Chapter 7: Shelter

-Moon River-

(Kairi)

"Daddy, are you okay?" Kairi's legs stumbled towards her dad's bedside. She climbed up the large, ornate bed that engulfed her father in large, heavy blankets. Daddy opened his arms to her and she tumbled onto his chest. His embrace was warm and comforting like always.

"Hey, Kairi-cat. I'm okay, just a little under the weather." He kissed the crown of her head.

The house doctor was putting away his supplies. She remembered he was referred to as Dr. Sweet. He was a big, dark man with a warm and inviting personality.

"Hello, little miss, your daddy will be juust fine. He just needs to eat properly and rest. " the doctor's voice matched his appearance; big and warm. Kairi smiled at the large man, and he returned one to her. He looked over at her dad. "I don't see any signs of internal bleeding or any cuts on your body, your anemia must come from an iron deficiency. You take care of yourself now. Please, call me if your symptoms get worse."

Her dad struggled to sit himself on the bed, especially with the weight of a small child clutching onto him."Thanks, doc. You have a good day."

"You too." the doctor waved at the two before leaving the large room Mr. Wutai offered daddy and her to sleep in.

Kairi looked up to her dad. "Daddy, what's anemia?"

"Anemia is when your body doesn't make enough good blood."

Kairi furrowed her brows. "Why aren't you making good blood?"

"I don't know, baby bear… but I'm gonna do what I can to get better." Daddy grinned at her and gave her a wink.

"Then, we can play together more!" Kairi chirped. "The other people that work here won't play with me." She crossed her arms and pouted. They thought of her as a nuisance, and she didn't need them to spell it out to her either, she could hear their thoughts… whether she wanted to or not. She tried her best to keep out of people's minds, but it was so hard to differentiate between thoughts and what was actually being said to her unless she was actually looking at their face directly.

Daddy ran his fingers through her hair. "They're just busy, baby."

"I know." Kairi sighed. Daddy started to have another coughing fit. Ever since they moved into the mansion, her daddy's health started to deteriorate. She quickly went to give him a glass of water. He thanked her and hungrily chugged it down.

She tried her best to stay out of her daddy's head. He had a lot of sad memories and some were scary. She felt that familiar itch hit her, her daddy's thoughts were too loud to ignore… he was scared. He was trying his best to line up events where he could've gotten hurt but there were holes in his memory. No matter how hard he tried, it was like they were blocked or erased. It usually happened while he was with Yozora, but Yozora would have no reason to hurt him, right? Yozora loved him. He couldn't understand why felt so weak after having sex- her daddy's train of thought was quickly stopped when he realized his daughter was still in the room and his face flushed and he hid his face in his hands.

"Were you listening?" He asked, his voice was muffled by his hands.

"No." She lied, but he saw right through her lie. Daddy flopped back down on the bed and groaned from embarrassment. Poor daddy, all the other parents had the freedom of their headspace from their children. She knew there were some things that she wasn't supposed to know. Her daddy did his best to help her curb her power and keep her innocent. Apparently, if the coal mine didn't shut down in their hometown in the mountains, he would've never thought to move into the city with her. So many people, so many thoughts swirling around her. The cacophony would get so bad at times she would have to hide somewhere without people to recuperate.

"I'm sorry." Kairi murmured.

"It's not your fault, you just got a.. sensitive gift." He reasoned.

"It's a curse." Kairi muttered.

Her father shot up from his lying position and gently but firmly grabbed her shoulders. His eyes were intense. "Nothing about you is a curse. This is just something that is a part of you. You use this gift for your advantage, Kai. Use it to keep you safe." Though he didn't say it out loud, he wanted her to use it to steer away from predators. Men and women who disguise themselves as good people but were monsters who took advantage of the small and weak, he would always believe her, since no one believed him when he was little. He wanted her to use it to have a leg up on the sexist, racist, and classist world they lived in, to never allow someone to treat her like she was inferior. To use it to be kind to those who need it the most. She couldn't fully understand what his words meant until she was older.

Kairi nodded her head. "Okay." She still thought it was a curse, but at least her dad couldn't read her mind. He smiled at her and kissed her cheek and pulled her into a hug.

"I love you, baby." She always felt the safest in her dad's embrace.

"I love you too." She rubbed her face into the crook of her daddy's neck and took in his scent. He smelled like apple cider… and cigarettes. Kairi shot up and narrowed her eyes at her dad.

"Eww! You've been smoking!" She pinched her nose and curled her lips in disgust.

"Give your old man a break, I haven't been feeling good." Sora pouted animatedly at his daughter.

Kairi stuck out her tongue and gagged. She felt her dad start to move underneath her and quickly threw off the sheets. She let out an excited scream and bolted out of the bed. She giggled wildly as she padded down out of the room and down the long hallway in her bare feet. Her father was nipping at her heels. He was laughing behind her but soon the laughing turned into chest wrenching coughs and he collapsed onto his knees. Kairi's laughing and running slowly stopped and she backpedaled to her dad. Mr. Wutai was there already, holding her father in his arms like he was a bride. It must be nighttime now.

"Are you okay, sunshine? Your heart is about to burst out of your chest." Mr. Wutai cooed at her father.

"J-just a little out of breath that's all." He wheezed.

Mr. Wutai was one of the most beautiful men Kairi had ever laid her eyes on. To her childlike eyes he seemed ancient, but he looked to be in his late twenties, early thirties. His eyes were unlike anything she had seen before in her short life! His right eye was a pretty bright blue and his left eye was a pretty dark red. His skin was very pale, and looked even paler against her father's tanned, softly freckled skin caused by years of hard labor. His hair was silver and textured and went down to the nape of his neck and framed his sculpted face well.

Mr. Wutai rolled his eyes at her father's answer. "Darling, why must you always push yourself? You should be in bed resting."

Her daddy grinned at him. "Gotta keep ya on your toes that's all. Besides, Kairi and I've been cooped up all day. We're getting squirrelly."

Mr. Wutai smiled at daddy fondly and let his lips rest on top of daddy's head. "Tell you what, you go rest and I'll play with Kairi and make her some dinner." his eyes went to the girl. "Would you be okay with that, Kairi?"

She nodded her head and grinned. "Yeah!" She really liked Mr. Wutai, she thought of him as her second father. She quickly went up to the two men and started to prance around excitedly.

Her father seemed to be pouting, feeling left out of the fun with his two favorite people. Mr. Wutai's lips went to the shell of daddy's ear and he whispered something most people wouldn't be able to pick up, but Kairi had sharp ears. "Don't worry, I'll play with you later tonight." Mr. Wutai purred. Daddy's face became beet red. She didn't get what kind of playing they did, but her daddy seemed a bit wobbly in the morning every time they did play.

They took daddy back to the room to rest, Mr. Wutai carried her father like he was a precious treasure. He gently laid daddy on the bed and pulled the covers over his body. His fingers brushed the hair away from his face before going down and kissing daddy's lips. His hands cupped her daddy's cheeks, his fingers lingered to give a soft stroke before turning his attention to Kairi. He extended his hand to her. "You hungry?"

Kairi nodded her head and took his hand gingerly. Mr. Wutai pulled her up and situated her on his hip. At age seven, usually kids were getting a little too big to be carried around, but she didn't mind with Mr. Wutai, because even with her weight added to the mix, he glided through the halls like he was floating in the air.

"What do you want to eat today, sweetheart?" He asked.

"Chicken alfredo!" She answered without skipping a beat.

By nighttime most of the daytime staff was gone and the new shift filtered in, but they made their presence minimal as best.. at least when she was around. There was one in particular that she didn't like, Mr. Marluxia. Mr. Marluxia was quite mean spirited when Mr. Wutai wasn't around. He didn't like her or her daddy at all, he seemed to look at them like they were vermin. So, when he was around she did her best to stay close to Mr. Wutai.

The kitchen was an oddity here. From what she heard through whispers and gossip among the daytime staff, the kitchen was seldom busy, they didn't even have a full time staff in there except when Mr. Wutai had to throw a soiree. She wondered how Mr. Wutai was able to get such fresh food when it seemed like there wasn't enough food around anywhere to feed anyone. But she kept quiet.

Mr. Wutai pulled out the ingredients needed to make the sauce and noodles. His hands seemed like a blur how quickly they moved with such dexterity. He placed Kairi on the floor, but she quickly climbed on the counter to be able to talk to Mr. Wutai face to face…. Also her daddy never let her get on the counter like this so she took advantage of Mr. Wutai's indifference to her sitting on his stuff.

"Mr. Wutai, were you ever married?" She liked asking him questions, especially since it was so hard to read his mind, the best she could usually get was an emotion and she was just fine with that. For some odd reason, even though daddy was really close with Mr. Wutai, he made her promise him to never ever tell him about her gift. She couldn't understand why, especially since Mr. Wutai wasn't one to judge. But with one touch, she looked deeper into her father's mind and she learned Mr. Wutai knew a lot of bad men.

"I have." Kairi snapped back to the present. His eyes never left his cooking. He was quite used to Kairi's barrage of questions.

"Did she die too?" Like her momma.

"Yes."

"Did you love her?"

"In my own way. She was a kind woman." His answer was unattached. She decided to press on and ask the burning question.

"Do you love my daddy?"

Mr. Wutai paused what he was doing and looked at Kairi. " I do. I love Sora very much."

Kairi twiddled her fingers and averted her eyes. "Do you love me, too?"

Mr. Wutai put down his coming utensils and swooped Kairi into a hug and kissed her cheek. His kisses felt like he just got in from a cold winter day. "Of course I do, sweetheart. I already think of you as my daughter, if that's okay with you?"

Kairi nodded her head and hugged Mr. Wutai back. "I love you, too." She melted into his arms… even if they felt cool to the touch. He placed her back on the counter and kept cooking. Kairi found it strange that Mr. Wutai would never taste the food he cooked. He always had her daddy or her taste it; actually, he did a lot of strange things. No one ever saw him during the daytime, and he would never eat anything in front of anyone; he would drink this wine though, but viscosity reminded her of a thick tomato juice. She wanted to ask him about those strange things, but maybe he was like her, strange with no real explanation. She could read minds and mess with electricity. She caused all the lightbulbs to explode in the mansion during one tantrum and caused a blackout in the city a couple of years ago. Her mind was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the spoon full of sauce being offered to her to taste until she heard a throat being cleared.

-Moon River-

Over the next few months her daddy's health got better. He was running around and playing with her again during the daylight, during the night time he had to attend to Mr. Wutai's needs, but he was in bed with her by three in the morning, usually.

Tonight was different though.

Kairi woke up from a dead sleep to the crack of lightning and thunder rumbling in the sky. Daddy still wasn't in bed yet, she looked around the room and perked her ears to listen for any movement. The only thing she could hear was the storm outside and the clock ticking.

She ventured out of the room quietly to go over to Mr. Wutai's room. Maybe daddy fell asleep there? She tiptoed down the long hallway pass the unoccupied rooms to the master chamber, where Mr. Wutai slept. Before she could reach her destination, a door creaked open and out emerged Mr. Wutai cradling something in his arms. She smiled and padded down to greet him but stopped short when she got a closer look at the man and what was in his arms. Her blood ran cold... Mr. Wutai's lips and chin were covered in blood and he looked like he just saw a ghost, he was as pale as a sheet of paper. He didn't seem to register that Kairi was there. The bundle in his arms was her father only covered by bloody blankets, his body was limp.

"Daddy?" she gasped.

Mr. Wutai's eyes slowly looked down to see Kairi's distraught face and his eyes started to become glassy and instead of tears there was blood leaving his eyes and dripping down to his cheeks. His face crumpled and his shoulders hunched forward, he was falling apart seeing the little girl.

"What's wrong with my daddy?" Kairi asked. Clearly mortified. What was going on? Tears started to fall down her cheeks. Why wasn't her daddy moving? She used her extra sense to check to see if her daddy was pulling a prank.. But all she heard was silence coming from where her daddy's thoughts should be! "What did you do?" She asked barely above a whisper.

"I didn't mean to…" Mr. Wutai croaked.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DADDY!" she screeched at him, the lights started to flicker in the hallway erratically, she didn't care. She wanted answers now! She took a step towards the man, he took a step back. "Why can't I hear my daddy?" He looked away shamefully. She wasn't having that. She screamed so loud it made her eardrums pop and she busted all the lights in the hallway. They busted like fireworks and the air became charged to the point the hair on their heads were starting to stand on their own.

the monster bared his fangs and before she could blink he was right in front of her face and lifted her up to his eyes by the scruff, her sleeves dug into her armpits and she let out a yelp. "Be quiet." He seethed, she quieted but her lower lip wouldn't stop quivering and she couldn't stop the tears and snot from running down her reddened face. She looked down at her father and started to wail. His neck was all bloody and had dark, thick blood coating his mouth. He was so pale, there was no color in his cheeks. His chest did not rise and fall. There was no doubt in her mind. Her daddy was dead.

"Kairi, I'm going to fix this." He said slowly. "Your daddy will wake up again. I gave him lots of medicine and he'll wake up in three days." She felt something start to wet the front of her dress, she looked down and noticed there was a large wound seeping blood out of his wrist. His arm was shaking with her weight, the monster was very weak. "He'll just be a little different."

"What do you mean?"

-Moon River-

She felt a presence in her room and had a hard time opening her eyes.

"Who's there?" She croaked. She heard a creak from weight being shifted on the floor.

"Kairi." She immediately recognized the voice and groaned.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, not bothering to mask her annoyance.

"I came to check in on you and your father." Yozora stated, ignoring his fae daughter's attitude.

"Well, here's your update; he ain't here and I'm dying of cancer. No, I do not want to be turned and be a decrepit, but still bangable, old woman for all eternity." She said curtly.

Yozora let out a soft huff of frustration. "Kairi, please." He pleaded softly.

"Please what?" She snipped. " Why should I let the vampire who not only murdered my father but also coerced my father into a sham marriage in hopes to win his favor again, have any sort of information!? You've got some balls to come in here!" She growled.

"I know I've made mistakes in the past.." Kairi narrowed her eyes and glowered at the ancient creature. "Let me finish," he raised a finger up with strained patience. "I've heard through Marluxia that there is disease running rampant in Sora's area. He must be quite stressed; especially dealing with Sephiroth's hands off nature. I would like to help him."

"I see right through you." Kairi sneered. "Underhanded as always, I see."

Yozora smiled mischievously. "Old habits die hard, besides, I've been wanting to expand my borders for quite some time now."

Kairi scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Get out. The only thing you've done today is raise my blood pressure, and the only thing you are gonna accomplish by 'helping' out daddy is piss him off."

Yozora opened the window. "Well, he is cute when he's angry. By the way, I left you a few gifts by your bedside. Goodbye, sweetheart. I love you." He slipped out the window like he was the breeze himself.

Kairi slumped into her bed and sighed. Her mind reeled back to the night here daddy died for the first time, while Yozora was burying her father's lifeless body she went back into their room to sob. She looked over to the side where he usually slept and noticed something bulging underneath the bed. She unveiled the bulk and noticed a half packed suitcase. The content inside was his clothes and hers along with some money he scrapped up. It wasn't until years later that she learned how spooked her father was that night he was killed. He couldn't remember what exactly he saw, but it chilled him to the core of his being... to the point he knew he had to take Kairi and run.

-Moon River-

(Riku)

What the hell was going on?

"Roxas? What is he doing here?" Riku asked himself aloud.

Axel snapped his head at Riku. "You knew he was alive?"

"He's not alive, at least, not like he used to be." Riku said solemnly.

"...I see." Axel fell silent.

Before Riku killed the engine, Axel slipped out of the car and made his way to the blond. Riku tried to open his mouth to warn the redhead of the newborn's bloodlust but Axel barreled towards the young vampire and pulled him into a hug before he could get anything out. Roxas did not protest, infact, he nuzzled his head into the larger man's chest.

"You're cold as ice kid." Axel chuckled. "It's good to see you again."

"I'm sorry I didn't call." He heard Roxas' voice crack. "I was scared, I didn't want to hurt you guys."

"I'm just glad you are with us. Xion misses you like crazy, why don't you send her a message soon so her heart can stop aching." It sounded like a suggestion, but it was more of an order coming from the older, protective brother whose only family left in the world was his little sister.

"I will."

Riku allowed the two to talk, Roxas was getting better with his bloodlust by the day, Sora was doing a good job with him. He went to his front door and went to unlock it, but… it was already open. Riku froze. Roxas couldn't get into his house...so.. Who was in there? He hoped it was Sora and it's bad when you pray a vampire broke into your house.

"Roxas, is Sora with you?" He asked.

"Nope, there was a huge update on the case so he's in Radiant Garden tonight." Roxas said not even bothering to turn his head towards Riku leaving the dialogue slightly muffled.

Anxiety started to seep into his bones, he pulled out his keys and made sure the teeth of them were sticking out between his fingers, ready to strike. He cautiously opened the door and Kida was there with her tail wagging, greeting him. Riku's shoulder visibly relaxed. Maybe he just forgot to lock his door before work? He gave his girl a scratch behind the ears before she bolted out to greet Axel, she even seemed to start to warm up to Roxas, but she still wouldn't let him pet her yet. Riku yawned and decided to be a bad host and go to the bathroom first before offering refreshments. He went down his hall to where his bathroom was (the last door on the right) he didn't even register the light was on in there before he automatically opened the door. He was greeted with a feminine scream and a flash of white. He was gobsmacked with a towel hitting him in the face! Before he could react he had the door slammed in his face as well.

"ROXAS!" Riku boomed.

He heard Axel giggling outside at Roxas' expense. "You're in trouble."

Riku stomped to his front door and pointed towards the direction of his occupied bathroom. "Who the fuck is that!?"

Roxas had a nervous grin on his face and scratched the back of his head while averting his eyes. "That's Alice.. um, she's… like my lunch? The generator broke out in the cabin and she needs a shower.. and food and somewhere warm to sleep. Sora would've been mad if I didn't take care of her while he was away."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Why didn't you ask?" He said through gritted teeth.

"You wouldn't have answered anyway." Roxas said without batting an eye. Okay, that was fair.

He looked down at Kida and pointed his finger at her. "You're a bad guard dog." Kida's tail just wagged faster at the attention. There was a soft padding behind him, he turned his head and saw the small, wet girl… dripping all over his wood floors.

"I'm terribly sorry about intruding. But it's black as pitch out there and my phone died. I've never been this far out into the country so I didn't exactly pack well." The small girl's voice had a soft english accent. Her wet hair looked like it was a golden blonde, her eyes were big and blue; she could get away with murder just by batting her eyes. He noticed her pretty pale skin and did his best not to frown seeing all the bite marks around her neck just below where a tee shirt could cover it. They looked painful. The bite marks were the most prominent scars on her body. There were faded self harm lines on her wrists as well as track marks on her inner arm from drug abuse. This girl lived a hard life. Riku averted his eyes, he didn't want to give the wrong impression.

"It's fine, I just wish I had a heads up first." He made sure to send Roxas a glare as he spoke. Roxas just held up his phone cockily and waved it around in a way saying 'you better start answering my messages, asshole.'

While Riku and Roxas were bantering, Axel made his way to his old car he let Riku borrow to get his supplies. As much as he was excited to see the blond boy, he had a job to do. He placed his supplies on the wooden porch.

"So, what exactly are ya doing there Axel?" Riku asked.

Axel wiped his hands off on his jeans before he spoke."Well, babe, you've been getting a bunch of dangerous visitors as of late and you got monsters in the mountains. As your best friend, I'm gonna give you a protection spell around your house so you can sleep feeling safe."

Riku scrutinized the collection of items Axel brought to his house before looking back at his redhead friend. "How?" He asked genuinely.

Axel grinned at his friend. "A witch has their ways." He winked and started setting his items up for his spell.

"You don't smell like any witch I've ever been around. I don't smell any magic on ya." Roxas raised his brow and pointed at Riku. "The only one here that smells like magic here is the himbo and myself."

"Well, you obviously haven't been around any decent witches lately." Axel scoffed. He pulled some chalk out of his pocket and started to draw a circle with intricate patterns and layers of intersecting stars. With a snap he lit the candles without using a match or lighter.. Riku felt his mouth drop. He honestly thought Axel was pulling his leg when he told the silveret he was a witch years ago.

Axel pointed his finger at Alice. "Honey, I need you out of the house for this."

The girl nodded her head and slowly stepped out of the house and made a beeline towards an open space between Riku and Roxas a few feet away from the porch. The witch closed his eyes and started to mumble a spell. Smoke from the candles started to swirl following the outline of the circle. After a few laps around the chalk outline the smoke started to circle the house. The air became heavy with magic to the point that Riku felt like he was inhaling it. The silveret was able to catch Roxas with his peripheral; he was licking his lips. Alice was eying the display of magic with curiosity and wonder. Riku couldn't help but admire his friend who embraced every part of his being. Axel extended his right arm and flicked his wrist daintily, with that motion the smoke faded. The redhead cracked his neck and let out a yawn.

"Alrighty, time to test it. Humans go into the house. Roxas will be our test dummy." He walked onto the porch and rested her arms behind his head. Riku and Alice gave each other an inquiring look before slowly making their way to the front door. The two stood on the threshold of the front door and waited for the witch's next instructions.

"Roxas, walk towards the house with no malicious intentions." Axel ordered. Roxas raised a brow but complied. He was able to step on the porch with no problems and had a little arrogant grin on his face. "Some spell that was." He snorted. Axel just gave the vampire a smug grin and wiggled his finger at Roxas to go back out into the yard. Roxas sauntered back out with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Now what, oh grand wizard?" The vampire's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Axel raised his jaw and ran his fingers down his throat in a teasing manner. "Try to hurt me." Riku couldn't help but gawk at his friend. Roxas could rip him apart with little effort!

Roxas furrowed his brows and tilted his head in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Come on Roxie, I know you're hungry." Axel goaded. "Try to get a bite."

Riku instinctively guided Alice behind him to protect her as he watched the vampire start crouch in a predatory manner. His hand went to the door, ready to shut it so he couldn't get glamoured. "Axel, what the fuck-!?" he was cut off with the witch holding his hand up to silence his friend's protest. "Watch." He gave him a reassuring wink.

"Don't get mad at me for taking up your offer, Ax." Roxas darted towards the house, almost like a blur. Within a blink of an eye there was a hellacious screech and a bright light. By the time Riku's eyes were able to adjust and recover from the flash, Roxas was flat on his ass screaming profanities. His whole body was shaking.

Riku without thinking ran towards the vampire to check to see if he was okay. Axel queued behind him.

"You okay baby fangs?" Riku was on his knees by the boy and checking his body. There weren't any obvious wounds on the vampire but he was shaking like a leaf and had bloody tears running down his cheeks.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" He blubbered. He could not believe a vampire was reduced to tears so quickly.

"You got your ass shocked, that's what happened." Axel simply stated. "First shock is meant to ward off attackers." Axel smirked at Roxas. "Wanna try again?"

"FUCK YOU!" Roxas screamed at the readhead. He hid behind Riku and hissed at the witch.

"Aw, Rox." Axel cooed as he held his hand out to the boy trying to coax him out like he was some scared kitten. "I'm sorry, I didn't think it was gonna scare you that badly."

"At least we know it works." Riku mumbled. Roxas glared at him. "Oh, it works." the blond patted his head. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

"Assholes." Roxas grumbled. The older men couldn't help but snort.

Things started to settle down later in the night. Axel made it clear that the spell only works if the person is planning a malicious act on the people within the house. Axel made sure to look at Riku with a smug grin when he reminded him that consensual biting won't zap a vampire. Riku narrowed his eyes at his friend but did not offer a word of protest. He simply tried to ignore it. Alice ended up sleeping on his couch and in some of his sleeping wear. The poor girl was practically swimming in the tee shirt and she had to hold the pajama bottoms up as she walked around the house. Riku left Roxas a case of blood to drink at his own leasure as the humans turned in for the night. Riku had a hard time sleeping that night, not because he felt unsafe, but because Axel was snoring in his damn ear all night.

Author's note: Poor Roxas is always getting hurt :(

Thanks for sticking around guys! Feel free to review and let me know what you like or dislike about the story :D Where is the SoRiku? It's a slow burn my friends, they'll get together soon... as long as Yozora doesn't interfere too much lol