Aishiteru

Summary: Roxas has lost everything. His parents, his house, his possessions. While staying at a park, the unfriendly Axel takes a liking to him and decides to allow him to stay at his apartment. Little did he know that he and Roxas were going to discover more about each other and possibly change his ways.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

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Chapter I

"Roxas?"Roxas's eyes opened. He looked around and saw that it was barely sunrise and he was lying on a bench near the playground at the park he was staying at. Reality was coming back to him. He was homeless. You'd think he would've gone to an orphanage, but he didn't want to be in one. He was fifteen and felt too old. No one would adopt him anyway because people generally go for the younger kids. If not an orphanage though, you'd think maybe a tent, but he had no money. Stay at a friend's house? That wasn't possible. He couldn't stay with Hayner, Pence, or Olette, he didn't want to. He's seen their lives, and to be living with them, it'd just be too weird. Since the fire, Roxas lost everything but the clothes on his back. He had no money and because of this, he had to drop out of school to find a job, though he has been unsuccessful.

"Y-yes?"

"I'm afraid we have some bad news. Your parents didn't survive the fire."

These days he always seemed to be waking up from the same nightmare ending; the doctors telling him his parents didn't survive. He didn't understand any of it. How they could possibly gone, how the fire even started. He couldn't accept either, though he knew he had to. They say the fire was an accident but they were still investigating.

It was so unexpected. One minute Roxas was living life, hanging out with friends, doing well in school, his parents were still together, and then a fire took away everything. He wouldn't say his life was perfect, it was far from it, but he was happy. Now his life felt far from happy. He felt as though he lost all hope. At the rate things were currently going, he wondered if he made the wrong choice and should've lived with Hayner or another one of his friends.

Roxas sighed and sat up, stretching. His body ached from the bench he slept on. He hasn't had a decent night's sleep in a long time. He looked around to see if anyone was around. No one seemed to be, though what reason could they possibly have? No child would be out at dawn to play on the playground and joggers usually don't pass it when they jog through the park.

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Axel strode through the park, flicking his lighter over and over again as he walked. He needed to clear his mind and staying in his apartment was not the way to go, even if he was living on his own. He was seventeen and his father still called him and harassed him, making him feel like shit. He left when he was sixteen which didn't go so well with his father. Axel didn't understand why his father even cared, considering how busy he was with his job. Though when things didn't go well at work, Axel found out about it. That's what drove him to leave in the first place. His father made his life hell. It did, however, shock him that his father didn't come after him and drag him home. Axel received no support from him either, but Axel didn't care. His father constantly calls him just to cause him hell. He told him how stupid he is, how worthless he is, how he'll never be anything in the world. What the hell did he know? He could change his number all he wanted, but his father still managed to get a hold of it to call him. Sooner or later, he could toss his phone, but he knew he couldn't because of work.

He has been told that he has anger problems. It didn't surprise him either when people said they probably came from his father. He heard what people whispered about him behind his back. Usually it was "like father, like son" only the difference was, Axel had no kids to beat, so he took it out on whoever upset him enough. That caused people to fear him. He didn't look like he could take on someone, considering his appearance, but he really surprised people.

Axel made his way past the playground, kicking pebbles as he went. Having a slightly enraged moment from thinking of his father, he kicked a pebble. Hard.

"Ouch!"

Axel stopped walking and looked around to see where the sound had come from. And then he saw him. A blonde boy sitting on a bench, rubbing his head where the pebble obviously hit. He studied the blonde. His blonde spiky hair was long, brushing over his brilliant blue eyes. He wore what looked like dirty blue jeans, well worn black converse, and a somewhat dirty white t-shirt with black sleeves. Axel raised an eyebrow. Generally he didn't care when he accidentally (or purposely) hurt someone, but this boy was somehow different. He felt the need to apologize. Was he feeling pity?

"Hey," Axel said to the blonde. Whatever it was, he couldn't ignore or drop it now. He had already spoken to the blonde and got his attention, since he was now looking up at him. "Sorry for nailing you in the head with that pebble," he continued.

The blonde removed his hand from his head and looked at it. A little bit of blood was on his fingertips. Axel was slightly surprised. He didn't know he had kicked it that hard. And realizing that the boy was bleeding, he did feel sorry for hurting him.

"It's fine. It'll stop soon enough," the blonde replied to him, unconsciously dabbing at the small wound with his fingers.

"So um...why are you here and not at home this early kid?" Axel said, trying to make conversation. This was the strangest thing ever. He didn't want to be rude and walk off and he was slightly interested in why the kid wasn't home. What kind of pity was this?

The blonde sighed. What was the point of lying? He didn't know this guy and he couldn't make a good enough story anyway. "I have no home. It was lost to a fire, along with my parents and possessions."

Axel folded his arms. Why didn't this kid have a job and an apartment then? "How old are you kid?"

"Fifteen. I've learned it's not easy to get a job when you're still technically 'under age'," the blonde replied.

"Well that explains a lot. Sorry to hear that kid. My name's Axel by the way," Axel said, extending out his hand to shake the blonde's.

"I'm Roxas," Roxas said, taking Axel's hand and shaking it firmly. Roxas also removed his other hand to check the bleeding. It still hadn't stopped.

Axel sighed. He really did feel bad now. He didn't understand why, but he did. He felt like he had to make it up to him somehow, since he had made Roxas's new day already a bad one. He felt he should make up for it.

"Hey listen, Roxas. If you need a place to stay, you're welcome to stay with me. I won't charge you rent, but I do expect you to supply yourself with your needs. I'm not stepping in to be your father or anything. We could be...roommates," Axel said slowly. It was the least he could do. It wasn't a bad deal either. He wasn't charging him rent or anything. Living pretty much for free, though Roxas would have to pay for his own needs.

It was Roxas's turn to raise an eyebrow now. A roof being offered to him by a stranger? Should he accept? Sure he didn't like being on the streets, but did he want to live with a total stranger?

"C'mon kid I don't have all day. It's a yes or no answer," Axel said in a slightly annoyed tone.

Roxas sighed. Who knew when he'd be able to get on his feet, but at least if he accepted the offer he would get a roof over his head. It didn't seem like Axel was going to hurt him either, though he did seem to have an attitude. He got to his feet and accepted Axel's offer.

Axel nodded. "Alright. Follow me."

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The elevator doors opened, hitting the top fourth floor. The two boys stepped out, the blonde after the red head. Axel lead him past a few doors, coming to the end of the balcony containing the front door to various apartments. He was in the last one. Roxas saw Axel's name put above the speaker by his door but no last name. He wondered about this but didn't give it too much thought.

Axel stuck his key in the door and pushed the door open, leading Roxas into a dark, air conditioned apartment. He shut the door behind him and Axel flicked a near by light switch, revealing most of the apartment to him. The living room contained a black couch with a glass coffee table in front of it. A remote and some magazines sat on top of it. In the corner was a lap and closer to him, near the couch, was a matching black chair. At the other end of the living room, across from the couch, hung a nice sized flat screen TV. Surprisingly a plant sat next to it, but it looked as though it was wilting. Across from where he was standing was a sliding glass door that lead out onto Axel's balcony that was partly covered by hanging white blinds. The kitchen was small but had everything it needed.

"This is the bathroom," Axel said as he went to the door across from the kitchen. "One of the bathrooms," he continued opening the door to show Roxas. It had a sink, a toilet, and shower inside. "The other bathroom is in my room," he finished, pointing down the hall that was not too far from where the plant was sitting next to the TV. Roxas looked down it but saw that the room was closed. To Roxas, this apartment was nice and ordinary. He was surprised at how tidy it was kept too, but he didn't really think Axel was a pig.

Roxas slowly walked about the apartment, examining everything. He noticed Axel had no pictures, and he actually didn't have too much of anything for decoration either. He wasn't going to complain though. Too much decoration, in his opinion, ruined homes. He sat down on the chair and continued looking around. He turned his attention to the balcony. It wasn't very big and a small white wall surrounded it. He could see that he got a nice view of Twilight Town from it.

Something hit his lap. Roxas looked down and saw a newspaper. He looked up at Axel.

"You might be able to do better looking for a job by looking through the newspaper. I have to go to work myself, so I'll see you in a little bit. You can use my spare key if you decide to leave and look around for a job. Be sure to lock up. And if you do decide to do that, I suggest you shower first. I pulled out some clothes for you to wear as loaners. They're too small for me, and since you're not that short, I imagine they should fit you," Axel said as he handed Roxas a small silver key, along with clothes and headed for the front door. Roxas heard the front door open and then close. Axel had gone.

Roxas sat in the silent apartment. He sighed after a moment, both a good and bad sigh. A good sigh that he now had a roof over his head, and a bad sigh because of the fact that he didn't think his life was going to get that much easier. He picked up the newspaper and flipped to the job ads and began looking.