*Riku rushes in* Running late on it, but here it is! Words... Idk words anymore but enjoy!

Chapter 26

Riku let himself take in a series of deep breaths while continuing to relax in the arms of his brothers. Finally they knew the side of them that he had been keeping secret for so long. Though it did resurface a lot of deep pains and memories, he was happy that they handled it well and that they understood.

But it still took a lot out of him. "I think I may head back to my room for the rest of the night."

He stood up and handed the baby otter, who had fallen asleep, back to Saruhiko. "Thanks again guys, but I think I need some time now to clear my head a bit more."

Saru carefully took the sleeping baby otter back from his brother before speaking. "Understandable."

"Let us know if you need anything else though," Zexion added.

Riku nodded before he headed down the hallway to his room. Once the sound of a door closing was heard, Zexion got up from the couch and faced Saru directly. "I'm sorry for accusing you before."

Saru gave Zexion a halfhearted glare and clicked his tongue.

"You have to understand that I only said what I did at the moment of the event," Zexion said, speaking in a whisper. "You can agree, neither of us have ever seen Riku that distraught before. I wasn't in a clear mind because I did not know how well we would be able to handle it."

"And you're supposed to be the levelheaded one…" Saru mumbled out, just loud enough for Zexion to hear.

"I know, I know. And I said I'm sorry. But it's still on the fact of what Riku was keeping hidden from us. I know we don't prefer to talk about our different mothers, but part of me wonders if maybe we should. So we can better understand one another," Zexion replied as he paced a little. "As unfortunate as it sounds, it seems each of us has some misfortune that related to our mothers."

Saru looked at Zexion with curiosity. "Do you intend to finally share your story, or just taunt us with a little hint of what happened?"

Zexion stopped his pacing and faced Saru. "I feel at this point I should tell about it since the two of you have done so. I don't want to worry or upset Riku any further tonight, but if you wish to know right now…" he let out a long sigh, trying to relax his mind. "I can tell you."

Saru pondered for a moment before responding. "If it's easier on you to tell us all at once, then I can wait."

"It's really nothing when compared to you guys. Still tragic, but…" Zexion shook his head. "I don't really know how to explain it for that."

"Take some time to figure it out and tell us when you're ready then."

"Thank you Saru," Zexion replied. After a deep breath he looked back at the baby otter in Saru's arms. "Have you figured out a name for it yet?"

"Too young to tell gender." Saru half-answered.

"Ah… I see. What about a gender neutral name then?" Zexion said before walked over closer to the bookshelf in the corner of the room.

"I haven't found one that I like."

"I have books here for names if you wish to browse," Zexion commented before pulling out a couple of books and setting them on the nearby table.

"Maybe later, gonna nap," Saru stated before shifting so that he was lying down on the couch with the baby otter lying on top of his chest.

Zexion chuckled softly before choosing a book to read. Once he had made his choice he sat down in his usual spot and began to read.

After Riku and Saruhiko left, Sora and Yata finally headed on their way. It was clear that the two brothers were heading home without another word after what had just happened. It wasn't even a proper goodbye that Riku had given, but more of a quick response before chasing after Saruhiko. But at this point there was nothing that could be done, the two of them had already disappeared into the night.

"Those two are really weird," Yata muttered before he started walking again.

"I guess they are a bit," Sora said as he ran to catch up with Yata. "But I'm sure if we got to know them better we would understand. It's pretty cool though what they did back there."

"Yeah, I really didn't expect to see either one of them fight off a coyote, especially Saruhiko."

"That make you like him more?" Sora asked teasingly.

Yata stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Sora. "No! You are not starting up that again!"

Sora smirked childishly. "But why not? You clearing were eyeing Saruhiko closely after he was all soaked and wet."

Sora watched as Yata's face reddened. It was hard to see in the dim lighting from the park lights, but he could tell that Yata was clearly blushing. He glared harshly though, trying to prove Sora's point wrong, but even he knew that there was no point in trying that.

"Don't say it like that! I was not eyeing him!"

"They what were you doing?" Sora asked, trying to sound innocent.

"How was I supposed to exact him being drenched after going in to save a baby otter!?" Yata shouted, arms stretched out. "Honestly I swear you need to drop it already."

Yata grumbled before he started marching forward again, finally reaching the edge of the park and entering a residential area. Just as before Sora had to run to catch up to Yata who was slowing picking up pace.

"Yata, you can tell me, you enjoyed tonight, right? You enjoyed hanging out with Saruhiko from what I can tell. And! He did tell us that he was interested in guys,"

"S-So what!?" Yata said, stammering slightly on his words. "He still is an annoying monkey."

"Doesn't mean you don't like him," Sora said, once again teasing slightly. He knew that Yata was seemingly getting annoyed, but Sora didn't pay attention to the tone of voice or the words from Yata. Instead he focused on Yata's facial expression, which was wavering between looking nervous and angry. The nervousness mixed in with the red on his cheeks was a rare thing for Yata to ever display, which was exactly why Sora kept on asking. He had to figure out the answer.

"What does it matter if I like him or not? What if I kept asking you if you liked Riku, huh?!" Yata snapped, not looking over at Sora. "You were clearly gawking at him and making dumb flirt attempts nearly every moment you got tonight."

Sora could feel his own cheeks heating up. But now he didn't as shy as he did once before. "I wouldn't care if you asked me. I think I really do like Riku. Sure I was saying things to him and found myself really impressed with what I learned, but that is because I really think I am feeling something. And I'm happy to state it."

"Well that's you. You can be all cheery and happy like that about what you feel, but I'm not." Yata let out a long sigh before lowering his head. "I just need more time to think about it…"

Sora finally sighed for himself. He could see that there was no longer a point to ask Yata on the subject, Clearly he was still needing more time to sort out his feelings, but Sora had hope that Yata would figure them out in time. "All right, I guess you'll need some time then. See you tomorrow at the skatepark? Usual time?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Yata replied.

The two of them said goodnight and goodbye to one another before they walked off their separate ways to the different areas of the neighbor. Both of them still having many lingering thoughts about the night and how it went. They both had many lingering and still strong feelings circulating within them. Now it was just a matter of time that they needed to understand and sort them out.

Zexion had just about finished reading his book when there was a quiet knock at the door. He glanced at the clock, and saw that it was only a little past 2am.

"Now who could be knocking at the hour this late into the night?" Zexion questioned to himself.

He got up from his spot and walked over to the door. He opened slowly and saw there was a man dressed in a delivery outfit. In his arms he held a medium sized box with a smaller box on top of it.

"Can I help you?" Zexion asked.

"Uh yeah I got a delivery for a Saruhiko?"

Zexion turned around and saw that Saru was still fast asleep on the couch. He sighed and shook his head. "Is it alright if I sign for it?"

"Yeah that's fine," the man said holding on a clipboard with some papers on it.

Zexion scanned through it quickly before singing at the bottom. He took the boxed as the ma thanks him them proceed to turn around and mount a chocobo that had been quietly sitting behind the man. After he took off, Zexion closed the door and placed the boxed onto the kitchen countertop.

Walking over to Saru he bent over and shook him lightly on the shoulder. "Saru, some boxes came for you. Something for your otter I assume from what I read on the papers."

Saru's response was to roll over slightly, curling up protectively around the baby otter. The little ball of fluff let out a squeak before appearing to suck/nibble on Saruhiko's pinkey, as his hand was right by the otter's face.

Zexion chuckled softly. "I am sure if Zack were awake right now he would find this utterly amusing. You should wake up though, you can sleep again when it is closer to the morning." Zexion started to speak a little louder while giving another shake of the shoulder.

Saru groggily let out a little whine, using his free hand to swat at Zexion before opening his eyes. He sleepily glared at his older brother without saying a word.

"You're going to mess up your sleeping pattern even further if you keep sleeping right now," Zexion replied.

"We already have messed up sleeping patterns by human standards, so why does it matter?" Saru murmured out his response while carefully sitting up, cradling the baby otter that was still teething on his finger.

"Yet there are humans who choose to have a nocturnal sleep schedule like we do," Zexion said before narrowing his eyes a little at the otter. "Doesn't that hurt?"

Saru just shrugged in response. "Not really."

"It's still interesting though to see one so young," Zexion commented. "I've never given much thought about small creatures such as an otter, but perhaps I could indulge myself in some research."

"Hmmm, let me know if you find anything relevant to raising one." Saru commented before standing up from the couch.

Zexion nodded. "Now about those packages… I saw the name of the company and I was wondering…" he didn't finish his sentence as he watched Saru walk towards them. He finally let out a sigh and shrugged off his thoughts.

He stretched slightly before going into the kitchen and opened ed the fridge. As he sifted through what was there he decided to try and ask something else. "So would you say your day went well then?"

"Depends on your definition of well," Saru answered while attempting to open up one of the boxes with his free hand.

"Would you care to explain your definition then?"

"Would you care to stop asking about my day?"

Zexion shrugged training. "I only had thought to make some conversation. We rarely have one just between the two of us unless it is in training."

"If it isn't obvious, I'm not in a sociable mood."

"You rarely are…" Zexion whispered.

He then remembered the day that was coming up. Soon Saruhiko's birthday would arrive. If it had not been for a conversation a few days ago where he learned some critical information, he wouldn't have thought much of it. But the events of the night had brought That back from what Zexion could figure. Talk of Riku and his mother, it probably didn't help on Saruhiko's thoughts on his own mother.

"Sorry,' Zexion said, speaking up again. "I suppose I'll leave you to do as you please." Zexion then headed out of the room without a word more.

*Hkari drops froms the ceilings tangled in wires*

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