Withering Beauty Chapter 1, a kingdom hearts fanfic

Disclaimer: KH does not belong to me. Every character used in the compounds of this fanfic © Square Enix and Disney.

Author's Note: LxZ Valentine's Day AU. Um … Because I'm sick of seeing Demyx/Zexion, (Zexion/Demyx) I write this? Plus, Xigbar is cool because walking upside down throughout a whole battle equals "pretty special," and Luxord has a British accent and really pretty eyes. On that note, enjoy the 'fic.

Withering Beauty

Darkness was his only comfort, the silver-haired teen realized as he edged further into the darkest shadowed corner of his room. His denim-hued eyes saddened as he thought over what his guardian had accused him of, and he realized that he had done nothing wrong. Moonlight partially leaked through his black curtains as he shifted slightly so that he was curled into the smallest ball that he could make. If he were to look at his clenched hands, he would see crimson. A dry laugh escaped his burning throat as he felt fresh blood trickle down his face like sweat, and he thought about his thus far ignored homework that was due in eight hours — Chemistry homework that he would probably never do. Not now, after being yelled at and sent flying across a room full of test tubes and the like for writing an equation down incorrectly. The silver-haired boy let out a half-sigh sugared in a meek whimper. He didn't even get the mixture wrong; it was the equation. Plus, if he knew that Zexion was going to mess up, why did he —

"Zexion?" a soft yet masculine voice called through the door. There was a tap, then a continuation: "It's Vexen. Zexion, it's me. Will you open your door?" Zexion's murky blue eyes slowly raised themselves to the door, but his body made no move to open it. There was a sigh heard from the other side after a few moments, and finally a mutter.

"Don't say I didn't try to help. Oh, Zexion…"

School always seemed like an iffy topic amongst teenagers. Most never wanted to hear the word uttered from anyone's mouth for fear that it would cause some unearthly terror, while others either came to school for other reasons, or, in some rare cases, to learn. Zexion came to school to escape his home life. Home … Home had always been like that. The orphan — a problem child — who liked to beat up his school teachers if they dared to touch him in a way he deemed "inappropriate." Up to the age of thirteen — now almost seventeen — the guardian who wanted everything to go his way … the "older brother" with mustard-brown hair who was probably older than the guardian … the silent brute — who was he anyway? — who acted as if a teenager receiving new scars to tattoo his young body was normal — he was good at experiments; the blue-haired man just didn't want him to surpass him … if he wasn't afraid of the drums or to let people hear his soft voice he would — that strawberry blonde-haired boy's artwork was way better than his, so why? — Yeah, they had silver hair too, but so what, that didn't mean … Just because a person is silent doesn't mean that they're mysterious; sometimes they'd just rather — …

School would begin in thirty minutes, he realized as he rushed out the front door.

Leaning against his sea-green locker, Zexion began his daily morning survey of the entrance hallway. He wasn't surprised at what he found, really: hot pink banners decorated with tiny red hearts, little posters advertising the upcoming dread in the pit of his stomach, white slips outlined in pink attached to the bulletin board directly across from him, empty chocolate boxes and empty candy heart boxes hanging cautiously from the ceiling and the really overly joyous chatty things known as teenage girls. Now, the midnight blue-eyed boy would have considered the last bit of information his eyes took in as a threat, but at that moment, his third most despised thing entered the school building.

"— believe that she actually asked me about it! I mean, I'm a 'goof,' ne? So I shouldn't have been on her 'list of boys to ask' at all, right? But yesterday she did, right in front of all of her gro — ne, Riku, are you listening?" Sapphire blues blinked slowly as they followed the line of vision the other boy's icy aquamarines were headed, to rest upon … glaring stone-black ones.

Sora blinked once more, then sighed. The weird rivalry would begin in five … four … three … two … one — oh, now.

Sora yelped as he felt his wrist being grabbed by his silver-haired friend as he began to quickly lead him down the hallway. As they neared the short-haired, silver-headed teen, they ended up coming to an abrupt stop, challenging lightning-blue orbs meeting with challenging coal-blue irises. Sora didn't like being caught up in the stupidity, but today he had not been lucky enough to escape —

"Sora! Riku-kun! There you are!" a calm female voice called from the opposite side of the hall. Sora let out a sigh of relief as a familiar head of crimson and violent purple eyes came their way. "Ah — Zexion-kun!" she spoke in finality when she reached the trio. Sora eyed the girl in disbelief for a few moments before deciding to speak, knowing full well that the two silver-haired delinquents would not.

"Good morning, Kairi. Alone this Monday morning, I see?" Sora asked, hoping that she wouldn't notice the sound of relief that was evident in his voice.

Kairi let out a small giggle, then said, "Don't get your hopes up, Sora. They'll be over in a minute." At the sound of this, both silver-haired teens stopped silently attempting at killing each other through glaring and turned to face the girl with a look of animosity evident on their faces. Riku's said, "Not today; I like my sanity very much, thank you," while Zexion's said, "Any of you dare to even think about touching me, and you'll wish, wish that you were rotting in that place known as hell." Kairi only smiled deviously at the two boys as the sound of the shuffling of many pairs of feet became evident behind her. Zexion looked away almost immediately, his silver bangs moving to cover his glum expression in one swift movement, and he didn't plan on looking back. Folding his arms across his chest and leaning more onto his locker, he didn't even bother trying to figure out why the girls had come. He didn't need to.

"Kairi! You found them!" A perky girl with short black hair spoke rather cheerfully and rather loudly when they approached. "We've already talked to Kadaj-kun, and he seemed okay with the matter, so I bet … " Zexion stopped listening as he knew that whatever point that had wouldn't be explained for a few more minutes. They talked to Kadaj, and he seemed okay with it? Zexion frowned as he stole a glance at Riku, then briefly gazed at the girls. I doubt he was okay with whatever they're planning. These girls are the ringleaders of that S.H.G. Society … When the older teen decided to listen again, they were finally nearing the end of their babbling.

"… We've got sixteen more days to go! Waa!" a girl with shoulder-length curly brown hair, Selphie, exclaimed with an excited wave of her arms. "Then — then the dance is three more days after! Ooh, I can't wait!" Zexion looked up as soon as she finished, noting now how all four girls were now quiet and very much blushing. Both Riku and Sora seemed to have noticed also, as the older of the two began to speak, putting on a fake smile as he did so.

"Well, ladies. I assume that you wouldn't mind telling us what your darling … minds have been thinking since you've come over here, hmm?" This caused three out of the four of them to start giggling as Riku pushed a long white strand from in front of his pale green eyes while Zexion rolled his eyes.

"Well, Riku-kun, Zexion-kun," a girl with jade green pearls and thin hair pulled up in a flailing ponytail with four blonde braids scattered and tangled about began, "as I'm quite, quite sure you two silver-haired gods know already —"

There was a yell of "Rikku!" from Kairi when she said this, but Rikku ignored her completely and continued unfazed:

"— the Valentine's Day Dance is coming up. Seeing that VD is on Wednesday, we'll be holding the dance Friday. But you know all this already, and if you didn't, then I'd be —"

"Please, just get to your point," Zexion hissed suddenly, causing half of the girls to gasp at him actually speaking. This seemed to catch Rikku's attention also, but only for a moment.

"Well now, like I was saying, we thought it'd be best if the leaders of the S.H.G. Society themselves informed you of the VD H-Poll." Rikku explained with a mischievous grin. VD what? Zexion thought bitterly, as he did not like how that abbreviated — something — sounded.

"The Valentine's Day Hottie Poll!" the perky black haired girl said with a swish of her hands.

"And the Great Ninja Yuffie — myself — was the one who personally informed everyone of it." Yuffie said this in a half sing-song voice that made all three males cringe.

"Being President of the S.H.G.S., I thought it'd be best that you knew that you will not need a date for the dance because the three females that win the poll will be your dates," Kairi spoke in a tone that hinted at a few other things.

"Oh, hell no."

Zexion noticed for once that it was probably the first time that he sympathized with Riku and that they were actually agreeing on something as both boys spoke those three words in defiant tones. The next sixteen or so days were going to be murderous for them.

Long school days were not something the frosty blue-haired boy cherished, or liked for that matter. Especially if throughout the whole school day rabid fan girls that he did not ask for exclaimed and proclaimed how they were going to be his Valentine's Day Dance date. When the last bell of the day rang loudly in his and everyone's ears, he was actually for once very happy. Grabbing what little books he actually brought home quickly, Zexion hurriedly rushed past the hordes of bodies and out the school doors.

Pulling his many-belted, black cloak tightly around himself as he entered the cold streets, he thought about home for a fleeting moment and decided that that option was a place that he did not wish to return to just yet. Short silver hair rustling in the wind, he slowly pulled up his left sleeve a little to reveal two watches, a roman numeral one and a digital one. He glanced at the digital, not wanting to attempt reading Vs and Xs at the moment, to see that it was almost three o'clock, meaning that he had roughly four hours to roam the busy island city streets. But Zexion was not in the mood for roaming, and he knew exactly where his feet trod.

But before he could even turn into the direction of the store he was planning on lounging around in, a soft buzz was heard muffled from his inside coat pocket, followed by the blaring of guitars mingled with drums and the indescribable Engrish of a very violent (to himself) and slightly bipolar Japanese rock singer who happened to be probably vaguely screaming, "dying a child" at the moment.¹ Not that it sounded like that, anyway.

"Speak, or I hang up," Zexion said dryly as he slipped open his black Motorola camera phone and spoke into the receiver.

"Heya, Sexy Zexy!" an overly hyperactive male voice practically shouted in his ear. "It's Axel, and I'm sure you've got me memorized by now." Zexion sighed as he knew where this conversation was heading. Axel liked to ramble. "Have anything planned for this lovely icy-you-know-it's-freezing-like-hell-out-here afternoon? Demyx, Roxas, and I are probably planning on going to the arcade with Sora and his boyfriend! And 'we' were wondering if you'd like to join us. I mean, I know for a fact that you're not about to head straight home unless you have a death wish, and, besides, I was gonna ask you at the end of the school day, but you dashed off before I could catch ya. So … are you going to 'ac-comp-pany' us?" Zexion surprisingly patiently waited until Axel was done babbling before giving him a one-syllable answer —

"No."

— compared to Axel's hour-long ramble.

"Aw, Zexy, why not?" Axel whined rather loudly, causing Zexion to pull the phone away from his fragile ear.

"Because," Zexion merely responded as he continued his walk, deciding then that by the time Axel would finally be finished trying to convince him to hang out with them, he'd be at his destination. "Please, Zex-i-on. You'll like it, and besides, Saïx doesn't mind you hanging out with meeee," Axel tried, stressing the word "me" and hoping that it would convince the younger boy. It didn't.

"I already have plans for today, Axel. Thank you for the offer, though. Have fun with your boyfriend and his friends," Zexion replied in a semi-light tone that was definitely sarcastic, deciding that their phone conversation was finished.

"Wha — ah, Zexion! Wait, they're your friends too, y —" Click.

Hmph.Me. Friends.

Almost-black eyes wavered as he shut the phone and stuffed it back into the hidden pocket in his cloak. Axel could be persistent and long-winded sometimes, and he usually did persuade him into doing things. Axel understood him, and that was why he let the redhead bother him constantly. But not today. Today he felt like being left alone to ponder some things he had been thinking about lately. Today he was going to be at …

Kin-kon-kan!

The small golden bell jingled happily as the young teen slowly entered the bookstore and glanced around to see if he'd be allowing his presence in it on the cold Monday afternoon. His mood lightened inwardly as he noticed that the place was not overcrowded and that only a few customers were present, some walking around the shelves searching for a good read while the others were sitting at small tables in the café, quietly murmuring to each other no doubt about the upcoming holiday. Up at the counter two employees were looking straight at him, two females he recognized immediately. Before he had entered, the crimson-haired female had been listening intently to the ebony-haired girl talk animatedly about something or the other that had happened during the school day. Now two pairs of eyes, both violet, were watching the newest customer sit down quickly at a manila table near the door and glance down at a black and gold pocket watch to check the time. Three fifteen.

Now, as said, earlier, upon hearing and seeing the new patron enter the cosy bookstore, the two girls had stopped their chirping one-sided conversation and looked to greet their latest person to serve. Seeing who it was, the black-haired worker gave a small squeal of delight and practically hopped over the counter to greet him with a welcoming grin that spoke of the holiday of love and other things without even opening her mouth. Without even blinking or thinking about the fact that she worked in a bookstore and she was supposed to speak in a quiet manner, she chirped loudly across the store, "Hiya, welcome to the Emerald Blues and Crimson Jazz Bookstore and Café! Name's the 'Great Ninja' Yuffie, butyoualreadyknowthat, and if you need any help finding a book, come see me, or, if you'd like to order something refreshing, I'll be with ya in a sec!"

He didn't pay them much mind anymore as he began to pick at the sugar packets and make a puzzle out of them on the manila table top.

"— and then Naminé and Marlene both had the nerve to tell me that I didn't have a chance at winning one of them for the dance. I mean, c'mon, even I know that I have a better chance than Naminé."

By now Yuffie had made her way over to Zexion's table and was now beaming a wide smile at him, having now finished her gossip. Zexion was unfazed by it, having seen it normally at New Dawn throughout the whole school year, and barely gazed notice to her setting down a menu in front of him.

The silver-haired teen didn't even touch the menu, as he spoke in a low tone, "Do you have slushies, and if you do, do you sell the ones that have crushed pieces of fruit in them? Or, are those called smoothies?"

Yuffie held a blank expression on her face for a moment, probably surprised that the ever-so-silent-boy had spoken more than one sentence or word but immediately her smile returned as she gave a vigorous nod. "Yup, yup. We here at the Emerald Blues Café are known for the only place that not only puts chopped fruit in their smoothies, but also in the slushies! What flavour would you like? We have orange, pineapple, grape, grapefruit, pear, apple, raspberry, straw —"

"Strawberry, if you wouldn't mind."

"Al — all right." Yuffie stuttered, but, continuing with an ever-present grin, "Would you like anything to eat with that? We have chocolate chip cookies, toast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, croissants, subs, melts, grilled cheese, pie, cake — lots of bready things. Anyway, any food you like in particular, we probably have it back there."

Zexion eyed the girl with a bored look for a moment as he watched her smile fade just a little, but did not disappear. Sighing, he replied, "I'm fine right now, thank you. I'll probably go look for some books, then order something later." He paused as he lifted his right sleeve to reveal a dotted watch and a normal one. Three thirty. "I'll be here for a while." There was a partially awkward silence between them as Zexion pulled his sleeve back down and returned to playing with the sugar packets while a quiet jazz played overhead. Yuffie wished she had a camera at that moment so she could snap a picture of the infamous Zexion Ienzo playing with sugar packets to show her annoying friends. But she didn't, so instead she gave a nod, then went to go make his order.

Twenty minutes later, Zexion was done with his slush and was skimming through the millions of books in the store. He had already found two of the books he had been wanting, and now he was looking for crosswords, as he knew where the last book he planned to purchase was. Finally, his darkest blue eyes caught the word deluxe, and it was in his hands in a second. "Now, over to the kiddie horror stories …" he muttered to himself as he looked for the author Brian Jacques and found him. Picking up the black book with red-etched writing² that he had been wanting for some weeks now, he spun towards the cash register quickly and began to make his way over to it in a rush, which caused him to run face-forward into someone, all four books dropping in the process and the other's one book also.

An immediate apology formed on Zexion's lips as he bent down to pick up the fallen articles, only to have his hand and the hand of the person he had run into grab for the same one. Another apology was springing from his mouth as he withdrew his hand and looked up to see icy teal pools staring back at him, causing him to falter and fall fully down onto the ground. Blinking, Zexion had about a second to notice the short platinum-blonde hair and the three earrings in his left ear with three meeting ones in his right and one more peculiar one, and his cream colour skin — meaning he most definitely was not from the large island city — before the man gave him a somewhat unnerving smile.

"I'm sorry," he spoke first in a heavy accent, "I didn't see you there, kid." Zexion watched as he finished picking up their books and handed his back to him, but not before glancing at the titles.

"It — it was my fault," Zexion stuttered as he got to his feet and headed to the cash register before the man could say something else.

Unfortunately, his clerk happened to be Kairi, who decided it would be a splendid idea to try striking up a conversation with him. Zexion ignored her as she handed him his purchased books, and he turned to leave.

But as he reached the door, he glanced back, to see blue-tinted green eyes staring back at his black-tinted blue eyes …

… only for a moment.

To be continued

Tasogare Asa: OKAY! Chapter one finished. It might be boring and/or confusing I know, but this is yaoi. …with lots of random side yaoi pairings. Also, I forgot to mention, a few of the Advent Children characters make guest appearances in this 'fic like Marlene and Kadaj, for example. They don't have really big parts, so don't worry about them that much. If you like where this story is heading, please review. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but no flames, please. And I hope I did not offend anyone about the Demyx/Zexion.