Authors note:

Hello everyone and welcome to part three of The love we share. At the time of writing, the traffic for this story has just passed 4000 views and I would like to thank each and every one of you who have managed to make it this far. I would especially like to thank those of you who have either followed/favourited this story and to those of you who have been kind enough to leave me a review. It really means a lot to me.

Like the previous two parts, part three was a joy to write and at some point, chapter 11 I think, the story passes the 100K word mark. A point I never imagined it would reach when I first started writing it. In this part, there are a few chapters that I have written from a dual point-of-view (such as chapter one). This is something that I have never done before so I hope they read well. There are also a couple of chapters with content of a sexual nature and I will leave a note at the start of these chapters for those of you who find reading such material uncomfortable.

On a side note, for those of you that might be interested, the chapter titles up to this point, have been taken from song or album titles by British prog-rock band Pink Floyd. Each one was selected because either the title fit the chapter in either a literal or metaphorical sense, or in a few cases because the song itself fits the events. However, from this point on, I have had to widen the pool to include songs from the band members solo works. Otherwise we might end up with a chapter titled something like, The grand vizer's garden party or Up the Khyber.

So without any more delay, here is Part Three: Their Secret. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. If so, please favourite/follow this story or leave a review as I really enjoy hearing what you all think.

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Part Three: Their Secret

Chapter One: Where we start

The sun had set and a dark cloud bank was steadily rolling across the night time Odaiba sky. In one of the Tokyo wards many apartment buildings, the lights were steadily going out one by one, as the residents decided it was time for bed. Up on the third floor, behind a door marked 'Kamiya', this was not the case. While the owners of the property had left the city earlier that day, their two children remained at home; alone.

Tai and Kari Kamiya were both holed up in the formers small bedroom. The elder sibling was propped up against the headboard of his bed, while his sister sat at his bedside in the desk chair. At this moment in time, nothing in the world mattered to them except each other. Hands intertwined, brother and sister had their lips interlocked as they shared their first mutual kiss. Deep inside both parties, it awoke the most wonderful of feelings and conveyed a level of love and devotion that neither had thought possible.

For Kari, this was the realisation of a two-year fantasy, her wildest daydream made real… something that before tonight, she had considered impossible. Nevertheless, here she was. Experiencing for the first time what it felt like to both love and be loved in return. Blissful was not adequate enough to describe how she felt in this singular moment.

Meanwhile, Tai was experiencing liberation from the weight of keeping his true feelings suppressed for the past four weeks. A release from all the pain, both physical and emotional, that he had endured to try and protect his sister. It had been a mistake to do so, he realised that now. And while he had felt some of Kari's love and warmth the last time she had kissed him, it paled in comparison to what he was currently experiencing.

Mutually, the siblings broke off their first proper kiss. Tears ran down both of their cheeks as reddish and chocolate browns opened up to gaze into each other. Ever so slowly, they shrank away from each other, both trembling slightly at the emotional overload.

Of the pair, Kari was first to react. In an overjoyed burst of happiness, she propelled herself forward and threw her arms around her brother's broad shoulders. It took a moment before she felt his strong arms wrap themselves around her. At present he lacked some of his usual strength, however, given the recent blood loss, that was to be expected.

"I can't tell you how much I've yearned to hear you say those words over the past two years," Kari whispered as her eyes closed once more. Drowning in the sheer bliss of being within her brothers embrace and in the knowledge that he returned her feelings.

"I think I'm beginning to feel it," Tai replied softly. Having now spilt his secret he began to feel his whole body relax. It was as if each day since he had accepted the truth had ratcheted up the tension in every part of his body. And that the pain from his wounds had only given him the illusion of release.

For a minute or two, the siblings hugged in the sweet silence of the bedroom. When Kari eventually relinquished her grip, Tai followed suit. Settling herself back down in her chair, she then asked the first burning question, "when did you know?"

"The notion first crossed my mind the night you told me how you felt," Tai replied truthfully, feeling no need to hide anything from his sister now. "I was thinking about our conversation and why I'd reacted the way I did. And that was the answer I came up with. As you probably know from experience, it came as quite a shock. However, by the next morning, I put it down to having been a knee jerk reaction."

"Denial, I know the feeling all too well," she said softly, giving him a reassuring smile. "That was exactly what I did in the aftermath of taking that magazine quiz in school." Kari could recall with clarity just how difficult this conversation had been for her and so elected not to bombard her brother with questions unless there was something specific she wanted to know.

"Much like you, I caught myself looking at and thinking about you in way's I shouldn't over the next week." Tai paused and took a breath. He looked into his sister's warm eyes for reassurance. Even though he knew he shouldn't need it, he still took comfort in it. For there still remained some degree of difficulty in talking about it. "Then came my date with Teiko."

Kari reached out and gave his hand a light squeeze. "That's when you couldn't hide from it anymore."

"Pretty much. When we kissed it felt good but did not compare to how it felt when you kissed me. Teiko then managed to get the truth out of me."

"Teiko knows!" Kari said in alarm. Her hand involuntarily tensed around her brothers. Had he told the girl about her feelings for him?

It was Tai's turn to act reassuring. He held onto his sister's hand and looked her straight in the eyes. "She doesn't know about how you feel," he said and felt her relax in his grip. "She knew I was in love with someone else and got me to tell her who."

Kari let out a slow breath and could feel her body ease. However, when she asked, "how did she react?" she still felt concern for her brother. It had been just over two years before she had been forced to tell someone. In his case, it sounded like little more than two minutes.

"Teiko's about as liberal as you can get and is a firm believer that you can't help who you fall in love with. She actually thought it was a shame when I said that I doubted you would feel the same way. Apparently, we'd make quite a cute couple."

Kari let out a small giggle at that last comment. "Let me guess, she's read a truckload of shojo manga."

Tai laughed, "and her fair share of brother-sister romance stories."

Thinking back to that day, specifically when she arrived home to find her brother waiting up for her, a question popped into Kari's head that she needed to voice, "did you plan on telling me that night?"

He lowered his head upon hearing her words. He was not proud of having caused her a small measure of distress in order to get the information he wanted. Only to then not tell her the truth. "I wrestled with what to do on the way home from Teiko's. Eventually, I decided that I needed to know whether or not you would want a relationship."

For the first time since Tai had made his confession, Kari felt a twinge of apprehension. Like she had just found her footing and was afraid that the rug was about to be pulled out from beneath her. Was this conversation eventually going to lead to a, 'we might be in love, but can't be together,' moment? She did not know if she could cope with that scenario. "That's why you asked me those questions."

As soon as she spoke, he knew that his sister felt worried. Worried that he would finish telling her the truth and then say that they could not be together. However, while he wished to allay her fears right here and now, the truth of the matter was that he did not know where they went from here. He nodded his head, "yes. That night, I was deeply afraid of what might happen if we tried to have a relationship. Of what it might do to you if the wrong people found out about it. For over the preceding two weeks, you had been happier than I'd seen you in a long time." Tai looked his sister in the eyes again. "I decided that I couldn't do anything to jeopardise your happiness and so chose to keep my feelings a secret."

So that was the answer to burning question number two, (why he had not told her). Unfortunately, Kari did not know how she felt about that. On the one hand, she could understand his desire to protect her. Old habits die hard after all. However, that same desire of his also made her feel angry. Should she not have had some say in the matter? For this certainly was not a decision he had any right to make by himself. She was sixteen, not six! She took a breath to steady herself. Losing her temper at this point would not help matters. Instead, she needed to hear the rest of his story and find out where he stood now. "But you found keeping that secret too much of a burden to bear."

"Yes. I couldn't stop thinking about you to the point that it became impossible to focus on anything else. Until…"

"Until you accidentally cut yourself."

Tai lowered his head. "The rest is exactly as I told you." He could hear a slight stiffness in his sister's tone that had not been there prior to him telling her why he had chosen not to tell her the truth before now. Was she mad at him for trying to protect her? When he looked up his gaze was met with an intense stare from those reddish-brown orbs.

"So what happens now?" Kari asked with a mix of trepidation, fear and anger.

Instead of answering her question, Tai said, "you're mad at me for not telling you."

She felt slightly caught off guard by his assertion, having not realised that she had telegraphed the fact so obviously. Well, if they were ever to have any kind of relationship she had best be honest with him, "yes, I'm mad at you. I'm mad because you gave me no say in the matter and instead chose to keep your feelings a secret. Even after I poured my heart out to you. Not to mention what you then did to yourself because of that decision."

Tai could see his sister shake slightly as she unloaded her payload on top of him. In fairness, she had every right to be pissed off. While she had kept her feelings secret from him for over two years, at least she had the valid excuse of being afraid of how he would react. He, on the other hand, had known how she felt. And regardless of the reason why he had done it, he owed her an apology. He gave her the most sincere look he could when he said, "I'm sorry, Kari. I'm sorry I didn't tell that night after my date with Teiko. I had no right to make a decision regarding what we did about our feelings by myself."

She gave him a smile and a nod, "I forgive you." Her eyes then locked onto his and in a stern voice she said, "but if you ever do something so stupid again you had better hope I never find out!"

Tai shrank away slightly under the intensity of his sister's stare. She'd gotten this scary look business down to a fine art now. "Ok, ok, whatever you say, Sis," he said with a hint of nerves.

Kari allowed her gaze to soften as she repeated her earlier question, "so what happens now?"

"I don't know," Tai replied truthfully. "You said that night, that if I had told you I was in love with you, that you would want us to have a relationship. I take it you haven't changed your mind."

"No," Kari breathed. This was it. The moment where either something special could be born or her heart got ripped out. And it all rested on what opinion her brother now held on the subject or whether he would be willing to change it. "Is that what you want too?"

Tai thought for a moment before he responded. What did he actually want? He had spent all of his time trying to keep his feelings a secret and protect his sister, that he had given very little thought as to what he himself wanted. Would it be possible for both of them to suppress their feelings? It would certainly break Kari's heart having to do so. And he had already seen what fate potentially awaited him should he try. Could they try a middle ground where they shared a forbidden moment here and there, just enough to sate themselves so they could go about their everyday lives like normal? Or was the only solution to try and have a proper relationship, despite all the hardship and adversity they might face? "I don't know," he eventually answered truthfully. "However, I know that trying to suppress the feelings we have for one another will not end well for either of us."

Ok, Kari thought as she absorbed her brother's words. That could have been a lot worse. While he was clearly not on board with the idea of a full-blown relationship yet, he at least recognised the fact that suppressing their feelings was a bad idea. She gave him a reassuring smile. Given that she had two years on him when it came to understanding how she felt, it only seemed fair that she take the lead on this situation. "We don't have to rush into anything if you're not comfortable. You only came to accept how you feel two weeks ago. That's barely any time at all to process something this huge. I'm more than happy to wait until you're ready."

A small laugh escaped from Tai's lips. "You know it's funny. Right now, half of me is terrified of what might happen to us if we pursue this and wants to try and put the genie back into the bottle. And the other want's to have you in every way that I can and never give you up."

"It drives you crazy, doesn't it?" Kari replied with a chuckle. "Try feeling like that every time we see each other for two years."

"Just a little. How did you manage to survive all that time without going insane?"

Kari let out a maniacal giggle. "I'm not entirely sure my sanity did survive." She then indicated her current appearance. "I mean, look at me. The person I was two years ago didn't exactly make it through alive, did she?"

"I guess not," Tai conceded, then asked, "so what do we do?" Sensing that Kari had indeed put some thought into this over the past two years.

Kari reached out, took hold of her brother's right arm and turned it so she could inspect the bandage. Having temporarily forgotten that she needed to keep checking it. No blood, good. By now the wound should hopefully have clotted. "I think we're going to avoid that trip to the emergency room," she said as she exhaled in relief.

Thinking about it now, Tai felt overwhelmingly grateful to his sister. The idea of having to undergo a psych evaluation and his parents finding out was too much to even bear thinking about. His mind stopped in its tracks and he turned to look at Kari. "You aren't going to tell mom and dad, are you?" he asked, sounding slightly fearful.

She looked at him with disdain. "Of course. And then I'm going to tell them that we're in love with each other…" she gave him a punch in the arm, "…don't be thick!"

"Hey, it was a genuine concern," he exclaimed, though internally felt relieved. Tai then reiterated his previous question, "so what do we do?"

"Whatever you're comfortable with," Kari replied and then stood up. She then indicated with her had for him to move, "budge over."

He gave her a quizzical look but did as she suggested. Rolling onto his side he shifted over so that his back pressed against the wall. His sister then climbed onto his bed and lay down beside him. Only when he felt the warmth radiate from her body did he realise that he was cold.

Kari stared into her brother's eyes and ran a hand over his torso; it felt cold to the touch. Reaching down to the bottom of the bed, she pulled the blanket over them. "Does any of this feel uncomfortable?" she asked, wrapping her arm and the blanket around his shoulders.

Tai responded by placing his right hand over the small of her back and pulled her closer to him, "no."

Their bodies pressed together, faces inches apart. Chocolate eyes met reddish-brown's as their lips came together once more. Neither of them knew exactly what this was the beginning of, but they both knew this, it was definitely the beginning of something.