Speed Racer Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love, Life, and Reincarnations ❯ A Secret is a Secret ( Chapter 16 )

Danielle let out a frustrated sigh as she made her way to the car she borrowed from her mother. Spring vacation had only just begun. She wasn't supposed to be feeling like this. Spring vacation was a time for fun, relaxation, and for love. In other words, she wanted Sesshomaru O'Connell to stop pretending he didn't see her and to fall in love with her. If he wasn't already, that was.

 

`He has to be,' she told herself. `Otherwise he wouldn't be ignoring me. He's just pretending he's upset with about what I've been saying about Inuyasha. He's just pretending he's in love with Austen Sanchez. There's no way he could be in love with that bimbo. What does she have that I don't have?'

 

She smiled a little to herself, content with her thoughts. Everything made sense to her, after all. She couldn't see why else Sesshomaru would be ignoring her.

 

`I'll talk with Mom about what I can do to really get his attention.'

 

Danielle reached the car and climbed in. She'd do whatever it would take to get her point across, of course. She was an intelligent and beautiful young woman. Her father always told her as much. What guy wouldn't want her?

 

As she left the Cinema, Danielle couldn't help but smile. She had many secrets, secrets that not even her twin brother knew about. And she wasn't as blind as people thought her to be, either. Danielle knew things. She knew things that people wouldn't have expected her to know . . . like how her twin just happened to be into the whole Goth scene and a practicing pagan. She'd seen him sneak in when he thought no one was looking, she'd found his make-up and his books . . . stuff he'd actually left behind in Farmington Hills.

 

`Pity,' she thought, pulling into traffic. `That would have been great ammunition to blackmail him with. Of course, the expression on Dad's voice would be priceless, too.'

 

Still, it hadn't been something she could bring herself to do. Greg was her brother and she loved him. She understood that their father had put a lot of pressure on her twin. He was the oldest son, therefore expected to follow in his footsteps. Their father wanted a third generation Racer, and Greg was it.

 

`I couldn't do anything to hurt him . . . not like that. It isn't for me to tell Mom and Dad, anyway. It's Greg's decision. Now Inuyasha O'Connell, on the other hand . . .'

 

The youngest O'Connell boy really had been a bit of a source of entertainment for her. So quiet. So shy. Really nothing like what their father said he was. Certainly not a drug addict, anyway. She'd almost felt remorse for what had happened to the freshman at the Homecoming Dance, having sent some old friends of hers after him to begin with. She hadn't expected him to truly be a diabetic. That night had been scary and she thought for sure her friends would rat her out. But they'd never been caught. The finger never got pointed at her. For that, she was grateful.

 

`Not that they'd be able to prove anything anyway,' she chuckled.

 

She slowed to a stop as traffic got thicker and became impossible to get through. It didn't matter, anyway. Danielle had plenty of time. It was spring vacation, after all.

 

* * *

 

Torie listened in shocked silence to the woman on the other end of the phone. It was simply unbelievable, everything that came from this woman. From Speed Racer's harassment to her daughter finally having a nervous breakdown. Every little sordid detail, and, according to this woman, she wasn't the only one to have suffered from Speed's bullying. Other families had as well. Finally, the woman ended, leaving her the name and number of a person who could verify everything she had told Torie. Then she hung up, leaving the O'Connell matriarch somewhat exhausted.

 

“Everything all right?” Yuki inquired, glancing at her in concern. It may not have appeared that way to anyone else but she knew the man, had been close friends with him for a few years now. Torie knew he often used rude tones and sarcastic remarks to cover up his concern. It was just how he was after everything that happened in New York . . . She glanced at her guests then nodded.

 

“Yeah. I'm fine. Just wasn't expecting a phone call like that,” she murmured.

 

“Anything we can help you with?”

 

“No,” Torie shook her head. “It's my fight. I'm not involving anyone else. As it is, if things continue the way they are, it's going to get ugly. Very ugly. Ryan and I may have to relocate ourselves and the kids to the farmhouse just to avoid the tabloids. The last thing I want is for my kids to be plastered all over the front-page news. Bad enough I'm already pregnant and having to deal with this.”

 

She let out an exhausted sigh and shook her head.

 

“There has to be a better way to get my point across. I shouldn't have to stoop to his level.”

 

“What do you mean?” Yuki leaned forward, as did everyone else at the table. The five-year-old, Michael Winchester, had thankfully fallen asleep and was now resting on the couch. Everyone there already knew of her troubles with the Racer family . . . at least, with Speed.

 

“I mean I'm not going to hire or call someone to follow Speed or his family around and to start digging into their past. I shouldn't have to,” Torie stated firmly. “That would be like someone doing that to you, Yuki.”

 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Though I daresay it's already been done to me . . .”

 

“Oh hush,” she admonished. “You know what I mean.”

 

“If you mean by someone investigating Shuichi rather than me, yeah, I do,” Yuki nodded with a sigh. “Still, if there's anything we can do . . .”

 

“No,” Torie shook her head. “I'll let Speed Racer hang himself with his own rope. The more he goes after my son, the more that noose tightens. Now let's get back to business. You said you wanted to collaborate with me, do something different. I accept. Now I have a question for you. Would you like Ryan to illustrate the book or Inuyasha?”

 

* * *

 

Speed sighed as he drove back to his home. He hadn't expected to run into Sesshomaru O'Connell at Tsukiyo at all, and he certainly hadn't expected the young man's words to hit him as hard as a dull knife would. Given the display he'd seen at the restaurant, the O'Connell family was definitely a close-knit family.

 

`But not like mine,' he thought, glancing at his brother. Pride swelled deeply within him. `At least my family doesn't keep secrets from each other. Not like the O'Connells. Inuyasha has them all fooled. They're going to find out the hard way about that boy. I guarantee it.'

 

His house came into view and Speed smiled. He loved his family. He'd do anything for them. Anything. As he pulled into his driveway, an idea came to him. Something he hadn't done in a long time.

 

`Maybe tonight I can get Greg to watch Catherine and Taylor so I can take Trixie out. Danielle's old enough to take care of herself. And they might enjoy having the house to themselves for a few hours.'

 

“What are you thinking?” Rex inquired. Speed gave him a sideways glance then grinned.

 

“I'm thinking about surprising my wife. Sparky was right. That place has good food.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Kagome . . .”

 

“Yeah, Sango?” The young miko pushed herself up, glancing at her best friend. She'd been thinking a lot lately about Inuyasha and his reincarnation, and had been trying to figure out how to remind him of who she was and what they had shared together. Sango was with her mostly to listen and maybe even suggest something. But it was her problem. Kagome wanted to solve it on her own to the absolute best of her abilities. When she saw the troubled look on the former taijiya's face, Kagome frowned. “What is it?”

 

“I sense a demonic aura close by,” she murmured. “Very close by. I don't like it.”

 

Kagome closed her eyes for a moment and allowed her senses to roam freely. She'd discovered that, by doing this, she could sense youkai auras better than what either Sango or Miroku could.

At first, she hadn't detected anything. All she'd been able to sense was the world outside and nothing more. Kagome had been ready to just shrug it off when she felt it. The aura itself had a very familiar tinge to it and her eyes flew open when she realized exactly where it was. She bolted off her head and dashed down the stairs, Sango right behind her. Souta was already at the door, getting ready to open it.

 

“I'll get it,” Kagome told him. “Go back to watching Pokemon.”

 

“But . . .”

 

“Just go,” she smiled. “I can take care of it.”

 

“All right,” he murmured before shuffling back into the living room. Kagome watched him and noted how Kirara stood on the back of the couch, her posture rigid. Kohaku and Miroku were also standing there, both of their stances defensive. Nodding, she glanced through the peephole then carefully opened the door. On the other side stood a woman with dark hair that had been pulled up. Dark glasses covered her eyes. As the door opened, she smiled and removed the shades.

 

“Hello, Kagome.”

 

“Kagura,” she nodded curtly. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I was in the neighbourhood,” came the nonchalant reply. “May I come in? There's something I need to talk to you about.”

 

“I think we've said everything we've needed to say,” Kagome murmured. “We appreciate the help that you gave us in the past but there isn't anything else that . . .”

 

She started to close the door when the wind demoness spoke up again.

 

“You've met their reincarnations, haven't you? Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Naraku, and Kanna . . .”

 

Kagome paused, her eyes widening. Kagura nodded some.

 

“Yes, I know about their reincarnations. Just like I know about the new reincarnation that's coming to the O'Connell clan. May I come in? Like I said, there's something I need to talk to you about.”

 

Numbly, Kagome stepped to one side and allowed the sorceress in. Kagura glanced around and nodded appreciatively.

 

“Not bad,” she murmured. “I'm glad to see the money I saved up over the centuries has been well spent.”

 

“What?”

 

Kagura folded her sunglasses as she closed the door behind her.

 

“The reason why you're here . . . when I realized that you were from the future and that Sango and her brother, Miroku, and Rin were coming to live with you in this time, I set aside money for them so that they'd have something and be able to help your mother out with moving here, to the States. I also did the same thing for you, Kagome.”

 

“You . . . did that for us?” Sango whispered.

 

“Hai,” the demoness nodded. “I did. For helping me to earn my freedom.”

 

“You didn't have to . . .” Kagome began, feeling slightly ashamed of herself for her previous behaviour towards the woman. It really had been uncalled for. Kagura waved her hand.

 

“I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. But that isn't the reason why I'm here.”

 

“You're here because we've found Inuyasha and Sesshomaru,” Miroku stated.

 

“Yes,” Kagura replied. “That's the reason why I'm here. I've come here to tell you a little something about them . . .”

 

“We know about them,” Sango interrupted. “We know that Inuyasha's dating Kanna's reincarnation, Trysten, and is best friends with Naraku's reincarnation, Jade.”

 

“We also know that their parents, Mr. and Mrs. O'Connell, adopted them,” Miroku supplied. “That . . .”

 

“Ryan has an aunt that works for the international adoption agency and she called them the moment the boys were up for adoption,” Kagura finished. “She offered them first pick, in hopes that they would at least take Sesshomaru because he didn't look like he was full Japanese and would suffer in Japan because of it, even though he is.”

 

Kagome felt her jaw dropping.

 

“How did you . . .”

 

“I'm that aunt,” Kagura smiled, holding up her left hand to display the diamond engagement ring and wedding band. “I've been married to Ryan's uncle for almost fifty-five years now so I've been watching over them since Inuyasha was three weeks old.”

 

Feeling more than just a little stunned, Kagome watched as Kagura set her bag down on the floor then begin to rummage through it. As she did so, she continued with her story.

 

“I called Ryan about six weeks after Torie had given birth to Little Ryan. From the first moment I met her, I knew I liked her. She had a vibrancy to her, a very strong life force . . . I'm not sure how else to explain it. . . Anyway, I remember her saying around the time she and Ryan had decided to try and conceive a child that, when it came to children, she had everything all planned out. She'd give birth to two of her own then adopt two more. That way she could have four children but only go through the pain of two. The O'Connells just laughed and thought it to be some cute idea of hers, figuring Ryan wouldn't go for it, not realizing that he'd already agreed. The Shinwas, the ones from Japan at least, were appalled but eventually just chalked it up to some strange American thing. That she wouldn't really live up to her word.” Kagura paused, glancing up at them. “She wasn't joking about it. The moment I called and had asked them to look over Sesshomaru's file and mentioned that he had a baby brother, she asked for both of their files and fell in love with them. She couldn't bear to part them from each other so they adopted both boys. I made sure that the paper work went through as quickly as possible so they could have both boys home by Christmas. They've been a joy in my life ever since.”

 

“I had no . . . no idea,” Kagome shook her head.

 

“Nor would you,” Kagura stated, pulling a folder out of her bag. “In fact, I was surprised when your mother chose Philadelphia to move to. I half-expected her to take you to either New York City or Los Angeles.”

 

“You mean you didn't suggest Philadelphia to her?” Sango asked.

 

“No. I didn't. Not after the lengths Torie had gone through to help Sesshomaru and Inuyasha stop having nightmares.”

 

“Nightmares?”

 

“Yes,” Kagura said. “Nightmares. They were little, at the time, and they'd started shortly after Sesshomaru turned four. According to Torie, he was the first one to have the first nightmare. About the Bad Man.”

 

“Don't you mean the boogie man?” Kagome frowned.

 

“No. I mean the Bad Man. Torie and Ryan never used the boogie man scare to keep their children in line. They never used anything scary to keep the boys in line. If anyone even hinted at something like that, they'd have to deal with an irate Torie. She isn't someone you want to see angry. Anyway, somehow the nightmares managed to go from Sesshomaru to the younger children, especially Inuyasha. But Inuyasha's dreams were different from those that Sesshomaru had been having. As you can imagine, Torie was worried. She had the boys draw out who the Bad Man was then started taking them to a hypno-therapist, someone whom she really trusted.” Kagura handed the folder over to Kagome. “It was their past lives . . . from the feudal era, trying to come through . . . they were both murdered by the same person.”

 

“Naraku . . . it had to be Naraku,” Kagome whispered, wiping tears from her eyes.

 

“No. It wasn't Naraku. Not by a long shot. I can tell you that one for sure, Kagome. He'd have been using that against you in that final battle. I can assure you of that.”

 

“Then who?” Sango demanded. “Who could have killed both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru like that? It had to be someone very powerful . . .”

 

“Or desperate. Take a look at the pictures, Kagome.”

 

With trembling hands, Kagome flipped the folder open, her heart breaking even more. It couldn't have been . . .

 

“Kouga . . .”

 

“Hai. It was Kouga.”

 

“But why? Why would he do something like that?” she whispered, her tears flowing freely.

 

“I don't know,” Kagura answered. “I haven't seen wolf-boy since before the final battle with Naraku.”

 

“What did Mrs. O'Connell do when she found out it was their past lives coming to them?” Miroku finally chimed in. “She couldn't have allowed the dreams to continue.”

 

“She didn't,” the demoness shook her head. “Like I said, she took them to a hypno-therapist that she trusts, a very good friend of hers. She had the memories suppressed. She wanted them to have a happy childhood without the past invading in. After the memories had been buried deeply within them, she gave the pictures to me for safekeeping. Torie didn't want anything to trigger the nightmares again.”

 

“What if they were to start having dreams about their past lives again? What will Mrs. O'Connell do then?” Kagome inquired.

 

“I don't know,” Kagura shrugged. “They're both old enough to be able to handle them, I suppose, but I don't think it'll make any difference. They're not missing anything in their lives.”

 

“No,” the young girl shook her head, tears still flowing down them. “I don't suppose they are.”

 

Kagura glanced at her and sighed, her expression sympathetic.

 

“Maybe in another time, things will be different for you and Inuyasha,” she murmured. “Right now, this is the time for healing between the brothers and to smooth over whatever rifts they may have had in the past. How Naraku and Kanna factor in, I don't know. But I do know this. This isn't your time, Kagome.”

 

“You're saying I shouldn't try to remind Inuyasha of the good that he had in the past?”

 

“Hai,” Kagura nodded. “That's what I'm saying. Let the brothers heal their relationship. Let them be happy. If they're meant to remember you . . . all of you . . . once more then let it come on its own terms. That's all I'm going to ask. Could you please do that for me? Please?”

 

Kagome hesitated for a moment. If she agreed to this, then she risked losing Inuyasha until the next time they were reincarnated. She'd be left alone once more while he went on with his life, unaware of the history that the two of them shared.

 

`But if I press the issue, I could also end up ruining his life, too,' she told herself. `I could end up making him miserable. And I don't want that over my head or my heart. I want him to be happy. More than anything, that's what I want.'

 

“I'll do this for you,” she smiled, meeting Kagura's crimson gaze. “But only because I want Inuyasha to be happy.”

 

“Thank you, Kagome. I'm very relieved to hear that,” the wind demoness murmured, smiling in return. “Now I need those pictures back. Torie will have my head if I lose them.”

 

Kagome couldn't help herself. She started to chuckle as she closed the folder and handed it back.

 

“I take it you're more scared of Torie than what you were of Naraku?” she teased lightly.

 

“You have no idea, Kagome. You have no idea.”