Okay, just starting off with the usual: This game, characters, everything and in between...it isn't mine.

Hell, this story is barely mine. I took this story from a one-shot by Musician In The Making, in her AkuRoku shorts. She gave me permission, so I hope I won't get yelled at. So, give rights to this story to her. XP

Been a long time, huh? Since I've really done much of anything. I might update more of my stories, I'm working on some more. I hope you like this story as well.

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Grey, chapter 1/6

"Sorry to bother you, but would you mind helping me?"

The question hit my ears as my mp3 player switched songs making my look up at some one I had never seen before.

Someone with plenty of color.

Vivid and untamed red hair spiked back without gel, something I thought only my blond hair could do. Bright green eyes danced with a hidden fire behind them; a passion for something I didn't know of. The man's clear complexion seemed pale as two dark tattoos rested under his eyes, which amplified the intensity of his eyes. He was taller then me by a head at most, clad in mostly black which contracted with the colors he already had.

"Oh, my name's Axel by the way. A-X-E-L. Yours is…?"

"Roxas." I replied, turning off my supply of music before offering to shake the other's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Roxas. I just moved a few houses down and was wondering if you could show me around. You're the only person I've seen so far actually leave their house past the drive way."

"…No problem."

…

I fear that he's going to eat me, that infixing smile on his face almost predatory. He has his hands on his hips as the spring air ruffled his hair. His eyes held that happy-go-lucky gleam, and I knew then that he had to be older than me.

"Come with me." He took my elbow and led me down the cracked walk. It was still a little walk to his house, since he'd walked down to mine after seeing me.

His house was big. It was just on the corner, exactly five houses down from mine. It had two stories and a basement. The house was covered in ivy, crawling like worms up the side, and the windows were groaning away from the plant like they didn't want it there. It was one of those old fashioned house, that had three peaks at the top, and the one facing toward the street had a small door and balcony. The front yard was just a plain lawn…but the grass was so green it almost hurt my eyes.

"My parents are helping me move." Axel pulled me up the looping way to the door from the sidewalk. I couldn't find it in myself to argue with him. He continued talking as he opened the blue door, "Yeah, I just barely moved from their house a couple blocks from here. I already have a roommate, his name Is Xigbar. But you don't want to know that, I'm going to go find my parents."

He walked away, his sneakers squeaking on the hardwood. This place was way too nice, I felt so uncomfortable. The complete hardwood floors told me that they had money…well; of course they had money if he lived in this place. He had real plants too…telling me that he had time, and the parents were actually here for visits a lot or something... Heaven knows that Axel wouldn't water any of them.

My shoes felt dirty, because they must be organized and healthy if they already put up those stupid plants. Some of those cheesy family photos were already up...

I started to sweat, and I could feel myself fighting a loosing battle with wanting to get out of this place.

There was a skylight in the entryway, and directly under it was a bare table. I heard footsteps coming from within the house, and they were loud and confident. The person coming for me was talking in such a voice that I was bolted where I stood, when I so much wanted to run.

"You must be the neighbor boy from a bit down."

He looked so happy, and his hair reminded me so much of Axel already that he had to be his father. The hair was pulled up in a ponytail and few strands were falling in front of his almost blood red and overpowering eyes.

"I'm Gojyo, Axel's father," He smiled and held out his hand while walking for me, "It's nice to meet you. Do you go to the local high school?"

I nodded, but when he reached within a foot I freaked. I turned around and threw open the door.

"Wait, kid!"

I bolted before he could hold me back.

--

"I'm home." The door made a soft click behind me, and no matter what I did I couldn't stop it from sounding. The click it always made, that with the creaking floorboards under the ugly stained carpet.

It was dark here, because one too many light bulbs had broken.

I walked further in, wanting to go to my room and just wait for school tomorrow.

"Roxas."

I looked toward the source of my name, and I saw my mother sitting at the table. I flinched when I saw the paper clenched in her hands. I didn't move, and I just stared, waiting for her to say anything.

Her once bouncy and soft hair was dull and just hanging on her shoulders. She was wearing the tank top she wore yesterday, and the shorts were splattered with mud. She'd tried washing her car yesterday.

The table was creaking against the checkered linoleum, and the walls held a dreary air.

She desperately tried to not sound disappointed, "what did I tell you about doing your homework."

I found it hard to not hear the disappointment there. That whole sentence was disappointment. I nodded without saying a word, but then she looked up at me, "aren't you going to say anything Roxas?"

I feared that if I opened my mouth, I'd say something stupid. I'd said something stupid today when I agreed to show him around, and he probably hated me now because I ditched him.

I…ditched him. Aww, that was just great.

"Gees, Roxas." She looked back down at my report card, running a hand through her hair, "four Ds? Two Fs? You only got an A in art, and the B in History is because the teacher feels sorry for you! What have you been doing?"

I shrugged and she looked at me with those eyes that told me that she really didn't care anymore. She sighed and folded her hands on the table once more, looking at her cracked and withering nails.

"Your father…" She sighed and ran a shaking hand through her hair. Her other hand was slowly wrapping around a coffee mug; her fingers sleek and aging like spider legs. That's the only thing I can compare them too. She laughed a brittle laugh that made a shiver go down my spine, "I don't even want to think about your father. I still need to sign those stupid files he gave me."

I opened my mouth, looking up at her to give her words of support. I was going to say something that would make her feel better, something that might make her act like a real mother, but nothing came from my mouth. It hung open and loose, the words that were supposed to be spoken hanging on the air, and I knew that my mother wanted to hear them.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't say them.

"People moved into the Leonheart's old place." I hesitated, and then looked back down when I saw her sigh and shake her head, looking away from me. Her false hopes of actually having someone comfort her were too high.

"Does it really look like I care Roxas?" She asked with that disdain in her voice that told me that…I don't know what it told me, but I didn't like the sound of it. She sighed again, knowing that she shouldn't use this as an excuse to vent on someone, "Never mind. At least you have a chance to get a friend, right?"

"Right mom."

--

"You ditched me yesterday."

I'd gone back to Axel's house to live up on my promise. I may not be the liveliest of people, but I kept my word when I once in a while gave it to people. He was wearing a navy blue turtleneck shirt, and his jeans were riding low, but I didn't notice. I looked him in the eye and he shrugged, stepping back with the door slightly more ajar, letting me in.

I stepped, made sure to only step in a little, my feet just barely stepping on the side of the doorway so that he could close it.

He laughed, putting his soft hand on the small of my back and pushing me further in, acting as though I were a rabid animal, ready to strike. He was very gentle, but I didn't need gentle.

"At least I came back."

He gave me a smirk, and then turned toward the dreaded table under the skylight and pulled out a chair and sat in it, "I'm not letting you out of my sight today."

"Then why sit?" I asked, not meaning to have the raised eyebrow 'I'm-better-than-you' looks on my face. He laughed out loud at me, and I visibly flinched and looked away.

He tilted his head and smirked, "Nah, I just wanted you to meet someone."

I raised an eyebrow and looked around, seeing nothing but fancy house. This fancy house, just barely noticing this, I felt unease seep into my veins and the horror of being in a house I've just barely seen on the sidewalk. It was horribly terrifying to me. How could he LIVE here?

"Reno!" He lazed back in the chair, his hair flaying over his shoulders, his right foot up on the chair resting where he sat.

Soft pattering steps. Like someone was wearing slippers. There was a skittering turn, like those comical scats they played on TV. No sooner than that sound happened, a fluff of red hair peeked over the corner, the bright blue eyes shining through his bangs and his childish face shining with something that could only be described as happiness. He looked toward his brother with a look that asked him what he called for, then he caught my eyes and I think even AXEL could have seen the blush slide over his cheeks.

"He's in your grade, Reno." Axel looked at me, his foot slipping off the chair and that causing him to stand. His shoes squeaked again. "You're a senior in high school, aren't you?"

I nodded, keeping my hands behind my back, my knuckles turning white. Why did he have to invite more people in here? I took a step back as he moved more forward.

"What's his name? He's cute!" 'Reno' ran for me before I could manage to bolt. He was faster than his father, and he was there standing before me, his long arms around me in a horrifying hug.

No one has hugged me for the hell of it in a long time, and I was so close to hugging him back that my arms were half lifted, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Axel watching us with a raised eyebrow. I let my arms fall back into place, and Reno pushed away.

"What have you been doing to this guy? He looks so sad!" Reno yelled to his brother, his hands on his hips, then he looked back at me regrettably. Not for him, but for me. He put such a soft hand on my cheek, and I just looked at him as he studied me with his eyes, "You probably don't even know our last name."

"Ooh, someone has a crush!" Axel's voice wafted through my thoughts of trying to get away from this strange person. The taller and older man stood and put a hand on his brother's back, then a smile formed on his face, "Reno, you've developed a crush this fast? Remember; don't judge a book by its cover! He may have a pretty face but a horrible personality!"

Oh, that was nice. I rolled my eyes and looked away with a sigh, and to my immediate bad-luck, Axel heard it.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" He put a hand over his mouth and put a finger up in the air. Eyes closed, hips tilted, face contorted deep in thought, "Xigbar told me to stop saying things out loud like that."

"Yeah, He's barely spoken any!"

I could feel my thoughts becoming less complicated as I watched them bicker. When I met Axel, that was only yesterday, I explained everything in the back of my mind, I diagnosed everything, I never said anything. I still don't say anything, but watching these two, it's almost as though my life has become a little bit worse, but a little bit looser.

This is the family I've always wanted…

Someone I could bicker with, and not just full on yell.

"And yes, I might have a crush on him."

He didn't even deny it, like any normal person would have. But obviously Reno wasn't a normal person.

The staring all turned to me, and I just stared back. Reno was blushing, and that comparing to his tanned skin and blue eyes was really strange to look at. I liked looking at Axel more.

…

I stared at them, and then just rubbed my right arm with my left hand and looked at them with downcast eyes, "Can we just go?"

"Go where? Where are you going?" Reno was jumping from foot to foot, and his hands clenched at his chest, "Can I go? Can I go with you and Roxas?"

Axel stood slowly, his eyes showing annoyance, "no, what are you thinking?"

"It's not like Roxas would mind, do ya' Roxy?" Reno's baby blue eyes shone and I couldn't answer for the life of me.

Axel stepped casually in front of my sight, blocking me from Reno, and his hand was outstretched, "I think we SHALL leave."

Oh, thank god. I get to leave this house!

I didn't take his hand; I just left him there, walking right to the door and opening it, walking through with a brisk walk. He stared after me, but I kept walking; "You're house is what the people on our block like to call 'The Hefty'."

I heard steps after me, and I continued down the cracked walk. When I reached the sidewalk that had a small metal fence lining, I turned down the way opposite of my house. His house was on the corner, so I turned and walked, looking down the way and seeing few cars coming down the way, out of their driveways, various colors. All the lawns hurt my eyes, but about five houses down was pure strip malls and city. I really hated this place.

"The Hefty?"

"Yeah, the Hefty, because that place is never empty and one family actually painted 'Hefty' on the side of the house. The next people had it painted over." I sighed after this, thinking that at the time that the Hefty's lived there; his family was actually a good one. They had a dog…its name was Sora, but that dog ran away and we'd found it a year later living with another owner. Riku was the owner's name…the dog had taken a strange liking to the man, and I don't think the dog was right in the head.

I shook my head.

"Show me around and tell me of the places."

So I did.

I told him about the Beeter store, with George and Heather Beeter owning a store that sold lamps and sofas. Then past there was another old man that sold fake snow and Christmas ornaments. Klaus Fraggen-whatever owned a thrift shop, and across the street from those two shops were Juice and Geeter (I had a feeling that those weren't their real names) Jeeter, They sold household appliances. Then Quinton George, he was a hard ass that owned a pawnshop. Then there was a run down place that didn't have anything in it. Windows boarded up, tarp over the doorway, holes in said tarp, place so rusted that if you walk within ten feet of it you'll get tetanus, you know, that kind of place.

I didn't take him past that, because that in itself was half a mile with the endless alleys and huge gaps in the walk, so I didn't go past them very often.

So, here we were, walking back to his house, his hands in his pockets. It was slightly raining, and his blue hoodie was over his head, as his smile grew more and more, "You haven't said more than five words in a sentence today."

"So?" I mused, shrugging and looking up at the mournful sky. We were walking past the old and creaking houses, reaching out to us as we past. They were tall and dark against the sky, the ivy growing on them looking like spider webs or fingers trying to crawl from under the houses.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I almost jumped.

"Hey, buddy, why were you all jumpy in the house today?" He stopped me just as I was about to walk past his home, and he kept his hand on the small of my back, his determining and piercing eyes digging into my soul.

I glared at him, "no reason."

"You have to have a reason." Axel leaned in and smirked, looking me in the eye, "No one is scared to death of a house."

I looked at him, and then smacked his hand away and backed up, "It's because I met my father in a huge house like yours."

I walked away before he could even ask what the hell I meant.

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Okay, tell me what you think, PLEASE. Becuase, I'm serious here, I won't update if no one is reading this. And don't think 'Oh, it's Fruba, she'll get bored of this story after a while'. NOPE! I've got the ENTIRE thing written already! So, if you want another chapter, I'll continue.