FicWad: fresh-picked original and fan fiction

Title: Yuuyami

Fandom: KH

Author: Gothatheartholo

Pairing: Roxas x Sora; Naminé x Kairi; Cloud x Aeris and other implications

Rating: R for the themes relating to incest. Don't like? Don't read. :D

Disclaimer: They all belong to Disney and Square Enix. Okay? Oh, and I don't own the lyrics of the songs.

Summary: AU. Some people hide too many secrets, and Aeris learns that the hard way. Should she fight against the silence?

A/n: After listening to Evanescence and Dir en Grey and Malice Mizer, and the whole gothic genre of my 1000+ jrock music, this came up from it. Oh, and Naka's my muse, for her writing style influenced me as well. I'm using Aeris instead of Aerith. Why? 'cause I prefer it that way.

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001: Nozomare

----

It's enough... It's enough I said.

Stop it, leave me alone, don't bother me.

Notice me, look at me, hold me.

----

"I'm sorry."

She didn't want to hear it.

"We don't have..."

She /really /didn't want to hear it.

"Aeris?"

"No," Aeris said firmly, holding the cell phone next to her ear. "Tifa, it's been a long time. We've known him since childhood, and there is nowhere else he could hide. What could go wrong? What is wrong with us finding out where he is?"

"But you know how Cloud is," Tifa sighed, and then chuckled. "He's a pain in the ass."

"You got that right," Aeris laughed. "But he can't hide forever. I know where he is now-- I have.../sources/." She giggled. "He went by the name of Kadaj or something. He told me that Cloud's now living in Twilight Town. Can you believe that?"

"Kadaj?" Tifa inquired, alarmed. "He probably wants something in return. I wouldn't talk to him about Cloud if I were you-- unless I didn't have a choice."

"Why?" Aeris asked, curious. "He doesn't sound that bad, though I've never seen him face-to-face. He said that he's Cloud's little brother. Very cute, heheh."

"Ah huh," Tifa chuckled again. "You'll see what I mean once you get to Twilight Town. You've gotten a job there, right? As a Biology teacher? If you get in a bad spot, just call Squall Leonhart, but don't call him Squall though; that pisses him off for God knows what reason."

The two women laughed again. They had been and still were best friends ever since childhood that they shared with Cloud, but as time had passed by, they had all went on their own ways. Tifa Lockhart was now working in a bar as a bartender in Radiant Garden, since it was a job she loved doing. Cloud had literally disappeared from them once he had found out that he had relatives in Twilight Town, and Aeris? She had just wandered and wandered, not really sure what she was going to do with the rest of her life...

...Until now.

"I guess I'll see you later," Aeris said and smiled. "You're going to meet me there too, right?"


"Yup, definitely," Tifa said. "See ya!"

The phone line went dead, and Aeris placed her cell phone back in her pink bag. She looked at the road before her, and sighed. This was quite a disaster, for she was lost, and she didn't ask for help, because she knew that Tifa was busy. She waited for a few moments, and watched as the cars passed her. All she had were her baggage of clothes and personal belongings. Once she saw a taxi car passing by her, she waved her hands for the car to stop, and then got in the car.

The trip to Twilight Town was quite long from where she was-- which was in the middle of nowhere. Like Tifa, she used to live in Radiant Garden, but she needed to move on, for she was a wanderer-- always had been a wanderer like Cloud Strife himself. Once the taxi car stopped, she gave the driver a couple of munny, and got off. She stared at the place before her: Twilight Town. She had heard many things about this place. With its golden glow, and peaceful countenance, Twilight Town was supposed to be a very quiet town. It wasn't as urban as Radiant Garden was, but it too had its mysterious stories that she wanted to know about.

She looked around and smiled. Now all she had to do was find the Mansion she was going to stay in since that was where Cloud and his relatives lived. She started walking, taking in the scenery of kids playing near her. Some of them were staring at her as she passed them; she only gave them a mysterious smile, knowing that she would eventually see these teenagers in Twilight High school. She halted at the sound of one person calling her; she turned around, and nearly dropped her baggage.

The teenager had silver hair, reaching to his shoulders. His eyes were green and catlike. He was adorned only in black pants, a gray shirt, and black shoes, contrasting Aeris' pink clothes and brown boots. She knew who this person was. She made her way over to the silver-haired teen, and inquired, "Kadaj? Is that you?"

The teenager smirked at her, and bowed mockingly. "Yeah, who else? I may have four brothers, but we all look different." He turned around, and waved a hand for Aeris to follow. She complied, looking around Twilight Town again. The streets were narrow, and the place was simplistic, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of the mysteriousness of the place. In Radiant Garden as a child, she, Tifa, and Cloud had found all sorts of secrets-- /taboos /even. They had kept the secrets to themselves, of course, but at some point, Aeris needed to bring them up to the community, whether people wanted to listen to her or not.

"And here's our /house/," Kadaj said and stopped, pointing at the huge white Mansion in front of them. "For now, you should unpack your things in your room, and don't ever bother any of my brothers, because..." He smirked at her again, green eyes gleaming, but Aeris only grinned at him. "Well, or else. Yazoo's usually the quiet one around the house, sneaking to do this and that. Loz is the one who likes to 'play' a lot in his garden, and our oldest brother who is the caretaker now that our Mother is dead, is the strictest person in the Mansion."

"Hmmm," Aeris said, and walked to the large decorative door. "It doesn't sound too problematic. What ever happened to Cloud?" There was a long pause, and she tilted her head to the side to have a good look at the silver-haired teen. "He lives with you, doesn't he?"

Kadaj frowned, and leaned against the wall. "He's busy."

Aeris frowned too, and heaved her shoulders. "Well, thank you for letting me stay. I'll be getting an apartment soon, so you don't have to worry too much about me."

The only response she received from Kadaj was a wary laugh.

----

Being Seniors and Juniors, the teenagers in her Advanced Placement Biology class probably wouldn't give her a hard time in the classroom. All of them should act like adults, and considering that her Biology class was AP, all the students in her class should be the smartest, if not, the best students in Twilight High. She stared at each of her students as they walked into the room, scrutinizing them. Now, it wasn't like she was judging them based on appearance, she was just curious-- as always. She hadn't been teaching in a while, but she did have experience.

And she /liked /to work with people, so she wasn't surprised at herself for singing up to teach again.

As the students came in and sat down, it seemed that almost everyone was there. There were five empty seats out of thirty, and she started taking role, calling out the names. "Olette..." she trailed off, and tried to pronounce the girl's last name. The brown-haired girl near her raised her hand, and smiled. Aeris chuckled, and called out the rest of the names.

"Hey! We're late to class again!" someone shouted from outside. Aeris perked up, and looked at the door. The first person who came in was a spiky brunette adorned in baggy clothes. He had the bluest eyes, reminding Aeris of Cloud, and the goofiest smile. He sat on the front seat, panting heavily. The next person who came in was a female with blond hair. She was adorned in a white dress, and had a sketchbook in her hands. Unlike the first brown-haired boy, she walked to her seat quietly, and sat down.

"Man, they're slow!" the brunette said to the blond next to him. "I bet they're still walking to class right now." He laughed, and the blond did the same.

"Oh, I'm not sure about that, Sora," the blond said, and opened her sketchbook, a pencil in her hand. "Riku's pretty competitive, but then you already know that. Roxas is too, but..." she smiled and stared at the door. "Here they come."

Aeris watched out of curiosity again. First day of school, and they were already tardy. What was up with that? Three more people came in; one was a red-haired female, and according to her classmates' greetings to her, her name was Kairi. She was adorned in a pink outfit, just like Aeris, except Kairi's skirt was a little high for Aeris' taste. The other two, the one with silver hair, and the other blond, were known to be Riku and Roxas.

Both of them were a little startling, Aeris had to admit. They looked like they came from the 'dark' side of the town with their gangster-like clothes, but then again, the style of clothes these days hadn't been as impressive back in Aeris' days. With the five empty seats filled, she called out the names again, and then finally introduced herself to the students.

"Hello class," she said with a bright smile. People had always commented that she had the brightest smiles and the kindest-looking eyes. She always used that to her advantage so that people would be more comfortable with her, unlike other people who used it to fool others. "My name is Aeris Gainsborough, and I'm new to this school, but then you already know about that, hmm?" The class laughed, and she felt her self at ease.

She started off with the basics, asking the class what they had learned before relating to the subjects, and what kind of courses they had taken to prepare for the course. She should have given them projects for the summer, but since she was new, she hadn't have the time to organize that. Once the questioning was over though, she gave them a brief quiz, which made the class groan in disappointment. She only laughed at this, and so did the rest of the class. It was barely over, but she was already hearing rumors flying around.

"Wait... who's back?" one student inquired another; he had spiky blond hair, far darker than Roxas'. He went by the name of Hayner, and from the way the class had interacted so far, he seemed to be close to Roxas. "You're kidding, right? I didn't expect him to be back," Hayner continued, a look of disbelief on his handsome face.

"Yeah, Cloud Strife," Roxas replied, and nudged at Sora. "I told you he'd be back. Maybe he got something else different this time; he always finds us something interesting to study, you know?"

Sora just groaned. "I don't want to study anymore. All the work I got from the other classes last summer so killed it." Kairi laughed at Sora, and the blond-haired girl who went by the name of Naminé laughed as well. "Seriously, the last experiment we had nearly got someone... oh, I don't know /decapitated/." He smiled at Roxas, who shrugged at him.

"Well, Seifer's an ass, he deserved it anyway," Roxas replied, and then snickered. "What do you think, Riku?" He smirked at the silver-haired teen, who heaved his shoulders.

"He wasn't being careful," Riku stated, and smirked as well. "I mean, we were dealing with a freakin' Heartless, and you'd expect them to play dead? Hell no."

Many people laughed, and Aeris watched. She really did like to watch; she could learn a lot of things from watching. She started packing up her things, getting ready for her break, and the class did the same. She heard a humming noise, which she figured out was the bell, and she dismissed the class.

She should have noticed it, but she didn't.

Kairi and Naminé 's hands were intertwined together.

----

"You know, I have two pairs of twins in one of my classes," Aeris told Squall Leonhart, walking to the Teacher's Lounge with him. "One of the twins are Sora and Roxas, and the other two are Naminé and Kairi." The only response she received from the aloof but handsome leather-clad brunette was a snort, and Aeris wondered how the man was going to react if she called him Squall.

"Squall?" she inquired, a playful smile on her face.

"It's Leon," the brunette said stiffly. Aeris frowned, and stopped, staring at him curiously. Leon did the same, and crossed his arms. From what she had heard of Squall Leonhart so far... he was an ass, and she made a face at that; she wanted to talk, and 'Leon' wasn't talking.

"You really live up to your reputation, Leon," Aeris said softly. "Are the other teachers in this school like that too?" The frown deepened, and Leon rolled his eyes. Aeris sighed, and continued walking. She didn't want to talk to a wall, and she wanted to see if Cloud was in the school somewhere since she hadn't seen him in the Mansion. Speaking of the Mansion, the place had been too quiet, except for the bizarre noises that Loz made.

God knew what really went in that mysterious Mansion.

"Aeris," Leon said suddenly, halting her. "There's something you have to know about this school."

"What?" Aeris halted at the sound of Leon's voice; he sounded so serious, but then again, he was reputed to be a serious teacher anyway. "Is it something grave?" she wondered, narrowing her eyes at him. "If it's a secret, it's bound to come up sooner or later." The smile on her face was infectious, and Leon looked away. "Come on, I'm not like those other stiff female teachers."

"If you're looking for secrets," Leon said quietly. "Then don't bother trying to find them here. The school's relatively peaceful so far, despite its dark background."

"What do you mean?" Aeris inquired. Surely what he was about to tell her next wasn't going to be terrible, right? "If you're talking about the students-- they're good kids, so far."

Leon snorted again. "You don't know them enough, but soon you will."

Aeris frowned at that. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Riku and Roxas?" Leon went to her, his blue-gray eyes gleaming. "They're part of a gang." That stopped her in her tracks, and she stared at Leon in disbelief. It was true that they had dressed rather strangely, but she hadn't expected that. "Yeah, surprising, hmm?" Leon continued, and stopped at the Teacher's Lounge. "But the gang itself isn't very active at the moment, so it's not causing any trouble."

"So what?" Aeris inquired. "The authorities should have disbanded the gang." She opened the door, and the two teachers came in. The room itself wasn't too complicated; it was very simplistic with a few couches and a kitchen. It also smelled of coffee, something that she didn't like. She stared at the faces of the other teachers, and smiled at them.

"You must be Aeris," one of the teachers said, and came up to her. She was beautiful, with long brown hair, and deep brown eyes. She didn't even look like a teacher in her yellow dress. "My name is Belle." She held out her delicate hand, and Aeris shook it, feeling dé jà vu all of the sudden.

"You're going to have a lot of fun in this school," another one of the teachers said with a small laugh. She, like Belle, was also gorgeous, with her curly brown hair tied in a ponytail, and dark purple eyes. She was adorned in a sleeveless purple dress that accentuated all of her curves. She walked up to Aeris, and grinned at her playfully. "And don't listen to Leon about the bad things about this school. He's just trying to brainwash you."

Leon glared the other woman. "I'm not trying to do that, Meg. I'm telling her to be careful." He turned around, and waved a hand at the ladies. "I'll see you all later. I'm going to find Cloud."

"Wait!" Aeris exclaimed, but it was too late. The door was closed, and she pouted. "He's really aloof, isn't he?" The two women near her nodded in agreement, and she settled sitting on the couch. The only lunch she bought for today was an orange, and a bottle of water. She started to peal the skin of the orange, humming to herself. The two women watched, as though curious.

"So... before Leon practically tainted your brain," Meg said teasingly, and crossed her legs from her sitting position across from Aeris. "What do you think of this school? Mysterious? Grand? Pretty?"

"Peaceful," Aeris said finally. "Mysterious definitely, but mostly peaceful."

"And then what happened after Leon blurted out a few things?" Meg asked in that same tone of voice.

"Interesting," Aeris answered. "And even more mysterious? What kind of subjects do you two teach?"

"Dancing, and Meg, ironically, is a History teacher," Belle said softly. "You probably met Kairi in your AP class. She's a wonderful student."

"Yes, she is," Aeris said softly. Like Leon had said, she didn't know the students that well yet, considering it was the first day of school. "Naminé is a good student too." She thought about those twins, and it never ceased to amaze her how they looked so much alike. They had the same face, but Naminé was paler with her alabaster skin and her light blond hair. Kairi was slightly tanned.

"The Artist," Meg said with a smile. "She's well known for that. She did many paintings for this school. One day she's going to go to an Art College if she keeps at her work like that. You should check out the paintings sometime; they're all in the Art room and around the hallways of the school."

"All right," Aeris grinned. "I'll do that."

----

"Nothing."

Silence.

"Roxas..." came the hesitant voice of Sora.

"/Nobody/..."

"Hey, just calm down--"

"Nozomare."

Aeris stopped at the voices, and stared at the parking lot behind the school. There was Roxas leaning against a black Mercedes, and Sora standing in front of him with a sad look on his face. Aeris sighed at the two boys. They didn't look too pleased with themselves. She wondered what had happened, but she didn't want to intrude-- at least not yet, because it wasn't nice to intrude and assume things anyway.

"/Unwanted/," Sora sighed, and wrapped an arm around Roxas' neck. "Don't worry too much about it. We only have one more year to go, and then we could get out of here and go anywhere we want." He smiled at his twin, and leaned even closer, forehead resting against Roxas'. "So... don't brood on it too much, okay?"

Roxas sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "Easy for you to say. Our parents think you're perfect. I just shadow your movements. I wouldn't be able to make it as far as you have if you hadn't helped me. I mean, how many AP classes are you taking?"

Sora laughed, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, if it wasn't for Kairi, I think I would have flunked a lot of my classes last year. Playing Blitzball and other sports are much more fun than doing homework, you know."

"Yeah, but I can't believe our Japanese teacher gave us that much work over the summer. That was unexpected," Roxas stated, and shifted, so that his body was practically pressed against Sora's. He smirked at his twin, and said, "I'm actually doing better in that class. That project about Samurais really helped my grade."

Aeris blinked. She knew that twins were close, but... She shook her head, getting rid of the odd thoughts hovering in her mind. She decided to keep moving, since she knew that she needed get home. Maybe she might even find Cloud in the Mansion this time, and she had so many things to do. She made her way over to the parking lot, trying so hard to make it seem like she wasn't eavesdropping on the twins. Where were the rest of their friends? Those two boys seemed to know a lot of people from her Biology class alone.

"Ms. Gainsborough?" came the calm voice of Roxas.

Aeris stopped in her tracks, and waved at the twins guiltily. "Hey, I'm going to go home--"

"I know where you live," Roxas cut her off, his blue eyes gleaming. "We'll drop you off there to save you the trouble of going with Kadaj." He grinned at her impishly, and Aeris weighted the pros and cons. It would be embarrassing of her to let one of her students actually take her home, but it was frightening to go home with Kadaj, because of his bizarre presence alone.

And speaking of the silver-haired teen, she saw him from the corner of her eyes. She shook her head at the twins' offer, and waited as Kadaj approached her. Roxas and Kadaj exchanged glances, and Aeris frowned at the odd interaction. As she went with Kadaj, the silver-haired teen muttered one word to the twins:

"Organization."

Roxas gritted his teeth and Sora frowned. Aeris couldn't hear anymore; she was gone with Kadaj, getting into his red car, and looking at the darkening sky from the window. There were the claps of thunder, and it began to rain, droplets sliding down the window of the car. Kadaj got in the car and started it, never saying a word, though there was a playful grin on his face, and an impish gleam in his eyes.

Aeris stayed quiet, and wondered what Kadaj had meant by that one word. Leon had mentioned that Riku and Roxas were in a gang; maybe that was what Kadaj had meant. Then again, that could mean something else, and who would name their gang 'Organization' anyway? There were also Roxas' words, but it was too early for her to judge anything. She sighed deeply, and took out something from her pink bag. It was a picture of herself, Tifa, and Cloud in their childhood from Radiant Garden.

Cloud was actually /smiling /in the picture, and it was so rare of him to smile. They could have had a good childhood with Cloud, but the moment Sephiroth had entered Cloud's life, everything had changed. He had begun to hang out less and less with Tifa and Aeris, shadowing Sephiroth instead. Nobody in Radiant Garden understood the way those two regarded each other; it was a borderline between hatred and something else. Before Sephiroth had left, he had told Cloud who he was, and the rest was history.

Aeris hadn't known that Sephiroth had other brothers.

She also hadn't known that Cloud was related to them.

And a part of her had felt like Tifa knew him more than she did. It was a strange relationship that she couldn't understand, something between friendship and family. She didn't understand family; she had always been alone save for her friends because both of her parents died when she was young, eaten by a Heartless, a strange black animal with claws and frightening teeth. The Heartless would appear at random times, though according to the researcher in Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise, the Heartless would only appear if there was the feeling of utmost darkness.

She didn't believe in such things, though the fact that Nature worked in strange ways was slowly converting her.

The car suddenly stopped, and the picture practically jumped out of her hands and fell to the floor. She glanced at Kadaj who picked up the picture, and handed it back to her. She couldn't understand why, but she had no words for him, always speechless around him. It wasn't that he was disturbing or that he had intimidated her-- far from it, it was the way...

"You know," Kadaj said conversationally, "Cloud-- Nii-san's always been one of /us/."

TBC.

----

A/n: All will be explained later. X.x;; and no way in hell I'm using the English translation for 'Nii-san', but I'll explain that too.

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