Disclaimer: I don't own any characters

Chapter 6

Sora and Roxas made him tired. They didn't have to do much at all, just being in the same room seemed to make him lose energy. "The moon is made of cheese and cows live on it." Sora said.

"No." Roxas disagreed, although he didn't know the truth himself, "Right, Ventus?"

"The moon is a giant space rock." he said. He had become a master at answering questions. Nothing too complicated thankfully, mostly they could be answered with a yes or no.

Sora asked him a lot more questions then Roxas, which was a little concerning. He'd expected Roxas to be curious, but it seemed like he was getting his questions answered by someone else. A young red head named Axel. A 4th grader who seemed to skip class whenever he wanted to. He was a trouble maker and he was already turning Roxas into one as well. After the fiasco with the watermelon, Aqua had told the babysitter not to allow them to hang to with Axel, but it didn't really stop anything.

"Let's go see Vanitas!" Roxas shouted.

"Not today." Ventus sighed. They'd been to the same store 3 times since the incident and each time they'd hunted down Vanitas to hug him. It was strange, they didn't even know him. They just took a liking to him. And of course Vanitas ate it up. The kids didn't realize how much Vanitas insulted him every time they went to the store and he wasn't going to let them know that he was wimping out because they were there.

"What about the park?" Sora suggested. They'd already gone that day but if he went there, maybe they would tire themselves out.

"Just for a little bit okay?" he said. The boys smiled and ran off to get ready. They had only lived with him for a week now but they were calming down a lot. It was weird, they'd almost changed a completely. Of course they still had fears. He'd managed to convince them that the boogeyman lived in Terra's room and was afraid to come out because Terra could fight him. The outside still scared them but they loved the playground and the grocery store. They put up with a lot just to see their friends.

Speaking of friends, Sora had been chattering nonstop about his new friends. Riku and Kairi. Riku was one of the many children of Sephiroth as noted by his silver hair. Now Sora had only seen a few people with different hair and he was amazed by it. Even Kairi's hair was apparently an interesting shade of red.

"Maybe Namine will be there." Roxas said.

"Who's Namine?" he'd never heard that name before.

"That's Kairi's little sister, she's 5 like Roxas." Sora explained, "But she's always sick."

"She's from the same place we are." Roxas said. Surely he didn't mean Vexen's lab? How many kids did Vexen have in that place. He shuddered at the thought of Vexen keeping so many children locked away for his experiments.

They walked down to the kitchen and Ventus went to the fridge. It was hot and they needed something to drink. He thought nothing of the bag he'd packed until he walked by the window and caught a glimpse of his reflection. It was like he was carrying a diaper bag.

"Ventus!" Aqua rushed into room, "Where are you going?"

"To the playground!" Roxas answered for him.

"I hate to do this, but can you go to the store instead?" she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. "I just need a few things." Ventus took the list and unfolded it, they would go after the playground

"This looks like more then a few things." he said as he looked it over, "We just went grocery shopping."

"Yes, but I want to have a picnic!" aqua said, "It's getting warmer and Terra thinks it will be fun!"

"So why doesn't Terra go shopping?" He asked.

"Because we need to talk about something while you're gone." she said. A light blush spread across her face, "Please, just hurry back okay?"

"We're going to the store instead?" Sora asked.

"We can see Vanitas!" Roxas bounced happily. Ventus rolled his eyes.

"They talk a lot about Vanitas, why don't you invite him to the picnic?" Aqua suggested.

"No way." he shook his head, he wasn't even going to consider it.

"don't be like that." Aqua said quietly, "He's going through a lot right now. I'm sure he could use the break."

"Like what?" he asked. Aqua shrugged her shoulders and gestured for him to go. He sighed and walked towards the door, "No borrowing this time Roxas, I mean it."

"I don't. Axel says borrowing is for losers. I can just take it instead." Roxas said. Ventus opened the door and walked out. The boys followed behind slowly.

"It's not okay to just take things." he said. He wasn't sure how many times he'd have to say it.

"But Axel says it is." Roxas argued.

"Well, Aqua says its not okay." he said, "And if you make Aqua mad, she'll send you to jail." Roxas was silent for a moment.

"What's jail?" he asked quietly.

"A bad place with bad people and no sweets." he said, "And the boogeyman goes there all the time to eat bad kids. And you'd never get to see anyone again."

"Not even Aqua and Terra and You?"

"Nope," Ventus got them into the car and helped them with their seat belts, "Not even us."

"No." Roxas shook his head, "Bad stuff never happens to kids."

Of course that wasn't true, but he wasn't going to fight about it. Bad things happened to anyone, even him. The drive to the playground was quick and he would have walked if they didn't have to go to the grocery store after. "We're here." he said. The park looked relatively empty today most kids were probably still at home. Ventus couldn't see Axel anywhere. That was good. Demyx was sitting by himself on the swings, but Demyx was a good kid when Axel wasn't involved.

While he was getting the boys out of the car, another car pulled up.

"Well, if it isn't Ventus." a familiar voice said.

Ventus inwardly groaned, what was Vanitas doing here? He was an only child and as far as Ventus knew, he had no children. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Sora! It's Vanitas!" Roxas rushed out of the car and waved at the other teen. Vanitas gave a short wave back before turning back to Ventus.

"I'm taking my little sister to the park." he said. He gestured toward a small girl in the back seat. Ventus blinked and turned away. He didn't come to talk to Vanitas.

"Come on guys." he ushered the kids towards the playground. The rushed off to play with a group of kids. Vanitas got out of his car and joined him on the bench.

"Since when do you have a little sister?" he asked.

"I think she got here around the same time as your new brothers." Vanitas said.

"Yeah? Did she come from some lab?" he asked. What were the odds that 4 kids all came from the same place?"

"Who told you that?" Vanitas asked.

"Just a joke." Ventus mumbled, "Chill out."

"You don't have to pretend, I think everyone knows." Vanitas sighed, "My dad worked with some weird dude at the White Building and that's where she's from. Mom doesn't want anything to do with her but dad says she has to stay."

"Oh..." He wasn't going to tell him that Sora and Roxas had come from the same place. It was all too weird.

"It's a bad environment for a 5 year old there." Vanitas said, "So I figured she'd enjoy the park." An act of kindness? From Vanitas it seemed impossible, the kid was a bully after all. "Don't make that face. I'm mean to kids my age, not little kids. Plus I hate all the yelling they're doing too."

"You never even talk to me, excuse me if I'm a little shocked by your openness." Ventus rolled his eyes.

"Yeah whatever." Vanitas said, "You know, I think you owe me for all the times those brats of yours annoyed me at work."

"I don't have any money." Ventus said.

"I don't want money." Vanitas rolled his eyes, "You wouldn't be able to afford it if I charged you for every hug they gave me. It's close to 7 billion right now."

"Yeah right, they've never hugged you that many times." he said, "You couldn't get that many hugs even if there was a mythical hugging dwarf running around."

Vanitas laughed suddenly and it scared him. He'd never heard the other teen laugh before and it was a little unsettling. Vanitas quickly went back to his usual apathetic expression, "Man, you're stupid."

"Shut up." Ventus snapped, "I'm smarted then you by a mile."

"Yeah? Not much of an accomplishment, everyone is." Vanitas said. They fell silent and Ventus sighed.

"Aqua wants you to come to her picnic tomorrow." he said. Vanitas was silent and Ventus went back to watching the kids. Sora was kicking the ball around with some other boys and Roxas was talking to Xion. Ventus thought back to what Vanitas had said about the girl. He needed to tell Aqua because something sinister was happening here.

"Why?" Vanitas asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Ventus blinked and turned back to Vanitas.

"Why does she want me to come to her picnic? You've told her we're not friends right?" Ventus shrugged, he'd never told her about Vanitas. It was Roxas and Sora who did and they had nothing but good things to say.

"The kids like you," he said, "That's enough for her." Vanitas shook his head and got up.

"whatever." he said, "Xion! Let's go!" the young girl got up and rushed over to him and together they both went to his car. Ventus watched as they drove off, wondering why he was suddenly feeling sympathy for Vanitas.

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A/N: I'm BAAAACCCCKKK. Thanks to anyone who reads this and will continue to read. Any comments are appreciated. If any mistakes are found, please let me know