Special thanks to ohnoitisKatie for the review! Thanks to sweetanime fan and unknown guest as well.

I'm so pleased with the feedback that I'm posting the next chapter today. Keep the comments coming!

I thanked my lucky stars that the upstairs corridor was wide. I was feeling claustrophobic enough with four boys without having to be squished up against them. Roxas leaned against a wall, bored, as Vanitas and Ventus followed Sora into a room at the end of the hall. I hesitated. It wasn't proper, let alone polite to go into a boy's room uninvited.

"What are you waiting for?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Go in."

"Oh!" I said, jumping a bit. "A-alright."

The room was pretty tame and not something I would have expected from a teenage boy. The whole thing was painted a tasteful red with stylish black trimming along the windows and door. Instead of girls in bikinis plastered all over the wall, there were famous movie posters sprinkled here and there. The dresser and side tables were extraordinarily lacking clutter and I could actually see the floor.

Sora was rummaging through his drawers, yanking out random pieces of clothing. He saw me from the corner of his eye. "I'll just be a second. Once I grab a few changes of clothes, I'll get out of your hair so you can unpack a bit."

"Oh, no!" I said, slightly flattered at, yet unaccustomed to the special treatment. "Please, take your time. I appreciate that you're letting me use your room."

"It's no problem," he smiled. "If you're going to be staying with us for a while, you should at least be comfortable and have a room to yourself."

"Thank you," I said, bowing my head.

"Hey now," Ventus laughed good-naturedly over my shoulder. "There's no need to be so formal! I know you're probably nervous staying with four guys you don't know, but we're all cool. We'll try to give you your space and make you feel welcome, right guys?"

"Right," Sora grinned.

Roxas appeared in the doorway, arms crossed as he said indifferently, "Sure."

"Of course," Vanitas said, oddly affable. "We'll be the best of friends and will help you with anything you need." He slung an arm around my shoulder and pulled me flush against him. "My room is on the right if you ever get lonely at night." Ventus punched his arm and Vanitas recoiled away from me to scowl, "Hey, man! I was only trying to be friendly!"

"Well don't. Your friendly is creepy."

"Sorry about Van," Sora said sincerely. "He's a little hard to get used to."

"That's not the only thing about me that's har –ow! Stop it, Ventus!"

Sora shook his head at his brother before turning back to me. "We'll give you some time to yourself and come get you when dinner's ready."

I nodded as he turned and left, ushering the others out along with him. The door closed and I finally had time to breathe. I flumped down on the bed and let out an enormous sigh. It had been one thing to stay with Mr. and Mrs. Strife, but another thing entirely to stay with them and their four boys. I felt like an imposition enough. The weight of the situation was still on my head, pressing me down further into the soft double mattress.

Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm myself. Things could be much worse. They could be nerds that have never seen a girl before. They could be psychotic maniacs that took samples of my hair and skin for DNA testing. They could all be obese and rude rather than the very attractive, god-like beings that they were. Sure they had some personality flaws, but what human doesn't? Sure Vanitas was kind of overbearing, but Sora and Ventus' level-headedness seemed to counteract his arrogance. Sure Roxas seemed to treat me like a nuisance rather than a guest, but we were just getting to know each other. I figured once we spent some time together, we'd all settle into a happy coexistence and maybe the year would be somewhat normal.

Boy, was I wrong.

Sora came to get me for supper and we walked down to the dining room.

The scene was vastly different from what I was used to. While it had been only my mother and I for quiet meals, the Strifes had a long table full of both people and food. Mr. Strife sat at the head while his sons, minus Sora, flanked him on either side. I assumed the empty seat at the foot was for Mrs. Strife and the two on either side of her were for me and Sora. One of the chairs mismatched the others and I guessed they had to have brought it from somewhere else in the house to accommodate me. It was placed next to Vanitas and Ventus and stood out like a sore thumb. I prayed I wouldn't have to sit there.

Either Sora was psychic, or he caught the glances Vanitas was not-so-discreetly sending my way, because he changed direction and went to take the seat. He ignored the glares his dark-haired brother shot at his head and filled his glass with water from the pitcher. He looked up and caught my gaze, smiling. I had to remember to thank him later.

Mrs. Strife came from the kitchen, carrying two pans of pizza fresh from the oven. She set them down.

I inhaled the delicious aroma. "Wow, this smells amazing. Did you make them Mrs. Strife?"

"Tifa," she corrected.

"No, no, Mom," Ventus laughed. "That's Kairi."

"Ha ha," Mrs. Strife said, rolling her eyes at the boys' collective snickers while grinning simultaneously."Very funny."

I took my place next to Roxas as Mrs. Strife sat down. Mr. Strife addressed me after his mild chuckles subsided. "I usually cook the meals, Kairi. Tifa just likes to walk in with the food so she can feel like a wife."

"Really?" I asked, incredulously.

Mrs. Strife's cheeks seemed to grow pink. She busied herself with cutting the pizza to distract from the colour. "I always wanted to be the perfect wife growing up," she said. "You know, looking after the house; cooking, cleaning. But it turns out I'm awful at domestics, so Cloud humors me. He's a fantastic chef, so it all works out. Besides, there's nothing hotter than a guy who can cook."

"And nothing cuter than a girl who can't," Mr. Strife added, smirking playfully at his wife.

The boys all gagged.

With the pizza cut, everyone started reaching for slices. There was pepperoni and Hawaiian. I took Hawaiian since I adored pineapple and tropical fruits. Sora, Roxas and Mr. Strife shared in my choice.

After a few quiet bites, Ventus decided to reinstate conversation. "So, Kairi, do you cook?"

I grimaced to myself as I swallowed. I hated being the subject of discussion. I was more of a listener than a talker and there was nothing I disliked more than prattling on about myself. "A little bit. I would always help Mom out with making supper. But I'm more of a baker."

"Cool!" Sora said, his mouth half-full with pizza. "What kinds of things do you bake?"

"Sora," Mr. Strife chastised. "Chew, swallow."

He obeyed. "My bad."

A smile tugged at my lips. "The usual," I answered. "Cakes, cookies, brownies, and their variants."

Ventus' jaw dropped. Luckily he had higher skill in the eating and manners department. "How is that 'the usual'? I can hardly make popcorn!"

"Popcorn has nothing to do with baking," Roxas pointed out.

"Exactly! Just imagine what chaos would ensue if I had access to an oven!"

"I don't have to imagine. You practically blew up the home ec. room at beginning of sophomore year."

My eyes grew wide. "That was you?"

Ventus ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah… I needed some sort of elective class and my friends suggested home economics. I think it's safe to say they regretted it later."

"What happened?" I asked, baffled to have discovered the famed "Kitchen Killer" of Destiny High.

"They were assigned to make a soufflé," Roxas explained, sardonically. "Ventus blended together explosives."

"I did not! I just got the portions mixed up and-"

"And the ceiling was repainted with soufflé batter," Roxas smirked.

Ventus didn't have a retort and the conversation died.

Mrs. Strife brought it back again when she found the silence too unbearable. "So, Kairi, you took home ec.?"

I shook my head. "No. I was planning on taking it last term of my second year, but," I sent Ventus an almost teasing look, "someone fried the appliances and the class was canceled."

He shrugged guiltily.

Mrs. Strife chose to ignore her son-in-law. "Are you taking it this semester?"

"Yup. Since I got most of my mandatory classes out of the way during the first two years of school, I'm taking some more basic courses like music, outdoor pursuits, Spanish, things like that."

"That's nice. Are any of the boys in your classes?"

My "no" was nearly drowned out by four echoing "yes"s. There was an awkward silence. I was stunned.

"You guys are in my classes?" I finally managed, flummoxed. Their eyes fixated on me in affirmation and I was struck with a sickening feeling of guilt. I hadn't noticed them? How was that even possible?

Mrs. Strife could feel the tension. She tried to dissolve it. "The semester only just started and I'm sure you were too busy paying attention in class to notice these slackers. They could learn a thing or two from you about schoolwork."

"We're usually surrounded by girls anyway," Vanitas said. "We'd be hard to spot." I wasn't sure if he was trying to make me feel better or if he was just gloating.

Either way, I still felt awful.

"It's no big deal," Sora said, taking a slice of pizza and inhaling half of it. "If Kairi didn't notice us, she didn't notice us. There are always people in high school that you never really know, even up until you graduate. She knows us know, isn't that what matters?"

And with that the tension mystically vanished. Everyone seemed to relax and I personally felt as if a million pounds had been lifted from my shoulders. I never felt so much gratitude towards anyone in my life. That was two I now owed Sora.

Things miraculously fell back into stride. We finished the rest of the pizzas and Mrs. Strife went to bring in dessert. It was a store-bought blueberry pie (apparently Mr. Strife's Achilles' heel was pastries) served with vanilla ice cream. The silence was astoundingly comfortable as we enjoyed the delicious treat.

Halfway through his pie, Roxas set his spoon down and let out in irritated breath. "Would whoever is trying to play footsies with Kairi please stop. You're off a meter to the right."

The table erupted in laughter as Sora and Ventus completely lost control, Mr. and Mrs. Strife following after seeing their eldest son's expression. Roxas remained stoically annoyed while I giggled, caught up with the infectious mirth from the other boys. As my abs began to hurt, I decided that maybe this year wasn't going to be so bad after all.

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