Yay, another chapter. Woot! :D

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Ienzo looked across his desk, giving a small half-smile as he watched Axel play with a silver bracelet. "So, it's your birthday today."

He nodded, looking up. "Yeah. When I'm done, Sora and Riku are going to bring us to Radiant Garden."

He nodded. "So, how old are you two now? You look like you're older, growing like this. Everyday there's more distance in our heights."

Axel smiled. "Roxas is thirteen now...I'm fifteen. Nothing big."

"Yes it is!" Ienzo argued. "You were only nine when you first came in here."

The red head grinned. He loved Sora and Riku, but he always felt that he could tell Ienzo anything. Over the past couple years, Ienzo's dark purple hair had been pulled our of his face, coming to his chin in length. He had dark blue eyes, though he was nearly blind in his right. He always wore a white shirt with a black jacket over it and black slacks.

Ienzo raised an eyebrow. "Did you get contacts?"

Axel nodded, glad someone had noticed. Riku had gotten him then because Axel was sick of going into Gym and getting his glasses messed up when people threw things at his face. It was annoying and had gotten him into some trouble when he lit them on fire.

In the past six years, Axel had grown; he was tall, his hair growing out and he was strong thanks to Riku bugging him and Roxas about sparring. He was thin, almost unhealthy looking, but he didn't care. Though he hid it well, Axel actually didn't like his body that much. He always thought he looked too much like a girl...and so did his peers.

"You're glasses make you look smarter," Ienzo said. "But contacts bring out your eyes more."

"I prefer contacts, though I have to wear my glasses for reading." the red head admitted, though he hated the idea of those thick black rimmed things stuffed in a drawer at home. "Roxas likes them...which is the only reason I didn't throw them out."

Ienzo laughed. "So, is Roxas excited about today?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah. We're getting out of school tomorrow, and he wants to look around. I think he's wanting to look for his sister."

"Namine, right?"

"...Yeah."

The Psychiatrist paused, hearing the tone in Axel's voice. "What do you think of her?"

"Nothing, I've never met her."

"But she seems important to Roxas, doesn't she?" he pressed.

Axel shrugged. "Yeah, she's his sister. If I had a sister was most likely sold to be a Hooker, I'd look for her too."

"Are you jealous?" Ienzo asked, frowning as he wrote something down. Axel's disinterest in what had happened to them was very concerning. "She seems to be taking up most of his time now."

Axel looked away, still playing with the bracelet. He had gotten it from Roxas, actually. The blond said he had done some chores at Kairi's to get money to buy it for him. It made Axel feel bad since he didn't have anything to give back. And to make it worse, he had been feeling weird around Roxas lately. He was noticing things he never did before...

"Axel?"

"I...I don't know." he muttered, frowning. "I guess I'm worried about what'll happen if he does find her...He's always depended on me, but if she comes here..."

"You don't want to be left out." the lilac haired man summed up, raising an eyebrow. "Does Roxas still come into your room?"

Axel shook his head. "Sometimes, but only if he's had a really bad nightmare...I don't mind or anything, I just...seems almost like he's out growing me or something."

"Axel," Ienzo waited until he had the teen looking him in the eye. "You two are best friends. I doubt he could ever get rid of you."

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Roxas tapped his foot against the seats out in the waiting room. Now he knew why Riku and Sora hated waiting for them, it took forever! Despite the warm weather, he was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and jeans, his shoes checkered. Sighing, he slumped in the seat. How long had he been waiting??

"Roxas, I'm done."

The blond looked up, seeing Axel raising an eyebrow at him. He was wearing a black and white hoodie, baggy on him to hide how thin he was. His black jeans were tight, especially on his legs. He also had black combat boots, which he had only gotten because of his friend at school (the only one besides Roxas), Xaldin.

Roxas didn't like Xaldin. He was mean, and he was always staring at Axel. It made the blond angry and frustrated, but he didn't know why. The black haired teen just made him uncomfortable. He was also a 'bad influence', so said Sora. Axel and Sora had been arguing a lot lately thanks to him.

"So, you're finally a teenager!" Axel teased, smirking. "How does it feel?"

Roxas lightly slugged his arm, pouting. "Jerk. And it doesn't feel any different..."

"So, what do you think of going to Radiant?" Axel asked, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"I guess it would be nice..." Roxas said, shrugging. "I can't remember anything really. It's like trying to remember a dream, and you can only remember bits of it and colors."

Axel frowned at this. "Wish I could forget."

Roxas swallowed roughly. He might not remember what really happened to himself, but he'd always remember about Axel. He still wasn't over it, and maybe he never would be. If Sora or Riku did something like that (which they wouldn't) Roxas knew it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"...You know," Roxas began, wanting to cover up the awkwardness. "Since you're helping me look for Namine...we could look for your brother as well."

Axel hummed, not looking that enthused about the idea. Then again, it was hard to get Axel into anything lately. Roxas frowned, hesitating. He didn't like being younger, even though only Axel never made fun of him for it, and he hated acting like it, but he wanted to help Axel. So, blushing, he reached into Axel's pocket and took his hand.

Axel looked surprised but smiled slightly. It made Roxas practically beam. He knew the other didn't mean it, but it seemed like they were drifting apart. The blond didn't want that, he wanted to always be with Axel. He was his favorite person.

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"Sora's here, Sora's here!" Yuffie called, running around the house.

Leon sighed, rubbing his scar. "We know, Yuffie. I don't think you need to bother everyone about it. Cid's been up all night as it is."

Aeris, who had a tray of tea and hot chocolate, smiled as she set it on the table. "He still can't get into Ansem the Wise's files. I had hoped he had fallen asleep."

"Still going strong, huh?" Yuffie teased, running out of the kitchen and into the living room, where Cid's giant computer was. "If you keep this up you'll die early."

Leon sighed again. Since Sora has defeated Organization XIII, they had gotten a house closer to the bailey, not wanting to impose on Merlin longer than necessary. It was big, with too many unused rooms and a basement where all the equipment was for keeping the world safe. Not too long ago, Leon, unanimous between everyone, was now the leader of Radiant Garden, taking over what Ansem had started and had make peace with the larger town to the north, Midgar.

"Sora'll be so happy when he hears that you're the new leader." Aeris said, handing him some tea. "Though, you surprised me when you took it."

Leon shrugged. "I guess looking after Radiant Garden is second nature to me now."

"The Heartless have been decreasing." the brunette muttered, looking over at her friend. "But the Dusks are coming back. They aren't causing any trouble, just becoming more frequent."

"Maybe it has to do with those kids." Leon said, though the thought bothered him. Little kids shouldn't have too much power, who knows what would happen? "We'll have to see what happens when they get here..."

As soon as they words left his mouth, the door opened. Sora, Riku and two teens that Leon knew was Axel and Roxas, walked inside. Sora beamed at them, hand wrapped around Riku's as he came forward.

"Hey Leon, Aeris! How's everything??"

"Great, thanks to you." Aeris greeted back, making him blush slightly. "And it's nice to finally meet you, Riku. We've heard a lot about you."

Riku smiled. "You guys too."

"You must be Axel and Roxas." Leon said, looking them over. "You've gotten bigger in the past couple years."

Roxas smiled, walking over. "Sora said you're the one who found us, so thanks!"

"It's nothing."

"Sora!" Yuffie ran in, hugging the brown haired (dare they say it?) man. "I missed you! And dammit, you're finally taller than me!"

Roxas tugged on Axel's sleeve, pointing to Leon's Gunblade that was propped against the wall next to the door. "Look, Axel. I want one."

"I don't think you'd be able to carry it, Roxas." Axel teased, smirking. "It's looks too heavy for you."

Roxas pouted. "Is not!"

"Guys, stop it." Sora muttered. "And Roxas, touch that thing and you won't be getting any ice cream, birthday or not."

"Aw, how old are they now?" Yuffie asked.

"I'm thirteen." Roxas said proudly, making Sora and Riku share a look before rolling their eyes. "And Axel's fifteen."

"And we thought one puberty was bad." Riku hissed at Sora, making the other giggle.

Axel heard them though and glared, arms crossed and he lit the ends of Riku's hair on fire. Sora just laughed before licking his fingers and putting it out before the silverette even noticed. Even if Axel didn't want to admit it, he had done a lot of sulking and was more affectionate, if that made any sense at all. And Sora was the only one who knew that he now had a huge crush or whatever he wanted to call it on Roxas.

"Well, we have your rooms all set up." Aeris cut in before anything else happened. "If you want, I can show you the way."

Sora nodded. "Thanks, Aeris. Though, where'd Cid?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Working. He can't figure out how to hack into Ansem the Wise's old files about the Heartless and stuff. We're trying to get it all but it's proving difficult."

Axel perked up. "Maybe I can help."

Everyone stared, making him glare and turn away. Sora ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "Well, he could. We found out that Axel's a computer nerd or something. (1) He hacked into the school's files to change Roxas's gym grade."

Roxas looked surprised. "Really? Thanks!"

"We'll take any help you can give us." Leon said, giving a half smile. "Even if you've helped us enough."

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And here you go. Another chapter, and I hope you all don't mind the age jump. I wasn't sure what to do, and I thought fast forwarding a little would be okay. :smiles: I hope you all like it and won't hate me for it!

(1): While replaying KH II, I realized Axel had to be pretty freaking smart to add himself to part of the program of Twilight Town that DiZ had created. I mean, geez! And to send in countless amounts of Dusk and Creepers to help him. So I made him a computer nerd.

R&R