Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Suite on Rte. 86 ❯ Our Secret ( Chapter 2 )

A Suite on Rte. 86 begins with the stand-alone fic The Ride.    
Our Secret

We are parked at a picnic grounds by the highway when Bran finally finds us. Shane hasn't let us out of the house all day and we're itching to stretch our legs on the pavement. The sparse grass was flooded this morning and I bet there's some good mud left.

When I hear Bran coming, I slide around Shane and bolt out the door, calling his name. Brother follows me, stopping short as Bran swings me up in the air and sets me back down. He's happy to see us.

"You're finally here," I tell him.

He smiles at me. "You've gotten big since I saw you last."

There's a woman leaning back on Bran's car, smile friendly but half-hidden behind long hair. I smile back, warily because she's made Brother nervous, and reach back to take his hand. Her eyes are strange. I can't remember what color they are unless I'm looking at them.

"Ah," Bran says, "Jordan, these are the twins."

She comes closer to me and I let her shake my hand. She doesn't smell like a woman, exactly, or like a human, but Bran's scent is all over her and if he trusts her she must be OK.

Shane is behind us and he's angry but he mostly wants to get us back in the house. I tell him he's a worry wart and he cuffs me. Jerk. I whine at him a little but take Brother's hand and pull him back inside to our abandoned coloring. I used to break the crayons before I learned how to hold them gently, so now they're all in little pieces. Brother watches me, his presence warm against my side. I draw for him, since he can't do it himself.

Their voices rise outside. Shane doesn't like Miss Jordan, but he eventually lets her in anyway.

Bran likes our pictures even though they're all full of black squiggles and he answers questions. Shane never answers our questions, he just tells me to shut up. I whisper to Brother that Shane's a big grouch and Bran's much more fun. Miss Jordan turns out to be nice, too, though Brother is still shy around her. She keeps touching Bran and I touch Brother more while I talk to them, so he won't be scared.

"Is Miss Jordan your Brother, Bran?"

They look at me strangely until heat creeps up my face. Miss Jordan starts snickering. She turns her face away from Bran and leans closer to him.

"But you-" I start to say, but Shane cuffs me again and tells me not to ask stupid questions. I pout at him to make him feel bad, but whisper to Brother that it didn't hurt, once Shane's back is turned. He's really a great big softie once you get to know him. With Shane safely out of arm's reach, I ask, "Why do you call us twins if we don't look alike?"

They both answer at once.

Bran says, "You were... born at the same time."

Miss Jordan says, "You have the same eyes."

After that, Bran starts showing us what the black squiggles on the paper are, and then it's dark out, and Shane's rattling around the cabinets looking for food. And then I remember the thing I have to ask about.

"Bran! Shane said that you could give Brother a name, because he doesn't have one and it's not fair and Shane wouldn't help until you got here."

Bran sits up a little straighter, nearly dislodging Miss Jordan from his shoulder. He looks over at Shane who glares at him.

"Do you have a name, now?" he asks, gently.

"Yup." I say, proudly, "It's Monkey."

Miss Jordan cracks up.

"That's what Shane always calls me," I mutter defensively. I stick out my tongue at her and squeeze Brother's hand under the table.

Bran is smiling too, a little. "That's just a nick name," he tells me.

"Oh." I frown, look at Brother, look at Shane. "Sha~ane." I whine. I know just how to pitch my voice to make him wince like that. "No fair!"

"Why don't you just name yourself?" Miss Jordan asks.

I think hard about it and glare at her when she starts giggling again, which makes her laugh harder. For a second I'm afraid she's going to try to hug me or something, but she buries her face behind Bran instead.

"It's too hard." I twist around in my seat, again. "Sha~~ane! You have to do it. And do it right this time!"

Shane starts to snap at me, but Bran rises and ushers him outside. Their voices are too low to hear. Miss Jordan looks at us, a small smile playing around her lips.

"What are you?" she asks, quietly, as if speaking to herself.

We ignore her to try to hear what Bran and Shane are saying, but all I can make out is that Shane is annoyed. I could have guessed that.

When they come back inside, Shane goes right back to the cabinets. Bran clears his throat.

Shane glares at him then looks at me.

"Your name is Kiran," he says, and his cold, pale eyes melt just a little.

I dive across the trailer to hug him, press my face against him and breathe in. He nearly looses his balance as he tries to pull me off him. I think Miss Jordan is laughing again.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Wait. What about Brother?" I fling myself back into the booth to him, touch his pale skin and dark hair. His eyes are golden and bottomless.

"Kiran," Bran says, taking me by the shoulders so I look him straight in the eyes. "You have to name your brother by yourself. And you have to promise that you will never, ever tell anyone else what his name is. Not even Shane, or Jordan or me. It has to be a secret, just for the two of you. Ok?"

I nod and promise for both of us. Bran's smile comes back, and he shows me what squiggles mean my name. Bran's kind of scary when he's too serious, I whisper to Brother.

I have to name him something perfect and wonderful so I spend a long time thinking about it. In the quietest part of the night, when I'm sure Shane is sound asleep, I whisper it to him, and remind him that it's our secret. The faint light of the streetlamps is leaking in around the blinds. There are no cars on the road. The ground here is solid and deep and still. Slowly, very slowly, Brother's eyes focus on me. He sees me. I hug him close and touch his face and whisper his name to him over and over.