Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Smoke Screen ❯ Vague ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Note to Disclaimers: I do not and nev er will own Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 or CoM soâ€¦please do
NOT sue me. This is way beyond standard at this& nbsp;point, doncha think?
A/N: So here it is, chapter 7! All the same rul es still apply. There will continue to b e
boy/boy love (sorry allâ€”it's& nbsp;not the main pairing) and Mature themes& nbsp;(I.E. incase you
STILL haven't noticed&n bsp;at this point, that means Rape, Sexual&nb sp;Assault, Domestic Violence,
Gangs, cussing,&nbs p;blood, horrible things that SHOULD NOT happ en to peopleâ€¦blah, blah,
blah& acirc;€¦) and that means NO YOUNGINS!& nbsp;I can't stress that enough and I su re don't want a
lawsuit. More people&nbs p;are entering the picture, though slowly. I& nbsp;am working hard to keep
them in&nbs p;character as well as making them stay in character of the story too. Hmâ&euro ;¦well, the
content is getting a bit heavier and research is necessary at ;this point soâ€¦hopefully no one&nbs p;
is getting discouraged by the infrequency?& nbsp;Well, please R&R. Enjoy.
Word ;coding: ' Thoughts' , "Speaking", R andom flashbacks or other stuff, Everything&nb sp;else
:THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A&nb sp;LINE BREAK HERE:
Vague
Sora&nbs p;let out a sigh of boredom as he s tared at the ice cream maker before him. The stupid
contraption needed to be&nbs p;repaired and thus caused him to have t o close the entire store down by
hi mself when his co-worker went home with the runs. 'Too much dairy, she says. Yeah right.
She's probably just lazy.'&nb sp;He had already cleaned everything up, wipe d down the counters,
checked the thermos tats on the freezers, etc. Now all he&nb sp;was waiting for was the repair guy to
come fix the machine so they could be open tomorrow. He really hated being the good guy
sometimes, being stuck&nbs p;with all the work no one else wanted&n bsp;to do. His boss could count on him&n bsp;
and so, he was trapped. He hated&nbs p;almost all of his co-workers. The only ;perk he received was
that he got a higher pay than the rest of the id iots in the shop; but when one didn't&nb sp;get Friday and
Saturday off half the& nbsp;time, it wasn't that much of a cons olation, he found. Sighing again, he fell&nbs p;
back on the chair located next to ;the freezer, his uniform and cap in his arms as he waited. He'd
been waiti ng for well over an hour, which pissed&n bsp;him off since Roxas and Namine had i nvited
him over for a little get to gether the day before. He was thoroughly ;pissed because they couldn't
always all ;find good times to hang out, so when&nb sp;it happened, it was a golden opportunity.& nbsp;Their
schedules were always so hectic&nb sp;with Namine living with her stepfather, Ro xas living with his
boyfriend and Sora&n bsp;always working. 'And then there's school&ac irc;€¦' Knitting his brow, he reac hed
into his pocket when he felt hi s cell phone vibrating.
'What theâ&e uro;¦?' He hardly ever got text me ssages, and from Roxas at that. He quick ly flipped open
his phone and let o ut a somewhat relieved breath at the mes sage. Nevertheless, he was kind of
upset that they wouldn't be able to hang ;outâ€”he'd been looking forward to&nb sp;it. "Well, at least I
won't be l ate." He was about to doze off when ;he heard a loud knock at the door. ;'It must be the
Repair man.' But when he made it to the clear glass door, he saw Roxas waiting there, his&n bsp;face
troubled. Pulling the keys from ;his pocket, Sora let his friend in and& nbsp;they went to the back.
"Roxas, what are you doing here? You just sent me this text, didn't you?"

Roxas no dded. "Yeahâ€¦I did."
Sora chuck led. "If you were coming, why bother? Yo u're just going to raise your bill with& nbsp;the
messaging rates."
"It's included&nbs p;in my phone plan, for the fifth time&n bsp;you moron," Roxas replied, his voice and& nbsp;tone
still somber.
Sora took notice of this and frowned. "Umâ€¦is&n bsp;something wrong, man? You're acting weird."&nb sp;
"There's a reason for why we're not&a circ;€¦hanging out today," Roxas replied,&n bsp;tossing his phone back
and forth bet ween his hands. "Umâ€¦Namineâ€& brvbar;she wasâ€¦don't freak out Sora , well, not too much
ok?" Sora gave him a blank look. "The reason why Namine didn't come to school is
because& acirc;€¦umâ€¦she was raped abo ut a day ago, around midnight."
Sora&nbs p;felt like his eyes were going to pop&n bsp;out of his head as he processed what his friend had said.
He felt his&n bsp;heartbeat quicken as he reached for Roxas , shaking him violently. "What? Are you
fucking kidding me? This is a joke right? But man, if it isâ€¦that' s a sick ass joke Roxas, even for you!"
"Why would I joke about this?"
Shaking, Sora let go of his friend , clenching his fists to try and calm&nb sp;himself. "Whoâ€¦who was
the b astard, son of a bitch who did it?" ;
"Her step-father."
The brown haired you th's eyes widened. "Why thatâ€¦dirty, sick, perverted assholeâ€¦Namine
wasâ€¦howâ€¦"
"She's s taying with us right now. The reason I'm here is because she asked me to co me and get
you. She wantsâ€¦ ;to return to a sense of normalcyâ&euro ;¦especially since she knows he's looking&n bsp;for
her. She feels safest with us,&n bsp;she said," Roxas said, his eyes solemn&nb sp;as he pointed towards the
door. "Are& nbsp;you...up for it?"
Sora could feel h is body shaking with undiluted rage. "Yeah,&n bsp;Iâ€¦I gotta wait for this st upid
fucking machine to get fixed." He&n bsp;looked at Roxas, his eyes narrowed and&nb sp;burning in anger. "I'll
catch up. Mee t you in an hour?"
Roxas nodded. "Y eah, I'll let Namine know." Just as he&n bsp;was out the door, he turned to his&n bsp;friend.
"Justâ€¦don't do anything stupid, Sora. Namine needs us."
With&nb sp;that, he was gone, leaving Sora to hi mself in the empty, silent ice cream par lor. He
squeezed his gloves so hard ;that they gave him glove burn (is that& nbsp;even possible?) on his hands,
causing&nb sp;them to redden. He couldn't remember the&n bsp;last time he'd been so angry with an yone.

Greatly angered and annoyed that&n bsp;he couldn't leave right away, Sora settle d for seething until he
was able to make it to Larxene's. Once there, he&nb sp;vowed he was going to have a long&nbs p;venting
session. He was hell bent on&n bsp;beating something up when there was anoth er knock on the door.
He hoped abov e hope that it was the repair man b ut was disappointedâ€”though not entir elyâ€”to
find that it was Ka iri, and to his amazement, minus Riku. S he usually brought her best friend
when& nbsp;she came to visit him, which didn't ;really bother him. Riku was a cool guy& nbsp;and they usually
were paired up tog ether in class since Roxas and Namine we re more artistic. But today seemed
like& nbsp;a special treatâ€”he felt he ;needed it after the newsâ€”since ;she was alone and they could talk
about stuff other than school, siblings and&n bsp;work. Nodding to her, he opened the door to allow her
inside. She gingerly&n bsp;took a seat at one of the little&nbs p;booths when she noticed his expression.
"Hi Sora. Umâ€¦you seem a litt le preoccupied. Is everything all right?"
He chuckled somberly. "Is it really that&nb sp;obvious?" She shook her head. "Yeahâ&euro ;¦umâ€¦I just got
some ba d news, that's ll. It's notâ€¦do n't worry about it. So, I see you've&nbs p;neglected to bring Riku.
Where is he?"
She let out a steady breath. "Oh,& nbsp;he went to visit his brothers because&nb sp;today is visiting day for
him. I ;see you've neglected to go home. What h appened?"
"Ahâ€¦the stupid ice c ream maker broke and Anna said she had&n bsp;to go home, something about
having t he runs," he said. "Of courseâ€¦ like I'd believe her and that bullshit s he tells everyone.
She's probably just b eing lazy or doing her boyfriendâ€&brvb ar;it never fails. But my boss said it&n bsp;was ok,
and I offered to stay u ntil the machine was fixed soâ€¦ "
Kairi laughed as she patted his b ack. "Sora, sometimes I think you're TOO ;nice. You should've
just said no. I&nbs p;mean, didn't you have a hang out with& nbsp;Roxas and Namine planned for today?" He& nbsp;
tensed and Kairi raised a brow. "Oh Iâ€¦uhâ€¦was it somethi ng I said?"
He let his head fall&nb sp;in his hands. "No, it's nothing. I'm just really tired. I'm supposed to head over
there later, after this damned thin g is fixed. Do youâ€¦want to&nbs p;come with me? I'm sure Roxas and
Namine won't mind; Namine thinks you're super sweet."
Kairi snorted. "I'll bet she&nb sp;doesâ€¦she's sweeter than me. I'm& nbsp;not all that niceâ€¦"
"I&nb sp;think you're nice," Sora interjected before&nbs p;she could say more, giving her a sheep ish smile.
"Ohâ€¦thank you. I&nb sp;think you're nice too, Sora." She felt&nbs p;her cheeks flush a little as she looke d
away from him. She glanced at her watch. "Do you think I could stay here with you until it's time
to go ? I'll hide so the repair man won't ;see me and you won't get in trouble."&n bsp;He blinked. "It's just
thatâ€&brvba r;I don't want to go home right now."&nb sp;She bit her lip. "Iâ€¦I'd lik e to go to Larxene's. It's been
a&n bsp;while, anyway."
"All right. Let me j ust check in with my brother, ok?" He&nb sp;flipped open his cell phone and dialed&nbs p;
the necessary number, waiting patientlyâ&e uro;”it seemed to be a trend all d ayâ€”for his brother to pick

up. "Hello? Hi, it's me. Yeah, I k now. Yes, I KNOW, geeâ€¦give me& nbsp;some credit Leon. No, I
won't be&nb sp;in till later. You said it was fine&n bsp;for me to go over Larxene's today. U h-huh, I do. Fine,
fine. Bye." He h ung up, seemingly exasperated as Kairi gave&n bsp;him a questioning look. "It's
nothing.&nb sp;Leon's just being an ass because he w orks late tonight. Come to think of it&a circ;€¦it's been at
least seven y ears and I don't know what my brother&nb sp;does."
"Well, didn't you say he barel y started living with you likeâ€¦ ;a year and a half ago or
something ?" Kairi asked. Sora agreed. "Hmâ€&brvb ar;and he does have to watch you when&nb sp;your mom
goes out on business trips&n bsp;and stuff. Speaking of, where did she&nbs p;go now?"
He shrugged. "Erâ€¦I& nbsp;think she went to Radiant Garden or&acir c;€¦uhâ€¦what's the place call ed againâ€¦"
he seemed to b e searching for an answer. "Oh yeah, Por t Royal in England or something. She's been pretty busy."
"And your dad?" He shrugged again. "I think he's in Destiny Island or something. Then he's suppos ed to meet up
with her at Radiant&n bsp;Garden. Yeah, that's it. So in the m eantimeâ€¦yeah, Leon's babysitting and&nbs p;
he's a damned tyrant. I don't know&nbs p;why I couldn't stay home alone. I'm 17 Â½ fer chrissakeâ€¦you
think they'd trust me a little more."&nb sp;
Kairi giggled. "I supposeâ€¦but&nb sp;you know, my Uncle Lexaeus says that you're not an adult until
you're 21 ;years old." Sora grunted and Kairi frowned.& nbsp;"Althoughâ€¦if it were up to&nbs p;my Uncle
Lexaeus, he'd probably make s ure teenagers didn't have fun. It surprises&n bsp;me that he lets me do
anything. ;HE'S a real tyrant."
"Yeah, he is,"&nbs p;Sora agreed again while pulling out the&nbs p;keys to open the door. "But he seems&n bsp;to
care about you; he has a big heart, I think." It appeared that the&n bsp;repair man had arrived.
"Hopefully this&n bsp;will only take about an hour."
About an hour later found Sora ad Kairi making their way through the dimly lit s treets of
Twilight Town to Larxene's Man sion. It was far away enough from the&nb sp;town that she never had
to interact&n bsp;with people, which, Sora and Kairi had&nb sp;been informed, she really liked. The sun&n bsp;was
barely setting and the afternoon ;air was cool enough that Kairi could pu t her sweater on. They
walked at a& nbsp;leisurely pace, talking amicably while Sora&n bsp;had his hands crossed behind his head,&nb sp;
and Kairi hand hers in her sweater&nb sp;pockets. Every now and then he'd crack&nbs p;a stupid joke, causing
her to laugh&nb sp;out loud as they continued on their w ay. When the mansion came into view, Sor a
felt the ominous feelings return to&nb sp;him, especially since Kairi knew nothing a bout it as he'd
chosen not to tell& nbsp;her. He hoped Roxas and Namine would&nbs p;stay silent as well. He didn't feel li ke
talking about it at all; he'd be too angry. They were both greeted at&nb sp;the entrance by three older
men argui ng in the setting sun. In truth it made a funny picture and he would've lau ghed if it'd
been abnormal. But he was so used to it that he merely wa ved as he passed them. Kairi did the&nbs p;
same, knowing it well enough, too. The y were almost to the door when Sora ;suddenly turned
around, which caused Kairi&n bsp;to run into his back, as he realized that of the three men, he only
knew two.

"Hey, hate to interrupt ;you all in the middle of your usual&nbs p;fights butâ€¦who the hell is t his guy?"
He pointed at the tall, b rown haired man standing between Axel and&nbs p;Demyx.
Axel greeted him, seeming exacerbate d. "Hi Sora, Kairi. This asshole is Marl uxia, a dear old
friend of Demyx."
"Why do you keep branding me as an& nbsp;asshole you jerk? You don't even know&nb sp;me!" Marluxia
retorted with his nose turned up in the air. Demyx laughed. "Sh ut the hell up you pansy! No one asked for your input either!"
Kairi b linked. "Umâ€¦well, it's nice to ;meet you Marluxia. Demyx, Axel, I'll just&nb sp;be inside." She
waved to Sora as ;she entered, closing the door behind her&nbs p;since Sora had decided to engage in their argument.
"Oh, well, hi. I'm So ra Leonhart. Nice to meet youâ€¦ and you sound homophobic. Are you?"
Marl uxia nodded, still not looking at him. " Yeah, a little."
"Wellâ€¦what th e hell are you doing here, then? This&nb sp;house is full of gay people," Sora responded, curious.
Demyx chuckled. "Ahâ& euro;¦Mar got over that when he discov ered I was gay, Sora. He's fineâ€& brvbar;he
just likes to argue with Axel& nbsp;because Axel says he looks like a d rag queen because he's too pretty
to&nbs p;be straight."
"Shut the fuck up, Demyx , before I slit your throat!" Came a&nbs p;harassed shout from inside. "You're
so ;fucking loud and your girly voice gets on my last nerve!"
"Larxene, go back&nbs p;to reading you psychopath!" Axel shouted. "It's so nice that you made up," Rox as said as he appeared from the side&nbs p;of the house. He waved
to Sora. " Namine and Kairi are inside baking cookies.&n bsp;Larxene requested them and you know
Namineâ€¦she does anything to get&nbs p;closer to Larxene."
"Though I can't se e why ANYONE in their right mind would&n bsp;do that," Marluxia snapped. "I'd
throw&nb sp;her to a pool of rabid sharks if ;given the option and chance to do so."& nbsp;
Sora raised a brow. He'd noticed it , just barely, that the whole time Marlu xia had been arguing
with Axel and Demyx, that he had yet to open his eyes. "How come your eyes are closed?" Marluxia gave a groan of annoyance. "Beca use I'd rather not see these two idiots& nbsp;and lose my
superb vision as a ;result of their ugliness."
"Hey!" Axel protested. "I am very sexy, for your inf ormation."

"Gag me," Marluxia replied. "Gladly. Just kneel down a like a go od boy." Axel laughed. Marluxia made a d isgusted noise.
Sora blinked. "Umâ€&brv bar;but isn't that weird? I don't like t alking to people who don't look at me&ac irc;€¦"
"Fine, I'll look at you,& nbsp;bratâ€¦you sound so annoying, I& acirc;€”" As soon as Marluxia opened&nb sp;his eyes
his statement died in his&nb sp;throat. He gave Sora a funny look ove r before turning away.
Immediately he st arted walking to the gates of the mansio n, his steps brisk and shaken. "I
j ustâ€¦remembered Iâ€¦have som ething to do. Don't ask me questions Dem yx or I'll neuter you.
Bye."
Everyb ody blinked, stupefied as Marluxia disappeared&nbs p;outside the gates and into the night, since
the sun had pretty much set a t that point. Sora was the first to ;speak. "Umâ€¦would anyone mind
telling me what's going on? That was awf ully rudeâ€¦he didn't even say h ello."
"I have no fucking clue," Axel&nb sp;offered. "He's weird." Roxas nodded in agr eement. "Hey, Demyx
do youâ€¦"&n bsp;He trailed off as Demyx shook his he ad, making a beeline towards the door. " Demyx?
Hey, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"I'm not allowed to tell ;you. Sorry, Axel," Demyx answered as he ;closed the door behind him.
Axel felt&n bsp;sudden annoyance course through him. "What&nbs p;the hell is going on? Manâ€¦th is shit is
weird, even for me."
Sora whistled lightly. "Hmmâ€¦well, ;I'm going to go see Namine and Kairi.&n bsp;Roxas, are you
coming?" The blonde n odded and proceeded to follow his friend ;inside. "Later, Axel."
"Assholes!" Axel shou ted at their disappearing forms.
Once th ey were gone he leaned against the neare st pillar, his eyes narrowed and brow kn itted in
thought as he tried to dec ipher what had just occurred. It seemed odd to him that Demyx's mood
suddenly&nb sp;changed when Marluxia left, especially since&nb sp;Demyx was usually so cheerful.
Frustrated& nbsp;by the quick turn of events, Axel m arched back into the house where he fell onto the
couch next to Zexion, who was quietly reading a thick book. It&nb sp;made Axel want to sleep just
looking& nbsp;at it. Demyx was nowhere in sight a nd he could hear the four teens in the kitchen baking,
which sounded more l ike having a food fight. He rolled his&n bsp;eyes; the only food fight he wanted
to participate in was one that involved& nbsp;dominating Roxas and then, licking food off of his naked
body. Smiling devilishl y, he crept towards the kitchen for a&nb sp;quick peak. What he found was
amusing : Roxas had chocolate splattered across his&n bsp;face and arms while Sora was spraying&nbs p;Kairi
with whipped cream. Namine was h olding a bag of sugar, about to dump&nbs p;it over Roxas' head, but
Kairi managed to dodge Sora's attack and poured heavy whipping cream down Namine's dress.
The blonde haired girl erupted into a fit&n bsp;of shrieks and giggles as the cool l iquid spill onto her
skin, causing her&n bsp;to drop the sugar on Roxas' head whe re it, too, spilled on his hair and ;the floor.
At that exact moment Sora&nb sp;took a step forward and slipped on th e mixture of creamer and sugar,

sen ding him flying into Kairi, who tripped on his feet. Eventually they both smacked&nbs p;into the
table legs, almost breaking t hem, while Roxas and Namine howled with laughter.
Axel shook his head, remembering&nb sp;when he'd been that young and carefree.&nb sp;'It's times like these I
wish I&nb sp;had a camera.' He smirked as he s tood straighter. "Hey, hey! Watch it with&nbs p;that, we just
went shopping yesterday!"&nbs p;More laughter followed and he was ignored.& nbsp;
:ANOTHER LINE BREAK:
Upstairs, La rxene made a face as she tried, intently , to ignore the joyful shouts coming fro m
downstairs by burying her nose in ;her book. She could hear Axel rambling on and on, mainly to
Zexion, about her being a heinous bitch, which she kne w was true. But he did not ALWAYS have to rub it in her face on a daily basis. Sighing, she leaned against&nbs p;her bedpost, running her
fingers over the worn cover as she stared at the ;thick, cream colored curtain blocking the mo on's
intrusive beams of light. She alrea dy knew that Namine would be sleeping ov er in Axel and
Roxas' room; it anno yed her that they were the ones Namine&n bsp;trusted. She felt her face flame at
her own inadequacy to be the big si ster in Namine's life, to be the guardia n that she knew she
should be. Even though her mother had not named her&nbs p;the rightful guardianâ€”she was stil l bitter
about it like no otherâ&e uro;”she still felt as if she was. ;
Their step father was not what one ;would consider a good parent or role mo del, especially with
what she knew about hi. She hated him with a passion f ew understood and would probably never
u nderstand. Snarling at the thought of him,&nb sp;Larxene suddenly threw her book at the&nbs p;floor,
successfully smashing her last box&n bsp;of cigarettes to pieces and rendering the m useless to her.
'Fucking wonderfulâ ;€¦and now I have to go to t he store to buy moreâ€¦unless Ax el has some, that
ass.' Focusing on& nbsp;her new train of thought, Larxene procee ded to find Axel and his pack of fr esh
cigarettes. She suddenly felt like a nicotine fix and she just knew he had some leftover since he
didn't like&n bsp;cigarettes too much. And she knew he ;was still around since she could hear h im
screaming at the kids downstairs. She already knew, without even looking at h im, that he was
probably oogling Roxas&n bsp;from outside the kitchen or wherever the& nbsp;hell was at that moment in
time.&nb sp;So when she peeked through her door t o find him, she was immediately given a& nbsp;full view
of his flame red hair.&nb sp;
As for him, he was still smiling ;when Larxene emerged, face stony and annoyed , the click of her
opening door sig naling her presence. He glared at her. " What is it now?"
"What's that racket?"&n bsp;She inquired with her crushed box of ;cigarettes in one hand while the other
gripped the stair rail.
"The kids a re playing. Do you have a problem with&n bsp;that?" He shot her another glare.
Sh e scowled. "No, I just don't have money& nbsp;to paying for broken furniture."
"It's&n bsp;fine. Go back to reading, crazy ass,"&nbs p;he shot back.

"Bite me, gay boy!" She snapped in return as she went back to her room, slamming the door to&n bsp;
emphasize how irritated she was with ;him. She huffed as she fell onto her&nb sp;bed, not quite ready
for another argu ment with the pyromaniac. She stared at the ceiling, blankly, and cursed herself
for not remembering why she'd even gone ;out in the first place. True, the racke t was slightly
annoying but not enough&n bsp;to wake her up since everyone knew s he had earplugs and such for just
t hese occasions. Annoyed again, she rolled ove r and stared at her book lying across&nb sp;from her on
the hardwood floor. 'O h, yeah, that's right. I wanted cigarettes.' Sighing, she stood up, again, and went out her door to where Axel was&n bsp;STILL perched in his same spot in th e kitchen doorway.
"Axel, give me a ;cigarette. I want one."
He looked up&nb sp;at her, surprised. "What?"
"You heard ;me, you dumbass. Give me a cigarette," she repeated, his posture hostile.
"Why?"&nbs p;He asked, smirking.
"If you do, then&n bsp;I'llâ€¦" she thought for a m oment before clenching her fists in annoyance ; she
already knew what he wanted a nd it made her angry to admit defeat.&nb sp;However, she continuously
tried to mentall y convince herself it was NOT defeat. "I 'llâ€¦leave Namine alone for awhile." He
raised a brow and she flushed,& nbsp;realizing that, alone, the statement sounded& nbsp;like defeat. "She's
annoying anywayâ&eu ro;¦I don't have time for her and ;pity parties. And stop smirking you shit."&n bsp;
He nodded before tossing her his box of cigarettes. She was delighted to see he'd smoked but
one. She turned to leave but not before she caught his&nbs p;relieved comment. "That's what I like to&nb sp;
hear."
She hesitated for a moment&nbs p;though it appeared he had already dismissed her presence since he
was staring at the kids in the kitchen once again.&n bsp;She felt glued to her spot by his&nb sp;words and
expression but managed, after&nb sp;a couple more seconds, to force herself&nb sp;back into the solitude of
her room.&n bsp;Falling on the bed, Larxene lit up a cigarette and stared at the ceiling as& nbsp;she inhaled its
contents. Her heart ;was hammering in her chest at his words , the phrase continually repeating
itself&nbs p;in her head. They did not want her&nbs p;around Namine, they didn't want her to ;hurt the young
woman. And suddenly Marl uxia words from the night prior, pierced ;through her train of thought,
stabbing her like a thousand hot, poisoned needles.&nb sp;
"Whatever happened in your pastâ€ ¦you've just got to get over it, at least for now. Your little
sister&nbs p;needs you. Axel was right. You need to stop being so selfish. What's in the&nb sp;past is in the
past. I don't eve n know you but I can tell you have& nbsp;some growing up to do. So why don't you
grow up and let it go?"&nb sp;
You need to stop being so selfish.
stop being so selfish
SEL FISH

Closing her eyes tightly, Larxe ne brought an arm to cover them as she felt the tears start to swell
u p behind her closed lids. Shaking her he ad, she let the cigarette burn, not sure what it was that
she really wanted .
Once she'd disappeared again, Axel cou ldn't help but let out a relieved yet&nb sp;still irritated breath.
'She swearsâ&e uro;¦she knows both of us have more&nb sp;than enough money to repair this place&nbs p;in a matter
of freakin monthsâ€& brvbar;crazy assâ€¦and she needs to&n bsp;stop smoking that bullshitâ€¦'&nbs p;He shook his head
as he continued ;to watch his boyfriend play, enjoying the&nb sp;warmth the four of the young adults were radiating. He couldn't remember a ti me when he'd seen Roxas' happier, with t he exception
of when they made love ;at night. Just the thought of his young er counterpart moaning and
writhing in e cstasy beneath him brought a smile to hi s forlorn face. He thoroughly enjoyed
ev erything that involved the name Roxas' in&nbs p;it, even the fact that, aside from Lar xene and his
parents, when Roxas became& nbsp;mad, his young lover had one of the foulest tempers he'd
encountered. Shaking&nb sp;his head, he moved from his perch on& nbsp;the doorframe to where Zexion and
D emyx were sitting on the living room cou ch in utter silence. Zexion was reading a book;
Demyx just looked completely spa ced out, not to mention troubled at the& nbsp;same time. Axel didn't
know if that was possible but he figured if Demyx&nb sp;was demonstrating it now, then it must&nbs p;be
possible indeed. Gathering his wits ;about him, Axel dropped his lithe form next to the troubled
musician, smiling.
"Oh, Demyâ€¦what's the problem t his time? Feel like sharing with your ol d buddy Axel?"
"No," Demyx replied, his& nbsp;tone blank and face blanker. He fidgeted nervously as he glanced
around, looking for someone or something. "Soâ€¦ ;any word from Marluxia?"
"Umâ€¦ no, especially since he left literally ten&nb sp;minutes ago." Axel raised a brow. "Does&nb sp;he have a
cell phone or something&nbs p;to reach him?"
"Umâ€¦yeahâ&eu ro;¦but his number's in my phone and&n bsp;I left it at the house," the dirty&n bsp;blonde answered.
"Well, you can go g et it, you know," Zexion mentioned, still&nbs p;not taking his eyes of his book.
"You only live about five blocks away an d they aren't long blocks either."
"Er&a circ;€¦"
Zexion sighed. "Stop being&nb sp;lazy Axel. It's not like anyone said you HAD to go with Demyx to
get&nbs p;them anyway."
"I'm not lazy!" The reto rt was short and non-threatening.
"Sure you aren't. You're as lazy as they come, " Roxas shouted from the kitchen. "You're&nbs p;lazier
thanâ€”watch out, Namine!&nbs p;Sora, that's fucking colder than the creame r!"
"Well, it is ice, Roxas," Kairi ;said, giggling. "Namine, no! That stuff stai nsâ€¦shitâ€¦!"

"You ;guys, I can't move my shoe; it's stuck. What isâ€”fuck! Is this gum?"&nb sp;Sora's voice was
tinged with disbelief.&nb sp;"Holy fuck shitâ€¦my brand new&nbs p;shoes have gum on them! Roxas, I know& nbsp;it
was you! I'm going to fucking&nb sp;decapitate you with this spoon!"
"Sora,&nb sp;be careful! You're going toâ€”oh&ac irc;€¦too lateâ€¦" There was&n bsp;another loud crash followed by
Kairi ;laughing, Roxas cursing and Namine speaking. ;"I meant to tell youâ€¦Roxas ha d the cookie
dough bowl."
Sora let& nbsp;out another curse. "Manâ€¦and I' m really hungry, Roxas, you dolt. I've b een waiting and
waitingâ€¦"
His voice trailed off as Kairi's came i n. "It's ok, Sora. Namine and I will&nbs p;make you some
uhâ€¦eggs or&nbs p;something. Or maybe even some rice balls."& nbsp;Padding of feet around the kitchen
could be heard. "Hey, Roxas, do you guys have any rice?"
Axel interjected this&n bsp;time. "Hey, there should be some already& nbsp;cooked in the rice cooker. Feel
fre e to eat as much as you want to."&n bsp;
"Thanks Axel," Kairi answered happily. "C ome on Namineâ€”let's make some r iceballs!"
Axel drowned them out as he&n bsp;watched Demyx rise from the couch. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to look for my friend." He stopped briefly at&n bsp;the door as the lavender haired man and
red haired man stared at him, r eady to spring into action. "Don'tâ€&br vbar;please don't follow me. This is
my& nbsp;business. Later."
:IMAGINE SAID LINE BREAK HERE:
The streets were unusually&nb sp;noisy as he walked along them, wondering&n bsp;why there was such a
sudden spike&nb sp;is the activity levels. Twilight Town didn 't seem the type of place that would&nbs p;be so
noisy on a general basis; b ut then again, he'd only been living in& nbsp;the place for about a week max.
And as it was, things were already too crazy for him to deal with, especially& nbsp;since he felt like
he'd walked onto a reality show for parading dysfunction.&nbs p;'Sure, and I am the house guest who is
caught in the middleâ€”w hat a likely story.' Rolling his eyes,&nb sp;he continued on his way down to the&n bsp;
cafe where he thought he might perha ps pick up another coffee, preferably one&nbs p;that would scald
his face into death.& nbsp;Sometimes he thought he was a bit o verdramatic but other times he thought
h e was justifiably so in his actions. He' d barely made it to the cafÃ©&nbs p;when he heard someone
calling his name from a few blocks back. Whirling around , he almost smacked his forehead at
the sight of the musician who was bound ing up to him.
"Marluxia, wait up!" ;
Sighing, he waited patiently at the doo r for his friend to catch up to him . "Yes, Demyx, what is
it?"

"Y ou'reâ€¦ok?" Marluxia nodded but Demy x didn't seem to buy it. "It was So ra, wasn't it? He
reminded you ofâ €¦himâ€¦didn't he?"
"I do n't know what the fuck you're babbling a bout Demyx. I just really needed a caffe ine fix,"
Marluxia snapped in reply as&n bsp;he glanced at the coffee menu, though&nbs p;he wasn't really looking at it.
Demyx& nbsp;kicked at a pebble nearby. "Listenâ&eur o;¦you know you can't hide that from&n bsp;me, Mar. I'm
your best friend. I&nbs p;was there when this all happened. I'm the one who wanted you to stick around&n bsp;
and always be around despite what ev eryone had said. You can tell me things& nbsp;Mar; you can talk
to me, and y ou know that." When Marluxia made no obv ious move to talk or do anything,
D emyx let out another sigh, this time sou nding rather defeated. "Well, you know I'm&nb sp;here if you
need me. Zexion's still&n bsp;at Larxene's. I'll be at the house. But if you decide to talk after all&acir c;€¦well,
that's where I'll be. D on't forget your keys." With a small wav e, the musician began to walk
away. ;"Oh, and just for the record Mar, you&n bsp;aren't alone in this; that's why you're&n bsp;here,
remember? Well, later then."
T he brown haired youth watched as his fri end walked away, brooding in his own sil ence about
how much he loathed himself&n bsp;in that moment. Demyx had been his o nly friend that hadn't
abandoned him whe n everything had been said and done, dec ided and finalized. All his other
friend s had pretty much left him to die s omewhere, somewhat like his parents. He wasn' t proud
of what he'd done. Shaking his head, Marluxia made his way into the peaceful cafÃ©, briefly
taking i n the sweet, gentle sound of Blues and&n bsp;Jazz that filtered into his ears. The&nbs p;person behind
the register looked like ;a bored high school student and he just couldn't fathom why the young
kid was there in the first place. 'Surely ;you'd like to have worked somewhere else&aci rc;€¦not some old
place like this .' He could never understand why high&nbs p;school students chose jobs that they hated.
'Then againâ€¦I guess that's all they really can get with the a ge bracketâ€¦' His thought traile d off
as he ordered his coffee, sli ghtly amused by the bored student behind ;the counter. As he waited
for his coffee to be made, he pondered what Demy x had said to him previous to his e ntering the
cafÃ©. He knew Demyx& nbsp;was no liar and that he would stay& nbsp;true to his word no matter how much of
an asshole Marluxia was with hi m. In truth, Marluxia had always been so mewhat of an asshole to
his friend and was still amazed at how Demyx still& nbsp;wanted him around. The events of the&nbs p;past
couple of days had his mind in a whirlwind of confusion, boggled beyond&n bsp;all belief. He'd never
met people li ke Larxene or Namine. He'd met people li ke Axel and Roxas, people who were
similarâ€”but definitely not Axel and& nbsp;Roxas. As for Zexion, he was just a s surprised with him as
he was with everything else. It was a lot to t ake in and he didn't know if he cou ld continue to do
so without proper ;explanation or attitude, at that.
Suddenly,& nbsp;he found himself rather annoyed again th ough he wasn't really sure as to the&nbs p;reason
why. Sighing, he grabbed his cu p of coffee and proceeded to the nearest table, trying to appear
completely unin terested in everything around him, which wasn 't a far cry from the truth. The meager explanation that Demyx had given hi m after Namine's incident didn't reveal too&n bsp;much
that he could work with; theref ore, he was thoroughly unconvinced with the&n bsp;entire situation.
However, it genuinely a ppeared and sounded as though Demyx hardly&nb sp;knew anything about the
young woman. Maybe she really did close all her doors off to everyone, maybe she didn't.
Shaking his head, he took a sip of ;the steaming liquid, biting his tongue when& nbsp;the drink burned a

solid path down his throat. 'Foolish,' he mused a s he stared at its contents, not really& nbsp;sure why he
was doing so. Something made him want to figure it out, ma de him want to know why she acted the way she did, made him to want&nb sp;to find out her secrets. But something&nbs p;stopped him, too. 'My
own secretsâ €¦they're nobodies businessâ€¦' Feeling very much like strangling himself,&n bsp;the young
man rose to his feet and exited the cafÃ© in fervor. H e knew he had a lot to talk about&n bsp;with Demyx
as it had been some years; he'd been surprised when he was a ble to find his friend in the first ;
place.
Aggravated, Marluxia practically stom ped his way all the way back to Dem yx's house, his keys
jingling annoyingly ;in his coat pocket with each step. He&n bsp;seemed less than invigorated by
everythin g surrounding him, even the high school kids who were prancing around happily,
s houting and screaming with the joy of ti me after school. There was a group of&nb sp;boys and girlsâ€”
Roxas and Nam ine's age, he guessedâ€”walking ahead& nbsp;of him, all of them talking animatedly&n bsp;
about summer vacation even though school& nbsp;had started two months prior. He thought it was a
little early to be d iscussing all that nonsense. Nevertheless he shook his head as he strode past
th em at an alarming speed, disgusted and a ngered that their lives seemed too simple,&nb sp;though they
probably weren't. He wanted&nb sp;to yell at them, give them cynical ad vice and see how well they
laughed after that. 'Godâ€¦I'm starting to sound like my father.' The mere tho ught of his father
was enough to ma ke him sick to his stomach. Truth be&nbs p;told, Marluxia had never hated anyone
before his father but the man was a ;real bastard. He'd pretty much kicked his&nb sp;mom out, blamed
him for everything th at had happened, then accused him of bei ng gay before kicking him out,
too. ;'Yeah, a real fuckin bastard.' A mome nt later he was at the door and tur ning the key when it
swung open to& nbsp;reveal a forlorn looking Demyx with a&nb sp;cup of water in his hands plus the&nb sp;usual
twinkies, which Marluxia had become& nbsp;accustomed to over the days previous to& nbsp;now. Shaking his
head, again, he pr oceeded inside, not sure what he was goi ng to tell his friend as he heard t he
door lock click shut. The long h aul may have just begun.
:IMAGINE SAI D LINE BREAK HERE:
'To think I&nb sp;ditched Kairi for this.' Riku threw hi s hands up in annoyance as Kadaj continu ed to
spray tomato sauce on the car pet through the spout of an old, unused& nbsp;bottle of Windex. Loz and
Yazoo wou ld be home in about ten minutes and ;he had done everything in his power to& nbsp;stop his
younger brother from tearing&nb sp;apart Sephiroth's house. The white carpet, ;which he knew had been
shampooed more&n bsp;than 15 times in one week, looked li ke a five year old had spilled spaghetti
sauce on it and then mashed it&nbs p;into the fibers with his or her hands. Luckily for him, Riku knew
that Se phiroth never really blamed him though it&nbs p;still was hard to watch. He couldn't w ait until
his older brother got home;&nb sp;Kadaj would be in for it, and hell&nb sp;would smile its thanks. Sighing, he
l eaned back into the comfortable, black leathe red couch, flipping through the channels as&n bsp;Kadaj
added a bit of wine to th e mixture though where he found the bott le Riku had no idea nor did he
care to know. The particular spot Kadaj ;had been decorating was one he'd been w orking on for
months. It seemed as though he did everything in his power to make Sephiroth replace the
carpeting of the living room floor at least twice&nb sp;a year. Rolling his eyes, Riku snorted.&nb sp;He
thought his older brother would've ;been wise enough to at least lock HIS&n bsp;bedroom door to keep
the terrors of& nbsp;Kadaj from occurring within it. Sometimes,&nb sp;it was a lost cause and Riku credited
that loss to the fact that Sephiro th worked so hard and so much.

Today he was waiting for Yazoo and Loz& nbsp;to come home so one could take care of Kadaj while
the other visited h is legal birthmother. His mom, though not&nbs p;biologically Loz, Yazoo, Kadaj or
Sephiroth 's mother, still treated them like and c alled them all her sons, with the except ion of
Sephiroth. However, he figured th ey'd established their own strange relationship&nb sp;prior to the
heavy decisions made lat er on after he'd been born. He knew ;Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj called her
mom&nbs p;and he never really thought it was wei rd, or annoyingâ€”he really hadn't&nbs p;cared and still
didn't. But every now& nbsp;and then he would find himself wondering how it wasn't weird for them to call someone else's mom, who was their&nbs p;father's mistress, their own mom. He though t,
sometimes, it was because of them&nbs p;losing their mother because of abandonment or perhaps it was
their father's death.& nbsp;He could never really say for sure; ;most of the time, he didn't care to&nbs p;
elaborate on it either. His quiet broo ding was interrupted when he heard a cra sh, a shout and then
cursing like n o other. 'Hmâ€¦seems like the ;two idiots are home.'
"Dammit Loz, watch where you're going you incompetent assh ole!"
"Well, I'm sorry! It wouldn't have happened if Kadaj hadn't put that damn& nbsp;sauce on the carpet,
again!" Loz wh ined. "You know Seph's gonna kill you fo r sure this time. This will be the 3rd
time he's replaced the carpetâ&euro ;¦more than two in a year! Are yo u going for a record?"
Kadaj stuck his tongue out at his brother as he ;darted to his room, returning moments later& nbsp;with
his school uniform. "He's not going to. I would NEVER do anything like this in my school
uniform!"
"You&n bsp;little shit, he's not gonna believe that! " Yazoo retorted. "Besides, Riku's been watch ing you
the whole time; he's witnessed&n bsp;your atrocities!"
"And so it continues,"& nbsp;Riku commented as he tried to block ;them out. "Listen, I'm gonna head
out.& nbsp;My mom said she's cooking an early dinner so I wanna be there for it, for once. Who's
coming with me?"
"I t's my turn today," Yazoo replied, still ;holding his books. "See you later."
"Bu t I wanna go this time!" Kadaj cried&nbs p;from his spot on the floor, reminding Riku very much of
a spoiled 4 year& nbsp;old. 'God knows he acts like one, ' Riku thought. Kadaj didn't let up. "Pl ease? Oh,
come on Riku! You said ne xt time I could go! Besides, you didn't& nbsp;even bring Kairi over today!"
"Kairi&nbs p;was busy today you punk; she had a&nbs p;life, you know. And I never said anyth ing like that!"
Riku answered, harassed. ;"Besides, that's up to Sephiroth, right?" At the nods from Yazoo and
Loz, he&nb sp;proceeded to the door. "Well, see you ;guys in a couple days. Bye Loz, bye&nbs p;Kadaj."
"But, butâ€¦" Kadaj's whines could still be heard above the sh outs of Loz, who was trying to calm ;
his little brother down. He'd probably be howling in a few minutes due to Loz punching him or
something of the&nbs p;like.

Riku rolled his eyes again. ;'You'd never think that brat was about&nb sp;to graduate from high school
this yea râ€¦manâ€¦he's so annoying.' He loved his brother, really he did. But sometimes he
couldn't stand the&nbs p;brat since he got away with murder on& nbsp;a daily basis, at least compared to ;his
other brothers. In Riku's opinion, Sephiroth was way too lenient with Kadaj ;when it came to
house chores, a jo b and responsibilities. Sometimes he thought his brother had a disorder; but the
only one he could come up with was ;A.D.H.D. and last he'd checked, it did not run in the family.
He knew that didn't mean it wasn't possible but real ly, what were the chances? Letting out a
groan, he ignored the known craziness&n bsp;of his brothers' driving as he handed&nbs p;Yazoo the keys to
his car, not re ally caring whether they got into a car& nbsp;accident or not. Then again, they probab ly
wouldn't since Yazoo seemed to be&nbs p;the better driver of the threeâ€&rdqu o;compared to Sephiroth, well,
there was ;no comparison. Letting out another groan lik e the first time, he stuck his head ;under
his car pillow as Yazoo took ;off. He suddenly felt very sick.
When&n bsp;they arrived at the house, he was su rprised to find Kairi and her new boy-to y interest
waiting for him on the p orch. He could hear his mother inside hu mming happily as she cooked.
Yazoo merel y waved to the pair as he entered t he quaint, tan colored house in search o f his
"mom" and only real reason fo r visiting. Riku didn't count himself in ;that equation since he
visited them. Ka iri immediately jumped up to greet her b est friend as Sora gave a lazy nod. ;
"Hi, Riku. Sora and I thought we'd ;stop by since we were in the neighborho od. I'm sorry I
couldn't come with you to see your brother's today. Well, e ven though I see Yazoo is here. How ;
are you?" She appeared bubblier than no rmal.
Riku blanched. "What are you on&nb sp;today, Kai?"
"Nothing," she replied, offen ded. "I came to see you since I hav en't gone with you in a few
weeks.& nbsp;Do I have to be ON something to&nbs p;be happy to see my best friend?" He&nb sp;shook his head,
sighing. "Anywayâ€&b rvbar;umâ€¦is everything all right wi th you?"
"I thought you'd want to h ang out with your new best friend." As&n bsp;soon as the comment left his
mouth&n bsp;he regretted it. Kairi's face flushed in& nbsp;anger and embarrassment as Sora blinked in
confusion; Yazoo, who had suddenly re appeared, let out a low whistle. "Sorry, ;I didn't mean that
and yeah, I'm f ine," Riku answered, trying to make up f or his slip. "Kadaj was just being
annoying, as usual. You knowâ€¦he&nbs p;missed that you weren't there today."
Kairi seemed to have let his last statem ent slide as Sora spoke up. "I'll bet&nb sp;he did. Didja tell him
where she ;was at?"
"No, that would've made things worse," Riku responded, stiffly. He wasn't&n bsp;getting along with
anyone lately. He ;knew he was being an asshole with Sora, who was generally easy to get along&nbs p;
with. At the younger boy's pointed sta re, Riku shrugged. "Sorryâ€¦I haven't been feeling too well
these days." ;
"None of us have, really," Yazoo suppli ed as he leaned against the pillar where Kairi was sitting.
He gazed at the sky, nonchalant. "So, Kairi, Sora, what ;brings you here today?"

"We came t o see Riku," Sora said while examining h is gloves. "Kairi said she hasn't been visiting with him lately, so I suggested& nbsp;we come by and make up for lost&nbs p;time. I'm on my way
home, too. I& nbsp;figured we could make this pit stop ;then, I could walk her home."
"So noble," Yazoo said, his voice seeming far&nbs p;away.
Sora rolled his eyes. "My mom&nb sp;always saidâ€¦whateverâ€¦does&n bsp;it matter? You Kosaka's always
have something to say, don't you?"
Riku and&n bsp;Yazoo both glanced at him, smirking as&nb sp;they nodded though Riku was the one w ho
responded. "Yes, we do. But we h ave very good reason to do so."
"An d what reason is that?" Kairi asked, han ds on her hips. Riku was about to r espond when she
felt a hand rest on her head, patting it once or twice.&nbs p;"What gives, Yazoo?"
He turned her hea d to face him as his aquamarine-sea gree n eyes calmly looked into her
amethyst&n bsp;pair. "Not everything needs an answer, do es it, Kairi?"
She blushed furiously, su ddenly remembering her childhood crush on Rik u's older brother.
Ripping away from his grasp abruptlyâ€”Sora gazed at h er in confusion, againâ€”she sat back
down next to Riku, seemingly grumpy . "Yeah, yeahâ€¦whatever."
Riku smiled knowingly while Sora went back to ;looking at the sky, fascinated by things&nbs p;no one
probably cared about in the&nbs p;least. Silence settled over them for a ;few minutes until Sora finally
stood an d dusted off his pants, his mien suddenl y somber as he adjusted his shoelaces. " Hey,
Kairi, I'm gonna get going back&nbs p;to the house. I'll catch ya later, all right?" She looked at him,
puzzled.&nbs p;She was about to open her mouth to&nbs p;say something when he waved to everyone.&nb sp;"Bye
Yazoo, bye Riku! Tell your mom&n bsp;I'll try to stay for dinner next tim e, eh?"
"Sure thing," Riku waved to ;his already rapidly disappearing figure. Sora&nbs p;was almost gone when
Kairi finally sto od up too, irritation and puzzlement written& nbsp;clearly all over her pale features.
Riku snorted at her dumbfounded look. "Kai,& nbsp;you didn't expect him not to notice ;that look you
gave my brother, did ;you? I mean, Sora may be pretty dense&a circ;€¦but he's not that dense. He&nbs p;likes
you. He pays attention."
"What&n bsp;are you talking about Riku?" Yazoo asked, curious. Then he remembered. "Ohâ€&brv bar;Kairi, I
thought you'd moved on. I&n bsp;can't like you, you know that."
"I&n bsp;know that, I know!" She answered huffily, still embarrassed from before. "But even&nbs p;soâ€¦I still
get a little ;flustered. Give me a break Yazoo, because&nb sp;seriously, I barely got over you like&acir c;€¦one
year ago and now, well,&n bsp;noâ€¦I don't even like you t hat way. I really like Sora, a lot. ;It's just
thatâ€¦you never forg et your first crush, I guess."

"Tel l me about it," Riku reminisced as he&nb sp;stared at her. "But hey, we all move& nbsp;on at one point, or
we should, ;right?" Both Kairi and Yazoo gave him a blank stare and he felt his cheeks ;tinge
pink. "Well, what? I've gotten ov er my first crushâ€¦I had to."&n bsp;
"I'll be going inside now," Yazoo in terjected as he left the two on the ;porch to talk about their
high school&n bsp;crushes. For him, he'd never really had&n bsp;that problem since he'd pretty much only& nbsp;
cared about school; still, he did t hink Kairi was an attractive girl nonetheless . Squashing those
thoughts the moment th ey had surfaced, he continued on his way to the kitchen where he knew
he&nb sp;was going to eat some damned good foo d. 'Ahâ€¦better than that shit&nbs p;Loz tries to pass off as
food any way.' Sephiroth did not cook. And that&nb sp;was that. No one ever bothered to ask him. He
was the caretaker and paid their way through pretty much everything.&nb sp;Once inside the kitchen, he
plopped o nto the nearest chair as his mom kept&nb sp;cooking and humming, a smile plastered on& nbsp;her
cheerful face. She was so busy& nbsp;she hadn't even noticed him come in ;but he didn't care too much
either ;way. Instead, his thoughts drifted back to&n bsp;Kairi and how mature she'd become over&nb sp;the
past years. He remembered her whe n Riku had first introduced her to the&n bsp;Kosaka family; she
must've been at l east 11 or 12 years old. Riku had b een rambling to Sephiroth about bringing this
friend to meet his family for a&nb sp;while, and even Riku's mom had insisted.&n bsp;So one day, when Riku
was about ;12 years old, he finally brought her. Y azoo and Loz had been quite some years&n bsp;older
and Kadaj had been the same&nb sp;age as Kairi herself. 'And she was ;quite a cute girl when she first
m et us.'
It was predicted that Kadaj& nbsp;would be quite interested when he met&nb sp;her later on, which he was.
When ;Kadaj had first come to live with them& nbsp;at the age of about 14, Riku had&nb sp;been visiting as
well for one of ;his many visits and had brought Kairi a s company. On that day, Kadaj, who had&n bsp;
only been a recent addition to the&n bsp;Kosaka brothers, had claimed that he woul d marry Kairi one
day. She had been a little taken aback by that comment&nb sp;but she took it all in stride, being& nbsp;the
generally sweet girl that she w as. Yazoo sighed. 'Hmâ€¦maybe I&nb sp;am a little obsessed with
herâ€ ¦just a little.' He knew, at some& nbsp;point, there was something he wanted fro m Kairi, though he
wasn't quite sure&nbs p;whether it was a frisky evening or a&n bsp;genuine try at a relationship. Whatever t he
case had been, he'd squashed it when he'd found out two of his brothers& nbsp;liked her. 'Besidesâ€¦I'm
way too old for her.'
He knew that by legal standards it was not true ;nor was it a crime since she was 1 8 after all; what
she did at that&n bsp;point was up to her, completely, and ;no one could tell her otherwise. 'Well,&n bsp;except
drinkingâ€¦she's not there yet.' However, the moral part of hi s brain, or whatever was left of it,&nbs p;
demanded that he get rid of such heinous thoughts where it concerned the young woman in
question. She was Riku's best friend, Sora and Kadaj's current interes t and still in high school. He
sudd enly took a look at his watch, curious&n bsp;as to what time it actually was; the sun appeared to be
setting, as far as he could see through the kitchen&nbs p;window. He let out a low groan as ;he read the
time; Sephiroth would be&nb sp;off work in about little over an hour . The thought of dealing with
Kadaj ;and Sephiroth's temper when he saw the mess his little brother had made, well, Yazoo
decided he'd "forget" where the ti me had run to and stay to help Riku with some homework.
Sighing, Yazoo push ed the thoughts of Kairi away, hoping th ey wouldn't return anytime soon but
know ing him, they'd be back in an hour. ;

:LINE BREAKS, THIS ONE, WHICH SIGNAL S A BREAK IN TIME, NOT SCENE:
K airi sighed as she dropped her backpack onto her bed. Yazoo had ended up walking her home
after Sora had left. Riku had homework and it was out of the way to walk her home so Yazoo
volunteered, though any other day he would'v e. Yazoo was on his way home and he hadn't
brought his car so he didn' t see the point in her walking home ;alone. The walk home had been
relativel y treacherous since she hadn't known what&nbs p;to say to him and the silence had ;been
excruciatingly horrible for her. Usuall y it was all of the Kosaka brothers ;and Riku plus her, so
they'd always&nbs p;had something to talk about. But Yazoo ;by himself was another story, Kairi found&nb sp;
out. She hadn't known what to do ;around him either, especially since she real ly had just gotten
over him a year& nbsp;prior. Even though thoughts of Sora were circling her head the whole way home,&n bsp;
she couldn't help but stare at her&n bsp;older companion, wondering what he thought&nbs p;of her. She'd
always wanted to know&nb sp;what Yazoo thought of her after he fo und out her secret thanks to Riku.
She'd been curious. 'Would he even give&nb sp;me a chance? Why am I even thinking&n bsp;about him?' She
let out another long, disappointed sigh. Sora hadn't walked h er home and it bugged her; but the
other half was rejoicing that Yazoo had& nbsp;offered. She knew she liked Sora a lot but the remnants
of her crush o n Yazoo were affecting her judgment and she didn't like that.
Groaning in anguis h, she reached over for her cell phone&n bsp;just as it began ringing. "Hello?"
" Hey. Did you get home safe? My brother&n bsp;didn't harass you or anything, did he?"&n bsp;
She nodded though he couldn't see he r. "Yes, thanks for asking Riku, and no, he left about ten
minutes ago." "Is your Uncle home?"
She could hear& nbsp;the music he was listening through the&n bsp;telephone line, it was so loud. "No, ;he's
not home yet. I just locked a ll the doors. I'm going to start on ;my homework. Call me if you need
a ny help?"
"Sure, or I'll be onlineâ ;€¦or I'll just come over. You kn ow, the usual," he replied, his tone
indifferent.
This wasn't uncommon for her&n bsp;when dealing with Riku so she merely ;smiled. "Of course. Bye."
She clicked t he end button and was putting her phone& nbsp;on the charger when it rang again. She
glanced at her caller ID, wondering& nbsp;if it was Riku again but the caller ID slot read Private.
Raising a br ow, she flipped it open. "Hello?"
"Kairi ? I was just calling to check up an d see if everything is all right with&nb sp;you."
She smiled in relief. "Yes, eve rything is fine. Thanks Yazoo. Riku just ;called me too. You guys
sure know how to make me feel safe."

There&nb sp;was a bit of laughing from the older& nbsp;man on the other end. "I was just&n bsp;checking. I'm
guessing your Uncle isn't&n bsp;home yet?"
"No, he's doesn't get hom e until later, like around midnight. He works so late and allâ€¦" she&nb sp;
twisted the phone charger cord around ;her finger, suddenly nervous. "But it's ok.& nbsp;I'm used to it.
I'm fine, really."& nbsp;
"Well, if you feel unsafe, please c all one of us. You know you can sta y either place whenever,"
he replied. "Yes, thanks you so much," she answered,&n bsp;her cheeks flushing against her will. "I& nbsp;uhâ€¦umâ€¦I
have to start on my homework. See you in a couple of days." She was about to hang up when she
remembered something el se she wanted to ask. "Oh, wait! Could&n bsp;you tell Kadaj that I said hi? I&nbs p;
don't want him to think I forgot about him."
"No problem. Goodnight Kairi."&nb sp;
"Goodnight Yazoo," she said, her eyes ;wide as she heard the other line click& nbsp;to signal the end of
the call. ;Once she'd replaced her phone on the ch arger, she fell back onto her bed again& nbsp;and
hugged her pillow tighter than necessary. 'Whatâ€¦I don't understand&n bsp;thisâ€¦' She felt her gut&nbs p;
twisting as she thought about Yazoo an d his phone call. At that point she ;knew she hadn't gotten
over Yazoo, at&n bsp;least not fully. The thought of him ignited a fire within her, it sparked a& nbsp;flame of
something she couldn't quite&nb sp;place. She didn't venture to call it love. Perhaps lust? It was similar
to&nb sp;the spark that Sora gave her. She fel t such sensations when either male looked&nbs p;at her. She was
beginning to find ;it difficult to distinguish. Letting out a&n bsp;grievous groan, she pinched herself.
' Wake up and smell the real world Kairi.& nbsp;You haven't gotten over anything.'
:LINE BREAKS, THIS ONE ANYWAY, SIGNALS A&nb sp;TIME BREAK, NOT A SCENE
BREAK: Tifa fell back against her chair as s he tried to block out the incessant taps of fingers on the
keyboard as Yuff ie entered more patients information into the computer database. She wanted
nothing m ore than to melt into a puddle and disappear. She'd met with Cloud earlier in&nb sp;the day
but he'd been so out of& nbsp;it that he'd barely heard anything she'd said about the case. Sephiroth was
buried under paperworkâ€”according to ;Aerith's stressed answering of the phoneâ&e uro;”and had been,
virtually, unavailable&nb sp;to talk to her. So now she was s itting with Yuffie in one of the lobbies of
one of the hospital floors, wai ting for Cloud to bring them back their& nbsp;food. She, Yuffie and
Cloud had spe nt most of the day trying to track down Namine's patient record through any of&n bsp;the
local hospitals but so far it'd& nbsp;been a bust since getting warrants to&nb sp;go through patient records had
been r estricted for reason they hadn't known. She&n bsp;was thoroughly annoyed and felt like stab bing
Cloud's impaired ass; he'd been act ing strange.
Rubbing her temples, she re sorted to taking a nap. Turning to Yuffi e, she gave her a hard stare.
"I'm& nbsp;taking a nap before Cloud gets back.&nbs p;If he needs anything, tell him to wait 15 minutes."

Yuffie nodded, her ha nds never pausing in their movements. "Sure&n bsp;boss, anything else?"
"Yes," Tifa groaned . "Can someone please get me some Morphi ne? I want to numb myself."
"That's ;against the law, Tifa," Cloud answered.
She glared at him. "And here I was ;thinking I'd get to nap before you retu rned. Whatever, Strife.
Just give me my& nbsp;coffee."
He nodded, handing her the ;steaming liquid as Yuffie reached for her&nb sp;muffin, squealing in
excitement. Cloud jus t shrugged, amused by the entire scene a s the two young women kept
silent, involved in their food and drinks. Cloud ;took a seat next to Yuffie, gently plac ing his new
Beretta on the desk top next to her. She blinked. "Not used&nbs p;to using that, I guess, right?" He
agreed, chewing lightly on a snickers bar.& nbsp;Yuffie laughed. "Well, if it's any conso lation cousin, I
can't use these new&nbs p;keyboards."
"Seems like you're managing," T ifa interrupted.
Yuffie smiled. "Well, I ;have been training myself. I have to or else I get fired."
"I wouldn't fir e you," Tifa answered, her eyes glazed o ver as she sipped her coffee and continu ed
reading over paperwork. "Say, Yuffsâ €¦do we have any known record of& nbsp;where Namine was
born?" Yuffie blinked&n bsp;at her, stupidly. "Cloud," she turned to& nbsp;the blonde haired man, rolling her
eyes as the caramel strand hanging off t he corner of his lips. 'He looks so&n bsp;stupid.' Sighing, she
swatted at it&n bsp;before glaring. "I need you to go th rough the records of recent activity for ;who has
come into Twilight Town. Can&nb sp;you do that while we check the birth& nbsp;records here?" he nodded,
wiping his&nbs p;hands on his pants to which Tifa gave& nbsp;a disgusted but knowing look. "Get out&n bsp;of here
already."
"See ya later ;Tifa!"
Once he was gone, she returned&n bsp;to her coffee, smiling. "I think we finally may start getting
somewhere with ;the birth records."
"I'm on it," Yuffie responded quickly before swiveling her chair to face Tifa. "By the way, what was that about? You seem really annoyed&nb sp;with Cloud today."
"Who wasn't?" She muttered. "It's nothingâ€¦I'm just ti red and he was in the warpath."
Yuf fie shrugged. "If you say so." The black haired woman did not respond as she&nbs p;glanced at the
papers, not really taki ng anything in as her mind was somewhere else. Yuffie quietly returned to
her&nb sp;work, wondering whether or not she should& nbsp;say anything further. Thinking wisely of ;it, she
shut her mouth and kept wo rking. Sometimes, one just had to know w hen to let things be and
Yuffie was not about to mess with that law. 
:Again, imagine said line break insert ed here:
YAY YAY! There is chappie&n bsp;7 for y'all. Still, not much else to say except there will still be new ;
people coming in and out, and, hopefull y, the time will come to reveal what&nbs p;happened in Marlu
AND Larxy's pasts. I t just takes wellâ€¦ time! So&nb sp;please don't be discouraged! Yes, I know&n bsp;I
made Yazoo kinda pervyâ€¦b ut no worriesâ€¦I doubt anything ;will REALLY come of THAT
scenario. It's just fit when I was writing it and I couldn't resistâ€¦even though ;now, I'll prolly go
write crack pairing oneshotsâ€¦ANYWHO, if you wanna ;flame me about it, please do! . Flame&n bsp;
are used to heat the glue gun f or the plushie factory! Thanks to all wh o R & R'dâ€¦you guys rock.&n bsp;
Oh, and go subscribe to the Lighteni ng and Flowers amongst other things C2 c ommunity. It's
mainly a Marluxia/Larxene C2&n bsp;but anything is more than welcome! Bye&nb sp;for now, all!)
Sadistickunais