Chibified

Shizuka Usagi

Chapter 11

Roxas grunted and attempted to lift the cumbersome suitcases needed for his trip with Yuffie. More like unnecessary luggage, Roxas thought as he dropped the suitcases, once again. Yuffie just had to give me the puppy pout. Although, Yuffie was not a girly girl, she packed a lot of things for a tomboy. How the heck are we going to carry all this stuff to the hotel? We are going on foot, aren't we?

"What's with the hold up, Rox?" Yuffie asked, coming out of the vacant house with Sora in tow. The brunette giggled at his father's effort to carry his mother's suitcases along with his own.

"Yuffie, did you really need to bring all this stuff?" Roxas asked, sighing for the millionth time.

"We already went over this. Yes. I. Do." Yuffie responded, enunciating each syllable.

Roxas groaned and tried to unlock one of the suitcases. "What do you have in here, anyway?"

Yuffie quickly ran up beside Roxas and took the suitcase away from him. "Uh-uh. No peeking. Besides, there's nothing there of value to you."

"And that would be?" Roxas persisted.

"If you must know just a few shurikens, kunais, daggers…" Yuffie trailed off teasingly.

"Weaponry!" Roxas exclaimed. "Why in the world do you need those?"

"Hehe, just kidding. Well, not so much about the shurikens." Yuffie answered.

"Yuffie, we're only going to be gone for a day or two. And it's not like we're going to the Coliseum."

"Don't worry, Roxy-poo. We just need to be prepared." Yuffie informed, patting Roxas on the head.

"In case what? A bazillion Heartless decide to attack us?" Roxas inquired sarcastically.

"Exactly." Yuffie replied, closing the suitcase tight. "You can never be too sure. Or a blizzard might come and leave us trapped inside the hotel."

Roxas didn't think she would take him seriously. And I thought I was paranoid. At least, I don't have to carry my weapon, he thought, brandishing his keyblade. It's the solid form of my heart's strength.

"Need a hand?" Roxas looked up to see Riku pick up one of the suitcases with ease. "You know, being a keyblade wielder and all, this job should be a piece of cake—no offense."

Roxas fumed silently as he compared Riku's muscular form to his scrawny one. Not to mention he just received a blow to his pride. It wasn't his fault he spent all his time trapped inside Sora's body while he traveled around the worlds.

"C'mon Roxas, Riku has already loaded my suitcases into the trunk." He heard Yuffie call out.

"Huh?" What trunk? Roxas walked around the corner and gasped. Yuffie was leaning on an expensive looking car, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

Yuffie giggled at the look of shock on Roxas' face. "Nice ride, isn't it? Leon is letting me borrow it for a bit."

"You can drive?" Roxas questioned, because he sure couldn't… at least for another month.

"Duh, I'm sixteen. Didn't think we would walk the whole way, did ya?" Yuffie shot back, sticking out her tongue. Riku laughed and Sora tried to spin the steering wheel. Roxas simply rolled his eyes and made his way over to the vehicle. He scanned the black convertible, then looked at Yuffie.

"Did Leon really let you ride his car?" Roxas asked skeptically.

"Well… let's not get into the details." Roxas raised an eyebrow suspiciously as Yuffie averted his gaze. "Anyway, shall we get going?"

"Whatever you say." Roxas responded.

"First, we gotta say goodbye to Sora." Yuffie reminded.

Sora's sapphire orbs brimmed with tears at his mother's statement. The brunette didn't want his beloved parents to leave. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy spending time with his uncle, but he liked it better when all three of them were together—like one big, happy family. It was going to be a lot more… quiet with them gone, especially his animated mother. His lips twisted into the stubborn, persuasive pout that his family always fell for.

"M…mommy," he sniveled, "P…pwease don't go. I don't wanna be all alone." And with perfect timing, he broke into heartbreaking sobs. To make things more dramatic, he clung onto his parent's legs relentlessly.

"It's only going to be for a few days, sweetie." Yuffie insisted softly, stooping to squeeze Sora tightly in an attempt to stop his snuffling. Aerith said this is supposed to soothe children.

"She's right, Sora." Roxas added.

"Besides, you won't be all alone. You'll be with me." Riku said. Sora's sobs subsided slightly, however, he remained latched onto their legs like a leech.

Roxas scratched his head, searching for a solution until Riku spoke. "How about this, Sor? If I let you play with the Way to Dawn, will you let them go on a vacation?"

Almost instantly, Sora released his parents and ran over to Riku. But he had to keep up the façade a little longer. "O…okay." He sniffed, wiping his eyes.

How does Riku do that? Roxas thought. He always comes up with brilliant ideas before I do.

Well, at least you get the girl. The indulgent part of his teenage mind replied. Roxas choose to ignore it, wondering where that notion came from.

"Atta boy, Sora." Riku praised, scooping him up into his arms. "Now, you two have a good date." He teased; his trademark smirk appeared on his face.

The couple blushed and before Roxas could protest, Yuffie dragged him toward Leon's car. "C'mon, honey, let's get going." She got into the driver's seat, and he took the passenger seat beside her. As soon as they were settled, Yuffie waved to Riku and Sora and started towards the closest hotel.