Sorry for the wait!

A crack rang across the beach as the two wooden swords struck each other. Each blade was pressed against each other, as each opponent tried to gain the advantage. An audible grunt escaped the younger's lips as he was forced to take a step backwards. A triumphant grin graced to elder's face as he took a step forward.

"You're out of practice Sora. I was expecting you to put up more of a fight than this!" Riku taunted easily at his best friend. Just like old times. Riku's unruly hair was now slightly tamer, pulled back in a hair tie, at least. A small mustache and goatee were now visible on his face.

"Hey! And your not?" He lunged at Riku, his blade held high above his head. He was still Shorter than Riku by a few inches, but he still trusted that he could best him, though it had been a rare feat when he was younger. His spiked hair still remained untamed though, at Kairi's request he had cut it shorter. She claimed it was for his job as an instructor at Destiny Art – a martial arts instruction facility where Riku and him both taught.

"Ryo's been having me teach him during the off-season. Besides, you know Sami would kill me if I didn't keep practicing," he replied as he counterattacked Sora. Riku was referring to his only son, twelve-year-old Ryo, and his wife, Asami, another instructor at Destiny Art. The facility took a few months off during the school year, to allow students to focus on school work and rehabilitate any injuries they may have suffered.

"It's supposed to be an off-season, for us too, you know?"

"Am I going to have to come and break you two up?" a voice called from a few feet away. Both men stopped and looked towards the sound. A woman with shoulder-length black hair stood brandishing her own wooden sword. Asami grinned at them. "You'd better finish up fast, Kairi and I have almost finished setting up the picnic – and Roxas and Namine should be here soon. They're late as usual."

A splashing sound could be heard behind them, and the group turned to see a small boat rowing up to the island they had all spent so much time on growing up. "What's that about us being late, Asami?"

Namine glanced down at her watch, and giggled slightly. "Roxas! She's right! We're over twenty minutes late!" The superior grin fell from Roxas' face as he glanced down at his own watch. "Sorry to keep you all waiting. We had some trouble getting over here quickly."

"Eh. Don't worry about it," Asami said with a slight wave of her hand for emphasis. "We're not quite ready anyway."

Overhearing the conversation, Kairi walked over, a hand resting absently on her slightly bulging belly. "Let me guess. Roxas forgot about the picnic."

Namine looked down pointedly at her daughter, Kegan. She was thirteen with light brown hair – and her father's temperament. She stared down at the bottom of the boat, a sheepish grin plastered to her face. "We had some . . . issues to take care of."

Kairi raised an eyebrow towards her old friend, before noting the skateboard missing from the boats interior. "Ahh . . ." Namine and Roxas had both told her of the deal they had made with their daughter. If she got into any trouble at school, or if her grades slipped, she would lose her boarding privileges.

Kegan rose to get out of the boat, her brother, Katsu, close at her heels. The girl did not look up as she passed the adults, heading for what had once been deemed Riku's island. Her brother was twelve, with spiked blonde hair. He had always been the more reserved of the two – and the better behaved.

Once both were out of earshot, Namine turned to Kairi and said conspiratorially, "Her grades were beginning to slip, so she should have known this was coming. Then she decided to get into a fight at school."

"With who? Why?"

"A boy named Sefaan. Supposedly he had been mocking something she had done – she won't tell us what – and she hit him in the face."

Roxas grinned proudly. "She pummeled him. I still don't know why we had to take her board away. I got into plenty of fights with Seifer and his gang when I was her age."

Blue eyes drilled plainly into Roxas' as Namine stared at him. "That was different."

He rubbed the back of his neck absently. "Why was it different?"

"Roxas you've seen how much damage it can cause!"

"That was different! That was war! These are childish squabbles that'll pass eventually!"

"They didn't pass for you! You're still angry with Seifer, despite the fact that you didn't even really know the real Seifer!"

Roxas stuck his bottom lip out slightly as he crossed his arms. "Yeah, well, I know his kind. That's enough."

Namine opened her mouth to respond but Sora chose that moment to interrupt. "I think we're almost ready to eat."

"Oh, right. We brought dessert." Roxas pulled a large chocolate cake out of the back of the boat.

"Thanks, Roxas," Kairi murmured, as she reached forward to take it from him.

"Uh-uh," Sora stated quickly. "I'll take that." He lunged forward and took the cake. "Can't have you working too hard, Kairi."

Kairi glowered at her husband before taking the cake from him. "I can handle it just fine. I'm not dying, Sora."

"Kairi!" Sora swung towards the cake, grabbing for it.

"It's not like it's the first time I've been pregnant, Sora." She rolled her eyes as she stepped backwards to keep the cake away from him.

"I'll take that." As Kairi stepped back, placing the cake in his hands, not knowing he was standing there. "You two can't be trusted with it, apparently," Riku said, nodding towards the cake in his hands, as he walked off toward the food resting on the beach a few meters away.

"Riku!" both shouted after him.

Roxas chuckled to himself. "Looks like things haven't changed a bit."

Long black hair whipped behind her in the wind as she ran down the beach, feeling the warm sand between her toes. Her feet continued carrying her toward the small island where some of the other's now sat. As she ran past the adults, she heard her father yelling after her, "Tierra, slow down!"

In response, her jaw clenched and she began running faster, her immediate reaction being to rebel. She could hear her father's sigh drifting on the wind as she reached her destination. Her mother's voice rang through the back of her mind as she consoled her father, "She's just like you were, Riku."

Tierra did not wait around to hear the response, preferring to go to her friends instead. As the fourteen-year-old stepped onto the smaller island, she brushed her black hair out of her eyes,and spotted Kegan and a few of her other friends sitting along the Paopu tree – it had begun growing horizontally once more, leaving more places to sit, though the more recent ones caused the occupants to be dangling over the beach and lapping waves below. Currently, Kenshin and Leith, the eldest sons of Sora and Kairi at ages fifteen and thirteen, respectively, sat over the beach, along with Leith, the younger's, twin sister Linnea. Tierra's twelve-year-old brother, Ryo, along with Kegan and Katsu, rested on the lower part of the tree, staring out across the water.

Tierra folded her arms across her dark green spaghetti strap shirt. "Looking for something?"

Kegan glanced over at her briefly, revealing a black eye. The majority of the right half of her face was discolored from a blow. Tierra studied her a bit closer. She was wearing a red tanktop, that revealed the various bruises across her arms. A rather large one was the shape of a man's hand, wrapped around her upper arms. "Of course not. If we were looking for something, we wouldn't be sitting here."

"Well, you're certainly staring awful intently."

"We're trying to figure out how to get my board back." She absently ran a hand through her pale brown hair before resting her hand on her black cargo pants.

"So Namine finally managed to get your board away from you." Kegan continued to stare out across the sea, noncommittally. "I heard about the fight with Sefaan. I'm sorry I missed it. Rosh told me you took a beating. He said you threw the first punch, but Sefaan cheated, bringing the rest of his gang in." Rosh was her older brother. He was eighteen-years-old.

Kegan shrugged. "Yeah, well, what's done is done. He's not winning next time. Guaranteed." Her hands were clenched into unyielding fists, and her teeth were gritted. Sefaan was seventeen, and had long ago taken to tormenting the group of friends, though they had all made a pact to avoid the subject with their parents, knowing that it would get them more involved than they wished. They were teenagers (for the most part) and could take care of themselves, in their opinions.

"Of course he won't, because next time I'll be there to help."

"I don't want your help. I have to take him on myself, Tierra."

"Then I'll keep his gang off your back."

Kegan hesitated before nodding slowly – her way of accepting help gratefully. It was the closest she ever came to thanking anyone.

"Then your going to need my help as well," a quiet voice said from the far end of the tree. All eyes turned to stare at speaker. Kenshin's hard gaze gave him a serious demeanor as he awaited her response.

Kegan was the first to look away. She folded her arms across her chest and looked out unrelentingly at the sea, a light pink tinted her cheeks. Before she responded, she set her jaw, putting up a tough front once more. "I won't need it, Kenshin, but if you must, so be it."

Kenshin lightly brushed his brown bangs out of his eyes, tucking it behind his ear, and looked away. The rest of his hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail that floated in a soft gust of wind. He nodded his head firmly before speaking. "You will."

Angrily, Kegan's head whipped around at the comment, but before she could speak a voice interrupted them. "Look Mom said that dinner's ready, so I suggest you continue this conversation later." Tierra turned to see Rosh standing behind her.

"Hey, Rosh! When did you get here?"

"About five minutes ago."

"I didn't even see your boat come in."

"Of course you didn't. You were too busy yapping to notice." Rosh then turned on his heel and left.

"What's up with him?" Leith asked as he shifted off his seat, ready to get off the paopu tree and eat.

Tierra shrugged. "I don't know. He's been acting like that a lot lately."

A rare frown emerged on his face. "Well I hope I don't start acting like that," he mumbled.

Linnea reached up and ruffled her twin's auburn hair, which was spiky enough to rival even his father's. "I doubt you'll ever have to worry about that one, Leith."

Tierra grinned. "Come on, Leith, don't worry about it. I bet you're hungry."

At the mention of food, a wide smile spread across his face and a greedy glimmer entered his eyes, almost as though he had not been fed in a year. "What are we waiting for?"

 With Sora being such a kid himself, and Kairi being so caring, I can picture them having a large family, so that's why they have so many kids (six total and another on the way). Don't worry though, it probably seems overwhelming now, but the younger ones won't be as crucial to the storyline as a whole, though they may appear to help out now and again. As I now have it worked out, probably four or five will be main characters and the rest secondary. The first two or three chapters are kind of boring because they simply establish the characters and not much happens, but it should pick up soon. I hope. Also I broke my own rule and did not edit this before posting (it's late and this was my way of curing insomia) so please tell me everything I did wrong.

Constructive criticism greatly encouraged! Flames welcomed! They don't bother me.

Thanks for reading!

Take Care,

C1