12.29.06 Data File: Dawn of Beginnings

Data File 0.4: Chapter 4

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Cloud's not home yet. Tifa was antagonized, practically, and poking the muffin on her plate. She was bored... There were no customers, her stomach hurt, and the twins were doing their science homework upstairs. She yawned, and began writing a grocery list... There was nothing else to do. She never imagined being a house-wife... Now that she was one, she was a little upset, but at least she had two jobs: mercenary work and bar hostess. She sometimes went on mercenary missions with Cloud, but that became rarer and rarer as the twins got older. She now only went once in a few months to help Cloud out. The twins were old enough to stay by themselves, but Cloud was so... overprotective of his kids.

Tifa knew she couldn't draw... However, she doodled herself beating up a monster, but it looked more like a steroids man with boxing gloves beating up a cactus. Tifa sighed with exasperation, as she scratched the lead-tipped pencil over her drawing to hide it from the two curious boys that were creeping down the stairs. She gasped, flipped over the list, and slammed it down on the table. She had forgotten her own strength, and nearly cracked the table neatly down the middle.

The twins halted and stared at her. She laughed nervously, "Uh, hi!" Tifa said.

"Hi..." the twins said back.

"Watcha doin', Mom!?" Sora asked.

Tifa pondered, and then asked, "Are you finished with that science homework?" Moms can be so pesky at times. She looked down at her watch and sighed with an exasperated look. "It's eleven-thirty."

"Already!?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, we're done!" Suna confirmed. Sora had followed behind when Suna scrambled down the stairs and came to his mother's side.

"Perfect..." Tifa said. She looked into her leather purse and pulled out a tiny list with hard-to-read, loopy handwriting. Suna and Sora stared with curious expressions at the tiny piece of wrapped paper. Tifa smiled at them, "This is the grocery shopping list." she said, and on automatic impulse, she gave it to Suna. "Complete the list and bring it back to me, okay?"

"Um..." Sora said. "T-This... is our first time, y'know..."

"Don't mumble." Tifa said. She smiled anyhow, and continued, "You boys are fourteen. You're old enough to locate the grocery store and haul the items home, aren't you?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Sora answered.

"Yeah..." Suna replied.

"Thank you." Tifa smiled. "Here's the money. Be sure to purchase the most inexpensive items. That's the budget, and try to buy as many things off the list as you can." Suna was holding the list, and Sora peeked, placing one finger on the list in order to observe it from the distance he was at. Suna smiled at Tifa and nodded. Sora nodded, but more hesitantly. "Don't get lost now. Be back in half an hour."

"Okay, Mom!" the twins said simultaneously, and dashed out the door. Tifa had to shut the door... They often had to be reminded of simple things such as that. "Oh well... they're just teenagers, after all. Teenagers are still children in some sense... Yet are more mature than children and prepared for some adult manners..." she sighed, and left for the kitchen. "I wonder where Cloud is..." Tifa said. She scratched her collarbone.

-

"What does it say? What does it say?" Sora was annoyed. He ended up pushing the grocery cart while Suna got to read off the stuff. They both pitched in to grab the items, though. But of all things... Why the grocery cart!? The stupid grocery cart! Sora was just about ready to curse and swear at the grocery cart.

"Two packages of tomatoes..." Suna said. "Apparently she has a guest there who always buys her tomato sauce."

"Ew." Sora hated tomatoes. Suna didn't detest them or couldn't tolerate them, he just preferred not to eat red vegetables. Sora placed a package of tomatoes into the cart, and Suna grabbed one off, too. Sora snatched the list away, "My turn to read!" Suna scoffed. Sora scanned the list with his eyes, "Five tiny packages of spearmint gum...?"

"That's on the other side of the store!" Suna almost yelled. He forgot they were in public. He almost forgot that they were freakin' copy images of Cloud, and didn't want to scar his title or name. "We'll get it later. Are there any other VEGETABLES we can get?"

"Umm..." Sora pondered. "Cucumbers."

"Ew, gross." Suna said. "Those creepy, slimy green things that taste like crunchy worms?"

"Uh, yeah." Sora nodded. The cart stopped, and Suna - who was inconveniently right behind Sora and didn't have time to look up - crashed into Sora. It wasn't a serious-tough-hard-knock-things-off-the-shelves-cause-things-to-spill crash, but it wasn't a soft-easy-to-get-over-didn't-drop-anything crash. The impact caused Sora to drop the list, the cart reeled forward and rammed into the vegetable stand; Suna and Sora were pleading the vegetables to stay still, and they miraculously did. Hallelujah chorus cued here.

"Why'd you stop like that!?" Suna scolded.

"You just gave me a vivid, nasty image of cucumbers, you retard!" Sora had the sassy attitude of his mother, and boy, did he use it! "'Course I'm gonna get distracted, Suna!"

"Oh, really?" Suna saw this as a grasp of opportunity. "Tomatoes are actually human hearts wrapped in red alien skin... and those seed things are insect eggs."

Sora's face turned green... literally. "Ew!!" he screamed, and shoved Suna backwards. They both slammed into the ice cream refrigerator, causing a few ice creams to fall, but no glass to shatter. "That's the most perverted thing I've ever heard! I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Suna began laughing. "I know your weakness!! I know your weakness!"

"That's really gross, Suna!" Sora gulped. He tried to swallow the rising bile in his throat... It burned, it tensed, he could feel his stomach contract, and something force up into his throat. "Ewww..."

"No wonder science bothers you!" Suna laughed.

-

Sora gulped. He did not want that incident from last year to be repeated. Tifa had gotten them in a lot of trouble, because Sora threw up in the poultry aisle after some vile comment on chicken brains. Suna matured... Sora hoped so, anyway, because he didn't appreciate throwing up in public, especially since last time, he threw up on the butcher and a few raw chickens that were prepared to roast on the fire. Sora turned green at the thought and gulped.

"Hey, Sora, what's wrong?" Suna piped up after some silence. Sora looked over at him. "You look a little... sick."

Sora blushed. "How do you know I'm feelin' bad?"

Suna narrowed his eyes. "Sora. We're twins. I'm psychic."

"Oh." Sora said.

"We've gotta go to the produce section." Suna read it off the list.

"P-produce section?" Sora gulped.

"Ohhh..." Suna stopped the grocery cart, and turned around with an evil grin on his face. "You remember those days I used to creep you out!"

"Er, yeah." Sora turned green.

"Don't worry, I won't." Suna promised.

Sora still couldn't help imagining cucumbers as creepy, slimy green things that taste like crunchy worms; and tomatoes as human hearts wrapped in red alien skin with insect eggs implanted in them. "Don't think about it, Sora, just don't think about it... Your brother is a perv."

"Hey." Suna glared.

"Hm?" Sora said.

"I'm not a perv." Suna said.

"Gah! How the heck did he read my mind!?" Sora thought.

"We're twins." Suna reminded him. "I can always read my twin's mind."

Sora was scared now. Nevertheless, they ended up in the produce section. Sora stared at all the food, horrified, and disgusted. His stomach twisted; it felt like a knot. Suna was happily reading off the list, while Sora bit his tongue to focus on another pain besides his sensitive stomach. Sora definitely had Tifa's sensitivity... Suna never felt anything when vile manners were discussed, but it hit Sora like a painful blow to the head.

-

Tifa was glad to know that when they arrived home, Sora wasn't throwing up like usual. "That was very brave of you to hold it back." Tifa would say as she brushed her hand through his hair. It seemed like Tifa favored Sora over the twins, or at least that's how Suna felt. He didn't mind, though, he ignored her usually. He was a spitting image of Cloud, so he liked spending time with him more than he did with Tifa. Sora enjoyed spending time with Tifa more than Cloud, since he thought his father was a little too strict for his liking.

"Where're you goin', Suna?" Sora called out when Suna began climbing upstairs. Tifa looked up at Suna, brilliant hazel-red eyes staring into Suna's keen cerulean eyes. He narrowed his eyelids, and Sora began feeling a little anxious.

"I'm kinda feelin' bad..." Suna responded.

"Are you hurt?" Tifa asked.

"No." Suna said. "I just wanna go upstairs for a while..."

"Okay..." Tifa frowned. "But weren't you goin' with your father to the gym?"

"Yeah, I'll be down later..." Suna sighed.

Sora looked at Tifa, and smiled. "Wanna bake cookies with me?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah!" Sora replied. "Hey, isn't Suna gonna miss out?"

"I doubt he'd want to bake." Tifa said. "He's fourteen, a little too old for it. I know that you're still child at heart, Mister." Tifa poked Sora's nose, and he laughed. Very much like a child... Suna thought it was positively DISGUSTING. Suna was shocked he didn't throw up from all the sappy stuff Sora pulled. Suna banged his head on the desk multiple times before trying to rest his eyes.

His father would be home soon, and he didn't want to look cranky when he arrived...

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Author's Note:

This is getting old... mother and sons moments are kinda cutting off. Suna has to grow up sooner or later, right? Sora's still pretty attached to his mom, while Suna thinks he's all grown up and ready to act fierce like dad. Suna wants to be a mercenary and fight against monsters... although, he's never seen one. Sora wants to work at the bar just like his mom, but never had the nerve to tell Suna that. Instead, he agreed to the mercenary work thing...

This chapter got a little annoying... I was going to write a huge grocery shopping spree with Suna and Sora doing randomness, but I won't unless I get a review of somebody asking me to. Please review review REVIEW. I need constructive criticism, which I STILL haven't gotten yet. I still only have two reviews. I need MORE. There's one thing I'm glad of, however... Just in the past two days, I got 141 hits. 141 hits!! I hope people are liking this story... Please tell me people like this story. You can still ask questions and I'm still constantly updating and improving. I once thought of starting another story, but I'm not! I'm determined to work and do my best on this one.

It'll get more exciting, I promise!

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