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~*~
~To everyone - Sorry that was so confusing! Was it just because of everyone that was in the chapter or is there other stuff I need to clear up? If you guys tell me what exactly was confusing I'll do my best to fix it up.
~Cat - I suppose yeah, Reizo will still grow up evil if Nakago does things he's supposed to, but I thought about it for a while and Reizo almost has to grow up to be evil. I mean, he's got to kidnap Akane and Kano and then Kano's gotta get really P.O.ed at him and go Oni on his butt. You know what I'm trying to say? I had this great explanation in my head but I lost it.
Oh and one more thing. Remember when I said this story would probably be shorter than the first? Screw that…I think at the rate I'm going it'll actually be longer…
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Akane watched younger Tasuki glare at her father. 'This is really getting to weird…' "Mom, can we go home now? I wanna go home."
"Soon. We will get home soon okay?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Akane rested her head on her mother's shoulder and yawned. "I want my shower back."
"You're too spoiled."
"Whose fault is that? You guys never learned to say no to me." She smiled.
Older Kei light whacked her daughter on the head. "Don't get smart with me."
"Too late." Akane hugged her mother.
Kei gnawed at her lower lip. 'How could I be a mother? And with him of all people?' She glanced over at Tasuki.
"What?" He turned away from his older self when he noticed her. "What are you staring at?"
"Nothing. I wasn't staring at anything."
Older Kei and Older Tasuki simultaneously shook their heads in dismay.
Hotohori was sitting opposite his older self. "What do you plan to do now?"
"Find Reizo and get him back to our time. What else?"
"Instead of talking about Reizo for a moment, I'm more than a little curious about Kimiko, no da." Chichiri interrupted. "Are you really Suzaku's daughter?"
"Well, I dunno." Kimiko shrugged. "I can fly, throw fireballs, not die from a knife wound to the stomach and goodness knows what else. I think that's a pretty good indication I'm more than human…"
Hiroshi looked at her. "Calm down."
"Sorry…I'm just on edge…"
"What are your parents names?" Taki asked.
"What's it matter?" Kimiko looked up.
"I'd like to see if I know either of them."
"Umm…lemme think…Tora is my mom's first name…I'm assuming she's not married yet…now what was her first name?" She paused. "Crap…I don't remember my mother's maiden name! What the heck was it?!?!"
"You don't remember her maiden name?" Tasuki looked surprised.
"Not like I use it…now let me think…"
"Arataki." Hiroshi spoke up suddenly
"Huh?" Kimiko looked at Hiroshi.
"You're mom's maiden name was Arataki."
Akane gave him a funny look. "How would you know Ms. Takani's maiden name?"
"I asked her one time."
"Why?" Nyoko looked up at him.
"I was curious."
"Arataki Tora…" Kei sat and thought. "I don't think I know anyone by that name…"
"Neither do I…" Lily shook her head.
"Oh crap!" Both Takis looked up at each other.
"What?" Both Hotohoris looked at the Takis.
"I know her…" Taki was still a little shocked. "I have Saturday classes with her."
"You do?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
"I had no idea Arataki was Takani…" Older Taki shook her head. "I thought she had brown hair. That's how I remember her."
"Well…she did have brown hair. It was dyed though. Then when she had my brother I think she let it grow out."
"You have a bother too, no da?"
"Yeah. His name's Akira. Man is he a pain in the ass…"
"And your father's name?" Nuriko asked.
"Well, until I found out he was Suzaku, I though it was Takani Rei."
After a moment of thought, it was both Jasons turn to freak out. "Holy shit!"
Nuriko elbowed Jason in the ribs. "Don't swear in front of the girls!"
Nyoko giggled. "Mom never changes does she?" Naoko laughed and shook her head.
"Hey!" Jason rubbed his side. "We're not married yet and we're not parents either."
"Then I'll do it." Older Nuriko smiled and elbowed older Jason.
"Ow! Me and my big mouth." Older Jason scowled at his younger self.
The girl twins laughed even harder while their fathers rubbed their sides and their mothers looked smug.
"So what's with the freaking out?" Kei poked Jason.
"I'm pretty sure I know Rei…kinda tall, red hair and green eyes, right?" He turned to Kimiko.
"Yeah. That's him."
"Damn…I met him once. Got along with him pretty well too. A year ago I think, maybe a little more…" Jason looked up at Lily. "You don't remember, do you?"
"Jason, I've been across the ocean from you for 2 years, remember? I never met him."
"Oh yeah…I forgot. Sorry."
"You should be." Lily frowned.
"Why haven't you been around your family, no da?"
"It really isn't important right now, alright?" Older Lily stopped the conversation in the middle. No matter how much she has accepted what happened, she still hated talking about it.
Toshiro felt really uncomfortable. He's never known his mother to be vulnerable. He regarded his mother as the strongest person he'd ever known. It left him disconcerted now that he was finding out so many serious things he really didn't want to find out about. 'You know…a little over a week ago…I was a normal kid…above average in intelligence and my hair's a little odd…but I still led a pretty normal life…I always kinda wished for something different to happen…why'd it have to actually happen though?'
Toru could sense his brother's confusion. He couldn't say he didn't feel the same way. Their lives had been turned upside down. Though Toru didn't take it as bad as Toshiro was. 'Even if we are twins…we've never been the same…he's way too high strung…doesn't like change much…but he's gonna have to get over that…things are gonna be changing for a long time now…' Toru put his hand on his brother's shoulder comfortingly.
Toshiro managed to give his brother a small smile.
"So Takani's really a god? Never would have guessed…" Jason shook his head. "That's just too weird…"
"Well, not like we can ask him about it. He's dead now." Kimiko stopped. "Well, not really dead, just the human part…"
"I don't suppose you could call him here do you?" Hotohori asked her.
"I doubt it. Doesn't he need 7 seishi and a miko to be called?"
"Aren't you his daughter?" Tasuki snorted.
"So? There are certain things I don't think I can do and I'm not gonna try since I don't exactly know how to use whatever powers I have…"
"You could get training for that, no da." Older Chichiri offered.
"You can do that?"
"Yeah, no da."
"Ya know, somethin's been bothering me since you got here…" Kouji looked at Older Kei.
"What is it?" She looked at him questioningly.
"How is it that you can sleep next to Tasuki? He snores like no one I've ever met."
Tasuki scoffed. "Shut up man!"
"Well…" Older Kei smirked. "No one ever said we did a whole lot of sleeping…"
The older adults hid their smirks, the younger ones looked on is shock at Kei and Tasuki who couldn't stop blushing and all the kids except for Kano looked horrified.
Akane said what was on all the kids' minds. "MOTHER!!!!! That's so gross!!!!!! Why'd you have to go and say that?!?!?! EWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!! I never wanna hear anything like that again!!!!" All Kano could do was laugh at Akane's embarrassment. "Quit laughing at me! Don't you think that's gross?!?!"
"Please! I've heard much worse!" Kano did his best to stop laughing.
"Yeah maybe! But did it come out of your dad's mouth?" She huffed and crossed her arms.
"Once in a while, yeah." He smirked.
"Gross!" Akane shuddered.
Older Kei smiled and put her arm around her daughter. "Now you know it's my job to do things like this."
"You don't have to be so damn good at it!" She squirmed.
"Well, that answers my question…" Kouji said with a laugh.
"Didn't I just tell you to shut up?" Tasuki hissed at him.
"Can we talk about how to get rid of Reizo now?" Naoko butted in. "I'm tired of this."
Lily leaned over to Jason. "You know, there isn't a doubt in my mind that that girl is yours. She's too much like you not to be…"
"Are you implying I'm rude?"
"I don't need to imply. You are rude."
"Any way!" Older Kei interrupted. "We should get back to Reizo."
"Crazy ass psycho bitch…" Akane muttered.
"You already made that clear…" Older Tasuki tried to calm him daughter.
"Dad…I don't think I can say it enough…" She sniffled and leaned on her father's shoulder.
"I know…" He wrapped his arms around her. "I promise it'll be okay…"
Tasuki looked on in shock as his older self comforted the distressed teen. For the first time, he felt like he wanted to be a father. Kei looked over at him.
"What?" He snapped his head up at her.
"Nothing. You were just looking kinda thoughtful there."
"Oh…" He said nothing else. He was thinking about the possibility of falling in love with Kei. 'Well, she ain't that bad…definitely pretty…I didn't think there'd be any woman I'd find attractive…'
Kimiko sighed as her friend curled up against her father. She missed being able to do that. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see older Hotohori.
"Are you alright?"
"I dunno…" She sighed again. Hotohori had been like a second father to her since she'd started getting along with Hiroshi. She was glad.
"If you need to say something, you should say it."
"I know…I'm just confused about all this I guess…" She looked up at him. "You're not mad at me, are you?"
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"I did try to bite your finger off a couple days ago…" She said sheepishly.
Older Hotohori smiled and shook his head. "I didn't leave you with many options. You did what you had to."
"Oh…okay." She smiled. She felt a little better now. Hotohori was very understanding. She was also glad Hiroshi inherited that from his father. "Thanks."
"Of course." Older Hotohori took his hand from her shoulder.
Older Kei pulled a small box out of her pocket, no bigger than the box that the pendant she always wore came in. "This is what's gonna get rid of Reizo."
"What is it?" Hiroshi asked.
Older Kei opened the box. Inside lay a slightly glowing red gem. "A wonderful little gem with the power to get Reizo back to where he should be."
"Would that be in Hell or do you just mean time wise?" Kano muttered.
Older Kouji looked at his son. "Relax, will you? He'll be dead soon enough."
"He better be…"
"Kano…" Older Kouji whispered. "I know you want to kill him. I want to see him dead just as much as you…but you can't rush into this…"
Kano clenched his fists then released them. "I know…I know…"
Akane discreetly placed her hand on top of his. Her fingers curled around his and she felt him relax ever so slightly, but relax none the less. They didn't say anything to each other. They didn't need to. There was always a silent understanding between the two bandit children about Reizo. After both nearly being killed, they didn't need words to comfort each other, their presence was enough.
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Much shorter chapter, I know. My brain had to recover. Sorry for the wait too.
~*~Shadow Hawk~*~