A/N: Dunno what to put here. I just thought I should put an author's note up here. So here ya are. I don't own this, yanno? I mean, the storyline, yeah, but the people? Nah. Not me. I would so have Roxas tied to my bed by now if I did.

-- -- ---- -- -- - -- - -- -- - -- -- - - -- - -- - -

Seeing Red

Chapter Six

Dysfunctional

-- - -- - -- - - -- - - -- - - -- - -- - -- - - -- - -

When a little boy dies on the streets, with no mother or father, with no family and one single friend, as lonely as he, no one holds a funeral. Maybe the body sits until the police find it, only due to the complaints of the smell of decomposing flesh. Maybe it's found immediately by a caring soul, who murmurs a prayer for the dead, is covered, and is again abandoned. Maybe it's reported and given an unmarked hole in the ground.

Or maybe, the little boy who found it first, stares at it, doesn't shed a single tear, and runs away. Maybe this little boy wants revenge; maybe this boy just wants to run. Either way, this little boy is changed forever. This little boy becomes rather dysfunctional.

-- - -- -- -- -- - -- -- -- - -- - -- -- --- - -- - --

"Are we still telling stories?"

Axel glanced over at the redheaded girl, frowning, "Roxas told his."

"I have one," she stated with a smile, and ran a thin hand through her smooth hair, "Alright?"

Roxas let out a small laugh from the front seat, "Go for it, Kai."

"Alright. When I was a little kid, I mean, like, little, I remember my mother leaving me a lot, but that's not really important."

Axel shook his head; you don't realize how important it is…

"Well, the point is, I was alone a lot as a kid. I think I was alone a lot until I was… ten, maybe? I think so, because that's when I met Roxas. Anyway, I had a pet dog. Well, not really my pet, because, you know, we didn't really have like…anything, but I played with him and he'd follow me around all the time. I called him Lukas."

Roxas shook his head, and Axel turned to stare at the girl.

"Well, he was a scrawny, little, matted dog, with long gray and white hair, one brown eye, and one blue eye. He was… well, he was the only friend I had when I was a kid. I mean, I had friends, sort of, but they were all older, and people the women told me to stay away from. So I had Lukas. He found food for himself, and all kinds of things, and sometimes he'd drag up an old ball from a dumpster or something and I'd play with him all day. But I guess that's not really important either."

"One day, me and Lukas were walking, you know? And there were some boys, and they all called him, and he looked at me, and then at them, and just kept walking with me, and I really don't know why. I just sort of petted his head, and all the boys got mad and started yelling. They were older boys, around thirteen, I think, but that night, when I went back to meet my mom by the curb, I had to leave Lukas, you know? Because he had fleas, and he was a kind of wild dog anyway. But I never saw Lukas again, after that. I ran into the boys a few days later, and they all started laughing. And it took me a long time to understand, but eventually, I realized that they'd killed Lukas."

Axel stared blankly, but Roxas bit his lip.

"The streets are mean, and I was just a kid. I guess I learned then not to get close to anything you couldn't hold with you and protect at all times, or something that can't really protect itself."

"But that's not true, Kai," Axel stated shortly, "If you lived by that rule, you wouldn't have anyone."

The girl shook her head and slipped several white pills into her mouth, "Not really. But who did I have then?"

Axel fumbled for a response to prove her wrong, until finally an abnormal noise came from the front seat.

Roxas let out a loud yawn, unnaturally loud, which caused Axel to stare angrily up at him.

Without another word, Roxas gave the redheaded male a look that told him to SHUTUP if he knew what was good for him, and to his own surprise, Axel shut his mouth and glared.

The car was silent for the rest of the ride, until Axel gave Roxas the short directions to the town where he lived.

Small, dirty, dingy, was the only was to describe Paradise. The town, ironically named, was a heaven for trailer parks and low-class apartments. Dying grass covered the ground, like strangled threads reaching out for help. Every building made of dirtied brick, every trailer a sooty off-white or tan shade. Every home looked distressed and beaten. And Axel's small abode fit the requirement of Paradise.

A tiny apartment, shared by a roommate called Scissorhead, nicknamed by Axel himself, at the top floor of a sad, crumbly brick building. Atop a long ascent to the highest apartment, and finally, a smashing through the door, Axel smirked to his younger friends and laughed, "Scissorhead! I'm home, honey!"

"Shut the hell up, Axel. Where the fuck have you been?" A low, growling voice hissed from the kitchen, finally joined by a pair of glowing amber eyes. Long, shining silver hair, rather tinted blue in the light, and a softly tanned face, all tied together by a large scar in the shape of an 'X' across his forehead. The man stood nearly as tall as Axel, with angrier features and a less sane emotion in his eyes.

"I've been looking for my dear, little, redheaded Annie, love," he joked cheerfully, taking the younger two by surprise.

"What the fuck, Axel?" The man called "Scissorhead" stormed forward and grabbed Axel by thick red locks and ripped him closer, "You can't just leave whenever you damn well please, and then just saunter back in―"

Axel sighed and touched the other man's long blue hair softly with his slender fingers, "Why not? I left you the money, I'm a grown man, Saïx, and I can do whatever I want. Or does that not count for me? You can't tell me that you―"

"Can we not do this here, Axel?" Saïx narrowed his eyes at the blonde boy and curious redheaded girl staring blankly at him, "Later, Axel. I have to go to class."

Axel jumped forward to catch the angry blue-haired man by the arm, "Wait, wait! Before you go thundering out of here, meet who I brought back?" His voice was gentler, less joking, and more to the point of affectionate.

Roxas stared, was Axel something important to this brash man?

Saïx glared, but turned and crossed his arms, "Alright. Names?"

"Kairi, this is Saïx. Saïx, meet Kairi. And Roxy―"

"Roxas," he snapped with angry cerulean eyes.

"Right, Roxas," Axel smirked at the boy, but continued slowly, "And these two are going to be staying here with us until we have to leave. Alright?"

"I don't have time for this, Axel." Saïx narrowed his eyes further at the redhead who stared hopefully at him, "I have classes, you know that."

Axel stared, almost begging, with his emerald shaded eyes, until finally he sighed, "Alright, go on, Scissorhead," he shook his head and crossed his arms, "Don't be late."

Saïx glared, but stomped out the door with a loud slam following.

"So how did you like my Saïx-y?"

"He didn't like us. Or you, for that matter." Roxas narrowed his eyes, "What are we doing, Axel? You kill―"

"Don't worry about it."

Kairi shrugged as she slipped several white pills into her mouth, "I don't think he likes us, Axel."

"Nah, he's nice. You just have to get past the jackass in him."

"Right." Roxas turned to look at the relatively neat home before him, "He cleans, I guess?"

"Of course he cleans. He cooks. I do laundry. Except when he does."

Roxas snorted and shook his head, "What did he mean classes, anyway?"

"Saïx goes to college. He got in somehow. Has some kind of art or history or something."

"You live with a guy that goes to college? That's so cool, Axel!" Kairi clapped her hands, her indigo eyes sparkling happily, "I never knew anyone who went to college!!"

"It's 'I've never known,' Kairi." Roxas sighed, "Axel, how long are we staying here?"

"I said. Until we have to leave."

Roxas placed his hands on his hips, irritated, "Which means?"

"As long as we can."

Kairi shrugged and sat happily on the tattered brown chair that sat in the corner, "Okay."

"What do you mean, 'okay'? Kai, we―"

"Just have to be difficult? Roxas, don't worry about it. Really. I know, and you know, that I don't like you much. But we're both looking out for Kairi, aren't we? So just calm down. I'm not stupid."

"You shot―"

"I'm right here, guys…" the girl waved her arms, but pouted slightly when she was ignored.

"That isn't important, Roxas. Alright? Just forget it." Axel let out a short growl and ran a hand through his hair, "Everything's fine as long as Kairi's fine."

"I'm right here, you know…" Kairi waved blankly at the arguing boys, but sighed when Roxas stormed towards Axel.

"Everything's not fine, Axel. When do you plan to tell your roommate-lover-guy that you killed a bunch of women?!"

"I don't, Roxas! Don't you get that?! I'm putting it behind me until I absolutely have to think about it, alright? It's not important. I'm forgetting it. If you want to be anywhere near here, you're going to want to forget about it too."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Yeah, Roxy. I am. Forget it, alright?" Axel groaned, "Please. Just do it." Moments passed, and then, quietly, "And he's not my lover."

The blonde boy crossed his arms and shook his head, but didn't say a single word.

Finally, Axel thought silently, I just want to sleep.

Roxas pouted, Axel wandered sullenly into the empty kitchen, and Kairi shoved more white pills down her throat.

Quite the dysfunctional family we're becoming…

--- -- - -- -- -- - -- -- -- - -- -- --- -- -- - ------ - -- - -- - - -- - --

Ela hated the women on the streets. The called and beckoned to the men in suits, but never a man who didn't appear to have money. He watched them sometimes, hating every moment of it. He'd befriended one or two, when he was younger, but now, he couldn't stand to be near them. He hated them with all that he was. He couldn't stand the way they were. So…depressing. They'd leave, still cooing and crawling all over their man, but would return tired, beaten-looking, ragged, but would continue their work.

Ela hated watching them. It reminded him too much of Serena. He wondered about his father. Had he come from one of those sickening men? Was he an accident that Serena couldn't get rid of? Had his parents loved each other? Or was he just an unfortunate mishap that meant nothing in the end? When he disappeared, had Serena notified the father? Did she even know who he was?

It disgusted Ela to think about. It made him want to pound his head into the wall. Disgusting. How could she be so damn revolting?

Ela cringed at the thought and shook them away. He didn't want to be human if that's what it meant to be one. He'd rather be the damn animal they told him he was.

-- - - --- --- -- -- ---- - -- - -- - -- - ----- -- - - -- - --- - - --- - -- - -

A/N: Hey, all! I know it took me like… a whole eleven days to put this up here, but I'm like… caught up in the hell I call high school, and I know it only gets worse from here on out in life, but still. I hate high school. Ha. Anyway, hope you like it! I love my pathetic Axel/Saïx sort of thing that's going on too. It's so weird. Hah. It's like… a pairing that shouldn't ever exist, and I'm going to make it go away soon. I just need someone who can actually… interact with the fiery redheaded devil. Hah, I love Axel. But I love Roxas more. (grins evilly) Right, well, that'll be all for me!

Much love to y'all!!

Shiro!!