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Sora and Kairi found Anika wearing one of Vanitas' large black shirts once they returned from the movies, late at night. Then, after the day's events, Anika asked, "Is Vanitas afraid of storms?"

Ch 6 Saturday Evening

Updated:03/03/15

Sora returned from his quick conversation with his brother and heard Anika's question. He scratched the back of his head while walking towards Kairi and Anika. "Not really, he just gets really uncomfortable," he sighed and looked to Kairi and back to Anika. "Our mom died when we were six. She got crushed by debris during a huge typhoon. Vanitas was the one who saw first hand. So he's terrified of the memories."

Anika remained silent for a bit, "Did that happen at home?"

"Yeah, but at our old house. We moved here and built this one, storm proof. Dad wanted to help Vanitas relax, but it hasn't really done much for him."

"Oh, sorry for your loss," her voice melancholic.

Sora gave her a huge crooked grin. "It's okay," he snapped his fingers in remembrance, "Do you wanna stay here for the night? The storm is pretty bad now."

Anika looked to Kairi who smiled warmly, "I'm staying, so I'll share a room with you 'Nika."

"Okay." Anika returned the smile.

Vanitas paused the game and went to the kitchen, somewhat more relaxed after playing with Anika and since Sora returned home.

Sora looked to his brother through the door way, concerned, "I'm gonna make dinner, what do you guys want?"

His twin sat at the island with the gas stovetop. "I want pasta, the way Mom used to make it," he said with sadness layering his voice.

Sora took out a large pot and two pounds of pasta. "Hey Kai, can you go the pantry and grab some pasta sauce?"

Kairi smiled, stood and stepped into the walk in pantry at the corner and searched the endless shelves for some pasta sauce. Her eyes landed upon a glass jar of generic, five cheese and mushroom sauce, and brought it to Sora, "This the one you wanted?"

He turned away from the pot he was filling with water and looked at her finding. "Yup, just the one," he said as he took it from her hands and got a smaller pot out to heat it.

"Babe, let me help you."

Sora protested, "You really don't have to, I've got it."

She pouted, "But I wanna."

"Fine." He gave in, beaming.

Vanitas gave the tiniest of smiles that Anika happened to catch.

His brown haired brother added some salt to the pasta, and some other spices. Must be the way his mom made it.

Kairi took some giraffe spotted plates from a low cabinet near the stove, along with some silverware. "Are we gonna eat at the table or here at the island?"

Her boyfriend served them, giving larger handfuls of pasta for the guys and topped it neatly with the sauce, "Island." And he grated some fresh Parmesan cheese to garnish.

Vanitas took his plate, "Thanks." He examined the food before him, analyzing the steam, "It's great bro."

"No problem, I just hope it measures up to your standards."

Vanitas let out a large sigh, "I'm sure it will."

"Are you and Anika gonna fill out Paupou Inc.'s application?"

In the middle of a forkful headed to his mouth Vanitas paused and looked at Anika and shrugged, "Sure, I said I would."

Anika smiled and ate, "Thanks again. I really appreciate it."

After they ate, Vanitas took Anika into his room upstairs. It had dove grey walls and black Ikea furniture. His full sized bed was adorned with sage colored sheets and an olive comforter. His pillow cases were patterned horizontally with dove, sage, and olive in various thicknesses.

He crossed his room and lit up his adjustable black desk light, not bothering to look through the window above it. He pulled out the black swivel chair and motioned for her to take a seat . She did as instructed, using her hands to make sure his shirt didn't raise too high up her legs. Vanitas pulled out the application and a pen from a nearby drawer.

"Fill out what you can, and then I'll help with other things." He stood leaning against the back of her chair.

She nodded and filled out the typical name, address, and then she paused when it asked for references. "Vanitas..." she began.

He took the pen from her and leaned more of his weight against her. He put in a few names and other information, then he nudged her hand with his own, "Just sign it and date it. " He gave her a smile, "Then contact me and I'll take you to drop it off."

His smile captivated her, "Th-thanks." He backed up and plopped himself onto his bed, trying his hardest to remain calm, and live in the present, not the past. He did admit, though in his mind that his new found friend was a pretty good distraction.

She turned around to face him, "How did you become one of the head managers at Paupou Inc.?"

He sighed and examined his hand, bringing it to his face, "Hm. Well Dad wanted me to get a job since I refuse to take an internship at his business, and Paupou Inc. was available. I gradually became more recognized the longer I worked there, and, for some reason, a lot of customers requested my service."

She nodded in agreement and mumbled, "I can see why."

He lifted his head to look at her, "Did you say something?"

She flustered and laughed nervously, "Nope."

"Alrightyyyy," he drawled and put his head back down with a smile on his face.

Anika stood, "I'll be back." She ran to Kairi and Sora watching a movie on the living room, "Kairi!"

Kairi shifted to face her, "Something wrong?"

Anika waved her hands in front of her, "No no no. I just realized I don't have toothpaste or a toothbrush!"

Beside Kairi, Sora heard and laughed aloud, "We have extras, have Vani get you one."

The one asking hummed in thought, "Okay." She skipped her way back to find Vanitas soundly sleeping with tense eyebrows. She paused and watched him twitch in his personal nightmare.

She sighed and didn't know what to do since the couple downstairs was watching a movie and Vanitas was sleeping. Thus, she decided to sit at his desk again. It must be difficult to live on an island with such remembrances.

As time passed, wrapped in her thoughts, she forgot about the toiletries and fell asleep resting her head with her arms crossed against the desk top.

A/N: I am deeply sorry for not uploading sooner, especially since I already had this chapter written.

Anyway, thank you so much to those who are following this story and have favorited me, it means sooo much to me thank you!

Please leave a review or PM me if you have any comments, or just feel like chatting. Happy New Year, and I hope everyone is doing well.

Disclaimer:This is a work of fiction, Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney, any similarities to true events are merely coincidental.

Love Nano1012