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 - So how's that project coming along? Hope you don't get over worked. And I just wanted to say thanks for being more critical of me than others when you reviewed Red Wings of Fate. You and one other person are the only ones who will really tell me when something needs work. It's nice to have people gush about what you write, but it's better to have someone tell you how to improve.

~Cortney - Misunderstood genius is probably my favorite phrase in the English language.

~Renku - I never liked Nakago much, but after I, you know…killed him last time, I felt I owed it to him to make him a better person.

~Cat - I guess you could call Nakago a guardian angel. Didn't really think of it like that before, but I guess yeah, he is.

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Akira stared at his father in shock. "D…Dad?"

"Akira." Suzaku stood a few feet from his son. He didn't look like Suzaku though. He looked like Rei, like a normal human.

"How did? Why are? Huh?" He felt his eyes sting with tears.

"I came to see you."

"Why now? Is it because of Mom and Kouji?"

"Yes. You need to give him a chance."

"Why? You never should have left in the first place!"

"I couldn't help it. It's the way things happened though." Suzaku sighed. "I sent Kouji to your mother. Let her be happy now."

"You…sent him to her?"

"Yes. She's suffered long enough because of me. Please, for you mother's sake, let her have this."

Akira stared at his father. "Only because you said so…" He stared at the ground.

"Thank you Akira…and please accept your sister's relationship with Hiroshi."

"I don't know…I don't want Kimi-chan to get hurt…"

"She won't. Hiroshi loves her more than anything. And she loves him."

"They're only 15…"

"Doesn't matter. True love can come at any age."

"I guess so…"

He embraced his son. "I'm sorry I left you…"

"Death is death…can't do anything about it…" Akira blinked back his tears.

A lump rose in Suzaku's throat. Akira was much kinder to him that Kimiko had been, but only because she knew the truth. As much as he liked the warmer welcome, deep down he knew Akira should be shouting the same things at him that Kimiko had.

Akira buried his face into his father's shoulder. He knew it was a dream, but it felt real.

Though as soon as the dream began, it ended…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Akira sat bolt upright in bed, silent tears streaming down his face. He raked his fingers through his dark violet hair and looked at a clock. It was late, sometime after 3 in the morning. A cool breeze brushed his skin and made him shiver. He looked at his window. It was open.

'I didn't leave that open…' He kicked back the blanket and went to the window. As he reached for the window latch, something bright red caught his eye.

Sitting on the windowsill was a bright red feather. He'd never seen a bird with such big, vibrant feathers before, so he was confused. He reached out to pick it up.

A wave of calmness washed over him as he twirled the feather in his fingers. He relaxed and shut the window. He eased back into bed, feather in hand.

He set the feather on his nightstand and drifted off to sleep quickly.

The translucent image of his father loomed over him. He brushed away the last of Akira's tears. Akira shifted in his sleep.

Kimiko watched her brother and father from the doorway. Akira almost never shut his door at night.

Suzaku turned to Kimiko. She said nothing and neither did he. They didn't want wake him up. She motioned towards her mother's door with her head. Suzaku nodded and they left Akira alone. Kimiko watched Suzaku head into Tora's room.

Suzaku sat on the edge of his wife's bed. It tore his heart out to see her alone. He longed to hold her again, but he couldn't. He wasn't given that much freedom in his spirit form.

"Tora…" He murmured softly and touched her face.

Her eyes fluttered open. In her half awake state, she didn't react to him immediately. "Rei?"

"Hello Tora."

"What are you doing here?" She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake up more.

He stopped her. "I'm just here to wish you a happy life with Kouji."

"Kouji? You know about him?"

"Know about him? Tora, I sent him to you. I want you to be happy."

Tora studied him for a long time, as if trying to figure out if he was real or not. She reached out to touch his face, but her fingers slipped through his image. Her fingers felt cool. "Can you tell me something?"

"Anything."

"What's your real name?"

He was surprised. "What kind of question is that?"

"Rei…I always knew there was more to you…you were more than human. Can't you tell me now?"

Suzaku studied her face. He always had a feeling she knew more than she let on. "My name is Suzaku…"

"I knew Rei wasn't your real name. You hesitated when I first asked you all those years ago…" She smiled. "So you're an ancient god…" Tora had taken a course on ancient Chinese mythology with Taki years ago.

Suzaku nodded to his wife.

"Do the kids know?"

"Kimiko does, Akira doesn't."

"Why?"

"Kimiko had to know. She inherited power from me that Akira didn't. He doesn't need to know…"

"I see…" Tora wasn't really sure whether she was dreaming or not, but she went with it. "Is Akira going to accept Kouji?"

"He will eventually. Don't worry."

"Alright…"

"Good bye Tora. I'm sorry…" He leaned towards her and kissed her one last time.

Tora eyes fluttered shut and she went back to sleep immediately.

Kimiko walked back to her room. She was tired, but as long as her father stayed there, she felt the need to stay up.

Suzaku headed into Kimiko's room.

Kimiko watched him. "Umm…thanks I guess…"

"It's the least I can do…"

"I guess…" Kimiko bit her lip. She hugged her father. "So Mom knew about what you were?"

"I think she had an idea. Now she knows the whole truth. That is if she believes what just happened to be real."

"Good bye Dad."

"Good bye Kimiko." And after one final hug, Suzaku's form faded away.

Kimiko got back into bed and curled up in the covers. She sighed at let sleep overtake her tired body.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Akane, Hiroshi, Kimiko and all the twins were sitting in the bleachers in the gym after school, waiting for basketball tryouts to start. Akane wondered if Reizo was going to try another attack.

All the guys trying out were dressed in gym shorts and shirts.

"It's weird seeing Reizo in shorts and a t-shirt, isn't it?" Hiroshi commented.

Everyone nodded except for Akane. She didn't care. She was only worried about Kano.

"Akane, come on. Reizo's not gonna try anything huge." Toru grabbed his cousin's shoulder.

"He did yesterday." She muttered.

"You were alone yesterday." Nyoko pointed out. "There's too many people here I think."

Akane said nothing.

"We can hope right?" Toshiro offered.

Akane gave a halfhearted nod.

Down on the court, Kano was hardly listening to the coach. He was too busy watching Reizo. The blonde general watched Kano in the same intense way. They were trying to guess each other's moves.

Pretty soon the coach split them up into two teams and told them to play a practice game so he could get an idea of everyone's skills. Kano and Reizo ended up on opposite teams. They both ended up centers on their teams, being the tallest.

Kimiko watched nervously. She could almost see the energy the boys were giving off. This wasn't a practice game anymore. It was personal. It was between Kano and Reizo now.

Hiroshi touched her should and gave her an 'are you okay?' look. She nodded and smiled, thankful for how caring he was.

Naoko kicked Akane in the side. "Will you lighten up already? We all know Kano can kick Reizo's ass if he needs to and so can you. Hell, Kimiko can blow up his ass. Which could be entertaining for the rest of us."

A small chuckle escaped from Akane's lips.

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Now I don't know if I can do that…"

"You probably could." Hiroshi had to agree with his younger cousin.

"Come on. I'm not into blowing up people okay?" Kimiko stuck out her tongue.

"What are you guys talking about?" Chizu and Hisa joined them.

"Nothing!" The 7 kids chorused.

Chizu raised an eyebrow. " Is it like a family thing?"

"Something like that." Akane put in.

"Your family's too big you know that?" Hisa sighed.

"Can't do anything about the past now can we?" Toshiro smiled, nearly making the others laugh. They all knew better than that. They'd all been in the past and made a few changes.

"Guess not." Hisa shrugged.

A whistle on the court diverted everyone's attention. The game started and the coach threw the jump ball. Kano and Reizo both jumped for it and Kano proved to have the upper hand. When Reizo glared at him, Kano simply smirked and took off.

10 minutes later, the score was 10-9, Kano's team in the lead. Kano was proving to be a much better team player than Reizo, but that was to be expected. During the last couple of minutes of the game, Kano had the ball. He was heading down the court with his team and getting ready to make a shot when the next thing he knew he was on his back on the floor. Reizo stood over him. He was the one the pushed Kano to the ground. The ball bounced out of bounds somewhere.

Akane held her breath and hoped Kano wouldn't lose it.

The whistle blew again. The other players were shocked at how aggressive Reizo was and hoped they wouldn't be the next to go down. The coach wasn't very happy.

"Reizo, relax will you? It's only practice."

"I apologize. I guess I got a little too…competitive." He offered the apology almost mockingly and offered his hand to Kano.

"Right. Whatever." Kano growled and got up on his own. He glared at Reizo. "You never give up do you?" He said under his breath.

"Not until I get what I want, whelp." Reizo spat back.

No one could hear when they were saying, but everyone felt the animosity between the two players and wondered what was wrong. Masakazu and Ryuchi looked at each other nervously.

"You know, I think that's enough of the game for now. Why don't we run a few drills?" The coach decided he'd keep Reizo and Kano away from each other for a while. "You okay, Kano?"

Kano shook out his arms. "Fine. I've done worse."

The coach was still a little nervous but let it go.

Over an hour later, tryouts were over. The drills were long, tough and non-stop. A few guys left, knowing they couldn't do that. All the guys were tired even Kano and Reizo. They didn't even have the energy to fight with each other, which had sort of been the coach's intent.

The locker room emptied out kinda fast. No one really wanted to be in the same room as Reizo. Soon it was just Kano and Reizo. Kano finished tying his shoes.

"What the hell is your problem? Are you trying to go out with a bang?" Kano glared at him.

"I want your entire happy little family to die, understand?" Reizo looked at Kano calmly. "I will do it in whatever way presents itself."

"You're not going to kill any of us. You killed my mother and you're going to pay. You're all alone. Even your dead father is on our side."

"All the best work is done alone."

"No. No one does their best on their own. My friends and family are the reason I'm strong enough to beat you. And when we get back to the book, you'll see just how strong we are."

"Why wait till then? It you are so confident you can beat me, prove it." Reizo got up in Kano's face.

They stood there silently for a moment. At Kimiko's request, Hiroshi went into the locker room to check on Kano. The intense looks on both boys' faces scared him. "Kano, let's go. We don't need any property damage today…" He watched Reizo carefully.

Kano gave one final snort, picked up his bag and left with Hiroshi. Akane immediately hugged him. He kissed the top of her head. "It's okay. I'm fine." He murmured to her.

"So is Reizo like royally pissed off?" Naoko asked.

"Of course. That's his permanent state of being." Toshiro muttered.

"I guess that was a dumb question."

"Are we leaving now?" Nyoko asked.

"Yeah. I think it's for the best." Kano nodded.

As they headed for the exit, Ryuchi and Masakazu caught up to them. "Hey, aren't you gonna wait for the coach to post the team?" Masakazu asked.

"I can wait."

"Dude, what is up between you and Reizo? He went nuts on you!" Ryuchi asked. "I've never seen a guy get that aggressive over a practice game.

"We grew up together." Kano lied. "We've never gotten along. He's got more of a problem with me than I do with him though."

"Everyone's sure coach's cutting him." Masakazu offered. "He's good but you know, after the way he acted, he's not a good person to have around others."

"You can say that again." Kano agreed. "See you guys later."

"See ya."

After a few more 'see ya later's, the group left the school.

Kimiko yawned. She was tired. Watching the ghost of her father talk to her family in the middle of the night wasn't exactly the best way to prepare for the next morning.

"Tired?" Nyoko asked.

"Dad came back again." She said while yawning. "I was up in the middle of the night watching him."

"What'd he say this time?" Naoko asked. She wondered how Kimiko could stand to be in the same room with her father after what he did. She knew she wasn't forgiving enough to do something like that.

"He was telling Akira it's okay for Mom to see Kouji and he told Mom he wants her to be happy with Kouji." Kimiko sighed. "It also turns out my mom kinda knew Dad wasn't really human…"

"Did he say anything about you and Hiroshi to your brother?" Naoko asked.

"I dunno." Kimiko answered.

"So what? You're gonna be my step sister or something?" Kano looked down at the young goddess.

"Something like that. Damned if I know what's gonna happen."

"So Akira's not gonna go nuts anymore when your mom goes out?" Toshiro asked as Hiroshi wrapped his arm around Kimiko's waist.

"So I hope. It'll be better for my hand if he doesn't." She flexed the fingers on the hand she used to punch Akira the last time. Hiroshi smiled and took her hand and kissed it. Kimiko blushed.

Akane rolled her eyes. She made some gagging noises that made Kano laugh.

Hiroshi rolled his eyes. "What? Jealous?"

"Jealous? Of what? Kano and I are officially a couple." Akane whacked him in the back of the head again.

"Here we go again…" Kimiko sighed.

"I wish she wouldn't hit me all the time." Hiroshi muttered.

Kimiko smiled ruffled his hair. "You say too much that'll get you whacked."

Hiroshi expected Akane to say something so when she didn't he turned around. "Akane are you listen…" He stopped in the middle of his sentence. "Oh come on!"

Kano and Akane were standing a few feet back. Kano's arms were wrapped around her waist tightly and her arms were draped over his shoulders. They were French kissing.

Kimiko giggled at the look on Hiroshi's face. "You and your big mouth. I don't think they're very jealous."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't believe you two!"

Akane smirked at her younger cousin. "Now it sounds like you're jealous."

"Am not!"

Kano, Kimiko and the twins started laughing as Hiroshi and Akane started arguing again.

"Should someone split them up?" Toru asked. "Aunt Kei and Aunt Taki wouldn't be happy if Akane and Hiroshi got into another fight…"

Kano and Kimiko pulled the teens away from each other. "Enough. Let's go home." Kano had Akane by the arm.

She stuck her tongue out at Hiroshi one more time. "Alright."

"Hiroshi, come on. We've gotta go work on that project for school."

"Right…" Hiroshi and Kimiko said bye to everyone and headed to Kimiko's house.

Tora was in the living room when the kids came in.

"Hi Mom! Where's Akira?"

"Hello, Ms. Takani."

"Hi Hiroshi. He's on an errand for me. Kimiko, I'm glad you're home."

"What's up?" Kimiko plopped down in a chair.

"Is Saturday evening free for you?"

"I think so. We weren't planning anything were we Hiroshi?"

"Nope. Can't think of anything for Saturday."

"I'd like you to keep it open."

"Why?" Kimiko asked as Hiroshi leaned over the back of the chair.

"We might be going out to eat with Kouji and Kano."

"'We' as is you, me…and Akira?" Kimiko asked.

"Yes. Akira finally agreed to meet Kouji. And if it works out with Kano, we're going to try for Saturday night."

Hiroshi smiled. "Congrats on making a major breakthrough with Akira."

"Too true." Tora smiled and sighed.

"I'll keep Saturday night free." Kimiko smiled.

"Thanks honey."

"No problem." Kimiko got up again. "Should we work on that thing now?"

"Now's as good as ever." They went up to Kimiko's room with all their school junk and set to work on their history project.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kano was sleeping in the guest room when Akane came in. He changed out of his uniform and into some sweat pants and a t-shirt. She sat next to him. "Hey sleeping beauty, tryouts too much for you?" She nudged him.

He opened on eye. "Lay off will you?"

"Somebody's cranky." She smiled.

"I'm tried." He sat up. "But since I know you're not going to let me sleep…what's up?"

"Kouji sent me up here to ask you if it would be alright if you and he went out to eat with Kimiko and her family on Saturday."

He thought for a moment. "Fine by me, but why didn't he come up here and ask me?"

"Because you were sleeping and you snap at anyone who wakes you up except for me." She kissed him on the nose.

"Fair enough." He pulled her closer. "So I get to me the famous Akira now?"

"Yep. And try infamous. It's a good thing Kimiko's father is a god because only a god could make Akira start to accept Tora dating again."

"Stubborn little bastard, ain't he?"

"Yeah. Remind you of anyone?" She smirked at him.

"You?" He grinned.

"Gee. Here I was thinking you." She playfully poked him. "I think you two will get along fine."

"Here's hoping." He sighed. "So what's for homework tonight?"

"Not much."

"Seven hours in school and then more when you get home? I don't get it…"

"Neither do I."

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next couple of days passed by rather slowly. Kano and Akane did their best to avoid Reizo. Reizo was indeed cut from the team and Kano got on. It wasn't like being cut really mattered to Reizo. He'd only gone to get a rise out of Kano. Kano spent his afternoons at practice while Akane would watch and do some homework in the bleachers.

Saturday came after what felt like forever. Kano and Kouji got ready to go out. Tora came over and picked them up. Kimiko and Akira were in the back seat. Kouji joined Tora in the front seat. They greeted each other with quick kisses on the cheeks. Kimiko sat in between Kano and Akira. She glanced nervously between her brother and Kouji. 'Please Dad, don't let Akira screw this up! I know you talked to him, but please! Keep an eye on him…'

Kano saw the way she looked and gave her a reassuring smile.

She relaxed a bit and sat more comfortably. She wondered how quiet the ride to the restaurant would be.

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~*~Shadow Hawk~*~