Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
That being said, hi. Welcome to my story, Your Love Is Just A Lie. I published this story before, but I didn't really like it anymore. I didn't like some of the scenes, I didn't like the way it was written sometimes, the chapters were way too short. So in the end, I decided to delete the story altogether and rewrite it. I actually put the first three chapters of the first version into this first chapter of version 2.0.
Rated for violence and lemon in later chapters. I hope you'll enjoy this story ^^
*Knock, knock*
The woman knocking on the white bedroom door was being ignored.
*Knock, knock, knock!*
No really, knocking wouldn't help. He would not respond. Period. And she should know he wouldn't. After all, hadn't he been living with her for the past, what, fifteen years? Wouldn't she ever learn?
And now she was going to be pissed and yell at him. Not that he'd care…
"Riku!" See? He was right. She was yelling at him. He imagined how her face was probably red by now, from anger. It was the same face he saw every day, so it wasn't hard to imagine. But she wasn't going to open the door. Why, he did not know, but she'd never once opened that door in six years.
"Riku!"
"What?" He sat upright in bed, an irritated scowl on his face. His long, silvery hair was messy, there was still sleep in his aquamarine eyes, and his teeth were clenched. This was officially his least favorite part of the day.
"Get up, you'll be late for school!" his mother yelled. Riku fell back on his mattress, covering his eyes with his hands.
"I don't want to…" he whined.
"What did you say?" his mother said. Riku sighed.
"I'm coming! I'm awake, dammit!" At that, his mother walked away from his door. Riku groaned, combing through his long hair with his fingers, messing it up a little more. He did not want to get up. Being in a rebellious mood, he wrapped the blankets around himself once more, turned around, and closed his eyes. No, he really didn't want to get up. The peace was short lived, however, because Riku could hear his mother's footsteps again a few minutes later. She stopped in front of his door, once again knocking loudly.
"Riku, if you're not downstairs in three minutes, you'll have to go without breakfast! I won't say it again, young man!" she yelled.
"I'm awake, what more could you possibly want?" Riku mumbled.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing! I'll be there in a sec!" And as the footsteps went back downstairs, Riku sighed exasperatedly one last time before throwing off his blankets and sitting up. He didn't want to face his family, but his stomach had other plans. So he got up, got dressed, grabbed his bag, and left his room. He quickly ate his breakfast and left the house as soon as he could.
"And you are home at seven, you hear me?" his mother yelled before Riku forcefully shut the door.
}:{
Axel managed to sneak out of the house unnoticed. He lifted his schoolbag a little higher on his shoulder, and groaned in pain. Bad move. That was exactly the place that was covered with the most bruises. He lifted his bag on his other shoulder, which hurt as well, but not that bad. He made sure his jacket hid all of the bruises and scratches on his arms, and walked away. Luckily, his spiky red hair was long enough to cover his neck. Now there was only one problem: he couldn't take part in gym today. But he missed it so often, the teacher might start to wonder why. Maybe he shouldn't even go ask it. Maybe he should just stay away. On the other hand, his father would be furious once he would find out. And he would find out. Axel knew he would.
}:{
Riku hated school, as in, he HATED-hated it. The subjects didn't interest him, the teachers were, in his opinion, a bunch of no-good chatterboxes, and the other students… well, they just weren't worth his time. Riku had no clue how he managed it to get through each and every year, but he did. He skipped school a lot, got a lot of detention, and a couple of lectures once he got home, and he didn't care. He had no idea what he wanted to do once he would graduate from high school. But one thing was for sure: he would get out of that house, out of this town, and never come back.
It should be mentioned that Riku didn't like his family. No, scratch that. He didn't like the people who were supposed to be his family. His parents weren't his biological parents. They were his adoptive parents. His real parents couldn't take care of him, so they had put him in an orphanage when Riku was still a baby. He was adopted when he was two years old. He called these people 'mom' and 'dad', but he didn't care about them at all. The thing is: they didn't care about him either. They never said it, but Riku knew it. He knew it by the way they looked at him, he knew it by the way they talked to him, and most of all: he knew it by the way they treated their real children. Riku had two little 'brothers', and one little 'sister'. Saïx and Marluxia were ten-year-old fraternal twins. They were annoying, noisy, spoiled, and oh, how Riku would love it to snap their necks some day. Putting duct-tape over their blaring little mouths would be fun too. Their sister, four-year-old Larxene, wasn't as bad as the twins… yet, but Riku didn't like her either. He just ignored her.
"Hey, Riku! How're you doing?"
Riku turned around as the voice snapped him out of his thoughts, looking at a cheerful guy he could call his best friend. Maybe even his only friend. He had spiky brown hair, and he was a bit shorter than Riku.
"Oh, hi," he responded mirthless. His friend raised an eyebrow.
"Wow, you are in a talkative mood today. Did something happen?" he asked.
"I'm fine, Sora." Riku answered, hoping the other boy would get the hint and stop talking. He didn't like talking, and only said what he thought should be said. Which wasn't much most of the time. Sora shrugged.
"If you say so. By the way, could I borrow your notes for Physics?"
"Sora, I never take any notes. Borrow Roxas'."
"How do you manage to get scores like yours if you don't take notes?"
"I always sit next to that physics-freak, remember?"
"You copy from Zexion? No way! He'd never let you!" Sora said with wide eyes. Zexion, a quiet guy boy of fourteen years old, was a young genius, and Riku wouldn't be surprised if the boy would graduate this year.
"Well, I do it anyway."
"So you didn't study for today's test?"
"Nope."
"Phwuh, you lucky bastard." Sora snorted. Riku couldn't help but smirk. It wasn't his fault he didn't have to work in order to pass each and every one of his classes.
During the test, Riku copied from Zexion as usual. Mr. Even, their teacher, didn't notice. He never did. Zexion knew it, but, contrary to popular belief, didn't care. Once Riku was done, he searched his pockets for rubber bands. When Mr. Even wasn't looking, Riku shot them away with his fingers in every possible direction. Accidentally, the last one hit Mr. Even on his head. The man turned around with a very angry face. He looked directly into Axel's bright green eyes, who sat in front of Riku.
"Did you do that, young man?" he asked Axel.
"No, sir," Axel answered truthfully.
"Did you see who did it?" Mr. Even asked then. Axel shook his head.
"No, sir. But it seemed to come from behind me." Axel then pointed over his should, straight at Riku. Well, that sucked. Mr. Even then looked at Riku.
"Did you do it?" he asked. Riku shook his head.
"No, sir." Mr. Even didn't seem to buy it. He looked at Riku, and then at Axel, and then back at Riku. Then he smirked.
"Well, it has to be either one of you, and since neither of you is willing to cooperate, that'll mean detention for the both of you," he announced with a satisfied grin. Riku shrugged. It wasn't like detention bothered him, since he got it so often. Axel tried to change his teacher's mind, but Mr. Even pointedly ignored him.
}:{
"Why didn't you just tell him the truth? There's no need to get Axel in trouble," Sora told his friend just as their last class for the day ended. Riku shrugged. He knew it hadn't been fair, but then again, he didn't play fair to begin with. He hadn't seen Axel after Physics had ended, and he had to admit he was glad he hadn't.
"No real reason. I just felt like it," he answered his friend. Sora didn't drop the topic.
"Did Axel do something to you? Seriously, you get detention so often, but you've never dragged anyone into your trouble. So what's the deal?"
"Sora, as I told you, there is no reason! Could we please talk about something else? Or, don't talk at all, that would be even better." Riku growled. He sometimes wondered why he was friends with the brunet in the first place. The guy could talk for hours on end. Sora raised his hands in defense.
"Hey, don't take it out on me! I just wanted to…"
"I know, Sora, I know! I just…" Riku combed through his hair irritably, suddenly feeling tired. Sora seemed to calm down a bit when he saw his friend's face.
"Hey, it's okay, let's just forget about it, okay?" he said softly. Riku sighed. That was just like Sora. Ever the peacemaker.
"Yeah. Thanks."
They walked to the beach in silence, just enjoying the other's company. The wind was cool, but not cold. The sound of the waves was strong, yet soothing. It was like some sort of therapy to Riku, a way to escape from every day's trouble. A way to escape the reality he didn't like. Being with Sora always made him feel good. These were the moments he actually smiled. Too bad those moments couldn't last forever. All too soon, Sora looked at his watch.
"Hey, Riku, it's about time I go home. It's almost seven," he said with a sad face. Riku's smile fainted.
"Yeah, okay… I… I think I'll stay here for a little longer," he said, and he walked away. Sora sighed. He knew how things were at Riku's place, so he couldn't blame his friend for not wanting to go home. He made the decision in a split second.
"Hey! Riku!" he cried. Riku turned around. "What?"
"Do you want to come with me?"
"Sure!" Riku replied happily, his face brightening. He didn't think about what his parents would do to him for this. He didn't care. He never did. He never even worried. He just wanted to be away from that house as far and much as possible. So Riku and Sora walked to Sora's house. It was about ten past seven when they arrived. Riku knew his mother would be furious right about now.
Sora's mother gave them a warm welcome, as she always did. Riku often wished she was his mother. She treated him like he was a son of hers, and Sora's father wasn't any different. Sora's family was a so-called happy family, and Riku desperately want to be a part of it. As always, Sora's mother invited him for dinner.
"I'd love to, Mrs. Yikida. I'll call my mother to tell her." Riku answered politely. When Sora's mom was gone, Riku took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number of his home. He always let his parents know where he was when he wasn't at home in time (which happened most days), just so that they wouldn't go looking for him. They had done that once, and Riku had been in a lot of trouble afterwards. After a few seconds, someone picked up.
"Mom?" he said when he heard his mother's voice.
"Riku! Where the hell are you?" she yelled. She always yelled, like she didn't know any other volume, or tone.
"Mom, I'm fine. I'm at Sora's place. I don't think I'll come home tonight. Bye." Riku turned his cell phone off, so that his mother couldn't bother him any longer than necessary. The phone calls were always like this. He'd say where he was, say whether or not he'd come home that night, and then hang up. Easy. He was glad that his parents didn't know Sora's full name, his phone number, or his address. He had told them that his best friend's name was Sora, and nothing more.
Riku couldn't sleep that night. He slept in Sora's room, on a mattress next to his friend's bed. He watched Sora's face, and listened to his soft breathing, wishing he would one day feel just as peaceful as Sora looked.
}:{
Axel couldn't sleep either, but for a different reason. His whole body hurt like hell. He tried to find a comfortable way to lie, so that he could get some sleep, but he failed big time. His pale skin was decorated with more bruises than he could count, but at least his lip had stopped bleeding, although it was still very swollen. His heart skipped a beat when he heard a sound in the room that was next to his. His parents' room. He sighed in relief when he realized it was only his father's snoring.
}:{
The next day at school would turn out to be a very interesting one. Nothing happened during the first few hours, but then the bell for lunch break rang. Riku and Sora walked out of the classroom, and decided to spend the next twenty minutes of free time in the park next to the school. They sat down below a large oak. It was one of their favorite places to be, a place where they couldn't be seen easily, because the tree was so enormous.
"I'm surprised Axel hasn't done anything to you yet." Sora said, while eating a sandwich. Riku shrugged.
"I'd say he's just a coward. And besides, what could he do to me? He's so skinny. I'd be surprised if the guy could lift two schoolbags at the same time."
"Aren't you going too far now?" Sora asked. "I'm sure he doesn't weight ,uch more than I do, but he's taller than you are. Give the guy some credit, Riku." Riku didn't answer. Sora sighed and got up.
"I'm done eating. Come on, English will start in five minutes."
"I'm not going." Riku said. Sora abruptly stopped getting his stuff together.
"But you've skipped that the past… eight time or so! You can't stay away forever!" he cried out. As always, he tried to keep his friend out of any trouble. The problem was that Riku seemed to like trouble. He couldn't care less what his friend thought about his bad habits, and it was driving Sora crazy sometimes how Riku could be so indifferent about things. His friend sighed.
"Give it up, Sora, I'm not going. Trust me, no one will even notice by now. Besides," Riku added in a softer, and also a somewhat sadder voice, "who would miss me?" It was silent for a few moments. When Sora spoke, they could both hear that his voice was trembling heavily, as if he was trying desperately to hold back a waterfall of tears.
"I would. I would miss you. I already do!" he whispered. Then, he grabbed his bag, and ran away. Riku groaned. He knew he was a total asshole, but he wasn't trying to be one. Sometimes, he just said things without thinking. He loved Sora. As a friend, mind you, but he loved him nonetheless. He hated it when he hurt him. And that happened far too often to Riku's liking. He sighed, and stood up. The next thing he could remember was that his back hit the tree trunk quite hard, and that he slid down to the ground. He touched his stomach carefully. It hurt a lot. His back hurt too, thanks to its meeting with the oak. Riku felt like he could hardly breathe. He looked up, and regretted that immediately, because all he could see was the fist that was aiming for his head. The blow made his head slam against the trunk, and he could taste his own blood before it passed his lips and ran down his chin, only to drip down on his shirt. His favorite white shirt, too.
"Serves you right, you little piece of crap!" growled the tall redhead that was standing in front of Riku. Now, Riku didn't get scared easily, but the expression on Axel's face was positively murderous. Needless to say that Riku was more than a little glad when one of the teachers, who'd seen it all happen, ran over to keep Axel from beating Riku up more. As the taller boy was taken to the principal's office, Riku assured everyone around him that he was just fine. He went to the boys' restroom, ignoring the shocked whispers of the other students.
Once inside the restroom, Riku dabbed his mouth with a wet cloth. When he looked at it, the white material had turned red. While mumbling something that would make a nun faint, he filled his mouth with water that was coming from the tap. When he spit it out, it was red. Blood. Damn that Axel! Everything hurt. His front, his back, his sides, everything. Riku had been so wrong. Axel wasn't a coward, he had just waited for the right moment to take revenge. Now all Riku could think about was how he was going to punish Axel. He wanted war? Well, he got it. His fantasy got a bit overheated, so the images of a tortured Axel got more and more cruel with each passing second. Just when Riku's anger reached the boiling-point, someone came in. It was a boy with spiky brown hair and a somewhat shy look on his face.
"Hey," Sora mumbled, and he closed the door. Riku said nothing. He sent Sora a glare that said something like: if my eyes could shoot fire, you'd be charred by now. He was not in the mood for company.
"I… uh… I heard what happened, so… I…" Sora fell silent. He bit his lip. He knew very well that Riku wasn't in a friendly mood, but Sora was just way too kind to leave his friend alone. He took a step or two towards Riku. Cautious, ever so cautious, his eyes fixed on Riku's, looking for something that would tell him not to get any closer. He didn't find anything like that, and he ended up standing next to Riku.
"How do you feel?" Sora asked carefully. Riku tried his hardest not to take his anger out on Sora, but he almost lost it. He growled.
"Look at me. How do you think I'm feeling?" he said, gnashing his teeth. He took another mouthful of water, and spit it out again. Sora eyes grew big when he saw the mixture of water, saliva, and, most of all, blood.
"Shit!" he whispered. "He didn't exactly go easy on you, did he?"
"Nope," came the short reply. Sora was just about to say something, when the door swung open. One of the school's janitors was standing in front of the two teenagers.
"You, come with me," the man said firmly while pointing at Riku. A cautious look appeared in the boy's blue eyes.
"Why?" he asked.
"The principal will tell you. Now, no dawdling, I've other work to do as well." the man said with a tone that left no room for arguing. Riku mentally sighed.
"Call me later, 'kay?" Sora whispered. But Riku didn't answer. He just walked past his friend, out of the room.
Riku wasn't that surprised to find Axel in the principal's office as well. The fury in his eyes was gone, and replaced with sadness. Those same eyes were fixed on the ground, and they didn't move when Riku came in. Riku took a seat. Then there was a very awkward silence. They boys tried not to look at each other, but it was like their eyes got pulled towards each other. Luckily, the principal came in. He was a creepy guy, both in looks and in attitude. His eyes were the color of amber, and he had this habit of smirking evilly, like he was planning to do something horrible to you. He sat down in the chair behind the desk, and looked at the two teens on the other side of the desk. He frowned.
"Do you have any idea what this is about?" the man asked. His voice was low, slow, and demanding. Neither Axel nor Riku responded.
"I'll take that as a 'no', then." Mr. Xemnas (which was the man's name) said. He waited a few moments, and then he spoke again.
"Yesterday, Mr. Even and I had a talk about the incident in his Physics class," Mr. Xemnas said. Axel was still staring at the floor. "And now it seems that Mr. Axel Hamish caused that… well, let's call it a fight, earlier." Now, Mr. Xemnas was looking at Riku, but he, too, didn't respond. Mr. Xemnas continued.
"The both of you will have detention for two weeks. I hope you'll be able to get along by then. Also, after those two weeks have ended, you both go to Mr. Even to apologize."
That got the boys' attention. They looked at the man like he'd lost his mind.
"What? " Riku eventually cried. Mr. Xemnas only smiled.
"I hope that by doing this, you can eventually look each other in the eyes, say sorry, shake hands, and walk away with no hard feelings. If the two of you put in a little effort, this story could have a very happy end."
Both Axel and Riku doubted that. Mr. Xemnas just smirked.
"Well," Mr. Xemnas said almost cheerful, "that was all. You detention will start today. Dismissed!" And before they knew it, Axel and Riku were out of the office.
}:{
That afternoon, they were in the detention classroom, all by themselves. About ten minutes passed, but they said nothing. They just sat there, trying not to look at each other. When another ten minutes had passed, however, Axel took the initiative. He walked towards Riku, and held out his hand. Riku looked at the red-head with a questioning look in his eyes.
"Hi," Axel said, "I'm Axel Hamish." Riku looked a bit confused. Axel saw it, and sighed.
"Look, if I'm going to be here with you for the next two weeks, I don't want to do so in complete silence. That'll just get on my nerves. So if we have to keep the peace between us from now on, we'd better start. And the first step would be to introduce ourselves. So, I'm Axel Hamish."
"Makes sense." Riku mumbled. Then he sighed, and shook Axel's hand. It was short, but they shook hands nonetheless.
"Riku Byron." Riku said short. They fell silent again.
"So…" Axel said. "You're not really the talkative type, are you?"
"…"
"Okaaaay… I guess that means 'no'." Axel mentally sighed in frustration. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. He decided to just ask some things. See if he could get a reaction out of Riku.
"Eh… is Sora your best friend? You two seem to be pretty close." Riku immediately turned around in anger.
"You leave Sora out of this, you got that?" Even Riku himself was surprised by this emotional outburst. Axel grinned.
"Heh-heh. Never thought you'd be into guys, Riku." Wrong! Bad move! Axel almost slapped himself. Idiot! He was trying to be nice, so that this whole stupid detention would be easier, but if he kept this up, that wasn't going to work.
Riku was as red as a beetroot. Liking boys? No way! Not him! Liking Sora? Sure, Sora was cute and all, but… wait! That's not what he meant to think! Sure, Sora was cute, no denying that, but not in that way! He was just Riku's best friend, that's all! Still blushing, Riku decided to change the topic.
"Never thought you'd be so violent. What are you? A kickboxer or something?' Riku would never forget the look on Axel's face when he said that. It was a look full of terror, and sorrow, and pain, and anger, and a lot more things Riku didn't even know. Axel started to shake beyond control. Riku saw that Axel's green eyes were filled with tears. He had no idea what was happening.
"Hey… Axel… what's wrong?" he asked carefully. That's when Axel suddenly stood up.
"Let me show you where I learned violence," he said. His voice cracked, and it was hoarse. Then, he grabbed his t-shirt, and took it off, so that Riku saw his naked upper body. Riku felt his knees getting weak. He felt like he couldn't breathe. Because what he saw, was the most horrible thing he had ever seen in his life.
I made Saïx, Marluxia and Larxene siblings. And I like it xD
I hope you enjoyed it. I'm glad I started over with this story, 'cause I really liked the idea behind it all, and I think this second version is turning out to be much better than the original xD
Reviews make my day, flames just warm my hands.