Chapter 38: Protective Brother

A/N: Hey everyone! I got so many reviews about Hikari trying to steal Piglet! (heh heh) I know, it broke my heart when I had to let him go.

But on the upside, Hikari get's to see Leon. Will she be happy to see him, or will she chew him out for keeping the origins of their father a secret from her?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own my oc's.

Enjoy!
/

Sora had to pretty much drag Hikari out of Merlin's house when they left the book. He didn't want to have to go back into it and fight with her because she wanted to sneak Piglet out.

She was known for going crazy over cute things, but this was ridiculous. Couldn't she see that her world was in trouble thanks to the MCP?

Hikari just had tears pooled up in her eyes as she tried to reach for Pooh's book.

"Piglet" she whimpered.

Donald just sighed and pushed her along towards Ansem's study.

"Get over it" he said.

Hikari just whimpered and followed them along.

As soon as this mess was over, she would go back to get him.

/

When they reached the postern, they found Yuna, Rikku and Paine hovering by one of the corners, talking amongst each other.

The group figured that they should thank them since they helped out with getting rid of the heartless when they invaded the town earlier, so they went up to them.

"Hey there" Sora said.

The Gullwings looked at the group and glared at them.

"Liars!" Yuna cried.

Everyone looked confused.

Why would they be considered liars when they just said hi?

"Huh?" Hikari asked.

"Leon doesn't have any treasure!" Rikku said.

"And we fought for you guys" Paine pointed out.

Oh-that. They almost forgot that Donald lied to them about Leon having treasure so they would help out. Now they were in a load of trouble.

Goofy looked at Donald.

"Donald" he warned.

The mage held up his hands innocently.

"Well, I had to tell them something" he said.

Yuna placed her hands on her hips.

"I don't see how we're going to work this out" she said.

"So what should we do?" Hikari asked.

She felt bad that Donald dragged her brother into this, so she thought the proper thing to do was repay the Gullwings instead.

The Gullwings turned around and talked amongst themselves to see what they should think of as compensation. When they finished talking, Yuna pointed a finger at them.

"We're just going to take YOUR treasure" Yuna said.

"But we don't have anything!" Sora insisted.

Seriously, as if they had time to go gather goodies while they were protecting the worlds from darkness.

"You sure?" Paine asked.

Rikku floated over to them and examined them.

"Hmmm….let's take a look" she said.

She looked at them to see what they could offer then went back to Yuna to tell her what she found.

Yuna nodded at the idea.

"Ok, we've decided!" she said.

"The Gullwings are taking all of your items!"

Everyone's eyes bugged out at that. Were they serious? They needed all of their items in order to get through all of those fights with the heartless and nobodies. There was no way that Hikari was going to heal the group every time they got hurt. She would pass out within a minute.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Sora cried.

"There's no way that we can do that" Hikari insisted.

Yuna pouted and placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh, foofie!" she pouted.

"This stinks" Rikku said.

"So not cool…"Paine sighed.

Hikari sighed and rubbed the back of her head.

"Look, we're sorry that we tricked you, but…"

"Forget about it" Paine said.

Everyone blinked.

"Huh?"

"Leon told us the whole story" Paine explained.

"He said your journey's been pretty rough"

"So it wouldn't really be right if we took your things" Yuna said.

"We'll root for you!" Rikku cheered.

"Here, this is from us"

They gave them an extra set of potions and exliers for them to use during their travels. (A/N: I know they give them the Gullwing keyblade, but since I didn't mention the other ones, I'm not going to bother).

"Bye! Good luck on your journey!" Yuna said.

With that, the Gullwings disappeared in a ball of light.

Everyone blinked a couple of times when they left.

"What just happened?" Hikari asked.

"I'm…not sure" Sora said.

"Well, at least they didn't take our stuff" Goofy said.

Hikari nodded and glared at Donald.

"Next time you put my brother in a situation like that, I'll roast you over a flame" she warned.

Donald just waved her off.

"Nothing happened" he said.

"Now let's go and help Tron"

They went down the steps and headed to Ansem's study, where Leon was sure to be.

/

Ansem's study was just as messy when they last saw it.

Papers were all over the place and books were toppled off from their bookshelves.

"I wonder if Leon is in the computer room" Sora said.

He started walking, but he stopped when he saw Hikari standing still. Her eyes were drilled in Xeahnort's portrait that Tifa took off the wall earlier. She looked so emotionless as she started at her father's portrait.

How could he look so calm when he brought so much despair to so many worlds? Did he not care that he put his whole family through such tragedy?

Of course not. He not only gave up his heart to darkness, but used his own daughter's to open the door to darkness.

Her fist shook at her side as all the negative feelings she felt for her father started to boil over. How could act like he did nothing wrong when he nearly killed so many people? How could he act like what he was doing was for the greater good of the worlds when all he did was bring them to ruins? Why did he think that he was the good guy? Why did he have to shatter her heart?

Sora gulped when he saw the angry look in her eyes.

"Hikari?" he asked.

He didn't get a response.

Instead, he got a strangled cry as Hikari screamed and aimed her keyblade at the portrait.

A beam of light shot out from her key and zapped the painting, blowing it to smithereens.

Everyone jumped at the action and caused Leon and Aerith to come running into the room.

Leon had his gunblade drawn, thinking it was one of the heartless. But when he saw the destroyed portrait and his sister's anguished face, he realized what had happened.

"Oh no" he muttered.

He looked at the group and nudged his head towards the lab, telling them to give them a moment.

Everyone quietly left, not wanting to make the scene any worse than it was.

Leon made sure they all left before slowly walking towards his sister. He could see Hikari shaking with anger and frustration as she started at the spot where Xehanort's painting was.

He didn't need to figure out why she lashed out like that. The look in her eyes told it all.

"You remembered…didn't you?" he asked, but made it sound like a statement.

Hikari hung her head and let her bangs fall in her face.

"More like had it hit me in the face" she said quietly.

"I had to find out that my dad is the one I've been trying to defeat. All this time, I've been related to that mad man"

Leon sadly looked at his sister. It had been a very long time since he saw that look in her eyes and he wished that he didn't have to see it.

"I never considered that monster to be our father" he said with venom in his voice.

Hikari gulped slightly to swallow her nerves.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"Did you know that it was him who did all of this?" she asked.

Leon closed his eyes and slowly nodded his head.

"Not at the beginning" he said.

"At first…I thought it was grandfather, because the reports said 'Ansem' on them. But …when I looked at them closer and read the stuff from his computer…I put the pieces together and realized who it really was that did this to us. It stunned me just as much as it may have stunned you when you found out…maybe even more"

Hikari's head shot up as she looked at him with tears pooling in her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she choked.

"Why didn't you tell me that our dad was the one who destroyed our world and nearly killed me? Why didn't you tell me that he was the leader of Organization Xlll and that I would have to defeat him? Why did you keep this from me?"

Leon simply looked at her with such sad eyes. His usual stoic mask was destroyed as he saw his sister breaking down in front of him.

You could stab him with a knife and he wouldn't cry. You could kick him and punch him as much as you want, and he wouldn't flinch. But if you made him face his little sister, crying her eyes out, he would crack.

That was one of the weaknesses when it came to being an older brother.

"Because I didn't want to see that pained look on your face that you have on now" he said.

Hikari looked taken aback by that, but she never said anything. She couldn't really at this point.

Leon went up to her and gripped her shoulders.

"How do you think I was supposed to tell my little sister that the enemy she had to defeat was our dad?" he asked.

"Even if I did tell you, I doubted you would believe me. You grew up thinking that our dad was the greatest person on earth that you didn't realize what his true self was like. You were so young and innocent back then, that I just couldn't tell you what he was really like. You were better off not knowing"

He used his thumb to wipe the tears that fell from her face.

"I wanted to protect as best as I could" he said.

"Even if you didn't know or remember what our dad was really like, that was fine with me. I would endure knowing his true self and motives if that meant keeping you safe and oblivious to his true intentions. I would let him hurt me if that meant he would never lay a finger on you. That's how important you are to me. You can be as mad as you want with me by not telling you the truth, but remember that I wanted to protect you"

Hikari looked her brother for a moment. She never realized that he was trying to protect her by shielding her from the horrid truth that she had to witness.

She suddenly broke down and started crying in his chest.

She felt so horrible. How could she be mad at her brother when all he was doing was trying to protect her? He wanted her to remember the Xemnas from her memoires rather than the one she saw today. By not telling her anything, he was trying to protect her childhood happiness.

Perhaps that was why Taiyouko never said anything before.

Leon wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly as she cried. He rubbed her back as sobbed into his chest.

"It's not fair!" she said through his shirt.

"How could he do this to us?"

Leon gave her forehead a peck before running a hand through her hair.

"I guess he cared more about his own needs rather than our own" he said.

"He simply saw us as pawn for his plans, rather than as his own family"

Hikari cried a bit harder at that and had to have Leon calm her down.

"I thought dads were suppose to protect their families, not use them?" she choked.

Leon simply closed his eyes.

"Yeah, well that's the funny thing about having a heart"

"You never know how much darkness lurks within them until the last minute. People can trick you into thinking that they're good and pure, but it's just a mask to hide the depths of their own sins"

Hikari clung to Leon tightly.

"I hate him…so much"

Leon smiled weakly.

"Not as much as I hate him" he said.

"I've hated him a lot longer than you have. But considering what he's done to you, I'm sure mine pales in comparison"

When Hikari calmed down to the point that Leon didn't have to hold her, she stepped back and wiped her eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to keep all of this to yourself" she said.

"You shouldn't have to had endure all of this on your own"

Leon gave her a weak smile and ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry about it" he said.

"That's what comes with being an older brother. We would rather suffer if it meant that we could see our little sister's happy. Being able to keep you safe and see you smile is the greatest reward I could ever ask for"

Hikari smiled weakly at that.

"You're such a good brother to me, Ni-san" she said.

"I'm so lucky that I have you"

Leon smirked at that.

"I know" he said.

"And I'm so lucky that I have such a brave sister like you. Even knowing who your enemy is, you still continue forward. That's proof that you have a strong heart"

Hikari giggled a little and placed her hand over her heart.

Hearing him say that made her feel really happy. After having to feel horrible during this whole trip about Xemnas, it was nice to know that her brother loved her so much and supported her greatly.

Leon gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"C'mon. I'm sure Sora and the others are wondering if you're ok" he said.

Hikari dried the tears from her eyes and nodded.

"Right"

Leon wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they headed into the computer lab.

Hikari felt a bit better now that she knew why her brother never said anything about their dad. It showed he loved her enough that he was willing to throw away his happiness if it meant that she could still keep hers.

She smiled at that thought and hugged them before they entered the room.

"Thank you for being my big brother"

/

A/N: Aww, I got a little teary eyed as I wrote this. That was so nice of Leon. He didn't want to tell his sister that their dad was a complete nut job, just so she could keep her childhood memories of him. And he's right, little kids shouldn't know the dark side of their parents as such a young age. It'll mess them up. Thumbs up to Leon for keeping Hikari safe.

Please review and tell me what you think!

Ja ne