A/N: Hehe, thanks as always for such nice reviews : ) Yeah…I suppose Lexi could be unlikable in some ways ; she's supposed to be based on me, and I know I'm unlikable in some ways. Yeah, anyway –coughs- it WAS supposed to be a threesome…but I couldn't see the brothers going for that…they don't seem like the sharing type…and Lexi isn't the type to be shared…Anyway, again, here's the next chapter. And I haven't decided yet, but the next chapter will either be the end of the fic-full of sadness-or maybe I'll continue it, but I'm leaning towards the first option.

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Chapter Eight "Peace Never Lasts"

Lexi awoke from her peaceful sleep with a start, eyes reluctantly opening, confused as to wait had caused her to wake up. She just wanted to sleep, so exhausted, but safe in Kadaj's arms as he slept beside her. As she lay there in silence, she frowned a little. Unable to figure out what had awakened her, she snuggled closer against his side and let her eyes slide closed once more. But sleep refused to overtake her again, and she was left alone with her thoughts. Her precious Kadaj. He wasn't as much of a boy as she had thought-not with the events of a few hours past. But he was so young. She found herself gazing at him in the dark, studying the peaceful expression on his beautiful face, tracing the curves of his lips with her eyes. A small smile tugged at the corners of her own lips but faded when his peaceful expression tuned troubled. A frown crossed his face and she felt a tremor run through his body. He whimpered softly. Was he having a nightmare?

"Kadaj," she whispered his name.

He stirred at the sound of her voice, but didn't open his eyes. She must have awakened him though, because he rolled over and buried his face against her neck, pulling her closer. Even though that was really impossible, since he was laying mostly on top of her now. She felt him tremble again, and slowly began to run a hand through his hair.

"It's alright…" she said softly, "It's…just a dream."

After a moment, he shook his head a little. "They're…never just dreams," he replied, voice even quieter.

Frowning a little, she continued stroking his hair, but didn't say anything. What did he mean?

"They're always…memories. That I've tried so hard to forget, but I just can't," Kadaj said.

Memories? A chill swept over her, what memories haunted his sleep? She could guess that it probably had something to do with Shin-Ra.

"Yes," he whispered.

For a moment she was startled, than she remembered that he could read her thoughts.

"Don't ask me about it."

"I won't," she replied softly.

"Thank you," he said.

And than, as she continued to stroke his hair and gaze up at the ceiling through the darkness, there was silence. After a few moments, she could tell from how his breathing evened out that he'd fallen back to sleep. She hoped it was a peaceful rest this time, with out his dreams being plagued by things that ShinRa had done to him and his brothers in the past. To be honest, she didn't know what kind of things ShinRa had done…and she didn't want to. She wished she could fall back to sleep as well, but her eyes seemed to refuse to remain closed.

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She awoke to kisses being trailed up her stomach. She refused to open her eyes though; after having trouble getting back to sleep last night, she just wanted to continue sleeping. Maybe she was asleep, and she was dreaming. Kisses along her neck now, the weight of a slight frame on top of her as he straddled her hips. She moaned softly, her eyes fluttering open a little bit. Sunlight was streaming through the window, stinging her eyes and causing her to promptly close them again.

"Good morning," he said softly in her ear.

She gave a mumbled 'morning' before trying to roll over, away from the window, only to remember that he was sitting on top of her and she couldn't move. "Off," she muttered, "The sun; it's bright."

"That's your problem, for sleeping so late," he said teasingly, slowly kissing her neck again.

"After you?" she said with a pleasant shiver, reaching blindly for the sheet to pull it up over her face.

He stopped her by gently grabbing her wrists. "It's not like you hated it," he said.

She smiled a little; he was right. As usual. Blinking a couple of times now that she was more awake, she managed to open her eyes and keep them open. He was gazing at her with a devious smirk, his silver hair hanging down over his eyes. He leaned down to kiss her again, and slid his tongue into her mouth. As before, she let him, and he began to trace his tongue against the roof of her mouth in a way that sent a feeling of butterflies through her stomach. He traced his fingers down her sides, across her stomach, and a wave of tingles followed his touch. He kissed down her jaw line, across the side of her neck, and she tilted her head to the side, closing her eyes.

He softly nipped her neck with his sharp teeth, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to send a different kind of shiver down her spine. He trailed his hands softly down the insides of her thighs, his fingers teasing, and she uttered a soft moan. She could feel him against her, could tell exactly what was on his mind. Again, after last night. But of course, and if she hadn't been so exhausted, she wouldn't have had any qualms with the idea.

"Kadaj…" she said softly, her voice more of a soft sigh as his hands continued their path back up her stomach now.

"Hmm?" he responded, pausing only for a second in kissing the side of her neck.

"…You have a one track mind…" She continued, pausing for a moment as she shivered again.

"Are you complaining?" he asked, and she could just imagine the kind of smirk that was on his face.

"I told you…I'm exhausted…" she replied.

"Even for me?"

"Because of you," she said.

"You are just too easy to wear out," he shot back, softly nipping her neck again.

"Am not…" she protested, but it was a soft protest. "Come on," she added, "Get off."

"Why should I?" he said softly into her ear, his breath and hair tickling her skin.

"…Because I said so," she replied, "And you don't want me to be grumpy again, do you?"

He pulled back to look down at her, and the pout on his face reminded her of a small child, made her smile a little bit. "If you say so," he said, leaning down to kiss her one last time before, however reluctantly, getting off of her.

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When she came downstairs later after Kadaj, every thing was silent. She was still a little hesitant, with what had happened. But as she neared the bottom of the staircase, she could almost feel the tension in the air, like something was wrong. She emerged from the stairs into the main room to see Yazoo in one corner and Kadaj near the entrance. Loz stood at the corner of the room opposite Yazoo. At first the scene appeared casual, until Lexi noticed Loz looking somewhat fearfully from one brother to the other. And a moment after that she saw why.

Yazoo was glaring at Kadaj, who appeared to be ignoring him, but really wasn't. Yazoo turned to look over at her a little, and she saw the twin slashes that ran across the side of his face. Proof of his earlier fight with his youngest brother. She had hoped that he wouldn't be so angry anymore, but she got the impression that he still was. She sighed a little, a bit worried. She hoped they wouldn't fight again-especially since it was because of her. She threw a glance over at Loz, only to see that he was glaring at her. For a moment she was baffled as to why, but than realized that he must blame her for his brothers' fight. And why shouldn't he? It was her fault after all.

She continued to just stand there at the foot of the stairs looking to each brother in turn until Kadaj beckoned her over to him. And even for a moment after that, she didn't move. Then, cautiously, she started across the room. But she'd scarcely made it over to him when she caught a blur of motion from the corner of her eye and a shadow fell across her. She only had a chance to start to turn when Yazoo shoved her out of the way. The motion and the force behind it caught her off guard and she fell back, landing awkwardly and hitting her shoulder and head against the wall as she did so. Disorientated, and with pain shooting through her shoulder, she raised her head, trying to assess the situation that had suddenly erupted. Apparently the feud between the brothers wasn't over with yet…