on him, he'll be sorry he ever decided he wanted revenge on my family."
"That's all well and good, whatever. But we have more immediate things to worry about. Do we stay here or leave?" Hiroshi asked. "Our parents, who I think are still asleep, all think we're insane. We can't exactly travel with them…"
"I think we have to stay. We have to keep an eye on them or else we're toast." Akane sighed.
"Think they'll ever believe what we said?" Toshiro looked up.
"It doesn't really matter. If they do, fine, if they don't, whatever…all we need to be worried about it getting Reizo and getting home…" Akane crossed her arms and sighed.
"I guess you're right. We should go see if they're up now…" Hiroshi piled up his breakfast dishes.
They nodded and got up to leave. Upon getting up, they turned to see their parents watching them. Their eyes widened. They all knew they just got themselves a new set of problems. Akane ran her hands halfway through her hair and pulled on her hair till it hurt. "That was so not a conversation to be heard…" She groaned.
The adults stared at them with wide eyes, not sure what to make of the information brought to light now. Kano slouched in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. "Oh man…"
The adults and kids stared at each other, no one knowing how to even begin to explain the new situation.
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Now what are Akane and Co. gonna do? Their parents just learned about a whole mess of stuff they aren't supposed to.
~*~Shadow Hawk~*~
4/27/03