"What do you mean, you went on a date?"
Kairi glared at Sora from her spot on her best friend's couch and rolled her eyes, "Exactly what it sounds like. It's four words, Sora, they aren't that difficult to understand."
"You just don't date much." Sora shrugged, "It's a little surprising. With who?"
"Xigbar, from the garage." Kairi shrugged, with a small smile.
"Roxas's boyfriend's roommate's coworker?" Sora asked.
Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Yes."
"Ah." Sora said, "Well, I'm happy for you, I guess."
"What's with the apprehension?" Kairi asked him.
"Just not used to you dating. You haven't in years." Sora shrugged, "And you know, after last time..."
Kairi threw a pillow at him, hitting him in the face with it, "It's been three years, I think I can handle a couple of casual dates."
"Alright." Sora said, "But make sure he knows that I will kick his ass if he tries anything. And I'll get Riku and Roxas to kick his ass AFTER I'm done with him."
Kairi smiled, "I know you will. Thanks."
Sora smiled back at her.
"SORA! DON'T LET HER LEAVE! KAIRIIIIII!" Roxas yelled on the top of his lungs, rushing down the stairs, taking them two at a time and almost breaking his neck before running and skidding into the living room.
"Oh, good..." He panted. "You haven't left yet."
Kairi raised an eyebrow, "What's up, Rox?"
"You owe me, right? I know what I want." Roxas managed to catch his breath and stand up straighter.
"Okay..." Kairi said, "Go on."
"Ah..." Roxas glanced at his brother, blushing lightly. "Maybe you should just come up to my room really quickly..."
Kairi raised an eyebrow, but nodded, standing up, "Be right back."
"Yep." Sora said, "You know, whatever it is, it's not like I'm gonna flip out or anything."
Kairi just threw the other pillow at him and followed Roxas up the stairs.
Roxas led her into his room, closing the door behind them and moving over to his closet door. "You owe me. Just keep that in mind, okay? For Halloween, Axel wants to dress as a magician and he suggested I could dress as his rabbit. So, um... I bought this..." Roxas opened the closet door, revealing an almost playboy-esque bunny outfit hanging alongside a more traditional rabbit outfit.
Face as red as Axel's hair at this point, Roxas said: "I need help dressing up like a... like a slutty bunny. And then I want to hide it under the normal costume so only Axel, and well, you, see the slutty version."
Kairi started to grin, "Oh, I am definitely helping you with this." she said, smirking.
Roxas let out a breath in relief. "Really? Thanks, Kairi!"
Kairi grinned, "No problem. Even if I didn't owe you a favor, I'd still be helping you with this. Fuck, if there's a chance of getting you into a slutty bunny costume?" she laughed, giving Roxas a smile.
Roxas's blush died down a little, but was still obviously there. "Right, so Axel's picking me up on Sunday around 10pm to go to the haunted house with my friends, and then we're going back to his house. How long do you think it'll take to get me ready? I really wanna short-circuit his brain with this costume."
Kairi thought for a minute, "Mind if I take the costumes with me?" she asked, "I'll work on them at home, and then I'll come over here around 8 or 9 to get you ready."
"Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Um, the plastic bag there? I got that stuff, too." Roxas's blush deepened again.
Kairi peeked in the plastic bag and snickered, "Alright. When Xigbar gets here to pick me up, distract Sora and we'll stuff all this stuff in his car. He won't even comment, I promise."
"Okay. Distract him how? Never mind, I'll think of something. Thank you so much, Kairi!" Roxas gave her a hug.
Kairi chuckled, hugging him back, "No problem. I'd better get downstairs before Sora thinks we're plotting his murder or something." she said, as she headed towards the door.
"Right. I'd better come down, too, for when Xigbar gets here. Who is Xigbar, by the way?" Roxas asked, taking the costumes out of his closet and stuffing them into another bag, handing both to Kairi and closing his closet door.
Kairi put them down by the door so that Sora couldn't get a peek and turned to Roxas, "I don't know how to classify him yet. But he's Cloud's coworker at the garage."
"Oh. Right. I probably should have known that. You guys attempting to date, then?" Roxas asked, opening his bedroom door and motioning Kairi out.
Kairi shrugged, walking out, "I guess you could call it that." she said, "I like him, at least, and he at least likes your cooking enough to hang around me." she laughed.
Roxas grinned. "He could get my food anytime from Cloud, now that I'm with Axel, so I don't think he's just hanging with you for that." They made their way back down the stairs and into the living room where Sora was watching TV.
Kairi shrugged, plopping back down into her chair and glancing at the TV. "Really, Sora?"
Sora frowned, "What?"
Kairi just rolled her eyes.
Roxas sat down in the other chair, leg bouncing a little. "You've been hanging out with Riku way too much."
Sora just frowned, tossing a pillow back at Kairi, who caught it instead of letting it smack her in the face.
"Speaking of, where is your other best friend?" Roxas asked.
"Riku's my boyfriend." Sora reminded him without taking his eyes off the screen, "And I don't know, actually."
Kairi glanced at Sora, a little surprised to hear him admit it so bluntly and without any babbling.
"Wow, Sora. I guess I should give you more credit - I wasn't expecting you to so casually admit that." Roxas said, only slightly teasing.
Sora glanced at him this time, and shrugged.
Roxas tilted his head, studying his brother. Suddenly, he broke out into a huge grin. "You're falling for him!"
"We aren't talking about this." Sora said, as the doorbell rang. Kairi laughed at Sora before hopping up to open it.
"Because you hadn't realized it for yourself yet or because it scares the hell out of you? Either way, some brotherly advice: love wouldn't be half as fun if it didn't scare the crap out of you occasionally. Right, Kairi?" Roxas said as Kairi led who he assumed to be Xigbar into the living room.
Sora smacked his brother with the other pillow, hopping up as Kairi laughed at him.
"Hi, I'm Xigbar. Which one of you is Roxas?" Xigbar asked.
"Umm... That's me." Roxas said, standing as well.
"You, sir, are a genius. Cloud's roommate is one lucky bastard." Xigbar grinned.
"Thanks." Roxas smirked. "I like him, Kairi. He has good taste, if he likes us both."
Kairi rolled her eyes, refusing to flirt with Xigbar when Sora was in the room. "Well, since you know Roxas now, Xigbar, this is my best friend Sora, Sora, this is Xigbar."
Xigbar put his arm around Kairi. "Nice to meet ya."
Sora chuckled, "Don't worry, I knew her when she was in diapers, I pose no threat to your relationship unless you do something stupid." Giving Xigbar a look, he added, "But if you do something stupid, you probably won't live long enough to regret it." he said completely seriously.
Kairi grabbed one of the pillows off the couch and chucked it at him, "How is it that you manage to do the 'overprotective brother' thing for me, but me or your boyfriend has to do it for your actual brother?"
"Yeah! What, you don't care if Axel murders me?" Roxas asked.
Xigbar chuckled. "He won't if he wants to keep eating like a king every night. Damn, lucky bastard."
Roxas glared at him. "What do I look like, a housewife or some kind of magical food maker?"
"Whoa, calm down!" Xigbar said, palms raised in surrender. "Please don't cut me off from the goodness that is your cooking."
Kairi chuckled, dragging Xigbar towards the stairs, "Excuse us for a moment." she said, giving Roxas a look to remind him why she'd bothered bringing Xigbar inside in the first place and leaving the living room, dragging Xigbar behind her.
Sora blinked.
"Sora! I need your opinion." Roxas said, turning to block him with his body.
"On?" Sora asked, "What's with the mood swing? Are you sick or something?"
Roxas snorted. "You've been my brother for how long and your not used to the mood swings yet? Anyway, I need to know... what should I get Axel for Christmas?"
"Christmas is months away." Sora said, "What is going on?"
"Fine, you caught me. Have you kissed Riku yet? Or are you still reeling from the whole I'm-in-love-with-him revelation?" Roxas asked.
Sora grabbed a pillow off the couch, smacking him with it, "I said we weren't talking about that right now." he grumbled, walking towards the kitchen.
"Wait! C'mon, have you ever kissed a guy? No, right? You don't want to freak when you eventually get the courage to let him kiss you, right? I hereby offer my services as your method of practice. It's better than a pillow, at least." Roxas said desperately, holding Sora's wrist tightly to keep him from leaving the room.
Sora stared at his brother for a minute, "KAIRI, I THINK ROXAS IS MENTAL OR SOMETHING!" He shouted up the stairs.
Kairi's head appeared at the top of the stairs and she threw a beer can down to Sora, "Well, that's not new, Sora. Get yourself drunk, it'll all go away." She vanished again.
Sora stared at where she had been a minute ago, and then glanced back at Roxas. "You know what, I'm just going to go for a walk, I think. Maybe Namine can make everything make sense again."
"Yes! That's great. Good idea. I'll just, um, walk you out. Yeah. KAIRI, WE'LL BE BACK IN A FEW, DON'T LOCK US OUT! Great, let's go!" Roxas practically dragged Sora to the front door.
Sora just let Roxas drag him, incredibly confused and wondering if he'd fallen asleep while Kairi and Roxas were upstairs and was dreaming all of this.
"Kairi? Mind telling me what's going on? It doesn't sound good down there." Xigbar said from outside of Roxas's bedroom, which apparently he wasn't allowed to enter.
"Roxas is an absolutely horrible liar and I should've sent him up here with you to take care of this and distracted Sora myself." Kairi answered, opening the door and handing Xigbar a bag, "We need to sneak this stuff out of the house and eventually get it back to mine. Roxas needs help with a costume." she didn't elaborate, grabbing a bag of her own and glancing around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything.
"All right then. What costume?" He asked, attempting to peek into his bag.
Kairi smacked his hand away, "Not allowed to tell you. This is the favor Roxas asked for in exchange for your blueberry pie, so don't complain." she smiled, "And thank you for helping me smuggle this out."
"Mhmm, pie... It was so good... Okay, you have my word I won't look. But that reminds me, what're you dressing up as, Red?" Xigbar asked with a smirk. "Wonder woman maybe?"
Kairi gave Xigbar a look, but spoke, "I have no idea. I don't have Halloween plans, so I'm probably dressing up as lazy-Kairi-in-her-PJs-on-the-couch-watching-movies-with-her-sister. Sora's got plans with Riku, so neither of us has something to do. Unless Nam made plans and didn't tell me."
"You should come hang out at my place, then, and we can watch movies and terrorize children. Well, I'll be watching the gorgeous view you provide, especially if I get to see you in your pjs. Sleepwear is so hot." Xigbar smirked.
Kairi gave him a look, "Well, I don't actually own any attractive 'sleepwear', so you'll have to settle for what I do own." she rolled her eyes, "But sure, I'd love to come over. Come on, let's get this stuff out of here before Roxas runs out of ways to distract Sora."
Xigbar chuckled. "You got it, Sass. Should I start humming the Mission Impossible theme song and roll down the stairs?"
"I absolutely dare you to do that." Kairi said, grinning, "I'll cook for you if you do that. It won't be as good as Roxas's, but it's food and it's free." she smirked.
Xigbar nodded once. "Right. You're evil and sarcastic. And gorgeous. Damn, Red, when'll you marry me again?" He started down the stairs without a reply, shaking his head.
Kairi rolled her eyes and hurried after him, stopping once she'd caught up, "I'll still cook for you." she said with a smile, before skipping ahead to get the bags in Xigbar's car.
"You're a goddess." Xigbar groaned, trailing after her, smirking at the blonde - Roxas - as he questioned Kairi.
"Are you sure you got everything? Sora went to your house. Thank god Namine is home. I managed to covertly ask her to stall him there by any means necessary. You might want to call her." Roxas gushed.
Kairi chuckled, "We got everything, don't worry." she smiled, "I'll thank Namine later. Ready?" she glanced at Xigbar.
"Sure, Red. Let's go. Nice to meet ya in the flesh, Roxas." Xigbar smiled and climbed into his car.
"Thank you thank you thank you! I really really hope we can pull this off." Roxas said, hugging Kairi again. He was full of nervous energy now that it was out of his hands. He was really doing this. Oh god.
Kairi laughed, putting her hands on Roxas's shoulders, "Calm down, kid. It'll be fine." she said, "I'll see you on Halloween, if not earlier." she said, smiling at him before climbing into Xigbar's car as well.
"Right. You'll do great. It'll be fine. I think I need to bake something now. Send Sora home whenever, okay?" Roxas waved and dashed into his house.
"Is he always that hyper?" Xigbar asked.
"He's practically a girl." Kairi laughed, "He goes through mood swings more than me or my sister. So, no, but when he's hyper, he doesn't do it halfway." she smiled, "Thanks again for helping out."
"Huh. Maybe his boyfriend doesn't have it made, then. And no problem, sweet cheeks, I love helping cute damsels in distress such as yourself." Xigbar winked, starting the car.
Kairi rolled her eyes, smiling at him again.
"Uh, Red? Where we going?" He asked, pulling away from the curb.
"I was going to suggest my house, but Sora's there right now, so..." she frowned, "I have no idea."
Xigbar chuckled. "Let's go kick him out, then. And maybe you can convince him he's not crazy, 'cause from the yelling, I've decided I don't want to be in any position to have to be 'distracted' by Roxas."
Kairi laughed, "Sure. And then I can make you dinner, since I sort of promised." she smiled, "Plus, Namine will want to meet you."
"Sounds good, Sassy. Point the way." Xigbar grinned.
XXXX
Namine heard the door open and walked over to see Kairi leading someone else inside. Ignoring the stranger for the moment, she said: "Kairi, why was Sora just over here convinced that either he's dreaming or you and Roxas are conspiring against him?"
"Because Roxas is horrible at distractions." Kairi shrugged.
"Why did you leave him to distract Sora?" Namine asked.
"Want me to get those bags?" Xigbar asked Kairi.
"I'm sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Namine." Namine smiled.
"Xigbar. I'll be right back, Sass." Xigbar headed back to the car to grab the bags.
Kairi turned to smile at Xigbar before turning back to her sister, "Because Roxas called in a favor, so I had to sneak something out of his house and into Xigbar's car without Sora noticing." she shrugged, "It's not a big deal, and I'm sure you'll notice me working on it over the next couple of days."
"Do you want help? And who is the guy? Is he the same Xigbar working on our car?" Namine asked.
"It's only two bags, I'm sure he's fine." Kairi said, glancing at the door, "XIG, DO YOU NEED ANY HELP?"
"Cool your britches! I'm right behind you, no need to break my eardrums with that lovely voice of yours, Red." Xigbar said, holding the two bags.
Kairi grinned at him, "Sorry about that." she smiled, "Thanks for grabbing the bags."
"No problem. You gonna introduce me to your sister or show me where to put these? Either way, let's get outta the doorway, Sass." Xigbar said with a grin.
"Well, you kind of already did the introductions thing." Kairi reminded him, but stepped out of the doorway and into the house anyway, "You can just put the bags down wherever," she smiled.
"Namine, wasn't it? Where should I put Roxas's mystery bags, since your sister is currently no help to me?" Xigbar asked with a dramatic sigh.
Namine fought the urge to giggle. "Straight through there is the kitchen - on the table will be fine, thank you."
Xigbar nodded, heading in that direction. "Don't miss me too much when I'm gone, okay, Sassy?"
As soon as he was gone, Namine grinned and whispered, "Are you two dating?"
Kairi smiled, "Sort of?" she asked, "It's not official or anything, but we went on a date, so..."
Namine nodded as Xigbar wandered back in.
"Admit it, you were lost without me." He demanded, slinging his arm around Kairi and grinning at her.
Kairi rolled her eyes, "You and that inflated ego of yours." she said, poking him in the chest, "I'll go get started on dinner. Try not to make Namine's head explode." she said, shrugging out of Xigbar's arm and heading for the kitchen to start cooking.
"Well, let's sit in the living room, shall we?" Namine gestured and Xigbar followed her, both sitting down.
"Are you dating my sister?" Namine asked seriously.
"I like you, cut straight to the point. Yeah, I like to think I am. I plan on taking her out on many, many dates. Actually, you should probably know I'm going to marry her." Xigbar said, for once completely serious.
Namine blinked, not having expected that for an answer. "You are, are you? Have you talked to her about that? How well do you even know each other?"
"That's why I said that part about lots of dates. Relax, I'm not going to hurt your sister. She's amazing. I could fall for her." Xigbar said.
Namine studied him hard for a moment before smiling. "All right. But hurt her and you'll have a lot of people after you."
"Don't I know it." Xigbar muttered.
Namine laughed. "So, how old are you? What do you do?"
"I'm 24 and I'm a mechanic at the Rusty Wrench. Me and Cloud just fixed your car." Xigbar said with a smirk.
"Thank you. For fixing the car and for answering the questions. I'm going to go upstairs now because I have a paper due tomorrow that I need to work on, and you're going to help my sister cook." Namine said, standing.
"I am, huh?" Xigbar asked, smiling and standing as well.
"Yes, you are. Because she won't be expecting it and because it'll make her happy. I'm helping you. Now, go." Namine smiled and left, quietly heading up the stairs.
Xigbar shook his head. "Could they be more different?" He muttered before sauntering into the kitchen.
Kairi glanced over as he walked in, and smiled, "Hello. I thought you were talking to Namine."
"So did I, but she has a paper due tomorrow or something. I'd rather be spending my time with you, anyways, Red." Xigbar grinned.
Kairi chuckled, "Alright, then." she said, turning back to her cooking, "Did Namine interrogate you?"
"Mhmm, she was scarier than Sora!" Xigbar shuddered. "Whatcha cooking?" He moved behind Kairi to watch her work over her shoulder.
"Pasta, so I hope you like Italian food." Kairi said, glancing up to study his face.
Xigbar grinned and took a chance, leaning down a little to kiss her on the cheek. "I love Italian. God, Red, you're killing me here."
Kairi grinned at him, turning back to stir the contents of the pot in front of her.
"All right, what can I do to help?" Xigbar asked.
Kairi raised an eyebrow, "You wanna help?"
"Well as much as I'd love to just stand here basking in the glory that is your beauty, I figure the least I can do is offer my humble services as your kitchen-slave." Xigbar said, resisting the urge to smile.
Kairi giggled, "If you could grab the bag of rolls from the freezer and turn the oven on to what the directions say, that would be great."
"Yes, ma'am! I live to serve!" Xigbar opened the freezer, easily finding the rolls and reading the directions, preheating the oven. "What now, my mistress?"
Kairi rolled her eyes at him, "I'm just waiting for the pasta to be done, so there's actually nothing you can do right now. But keeping me company is help enough." she smiled at him.
"You got it, boss lady." Opening the roll package, he placed them on the tray on top of the oven before setting the timer and shoving them inside. Grinning, he stepped to where Kairi was standing and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind. "You smell good, Red."
Kairi leaned back into him, relaxing, "You smell quite nice yourself." she said with a smile.
"How about we just stay here for an eternity or two?" Xigbar mumbled, burying his face into her hair and inhaling. God, it was strawberries and vanilla and flowers and the ocean and everything else he'd ever loved and most of all, Kairi.
Kairi didn't say anything, and just relaxed quite contently in Xigbar's arms, leaning against him.
They stood that way until the oven went off and Xigbar reluctantly let go in order to pull the rolls out of the oven. "How much longer on the pasta, Sassy? I'm getting hungry!"
Kairi laughed, looking down at the pasta and stirring it, "About two minutes." she said. "Think you can survive until then?"
"I'll try. For you, my princess. Hmm, queen? Goddess? Goddess. I like that one. Which do you prefer, Red?" Xigbar asked.
Kairi rolled her eyes, "You can call me whatever affectionate names you like, as long as you don't compare my cooking to Roxas's."
"Roxas is the god of desserts. You are the goddess of everything else, and that's way more important, don't you think? Where are the plates, Sass? I'll set the table. Should I yell up to your sister, too?" Xigbar asked.
"Second cabinet on the left." Kairi gestured, "And sure, if you want to. Depends on how engrossed in her paper she is, I think."
Going out into the hallway, Xigbar stood at the bottom of the stairs. "NAMINE! DINNER!"
A door opened and Namine's head appeared around the corner at the top of the stairs. "You two eat, I'm in the middle and would rather not stop." She disappeared, and her door closed behind her.
Xigbar went back to the kitchen, grabbing plates for two. "Your sister's in the middle, so she's not coming down." He took the plates and the now-cooled down rolls to the table, shoving Roxas's mystery bags out of the way.
Kairi poured the pasta out into a bowl, pouring some sauce that she'd reheated onto it and stirring it up.
"Just letting you know, Roxas made the sauce, so don't judge my cooking on that, since all I did was reheat it." Kairi said, grabbing a spoon to serve the pasta with and walking over to the table and putting the bowl of pasta down.
"I'll do that." Xigbar said, taking the serving spoon from her and scooping out the servings as well as offering her the plate of rolls before taking one for himself and sitting down.
Then he stood right back up. "What would you like to drink, Red?"
"There's soda and stuff in the fridge." Kairi said, "If you could grab me a root beer, that'd be great."
"Sure thing." Xigbar grabbed two cans, resuming his seat. "Okay, here's the test." He dramatically took a large bite and hummed in appreciation. "This is damn good."
Kairi smiled, "I'm glad you like it." She took a bite of her own.
"Of course I like it! You're actually a better cook than me, I'm not afraid to admit. Don't underestimate yourself, Red, because from where I'm sitting I can't find a single flaw." Xigbar smiled.
Kairi smiled a little, kind of embarrassed, "Thanks."
"Aw, are you blushing?" Xigbar teased.
Kairi rolled her eyes at him, throwing a roll at his face, "Of course not. So, how's my car?"
Xigbar easily caught the roll, used to Cloud throwing much heavier and potentially lethal things at his head. "I didn't tell you - it's done. After we finish, I can take you to pick it up, if you want."
"Sure, that sounds great." Kairi smiled, "Thanks again."
"No problem, I should be thanking you. If you didn't take such crap care of your car, I would've never met you. Did it hurt, by the way?" Xigbar asked.
Kairi raised an eyebrow, "Did what hurt?" she asked, amused.
Xigbar smirked. "When you fell from heaven."
Kairi just rolled her eyes at him, "Only a little. You were there to catch me."
Xigbar laughed. "Sassy, you are going to keep me on my toes, huh? I love a good challenge."
Kairi smirked at him, "Well, I hope you're up for it, then."
"Every day of the week and twice on Sundays." Xigbar grinned.
Kairi laughed.
XXXX
I can't explain to ya'll how much I love Xigbar. I just… love him. (I don't write him anymore, so I'm allowed to say this.) Also, I'm only a little sorry for this entire chapter being over 4000 words of Kairi and Xigbar. But really, if you didn't already like them, I hope you do now. We give them a break next chapter, I think.
-doesn't actually know-
See you guys Saturday. Well, not really SEE, and I won't be doing the ANs, Jas will, but… you know what I mean.