"Now remember Roxas, if you're ever caught and you see one of us coming your way, keep your hand low and make a fist. We'll get the idea." Riku explained, walking next to the blond on the street. He stopped and handed Roxas a box and brushes and shoe shine.
"You'll do well on your first day alone. I know it." The silver head grinned and went on his way with his own box and brushes. Roxas watched him leave and gulped. A couple of days ago, Axel had said he would get to work alone the next day. But he wasn't able to, because it had rained for several days. And during that time, he and Axel had gotten much closer.
But today was bright and sunny. Good for Axel, bad for him. He was terrified. Here he was, alone on a street corner, having to shine shoes by himself. He felt more relaxed when Axel was with him. Just thinking about him made Roxas blush.
"You're in my spot."
Roxas turned around to see a tall blond with a beanie and green eyes with a scar between them. His clothes were raggedy and worn like the others and held a box and brushes like his. He must be a shoe shiner too.
"Wha?"
"I said you're in my spot." The blonde repeated. Roxas raised an eyebrow.
"Really? I didn't see your name on it." Roxas replied sarcastically. The boy fumed.
"You're a little smart mouthed aren't ya?"
"It depends on which smart mouth you're talking about."
The blond suddenly grabbed a hold of Roxas collar and pushed him against the wall behind him. Roxas struggled to get free, but the blonde's hold tightened. "Let me go! There are other spots to shine shoes ya'know?" Roxas cried.
"But I want this one and you better not defy me." The blond growled.
"Seifer! That's enough; we'll find a different spot!" A man with pink hair came up to Roxas, making the blond let go of his hold. "Come on Roxas, we'll find a different spot." The man grabbed Roxas' elbow and led him away from the blond.
"Marluxia? What are you doing here?" Roxas asked when he realized it Marluxia. They stopped when they reached another street corner, away from the man called Seifer.
"I was minding my own business when I saw that you were in trouble. So I came to help." The pinkette explained. Roxas nodded and set down his box again. "Your first time being alone?" Roxas nodded again. "Don't worry. You'll have this down pat by the end of the day." Marluxia grinned and went on his way towards a guy with blue hair.
"I hope so." Roxas sighed. He went up to ask a person if they wanted their shoes shined. The man said yes and followed Roxas back to his box. When Roxas began shining the man's shoes, he slipped and brushed shoe shine over the cuffs of the man's pants.
The man got angry and left with a huff, not paying Roxas for his effort. And it went that way with the second guy, except the man gave him a penny. The third, he didn't mess up, but went too slow for the man's liking, earning him another penny. On the fourth, he had it down and faster as he went.
And time a he shined a shoe; he became more relaxed and went faster with his work. So far he had earned a dollar and five cents. That should be enough for now. Roxas picked up his box and headed home, passing by a convenient store. He stopped and walked to the window again, looking inside and seeing a man place down some pencils and paper on a table.
Flashback
"So what's this place called?" Roxas asked Axel, in their room, waiting for the rain to stop. Axel looked up from counting his earned money and looked at his lover.
"I don't know. And neither does the others. We can't read." Axel explained, going back to counting. Roxas made an oh face and went back to sewing the patches on Riku's pants. "So we just call this place St. Something."
"Oh. Well I'm finished with Riku's pants. Better start on yours now." The blond picked up a pair of Axel's pants and started to patch it up.
"Hey Roxas?"
"Yes?"
"I counted up to 10 dollars. But can you come and count this? I think I did it wrong." Roxas stopped his sewing and crawled over to where Axel was on the floor.
"Sure." He counted up the change and found that Axel was way off. "You only have four dollars, not ten." Axel looked sheepishly at the floor. "Let me guess, you guys can't count, can you?" Axel nodded. "Well, we're gonna have to change that soon. When ever I get some pencils and paper, I'll teach you guys how to read and write and count."
"Really?" Axel looked up at Roxas, astonished that he would do something like that.
"It's a promise." The blond grinned, eyes closed. Axel tackled Roxas to the floor and kissed him deeply, surprising the blond. Axel pulled out of the kiss and smirked down at Roxas.
"Thanks." Axel leaned down and kissed his blond gently and slowly.
End Flashback
Roxas walked into the store and bought some paper and pencils, and some chalk and chalk boards. He put his stuff into his box and headed home again, happy with himself. He whistled a tune, but stopped. Is somebody watching me?
He turned around to see someone quickly duck behind a trash can. The man looked familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He began to walk again, only to turn around and see the same man hide behind a wall. His mind clicked. Now I know who that is! That's one of Xemnas' goons. He's probably following me to see where I live now and take Danny away. It looks like that guy Xigbar.
And Roxas was right. It was Xigbar. But he couldn't tell if the man was following him to see where he was hiding Danny or if he wanted to know when it would possible to nab him. Either way, it scared Roxas. So he went on his way, pretending he didn't notice Xigbar and just walked around for a while.
Xigbar had gotten tired of following the kid and decided to head back to the Whole Hog. Roxas noticed this and went straight back home. When he got there, he was panting from having to run all the way here. But he calmed when he remembered his promise to Axel and headed towards the room where they usually eat together.
He slowed down when he heard two voices come from the room. One was Sora's and the other he didn't recognize. Were they found out by that man Axel talked about, who cleans the cellar? Would he kick them out? Give them over to the police?
He wasn't getting any answers unless he went check it out. He opened the door to see Sora talking to an old man, bouncing Danny up and down on his knee. The man had blond hair and brown eyes and was wearing some kind of robe. Roxas became worried.
"Roxas! You're home. Mr. Ansem said we can stay here if we don't go upstairs and still anything." Sora exclaimed happily. "I told him that we don't still, gamble, or use people for money anymore."
"So you must be Roxas." The man, Ansem, said. Roxas nodded. "You look a lot like Sora." Roxas chuckled.
"We get that a lot."
The door opened to reveal Riku, Axel, and Larxene. "Hey guys!" Sora waved to them, still bouncing Danny on his knee. The three others looked at the man in confusion.
"What the hell is going on?" Riku asked. The man coughed behind his hand.
"It would please me if you didn't such foul language in a church. And as to what's going on, I was cleaning when I heard a baby's cry. That's how I found out that all of you boys live down." Ansem explained.
"And he's letting us live down here." Roxas piped in. The others seem to calm down.
"I would never let a baby be out in the cold for most of its life." The man said, pulling out his watch. "It appears I've over stayed my welcome. For I must go home. My wife Margaret is waiting for me." The man got up and walked out of the room.
"Whew. I thought we were a goner." Axel wiped the sweat off his forehead. The other's nodded in agreement, except for Roxas. Axel noticed his lover's face and became concerned. "Hey babe, what's wrong?"
"I was being followed today." Everyone stopped in their tracks and sat around Roxas for more details. "It was one of Xemnas' goons."
"Did you lead him back here?" Larxene glared at him. Roxas grew wide eyed.
"Of course not! I came back here when he decided to go home!"
"Don't worry Roxas. If you keep doing the same thing you did today, if he follows you, he'll finally decide that it's not worth it to follow you." Sora said, smiling at his idea.
"Or you could have one of us spy on them." Riku suggested. "And if one of us does, it'll be me who goes, since I know what Xemnas looks like." Sora frowned and gave him his famous puppy eyes.
"But we won't do that unless it's absolutely needed." Axel said, sitting next to Roxas. "For now, Roxas will keep doing what he did today. But if the guy won't give up, we'll go with Riku's suggestion." Everyone nodded.
Roxas finally remembered what he wanted to show Axel and brought the stuff he bought over to them. "Look what I bought for you guys." Roxas exclaimed happily, setting down his box. He pulled out the paper, pencils, chalk, and chalk boards and handed them over to them.
"You bought all this stuff for us, Roxas?" Riku took the things handed to him and looked up at Roxas in surprise.
"Ya. I thought I could teach you guys how to read, write, and add while it rains. Give us something to do." Roxas grinned at them. Sora had set Danny in his ragged bed and tackled Roxas.
"I want to learn now!" Sora bounced on Roxas' stomach. "Teach us!" Roxas pushed the brunette off of him.
"Ok, I'll teach you. Just calm down."
"Yay!"
Through out most of the night he taught them how to spell their names and how to add. Tomorrow, he would teach them their vowels and cotenants and how to subtract. He had forgotten all about what happened today and just lay next to Axel with a sigh of content.
Roxas is being followed? What is Xemnas' attempt with Roxas?
