FFVII - Scientific Method.

Scientific Method.

Author: The Magic Rat
Rating: G
Pairing: Angeal/Genesis, Zack/Sephiroth.
Warnings: Kids.
Word Count: 1352
Website – Ex Libris:  www.winter-wood.net/ex-libris/…
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Disclaimer: All Final Fantasy Seven characters, places and situations are the property of Square Soft/Square Enix and are used without permission and without intent of plagiarism or profit. Copyright for all stories and original characters is with the author, and may not be published, copied, distributed or archived without the author's prior written consent.

Summary: Akira has a few questions, and only himself to answer them.

Author’s notes: For Animama! Happy belated birthday, hon!</b>



Akira knew he was deaf; he just wasn’t entirely certain what that meant. He’d never been able to hear anything, so trying to envision sound was simply beyond him. He knew sound existed; he’d seen those around him react to this odd, intangible thing. He’d also been in the room when Phoenix was practicing the drums, and felt the rhythmic vibrations travelling through the floor. So he knew sound was out there. He’d just never heard it. But it brought questions to mind; such as what other senses did he lack?

Time to do some research.

He wandered out of his bedroom, and looked to the large lump on the couch. Uncle Angeal was flopped on his side, black hair askew, snoring quietly. Auntie Genesis was in the kitchen, setting fire to something for supper. Daddy was still sick, and Mommy was out looking for Auntie Aeris, so he couldn’t ask them, and Uncle Angeal… well he made a great place to sit and watch cartoons but his signing was terrible. And since Auntie Genesis was busy trying to put the fire out in the kitchen, Aiden figured he would have to determine what senses were missing himself. He found a piece of paper and a crayon, sat at his little table before the TV, and wrote;

SIGHT
SMELL
TASTE
TOUCH
HEAR.

Good. Now. To put this to the test. Could he see? Aiden closed his eyes. Everything went dark. He opened his eyes. There was the wall and the sofa and Uncle Angeal and the carpet and his toys and Satin…where did Satin come from? Ah didn’t matter. What DID matter was clearly he could see. So he drew a line through the word SIGHT, set aside his crayon, and pondered the second word as Miki and Genesis scrambled for the fire extinguisher.

SMELL

Well that was easy enough to prove. Akira reached out to pick up his mother’s beloved pet bird, drew it close, buried his face in the soft white feathers, and sniffed. Satin’s head bobbed back and forth as he pondered this turn of events, and Akira took a few more snorts. Well Satin didn’t smell like much, but he did smell like something at least. Still holding the big, feathery bird, Akira rose from his table and began walking around looking for other things to sniff. He sniffed Uncle Angeal. Huh. Smelled like pizza. What about the sofa? Ech. How about Ralph? Smelled like…. Ralph. The small kitchen fire, now extinguished, smelled like smoke and what was going to be apple turnovers but was now carbon and burned sugar. So he could smell. He returned to his table, drew a line through the word, and looked to the next one.

TASTE

Okay that was easy enough. He lowered his head and licked Satin, tasting dust, feathers, and… something like sugar. Oh, that’s right; Mommy mixed icing sugar in with the bird dust to kill any bird-lice on his birdie. Akira licked the peacock a few more times, then crossed off the word TASTE. Next on the list – TOUCH.

Akira snuggled and huggled the soft fluffy bird, petting the feathers that were both slick and downy. So touch was established. That just left one word on his list: HEAR.

Well he knew he couldn’t hear. That was a given. But how did he know others could hear? He just sort of… took that for granted, didn’t he? Maybe he wasn’t the only deaf person in the house. Maybe nobody else could hear either. But… how to test it?

Akira looked around, holding the endlessly patient white peacock like a teddy bear. He looked to Ralph, flopped contentedly before the fire, then Uncle Angeal asleep on the sofa, then Miki and Auntie Genesis in the kitchen, clearing up the mess and preparing to make new turnovers. Well… if he made a noise, and they reacted, that was proof that they could hear, wasn’t it? So… may as well make a noise.

Akira filled his lungs with air, then, with every fibre, sinew and muscle in his little seven-year-old being, screamed at the top of his lungs.

Ralph lunged to his feet, looking around, inner lid flickering over his eye as he looked for something to turn to stone. Edgington came scrambling out of the bedroom, also looking around, feathers ruffled. Uncle Angeal fell off the sofa and lunged to his feet, hair at all angles, trying to determine the cause of the noise. Miki and Genesis came running out of the kitchen, and everybody stared at the little boy with the wild black hair sitting at the small plastic desk, patting a white peacock. Well they had certainly reacted to something, so that would seem conclusive proof that they could hear, even if he couldn’t.

‘What are you doing?’ Miki signed.

‘I was just checking to see if you guys could hear.’

Miki stared at him, then looked at Genesis. Akira sat and happily lip-read.

“He was checking to see if we could hear him,” said Miki.

Angeal dropped to the couch and ran his hand over his face. Akira just blinked as Genesis stepped closer, leaning over the child.

“We hear you just fine!” He enunciated carefully at the small boy. “Don’t scare us like that again!”

Akira saluted him. Auntie Genesis rolled his eyes and walked away, heading back to the kitchen, shaking his head. Miki looked at Akira, crossing her arms.

“So what else did you learn, door-knob brain?”

Akira signed; ‘Mommy’s bird tastes like candy.’

“No way!”

‘Way!’

“Let me try!”

Akira handed the bird to his older sister, as Ralph ambled over to see what his family was doing. Miki licked the feathery back of the peacock, then looked at Akira in surprise.

“Hey Satin does taste like candy! Wanna try, Ralph?”

Ralph licked the peacock, likely pondering swallowing the bird whole. Then Miki licked it again. From the sofa, Angeal asked tiredly; “What are you children doing?”

“Licking the peacock,” said Miki. She then looked up and listened to something in the kitchen.

‘What did Auntie Genesis say?’ asked Akira.

Miki looked at Akira. “He says “After this baby is born I’m gonna have a hysterectomy.” Uncle Angeal, what’s a hysterectomy?”

“Never mind, I’ll explain it later. Just… go lick your peacock.”

Angeal rose from the couch and shuffled his way into the kitchen, yawning. Miki watched him go, then looked back to Akira.

“Well what do you want to do now?”

‘Let’s feed bubblegum to Ralph and see if he can fart bubbles!’

“Okay!”

As the children got up to mischief in the livingroom, Angeal walked into the kitchen and over to his husband, slipping his arms around him.

“It’s all right, beautiful, we won’t be having any more babies after this one.”

“Are you sure?” asked Genesis quietly. “We made that vow once before.”

“We did but I’m confident there will be no more after you have this one.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Well at your age, how many viable eggs can you have left?”

Genesis stiffened in his arms, and the temperature in the room dropped abruptly. The red wings came out, and Angeal blinked at the smaller man.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Genesis stared frozen death at him, and pointed to the door. Angeal sighed and left the kitchen, leaving the small house to drive to the nearest Chocobo Charlie’s for take-out. Honestly, some days it just didn’t pay to escape the lab…