A Family Once More [PRP]

[Mutilated Moogle]

Dark Heart had never been apart from Sakura for so long before, he missed her motherly nature and the way she read stories to the kids, how she made some of the tastiest food he had ever tasted, he wanted her home with them as it had been so long since he had been able to just sit down and talk to someone other than his brother who he loved and didn't mind of course but she was different. Sakura mothered him a little bit but it was needed and wanted at times but he was so close to her that she was his best friend and he hers, they truely were kindred spirits but without her with him it just didn't seem right and the kids hated not having her around either.

"Daddy, when is Sakura meant to come back? It has been so long, i miss her" a small voice broke through Dark Hearts own thoughts and he turned and looked down at one of his adopted children, the one who never wanted to nap when the rest of her brothers and sisters did "I don't know sweetheart" he said as he gestured to her to come lay beside him. Dark Heart smiled down at the little Angelic who was making herself comfy next to him, a little girl who was named Aurora, with the colors of of sunrise on her he thought the name was fitting and that her parents had good taste however the reason she wasnt with her parents is because of a wing that had to be removed, the results of an event that traumatized her so greatly that it took him months to get her to even come to him let alone eat anything he brought her and she was looking so frail and near dead that dedication, kindness, compassion and perseverance was all it had to take.

"I hope it is soon" she said as she sighed softly, closing her eyes and snuggled in as close as she could to her father "we all do" she said softly as she finally dozed off.

"And I do as well my darling" he said as he kissed the darling girl's head and wrapped a paw around her and pulled her into his chest, letting her use his other leg as a pillow is she wished.

"I see I arrived home a little too early" a soft voice came from between the trees to the left of Dark Heart "I guess I can leave and come back later" she said as Dark Heart had looked around and shook his head "I know it will probably be boring but please, stay with me?" He asked as the anthro smiled softly and nodded "alright, I will, I have stuff I wish to speak to you about anyway, stuff that is rather important, personal and something I guess can be spoken about in front of the little one as it does concern her and her siblings also."

Aurora softly yawned as she woke up and looked around at who was speaking and grinned "Sakura!" She called out and jumped up and ran over to her "Aurora, shh!!! Don'ty wake your sisters and brothers" Dark Heart said as she reached the Anthro who had picked her up and cuddled her "I apologize for being away for so long, i hope you have been well" she said as she kissed the little ones head. "I have been fine but we have all missed you" she said as she grinned up at her "daddy has more than us i think!" She said as Dark Heart blushed a little "I have not!" He said as his eyes met Sakura's and he smiled at her a little sheepishly.

Sakura giggled and put the little one down and gestured toward her cave "go to my cave and wait for me there, I just have started a fire and I am sure you will enjoy laying by that then waiting here for us to finish, just don't go off the path leading there and you may help yourself to a few snacks on the table" she said, knowing that the kids had made that three and a half minute walk many times without their father so she knew that the little one would be safe. "Alright, thank you, I will see you soon" she said looking at her father and knowing he didn't really have a say and just smiled at him "thank you for letting me go daddy" she said as she ran off and just sighed "every time I try and teach them to take care of themselves you tend to want to undo what I have taught" he said to his dear old friend.

Sakura moved over toward the Kitsu and softly smiled at him "what can I say? I am a bad influence" she said as she sat with her legs folded beside her and forced the Kitsu to place his head upon her lap "but we do need to speak, it is something important, something I just don't think I can hold back any longer, I need to tell you how I feel and I hope you will do the same" she said as she looked down at him "please..."?  

[Mutilated Moogle]

Dark Heart got up and moved to the front of her so that they looked at each other and nodded "yes, I do think it is now the time that we did speak our feelings to each other, I never wanted to but I think it has come to a place in both our lives that we need to since we have known each other since we were both very young, it was you who first made me wish to move away from the rest of the Kitsu world...well, that and the fact that I just don't feel like I should be there, given my mother wishes to kill everyone and I would rather not be around for that" he said as he wasn't really a social kitsu anyway which was the third reason but she knew that. "Would you like to go first or would you like me to?" He asked as she looked at him "why not together? Something tells me that short, simple and sweet is the way we should do this" Dark Heart nodded "alright, we will both say it on the count of three" he said as he started to count down "one...two...three" he stopped and then said "I love you more than a friend" at the same time she did and regardless of the fact that both their hearts were beating out of their chests and both were now totally embarrassed they were both totally relieved.

"Y...you do?" Dark Heart asked as she nodded "ever since we met each other as children, I had run away from my family and you helped me settle in alone, in the depths of this forest, a couple of caves close to each other that had long since been forgotten, you thought I was crazy and even tried to talk me into going home but I didn't fit in there, I wasn't the perfect daughter my parents wanted and they favored my sister over me and so I couldn't live in a place where I was forever thought of as second best. After you gave up trying to get me to go home you helped me so much, you helped me move in here, you took care of me when no one else would or could, you handled everything when it came to dealing with my family when I didn't want to speak to them and more! I couldn't think of taking this journey with anyone else.

There have been times I have been stroppy with you and hated when you spoke sense and even wanted to kill you because you went behind my back when in reality it was the best you could have done for me, you have ALWAYS been there for me no matter what and I want you always to be there for me, I know you will but I want you there as my mate, if you will have me."

Dark Heart listened to the Anthro and smiled at her and nodded "of course I will!" He said as he got up and moved over and sat beside her, looking up at her "thank you for coming into my life" he said as he kissed her cheek and nuzzled her "you helped me out also, you accepted me no matter how much my mother came across as wanting to kill you for even looking at me, I was stroppy with you also but you accepted me, then when you moved in here I was always here for you and I think we spent more time with each other sleeping here than I did with my own family. As we grew we both learnt so much about each other from each other so when I finally moved into the still vacant cave a little ways up from yours I couldn't wait to be near my best friend and when I told you I wanted children you told me no, we spoke when we had just newly became adults, I wanted it to be a sort of one night stand with possible children from it and you shot me down but as you can see now I made up for it and you still tell me how stupid I was for it."

"What can you expect!?" Sakura asked, playing with an ear tip "I wasn't ready but apparently you were and I went along with your stupid plan of adopting any child that needed a place to call home, you STILL are not cut out for it and it has been how long now!?"

Dark Heart grinned and thought for a moment "after adopting the last one I have no idea" he said as he closed his eyes "but I have learnt, I have come a long away since the early days and it is all thanks to you, I am now the proud father of thirteen children who would have been dead or, at least, possibly in bad packs or something if it wasn't for us, can you really say this idea was a stupid one?"

Sakura sighed and shook her head "no, I can't, I love these kids just as if they were my own, this idea was the best one you have ever had and I thank you for letting me be a part of this crazy plan of yours no matter how reluctant I was in the beginning, you have grown and come a long way since the early days and have learnt so much and now, when the time is right, i would be honored to bare your children. I love you so much, Dark Heart, i always have, i should have said aomething way before now but i guess i was just scared, the request, i guess, made it a little more obvious how you felt in hind sight but it doesnt matter now, we are together, how it should be" she said as she curled up closer to him alittle more.

"There is just one matter we now have to deal with" he said as he looked into the cave where tweleve kids were staring back at them, some still a little sleepy, otheres grinning, and two, Arcadia and Aria were arguing about something which Dark Heart just sighed over "Aria, Arcadia, stop that and you all need to come here as you all need to hear this."  

[Mutilated Moogle]

Arcadia, Aria and the others ran towards the adults and jumpped on Sakura and nuzzled her.

Sakura giggled as she was 'attacked' and cuddles them all before making them sit down in front of her and thejr father "kids, we are just going to come out and say it" she said as she looked to Dark Heart.

Dark Heart smiled as her and looked at his kids, knowinh Sakura won't mind the term he was going to use "how would you like it is Sakura became your mom?" Dark heart watched as the kids jumped around and hollered and grinned along with the odd 'it's about time!'

Sakura smiled at the kids and the looked at her new mate "I guess it is fine with them" she said as she kissed Dark Heart, pulling away moments later "and i couldn't be happier either" she said as she held out her arms and let the little datlings tun towarda them, letting them climb all over them. "We are and fkrever will be a family" she said as Dark Heart had his head/face stepped on by Nebula who was trying to get a better spot than Ace "alright, alright, I know you guys are happy but i think we need to go see what Autora is up to, she is at Sakura's place.

The kids all stopped what they were doing and climbed down and started making their way to Sakura's place, Sakura and Dark Heart foowing behind them "so, how does it feel to be an instant mother?" He asked the anthro "just the same really, i guess we have to wait to till one of them call me mom or mother but so far it does feel nice being a more 'official' member of this family, i know i always was, but it felt more like the nanny then anything and i didnt mind but to now be co head of it it is rather nice" she shensaid as she watched the others run into her cave to grab their 'missing' sister.

"Always were co head in my eyes" Dark said as he looked up and smiled at her "I love you so much" he said sincerly to her "and I you, always will, thank you for everything" she said as she leant down and kissed him, letting the kids eat the snacks as she and Dark watched on by the entrance.  

[Mutilated Moogle]

"Alright, so, ten minutes have passed and they have not only eaten all the snacks i had in the table but we also have Ace comforting a now crying Aurora due to the rough housing, think it is time to round them up?" Sakura asked Dark who nodded "yes, we can settle things up back home...er...my home....we need to sort this out" he said as Sakura giggled "yes, it can wait though" she said as she walked over and picked Aurora and Ace up and cuddled them. "Alright guys, enough, time to go home, we have some celebrating to do" she said as the two in her arms snuggled down next to each other in Sakura's arms and lead the kids out if the cave and looked at Dark "lets go discuss what we can do to celebrate" she said as he nodded a followed beside her.

Dark Heart sighed a little out of how tiring this day had been, it had been a great day, more than that, but at at the same time he couldn't deny that he wasn't a little out of it either due to having been worried about Sakura all this time she had been away even though he did have it on good authority she would be back with them soon "so, you tending on staying over tonight? Just like old times?" He asked as he looked up to Sakura and nodded "I will, it has been ages since you and I slept over at either ones cave, it will be fun, especially for the children. Just this once we will allow them to stay up however long they want, we can tell scary stories, or at least sort of scary, you know how Aurora, Nocturn and Soledad don't like scary stories so we will make them as scary as we can without scaring them or I could take the others and you can do something fun with those three" she suggested as Dark Heart who nodded "sure, that will be fine, once won't hurt, can you head to the Headquaters and see if they have anything we can do to make some stuff to eat or whatever? Maybe use their kitchen?" Sakura nodded "sure, I am sure they won't mind" she said as she and Dark entered his cave and saw the kids playing with each other once more and Sakura placed Ace on the ground and looked at Aurora "are you alright now sweetheart?"

Aurora nodded "yes, I am, thank you...mommy" she said as she nuzzled against her and and then jumped down onto her fathers back, slipping a little but Dark used his tails to steady her on his back before letting her cling onto one of them and lowered her to the ground gently for her to run off and play. Dark looked back at Sakura and saw tears well up in her eyes a little as she walked over to where his bed was and sat down on it "I..." started by stopped, shock and reality hitting her. Dark settled beside her, watching her and snuggled into her "you are a mother now, one day we will have our own children but until then, you are now officially a mother to each and every one of these darlings" he said as she nodded and cuddled him "and I couldn't be happier" she said as she laid down beside her mate and blinked back the happy tears she wasn't going to let fall and placed one of Dark's paws in her hands and held it, nuzzling him before kissing him once more, she finally had a family she wasn't second runner up in, she was loved and adored by all others here, she had a mate who she loved so much and no longer did she feel like she didn't belong, she always felt like she belonged here but now, having officially found reason to be here more than she ever had before, she didn't need to feel like her sister beat her, she didn't need to feel like her parents hated her for not living up to her sisters standards, she was finally and truely home.  

[Mutilated Moogle]

ninja  

[Mutilated Moogle]

It had been several months now since Sakura moved in, she had her cave still but half had been moved into his place and so now it was just mostly a storage space which was good in some ways but no one else woukd want it and so it didn't matter if she kept it or not and Sakura waz just happy to finally be living with her best best friend and taking care of the children as a lroper family. "Val, sweetheart, we need to talk" she said, pleased to be alone, the kids had been taken to the lake for an outing with grandmother, not sure why she was so interested all of a sudden to babysit but Sakura and Val were accepting the offer and with a free lunch thrown in so they had the cave to themselves.

Val came back inside crom were he was enjoying the sun and walked over to Sakura and laid down next to him "hi beautiful" he said as he laid next to her and nuzzeled her "whats up?"

Sakura bent down and kissed her mate and smiled at him "remeber when we were newly adults and you asked me one thing?"

"To have children with me, yes, I remember" he said as he looked up to her "a...are you saying what I am hoping you are going to say?"

Sakura shook her head "not exatly, I am going to say that we are passed that stage, the other night when we snuck out for and hour and a half, late at night and left the children sleeping and went to my old cave, it was where I got pregnant..."

Val looked at her in shock "you are...we are...." he said as she nodded her head "Sakura that is wonderful news!" He said as he jumped up happily and 'danced' around the cave "oh sweetheart, we are going to be parents!" He said as he pounced on her a little and cuddled her.

"Parents again technically" she said as she grinned at him and cuddled him back "and I take it you don't mind" she asked rhetorically.

Val tried to maintain his composure as he said "yeah, I mind, we really dont need more kids around here, we will just give these ones away to a good home" he said as laughed, obviously joking.

Sakura giggled as she kept her arms around her mate and kissed his head "i know the PERFECT family for one, my mother would LOVE another child she could raise in her image since I am such a disappointment, why not let her raise a granddaughter? She would be able to see where she went wrong with thos one and take notes" she said as Val who chuckled "something tells me, with her expectations, it may be best we don't tell her she is now a grandmother or else we will get a long list of dos and donts on how to raise our children"

"Something tells me though, she learnt her lesson when she called Aurora and Nebula riff raff, no one has stood up to my mother before, no onenhas ever dared, that was the day I fell in love with you all over again, I never knew I coukd love someone so much like I do you. Of course I have seen you stand up to my mother many times when it has come to me but there is something far more beautiful seeing you protect our children which I knew you would but seeing it in action...well, if it wasn't for the fact we were standing in front of my sister and parents I may have jumpped you then and there" she said as she toyed with an ear.

"If she wants to treat her daughter like she is some sort of pond scum then let her but she is not going to upset you or our children and I don't care whose mother she is!" He said as he curled around her a little "I don't care if she hates me either, I will never leave you" he said as she bent down and kissed his head "thank you my darling, thank you for everything, I could not have found a more perfect mate or a more perfect father for the new children that will be here soon" she said as she stopped to think about his mother. "What about your mother?"

Dark Heart sighed "well, first things first, I think we best tell them their grandmother is a murder, that is always a great first in impression! Can't go wrong with that" he said grinning at her in which she just shoved him a little "oh stop it, you know what I mean" she said and he nodded "yes, I do, and we just play it by ear, if it isn't for my mother wanting to kill others or your mother wanting to treat others as if they were pond scum, regardless of age or the fact they are their own daughter, we would have two great families but we were not that blessed."

"At least yours can accept others to an extent, she comes around after a while, but mine just hates others so much she would rather only talk to Seraphims or Angelics or whatever, the 'rare' and 'ultra rare' Kitsu because they are the only ones who are worth her time knowing, even other Anthros are a picked over bunch, but you and I will raise our kids the right way, our other thirteen are brought up to respect others regardless so we can make sure these new little ones will be as well and if our mothers don't like it they will never see their grandchildren at all" she said as she picked up one of Valentines paws and held it between her hands "all that matters is our family, I don't care about anyone else outside it regardless if they are technically part of our family or not, I just care about you, the children, your biological father and your siblings, the only ones who haven't done us wrong and accepted us and the children" she said as she kissed his paw "speaking of which, should we invite Valentine and his mate over for dinner one of these nights? I think it would be nice to get to know them some more" she said, knowing he hasn't spoken to his father since the time he came here and his father did seem like he would like to know his children so it would be the perfect thing even if it meant he may be a little upset, given how Valentine got his children he hoped with his mate here she could help him through the night if memories bothered him, he wasn't a horrible Kitsu he just had mental issues now thanks to Dark Matter.

Dark Heart nodded "yes, I would like that and the children would as well, but maybe we can wait till the babies are hatched? I am sure he would love to meet them and his mate seems really sweet and kind also from what I have heard so I am sure she has been a great help to him, not sure how much considering whatever my mother did to him scarred him for life so I look forward to having them join us."