Warnings, disclaimer, ect, ect, in chapter one.
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Ah, and the number used in here later? Totally random, made it up off the top of my head and I don't even know if it's the right amount of numbers.

Vincent Valentine was a very intimidating man. He was also the detective who was assigned the case of my aunt and uncle's death. He had long black hair and red, yes, you heard me, red eyes. I really wanted to ask if they were contacts but figured that would be a bad way to get on his good side.

He sighed and rubbed his temples tiredly. We had been talking to him for the last two hours and apparently it was a little more than he wanted to hear.

"Alright," he said in his scarily deep voice, "I get what you're saying and I understand your concern. The thing is, we need more proof that you actually are who you claim you are."

I had been ready for this one, "I'm in the system."

He looked up at me, "What?"

"The reason we were sent here is we were street kids so it was the police that picked us up. They found my cousins through a DNA sample."

The others nodded around me and Vincent turned to his computer and started typing. A moment later he stopped and seemed to be reading something.

"So," he said, "you five were caught for petty stealing in Midgar," he snorted lightly at that and muttered something about Midgar and how everyone there had to steal things in order to live, "then were sent here to live with foster families."

We all nodded our agreement again, and he continued to skim whatever he was reading, "Alright, so it does say that you're their son. Why would the police send you here to your cousins instead of putting you with your parents?"

I gave a shrug, "Because they're rich and buy everyone off?"

Vincent tapped his fingers on his desk, "Let's say I agree with you, why would your parents want your aunt and uncle dead?"

"They were estranged from the family, I don't really have an answer for that one, but I do know that my aunt died of an OD and that what she OD'd on was found in her drink and that the meds were the same ones that my mother takes," I stated calmly.

"And you all heard them say it?" he asked, referring to the real reason I had gathered up the gang and brought them with me.

"Yes sir," Olette replied as the others nodded.

"I'll reopen this case then. I never liked how we closed it anyway," Vincent responded.

I grinned at him and thanked him for his time before we made our way out of his office.

When I got home there was a message on the machine from the school telling me to get my schedule tomorrow morning when I come for class. There was also a message from Cloud saying that he wanted us to call him back later so that he knew we were both still alive and hadn't burned the house down.

The gang and I had decided on our way back to the house that we were going to start doing some research of our own. I wasn't really sure why I was so obsessed with finding out what had happened, but I had never been one to question my instincts before and I wasn't going to start now.

We went into Cloud's office and Pence sat down at the computer. Pence was a computer genius and none of us could ever figure out how he got so good with them when we had been on the streets, but figured it had something to do with the past he hadn't told us.

By the time Sora joined us in the room we had found out that my parents were damn crafty little fuckers. They made sure they were constantly in the paper and attending events so that nothing could be pinned on them. Right after they left this house they had gone to a grand opening. That made it Sora and Cloud's word that they were even here at all.

We filled Sora in on what Vincent said while Pence continued his search for something of use to us.

"Hey Roxas?"

We all looked at Pence.

"Your parents had a closed casket funeral for you."

"What?!"

We all got to our feet and moved around the computer to see what he was talking about. There it was, an article and picture of my funeral. Can I tell you how disturbing a feeling it is to see your own funeral?

"Hey, everyone who dies has a death certificate," Sora said rather suddenly.

"Yeah!" Hayner said from my other side, "There's no way they can say they didn't lie if they open the casket and it's empty and you don't have a death certificate!"

That was true, but it really wasn't the point, or was it? "Pence?"

"Hm?"

"What day is that from?"

He paused as he skimmed the article, "June 16, 2004."

Sora inhaled sharply and confirmed what I was thinking, "Same day your dad died, right?"

He nodded, and then frowned, "So how were they two places at once?"

I gave him a dry look, "They're rich Sor, they can hire people."

Olette nodded, "Pence, can you get into their account?"

"If I had a card number or something," Pence answered.

"17798546009241."

We all turned to look at Naminé who blushed a little. Did I mention that Naminé has a photographic memory?

"When on earth-?" Olette started.

"That day we ran into them his dad was holding his wallet in his hand and the card was sticking out a little," Naminé answered.

"Try it!" Hayner said to Pence who was typing away.

"It worked," he said with a smile.

"Nice one Naminé," I said, leaning over the chair to look at the screen.

"Look at their history," Sora suggested.

Pence did so, skimming back four years, "June 16, 2004, $5,000 was sent to someone by the name of Kadaj."

"K-Kadaj?" Sora repeated.

"You know him?" Olette asked.

"That's Riku's older brother."

The next morning Sora and I pulled Naminé, Pence, and Hayner to school with us. They whined and complained since we had all been unable to sleep most of the night, but we pointed out that they either had to stay in the house and wait for us to finish school or hang around on campus until school got out. They came with us after that.

Classes were boring and much longer than I remember them being. Sora was antsy and having issues talking to Riku, which caused the rest of his friends to look at him oddly. Sora played it off as having not slept well the night before and that he'd be fine after a good night's rest.

At lunch I introduced everyone to Demyx and Zexion who were up to speed via Axel. I decided to take advantage of them having known Riku and quizzed them on Kadaj.

"Kadaj?" Axel repeated, "Riku's older brother?"

I nodded in agreement and Zexion spoke very firmly, "Stay away from him."

"Why?" Naminé asked quietly.

"He's bad news," Demyx answered and it was really saying something coming from the troublemakers of the island.

"He still live here?" Olette asked.

"He moved away about four years ago, no one's seen him since," Axel said, "How do you guys even know about him?"

We hesitated but figured that they were already in on it so we may as well bring them up to speed. We explained what we had learned the night before and Axel let out a whistle.

"So you guys think they hired Kadaj to kill Sora's dad while they were off at your fake funeral?"

"That's the way it looks," Pence said.

"You went to the police, why are you investigating?" Zexion asked.

I gave a small shrug, "Donno, I just feel like I should."

I knew something was wrong as soon as we reached the house. I couldn't tell how I knew that something was wrong, but I knew something was. Apparently everyone else did too since we all just came to a rather sudden halt in front of the house and stared at it as though it was going to bite us.

"The door's not latched," Pence observed.

I realized that he was right and looked at Hayner who nodded at me, "You guys wait here, we'll check it out."

Hayner and I walked up the walkway and slowly pushed the front door open all the way. To say the place was a disaster area would have been an understatement. The couches were flipped over; the table was actually sticking out of the wall. A broken plate was shattered across the floor in front of us.

The first thought to go through my head was, Cloud, is going to be so pissed, followed quickly by, What if they're still in the house?

I looked at Hayner, Hayner looked at me and we backed out of the house and walked back down the walkway toward our very confused looking friends.

"What's wrong?" Olette asked.

"The fucking table is sticking out of the wall. There is no way in hell I'm going in there if whoever put it there is in there," I said bluntly.

Everyone paled and Sora pulled out his cell phone, "You want me to call 911 or do you have Vincent Valentine's number?"

Vincent Valentine was the first person to arrive and the first words out of his mouth were, "Did you touch anything?"

"I pushed the door open, but we didn't touch the handle," I replied.

He nodded and he and a team of police officers went into the house and searched the place. We all waited ever so patiently for the verdict. Fifteen minutes later they declared the place empty and began to search the place for clues as to who did it. Vincent came out and questioned us on what we knew, which wasn't all that much.

He nodded and turned to go back and consult the investigators and I turned to the others.

"Anyone else find it odd that this happened the day after we went to the police and reopened an old case?"

"I was thinking that too," Olette admitted.

Sora nodded, "They have to be connected, too much of a coincidence otherwise."

Some time later Vincent came over and asked myself and Sora to look through the place and see if anything was missing. I doubted I'd be much help since I'd only been there for a few days, but I didn't bother to point that out. Sora looked in all the places where he and Cloud put anything of any value while I walked through the rest of the house. I paused and frowned as I looked into Sora's room.

It was untouched. Nothing was moved or broken or even opened. Considering every other room in the house was (including Cloud's room and office; Sora and I played rock, paper, scissors to decide who was going to be the one to tell him that), so why was Sora's room left alone? I walked around it and did a double take as I found that there was one thing in the room that was touched.

The picture that Sora had of his parents had been cut into across the parents' faces.

You're next.

Baby Sora in the picture was circled and I felt my blood run cold.

Vincent took us back to the police station, half for our own safety and half so that no one would over hear us talking.

"So let me get this straight. You six hacked into your parents' bank account and looked up the history and found out that the same day Mr. Strife was killed and the day of Roxas' faux funeral that $5,000 was sent to someone named Kadaj who happens to be Sora's best friend's older brother and according to some people who knew him he disappeared randomly around four years ago which is when all of this occurred."

"Well, yeah…" I said, a little unsure. Hey, this guy was scary.

Vincent rubbed his temples, "And Cloud is out of town on business, and whoever broke into your house is threatening to kill you, all of a day after the case was reopened and you all did your snooping."

"Right," Olette agreed.

"Damn I need a drink," Vincent muttered and we all smiled a little, "We're going to have to-"

The door slammed open causing all of us to jump and spin around. An older girl with a tank top that revealed her mid-drift, short shorts, and short, dark hair bounced into the room.

"Vinny! It's been so long!"

"Now I really need a drink," was Vincent's reply.

"Yuffie?" Naminé asked, looking shocked.

"Naminé? Oh no, what'd you do?" Yuffie said, looking at Vincent.

"She didn't do anything, don't worry Yuffie," Vincent replied.

Yuffie crossed her arms, "If she didn't do anything then why is she in a police station?"

Naminé sighed, "Because the friend's house I was at was broken into today."

Yuffie's eyes went wide, "You're not hurt are you?"

Naminé shook her head, "No, I followed them to school."

"Good thing," Vincent said, turning back to his computer, "Have you called Cloud yet?"

"No-" Sora started to reply, only to be cut off by Yuffie.

"Cloudie? Is he here too?"

...Cloudie? I looked at Sora who was staring at her with his mouth wide open. I pushed his jaw back up, but he continued to stare at Yuffie.

"No Yuffie, Cloud's not here, that's why we would need to call him," Vincent explained as though he did this all day.

"How do you know Cloud?" Sora asked the girl.

"We went to high school together! Me, and Cloud, and Vincent, and Squall, and Tifa, and Aerith and Cid and Zack," the girl replied.

Sora looked from one to the other, "Then why have I never met you before?"

Yuffie tilted her head, "You know Cloud?"

"He's Sora, Yuffie," Vincent provided, typing away.

There was a loud squeal and Yuffie promptly tackled Sora to the ground. I looked up at Naminé who had a 'told you so' look on her face.

I think I was starting to appreciate Selphie.

"Do you know how long I've wanted to meet you?" the girl gushed to a very shocked Sora, "Cloud told us all about you!"

"Thank… you?" Sora asked, clearly not sure what else to say.

Yuffie jumped to her feet, all smiles.

"Why are you here Yuffie," Vincent asked.

"Oh!" she said, pointing to Vincent, "Squall's been looking for you. He said he couldn't get a hold of you so I told him I'd come and find you!"

"Why's Leon looking for me?"

Leon? I thought we were talking about Squall?

"He said it had something to do with that case you guys were working on," she said with a shrug.

Vincent stared at her, "Well, do you have a number I could reach him at?"

Yuffie patted her pockets a few times before pulling out a strip of paper, "Sure do!"

Vincent looked at the paper then set it to the side, "Anything else?"

"Nope! Unless you want a ride home Nam?" Yuffie said looking at the blonde.

Naminé opened her mouth to respond when Vincent cut her off, "She probably should, it would be safer that way."

Yuffie frowned, "Vinny?"

His eye twitched a little, "The break in was a violent one. None of them are going back to the house without Cloud there."

"Where are we going to go then?" Sora asked, straightening his chair and sitting back down in it.

Vincent made an annoyed noise, "If it really was Kadaj who did it then you have to go somewhere without Riku knowing it. I'm not saying he's involved but he could unintentionally lead Kadaj to you."

"So, no Riku, Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, or Wakka," Olette said.

"What about Axel?" I asked.

"Riku does hate him," Sora admitted.

"Best call him," Vincent said.

There was a pause in which we all realized we didn't have Axel's number, nor did we know where he lived.

"Well, why not come with one of us?" Hayner asked.

"We have school," Sora pointed out.

"And if we stop going to school, they'll know we went somewhere else. Plus, all of Sora's friends will come looking," I finished.

"So will Axel, Zexion, and Demyx," Olette said, "they know what's going on too."

Vincent paused, "What?"

"Axel sort of helped us find one another," I admitted, "so we brought them in on our suspicions. If I had known it would come to this I would have left them out of it."

Vincent sighed loudly, "Yuffie, take Naminé home and any of the others who don't belong on this island. Anyone who does belong on this island, kindly head home and don't breathe a word of this to anyone. If needed you can have the parents call me. Roxas, Sora, stay where you are. We're going to call Cloud and see what he wants to do."

I was hoping that by 'we' he meant him since I lost that rock, paper, scissors match.

Yuffie nodded, "Come on kids."

They all waved bye to us, and Olette said she'd see us at school tomorrow. We turned back to Vincent who was dialing on the phone.

After a moment he spoke, "Cloud? It's Vincent. No, no, they didn't burn the house down. They're both still alive. No, Roxas did not do something to get himself in trouble. No, Sora didn't either. Actually someone broke into the house while they were at school. No, nothing was stolen. Uh… that's a long list. Let's put it this way, the table was shoved through the wall. Yes, through the wall. No, no one's hurt. They found the door open and called us once they glanced inside. In Healin? You'll never get back in time. Uh huh… no, I still have her number. Can do. Alright."

He hung up and dialed another number. Sora and I looked at one another, amused. Cloud was so paranoid.

"Tifa? It's Vincent. Fine, actually I'm calling because Cloud needs a favor. Yes, that Cloud, do you know another Cloud? No, actually his brother and cousin need a place to stay tonight, can you take them? I know you have 7th Heaven. They're high schoolers, I'm sure they'll be fine. You have Denzel and Marlene there, don't you? I don't know how long. Cloud's in Healin right now, he's on his way back though. Yes, tonight for sure but after that you'll have to talk to Cloud. Mm hmm. No, they're here at the police station. Alright, thanks Tifa."

He looked back at us, "Alright, Tifa's going to take you in for the night. She's got two other kids there so play nice."

I gave him a mock salute and Sora snorted. Vincent led us toward the lobby where we were to wait for Tifa.