Okay my wonderful readers, here is chapter four! This is the first date between Axel and Roxas and you get to hear a little about Roxas and Cloud's past so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

Roxas

Where does Axel take me to first? Well he decides that we should eat and he drags me to a somewhat fancy restaurant, which I hadn't expected at all. I didn't want him to be using a whole load of money on this date so I try to dissuade him but he's stuck on this place so now I'm stuck trying to pick out the least expensive thing on the menu.

Axel's resting his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist. He smiles wryly as he watches me scan the menu. "I never thought you were so picky Roxy."

I sigh and close the menu, putting it down. "You clearly know somehow what's here, so tell me what the cheapest thing is and I'll get it."

He shakes his head. "That's not the point of a date. I asked you out so I'm allowed to spend however much money I please on you."

"Still, it makes me feel like you're trying to buy me." I complain as I sink back into the chair and fold my arms.

"Why would I try to buy you? I get people to fall for my charms remember?"

I scoff. "Look, Axel, I don't know how much money you, Reno, Demyx, and Zexion make, and I don't want you to take pity on me or anything, but Cloud and I don't have a whole lot of money and I don't like to pay obscene amounts of money for anything, even when someone else is paying."

"How can you and Cloud be poor when you own such a huge house?" Axel questions confused.

"My parents bought the house before they even had Cloud so the mortgage has been paid off by now and it's just easier to stay here." I answer.

"I see. Well you could just get bread and water then." He suggested.

I raise an eyebrow and open my menu again. "You're no help."

"Roxas, it's my treat and I'm telling you that you can get whatever you want." He argues.

I groan and drop the menu onto the table, bringing my hands up to my eyes and rubbing them. "Okay, truth be told, I'm kind of nervous. This is my first date ever."

Axel smirks. "There you go. Don't worry about it babe, just let me take the lead."

I drag my hand down my face. "You take the lead with everything anyways so feel free."

He laughs. "Just pick something to eat already so you don't hold the whole restaurant up."

I laugh sarcastically as I decide on something and the waiter comes and takes our order. I've never been to a restaurant before, so I find the wait for our food rather tedious. Once it comes though, I happily dig in and find that it tastes really good.

Axel watches me eat, barely touching his own food. I glare at him and put my fork down. "What?"

He chuckles and shakes his head. "I'm still just trying to figure you out. It's really been bugging me, how you mentioned that Sephiroth knows where you and Cloud have been this whole time. I'm trying to decide what you mean by that."

I look down at my food and pick up my fork again, but now my stomach is unsettled and I simply end up forking my food.

"You know, I told you about my past. I'm not going to force you, but you could go as far as you like." He says.

"Are we seriously talking about this in the middle of a restaurant where people will think we're crazy?" I ask.

He sighs and starts eating again. "I guess you're right, just promise you'll tell me even a little. Demyx, Zexion, and I can't protect you from Sephiroth if we don't know anything about what happened with him before."

I notice that he hadn't mentioned Reno, but I choose to ignore it. "Fine, but thanks for making me lose my appetite." I complain bitterly.

He smiles and picks up a chunk of noodles in his fork from my plate. "Alright, open your mouth."

I growl at him and stubbornly shut my mouth. I am not going to sink so low as to let him feed me! I should have drawn the line at all of the derogatory nicknames, not that he's going to quit calling me 'Roxy', 'Foxy Roxy', 'Babe', or 'Baby' anytime soon even if I clearly tell him that I don't want him to.

He raises an eyebrow and leans across the table, cupping my face in one hand and kissing me on the lips. In my surprise, my lips part and he pulls away, quickly shoving his fork into my mouth. His cocky smile returns and he pulls his fork away as I glare at him and chew.

As soon as I swallow, I shake my head. "I still don't know why I agree to this date. And don't say it's because of your 'charm'."

"Fine, that kiss just proved it." He leans back satisfactorily.

My face heats up. "W-What do you mean?"

"You agreed because you really do like me, no matter how much you pretend that you don't." He concludes.

I let out a breath of air and blow my bangs back, digging my fork back into my food. "Maybe if you weren't such a jerk half the time then I would admit it."

"I wouldn't be Axel though if I wasn't a jerk." He winks at me.

"Maybe you could at least stop with the 'Roxy' and the 'Foxy Roxy' then?" I try, hoping and pleading that it will work.

"Aw, but those are such cute nicknames Foxy Roxy." He pouts.

I roll my eyes. "Again, you're pushing it Ax."

"You know, Demyx calls me Axey, you could call me that." He offers.

"Nah, I'm not going to just to piss you off. See how you like it." I say, hoping it will work.

"Good luck with that. You would never be able to piss me off with anything you say."

"Wow Axel that sounded really kind of lovesick. That's profound for you." I remark.

"Good to know that I can impress my Roxy."

I frown at the possessiveness in that sentence. "And that's another step back."

His mouth suddenly drops open. "What! Why! What did I do!"

I snicker and begin to eat again. "I'll let you suffer to figure it out."

Axel spends the rest of dinner trying to figure out what he's done wrong this time and even afterwards, he's still racking his brain trying to think of it. He's not lost in his thoughts like I've seen him before though and he leads me to the park for the remainder of our date. We sit on the swings like last time.

"Okay, so I'm going to take a break from trying to figure out what I did wrong while you tell me what you feel like telling me." He orders.

I sigh. "Fine…" I trail off, half hoping he's going to decide to do something other than listen to my painful childhood, half thinking about exactly what happened myself.

"Roxas?"

I snap out of my thoughts and look at Axel, who's looking… concerned I guess. "Yeah?"

"If you don't want to tell me, then just give me an idea of… Well, anything that might help." He says softly.

I feel a little less pressured at that. "Well, I guess my parents knew I was different when I was born. They were completely normal, but they still knew the supernatural world well. They were friends with Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos and they introduced Cloud and me to Zack through them. After my parents died, they kind of took over caring for us and they covered some child support costs and whatnot. Cloud asked them to turn him into an angel so he could protect me better, and they did. I only found out after and I hated him for the longest time for doing something so stupid."

Tears are forming in my eyes now and I have to break off the story. I rub my eyes and take a few deep breaths. Axel rests an assuring and comforting hand on my shoulder.

Angeal and Genesis are archangels and they had been good friends with Sephiroth before he became what he is now. How my parents knew them to begin with, they won't tell me.

I calm down some and Axel's hand moves from my shoulder to take my hand in his. "I tried to convince them to turn me into an angel too, but they wouldn't no matter how much I begged. I guess I just got mad at everyone after that."

"I'm sorry about everything, but it still doesn't tell me anything about Sephiroth." Axel reminds me.

I nod. "I know. That's the part I like talking about the least. I guess, whatever is different about me, Sephiroth sensed it too. Apparently he visited my parents the night I was born, trying to get them to give me to him with whatever deals he could come up with, but they still refused. I guess you would know that he always gets his way though. He came four years later and killed them."

I see his eyes widen out of the corner of my eyes. "Roxas, I-I'm so sorry." He apologises.

He stands and moves out in front of me, pulling me off of the swing and into a hug. I hesitate a moment before I hug him back, burying my face in his shoulder. I've always hated this story, no matter how many times I told it, it never got any easier. That's not even all of it, and I can tell that Axel knows that.

He pulls back, resting his forehead against mine. "Rox, I promise that I'm not going to let Sephiroth hurt you anymore. I'll do whatever it takes to destroy him."

I pull back slightly and shake my head. "You know you can't, he's too strong."

"I don't care. Everyone has a weak spot; I've just got to find it. I'll do anything for you Roxas. I love you."

I freeze up at the statement. He didn't really just say that. I completely pull away this time and take a few steps back. "Ax, you don't mean that."

He looks bewildered. "Of course I do Roxas."

"We met like, three days ago. You barely know me. You can't just throw those three words around so lightly." I say harshly, partially because my own heart is aching.

"Trust me, after living for two centuries, I know what those three words mean." Axel protests.

"But you don't know how to use them." I argue.

His face grows slightly cold. "What are you going to do then? Ignore the feelings I know you have?" He asks bitterly.

"No." I pause and then let out a sigh and continue. "I'm just trying to make sure both of us don't get hurt. Love is something you feel after you know a person completely even without knowing everything about them. We don't have that yet Axel."

He studies me for a moment, neither of us breaking our gaze. "You're really serious about that."

I snort and turn away, ready to leave. I get that he's not that broken up about his family dying, but I am. I feel him grab my wrist and he stops me.

"I didn't mean it like that," He states apologetically, "I guess you're right though. I know it's hard to trust people, but I know in my heart that I love you, and nothing is ever going to change that, no matter what you or anyone else says."

I pull my hand away lightly and turn back to face him. "I don't want us to be completely oblivious going into this. Just give it some time, like a normal relationship."

"Okay, I can respect that." He agrees nodding.

I let out a silent sigh. "Okay, good. We should probably get home."

He looks at his watch and nods tiredly. I can feel that this isn't the way he was expecting the date to go. He takes my hand and leads the way back to the car. The whole ride home, I'm wondering if I really did do the right thing when I know that I feel the same way and always will.

Axel dropped me off and the entire walk up my driveway and into the house, I couldn't look back at him. I close the front door as silently as possible and try to sneak upstairs, but realise when I feel a gust of air behind me that I haven't managed to be as discreet as I had hoped. I freeze on the fourth step and turn around, my hand resting on the railing. Cloud and Zack are standing at the bottom of the staircase, looking up at me with discernable expressions.

"How was your date?" Cloud asks.

"It was… fine." I reply, keeping it safe.

"Just fine? Did he do anything?" Zack asks.

My face twists into disgust. "God Zackary, no!" I stomp upstairs, feeling angrier than I should. I also feel bad for yelling at Zack but that's beside the point.

I get to my door before I can sense Cloud at the top of the stairs. "Roxas?" He speaks cautiously but firmly to get my attention.

I sigh and turn to face him. "What?"

"What happened that's bugging you?" He asks with concern.

I look down to avoid his gaze. "He told me that he loves me."

"What!" I hear Zack's yell at the same time as Cloud's. My brother briefly glances back at the stairs and then turns back to me. "What did you say back?" He asks.

"I told him that it's way too early to feel that way for both of us and that we should get to know each other better first."

He smiles, like he's proud of me, but probably a bit of that pride is his own since he's assured now that Axel and I won't be doing anything for a long time, surely long enough for him and Zack to attempt to break us up. "That's a smart decision Rox."

"It doesn't feel like it." I mumble.

He frowns at that. "You mean you already like him back?"

"Sort of." I reply.

His eyes bug out. "You love him back?"

I hesitate, briefly wondering if he'll search Axel out to kill him or he'll put me under house arrest. After my mind makes itself up, I decide that a nod of my head is good enough.

He lets out a breath and runs his hand through his air. "Well, I'm glad you're going to wait to make sure."

I nod again. "I'm really tired so I'm going to go to bed."

He pauses, studying me. "Are you feeling alright?"

I feel like breaking down crying but I don't. I don't want Cloud to know how weak I really am. I have to be strong for him. I nod and walk into my room, silently shutting the door. I wait until I hear Cloud walk downstairs before I walk out onto the balcony and close the door, sinking to the ground with my back against the railing and letting tears fall down my cheeks. I didn't think it would hurt so much to say that I didn't love Axel, but now my heart feels like it's been stabbed and the knife just keeps twisting and piercing deeper. I place my hand over my heart and clutch my shirt tightly there, trying to get rid of the pain. I really did do the wrong thing this time.

Zack has such a dirty mind XD but we all love him. Please review and I'll try to update ASAP!