Chapter 4
"Take pictures with Ienzo-chan for only 2000 yen!" Yukina shouted loudly while holding up the sign.
Ienzo had said that they would be trying to pull the same stunt like the day before, and business was just as good, or probably even better. In addition to that, Yukina was helping business along, which also doubled by the fact that she wanted to make sure that she wasn't crowded, due to her fear. In some way, she doubted Ienzo would hold up his end of his deal, but in the same way, she wanted to go along with it anyway.
" So they really do know each other!" One of the girls shouted.
"Yeah! Who would've thought?"
"No one would have expected such a loser to know a cutie like him!"
"Loser…" Yukina looked down, and with it, she lowered down the sign.
Ienzo caught sight of this, and walked back over to her.
"Hey…" Ienzo put his hand on Yukina's head. "Don't look sad. And don't let those meaningless words put you down. Those girls are probably losers themselves, which is why they're putting you on the hot seat!"
Yukina reluctantly went back up to promote business once again. She tried her best to sound happy, and she lasted through the rest of the remaining business hours. Despite Ienzo's efforts to cheer her up, she still had that one word stuck in the back of her head.
"We're back." They both greeted to Lulu and Wakka.
"There's something different…" Yukina said while pondering. "I got it! Where's Axel-kun and Roxas-kun?"
"Don't worry about them…" Lulu said while watering a nearby plant. "They went out job hunting."
"Job hunting?" Ienzo asked.
"In my hotel, you need to pull your own weight." She said while walking to another plant. "And I managed to convince those two to get real jobs."
"Wonderful." Ienzo said in a deadpan matter. Then he sighed, "At least things will be much quieter with them doing something productive."
"That's too bad." Yukina said. "We need something to do." She spun around a couple of times, which confused everyone. But this was actually her own way of getting her brain to work. When she fell backwards, a worried Ienzo caught her. "I know! Let's go to that place you wanted to show me, Ienzo-san!" She poked Ienzo in the cheek while she looked upward.
"That place? Sure." He said while helping Yukina get back on her feet.
"It's a date?!" Lulu gasped.
"It's not a date!" Ienzo shouted while unintentionally blushing. "When a guy and a girl go to some place, it's not a date!" Repeating what he said the afternoon before, he deemed it a lost cause and slapped himself.
"If it's a touchy subject for you, we can all drop it—" Yukina tried to comfort him, but then she was grabbed by her wrist and led out the door.
"We. Are. Going." Ienzo said angrily.
"Wow. I've never to this kind of place before!" Yukina said while clapping her hands together.
"I just heard it opened recently, so I thought it would be okay to check out." Ienzo said while looking up at the sign.
"Of course it's okay to check out! It's a flower store!"
"I didn't know she'd be this excited…" Ienzo muttered. "Maybe next time I should bring her to somewhere more exciting or interesting…a museum…an aquarium?"
"Let's go on, shall we, Ienzo-kun?" Yukina said while pulling on Ienzo's sleeve.
Upon entering the store through automatic doors, it was quite eerie to find all of the lights turned off. They tried calling out to whoever was managing the shop, but no one responded. When they called out one last time, there was still no response. But when they tried to exit, they couldn't open the doors.
"Umm…why are locked in?" Yukina asked. Ienzo simply shrugged.
"You are locked in because…" An energetic and flamboyant, but at the same time, eerie sounding voice began. "You are our very first customers!"
Suddenly, the lights all turned on, and it made the shop seem much larger than it was on the outside. Instead of just one story, it was two stories full of many colorful, beautiful flowers. Many of which the pair had never seen before. And on one of the balconies on the second floor, was a woman with bright blonde hair, and carrying a basket full of what couldn't be seen by the two. And on the ground floor, was a man with pink hair.
"Welcome to our flower shop!" The man greeted. Suddenly, pink flower petals started to slowly float down while he continued talking. "I am the owner of said shop! I am the youthful, beautiful, and most of all, graceful—" Before he could continue, however, a petal somehow went into his mouth and he coughed it up. "Larxene, you can stop—"
Suddenly, all the petals came down at once, and he was buried in them, with only his hand pointing straight up, while it was still twitching. The sight was a little strange, but then the woman, who threw the basket in top, covered up his hand. Suddenly she jumped down from where she was standing and proceeded to poke the pile of the fallen petals. Then the strange man emerged from the pile.
"When I wanted you to stop, I didn't mean for you to drop all of them at once." He said while clenching his fists. Then he looked back to the two confused young teenagers. " I am Marluxia, the Graceful Assassin!" He shouted out with glee whilst holding a rose.
"Graceful…assassin?" Yukina asked.
"Why, that's right!"
"And I'm to assume you're with two guys named Axel and Roxas?" Ienzo asked.
"Well—"
"Yes we are." The woman named Larxene spoke out.
"Of course we—what?"
"Let's get out of here." Ienzo said while trying to kick the door open.
"Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" Marluxia yelped as he scrambled to the door before Ienzo kicked it again. "We-We're not trying to do anything bad…"
"We're trying to kidnap Ienzo over here." Larxene said while using Ienzo's head as an armrest, much to his displeasure. "I dislike it, but those are our orders."
"In that case…" Yukina said while walking over to some roses. "You can live in the hotel along with Axel-kun and Roxas-kun!"
"If you live in a hotel, doesn't that make it an apartment?" Marluxia asked.
"Lulu-san said it was a hotel."
"Who's Lulu?" Larxene asked.
"She's the one who owns the hotel." Ienzo answered while looking at violets.
"Living in a hotel? Sounds like something from a foreign TV show I've heard about…" Larxene commented.
"You coming or what?" Ienzo asked. As it turns out, Larxene unlocked the doors and now Ienzo and Yukina were able to leave.
"Ienzo-kun…" Yukina said as she looked up.
"What is it, Sakuya-san?"
"I wanted to see if…I could stay here a little while longer."
"Oh yeah…" Ienzo scratched his head as he was halfway out the door. He realized that they wanted to come here in the first place.
"Stay for as long as you want!" Marluxia shouted. "You are our very first customers! We need to commemorate this!" Marluxia suddenly took out a camera and then he got all four of them together.
"There's no way in HELL that you would make me smile." Ienzo growled.
"Then I have a question for you…" Marluxia grinned.
"What is it, Marluxia-chan?" Yukina asked.
"Marluxia-chan…I could get used to that…" Marluxia happily said to himself as he looked off in another direction. "Oh yes! Here's that question…" Everyone seemed anxious for the question. "What is the last letter of the alphabet?"
"Z?" Everyone said. Suddenly Marluxia hugged all of them while he took a picture.
"I never thought that would work so well!" Marluxia giggled.
"YOU BASTARD!!" Larxene and Ienzo said while getting the incredibly sharp gardening tools.
"Ha ha ha…" Marluxia smiled in the face of danger. But that quickly went away. "I'm going to die!" He shouted when he started running.
"Xemnas, why has the meeting already started without Saix?"
"He's no longer a part of this Organization."
"So that means he has a—"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence."
"Fine, fine…"
"Has anyone seen Axel and Roxas at all for the past three days?"
"Not at all, Luxord."
"Marluxia and Larxene haven't come back as well."
"Everyone notices their absence, Lexaeus. And why did you bother pointing that out? Everyone knows that Marluxia, even with Larxene's help, would prolong the pettiest and easiest of tasks."
"No. It's more than that."
"Probably the intervention of our favorite couple?"
"Xigbar, why must you say that?"
"My favorite hobby is eavesdropping as you all know. And the night before the both of them disappeared, they shared something that started with a 'k' and ends with a double 's!'"
"You don't need to spell it out for us, you prick."
"Demyx, you've been awfully quiet."
"Huh? Oh. I guess I have…"
"Something's definitely wrong with him. You're not in your chipper attitude."
"It's about those two. I feel as if…"
"You feel what?"
"I feel as if I can help with the matter."
"How so…?"
"Let's try thinking this out passively."
"…"
"Superior?"
"Alright. I'll try going along with your plan…"
"What…the…hell?"
"Axel-kun, if you didn't like Marluxia-chan, you're going to have to put up with him because—"
"PLEASE don't finish that sentence." Axel said upon walking off to his own room.
Yukina observed Axel until he slammed the door to his room. Then she sighed, "I really hope that I didn't do anything to upset him…"
Larxene heard this comment despite the fact that she was socializing with Lulu and then she walked over and patted her on the head. When Yukina looked up, Larxene comforted her by saying, "Those two will always be at it, so don't worry about it."
Then Yukina looked back to Axel's closed door, already decorated with stickers of flame and the sort. "Well, if it's actually possible, I'll try to mend the gap!" She said while putting a fist on her flattened palm.
"I'm pretty sure Lulu reminded you that you need to get yourself a job." Ienzo said.
"You're right. I don't exactly intend to keep working with Mr. Flowers-and-Sunshine over there." Larxene sighed. Then she pointed to Marluxia who was trying to tell Lulu to brighten up. Marluxia was then blasted with a plume of fire that sprouted from a doll that Lulu was holding.
"Maybe I should consider getting a job sometime soon…"
"I'm pretty sure you'd work in a bookstore or something like that…"
"Maybe I would…"
Yukina pulled on Ienzo's sleeve. "Ienzo-kun! Ienzo-kun! Its almost time for dinner!"
"What will we be having?"
"Ramen, like last night!"
Ienzo scratched his head. "But isn't that what we ate for the past three days?"
"But there are many kinds of ramen!"
"Fine…"
At the dinner table, everything was rather silent. Or rather, it would have been silent if it wasn't for the fact that Larxene couldn't handle chopsticks. And when she went back to using the forks, the noodles kept slipping through the gaps.
"Theses noodles hate me!" Larxene shouted. She repeatedly stabbed the bowl over and over, until it showed signs of breaking with one more combo.
"Onee-chan, you could just drink the noodles along with the soup…" Yukina said while lifting her own nearly empty bowl.
"Then that would make all my efforts go to waste!" Larxene shouted. Once again, she tried to get some more noodles, and when she finally got one clump, she stopped moving. She calmed herself down by saying, "I have to do this gently…"
She carefully tried to lift the noodles to her mouth, but at the last second, all the noodles managed to slip through and splash back into the bowl. She just stared at her chopsticks.
"Larxene-san?" Ienzo tried asking.
In response, Larxene flipped the table over and shouted angrily, "SCREW THIS! I'LL EAT SOMETHING ELSE!" When she flipped the table however, the bowl had somehow flipped over and landed on the floor, with all of its contents perfectly intact. "GAH! I HATE RAMEN!"
Yukina calmly took the bowl and picked up some noodles with the chopsticks. "Onee-chan, it's actually about how you hold the chopsticks…"
"So, you're giving me chopstick lessons now?"
"Onee-chan, if you're going to live here, you're going to have to learn how to deal with our customs!"
"Fine. This is my first time doing this…"
"That means I'm your senpai!"
"You're my what?"
"I'm more experienced in using chopsticks!"
"I figured as much..."
After flipping the table back over, the others continued to observe Yukina's chopstick lesson.
"She hasn't really changed since we last saw her." Marluxia commented.
"Not at all…" Roxas answered.
"So…you guys actually knew her before?"
"You could…say that…" Axel added.
"What do you mean by that?" Suddenly, Ienzo looked around.
"So…what got your panties in a bunch?" Axel asked.
"It's just that…whenever I try asking that, I get cut off—"
"YEAH! I FINALLY GOT IT!" Larxene yelled in triumph.
"Like that…" Ienzo sighed while laying his head on the table and covering it with his arms.
"Yup, you finally got it Larxene…" Axel said in a sarcastic tone. "…After ten minutes…while the rest of us learned in two."
Larxene growled and since she was holding the chopsticks in her hand at the time, she ended up breaking them in two. Yukina simply stared at the broken wooden eating utensils.
"That's okay, Onee-chan! I'll just get you another pair!" Yukina reached for another pair of chopsticks on the table, but then she felt her hand touch someone else's. When she looked up, she saw Ienzo…and she also started turning red. She began apologizing with it by saying, "I AM SO SORRY!"
"I-If you were going to give those to Larxene-san, then take them already!"
"NO! I'LL GET ANOTHER PAIR!"
"Don't worry! I'll get my own…"
"BUT YOU GOT THEM FIRST! YOU HAVE THEM!"
"Why the hell are you still shouting that loudly?"
"I'M REALLY SORRY!"
"Stop shouting!"
After dinner, all of them decided to sleep, but Yukina volunteered to wash dishes while the others slept. She pondered over many topics while washing the dishes, such as what jobs everyone, minus Marluxia, would end up with. Ienzo was the one that she figured would be the most obvious. He always seemed happy reading anything, so of course he would end up working in a bookstore. Yukina reminded herself that she should get herself a job herself. But before she could decide what that would be, she noticed that it was getting a little warm.
"A walk would probably do me some good." She said after finishing the other dishes.
Upon walking outside, she felt a light breeze upon her face, and walked in the direction of the soothing wind. She stopped when she came to the swing set. The same one where she first saw Ienzo. She laughed for a little while when she remembered how she mistook him for a stalker and kicked him off his seat. Once again, she felt the wind and she closed her eyes and raised her head. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the sky.
"There aren't many stars out, as usual…" Then she looked to the moon. "But at least the moon looks beautiful tonight."
Suddenly, the wind picked up and became stronger and stronger. She shielded her eyes with her arms, and when it all died down, she took a long around. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but then she saw someone on the floor. Immediately, she ran to the person's side. Seeing as the man was unconscious—as well as bleeding—she started to panic.
Ienzo woke up, and stretched his hands. Then he picked up a book and started reading. After about half an hour's worth of pages, he decided to see whether Yukina had woken up yet. He got dressed and prepared a small cereal breakfast.
"I wonder…with all those dishes to wash…did she sleep late?" Ienzo asked himself as he began to pour milk into his bowl. Then he laughed, "What am I worrying about? She can take care of herself!" Then, he suddenly thought about how absent-minded she actually was. "I hope she can take care of herself…" He suddenly noticed something dripping onto his leg. As it turns out, the bowl was overflowing with milk, and he forgot to pay attention.
After that little incident, he went to Yukina's door, and he knocked. When he didn't hear anything, he knocked and said, "Sakuya-san? Are you there? It's me, Ienzo." When there was no answer once again, he opened the door, only to hear a thump.
"Itai…" Someone whispered behind the door. When Ienzo slowly got in and closed the door, he found Yukina with a bruised forehead.
"GAH! Sakuya-san!?" He shouted. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come in without your permission…"
"No, no!" Yukina waved her hands around. "It's my fault. I just…couldn't get enough sleep last night."
"So that confirms my suspicions…" Ienzo said under his own breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. I was just wondering…"
"Why I actually slept so late?"
"Umm…huh? Oh yeah! That's it! Yeah…"
"Okay…well…I decided to go out for a walk last night, and I found someone collapsed last night…"
"And you helped him out. How?"
"Well…he was unconscious, and I let him sleep in my bed."
"BUT YOU DON'T KNOW IF THE GUY ACTUALLY BATHES!"
"He seemed clean to me!"
"Well, you might as well wake him up so he can get out of here."
"Actually, Lulu-san said that only certain people can enter this hotel. Doesn't that mean that this man is actually supposed to be here?"
"I don't know. But you better wake him up anyway."
"GOOD MORNIN'!"
"GAH! Who's there!?"
When they turned around, Axel was waving and Roxas was once again eating another sea-salt ice-cream bar.
"So…who were you talking about?" Roxas asked.
"Sakuya-san said that it was some random person that she found collapsed and we want to wake him up seeing as how Sakuya-san brought him in last night."
As she bowed, Yukina said, "Don't worry, I'll wake him up." And then she clenched her fist. "And then he'll have a healthy breakfast!"
"Do what you want, Sakuya-san…" Ienzo proceeded to walk out of the room. As he was halfway out the door, he whispered to himself. "I just…have a bad feeling about this…"
"Ienzo-kun seemed upset." Yukina commented. Then she looked down out of depression.
Axel comforted her by putting his hand on her shoulder and saying, "Don't worry. We know a little bit more about Ienzo than you do, and he'll go off and do his own things sometimes. It may seem a little mean, but…that's Ienzo for you."
Yukina walked over to her doorway and looked at Ienzo, who was now proceeding to go downstairs. She sighed, "Axel-san, it may seem so that you know more about Ienzo-kun, but…he seems different when it's just the two of us…"
Axel smiled when he heard this, but it disappeared when Yukina turned around. "Look, you gotta wake up the dude in your bed and get him out of here."
"Oh! Yes!" Yukina walked over to another room.
"It's only a matter of time, isn't it?" Roxas asked before taking another lick at his ice cream.
"Yup. And pretty soon, the others will be here…" Axel then put his fist in the air. "And we won't let his be the tragic love story drama!"
"Hmm…I did hear them say something about how only certain people could actually see and enter this hotel. Perhaps we should have a look at the new guy?"
"I don't know if it will be of any importance later…but sure."
"What…the…hell?"
"Do you know him, Axel-kun?"
"You have no idea."
"I'm sorry if my sudden appearance has actually bothered you."
"Like HELL it's bothered me! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE!?"
"Because I was brought here."
"No! Not that! GAAHHH! YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE TO DEAL WITH!"
"Axel-kun, that's very rude."
"WHAT THE HELL IS RUDE!?"
"I couldn't even get a chance to know his name." Yukina bowed at the man sitting up in her bed. "So…let's start over! I'm Yukina Sakuya! And you're name is…"
The man took a deep breath before finally saying his name. "Saix."
"Saix…sama!" Yukina said happily. "I'll call you Saix-sama from now on!"
"Why give me that honorific when we've only just met?"
"I have a feeling you're someone that's very important." Yukina then looked to a now fuming Axel who was now trying to chomp down on a sea-salt ice cream bar, much to Roxas' displeasure. "Yes, you have to VERY important if you can make someone like Axel-kun get angry at the very sight of you."
"Oh, me and Axel go waaaaay back." Saix gave a small smile while looking at the mention redhead.
"I have a feeling I'll be going through hell…" Axel said to himself.
"Sakuya-san…" Came Ienzo's voice from the doorway. "You are going to be late for school!"
"SCHOOL!" Yukina shouted. "Oh dear! I'm going to be late for school!"
She frantically scrambled out the door, and she almost came back changed in a short amount of time. Then with a sigh she quickly said, "I'mgoingtoschoolI'lltalktoyoulaterbye!" And then she ran out the door.
"That was awkward." Saix said after five seconds of silence.
"You're awkward!" Axel shouted. "Why the hell are you here?"
"In all honesty…Xemnas got mad…and attacked me." Saix sighed.
"Wait." Roxas said after biting off a small piece of the ice cream. "Xemnas…mad…at you?"
"Come to think of it…that is out of the ordinary." Axel said while putting two fingers on his chin and staring off at another direction. "I mean…you're practically his right hand man."
"Was." Saix said as he got himself off the bed and stood up.
"I wonder if hell has frozen over yet…" Axel wondered.
"Is this matter that surprising to you?" Saix asked.
Axel then shouted, "Of course it is, you bastard!" Then he ran up to Saix and held him up by his collar. "You know how much hell you've out us through!?"
"Axel!" Roxas shouted.
Looking away, Saix replied, "Enough to know that you and the other neophytes hate me for it."
"Hmph." Axel pushed Saix against the wall behind them. "So you know already."
"Axel…you know, you didn't have to do that…"
"Maybe I didn't, but that doesn't get rid of the fact that he really is a bastard." Axel exited the room.
Roxas took one last look at Saix, who was now leaning against the wall, and left the room. After hearing the door click, Saix slid to the floor. Looking at the ceiling, he sighed, "What did I get myself into?" Then he halfheartedly smiled. "Maybe Axel is right. Maybe I am a bastard…"
((I'm sorry for such a late update. Better late than never…I guess. There's nothing much to say about this chapter. Other than the reminder to review, there's nothing to actually say here. See you in chapter 5!))