Wings of Home II: Wings of Change

Say What

"Wait. What?"

From the look on Shiro's face and the way he pinched his face, that was definitely not how he wanted Hunk to find out. In fact, Elena couldn't help but think Shiro was honestly loosing it, not that she couldn't blame him given the fact the man was a soldier put in charge of a bunch of children, not to mention what her mother went through was enough to cause some level of PTSD. In the back of her mind, she wondered how Ryo and Keith copped with Shiro's PTSD let alone if they even realized it existed.

Yet, in the back of her mind, she wondered how Allura knew Ryo was, in fact, Keith's twin, let alone how she knew Keith was also called Akira. In fact, she knew Ryo wasn't Keith at first glance, yet Ryo knew Keith was in trouble like Allura did – which, honestly, that could not be helping Shiro's current mental state. She took a deep breath, waiting for Hunk to react. The Yellow Paladin turned, looking Shiro in the eye. "So, um – you take care of Keith and his brother?"

"Um yeah, though we don't talk about it."

"Keith is in trouble and I can find him. He's still nearby."

"Honestly, I don't think I want to know." Shiro looked at Allura, the look on his face indicating he was struggling taking what she said in."

"You don't want to know he's in trouble."

"No, I mean. I don't think I want to know how you know that. I'm..." Shiro let out a sigh, turning to Elena and Hunk. "Can you two stay here with Ryo?"

"Wait." Elena swallowed. "You don't think we can help?"

"You don't."

"No." Shiro pointed at Ryo. "I want him to stay put, which means keeping some of the team behind, which means Matt and I go since Allura needs to show us where Keith is and I doubt Coran, as her legal guardian would approve of her going unless he goes."

"That is correct, but I also have skill."

Elena watched Coran throw off what looked like fake martial arts moves. She wasn't sure how much use the princess's advisor would actually be. Her eyes drifted over to Ryo, a shudder running down her spine when she saw the look on his face. There was a definite aura surrounding Ryo – what she expected was a killing aura, but his hands clenched. "Takashi..."

Shiro held up his hand. "I know what you're going to say. You're going to say you have the skills needed for this."

"You know that I do. Anybody..."

"Don't. I know who you're talking about and we don't talk about them in front of people Keith's not made aware of – that, but that is even more reason for you not to go. There's no telling what kind of damage you would do in the process, yet I don't even know what we're up against, so you are most definitely staying put. Plus, it puts my mind at ease."

Elena turned towards Ryo. "He definitely needs his mind put at ease."

"What..."

"Just trust me, will you Ryo."

"Fine."

She watched Ryo plop down into one of the chairs, letting out a sigh. She looked at Shiro, still feeling as if they were being treated as the useless part of the team, yet her stomach churned uncomfortably at the idea something might happen to Keith. Keith – Keith was a good friend, one she only made recently, yet she didn't want to lose. Shiro nodded his head, almost unaware of how she was feeling, not that there was time for him to worry about such things.

When they left, she let out a sigh. "Well, this is wonderful."

"You're telling me."

"So, you're related to Shiro as well."

Both looked up at Hunk, their jaws dropping. Ryo swallowed. "Wait. I thought Keith hadn't told you that?"

"Well, he didn't."

Elena's eyes widened. "Wait. How did you figure it out?"

"I'm honestly not quite sure. I guess finding out that Keith is living with Shiro did the trick, though I honestly don't understand why they didn't tell anyone. It might have solved a lot of Keith's problems regarding the other students in the program." Hunk placed a hand on his chin. "Or maybe it would have caused more problems. Maybe that's why Shiro didn't say anything."

Elena let out a sigh, turning back to Keith's twin. "Ryo, this is Hunk. He was selected for Voltron apparently because of his kind heart."

"Yeah, um. You suspected they were related."

"Well, I suggested it to Lance when we first started because it did explain some of the stuff Shiro does for Keith he doesn't do for other cadets, but he was like, nope on that one. Keith's also rather shy, so I don't see how he'd trust someone who wasn't family. That's just the way he is."

"I see." Ryo glanced away, making Elena wonder if he was thinking about how he was family, yet gave Keith every reason to trust him. "Well, I can't go into specifics. Takashi would be furious with me."

"Yeah. Well, since we know, what were you going to say earlier? It was about family, right?"

"You mean the fact everyone in our small village back in Japan trains in martial arts."

"Oh – so your family is a ninja family."

"A samurai family, but yeah – there are some ninja."

If this was before the whole aliens showing up to attack earth Elena would have thought Ryo was trying to pull their legs, particularly with how he treated Keith, yet he seemed quite sincere about this. "So you want to go..."

"To kill whoever's hurt my..." Ryo paused, turning his head so he might look at the doorway.

Elena took a deep breath, recognizing James Griffin standing in the doorway. She stood up, walking over with her hands clenched. "Go away."

"Look."

"Now really isn't the time."

"I just want to talk to Keith."

"Keith's not here."

"Um, I'm sure..."

Elena looked over at Ryo, noting that the two did look a lot alike, although she was sure Ryo's hair was shorter if not better kept. She turned back. "Please, just leave."

James let out a sound which indicated he wasn't pleased, yet he turned and left willingly. Ryo looked up at her. "Who was that?"

Elena turned and looked at Ryo. "Honestly, I don't know."

Hunk twiddled his fingers, looking at his hands. "Not someone who's been nice to Keith in the past. He is acting weird though ever since he learned Keith lives with Shiro."

"Wait. You mentioned this earlier," Ryo said.

"Well, the whole school knows no thanks to my cousin, Lance."