Family Affair

Chapter 12 ~ Forgiveness

Ren sat quietly in Ryu\'s room, flipping through some novel. He snorted when he realized it was a trashy romance, and then tossed it onto Ryu\'s futon. \"Can\'t get any in life so he goes to that crap?\" he thought, and then crossed his arms with a grumble.

\"Buchama,\" Bason said while appearing, \"perhaps Kibo-san would be willing to train with you,\" he said with a forced smile.

\"And risk running into Faust? It\'d be less aggravating to stay in and read,\" he snapped. \"Imagine. Tao Ren reduced to sitting in a bedroom like some bratty kid.\"

A large sweat droplet appeared over the warlord, and he thanked Great Spirit that he was the only one who had heard that. After a moment he felt a second presence, and then turned and found Manta peeking nervously into the room, Mosuke and Tokagero hovering behind him with panicked expressions. He cringed, and then glanced quickly to Ren, who was now reading some sports magazine. \"Um... I think I\'ll go see what Ryu\'s making for dinner,\" Bason said, barely masking his own nervousness, then he shot out of the room and glared at Tokagero and Mosuke. \"Are you trying to get Buchama into trouble?!\" he hissed.

\"Don\'t blame us!\" Tokagero replied in an offended tone.

Mosuke watched Manta quietly, and then sighed.

-----

Ryu had managed to get Faust off of Ren\'s case, and much to the two\'s resentment, he took over as the parental figure and separated them, and then returned Manta to his bedroom, giving Mosuke strict instructions to not let Ren or Faust go in. As a means of backup for the blacksmith, Ryu asked Tokagero to stay with the two, and then Ryu headed towards the kitchen to start making dinner.

Kibo had planted herself in one of the kitchen chairs and was eating away at the large container of strawberries that had been resting in the fridge. She glanced up when Ryu entered the room, and then swallowed a half-chewed berry. \"Uncle Ryu?\"

\"Yes?\" Ryu replied quietly while washing thoroughly.

Kibo was quiet for a moment, and then glanced away. \"He\'s the one who made Mom the way he is... Isn\'t he?\"

Ryu frowned a bit while drying his hands, and then began searching through the cupboards. \"Well... It\'s difficult. He didn\'t do it alone.\" Once he had found the pot and pan he had been searching for, he looked up. \"Why do you ask?\"

\"Dad said he was the reason for Mom\'s soul injury,\" she replied after a few moments, and then began to eat another berry.

Ryu frowned a bit while filling the pot with water. \"Well, he was certainly a major factor, but there was more to it than that.\" He paused while looking down with a frown. \"Mosuke was the only one who saw his pain. But there was nothing he could do.\" He shook his head. \"And though I love your father like a brother, he didn\'t exactly make things easier.\"

Kibo frowned. \"My dad hurting somebody?\" she asked, and then snorted. \"Yeah right.\"

\"Believe what you want,\" Ryu replied. \"It doesn\'t change what happened.\" He looked back to her. \"Kibo, I want you to do something.\"

\"Such as?\" she asked, an amused smile still on her face.

Ryu watched her with a slight frown, and then sighed while looking away again. \"I know your father tries to teach you things. He can be too relaxed, though.\"

\"You mean there\'s something more difficult than handling Harusame?\" she asked with a grin, and then fell silent when he placed a spatula down harder than necessary. She watched as he walked over to her and froze when he leaned so they were face to face.

\"Everything works out,\" he replied, his eyes not as friendly as normal, \"but nothing will ever work out the way your father implies.\"

She frowned. \"I don\'t get it, Uncle,\" she replied after a minute. \"I was born, Dad married Mom, and Gramps got to adopt Mom. He seems to have everything working out for him.\"

His expression grew sad. \"At the same time, though, your mother\'s ill and can\'t speak. Faust restricts your father from being affectionate with Manta. He is unable to send you to a normal, public school. Do you think it is so well for him now?\"

She was silent for a moment while thinking, and then shook her head a bit. \"That\'s just minor stuff.\"

\"Do you think Big Brother counted on waiting for thirteen years to have sex with him again?\" Ryu demanded. \"Do you honestly think...\" He trailed off hearing a knock, and then looked towards the door. A moment later he frowned when he found Ren standing in the doorway, Manta in his arms and a baffled expression on his face. \"I thought I told you...\"

\"He came to me,\" Ren replied quickly, and then looked down quietly. It appeared Manta had fallen asleep, and in his arms was Bason in spirit ball mode. \"He just came in and kept looking at me funny, then he hugged me.\"

\"It\'s true, Ryu,\" Tokagero said while appearing, looking as confused as the Tao.

Ryu was quiet for a moment, and then sighed while closing his eyes. \"And there was nothing else? You said nothing? Did nothing?\"

\"I told him he was going to get me in trouble, but that\'s it,\" Ren replied with a frown, and then walked over and carefully handed him to Ryu. \"You take him. I don\'t need Daddy getting on my nerves.\"

Kibo was quietly for a moment, and then looked to Ren. \"Did you really hurt my mom?\" she asked.

Ren looked at her silently, and then closed his eyes. \"Yes.\" He looked up with cool eyes. \"I hurt him on several occasions. To a point where he was almost trained.\"

\"That\'s enough, Ren,\" Ryu said quietly.

\"So... You taught him to be quiet then,\" she said with a slight frown.

Ren smirked slightly. \"Oh, I did nothing of the sort. I protected our privacy, but I never taught him the art of silence.\"

\"That\'s a pretty sick way of looking at it,\" Tokagero spat.

\"It doesn\'t matter. The past is the past. Don\'t speak as though it were then,\" Ryu said icily to Ren.

\"No,\" Ren replied to Ryu. \"I\'m a guest in your house. If a host asks me a question, I will answer it. It doesn\'t mean I am proud of it.\" He looked to Kibo. \"They seem to have done a good job at telling you of my sins. Did they tell you of their own?\"

Kibo frowned a bit. \"They were neglectful,\" was her reply. \"But it wasn\'t intended.\"

\"Just as it wasn\'t intended when Asakura taught Manta silence?\" he demanded, and then looked to Ryu. \"Have these people been so forgetful?\"

\"Get off it, Ren,\" Ryu growled.

\"I don\'t think I will, Ryu,\" Ren replied. \"I\'m disappointed that you would mislead her.\"

\"We haven\'t misled her,\" Ryu replied.

\"Really? And why did you neglect to tell her that it was Yoh\'s blood that taught Manta silence? Does she know that Yoh took advantage of him?\"

\"It was unintentional,\" Ryu replied.

\"Right. Making him have sex when he was aware that Manta was sick was unintentional,\" Ren snapped. \"At least I had enough decency to admit my crimes.\"

Kibo looked back and forth between them nervously, and then looked back when Mosuke appeared. \"Mosuke-san?\"

The blacksmith watched quietly for a moment as the two argued, and then growled. \"Enough!\" he yelled, and then looked at them irritably once he had their attention. \"It doesn\'t matter anymore. Yes, Ren was terrible, but none of you were particularly saintly either. If anybody was a bastard, it was me for doing nothing! Now stop this stupid fighting before you wake him up. It\'s been a long day.\"

\"Mosuke...\" Kibo said quietly, confused by what had been going on.

Mosuke sighed, calming down again, and then looked up to Ren. \"Manta holds a strange fear, but he is still glad to see you.\"

\"Hmm?\" Ren quirked an unbelieving eye.

\"Though he is uncomfortable, he still feels you did nothing wrong,\" Mosuke said more quietly, spite struggling to escape him. \"He feels you were right, and he holds no grudge.\"

\"Mosuke, you don\'t have to say that stuff,\" Tokagero hissed.

Ryu slowly relaxed, and then sighed while closing his eyes. \"Ren, what\'s in the past is in the past. You wish to start over with us, then let sleeping dogs lie.\" A moment later he looked up. \"Otherwise I\'ll personally escort you to the station.\"

Ren was quiet for a moment, and then smirked some. \"What are you doing with your life, Ryu-kun?\" he asked less aggressively, and then crossed his arms over his chest. \"Trash novels. The daddy acts. What are you still doing here?\"

Ryu was quiet for several minutes, and then sighed. \"Please put Manta in his room. I have to finish dinner.\"

~~~~~

Horo grumbled some while checking his watch. \"Why can\'t the darn thing ever be on time?\" he grumbled irritably. A moment later he turned to pace, and then yelped when he ran into somebody.

\"O-Oh, I\'m so sorry!\" a young woman cried with slight panic in her voice. \"I didn\'t mean to...\"

\"Tamao?\" Horo interrupted while staring at the girl. Her strawberry hair had grown quite a bit since the last time he saw her, and her outfit was more flattering than what she used to wear; jeans and shirt replaced with a skirt and tank-top. He swallowed nervously, wondering if he should ask if she was married, but decided not to, less she startle and hit him. He got up and laughed a bit. He had really only figured her identity quickly because he recognized the two yamagami, Ponchi and Konchi, who floated behind her. \"Tamao, it\'s been years,\" he laughed.

\"H-Huh? Um... Who are you?\" she asked nervously.

\"Tamao...\" Ponchi began.

\"Isn\'t that the Ainu kid?\" Konchi added.

\"Horo Horo?\" Tamao asked curiously, and then a moment later smiled brightly. \"Ah! HoroHoro-kun!\" she cried happily. \"It has been a long time!\"

\"I\'ll say,\" Horo replied with a grin. \"Where\'ve you been hiding yourself?\"

\"Oh... Nowhere in particular,\" she replied with a nervous smile. \"Yoh-sama tracked me down, though, and asked that I come to Izumo, since I was coming home anyway.\"

\"Koro-ko!\" Kororo replied happily, and then floated over and hugged her.

\"Tamao, wait up!\"

Horo looked up curiously, and then smiled when he saw Yoh running up. \"Hey, Yoh! About time you got back from America.\"

\"Yeah,\" Yoh replied with a nervous smile. \"It\'s too boring there.\" He straightened up with a smile. \"Ne, sorry if you\'ve been trying to get through the phone. They\'ve gotten tiring, so I thought I\'d cancel ours for a while.\"

\"I did the same thing,\" Tamao replied with a smile, and then looked to Horo. \"You are going to Izumo, right?\"

\"Yep,\" Horo replied.

\"Great! We can sit together!\" Yoh declared happily as the train pulled into the station.