B: Chapter 2! :D
A: Please Read & Review, people!
It was later that night. Axel – no, his name was Ael, again – should have been sleeping. He wasn't. Instead, he was restlessly prowling the streets, hoping that walking would put his mind to rest. A bit like his childhood, really…
A metal pipe narrowly missed his head, smashing into a nearby light post. Ael rolled backwards, just in time to see Zexion – of all people! – raising the rod for another blow. He desperately tried to summon his chakram to protect himself from the blow, but no luck there. Same thing with the fire he had tossed so often when in the Organization. He managed to dodge in time; the pipe struck the ground so hard that the tip broke off.
"Whoa there – you coulda' hurt me with that one!" Ael quipped.
"That's the intention, you thieving bastard!" Zexion shouted
"Ienzo, enough!"
Another surprise – Marluxia had emerged from what Ael belatedly realized was a flower shop, stabbing his scythe into the ground between them.
"Damnit, Alimaru, don't stop me from teaching him a lesson! And it's Zeino now!"
"I'm sorry, Zeino. But you shouldn't go after every person with spiky red hair that you see."
"I will find him, and I will get my revenge!"
As "Zeino" fled, Ael noticed something was off about the scythe; though Marluxia looked as fruity as ever, his scythe, upon closer examination, appeared to have flaws. The blade wasn't as sharp as it usually was, for instance, and, and the paint job wasn't all that good. In fact, it appeared downright shoddy when compared to what Ael had seen Marluxia swinging around back in Castle Oblivion. He decided that Marluxia, too, couldn't draw upon his old weapons, and had made this cheap scythe to try and compensate.
"Glad you recognized me, Marluxia – no, Alymaro, right?"
"Alimaru, and you're not who Zexion's looking for." Alimaru helped Ael up.
"Thing is, Zexion got mugged by a guy the other day – spiky red hair, like you, but taller and a bit darker. Thing is, he got punched in the eye, so he can't see that great – and he thinks every redhead he sees is the mugger."
"Ah. That's… really great. Look, could I duck into your shop for a second?"
"Certainly. Here, I'll open the door."
When they entered the building, Ael had to admit he was impressed. Though the space was quite large, Alimaru had filled the entire thing, wall to wall, with flowers. It looked almost as if the space was really an indoor garden, with a few narrow trenches dug to allow people to walk through. The scent, however, was overpoweringly beautiful, enough to make one's eyes water after a few minutes. But, speaking of beautiful…
"Hey, Ali," Ael called, causing Alimaru's head to pop up out of a flowerbed across the room. "Uhm… have you seen a girl around here? Black hair, sorta short, carries ninja stars, talks a lot?"
Alimaru cracked up, much to Ael's discomfiture. "Fallen that fast, eh? I think you just beat Leena's record!"
"Wait, uh, no! You have all wrong…"
"Yuffie is single, just in case you were wondering. Now, let me see…"
"…no, well, I mean, I do like her, but…"
"…throw a few roses in there, and I heard her mention she likes lilies, so we'll add a few of those, too…"
"…but, you know, I don't know if she likes me. And, well…"
"Here, a hand-picked bouquet for your ninja lady friend. That will be 250 munny." Alimaru pressed the bunch of flowers into Ael's hands. He started to protest, but then sagged in defeat.
"But… but… I don't have any munny on me."
"That's perfectly fine. I'll keep them here until you can afford them."
Ael couldn't leave the shop fast enough.
"Something about this town," Alimaru said to himself, as he went back to tending his flowers, "seems to excite the heart. I wonder, what is it?"