disclaimer: don't own
pairing: akuroku,
warning: ooh, who knows what's going to happen?
Sisters
Sisters hate each other. They absolutely loathe every cell, sinew, tendon, artery, vein; every single slice of one's existence is abhorred by the other and every single segment of the other's existence is the bane of one's life.
Sister's hate each other.
A very good example of this phenomenon is the family of the beautiful Amane clan. There are two parents and three daughters and one son. The two parents are called Rude and Selphie and the three daughters are called Naminé and Kairi and Larxene. The son's name is Roxas. Naminé is very quiet, and she is not very popular – she's probably the least popular of the siblings, in fact. Kairi is probably the most popular of the siblings, being a lifelong Abercrombie and Fitch fan and the fact that she is bouncy and flexible and looks good in photos. Larxene is popular in some ways but very unpopular in a lot of other ways; she likes to listen to strange music.
Roxas is the odd one out.
Well, that's to put it bluntly at least. If we were to fully gaze into the depths of Roxas's mind and take a complete psycho-analysis of him, he may well turn out to be a lot like his sisters, he also may turn out to be a lot like Sora, the kid who ate bugs in eighth grade – but that's a completely other story that you may learn about sometime else. Chances are, when we get down to the core of our being we are all, to an extent, the same.
But Roxas, for the sake of this story anyway, is the odd one out.
Roxas hadn't always been the odd one out. See, he is Kairi's twin and although they look completely different (the genetics in this aren't very complicated: Rude once was the proud owner of a thick head of lovely, shiny red hair until it all fell out and he found out he had hereditary baldness - Kairi will meet the same fate some day in her late 20s - and Selphie dyes her hair brown because she doesn't want people to pin her as a ditzy blonde, instead they pin her as a ditzy brunette) they were once very, very similar.
When Selphie would ask: "What juice would you like?" to her, then, three children Kairi and Roxas would shout in unison, "OJ!" and Larxene would sulk (she's very good at that, you'll soon learn).
When Selphie would ask: "What do you want for your snack?" to her three children Kairi and Roxas would scream in unison, "Chips!" and Larxene would sulk (you see).
When Selphie would ask: "What shall we listen to on the way to Destiny Islands?" to her three children Kairi and Roxas would shriek in unsion, "Aerith Gainsborough!" and Larxene would sulk (she does get a lot of practice).
It only took a few years, however, before Kairi would be shouting "I want pomegranate!" and Roxas "Pineapple, mom!" or Kairi might decide it was "Candy, please," that she wanted to munch on, and Roxas might want a "Sea Salt Ice Cream." By this time their music tastes had grown so far apart neither knew which band or singer the other was talking about anymore.
Not that this bothered them. Kairi was more interested in making sure that she was cutest out of the three girls (because Naminé as an infant was extreme competition) and Roxas was more interested in wondering why he thought it was cool when Seifer lifted his arms and exposed a little bit of his wonderfully toned torso.
Larxene sulked and Naminé drew pictures of bunny wabbits.
Little did they know it, but one day little Naminé would become a famous comedian, Kairi would end up as a wig model, Roxas would become a well-known and loved chef and Larxene would be a secretary (a.k.a. professional sulker).
Of course, none of this information is neither here nor there when it comes to our actual story – it's just always nice to have a little bit of insight into the characters from the start so you can connect with them and when I make something absolutely horrendous happen to them you might get very upset or angry or feel some sort of emotion – in which case, my job is done and I can die happy.
We'll start on Monday.
Monday is Roxas's favourite day of the week. Monday the 22nd of June was his favourite day of that year because that was the day of his birthday. But the Monday we're starting on is Monday the 20th of July, four weeks after his birthday exactly.
The Summer Holidays had started, so great they have capital letters. And the DVD Roxas had ordered for his birthday, exactly four weeks ago, had just arrived. He was preparing an angry letter for the courier company in his head, as they had said the postage would take two to three weeks. Then he remembered that the DVD he'd ordered had been a pre-order and the DVD had only just come out.
He mentally scrapped the angry letter.
"Oof." Roxas looked down and saw a small girl, fallen on the floor where his barging into her had knocked the girl to.
"Oops, sorry, Nam."
"That's OK, Roxas," Naminé said, her voice wispy and husky. Naminé was what people call an 'old soul' but Roxas thought she just sounded tired all the time. The thirteen year old was the product of Selphie's menopause scare and Rude's willing to do just about anything to stop his wife from squealing. "My new babysitter has arrived. Would you like to meet him?"
Roxas down at his DVD and then at his sister. He sighed. "Well, Nam, I really just wanted to... you know, watch my new DVD and I just... well, you know." His sister nodded along; she never ever interrupted anyone even if it sounded like they needed interrupting. "So, I'll just... I'm sorry. I... uh... well, I..." he paused to think about what he was saying. "Well, no is the answer I guess. No. Sorry."
"Don't be, Roxas. It's understandable."
"I suppose it is, Nami. Well, I'll catch up with you later."
"Yes, I'll look forward to it."
Roxas gave one last despairing glance at his oddity of a sister and turned towards the Cinema room. It was, of course, the best room in the house to watch DVDs in as it had a projector, a fridge with an ice maker and the comfiest sofa in the whole suburban town – however, as soon as Roxas opened that door, he knew something was wrong.
"Yevon, Roxas, why don't you knock before you barge into a room?" Larxene pulled away from her yearlong boyfriend to moan at Roxas.
"Yevon, Larxene, why don't you marry before you procreate?" The boy next to Larxene laughed out loud. "Hello, Riku," said Roxas with no real interest.
"Hey, Roxas," said Riku with the smirk Roxas hated; the one that always made him feel like Riku was telepathically trying to rape him.
"Yeah, anyway. How long were you planning to spend doing the dirty in this room for because," he looked at his watch, sarcastically, "I booked it for five minutes ago."
Larxene sneered at him, "Well, you've come too late. Besides, we're watching a movie."
Roxas turned to look at the screen where he saw 101 Dalmations playing. "Good Yevon" he said, rolling his eyes. "Well, have fun."
"Without you?" asked Riku, that smirk back on his face, with a simpering sort of mask just covering it.
"Easy," spat Larxene.
Roxas slammed the door behind him.
"What a bitch."
"Aah! Kairi! You made me jump! Don't stand right behind people like that; it's disturbing."
Kairi grinned, "Well, don't stand right in front of people like that; you're disturbing."
Roxas laughed, "Shut up," he said. "What're you so happy about?"
Kairi clapped her hands together, "Oh my Yevon! Have you seen Naminé's new babysitter?" Roxas shook his head and Kairi lowered her voice to a stage whisper. "He is so hot!"
"Really?"
"Ohhh yeah. You'll want to meet him, Rox, you really will. But be warned, you have competition."
"Hardly." Kairi smacked Roxas on the arm. "OK, OK, sorry, sorry. You're plenty competition. I just better hope I don't get any more competition." Kairi giggled.
It is important to point out here, I feel, that just because Roxas hopes for it, doesn't mean it won't happen. Also, Kairi is plenty competition. Years of jealous, frantic one-sided competing against her sisters in how shiny her hair was, how pretty her eyes were, how cute her nose was, etc, etc, meant that Kairi was now one of the most beautiful girls in Twilight Town.
"Hey, kids!" Selphie's voice drifted into the hallway from the kitchen where she was dumping all the shopping bags onto the table where Miss Rikku would take them to their rightful cupboards. "Who's up for some Pocky?"
"Strawberry!"
"Banana, Mom."
"Oh," she looked downcast, "oh... I forgot the banana. I got strawberry for Kairi... Naminé, Milk... Larxene is Chocolate and, oh, blueberry pips! I forgot Roxas's banana. Alright, sweetie, don't worry. I'll phone your Daddy and he can pick some up for you."
But they were already gone.
"Oh... hm, kids." And promptly started humming something she'd heard earlier that day.
"Hey Mrs A." Selphie slipped back into reality.
"Oh, hello Axel, dear. Have you lost Naminé?"
"No, no, just having a little wander. I hear you have a son called Roxas?"
"Oh yes, I think he just went somewhere with Kairi. Hmm..." Selphie then danced back into the kitchen to remind Miss Rikku that she wanted the pasta to be in the fridge because it always cooked better after it'd been chilled...
Axel looked round, then decided he could try upstairs. He headed for the marble steps leading to the first floor. The house was huge. He'd never realised that little Roxas lived in such a big place. He wondered what sort of jobs his parents had to get such a large home.
"Axel?"
"Hey, Roxas," he said.
"What... But... What in this world are you doing here?" Roxas's eyes were wide and confused, scanning the scene for clues on what in the world Axel was doing there. "Did you break and enter!"
"No! No, nothing like that!" Axel laughed. "I'm your sister's babysitter. I see you've remembered my wild ways."
"How could I forget? That stunt you did to Pence and his cabin. How in the worlds did you manage to become a babysitter? ...How did you get past my dad? He'd throw you out soon as he looks at you." This seemed to tickle Axel's funny bone incredibly.
"Really? 'Cause I haven't met him yet and now I'm really looking forward to it."
"You would be." Roxas laughed.
"So... is it just me or is Naminé really old to be having a babysitter?" Axel asked. Roxas shrugged.
"I have an overprotective mother and a crazy father, I'm thinking along the lines of 'is it just me or is Naminé not being cared as much as she should be'?" He raised an eyebrow.
"I see what you're saying, Roxas." The red head laughed. "So how've you been since camp?"
"I've been... good. I've been good," Roxas hinted at a brief, almost unhappy smile. "Yeah, good. So what about you?"
"Roxas! Where's my ice cream?!"
Roxas looked down at his hand where a melting pot of Caramel Choo Choo was sitting. "Oh... I think I should get this to Kairi before she... uh, well. Yeah. Well, see you around, Axel."
"See you around, Roxas."
- - -
an: I know. Shocking. Lamie writing another story? GASP. I believe I am coming back to fanfiction. I know! Beautiful. Well, here is my little four-or-five-shot. Hope you enjoy :3
