PART FIVE - A Week Later

Getting Kratos and Squall used to life on Earth with the two sisters didn't really take that long. They were more than happy even when doing things they didn't like to do, such as cleaning and fixing up the house. It took them about a week to finish everything to how they wanted it, and by the end, everyone was happy about finishing the entire project. Ran set up the living room to be a full blown entertainment center with that mass of electronic knowledge she learned over the course of her youth. Ash put the finishing touches on almost everything from the bathrooms to the kitchen to decorate them. Squall and Kratos built a patio and gazebo out in the backyard, always finding Ran's homemade sweets and Ash's perfected meals ready when they were done for the day.

"Hey," Ash complained from the living room, "The DVD player is jammed. Sis, I need your electronic powers."

Ran blew her off. "You broke it again?"

"I bought it used. It's not my fault it's ancient," she said. "If I fiddle with it, it'll make it worse. So, dear sister, please. Unless you want me to use the PS2 instead."

The screwdriver flew out of Ran's pocket faster than anyone could blink. "You break this thing again and I'll have to put a few screws in your head to keep your brain intact," she muttered, opening the top of the DVD player. "This piece of shit isn't really worth fixing, and to watch this?"

"I like romance movies," Ash stated flatly. "Just as much as you like movies about heroes with swords."

"Eh," Ran handed her the DVD and checked the gears of the tray. "All right. How the hell did this long blonde hair get stuck in here to jam the gears?"

"The same way this short curly black hair got into the CD player."

"It's that season again," Ran said. "I always shed in the summer time."

"I hear that," Ash said with a nod. "My bed's so full of hair I might as well be sleeping on a wig."

"I bet it's got some short shiny brown hair in there, too."

"Like your pillows aren't stuffed with fluffy red hair."

They both giggled. Life had changed so much since they came.

"What are you giggling about over there?" Squall asked, walking into the living room. After being in the sun so much lately, he had developed quite a tan.

"Oh nothing you should worry about," Ash said with a wink. "Girl stuff."

Ran handed her the DVD player. "There, it's fixed now. Now, I haven't worked on my homework since we started renovating this damn house. I'm really behind. Let me finish it, and then we can talk about what to do with the last week of my break, okay?"

"Fine," Ash said. "So snap to it."

Her sister made a slight bow, then darted down the hallway toward her room. She sat down at her desk, cracked open her coding book, and lost herself in the hexadecimal equations. "So, that's how this works," she mumbled to herself, getting up while reading, and laying down on her bed. She propped herself up with pillows, then continued to read.

Kratos came to her open door, sticking his head in. "You okay?"

Ran didn't even hear him.

"Ran?"

She turned a page. "Homework. Busy."

He just shrugged. "Fine, then. What you want for dinner?"

"Food," she said.

"Cook for yourself, then," he said, leaving.

"I will," Ran called at him.

Kratos just grumbled, untying the apron he had on his waist and hanging it in the kitchen . "When she gets like that, there's not much I can do," he said to himself, not realizing that Ash was still at the table.

"She said she wanted to finish her homework." Ash replied. "So let her. Ran's been good the last week, so let her indulge. She's the only person I know that could probably OD on reading."

"She's serious about her dream. She won't let anything stop her."

"That's what I like about Ran so much," Ash said with a smile. "She's just that determined."

"It is very admirable," Kratos agreed.

"HOLY HELL!"

Kratos found himself sprinting back to Ran's room, where she sat at her desk. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I've been denied entry for next quarter," Ran said, throwing her book at the wall. "This is my last one! They can't tell me that right before I get my degree in game design that I'm being rejected!" She wasn't sure if she was going to break down and cry or tear the entire room apart. "Another one. I all ready had to make an entire change of heart once."

"Don't take this to heart," Kratos said. "I'm sure if you work something out, you'll be fine."

"I can't do this," she said. "I won't have the credibility to work anywhere without a degree, and those credits are just for that particular school. It's Japan's finest. That degree is what every aspiring game maker wants to get their hands on. You can pretty much get into any company with that. Four years. Four fucking years. I had to learn Japanese just to convince them I was worth taking into their school in the first place." Ran clenched her fists, ready to smash her computer. "I worked too hard to-"

Kratos grabbed her arm. "Calm down," he said gently. "The things the way they are now, you don't really have to work at all. You don't need to go out of your way to get employment."

Ran shook her head. "You think I was going to school for all of that to just get a job? When I could have just got any other job? This isn't about money. It's about what I love to do. It's about being true to myself."

"You shouldn't beat yourself up over this," he said. "You should come and eat, get your mind off of it, and then approach it when you're a bit more level headed and less emotional."

"I know. You're right, but I can't just drop it," she muttered.

"I wouldn't ask you to drop it completely. That's not my intention."

They walked back to the kitchen together to see that Squall had finished his project, which was fixing Ash's car. When Ran walked past him, Squall reached out and ruffled her hair. "Hey, is something wrong with the Electronics Princess?" he asked.

"Nothing I won't get over eventually," she replied.

"That's not what I asked," Squall said. "We're all in this together, and I'll be damned if I let you walk by me with such a sad face. Kratos, what did you do?"

"Actually, it was Kratos that calmed me down," Ran answered, sitting at the table. "I've been denied next quarter."

"Really?" Ash asked in shock. "That's surprising."

"Yeah, I know," Ran grunted. "So close to graduating. That degree was practically on my wall all ready."

"Who denied you? I'll go beat the crap out of him and make him let you back in!" Ash said, making a fist.

"I don't know how it happened, and right now, I'd like you to just drop it. I'll look into the matter once I've calmed down enough to think clearly about it," Ran said. "Right now, we need to think about the most important thing, and that is what else needs to be done with the house?"

"We've done everything," Kratos said from the kitchen. "House is finished, backyard is finished. What more do we need, honestly?"

"I ask because now that it's finished, it's become rather boring," she laughed.

Kratos just shrugged. "Now we live in it, you crazy."

"Some things never change," Ash said.

"You're crazy, too," Squall said behind her.

"Well, what more is there? We have a nice life, we have a nice house, we've got two perfectly willing significant others. It sounds like the perfect happily ever after ending from a fairy tale," Ran said. "I mean, this sounds like the ending of an RPG once the big bad has been defeated. The party gets a normal life and the credits roll. Then in the epilogue, you'll get a few odds and ends quests just to get them adventuring again, but the story never changes much. They say life's a journey, not a destination."

Kratos came out of the kitchen with his apron on, holding a spatula. "It's not over," he said. "There's more adventures to be had."

"But none that will significantly change the story," Ran said again. "Once you have your happy ending, what else is there? Life isn't so easy that you can just start a new game and do it all again."

"Are you unhappy about something?" Squall asked, crossing his arms. "Other than the whole school rejecting thing."

"No, there's nothing to be unhappy about, really," she looked away. "I'm going to go hook up the Playstation again."

"No, we're gonna watch a movie," Ash said. "That's why I asked you to fix the DVD player earlier. You remember."

Ran pushed up her glasses. "Fine then. It's not like I care," she scoffed as Kratos came out with a big bowl of fried rice to put in front of her. "Hey, beef fried rice! You remembered."

"Of course I remembered," Kratos said. "Everyone can help themselves. I made rice."

Ash jumped up at the call. "Homemade Chinese food? Count me in!" She served herself a bowl, then sat down next to her sister. "I can work with that."

"As to what you were saying before," Squall said, also taking a bowl's worth, "Life never runs out of things to do. Just think about it this way. What if you ever have kids?"

"Oh no," Ran said, defiant. "You have to have sex before can you have kids."

Her sister gave her an evil eye. "What do you mean by that?"

Kratos just slowly scooted back into the kitchen to avoid the entire situation.

"Exactly what I said," Ran almost yelled.

Ash grunted. "Kratos," she called into the kitchen, "Is there a problem?"

"No, no," he said, "I have dishes to wash. That's all. All the prep work for Chinese cooking, you know, it has to be washed fast or all the plates will be stained with oil."

"Is my sister not good enough for you or something?" she asked.

"What are you talking about, Ash? I adore your sister very much," Kratos replied carefully.

Ash wanted to burst. "Then what's this about you two not-"

"Don't scold Kratos," Ran commanded. "It's not his fault. It's mine."

"Yours?" Ash asked in shock. "No, you can't tell me you have the man of your dreams at your beck and call and you haven't. You've even slept in the same bed a few nights. I know how much you've told me you love him."

Ran blushed as she said, "Yes, I do love Kratos. That's why I haven't wanted to soil it."

"This is about HIM, isn't it?" Ash grumbled.

"If I must have an excuse, then yes, it is about him," she said, finishing her bowl of rice. "I haven't had the drive since."

"If I knew where he was, I'd gut him alive!"

"But you don't, so drop it."

Squall put his hand on Ash's shoulder. "Let it be," he said quietly. "What they do in the bedroom, or what they don't do as it were, whatever. That's their business. Ran has her wounds, and Kratos isn't super-human, either. I'm sure that they'll heal each other over time. It's not something you can do anything about."

"For being so young, you speak very wisely," Kratos said, stepping back in.

"Oh be quiet, you old fart."

"Kratos isn't old," Ran retorted instantly. "Are you?"

"I'm 28 by Aselian years," he said. "That certifies me as being a fart. Old, though, that I'm not so sure about."

"How many days are in an Aselian calendar?" she asked, digging out a piece of scratch paper. "I'll figure out how old you are in Earth years."

"Around 542, give or take," Kratos answered.

"You're ancient," Ash blurted out. "Think about it. There's only 365 days on the Earth calendar. Now I see the problem. Ran, you're in love with a fossil."

"The more experience he's got, the better it'll be, right?" Ran said, her face red.

"I don't have much of that experience, Ran," he said, sitting down next to her. "I was only ever with one woman, and that ended quickly. My life wasn't really about love. I was almost as hard a worker as you are, my dear."

"That tone," Squall said, trying to keep himself from laughing. "Was that an indirect insult?"

"No," Kratos replied soundly. "It's called sarcasm."

"My life wasn't that geared for love, either," Squall said, quickly regaining his composure. "I was a student at a military academy. The one girl I ever had thoughts about like that, well, she and I didn't get along much. Pushy and dramatic all the time."

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Kratos said with a big smile.

The guys laughed loudly together until the girls whacked them both on the head with their empty rice bowls.

"Maybe the two of us should go do something," Ash said to her sister.

Ran agreed with a nod. "Yeah. You guys can clean up this mess. We're going out back. Excuse us."

Ash and Ran walked out the recently built gazebo before either one of them said anything. It was sturdy and well painted. The handiwork was top-notch. Once Ran sat down on the bench, her sister sat across from her with a very determined look on her face.

"So, you two haven't been affectionate at all, have you?" she asked.

"We have been affectionate. You see us hug all the time. You know how I feel about PDA. I'm not going to make out with him in front of anyone," Ran explained. "I shouldn't have to."

"You don't," Ash said flatly. "But you haven't been affectionate behind closed doors, either."

"I've only known him a week!"

"Week, shmeek. You love Kratos. I know you love him."

"I've admitted to this. Your point?"

"Then why haven't you…"

Ran shook her head. "I don't want to talk about this."

"You should."

She got off the bench and started to walk away. "I'm sorry, I'm not like you in that regard. I don't want to get into the differences between you and me. I was hoping you'd drop it when Squall told you to."

"I'm just concerned," Ash stated honestly. "I'm really not trying to intrude on your privacy or anything."

"But it feels like you are," Ran said.

"You've never cared before."

Ran shook her head. "Maybe Kratos has helped me with that. Because I value the relationship so much, I don't want to ruin it. I don't want to cheapen the bond. I didn't summon him just to get him in bed. The companionship matters more to me. It might be hard for you to understand that, but you'll just have to deal." She started to walk away when she said, "I don't want to be compared to anyone else."

"Is that it?" Kratos asked, standing right in front of her.

"Stay out of this," Ran said.

"Uhh, no, this is just as much my business as it is yours," he said sternly.

"I'd rather you look at me as your child than as your lover," she responded, trying to go past him. "I feel awful that I summoned you. You had a wife and a child. How can I try to take their place?"

Kratos rose his hand as if he wanted to slap her silly, but he stopped himself. "My son was an adult when I left, my wife had been dead for years. You can't take their place. You are you."

"It just feels so wrong to-"

He cut in abruptly, "I seem to remember it being you that gave me the kiss the day this house was built. It was nice. I hadn't felt anything like that in so long, I forgot what it felt like. I never had the chance to have a normal life, ever. Always on the run. Always had to be. When your spirits retrieved me, I was being sent to another world to be in prison. You saved me from that." He stepped closer to her, opening his arms. "I know your reasons were selfish, but I see it as instead of being sent to prison to be punished for all of the things that I'd done wrong in my previous life… I get the chance to live life the way I wanted to. What kind of person would I be not to love the one person that allows me that chance?"

"Kratos, I-"

"Stop putting yourself behind others," he said. "It's getting old."

"I… I don't really know what to say," Ran sighed. "So I'm not going to try."

He walked up to and embraced around her. "Why are you trembling?" he asked quietly. Because she didn't answer his question, Kratos picked her up into his arms. "I'm sorry about this," he called to Ash. "I'll get to the bottom of it one way or another."

"All right," she replied, watching him carry her back in the house as Squall passed them.

"Why do I get the feeling that something is about to explode?" he asked, coming out to the gazebo to sit with Ash. "As if the entire area here is gonna burst."

"It's not the area, it's me," she answered. "I wish I knew where that bastard was that made her like that."

"I told you to let it go."

"I can't just let it go. You know as well as I do I can't drop anything once I get involved with it." Ash said, rubbing her temple. "The problem is that Ran's just starting to finally deal with her emotions on a daily basis because she's been interacting with people more often. A lot of those things she pent up for years she's just now dealing with. Her emotional walls are slowly crumbling, and all because Kratos has been so supportive through the entire ordeal. She froze there because she didn't know what to say or how to say it… I can relate to that."

"My question is, other than that, how are you?" Squall asked, putting an arm around her shoulder.

She shrugged. "I'm better now that you're here."

"That's a good start," he said with a slight chuckle. "But it sounds like a copout answer to me."

"I'm good," Ash insisted. "There, happy now?"

"Yes, thank you for actually answering my question."

"When I think about it, Ran is right about how slow life is. It's nice and peaceful, but it still tends to drag on."

"I like the peace and quiet." Squall said with a smile. "Means I get to do things like this, y'know?"

"The gazebo?"

"Yeah! I'd never done anything like that before. It was a very nice change of pace."

Ash gave him a stare. "Just because my sister isn't going at it doesn't mean I won't," she said, running her finger around the frame of his face and down his neck. "If you catch my drift."

"It's hard not to," he winked at her, gliding his hand down her face. "I know the when, but I need a where."

"Do you see anyone else around?"

"Oh you naughty little girl, you."

Ash smiled, "You have no idea what that means."