Lucky XIII: Chapter I
'Sea-Salt Ice Cream"
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or sea salt ice cream, or Tokyo, or any other thing I mentioned. Kyle and Kagura came from my imagination, but Kyle is loosely based on my friend Kyle Fellman (Sorry, Kyle!) and Kagura is kind of based off Kagura from Fruits Basket. But just barely. I don't own Fruits Basket either! Thanks.
Hey, Kagura, wait up!" Kagura turned to see her best friend, an exchange student from America called Kyle, running to catch up with her. She stopped as Kyle tripped over his own feet and fell flat onto the pavement in front of her. Blood streamed from his nose and was washed into the storm sewers by the pounding rain that was falling. She laughed and helped him to his feet. He tried smiling, but blood began to stream into his mouth.
"Maybe we should get you to the school nurse..." Kagura laughed. Kyle shook his head.
"Nah, we Americans came up with a cure for nosebleeds," he tilted his head backwards and pinched the bridge of his nose. Kagura shook her head in amusement when she noticed that there was blood caked in his blonde hair.
"You need a bath, too," she giggled as Kyle's brown eyes glared at her.
"Let's just get to school," he muttered in a nasal tone.
Kagura and Kyle's school was very different. Although is was in Tokyo, most of the students were Foreign Exchange. In fact, being Japanese was a minority here, and all classes were taught in English instead of Japanese. Kagura and Kyle's first class was English, Kyle's native langugae and Kagura's worst subject. She couldn't imagine how anyone could learn a language that had so many rules with so many exceptions. It seemed to her that whoever came up with this language couldn't make up their mind. She was thinking this while doodling on a piece of paper in the middle of class when Kyle whacked her in the back of her head with his notebook. "Whatcha drawin'?" he whispered. Kagura silently handed him her scetchbook. She heard him mutter something. He poked her back, making her turn to look at him. He had his pencil in his hand and was pointing it at the drawing. "You mind?" he asked innocently. Kagura shook her head. After about three minutes of the sound of his pencil scratching and the teacher's endless droning about pronouns, he handed her scetchbook back. Kagura gasped when she saw what he had added on to her picture. Before, it was a girl sitting on a balcony with a cat sitting on her lap. Kyle had drawn in a pair of snow-white wings and a crecent moon locket hanging on her neck.
"Kyle..." she whispered. Sometimes he did really amazing stuff that completely surprised her. She shook her head and laughed softly. "Thanks...I think." She heard him chuckle softly.
"Hey, no problemo, chicka!" Kyle whispered joyfully. Kugura rolled her eyes and continued to draw.
Kagura groaned as she looked over her homework. She had tons from English, but Kyle could easily help her with that. But he really couldn't help take off her load of science and math homework. She was startled from her trance by Kyle hitting her on the head with a notebook.
"Hey, Kagura...you okay?" he inquired. His face was crinkled with worry, making Kagura laugh.
"I'm fine, really, I was just thinking about the huge amount of homework I have..." she flashed him a quick smile to show him she was okay. She looked out the window of the train and tried to make sense of the blur of colors that whirled by. Kyle was happily chattering away about a videogame that he loved. Kagura loved it too, but she was too preoccupied to really pay attention.
"...it's really easy after you get the weapon, and it's best if you use a bow if not...Hey! Are you paying attention?" Kagura turned and smiled. Kyle frowned. "You know what's your problem? It stopped raining. You love the rain and now that it has stopped, you're all sad. You know what? Why don't we go grab some sea-salt ice cream?" Kagura snorted. The train stopped and the two stepped out into the overcast streets.
"You know, you had no idea what that was until you played Kingdom Hearts II," Kagura ruffled Kyle's blonde hair. Kyle grinned.
"I know, but it really does taste good!" smiling, he grabbed her hand and dragged her down the street. Kagura followed, smiling. Kyle really acted like such a child sometimes...
By the time the two had gotten to the ice cream stand, it was beginning to rain again. "See, Kagura? You're not supposed to be sad!" Kyle laughed, dancing in the rain. Kagura snorted, but grabbed Kyle's hands and danced in the rain with him. The ice cream vendor, being quite annoyed, yelled at them to buy some ice cream or go somewhere else to dance. The two collapsed into giggles and fell onto the wet pavement, laughing and rolling around. Kagura turned to face Kyle.
"Thanks. I needed that." Kagura smiled.
"Any time. You Japanese are too serious. Learn a lesson from Americans and act silly once in a while!" he pulled himself up off the pavement and slipped a dripping hand into his pocket. Pulling out his wallet, he unzipped it carefully and grabbed a small handful of money. "Two sea salt ice creams, please." he said, sliding the handful of slightly soggy money to the vendor. Sighing, the vendor snatched the money and handed Kyle the two ice creams.
"Don't drop them!" he called after the two giggling kids. As they splashed their way out of sight, the vendor turned to the T.V. screen that was displaying a news story of a freak meteorite that had slammed and destroyed four houses. "So sad..." he muttered.
Kagura couldn't keep herself from screaming as she looked at the remains of the houses. She screamed and ran toward the wreckage, Kyle following behind her, fright in his eyes. She began to tear into the wreckage, pushing wood and glass aside, careless of the countless nicks and splinters she was getting. Kyle, whose eyes were tearing up, slowly placed his hand on her shoulder. Softly, he whispered, "The ambulance has your parents...and mine." They weren't really his parents, just his Foreign Exchange ones, but his real parents had died before. He had been an orphan before. Kagura shuddered and gave into the racking sobs and coughs. Kyle looked down on her, knowing what it was like, and then gently picked her up. It was quite difficult. "You're heavy, dammit," he swore. Kagura muttered something unintelligable, but Kyle understood. "Hell no, I'm not putting you down! You'll probably try to find your cat and get yourself killed in the process. Or haven't you noticed that you've ripped half the skin off your arms?" Kagura feebly looked down at her arms, which were covered in blood. Kyle rolled his eyes and approached the ambulance. The doctor who was looking after those who were still alive stared at Kagura curiously.
"She wasn't in the wreck," he said cautiously. Kyle shook his head.
"No she wasn't. She tried to dig her parents out," he sighed, laying her down on the pavement gently. The doctor quickly picked Kagura up.
"Is she Kagura Ichikura?" he asked, his face grim. Kyle nodded, guessing what the man was about to say. "Her parents are dead." the doctor frowned. "And you, Kyle Garan, your adoptive parents are too." Kyle's eyes darkened, but he showed no other sign of grief.
"I'll go with her to the hospital," he muttered, climbing into the ambulance and helping the doctor haul Kagura's body into a strecher.
Kagura was in the hospital for a month. Her arms had become infected and she was very sick. Fortunately, her parents had left her enough money to pay for the hospital bills. Unfortunately, she had no living relatives to speak of, so she and Kyle both landed in an orphanage with nowhere to go. At first, the two were to be separated, but Kagura had reacted so violently when she heard the news, that her doctors ordered that she and Kyle be placed in the same orphanage for the sake of her health. The orphanage was nice enough, everyone was nice and polite, there were no bullies, and they were fed, but it was horribly boring. Kagura laughed as she thought that. It sounded absolutely heartless! But she tried not to think about her parents much. She glaced from the book that she wasn't really reading to glance at Kyle, who was playing a portable videogame. (It was in his pocket on the day of the accident) Kagura leaped from her bed and flung herself onto his, startling him and obviously messing him up.
"Dammit, Kagura! I know you're bored, but still..." he sighed as she collapsed into giggles. "My being mad just makes you happier, doesn't it?" he whispered, leaning over to look at her face. Quietly, his hands slid to her sides and he began to tickle her. Kagura just glared at him. He sighed again. "I forgot, you're not ticklish anymore!" folding his arms in front of him, he stck his bottom lip out like a petulant child. Kagura smiled and hugged him.
"Guess what?" she said in a hushed but excited voice. Kyle looked at her, his lip still stuck out. She smiled and jumped off his bed, dragging him to the window. "It's raining!" Kyle grinned. Kagura grinned back.
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" he whispered casually. Kagura nodded. The two of them raced down the stairs, nearly knocking over a five-year-old playing babies, and flew to the door, hands outstreched. Panting heavily, Kyle heaved, "I...think we...tied...on that...one..." Kagura nodded her agreement. The two looked to make sure no adults were around, and slipped outside. Kagura ran happily out, spinning around until she made herself so dizzy she fell over.
"You think we'll ever get adopted?" she asked Kyle, who flopped onto the grass next to her. He shrugged.
"Who's to say? Maybe we'll be adopted today, maybe we'll have to wait another two years until we turn eighteen. Does it matter?" he pulled Kagura up and grabbed her hands. "C'mon, let's dance!" the two of them flew around, flinging water every which way. The two of them were on the ground, giggling, when an all-too familiar voice laughed along with them.
"Would ya look at that, Larxene? Two orphans who snuck out of the building." Kagura stopped laughing, her eyes wide.
I must be dreaming...I have to be... she thought, staring at the two people standing before her. They were wearing normal enough clothes, but their appearance was strange, to say the least. The man was quite tall, skinny, and had hair red as flames that stuck out in spikes down his back. His eyes were emerald green and there were two purple tatoos under them. The woman had sleek blonde hair with two locks on either side that stuck up and curved to the back of her head. She had vibrant blue eyes and a taunting smile.
Standing before Kagura and Kyle were either the world's best cosplayers, or Larxene and Axel, numbers twelve and eight in Organization XIII.