Family Life
Once Roxas and Sora had been pulled off the unsuspecting guest rather harshly by Larxene then proceeding to dump them on the floor stalked off to the kitchen to get the guest more coffee. Roxas spoke first,
"Aunt Tifa!!!!" He got up and hugged her again and Sora joined them. The front door opened and the girls and Demyx entered the room,
"Where's the fire Rox, jeez I haven't seen Sora run that fats since…"
He then spotted his aunt, "Aunt Tifa came to stay." The girls squealed and hurried round the couch to join the group hug, then promptly a flash of black hair was seen coming in through the door, then Demyx was on his stomach with a small black haired girl seated quite comfortably on his back,
"Hey guys long time no see!" she said loudly, she was then knocked off of Demyxs back when Kairi and Sora leapt at her screaming, "YUFFIE!!" They then rolled out the door onto to the porch, allowing Demyx to get up, "I see you brought cousin Yuffie too then"
"Well I couldn't leave her once she learnt I was coming here for a visit, she nearly ripped my arm off when I tried to say no to her." Tifa smiled at her nephews and niece still in the room. She then turned to Leon, "I couldn't pass up a chance to come see my Little brother could I?"
The tiniest of smiles twitched on Leon's face, but he otherwise looked as apathetic as usual, "Of course, but you're also here on a business aren't you Tifa." Cloud had spoken up, Larxene the walked back into the room and handed Tifa a mug of coffee, her first had been spilt everywhere when Roxas and Sora had jumped on her. Tifa rolled her eyes, "Ruin the visit why don't you Cloud" she smiled at his over her coffee.
"What does dad mean Aunty?" Namine was looking up at her aunt,
"Well I'm going to be staying here for your first and Kairis' second Heat, Larxene is going to stay with Marluxias' pack so I came over to help here," Namines eyes widened, Tifa rubbed her shoulder,
"Nothing to be worried about sweetie, I just gotta stay here for a month or so to help you two out, well to teach you what you need to know anyway" Cloud was smiling sadly. Namine Stood up and walked round and climbed on the couch beside Roxas curling up, clutching onto his arm, "I don't want to leave," she started to tear, burying her face into Roxas's side, he hugged her tightly, the four adults stared at her sadly, Larxene knelt down next to Namine and pulled her face away from Roxas, "Honey, you don't have to leave as in what I'm doing, its just you, Kairi, Yuffie and Aunt Tifa have to move into the summer house over near the river, see not even leaving the pack boundaries, like a big sleepover, you still get to see everyone at school" she thumbed away Namines tears, she then smiled,
"Plus with the way the boys seem to be orientated they wont be 'bothering' you guys at all!"
Roxas flushed bright red, Tifa chuckled, Cloud shook his head and Leon groaned. In the door Sora and Demyx were shifting about and the girls giggled, Namine smiled at Larxene slightly and nodded, then looked to he aunt,
"Just to the summer house?"
"Yes honey, no farther than that." Tifa smiled down at her blonde niece lovingly. At that moment Demyxs' phone started to ring, he fished it out of his pocket, checked the caller ID then flipped the phone open.
"Hey Zex, fine, yeah, oh I'll ask" he turned his head to Cloud,
"Dad, can Zexion and co come over for dinner?"
Cloud nodded,
"Yeah its all cool over here, come over in the next like half hour, no don't worry, ok see you soon."
Leon stood up and stretched, "Well I better get started then, if I'm feeding thirteen people tonight" he sighed and shook his head, walking towards the kitchen. Namine squeezed Roxas's arm and he stroked her head reassuringly.
"Alright who wants to go outside and play!!!" Yuffie was pulling Sora and Kairi along towards the door, Demyx followed. After about a minute Roxas piggybacked Namine outside and Larxene followed to sit under their usual tree.
Cloud looked to Tifa,
"I'll be checking the woods tonight, I think something unwelcome is roaming about out there"
Tifa nodded, "I'll help you, but for now I want to keep an eye on the kids, Yuffie may end up hurting someone again." She smiled and left to sit out on the porch, Cloud followed shortly after.
Zexion put the phone back in the cradle and looked round at the smug red head,
"Happy?"
"Incredibly so." Axel smirked and Riku rolled his eyes. Zexion crossed back over to the desk and resumed his homework, Riku followed suit but Axel flopped down on the couch and flicked through the TV channels, not really watching the TV but thinking about the cute blonde and plotting his next move.
"Axel I warn you now, try anything on Roxas today and his dad will kill you."
Axel looked at him over the back of the couch,
"Then how are you and Dem so cosy and he doesn't bat an eye lash?"
Riku looked up at his cousin to see his reaction, Zexion was staring at the ceiling,
"The situations changed and I proved myself to be trust worthy to him" he turned to Axel, "And I wasn't going after one of his sons that was younger than me." He then looked at Riku and sighed,
"I wish the both of you the best of luck." He smirked the looked at the clock,
"Well if we are going to be imposing ourselves on them we might as well be on time."
He packed away his work grabbed his coat and car keys and headed for the door, Axel and Riku followed Zexion to the car. Riku called shotgun and Axel piled into the back seat, lounging. The ride over was quiet; Axel stared out the window, 'Country side bleh, why did we have to come here of all places, but then again if we hadn't….' Axel smirked,
"Better get that pedo grin off your face before we get there Ax, don't want to scare Roxas away." Riku sniggered as Axel composed his face. By the time they reached the house they were 5 minutes early, Zexion parked the car and got out the others following again. Zexion knocked on the door; a black haired kid popped her head round the corner of the house and shouted "Mom! There's three boys at the door!" she came about and walked towards them, she stared up at them then smiled widely, "I'm Yuffie" she pointed to herself, "Who are you?" She then pointed to the three boys, before they got a chance to answer a tall black haired lady came round the side of the house with Demyx, he patted the small girl on the head,
"This is Zexion, Riku and Axel," he pointed to each boy in turn.
"Ohh" Yuffie looked at them then jumped on Demyxs back and said, "Come on then the Barbeque wont wait forever you know."
The black haired lady smiled, "Don't mind my daughter, she's just happy to be here with her cousins."
"Yeah come on guys foods awaitin", Demyx grinned and walked back around the house. The group rounded the house to see Leon at a huge barbeque and the boys plus Cloud Stacking wood up for a bonfire; Namine and Kairi were helping Leon at the barbeque. They received greetings from everyone and once food had been served everyone went off to sit in a group on the outside decking that had cushions and bean bags spread all over it, the adults sat in the house with the French doors open. Once everyone had finished and the sun was setting, Leon came out with a bottle of lighter fluid and some matches, he put some kindling together in a little heap in the bonfire and lit it with the matches, and sprayed some lighter fluid over parts of the bonfire, it was soon a roaring fire and the kids sat and watched it as it burned. By now Sora and Riku were so close Sora was practically on his lap,
"Hey Riku come with me I wanna show you something" whispered Sora, he took Rikus hand and led him over towards a small stone angel that had flowers round it, it was situated a little way from the bonfire and out of sight of the living room.
"What is it Sora?"
"This is a memorial to our mom, she died seven years ago today." Sora smiled sadly at the angel, Riku frowned,
"Sorry Sor." He rubbed Soras back.
"We scattered her ashes out over the fields so its like she's watching over us," he looked up at Riku, "I wanted you to see this, its like your meeting her, I bet she'd like you a lot, my mom was great, probably the best ever." Sora beamed at Riku who smiled back, he laced his fingers into Soras as they sat down in front of the angel, Riku noticed it had a smile on its face, he smiled back.
Roxas watched as Sora had lead Riku over to the little stone angel, he suddenly felt sad, the warm energy in his chest ached to howl, he looked up at the moon, he felt his eyes blur. Sora led Riku back over to the group and they sat down, still holding hands. Roxas slipped silently away from the group and walked to his seat under the willow tree, he always felt like this when the anniversary of his mothers death came around, as he walked away green eyes followed him, Axel frowned slightly. Once Roxas was seated under his tree he looked across the large pond, remembering how his mother used to read him books under this tree how she used to make up stories about proud brave wer who travelled the earth having adventures and being free. He felt a tear run down his cheek, he didn't bother to stop it, he looked down at his right wrist and saw the bracelet his mum had made him, its was light, dark and tan leather woven together in a braid with little metal charms placed on it every so often,
"To keep you safe Roxas, please wear it always." The sentence reverberated round his head, his mothers voice soothing the ache in his chest, he really missed her.
"Hey Rox, you ok?"
Roxas looked around to see Axel sitting next to him, staring into his eyes, face full of concern,
"Not really." Roxas half choked out.
Axel put his arm around Roxas's shoulder and pulled him over to lean on him.
"I heard from Sora today is the anniversary of your moms death, sorry man." He rubbed Roxas's shoulder; Roxas leaned into Axel's side, letting the tears slide down his face silently. Axel started to run his fingers through Roxas's hair, trying to sooth him. Roxas hummed slightly at the motions,
"Want me to stop..."
Roxas shook his head, "Nah its fine, I don't mind." His voice was low, he was glad he didn't sound choked up. Roxas looked over at his family, having fun, chatting, they knew to leave Roxas be when he was like this, but they still worried.
"What did she look like, your mom I mean", Axel asked.
"She was really pretty, she had long brown hair, always back in a long braid and greeny blue eyes, and she had a thing for pink." Roxas laughed, "I take after my dad the most, Aunt Tifa says I look just like how he did when he was my age, but I'm less antisocial as he was, he met my mom and changed, he's smile more and actually talked to people, he was happy, then when she died he hardly spoke, then he met Leon, he was smiling again, back to his old self."
"My dad left me and my mom behind, wanted to see the world, he never really wanted a kid, then my mom met my step dad, I hated him when I first met him but then I saw how happy he made my mom, he was ok when I got to know him." Axel smiled down at Roxas, and then leaned he head on Roxas's.
"What's your mom like then?"
"She's got bright red hair and green eyes, I take right after her, but she tells me I have my dads face." He huffed and Roxas laughed. Green eyes met blue again, Axel leant down, his face was an inch from Roxas's, which was now slightly pink,
"You look better when you smile, you know that?"
Roxas felt axels breath sweep over his face; he was red cheeked now,
"I… I do now", he whispered.
Axel leant forward and his lips met Roxas's. He only put a small pressure on the soft lips below his then he felt Roxas kiss back, he pulled away and smiled at Roxas.
"Smile for me Rox."
Roxas's blush was ebbing away and he smiled slightly. Axel leaned in again and kissed Roxas harder, moving his lips a bit. After a minute he pulled back and grinned at Roxas who was staring out over the large pond with a small smile on his face, Axel kissed Roxas's temple and received a light punch on the leg, he laughed.
"You better keep your lips to your self, don't want my dads catching kissing me.
"Ah so does that mean you actually want me to kiss you again then?" Axels eyebrows rose and he grinned and Roxas went red
"What, n-no, what makes you think that you pedo!"
Axel laughed, "Why that cute blush on your face and how your still here with me and not storming off."
"Easily fixed." Roxas got up and walked off towards the others, he turned to Axel, "You coming then? They're about to get the marshmallows going." He grinned at Axel who got up and walked after Roxas. They sat down as Tifa brought out 5 bags of marshmallows and 10 skewers,
"Nobody try to stab anyone else or I'll kick your ass" she smiled sweetly.
They sat around the bonfire toasting their mallows; Axel was sitting close to Roxas trying to make him drop his marshmallow. Around the other side Sora was giggling to a story Riku was telling him, Yuffie was having a contest with Kairi and Namine, Demyx was playing his guitar as Zexion held two skewers, he looked around the circle and rolled his eyes.
At half 9 Axel, Riku and Zexion made their home and the occupants of the strife house were getting ready for a run. Roxas found a private place and bent down on all fours to change, the warm ball of energy seemed to move around in joy. For the second time that day Roxas felt his muscles moving and bones stretching, feet and hands turning to paws, the energy in his chest warming more and more. He shook his head and made his way to the others, he gave a wolfish grin, his tongue lolling. Yuffie ran over and nipped playfully at his ear, she had to jump, as he was nearly a foot higher off the ground than she was, he heard huffs of impatience from the others.
-Everyone ready, all stretched? I don't want to have to carry anyone back because they pull a muscle, Sora? -
Sora bowed his head,
-Yeah yeah, I warmed up this time sheesh, it happens once and no one lets you forget it-
-Come on! Lets move, lets move- Yuffie was excitedly nudging Roxas hind leg. –MOVE! -
-Alright lets go-
Roxas pushed off, nails digging into the earth, muscles moving, legs working in harmony, pushing him faster and faster. He felt Tifas presence beside him, then Clouds and Leons, only the parents seemed to be able to keep up with him, they reached the top of the hill in no time, Roxas was panting happily, Sora barrelled into him and they wrestled with each other, Roxas won, pinning his brother to the floor by the back of his neck.
-Ok ok Rox you win- laughed Sora. Roxas let him up licking where his teeth had punctured his bothers neck. He looked round to see the Leon and Cloud running along net to each other, The girls all careening around, Larxene snapping at Yuffie when she bit her tail, Demyx appeared out of nowhere and leaped at Roxas who sidestepped his attack and sent him flying onto Sora, they wrestled. Roxas threw back his head and let out an almighty howl of joy, sadness and energy it was a way of saying hi to his mom. The others joined in, they all howled at the full moon.
Axel turned and stared out the open window, was that howling he heard?
"What's that?" Riku came and stood next to him.
"Sounds like wolves to me," "You're shitting me!?!"
Zexion smiled out his window, he picked out one melodious howl from the rest and said, and "They sound like they're having fun."
The other two stared at him, eyebrows raised.
Wow this chapter was long…. Hope you enjoyed and till the next time!!
Laterz.