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Disclaimer: I do not own the songs Hana Ranman or Barefoot Children or the artists who preform them. Kingdom Hearts is also (unfortunately) not mine. I wish I could own Squeenix!

I woke up to the sound of Hana Ranman. I sighed. Only Alisia.

"fuwari fuwari mai odoru you ni
fuwari fuwari kurumu hanabi ra
fuwari fuwari usubeni iro ni
fuwari fuwari somaru hana kouji"

I kicked the covers off of the guest bed and made my way towards Alisia's room. I slowly opened the door to find her sitting on the floor surrounded by notebooks, textbooks, a Bible, and her laptop.

"tatoe koyoi sakura fubuki ga
mittsu yottsu to chiri nure do
asu mo kono machi no kashiko ni wa
hyaku man no yume midare afureru"

She sang along with the fast beat song as she completed her Geometry and Biology homework. Occasionally, she would turn and type something on her computer, which look liked the beginnings to a story. I watched her until the final few bars of the song rung out through the house…

"shanrara sharara shanrara… yukikau
shanrara sharara shanrara… hana kouji"

I walked up and tapped her on the shoulder to inform her of my presence. She gave me the I'm-will-eat-you-if-you-ever-do-that-again look. I shrugged and sat down beside her, checking her finished math and English homework.

"Scratch my back with a lightning bolt
Thunder rolls like a bass drum note
The sound of the weather is Heaven's ragtime band
We all fell down from the Milky Way
Hanging' round here till Judgment Day
Heaven only knows who is in command"

I had to roll my eyes. "Jimmy Buffet," I said, "seriously?!"

Alisia nodded as she sang along to the slow song. I joined my voice in as Barefoot Children went on soon it was just classical music playing and we had finished her homework.

"Sephiroth lets you play music this loud in the mornings?" I asked cautiously.

"No," she answered. "He's at the church now. It's Sunday remember?"

I mouthed "oh" at the day. I had lost track of time since I was out of school until the winter. Alisia and I stood up while she closed the top to her PC and we made our way to the kitchen. I fixed both of us bowls of Raisin Brand and sat down at the table. Alisia picked at her food nervously while I ate quickly.

"Alisia? Are you…"

She cut me off, "Don't worry about it, Riku. I'll be fine." Her answer sounded to routine. Too fake. I looked away, thinking of something to say. Alisia stood up quickly, dumped out her mostly full bowl, and stretched. When she did, she revealed a long line of bruises on her ribs. Some of them were just old scars, but others were a few days old. She quickly pulled down her shirt as she realized what my gaze was pointed at. I motioned for her to stay where she was as I too got up. I walked up to her and gently raised the side of her T-shirt to reveal again the worst of the purple blemishes.

I cringed as I examined my sister's mangled body, muttering streams of curses under my breath. I reached into my pocket for my phone as I gently poke at on of the bruises. I took note of the intake of breath from between her clenched teeth as I dialed my boyfriend's number. He answered on the second ring and listened as I quickly told him why I was calling.

"Fuck Sephiroth!" he screamed. "Okay. Riku, I'm going to come pick both of you up. Ali shouldn't stay there any longer. Agreed?"

"Of course, Sora. I'll try to convince her it's the best way. Love you." I hung up and looked my sister in the eye.

"I want you to go get dressed, pack all your clothes and personal items, and do so quickly. Sora is at least 15 minutes away in Destiny Islands. Do you understand?"

Alisia nodded and almost ran from the room to go get everything ready. I took down a few pictures of Mom from the walls of the kitchen and then wrote Sephiroth a note saying:

Dear Father,

I am taking my sister on a short vacation because I noticed she is reasonably stressed. Call me for questions.

Riku

I then went to the guestroom and gathered my own effects. I looked at the clock on my phone. Sora called ten minutes ago. It would be another five minutes or more until he got here and took us to Radiant Gardens, my home now. I went to check on Ali and found her struggling to pull two suitcases, a duffel bag, and a trash bag full of her things. I grabbed the heaviest of the suitcases and the duffel bag and made my way to the door as Sora burst into my childhood home. He grabbed rest of Ali's things and silently ushered us to the car.

He threw me the keys to our brand new red Volvo C70. The car purred as the other two jumped in and I turned the key.

Three more hours…

If it made no sense please tell me... And I will clarify in the next chapter... And I'm sorry this took so long... School is in session now...

A picture of the Volvo is here: http: / i216. photo bucket .com/ albums / cc166 / foxtrot93 / volvoc70.jpg

Just get rid of all the spaces to view it...