Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy © to Disney and Square Enix!

Kraig and TJ © to YamiChaos27!

Iunia and Nico and other OCs © to me!

Joy © to Njoy!

Akira © to Lucywind!

Cowey and Sally © to my students!

Chapter 17: Teacher

"Where are we going?" Roxas followed Caden through the woods near the school.

"I found this super cool place!" The younger boy jogged ahead through the pines. "See!" They walked into a small clearing of trees. "I think they were going to build something for the school out here, but they never finished. We can train out here so that Seifer won't tell us to buzz off when we go to the sandlot."

Roxas smiled. It's true that Seifer would always try to take the sandlot from them if they were training when he was in the area.

Even though the sandlot was big enough for them all.

But whatever.

"You sure we won't get in trouble?"

"Yeah! I even showed my mom this place, so she knows where to find me when we go training." Caden spun his struggle bat. "So, you ready?"

"Yeah!"

The two sparred for about an hour before a set of feet approached. "Hello." A woman with brown hair approached them.

"Hi Mom!"

"Hi Ms. Cooper."

Caden's mother smiled. "You two having fun?"

"Yep."

Ms. Cooper approached. "Ready to go home, Caden?"

"No… but fine." The boy jogged off. "Later, Roxas!"

"Bye."

The woman stopped, looking back at the older boy. "Roxas, thank you for doing this for Caden. He really looks up to you."

"I know. He's a really nice kid, and honestly, he helped me. I've never had anyone look up to me before."

"It's not just him, you know."

"I've heard…"

The woman reached down behind a tree and handed out a basket. "This is for you and your friends and family. As a thank you from me."

"You didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did. Ever since his father passed, I haven't had lots of time to spend with him, since I've been trying to work to support us. I know he spent most of his time training alone, and now I see a spark in him again. Thank you."

Roxas smiled warmly, glancing down at the basket. He saw a small bouquet of flowers for Xion, a bottle with a tag for Lea and Isa, and a small box for Roxas.

He'd seen Ms. Cooper at various places around town. Working.

The flowers most likely came from the flower shop he'd seen her opening for on school days.

The bottle from the vineyard outside of town. Especially since she was now wearing the uniform from the main bottling center. He'd seen pictures of it in his history textbook since wine was a big export of Twilight Town.

The box came from the bistro. Where she worked on the weekends.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you." She smiled and walked after her son.

Roxas headed home, continually glancing down at the basket, even as he made his way inside.

"So, I assume you'll be practicing in your room every night."

"Yep." Roxas walked in to see Xion looking through a large booklet. "I've even got a solo song. It's a sad song too."

"I'm sure you'll do great." Axel smiled at his friend. "There you are. Off training Caden again?"

"Yeah. His mom gave us something too." He handed Xion the flowers and Isa the bottle. "I don't know what's in the box, but I bet it's a cake or something. It's supposed to be for me, but I'd rather share."

Axel smiled. "Then let's eat. That wine will be really good for cooking I bet."

Isa put the bottle away. "Yeah. Can't let it go to waste."

"You're not going to drink it?"

"Not a fan of alcohol honestly." Isa sat down at the table.

Axel nodded. "I don't mind it on special occasions, but I try not to drink it often. Now, let's dig in!"

"Yeah."

"Good job!" Roxas blocked another strike from Caden.

"Thanks!"

They clashed, Roxas taking it easy as always on the boy. As they fought, he heard something.

Giggling.

"Hold on."

"Look!"

"It's Roxas!"

"He's so cool!"

"Totally!"

The two boys turned and saw four smaller heads duck behind trees.

Caden sighed. "I told you guys not to follow us!"

"But we wanted to see!"

Out from behind the tree came four children.

A boy and girl about 9 years old, both with identical brown eyes. The boy had chestnut brown hair and the girl had sandy-brown hair pulled in two pigtails. Roxas remembered them. They were twins… Matthias and Marisa.

He'd seen the other two playing with them before around the bistro. They were younger, around 6 or 7. Cowey Vidal and Sally Vaughan(1).

Cowey had short black hair and brown eyes. Sally had long blonde hair and soft blue eyes.

Matthias hopped forward. "Please! We just wanna watch!"

"Yeah!" Cowey added.

"I don't see why not." Roxas shrugged.

Sally and Marisa sat down beside the two little boys as Roxas and Caden began to spar again.

After about five minutes, Sally flopped back. "I wanna see the cool stuff!"

"Yeah, like what you did at the Struggle!"

Roxas paused. "You want to see that?"

"Yeah!"

Caden laughed. "I'd like to see it too."

"Ok." Roxas handed the bat to Caden. "I won't need this."

"Huh?"

"You want to see the really cool stuff, right?"

"Yeah!" Caden took the bats and stood beside the little kids.

Maybe this wasn't the best idea, but it might be a little fun to show off.

At least a little.

Roxas flexed his fingers before summoning Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

They felt strange in his grasp, since he hadn't summoned them in nearly a month.

"WHOA!"

The kids all jumped up. "Is that magic!?"

"Yes, it is."

Sally rushed forward, looking at Oathkeeper. "Pretty…"

"You never told me about this!"

"Sorry," Roxas chuckled, "I don't really use them anymore. I honestly didn't plan on summoning them again unless I had to. But, I figured you guys would like to see them."

Matthias put a hand on Oblivion. "That's so cool! What are they?"

"Keyblades. And they have names. That one is Oblivion, and the other one is Oathkeeper."

Marisa touched the keychain on the end of Oathkeeper. "This is so pretty! Did you make it?"

"No, but I know who did."

"Can these swords do cool stuff?"

"Oh yeah. But, you'll have to step back. I don't want to hurt anyone."

The older kids grabbed the littler ones and pulled them back.

Roxas focused on the stump of a tree at the edge of the clearing before charging forward, slashing at it.

His muscles remembered it all.

Each slash.

Until the stump fell apart.

"WOW!"

"You're like a really-real superhero!" Sally cheered.

Cowey clapped his hands. "Do more magic!"

Magic?

Leaping back, Roxas held out a blade, feeling the cool energy welling up inside him as he fired a Blizzard spell at the stump.

The burst of ice startled the children, but their eyes couldn't look away.

"You really know real magic…"

Marisa rushed up to Roxas. "Can you teach us!?"

"Huh?"

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE!"

"I don't know… It can be dangerous."

"I wanna learn! Just a little!"

This might have been a little much.

"I'll have to think about it. Ok?"

"Awwwwww."

"I didn't say 'no'. I just said I'll think about it." He glanced at Caden who looked especially eager.

Caden… maybe. He was older.

"But," he smiled, "I can teach all of you to use swords like Caden and I. Caden, want to teach them?"

"Yeah! I'd love to!"

"YEAH!"

Caden laughed. "We should probably use the sandlot for that."

"Yeah."

Magic training could be out here in the woods with Caden.

Maybe he could ask Aqua about how she'd teach someone.

He had no clue what to do.

"Well, I better get these four home. They honestly shouldn't be out this far."

"Agreed."

Caden grinned. "That was awesome. Can't wait for our next training session!"

"Yeah! We can call you Mr. Roxas because you're a teacher."

"Mr. Roxas!"

"Mr. Roxas!"

Roxas felt his face heat up as the kids left.

A teacher?

Huh…

"Hi, Aqua."

"Hi there, Roxas." Aqua smiled on the gummi phone. It looked like she was back at the Land of Departure. Probably to take a break from the Realm of Darkness search for Sora. "What's up?"

"Well, there's these kids in town, and I'm teaching one of them to fight a little, and I think I want to teach one of them magic. How do I do that?"

The young woman blinked for a moment in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah…"

"Well… there's a lot to it." She thought for a moment. "I know! I'll be coming by Twilight Town in a week or two to visit with Jiminy. When I come, I can give some pointers in person. Sound good?"

"Sounds great! Thanks, Aqua."

"And be careful if you're using the Keyblade. That weapon can be passed down to others. So, unless you're ready to have an apprentice, I wouldn't let people touch it."

"Um… some kids did."

She sighed. "When I come, introduce me. I can probably sense if they have the power or not(2)."

"Ok. Thanks, Aqua."

"No problem. See you soon."

"Bye."

The call ended, Roxas sighing as he leaned back on his bed.

A teacher…

Footnotes:

(1) I'm a first-grade teacher, and I asked my own students to help me create two characters that would be around their ages for this story. These two are the ones they came up with. They chose the appearances, names, and interests of these two.

(2) She was able to sense that Riku had been given the power when she first met him, so I assume being a master, she can tell.

VAs:

Brielle Cooper- Laura Post (Kasumi Yoshizawa, Nozomi Tojo, Sesshomaru's Mother)

Matthias Gardiner- Hudson West (Moggie, Sumo's Brother 1, Sumo's Brother 2)

Marisa Gardiner- Brielle Milla (Marlene Wallace, Efty, Lindsay, Tallulah The Turtle)

Cowey Vidal- Maximus Riegel (Benjamin, Boy, Zoom, Odgen, Catapillar, Baby Car)

Sally Vaugham- Kestrel Riegel (Heather, Girl, Little Girl, Young Keyleth)