Secrets

Chapter Eight

By: Valandra

Beta: Zorra

A/N: Are at the end of the chapter. Sadly, I lost the first start of this chapter.

Damp towel around his shoulders, Shin sighed as he secured the belt around his waist. "Are you seriously staying?" Clearly exasperated, he refrained from looking over his shoulder to the man sitting on his bed. Instead, he reached for the short-sleeved button-up and slipped his arms through it.

"Would you rather I go to the empty apartment? Or maybe the castle…Naaza should be on his down-time fairly soon. I'm sure we'd have plenty to…talk about."

Shin growled to cover the shiver that tried to force its way down his spine, and once more refused to look back at the man he knew was now reclined back on his hands. 'Yeah, that's just what I need. You're protective enough as it is, Naaza would spirit me away if he heard about this.'

"Asshole," Shin muttered, shirt tucked in as he turned to the door. "You're determined to be that obstinate?"

"You expect anything less?" Smirk in place, Anubis stood to follow. With another sigh, Shin led the way down stairs to the kitchen, where the guys were waiting with a late lunch.

~I know how much you hate being put on the spot. It's called moral support, right?~

Shin just shook his head.

oOo

When they entered the kitchen, Shin bypassed the open seat and waiting bowl of stew that the entire group had surrounded. 'As if I would be foolish enough to put myself in the middle of that pack.' Circling around the table, he stood before the group with the table between them; Anubis took up the spot behind him and off to his left.

Touma, Ryo and Nasuti were watching him with silent concern, and though Touma seemed more disquieted then usual, disapproval and reprimand were more clear in Seiji and Shu's emotional core. Eye twitching, Shin strengthened the shields he kept around his empathy to dampen what he was feeling from the Troopers.

"Shin, you need to sit down and eat," Shu started in first. "You don't want to make yourself sick aga-"

"How old am I?" Shin cut him off, his tone hardened. Aqua eyes bored into slate blue, before shifting over to lavender then midnight blue as he crossed his arms before him. He took little notice of Anubis' surprise; this wasn't how he'd intended to confront them either.

Shu straightened up, shock clear in his eyes and spirit for the interruption, while confusion washed over half of the group. Seiji's brow furrowed in silent thought, while Touma looked between the two. "Seventeen," Seiji and Shu drew out as if it were obvious. Ryo sighed and settled back in the kitchen chair, his shoulders slumping while Touma looked between him and the other two, confused still.

Eye twitching, Shin didn't otherwise move, his gaze steady on the group. "My interests? Hobby or career?"

Seiji shook his head and leaned forward, shooting a quick glace at Anubis before focusing on Shin. "Where are you going with this Shin? Does this have anything to do with why you moved out of your mother's home?"

"And when exactly did I move out of my mother's home? Hmm?"

A sound of aggravation came from behind the boys. "Nineteen, tea ceremony, and just before high school. Didn't you boys talk at all?" Nasuti spoke up, her tone incredulous.

"Obviously not," Anubis inclined his head towards her.

"Not for all the good it ever did me," Shin spoke quietly before refocusing on three of the four boys before him.

"You're nineteen?" Shu repeated, stunned. Seiji couldn't seem to find his voice. Touma just shot a look at Ryo and settled back to watch. Shin nodded once, eyes a touch wary as he watched the two.

"Well, that explains a few things," Seiji murmured. "Though not why you never cleared that misunderstanding up."

"Misunderstanding?" Shin repeated, brow arched. "I never told you one way or another how old I was. You," his eyes bore into Seiji's. "Made your assumption on the roof tops before we jumped. You," he turned his gaze to Shu next. "Made your's sometime during that first battle. Touma followed your lead, and you," his gaze shifted to Ryo. "I have no idea. You went with the flow initially." Ryo just smirked faintly, cooling some of the red-head's anger.

"I gave up disabusing your preconceptions after the first day. We were in a war for more then our lives, and like Ryo I knew where my priorities were." He held up a hand, last two fingers slightly curled, to keep the group silent. "No," he ordered, tone momentarily hard. "You will let me talk this time, you will let me finish; whether you listen or not is up to you.

"After the first war, those priorities changed and I wanted everything cleared up. That's why I didn't argue with you coming with me to Yamaguchi Shu. I thought it'd be easier to get you to listen to me, to believe me, if it was just the two of us. Obviously, that didn't happen. And once the two of you were together," he indicated Shu and Seiji, "for the drive back here, there was no hope."

Behind him, Anubis arched a brow at the red-head. Shin shifted as if he could feel the man's bemusement. "At least that's how it felt," he amended, gaze momentarily unfocused. "Then the second wave, and we split up for personal training. I wasn't there a day before Naaza came for me."

Seiji and Shu both shifted, prepared to protest. Shin's narrowed gaze silenced them both. "I know what you both think. What you're dead certain on. That because I was strung up after you two, that I was the last one they caught. But you're wrong. Like you were wrong about my age, my experience…me.

"I was fifteen when I moved to a single apartment in Tokyo for high school, in nineteen eighty-eight. Seventeen when we first met in Shinjuku and the wars initially started. I was hanging in those chains, alone, for three days I am told, before I died." That caused a stir-up, though Ryo, Touma noticed, wasn't quite as surprised as the rest.

"The hell are you talking about?" Shu demanded, his chair scratching the ceramic kitchen tile as he stood up, his palms flat on the table before him.

"We were far more careful with the capture of you two afterwards," Anubis interjected, stepping closer to Shin's shoulder protectively. "The venom in the final attack was too much for Suiko to purify, so it sank beneath the armor and into the bearer. Suiko had no time to cleanse itself before Shin was chained and left to the Spirit's mercies.

"Three days into the ritual, Suiko faded in and out of existence for reasons the Spirits couldn't explain. When Naaza went to investigate, his heart was scarcely beating. The venom was killing his body, while the ritual was killing Shin's spirit rather then draining Suiko's energy."

Seiji's eyes narrowed. "And he just happened to decide, out of the goodness of his heart, to save him?"

"Never mind that he was the one to put him there," Shu growled. Touma, still silently observing, noticed a brief flash of surprise in Shin's eyes. 'For his protectiveness?' he wondered.

Anubis just gave the Troopers a flat, unamused look. "We were raised in the Sengoku Period. The Warring States?" he prompted. "If any of us had truly wanted you dead, then you would be. If the bearer dies, the yoroi would pass on as well, its energy inaccessible until a new bearer is born. Arago would have killed the one responsible."

"Responsible?" Shin repeated after a moment, breaking the silence as gently as he could. "He nearly killed Rajura as I recall, not Naaza."

"Because Naaza was the only thing keeping you alive, once we got your heart started again. With Sh'ten's loss, Rajura became our General and was the one to answer to the demon."

Ryo sighed, drawing attention to himself for the first time; the two most vocal troopers paused with the realization that Rekka had held his silence thus far. What's more, that Ryo hardly seemed surprised. "Why did you leave like that, at the end of the wars?" his voice was quiet, and only vaguely curious.

Shin released a quiet breath of his own. "My heart was failing," he lowered his eyes as he answered.

A sound between frustration and out-right anger escaped Anubis. "Stop coddling them from the truth. You once more didn't trust them. You didn't have faith that they would trust you to know what you were talking about. To know what it was that you needed to survive. And that lack of faith, that failure to trust your words, would have led to another argument, one that would have delayed you long enough that no amount of effort would have saved you." It was obvious to everyone, that though he had started out making a point to the group, before Anubis had finished, his point was for Shin alone. The aquatic warrior had gone from avoiding the Trooper's gaze, to avoiding Anubis'.

With a quiet sigh, Shin closed his eyes for a moment to solidify his resolve. When he turned to look at the Troopers, his eyes were steady and his stance firm. "My heart was failing, I was dying. Naaza had returned to the Youjakai with the others. I had to meet him half-way, and even then…I don't remember making it to the gate. I don't remember much of anything, until a few days after. By the time I was stable, the Manor was deserted."

Nasuti nodded once, her tea cup held firmly between her two hands. "After everyone went home, I moved back to the office in the city. It just didn't…feel right, being the only one here." Looking up from her tea, Nasuti smiled faintly. "This place is too big for just one person."

Shin nodded his agreement and understanding, a small smile on his own lips for the young woman. Before he could say anything however, Touma spoke up, a thoughtful crease between his eyes. He spoke his words carefully, as if piecing them together even as he voiced them. "You said you had to meet Naaza half-way," he pointed out, twilight eyes focused on his thoughts rather then anyone specific. "But if he was already back in the Youjakai, then how did he know you were in trouble?"

Shin's lips twitched, a hint of amusement forcing its way through his resolve. "The same way you were all satisfied with just Seiji being in the room with Anubis and me. I honestly don't know when your four spirits were bound…but mine was bound to the Ma'Sho's when Rajura astrally wrestled with my spirit to keep it in place, while Naaza restarted my heart."

Seiji chocked, violet eyes wider then the others; proof enough that he understood the implications of the Ma'Sho's actions better then his brothers. Shin swallowed the smirk that wanted to pull at his lips and continued to explain before Seiji could form coherent words. "Anubis acted as the medium, and kept me from going into shock. Physically or metaphysically."

When five sets of eyes stared at the Yami Ma'Sho incredulously, the dark-haired man simply shrugged. "Power is just power. How you use it, determines its orientation. You perhaps know this better then the others Korin." A wave of cold unrest washed over the four troopers. "Un-oathed Healer." A sharp breath was sucked in by one of the boys; beside Anubis, Shin tensed. The Ma'Sho however, was unmoving, his eyes locked with Seiji's.

Shu, Touma, even Ryo who had been almost removed from the conversation to that point, tightened the circle they had around Seiji, securing the blond. Ryo's eyes narrowed on the two standing across from them, his protective instincts as leader flaring up in response to the intangible threat to one of his own. When he turned that same gaze from Anubis to Shin, the red-head smiled faintly, saddened but once more resolute and yet somehow, almost distantly, resigned. His stance beside Anubis was noticeably more solid then before, unquestioning in his place. It caused the Troopers to instinctively tense, while Nasuti could only smile sadly as she watched the events unfolding with a clearer vision then the boys.

"When you lay hands on your brothers to heal them, you take their lives into your hands." Anubis' voice was quiet, a softer tenor then any of the defensive Troopers ever thought to imagine, though just as deep. "Not because you don't know what you're doing," he continued, his gaze unwavering. "But because you do know. Just as you know how to put their bodies back together, you know how to take them further apart."

"Seiji would never!" The blond grabbed Shu's arm before the larger boy could move from his side. Breath finally returned to Seiji's lungs; a quick scan of the room nearly stole it from him again. The anger and accusation in his brothers' eyes, he expected. But not to have it split between the two in front of them. Violet sought out aqua, only to flinch when he felt the strength of the shield Shin had tightened around himself.

Anubis simply arched a scarred brow at the group of children. "No? Perhaps not," he consented with a faint incline of his head. But he wasn't yet finished either. "And if you'd ever gotten your hands on one of us? How about myself even, when you thought I'd killed Yagyu-san in the mountains. Or even Kongo before he'd woken? If you'd gotten your hands around my throat long enough, would you have hesitated to break it? Maybe crush the flow of air to my lungs?" His expression settled into a familiar cold set of nothingness. "Or simply stop my heart right then and there. One less enemy to threaten your friends and loved ones. After all," he shifted, and his expression grew a touch arrogant. "Not one of you thought us human at that point."

The four in front of him were pale, some angry and the others horrified. "No?" Anubis continued, his tone faintly amused. "Something more human then? Perhaps a shattered sword arm? You couldn't possibly have imagined I'd have a way to recover from that. Permanently remove a threat without deadly force, protect your comrades and weaken your opposition."

Silence greeted him, interrupted only when Seiji drew in a deep breath. "Both ideas twist my stomach and sicken my spirit. Even the second idea…it wouldn't have been…fair," Seiji's voice grew quieter as he finished.

"War never is," Anubis pointed out, just as quiet. He shifted his shoulders, then swept his gaze over the group before once more settling them on Seiji. "It wouldn't have been courteous," he elaborated, his voice at a normal level. "It wouldn't have been in alignment with REI." Anubis paused to draw in a deep breath. "You would have corrupted your guiding virtue.

"Just as Rajura attempted to corrupt your concept of GI," he shifted his eyes to Shu. "To twist and shift your sense of duty to another's idea of justice." Shu shivered and tensed beneath the restraining hand Seiji still had on him. Touma however, was the palest of the group.

"So tell me," Anubis continued, a new tone to his voice, to his eyes. "How does the spirit of SHIN, the concept of faith survive amidst a group that does not trust?" Emphasis was placed on the last three words.

"It doesn't," Touma whispered, his eyes the only pair that had been watching Shin for the last few minutes.

"No," Anubis agreed softly, shaking his head. "It doesn't. It descends into cynicism, and allows for no one to get close." He let that sink in for a minute before continuing. "Rajura speculates that if the boy weren't an empath, if your underlying 'good intentions' weren't so deeply understood to his spirit, that he would have been easy pickings for recruitment when Kaosu first sent you to the Youjakai. What's more, he would have been more willing then not."

It took noticeable effort on Shin's part to remain unmoving, unflinching beneath their sudden attention. "More then not," he repeated, voice quiet. "But better to be unaccepted, then accepted as a tool only." All four troopers flinched and dropped their gaze, easily feeling the underlying pain in his quiet near emotionless voice.

"When Rajura grappled with his spirit to keep it from departing, we were all shocked by the lack of connection to you four. We were certain…." Trailing off, Anubis shook his head and returned his focus to where it should have been. "Even with his empathy as a buffer, his spirit was weak, starving if you would, from the lack of faith."

"And theirs were openly bleeding from Loyalty's betrayal," Shin spoke up quietly, his arms crossed before him. "When Sh'ten accepted and embraced his guiding virtue, CHUU, his connection, his spiritual bond was severed from the others. Intentional or not, there was never any explanation. Though it laid the ground-work for their eventual defection to our side, it made them all the more susceptible to Arago's manipulations in the mean time."

Anubis nodded once. He swept his gaze over the group before settling it on Shin beside him. "When Rajura held your spirit, he forged a spiritual connection. Yours' is a gentle spirit Shin," his voice gentled, and Ryo and Seiji shared a look, both sensing that what was being said, hadn't been voiced before; Shin tensed, sensing the same. "You reached out to us, even as we fought to save your life. It wasn't just the brush of yours and Rajura's spirits that bound us. Even before I joined your astral forms, I knew the touch of your spirit. You nearly cost Naaza his concentration too," his lips twitched, amused by the memory.

Shin's lips twitched briefly, as if imagining such a thing. He was still pale however, and as focused on Anubis as the others in the room. "Sh'ten's awakening did lay the ground-work, as you said," he continued, inclining his head. "But without you, or your information, we would have stayed where we were, as we were, until naught but a hollow shell played host to Arago's yoroi."

Silence settled as the household thought about everything that had been said. As the minutes drew out and no one moved or spoke, Nasuti thought she should encourage the group to move to the living room. But before she could, a throat was cleared from further into the kitchen, near the door that led to the back yard.

"Why haven't you eaten yet, boy?" The sharp words caused Shin to jump. While he avoided looking towards the speaker, Anubis and Touma both laughed at his reaction. The newcomer arched a brow at the blue-haired boy, far more amused by the unexpected reaction then he let on.

Touma just shrugged helplessly. "Reminded me of Shu," he explained, and earned a laugh from said boy. The larger youth relaxed for the first time that afternoon, and their lack of tension encouraged the others to relax as well.

"As healthy an appetite as any, but only because you skip a meal or two for your studies or research," Shu said, shaking his head with a laugh.

The newcomer just shook his head and pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against; the action caused the young boys to notice his hair, only then recognizing him. "Naaza?" Seiji questioned, incredulous.

An easy smile curved thin lips as a wave of disbelief went through all but two. His hair, though still shockingly green, was a little longer then Seiji's, and shared it's healthy gleam. Green bangs framed a tanned face that before had been paler then Touma's and, Ryo had thought as susceptible to sun burns' as Seiji's.

Ryo's eyes widened in shocked recognition after locking with the man's black, pupil-less eyes. Those were not the eyes he swore he'd never forget in those seconds before he'd lost his own sight. "Naaza?"

The healer's smile grew. He nodded to the youth as he joined Anubis and Shin. Before anything else could be said, he turned an expectant eye on the red-headed boy. "As…touching, as this has been," his eyes betrayed the harsh tone, and the others heard an underlying hint of lingering amusement. "Don't think it'll save you from the ear-full I intend for you both. Now sit and eat," he ordered. Shin sighed and took a seat across from the others with an almost playfully resigned air.

"You," Naaza growled quietly, attention on Anubis after watching Shu push a bowl of stew across the table to Shin. "I should bind you to the rack and leave you there, for not telling us what was going on sooner." Anubis just shrugged, and didn't hide the fact that he took the conversation private at that point.

While Shu's and Seiji's attention was for Shin, and Touma's the group as a whole, Ryo's was split between Shin and Naaza. ~Seiji,~ Ryo touched the older boy's mind, though he didn't limit his words to the blond alone. ~Does Naaza look…different?~

Without so much as glancing at Ryo, Seiji shifted his gaze to the green-haired man. After a short observation, he made a quiet sound. ~Healthier,~ Seiji concluded. ~Even as a warrior, his face was gaunt and pale. His eyes don't possess the same insanity they had a year ago.~

~Aa,~ Ryo agreed. He relaxed back in his chair and, like Touma, observed the group as a whole. ~I wonder if Arago was the cause of his insanity.~

~Nuh-uh,~ Touma disagreed. ~Arago may have been part of it, but not everything. Anubis certainly doesn't look any different.~

Shu arched a brow at the blue-haired boy. ~You know something.~

Touma just smirked and, unseen by the group, Shin did as well; though he wasn't privy to the conversation, he could certainly sense the fours' emotions well enough, and guessed at the silent conversation from there. ~Suspect,~ Touma corrected.

Unable to help himself, Shin chuckled quietly into his bowl; the playfully threatening look Shu had shot Touma was the last straw for him. "And what piece of knowledge is Touma taunting you with now?"

"How the hell…?" Shu demanded. He dropped back into his chair and stared at the older boy with a combination of disbelief and suspicion.

"Do you know that?" Seiji finished, more intrigued then suspicious.

"I know each of you, the rise and fall of your emotions and spirits, as intimately as possible without sharing your bond. To expect any less of myself, and I would have crippled the team. You already thought me young and weak. If I could not hold my own at your sides and backs, then what worth was I as a Trooper?"

Two of the four flinched, but after a few heartbeats, Shin turned his attention to Touma, the corner of his lips quirked upward. "So? What are you teasing them with now?" he asked lightly, determined to keep the mood from darkening.

Ryo shook his head before Touma could answer. "We have to deal with it eventually Shin."

Shin's expression fell to a blank mask, his good humor lost. He dropped his spoon back into the half-finished bowl and stood. "Then deal with it. I'm going for a walk." With that, he turned his back to the group and left through the back door. "Come find me if you decide to trust me."

Expression cross, Ryo stood and hollered after the boy, but Shin wouldn't stop.

A heavy sigh escaped from Naaza, earning the four boys' attention in time to see his disapproving gaze sweep them. "He just admitted he was feeling the rise and fall of your emotions wash over him, no doubt to see if you hate him for his deceptions. Did you honestly think he'd be capable of finishing his food with your emotions churning about such a subject?"

Ryo met his disapproval with his own hard gaze. "Avoiding the subject got us into this situation to begin with. I thought the goal here was to clear the air?"

Naaza arched a hairless brow and waved a hand towards an empty chair. "Then perhaps you should follow young Touma's lead, and follow after him?" The three remaining Troopers were startled, none of them had noticed Touma's departure.

TBC

A/N: Hi all! Like I said, lost the initial start, but once I restarted, the flow just kept coming. I do wanna give a shout-out thank you to Hellfire13 and Jazzmonkey for the PM encouragements and prodding. And always, a huge thank you to you readers and reviewers. Seeing how much ya'll are enjoying this story with me, gets me giddy and I can't help but sit down and write. As you can no doubt tell, you've got a final chapter coming before Secrets is completed. Touma demanded that it stop there. But, as Zorra pointed out, not all of the secrets are revealed, so I will be (obligated) to write a side story *insert beta Zorra* Or two!

And for those of you that are still eyeing Tangled Webs We Weave, you can thank Crystaline Dreams for her constant...sweet talking, to both Zorra and myself. We're reviewing notes this week, and are collaborating the next chapter. We're hopeful for a completed chapter by the end of the weekend; otherwise, a massive amount written.