Sora pinned up the last drawing to the bulletin board. The front hall of the Little Acorn Daycare Center was a large mosaic of the various drawings scribbled by its toddler inhabitants. Monsters, dogs, and countless colored blobs stared back at Sora, filling his heart with pride. Maybe they weren't his kids, but Sora loved every child who attended Little Acorn. Placing the pins back behind the front desk, Sora walked back to the main playroom.
The room roared with the combined sounds of children playing. Toys that had lined the wall just that morning were scattered around the floor, and the room buzzed with perpetual motion. Sora delighted in the noise, each tinkering laugh bringing a smile to his face. There was something about the innocence of children that Sora loved, the way their minds worked in ways completely different from adults. Child psychology was by far Sora's favorite class at Radiant Gardens University, were he studied human anthropology and child development.
Scanning the room, Sora's eyes fell on a small silver-haired boy sitting in a corner. His little green eyes stared out at the room, seemingly watching everything going on. Sora frowned. He had noticed him earlier today, but it was the boy's first day at the daycare, so Sora had thought he'd just let the boy come out on his own; he could just be shy. What bothered Sora, though, was that the boy was just sitting there. He wasn't playing by himself, or even looking over at the toys. He only sat, arms wrapped around his knees, staring out at the room with wide eyes. Sora made his mind up to go over and talk to the boy.
Strolling over, Sora lowered himself down the boy's level. Hello, my name is Kadaj a bright nametag announced from the boys chest. Sora smiled brightly, drawing the boy's gaze.
"Hi Kadaj, my name is Sora" he said gently. Kadaj stared at Sora with no reply, eyes still as round as saucers. "How are you doing? Do you like it here?"
Again, Kadaj remained silent. Not that Sora had expected much; a nervous child on his first day wasn't usually prone to jabbering away. Sora merely smiled and continued.
"Would you like to play with some toys?" Sora grabbed a nearby truck, rolling it on the ground in demonstration, making "vroom" noises as he pushed it along. Kadaj stared, but made no move to uncurl and examine the plastic truck. Sora placed the truck next to Kadaj, giving a smile and a small "Here." He then walked away to deal with the rest of the room. To his dismay, Sora never saw Kadaj touch the toy, both truck and child in the same positions at the end of the day.
Over the next week, Sora kept an eye on Kadaj. Each day, Sora would try and encourage Kadaj to play with the toys, or with the other children. Each day, Kadaj would do nothing but stare out at the room, watching without really seeing anything. It troubled Sora to not see the child adjusting, and he decided to take action.
Skipping up to the front desk, Sora fell into a chair beside the receptionist, Naminé. "Hi Nami!" he chirped. Naminé smiled at Sora, prey to his enthusiasm as much as anyone.
"Hi Sora. What's up?" the blond replied.
"I was wondering, " Sora began, "if I could talk to Kadaj's parents."
"The new boy?" Naminé asked.
Sora nodded. "He's been here over a week, but he's having a really hard time adjusting. He just sits there all day, and I'm worried about him. I want to talk to his parents to see if I can figure out if there's something wrong with the little guy. Could you just let me know when one of them comes to pick Kadaj up, so I can come up and speak to them? "
"Sure thing Sora" Naminé replied, admiring Sora's commitment and concern that he'd always shown towards the kids. Sora had been working part time at the daycare for the entire time he'd been at the University, and from the very beginning, he'd always put extra effort into making sure each child was happy and well adjusted. Sora couldn't help it; it was his nature to try and comfort people.
Later that afternoon, Naminé came back into the playroom and tapped Sora's shoulder, motioning to bring Kadaj up to the front for pick up. Sora smiled and thanked her, going over to collect Kadaj. The boy was drooped over in a fast sleep, adorable as he let a little drool slide down his face. Sora wiped Kadaj's chin off, picking him up to carry to the front desk, since it didn't seem like he was going to wake up.
Sora stopped short as he rounded the corner. Kadaj, if you end up looking like you father, you are gonna be a stud muffin. Kadaj's father stood behind the desk, the fluorescent light combined with the setting sun spilling through the window making his silver hair shine in an almost angelic way. He was taller than Sora, lean but muscled. His eyes were not the same green as Kadaj's, but more of a sea green or aquamarine, and… they looked dead. Tired. The man behind the desk looked absolutely exhausted.
Sora continued towards the man, shifting Kadaj to one arm. He was about to extend a hand in greeting, when the man reached his arms out for Kadaj. Sora transferred the sleeping child into the waiting man's arms, before smiling brightly.
"Hello, I'm Sora." he said, extending his hand.
The other man sighed, his tired features blank.
"Riku." He shook Sora hand weakly.
"You must be Kadaj's father." Sora said brightly, trying to make a slight joke by stating the obvious.
Riku's eye twitched. "No." he stated simply.
Sora blinked. There was definite resemblance between the man and the child in his arms, their long silver hair, which wasn't common in the first place, being the most obvious. Perhaps this was a family member then, picking up Kadaj as a favor. He certainly didn't look comfortable holding Kadaj, but if Naminé had let him through, then Sora was sure he was allowed to take Kadaj home.
"Oh! Sorry. Um, do you know a way I could talk to Kadaj's parents? See, I'm a little wor-"
"No." Riku stated angrily, cutting Sora off. His face was furious as he turned and stormed out the front door.
Sora blinked, speechless. What was that? What had he said to provoke such a response? Sora had no idea, nor could Naminé come up with an explanation when he explained the encounter.
Sora brought Kadaj up to the front the next day, only to see the disgruntled Riku character there again. Unwilling to exchange any dialogue with the hostile man, Sora had simply handed Kadaj over. Impatient, Sora decided again to take things into his own hands. Waiting for Naminé to take a bathroom break, he snuck over to the large filing cabinet behind the front desk and pulled out Kadaj file. Later that evening, back in his apartment, Sora pulled out the file to read.
Instead of finding a contact sheet for Kadaj's parents, what Sora found was a sad story.
A/N: Just a teaser of my first piece. Would be extremely grateful for any kind of feed back, on the writing, concept, or otherwise.