Alright so, this is my first Fanfiction so please be kind, but also if you want to drop some criticism it would be greatly appreciated. I usually write my own fictions with my own characters and have always been afraid of the Fanfic area. It's harder than it looks and I give a whole bunch of these authors here a lot of credit for being able to do it so successfully. But I believe that a writer has got to start somewhere and while I'm comfortable to write original fiction I have a feeling that there is something that I can learn here. So I hope you guys end up enjoying this and again, if you want to leave any comments or even a critique I'd love to here what you guys think.

So enough of me wasting your time, welcome to the first chapter of Lean.

Summary: A series of murders have been committed over the course of 2 years. Men have turned up dead in hotel rooms, homes, cars and even public bathrooms. After months of having no leads, the police employ a new detective team to find some answers. And where do all their answers lead? Roxas.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Kingdom Hearts related at all. Although I kinda want a Moogle. Make it happen, Squeenix.

Lean

Chapter 1

Roxas sat silently at his desk. The lamp beside him was rather dim, but bright enough to allow him comfortable viewing of his hand along with his drawing. His pencil scratched over the white page, the 'scratch, scratch' becoming once again familiar to his ears as his pace was quietly set. Music played softly in his ears through his earbuds and his lips moved along with the lyrics in each song.

It was night time and things were winding down. He had finished his shift an hour ago, came home and ate a hamburger that his brother, Sora, had made and got down to work. He had an assignment due tomorrow and all he had left to do were a few finishing touches with an ink pen and a pencil.

He was in his zone; the place where he fully enjoyed creating. It felt as if he was the only one that resided in an enclosed bubble—and it was nice. It was nice to be away for awhile, dabble in is own thoughts. Lord knew he didn't have time to do that on a regular basis. Juggling a job and being in college was more than a full time job. All the studying and the projects that he had to complete weekly, there was little time to be by himself lately—especially since it was nearing the end of the fall semester, thus making way for crunch time. But he didn't complain—well, he didn't complain much. There just wasn't much to complain about.

One line. Another. Everything was coming together nicely. He was drawing a portrait of Sora for one of his electives. The assignment challenged him to draw someone he knew without looking at them for reference. He had to have his drawing and a picture of the person attached to it so that his teacher could compare the two and give a mark he thought was appropriate. It didn't help that his teacher was a hard-ass and expect perfection beyond what was sometimes possible—especially since he hated the way Roxas drew. It was too illustrational; not realistic enough, not enough feeling. His work needed to grow up and face a world where Fine Art was Fine Art, not a cartoony, unrealistic mess.

Roxas wanted to punch him. But he refrained from the initial reaction—and the 50 others that came after—and ignored him for the most part. He wasn't going to change the way he drew just because of some narrow-minded teacher who had his head so far up Matisse's ass that the dude's shit probably smelled like wonderfully perfumed flowers. It didn't matter, he thought with an internal groan. He had a project to do and he'd do it well, like always.

Time passed. Roxas wasn't sure how much exactly, but it was substantial since it was now dark around the apartment except for the tv shining behind him the lamp casting it's soft glow over his table. Feeling it was a good enough time to take a break, he put his pencil down and threw his arms up in a stretch. He let out a soft groan and then turned around to eye the tv and his brother lazing on the couch seemingly half asleep.

It was surprising really, the fact that Sora hadn't bothered him while he was drawing. Since they started living together Roxas often had a hard time getting Sora to shut up most times. He could talk about anything and usually did so with abandon. His stories could range from the absurd to the mundane. He would be talking about a baby bird that he helped get back into a tree at one moment and then narrate from small detail to small detail a boss he destroyed in the latest videogame.

Counting his blessings, he picked up the pencil again and set to work once more. He was almost done and after a few more pencil strokes he was going to go and collapse in his bed for a well deserved rest.

It was eleven o'clock when he finally finished. He stood from his chair, taking his creation in hand and then moving to his room. But something stopped him. More precisely, an image on the tv stopped him. What was being shown was a woman speaking at a desk while in the top right corner a picture was shown of a man smiling happily paired with what seemed to be a crime scene. What caught Roxas' eye however was the gruesomeness of the scene. Grabbing the remote, he unmated the tv.

"Today another murder was committed by what is believed to be the same serial killer that has been on the loose for a few years." spoke the woman on the screen, seemingly disturbed, but trying her best to remain objective and hide her emotions once more, "The new victim, a man going by the name of Setzer Gabbiani, was killed, pieces of his body scattered all over the crime scene. Part of his body was burned, as was part of the house, and a roman numeral reading the number '22' was left on one of the walls, painted in black paint. No further information has been found on the killer. Police are doing everything they can to find the murderer."

Roxas sighed and shook his head. This is why he didn't like the news, it was too negative. But it was also that negativity that, for some reason, made it interesting at times. It was like watching a train wreck over and over.

He turned off the tv, shook Sora awake, who groaned unhappily at the interruption, and headed off to bed.

Running a hand through is blond hair, Roxas sighed. Just like he knew he would be, he was thoroughly torn apart by his instructor. His portrait of Sora, while very good in his terms, was far to cartoony, in the opinion of his professor who seemed to consider himself the number one go to man when it came to all things Fine Art. It took a lot of effort on Roxas' part to not say anything when he was in the room as his teacher pointed out every line he found wrong, why the hair was no where near realistic enough, why the shading was different from the picture—which in Roxas' mind was utterly stupid because wasn't the whole point of the project to draw from his memory?—and that, overall, the picture wasn't big enough.

Roxas was going to stab him one day. Seriously take a rusty screw and shank the bitch.

He sighed once more as he carried his rolled up creation underneath his arm and started walking down the hallway towards the elevators. He silently thanked his lucky stars that he didn't have anymore classes today and only had to go to work. He was hoping for a slow day so that he could draw little doodles without getting chewed out by his manager about his lack of focus.

He loved his job. He worked at a small videogame store run by Cid Highwind, a simple man with an obsession with tea and the mouth of a sailor having a never-ending bad day. Although he could be really sweet when he wanted to be, especially with his wife—after he finished yelling at her to get some 'goddamn tea'. His co-workers, Hayner, Zack and Kairi, had all come to the store and weren't afraid of Cid's outbursts. Apparently Cid was impressed enough to hire each of them and Roxas was added as a fourth member only a year ago.

He and each of his co-workers had become fast friends, ignoring the exception that Hayner was Roxas' friend from toddler-hood. Zack was the most in touch with his inner child being the one to be the first at any movie that was cg animated and had talking animals. He often danced around the store, had a strange compulsion to do squats at the weirdest of times, got shy at girls—Kairi being the only exception—and he still had a stuffed Moogle resting atop his bed—Roxas only knew this when he was invited over to the older man's place for a pizza party and Kairi brought it up.

Kairi simply was a rebel. She wasn't afraid to say how she felt and often found humour in rather humourless situations—read: she had streak for laughing at the pain of others. She was a tough girl and a bit of a tomboy. She usually had her cherry red hair pulled into a ponytail and was often seen wearing hoodies—some that were borrowed from Roxas' wardrobe—paired with her favourite pair of skinny jeans—that just so happened to be covered in gratuitous amounts of paint. While she was rough around the edges, she stuck to her principles and morals. She believed in being there for her friends and cared about the few she had; ungrateful and Kairi were never in the same sentence. It was understandable why Sora had a crush on her—even though Kairi continually turned him down each time.

Hayner was different than the other two. The boy had been with Roxas through everything. From when he had to face his family and reveal to his parents that he was, in fact, bisexual, and even when Roxas was being bullied by Seifer, the number one bully extraordinaire from his home town of Twilight Town, Hayner always stuck up for him. But that didn't mean that it didn't come with a price. Roxas often had to endure endless nights of a nearly drunk Hayner speaking of his woes—of which he really had none—and his fear of telling Seifer that he liked him—yes, the same Seifer who loved to bully Roxas. He was still trying to figure out how that happened. If that wasn't enough, Hayner had a wild streak, a temper, and could sometimes be rather childish. Even still, it was a friendship that Roxas wouldn't trade for the world. They were a partnership: Roxas, the more level headed one, and Hayner, the impulsive mastermind.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he neared the elevator, having ignored the pieces of art hanging along the walls beside him, and turned around in response to the tap he felt on his shoulder. He was greeted with soft light blond hair, blue eyes and a smile that had most guys gushing—Roxas would be included if not for a few months ago. "Hey, Naminé. What's up?"

Naminé was Roxas' first friend when he came to the college to study art. She was his mentor and in a higher year than him even though they were both the same age. She had gotten an early scholarship into the school due to her amazing talent. The potential in her portfolio apparently had quite a few teachers, and even the dean, foaming at the mouth. Every month she was showcased in some way, whether it was a portrait of a friend of hers—Roxas would never forget walking around the school and having everyone staring at him and commenting that he was the boy in Naminé's painting—or some fantastical dreamscape that was painted on a canvas to make the place seem larger than life itself. She was determined, gifted and even better yet, humble about her talent, often saying that she wasn't as good as everyone knew she was. It was hard to hate her, if not outright impossible.

"Nothing much," she said as a twinkle danced in her eye. She was carrying a small case that held her current project, and a backpack rested carefully on her right shoulder. "He really didn't let up today, did he?" she muttered and the blond boy chuckled a bit.

"Does he ever?" The elevator chimed and they both got in, Roxas pressing the button that would take them to the lobby.

"Well, if it means anything, I liked it. You had better pieces than a few of those other guys."

"Those guys don't really matter. I want thesis, so I have to get good marks and I don't want to be in this situation where I feel like I'm fighting harder than anyone only else only to get 60s and 50s." explained Roxas as he leaned against the wall of the elevator.

"50s and 60s? Seriously?" questioned Naminé looking properly affronted, "I can't even believe that."

"I could show you the papers if you want."

Naminé laughed. "I don't think I'd like to see those. I get enough of him in our class and judging by the fact that he likes to write a full page of comments I'm almost scared to see what he wrote for you." There was a lull in the conversation as the doors opened once again to let in a few more students. When the doors closed, Naminé let out an exclamation of delight. Roxas eyed her strangely as she grinned at him. "What if I could help out with your situation?"

"How could you help exactly?" questioned Roxas.

"Well, I figure, the only reason he feels that your work isn't worth anything is because he hasn't seen it in a gallery setting. Why don't we try to get you recognized?" The doors to the elevator opened at the lobby and the bodies began to clear out, Naminé and Roxas the last to leave the confined space, "We could see if we could show some of your art in the school and a friend of mine has a professional gallery space! I could see if I could get your work in there. He really likes artists that explore different principles in art."

"Well, it's not like I explore different principles. I just like my art to have a point, a story, that's all."

"That's been dying lately, Roxas. Even I don't do that in my work all the time. You work primarily from your head and that's a wonderful thing. Just because that stupid teacher can't see that isn't your fault. You should be proud of your skill." Roxas sighed. She was right.

"I know that." he murmured quietly. He sighed a moment later before shaking his head. "I just hate art school sometimes."

"Everyone does." she said with a chuckle, "But you've got to be strong, Roxas. In two weeks you won't even have to see him anymore." She was right! The fall semester was ending. Roxas grinned at the thought and draped an arm around Naminé's shoulders, giving her a light squeeze as to not throw her off balance with all she was carrying. "We…are having a party when this is all over."

She eyed Roxas sceptically. "You, Roxas? Party? Are you feeling alright?"

"Shut up, Naminé. I may not like big parties, but that doesn't mean I don't like being stupid with my friends once and awhile. It'll be a good time to do it anyway. Hey, what do you think about a potluck?"

"I think you're trying to get food out of everyone else since you can't cook worth anything." replied the blond haired girl with a knowing smile. Roxas returned the gesture with a smirk of his own.

"Hey, I can't help it if I have friends who know how to cook. As they are my friends I should be able to abuse it a least a little bit, right?" said Roxas as he and Naminé walked out of the campus and out into the open street.

When Roxas finally made it to work he was greeted with a lot of noise and a nearly empty store. He cocked his head to the side while crossing his arms and walking further into the store. "Zack?" he called loudly over the music blaring from the speakers placed all around the store. Things were like usual, he noticed. The walls of the space were covered in a variety of games, some new and some old. Some dated back to before Roxas was even born. The desk at the front of the store holding the cash register was empty confirming Roxas' suspicions that it was a slow day. He sighed in relief, dropping his backpack behind the desk while he went further into the store to investigate where his co-worker was.

What he found wasn't anything new. Zack had set up one of the new consoles and a fighting game was currently being shown on the hanging tv above him. Said male was currently sitting in a ratty old chair, his black shoulder length hair tied back in a loose ponytail. His blue work shirt rested loosely over his chest as his black slacks hung down loosely from his hips, showing a bit of his boxers underneath. He seemed rather calm, but the tension in his shoulders spoke otherwise and judging by the health bar on the screen, he was losing badly. Beside him was Sora, who must have finished his classes for the day and decided to come hang out. "Being a pest, Sora?" asked Roxas with a small smirk as he bent his knees, sitting on the heels of his feet while standing on the tips of his toes. He rested his arms on the back of the chair Sora sat on while he watched the events unfold on screen. The brunette male acknowledged Roxas with a nod while his blue eyes shined with determination.

"I'm not being a pest, Roxas. I'm being a champion. There's a difference." he spoke as he started to mash buttons on the controller at an alarming rate. Roxas winced at one particularly hard button press hoping that Sora wouldn't break another one of the store's controllers. The last time it happened it came out of Roxas' pay check and he couldn't pay for the concert he had wanted to go to. Sora had tried to make it up to him though, mostly by making dinner every night instead of ordering takeout like they often did. Roxas looked up again as a shout was emitted from the tv screen. One of the characters on the screen started throwing spastic punches that the other character could barely keep up with. Roxas snickered.

"How are you even losing, Zack?"

Zack growled lowly in his throat before he responded. "Sora has that beginner's luck thing! If he knew how to play I would be beating him right now!" shouted Zack angrily as he mashed on a few buttons, landing a combo on Sora's character, but Sora was quick to retaliate by pressing one button repeatedly causing his character on screen to do the same kick over and over. Each kick hit, with caused Zack to nearly throw the controller at the tv at the injustice of it all. "This is bullshit!"

"You know that makes absolutely no logical sense right?" remarked Roxas as he stood to walk back to the front of the store, scuffing his shoes along the carpet and walking past a few display cases.

"Oh yeah?" yelled Zack as he started mashing buttons just like Sora, "I want to see you try to beat him then!"

"I would, but I already beat him at everything else, it would be boring to add another game to that list." Sora let out an indignant squawk while Zack snickered.

Sitting behind the front desk and eyeing the computer in front of him, he started to search around a popular video website to pass the time before getting down to drawing. He was only ten minutes into this plan, having begun to gush at a cute dog who was trying to sing with his owner, when he heard the bell above the front door chime. He looked up quickly, preparing to recite the greeting that Cid taught him, when he saw it was only his manager and a familiar red head.

"Well hello there, pretty thing." said the red head, his smile charming as usual.

"Does that line even work on any of the girls you date, Axel?" retorted Roxas. Cynicism dripped all over Roxas' lips as a small curve worked its way into a definitive smirk. Axel chuckled.

"I only save the good ones for you, babe."

Roxas winked. "I'm flattered then, you goof."

"Guys, flirt on your own time." interrupted Roxas' manager, Leon. The man eyed the two of them with his grey-blue eyes that were sparked with amusement before he moved on to the back of the store to drop the bag of food he was carrying.

When he was gone Axel smiled and leaned down on the desk, his arms cradling his head as he stared at Roxas with a cat-like grin. Roxas returned the smile, flicking Axel in the head a moment late and chuckling at the small yelp the taller boy emitted. "So to what do I owe the pleasure, oh tall one?" said the blond as he pulled out his sketchbook from his checkered backpack and placed it on the table, diving into his back once more to find a pencil.

"Just to see my bestest best friend of all time." replied Axel, ruffling the shorter boy's hair. Roxas smacked his hand away, grinning a bit and the mock hurt look on the other man's face. Roxas had met Axel through Leon when he started working at the gaming store. Axel was a regular to the store, often coming for rarer titles that others had traded in. On Roxas' first day the red-headed male made a pretty big show of his entrance by kicking open the door and yelling loudly for Leon. He was about to yell more, until he noticed the short blond at the counter staring at him as if a serial killer had just walked through the front door.

Roxas couldn't fully recall the details after since everything passed in a blur—first days were usually like that—but by the end of it all he knew was that he had somehow found a new friend who seemed to have a penchant to flirt with anything that walked. Well, that was how Roxas felt at the time anyway. He now knew better that he was the only one that Axel actually flirted with, but it was all platonic and out of fun. The friendship had grown to rival the friendship that Roxas had with Hayner. He felt that he could be fully himself with Axel—could tell him anything, do mostly anything and the redhead would always understand. Plus, Axel always brought some form of entertainment with him and always made Roxas laugh, which was something he appreciated, especially on his most stressful days.

"How are you doing today?" asked Axel, his eyes taking on a more serious undertone. He knew about Roxas and his feelings for art school as of late, and he tried his best to give his friend the support he needed when things got a little tough with all the judging that the blond went through. Roxas let out a small, sheepish smile.

"That stupid teacher of mine hated my piece." said Roxas as he exhaled a sigh, shaking his head, "Nothing new." Axel flicked him in the forehead this time.

"Hey, what did I say about him?" questioned Axel as his voice almost took on a parental undertone.

Roxas groaned. "Ugh, I know! Not to let him get to me. I know, I know. It's just harder some days, you know?" Axel eyed Roxas for a moment. The blond always fidgeted whenever he was stared at by the other man. His green eyes were piercing, almost as if it was prompting his skin to crawl off his body so he could see what was going on inside him. Roxas paused then shuddered. What a weird thought.

"What time is your shift over?" Roxas snapped his gaze back to the man in front of him who was looking at him expectantly.

"Oh…uh, at 6:00." he answered.

Axel went into thought before looking back up and saying, "Want to stay over at my place tonight? We could have a movie night."

"Inviting me to your home already? We haven't even gone on a first date yet." joked Roxas as the redhead looked at him with exasperation, "Sure. It's the weekend, so why not?"

"Cool, you don't mind if I stay here till you finish, do you? Given the slow day and all."

"I figure Leon said it was a slow day?" questioned Roxas as he started to do a little doodle of Axel waving around a torch.

"He didn't have to. I was here earlier today keeping him company and no one came in except for this old lady who somehow mistook this place for a hair salon." scoffed Axel with a light laugh.

"No way! I missed, Ms. Sannie again! Ah, she's usually the highlight of slow days." Roxas laughed lightly to himself as he continued to doodle away, having finished his previous doodle. He was now drawing a picture of his brother playing with a moogle.

"She was a weird one for sure." They lulled into silence, Axel watching Roxas draw and Roxas continuing to doodle out little ideas of his friends and their personalities. He liked the one with Axel and the torch the best so far.

By the time six o'clock rolled around, Roxas had six fully covered pages of doodles, Sora had beaten Zack a grand total of 46 times before Axel took over and proceeded to wipe the floor with Sora. The brunette wasn't happy about that, but Zack was cheering like he was at a basketball game and his team got the winning point. Leon was in the back of the store rearranging the games over and over to keep himself busy since he finished the book he was reading and as for the total customers for the day: only one, Ms. Sannie—and that was only because Axel somehow coerced her into buying Brain Age.

It was now 8:30 and he was at Axel's place lying on his couch watching his medium sized tv. Axel's apartment was one of Roxas' favourite places to be. There just seemed to be an overall sense of freedom. On the right side of the living room an entire wall was dedicated to photographs, memories that Axel found important. Whether it was a photo of his friends diving off a roof and into a pool, or a photo of his deceased mother, they all went up there. There were even a few of Roxas up there too.

Roxas was always impressed with the wall every time he came, but he refrained from taking a long look this time around, instead surveying the other parts of the apartment. It was a one bedroom and rather small, but it suited Axel just fine. His kitchen was in the far back, the only thing dividing the two spaces from each other was the hallway that lead to the front door and the bedroom. The floors were a cherry hardwood and scratched to hell because Axel felt like moving his furniture around every month. To Roxas everything had a story here—a life-and it was comfortable. From the smell of cigarettes in the couch cushions to that spicy smell that just naturally seemed to be in the air, Roxas enjoyed all of it.

"What're you doing? Falling asleep on me?" Roxas looked up at Axel, pulling in his legs and giving room for Axel to sit on the two seat couch. The green eyed boy sat down and bounced in his seat for a moment before settling and pulling Roxas' legs on top of his.

"Maybe." Roxas replied with a soft yawn. He shuffled around until he was lying on his back with his arms behind his head, his eyes half lidded.

Axel chortled. "You look like an overly content cat."

"Oh? Does that mean you'll feed me and give me cuddles?" questioned Roxas, his face completely serious.

"…You serious?"

"Well, you could forgo the cuddles. Just give me food and I'll be beyond happy."

"I thought Sora was the fat one?"

"He is, but whereas he eats everything I'm a little bit more picky. That, and I'm a growing boy."

"You're twenty."

"See, according to science I have one more year!"

"What, expecting to grow from 5"3 to 6"4?"

"If I grew to 6"4 I'd be taller than you…which would be awesome, and it could happen."

The banter continued into the night.

In a hotel in Hollow Bastion stood a man in front of a mirror. He was only in his underwear and his skin was wracked with sweat and a shaking that couldn't be explained. His eyes were looking into the mirror, looking at himself and his lips as he spoke under his breath, mumbling.

23.

The number spilled out of his lips like a waterfall. He started to giggle. Said 23. Said 23. He started to giggle again. He moved away from the mirror and went to the bathroom pulling at his blond hair. His blue eyes shone with mirth as he muttered the number once more, turning on the shower and watching as the bathroom started to fill with mist. He looked into the mirror in the bathroom, eyes narrowed.

"Hey, father… Burning in hell yet?"

When the morning came, a man was found dead, the room trashed and the number 23 written on a wall in bold black paint.

To Be Continued...