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 - Tora's gotta be close to her kids, you know? I enjoyed writing the part when Kimiko punched Akira. I suppose every little sibling wants to whack their older sibling real hard, we just don't get the opportunity to very often.

~Cat - Kimiko kicks butt, doesn't she?

~Draco - Hmm…I don't think I could handle writing 50 chapters of nothing. It would just get too boring. And at the moment, no I'm not in school. I'm heading back on Thursday so I guess you're right. Updates will come a lot slower.

~Courtney - I think I've been in a really sappy mood lately. Maybe I'm just trying to get it all out before school starts.

~Renku Ryokia - Well, thanks for coming to read this! I thought it was a little long. I wasn't sure anyone else was going to read it.

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Akane's radio went on. She glared at it. "Shut up…" She mumbled and pulled the sheets over her head.

It didn't, of course.

After about 5 minutes of trying to go back to sleep, someone came into her room.

"Akane, get up. You have to get ready for school." Kei tugged at Akane's blankets.

"I'm sick Mom. I'm not going to school."

"You are not. Get up." Kei took a firm hold of the blankets and yanked them off.

Akane looked up at her mother. "I'm sick."

"No you're faking it. Come on. Kano's already up and eating. You shouldn't be late on your first day back."

She made a face. "Fine…fine…" Akane sat up. Her hair everywhere and as she crawled out of bed she mumbled something about Kano making her look bad.

"He is not. He's used to getting up early and working. Not like anyone in this house does that."

Akane nodded and sat in front of her mirror. She began to work on brushing out her hair. She wasn't having much luck. Kei smiled and picked up a comb.

"Thank you Mom."

"Any time." Kei made quick work of Akane's hair. "Think you'll be okay at school?"

"Well, I'll be fine. I wanna know if Kano'll be okay."

"You've been working with him right?"

"I'm not talking about like the classes. I think he's smarter than I am. I'm talking about all those girls that are gonna be crawling all over my boyfriend. Chizu thinks he's cute. All the other girls are gonna think the same thing."

"But Kano's in love with you. They don't stand a chance against you." Kei pulled Akane's hair up into a ponytail leaving to small sections of hair framing her face.

Akane smiled. "I guess you're right."

"Now that that's settled, get your uniform on and come down for breakfast."

"Alright." Kei left Akane alone and she got changed.

When she came downstairs, Kano was finishing breakfast. He was dressed in dark blue slacks and a white button up dress shirt. "Don't you look cute?" She hugged him.

"Shut up. I don't like this uniform…it's tight, I can't move and I look like a dork."

She laughed. "I've been doing this a lot longer than you. If anyone has a right to complain, it's me." She sat in the chair next to him and began eating.

"Yours doesn't look so bad." He looked her up and down. "I think I like you in skirts."

She blushed and moved her legs so he couldn't see. "Why you little…" She growled.

"What? You want me to lie and say I hate it?" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Well, I won't be the only girl in a skirt at school…all of us will be."

"They won't look as good as you."

Tasuki suddenly cleared his throat. Kano and Akane looked up. He was watching them over his newspaper and didn't look very happy.

"Sorry sir." He wasn't sure what to call Tasuki. Sir, Boss, Genrou, Tasuki, Mr. Kou, Dad? Well, maybe it was a little early for the last one.

Akane giggled. "Give it a rest, Daddy."

Tasuki sighed. "Will you two just go to school already?"

"Alright, Daddy. Don't rush us." She finished off her breakfast and stood up. "Come on Kano."

"Okay." They rinsed off their dishes and stuck them in the dishwasher.

After saying bye to their parents, they grabbed their school bags and headed out. Kano stared at the sky as they walked. "Think I can pass for a student for a little while?"

"Better hope so." She looked at him. "Shouldn't be that hard though. People can be pretty oblivious here."

"Morning. I can't believe you're up this early." Akane turned around and glared at Hiroshi. He and Kimiko were coming up pretty fast.

"Nice to see you too." Akane rolled her eyes.

"Ready for class Kano?" Kimiko smiled.

"Maybe."

They walked down the sidewalk together. Kimiko and Hiroshi's school was right next to Akane's. They could talk to each other during lunch periods. Only a chain link fence separated the school lots.

After a short walk, Akane and Kano separated from Kimiko and Hiroshi. They went off to their separate schools. Akane and Kano went inside. She'd say hi to her friends and introduce them to Kano on their way to the front office so Kano could get his schedule.

He looked over his schedule. It was the same as Akane's: Homeroom, Math, Science, P.E., English, Lunch, Grammar, History. "Are you sure I can do this?"

"Yes. Now quit worrying. I'll be there with you all day."

They were headed for the door when they heard something unnerving.

"Here's your schedule, Reizo."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"I hope you have a good first day. If you have any problems, come back here."

"Of course. I do not think I will have any problems though."

"You're very confident, Reizo."

"I was raised that way."

They turned around quickly to see who just picked up a schedule. No one was standing at the front desk though. There were two entrances to the office so it was possible whoever that person was just left through the other door.

Akane's face went pale. Kano grabbed her hand. "It can't be him. Don't think it's him…"

"What if it is? It sure as hell sounded like him…" She frowned as they left the office.

"How could he get back here? We sent him back to our present in the book." He held her close and whispered.

"I don't know…I just know that he can do whatever he damn well pleases…"

"Akane…you're shaking…" He looked worried as she clung to him.

"I'm not over what happened in Kutou. How many times has he almost killed us Kano? I'm afraid of him. I can't face him…" She whispered.

"That's just what he wants…don't let him scare you…" He held her tightly. "It's not him. Just keep telling yourself that…" He wanted her to believe it, but deep down, he didn't believe it either.

"I…I'll try…" She closed her eyes.

"If it is him, I won't let him near you, alright?"

She looked up at him. "Promise?"

"Have I let you down yet?"

"No." She smiled. "You haven't." She relaxed just a bit and they went to their first class.

The teacher wasn't there yet so everyone was just hanging around. Akane sat on top of her desk and turned around to face her other friends. Kano sat in the desk next to her.

"So Kano, you gonna show up for basketball tryouts?" Kano jerked slightly when Masakazu appeared out of nowhere.

"Jeez, what is it with you? Maybe. I don't know yet."

"Come on! Tryouts are tomorrow! You gotta come!"

"Hey Masa, instead of trying your winning sales speech on Kano, why don't you try it on that other new kid. I've heard he's pretty good." Hisa shoved Masakazu off his desk.

"What other new kid?" Akane looked up.

"There's some other new kid. I haven't seen him, but somebody said he's really hot."

"That's always the first think you look for isn't it, Chizu?" Ryuchi muttered.

"Duh!"

"Do you know anything about him?" Akane asked.

"Not really. I think he's a year ahead of us. I'm gonna ask around during lunch. Maybe I'll get to see him too."

Before anyone could say anything else, the teacher came in. "Good morning class!" The teacher was a rather short woman with short brown hair and bright blue eyes. "How is everyone today? It's great to be back isn't it?"

The whole class just stared at her. A few people mumbled a response. The teacher blinked. "Well, that's no way to start out a new year!"

Kano looked at Akane. "Is she always like that?"

Akane nodded.

"Akane, who's your new friend there? Is that our new student?"

Akane jerked her head up. "Um…yeah. That's him."

"So um…" The teacher looked at a class list. "Kano Fujiwara, why don't stand up and introduce yourself?"

"Do I have to?" He really didn't feel like it.

The teacher blinked again. A bunch of people snickered. Whispers flew across the room about how cute Kano was. Those were soon followed by sighs of disappointment when other whispers flew that Kano was already with Akane. "Come on now Kano. It would be nice if you did."

"I don't wanna." Again, a wave of giggles went through the class.

"Kano…please?"

"No." He crossed his arms and stayed seated.

"Well, this is going to be an interesting year…since that didn't work so well, let's just get started, shall we?" The teacher smiled widely and started teaching.

Masakazu poked Kano in the back. "That was awesome man! You're lucky you're new though. You coulda gotten in huge trouble!"

"No way!" Hisa shook her head. "Ms. Tachibana has never gotten mad at anyone for anything for the 10 years she's been here. She's way too happy."

"She's always been like that?" Kano blinked.

"Yep. Kinda scary huh?" Akane scribbled down some of the notes from the board.

"Yep…" Kano shook his head and started writing as well.

School was slow goings. Kano didn't understand how Akane could stand to listen to a bunch of adults talk all day. They went outside for lunch. Akane took Kano to the chain link. He sank underneath a tree.

"How do you listen to them all day?"

"It's not easy, but I've been doing it most of my life." She sat next to him with her lunch.

He started eating. "So why are we back here?"

"We're waiting for Kimiko and Hiroshi. They have lunch at the same time as us. They should be coming out here soon."

A few minutes later, Kimiko and Hiroshi arrived at the fence.

"Hey Kano. How's school?" Kimiko pulled a water bottle out of her bag.

"It bites. I have a new found respect for all of you for doing this everyday."

The three real world kids laughed.

"Do you prefer any class yet?" Hiroshi started in on his lunch.

"P.E. and this."

"Lunch isn't a class." Akane poked him.

"It is now." He muttered. "I'm happy in any class where I'm outside."

Akane looked around.

Kimiko stared at her. "You okay?"

"No."

"What's wrong?"

Kano knew why she was on edge. He looked at Kimiko and Hiroshi. "There's another new student here besides me. His first name is Reizo."

Kimiko and Hiroshi froze. "You don't think…" Hiroshi started.

"We don't know. Chizu said she'd look around for him. If she finds out, she'll probably tell us." Akane sighed.

"Well, what are you going to do if it is him?"

"I'll beat the crap out of him." Kano frowned.

"You can't do that." Akane shook her head. "We shouldn't make a scene. If we can hold off until we go back to Konan…"

"For two weeks? Akane, there's no way the son of that war horny blonde bastard is going to keep quiet for two weeks" Hiroshi scoffed.

"Nakago's not like that anymore." Kimiko said softly.

"Huh?" The three of them looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Every since he died, he's been good." She looked up at them.

"How would you know that?" Akane blinked.

"Some time last week, my father came to visit me. I went with him to the realm of the gods and I saw him. He didn't say much to me, but I could tell he wasn't evil or anything. He's changed."

Hiroshi, Akane and Kano looked at her for a moment, a little confused, but understood that Kimiko was bound to know more than they did.

"I wonder if that means there's something more for Reizo…" Hiroshi said thoughtfully.

"Better not be!" Akane snapped.

"His father may have realized what he'd done wrong, but Reizo's not like his father." Kano shook his head.

"Okay…sorry. Forget I mentioned it." Hiroshi held up his hands in surrender.

Before anyone could say anything, Chizu and Hisa found the group.

"Hey guys!" Chizu smiled and waved.

"Hi!" Akane smiled.

"Chizu's been looking for that new guy all day. And she dragged me along with her." Hisa gave her friend a nudge.

"Find out anything?" Kano asked.

"Not really. Every time I thought I found him, he was already gone. Seems he's not a people person." Chizu shrugged. "Though, I did hear that he's going to try out for basketball. If you want to see him maybe you should go. I know I'm gonna go watch."

Kano decided he was going to go out for basketball.

They talked and ate until the bells rang and the kids went back to their respective schools.

School ended as slowly as it started. Kano nodded off in History and Akane had to kick him in the leg to keep him awake. He mumbled something to her about not particularly caring about learning the history of a country he didn't live in.

When the final bell rang, Akane was relieved his first day had gone pretty well. There were a few girls that got kinda clingy on Kano, but he somehow let them all down easily. They took the same path home as they had coming back. Kimiko and Hiroshi tagged along and talked about Kano's first day.

As they reached the gate outside Akane's house, Akane sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Can you take my bag inside? I wanna take a walk."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. I just feel like taking a walk."

"I could come with…"

"I can take care of myself, okay?" She kissed him on the cheek and handed him her bag. "I usually do this after school. I'll be back later." He watched her head down another sidewalk and disappear around a corner. He contemplated following her, but he knew she wouldn't like it so he went inside.

Akane sighed as she walked. School just seemed longer today. Probably because she and Kano had been making up stories all day for one thing or another about Kano's life. The thought of Reizo being at her school made her shiver.

He had to know he couldn't do a lot of damage here, didn't he? He should anyway…

"Out all alone I see. Are you sure that's wise?"

Akane stopped and her blood ran cold. The voice snaked its way into her ear and rang in her head. She slowly turned.

The tall blonde general stood behind her, arms crossed and smiling smugly. He was dressed in a boy's school uniform. The same one Kano wore.

"How…how did you get here?"

"I can do whatever I want. And that, of course, includes killing you." He began to walk towards her.

"You can't do that here. You'll get thrown in jail." She backed away from him.

"So what? I will have gotten what I wanted. Besides, I can always use the same magic I used to get here to escape some stupid prison cell."

"You're really insane, aren't you?" She got her self into a defensive stance.

"Some would say yes. I prefer the term misunderstood genius." He swung at her. She ducked out of the way in time.

"Your father learned…why can't you?" She didn't want to even try to attack him. She knew she wasn't nearly strong enough to take him on. She sprang backwards in order to avoid his foot.

"My father was not the man I thought he was. He was weak. He turned his back on his cause and died because of it. If he had not lost his conviction and become soft, he would still be alive." Reizo caught her off guard and knocked her in the jaw with his fist.

She winced and backed up again. He had a really powerful right hook. She shook the pain off and looked back at him.

He was winding up to punch her again when he stopped. She was confused. Why'd he suddenly stop? Pain shot across his face. That was when she realized why he looked pained. Someone was holding one to his wrist. It must have been pretty tight to make his face twist in pain like that.

The person holding him looked remarkably like Reizo. He was taller though and older. He looked to be in his mid to late 20s.

She realized who it was. "Nakago…"

Nakago swung Reizo around so that he was in between Akane and her attacker. He twisted Reizo's arm around. They were now both facing the same direction and Reizo really couldn't move much. The younger man let out a gasp of pain when Nakago kneed him in the back.

"Stay away from her." Nakago hissed at his son and flung him forward.

Reizo stumbled to the ground. "D…damn you!" A blue flame sparked in Reizo hand and then he was gone.

Akane stared at Nakago. "Are…aren't you…dead?" She stammered.

He looked at her. "Until Reizo is dead, I have permission to come back to the realm of the living and look after you."

"You…you're protecting me? You're helping us kill your own son?"

"I have no son anymore. He threatened to kill me in the past as well." He started to walk away.

"Hey! Wait! My parents are going to want to know what's going on! You have to come and explain it to them. They'll want to know you helped me too! You should come home with me."

Nakago turned back to her. "With all due respect, I decline the invitation. No matter what I do, your parents will always hate me, as well they should. They would never want to see me." He bowed to her. "Please excuse me."

"Oh come on!" She started to go after him as he started to walk again, but then stopped. She realized there was no point in following him. "Thanks!" She called after him then began walking home.

She pushed open the kitchen door and stepped in. Kei looked up. "How was your walk honey?"

"Uh…fine I guess…" She rubbed her jaw.

"Something wrong?"

"Sorta yeah…"

"What happened?" Kei poured a couple of glasses of lemonade and they sat at the table.

"Well, I'm guessing Kano told you guys that there was someone named Reizo who came to my school right?"

"Yes. Can't say I was happy to hear that…"

"Well…for a while we were hoping it wasn't him, but it is. He caught me alone in the park. He was wearing the guys' uniform from my school."

"He got you alone? Are you alright?" Kei immediately got up to look over her daughter more closely.

"Yeah…I'm fine…he almost got me good, but I had some help."

"From who?"

"Nakago. He was defending me. He said until Reizo was dead, he'd look after me."

Kei's jaw dropped a little. "He…he's defending you from Reizo?"

"He's different now. He works for the gods now. That's what Kimiko said."

"Kimiko knows what Nakago's doing?"

"It's a long story…" Akane looked into her lemonade.

"There's always time honey." Kei rested her hand on Akane's

"Thanks Mom." She smiled. "I guess it all started during lunch when Kano and I were talking to Kimiko and Hiroshi through the fence…"

~*~*~*~

Kimiko tossed the last of her schoolbooks back into her bag. "Geez…first day and they still give us homework…and lots of it…" She was already in her pajamas.

There was a soft knock at her door.

"Yeah?"

"Kimiko, gotta minute?"

She turned to see her brother in the door. "Uh…sure. Homework's done…what's up?"

"Do you really think Kouji cares about Mom?"

She blinked. "Well, yeah. They've been on a few dates now and Kano said his dad really likes Mom. Why?"

"I dunno…it's just…it's still weird seeing Mom with another guy…"

"Akira…maybe I'm saying this too soon, but I think Mom and Kouji are falling in love."

"Maybe…I just wish I knew Dad would be okay with this." Akira left her alone.

"I'm sure he is…" Kimiko smiled to herself.

Akira sighed as he climbed into bed. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

~*~*~*~

"Akira…"

"Huh? Who's there?" He looked around. Some how, he knew he was dreaming, but it felt real at the same time.

"Akira…" A hand touched his shoulder.

He turned around as fast as he could and gasped. He stepped back. "D…Dad?!?!"

"Hello Akira." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Okay, I'm not really sure when the next chapter will come out since I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write now. Check on weekends. It'll be the best time for finding new chapters.

~*~Shadow Hawk~*~