Jake and Sora were both sitting in a large Elm tree shrouded with reddish-orange leaves, the twigs and branches were curved and easier to support the two male's weight. They sat in silence for a straight five minutes, Jake turned back to Sora, smiling politely as Sora rose a single orange brow. The oval-shaped leaves caught into Sora's short locks (he hadn't noticed), his hair spiked a bit at some awkward angles but when the wind rustled the leaves – the set of leaves in his hair flew out and Jake just managed to stifle his laughter.
"What are you smiling at?" Sora inquired suspiciously. "It's making me want to push you out of this tree."
Jake's smile lightened the slightest and he moved backwards onto a larger branch. "I know nearly everything about the zodiac, including Kari and Shichirou, Ryo, the doctor and the leader guy… but, I know absolutely nothing about you."
Sora scoffed and his eyebrow went about an inch higher then where it was. "Is that the only reason you called me over here?"
Jake's eyes practically tripled in size. "N-No! I actually got kind of bored and I was dying to skip class… but, since Hikaru and I have that class together – she kind of forced me to stay in and when the bell rang I was the first one out. So, I didn't really expect to find you… as a tiger, it was a bit funny when you transformed into a tiger and then back, ahahaha." He began to break out in hysterics, Sora's eyebrows lowered as they stitched together in annoyance, a vein swelled up on the side of his forehead.
The vein eventually vanished and his eyebrows separated, he looked below him and behind him before sighing. His green eyes looked back at Jake as they looked dull – a pint of emotion showing as he blinked slowly once again looked behind him.
"So… do you want me to tell you… about… myself?" The tiger questioned surprisingly calm. Jake's chuckles suddenly ended and his mouth was agape for about a moment, he blinked in confusion.
"Really…?" Jake asked in disbelief, Sora nodded. "You would tell me?!"
"Might as well." Sora replied with a shrug. "If Hikaru trusts you… I have to trust you somehow…"
"Okay, then." Jake responded, he smiled. "I'm all ears."
Sora mirrored the soft smile. "No one in the zodiac ever liked me…"
A woman who had dark chocolate brown locks and green eyes smiled at the fourteen-year old Sora, he didn't look much different but he was wearing a dress shirt and black tie – he had a messenger bag on his shoulder and he smiled at the older woman beside him, she said with a sweet smile. "Sora, honey… I really hope that you have fun at school if you need me just call, alright? I love you, baby." She simply smiled at him as she walked down the street and Sora smiled gratefully and waved at her as she rotated on her heel, turning the block.
"My mother was terrified of embracing me…"
Sora's smile disappeared and he walked towards a tree beside the school, he dropped to the ground underneath the tree and opened his bag – pulling out a stack of cards and a hoodie with a wide hood. He tossed his bag into the tree and a simple rustling of leaves advised that it wouldn't fall, he smirked – un-buttoned the shirt and tucking it out of his slacks, underneath his now wrinkled dress shirt was a loose tank top – he yanked the tie off his neck and stuffed it into the pocket of his zip hoodie. He slipped his arms through the sleeves of his hoodie and took the stack of cards, pulling the hood over his head and walked down the opposite block his mother just went through.
"I hated going to school, so I chose to head to the bar a few blocks down."
The bar Sora stood in front of was large from being renovated months ago, it had a set of wide Walnut-framed double doors and the windows were opened letting in the fierce wind as it moved the set of slightly torn curtains. In front of the door was a bulky, large man – his emotionless eyes hidden by a pair of thick-rimmed sunglasses, there was a line of people in front of him pleading to be let in. Sora simply walked past the group as many swore at him, he ignored them with a smirk that merely grew.
The security guard smiled. "Ditching school again, eh, Sora?"
Sora laughed bitterly. "Are you really surprised?"
"Aha. Not really, come on in friend!" He stepped past the door just to allow Sora entrance, the guard "high-fived" him as their was a sudden blare of American music as he entered, many muscular men and attractive woman much older then him were sitting at a large round table.
"Yo, Sora!"
"Welcome back, brotha!"
"Oh! Sora, skipping school – once again, sweetheart?"
Sora took a seat in between two men, tossing a wallet and a stack of cards onto the table. His hood falling off his head slightly – in return of the leather wallet, a slim silver case slid across the table in his direction – the tiger opened it and took a cigarette and a woman handed him a lighter, he placed the cigarette artfully in between his lips and lit it, releasing a puff of smoke.
"The people in the bar didn't know me that long… but they knew about my curse and lucky me… they could care less."
Sora had a hand of five cards in his hand, tossing three and he had re-claimed his wallet and a few extra dollars. By the time; he had won at least twenty bucks and swore as he noticed his phone read six o'clock at night, he bid farewell to everyone and raced out the door – taking his bag and putting on his uniform popping in a few mints and swallowing them, the smell of smoke instantly gone.
He turned back around and was met face-to-face with none other then Shichirou, he tapped his foot on the grass – a stern expression on his face, narrowed eyes and his lips pulled into a crooked line.
"And… where exactly were you?"
"Shichirou caught me skipping school… luckily; he didn't rat me out and from this day – he never discovered my smoking problem."
Another day of school always meant another day of skipping it, this time Sora's mom brought him through the fence and she was a bit clueless since she only thought there was one exit… later, Sora had climbed over the fence running back to the Main House to retrieve his cards once again – he ran into Shichirou who held his cards in his hand.
"This is my room." Sora spit through his teeth. "What are you doing here?!"
"I just came here to notice you skipping school." The zodiac member answered. "That's not a good thing; doesn't your mother ever say anything?"
"She doesn't know, do you think I'm that stupid?" He wore his signature scowl. "And she will never know…" Sora snatched the cards leaving a stunned Shichirou there.
"I guess since I was so terrible to him my karma came back… on the same day I was beaten up for the way I looked…"
Sora's hair was red with some of his blood as many kicks came to his ribs and stomach, he coughed and hacked – surprisingly, not screaming. He was laying on his stomach and propped his bare palms onto the dirty cement as one final kick and an ear-shattering crack brought him to the darkness.
A few minutes later, Sora screamed and found himself perched on Shichirou's back – he flinched and shuddered a few times.
"What are you doing here…?" Sora croaked in a questioning tone.
"You're lucky I found you…" Shichirou simply said. "Your mother was crying and practically sobbing so I just went to go find you… it didn't take long because I already knew where you were…"
"But… how?"
"I see you skip school everyday – my school isn't very far off from that one," Shichirou mentioned. "I also suggest you don't move – your ankle is broken and you have two cracked ribs so you won't be in the best condition now."
Sora rose a brow. "And how exactly do you know that…?"
"My father was a doctor." Shichirou stated glumly. "My sister had once told me. I learned these sort of things from him… and I never discovered your name… who are you?"
"Sora." Sora introduced, shifting before screaming once more.
"I told you not to move!"
"I could do whatever I want! Don't tell me what to do!"
"Whatever then. Make your condition worse just don't scream in my ear… it's pretty annoying."
"When we got back – my mother was indeed sobbing but she didn't embrace me still fearing the curse despite my condition. Two of my ribs were cracked and my ankle was broken I kept myself re-occupied by learning the piano."
Sora had a brace over his entire ankle and foot with heavy, thick bandages covering his chiseled chest. He sat on the piano stool facing the glossy white keys and the large black grand piano, his fingers lingered on the ending keys as he ran his fingers across making a xylophone-like rhythm.
He sighed and placed his hands onto the set and expertly began to play, the serenade-like notes rang through out the room as he hadn't noticed Kari and Shichirou standing behind him as he played.
"I never liked to play the piano in front of others… it calmed me… so, I enjoyed it when I was alone."
"Hikaru and Ryo have a cool-looking piano in their house… can you try to play later?"
"I'll think about it."
The two both jumped down from the tree and Jake once more smiled at Sora. "Okay…?" Sora replied confusingly. "You are seriously freaking me out… are you on something, kid?"
Jake laughed. "First of all; I'm older than you. And I found your history so interesting and compared to how you usually act… it was really… what's the word…? Admiring."
Sora scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever." As he turned to leave – Jake caught his shoulder with serious eyes, Sora was ready to take his hand and try to break it but managed to stop himself.
"I mean… you lived through so much." Jake answered. "And you still manage to go on… how is that?"
Sora brushed his hand off. "I'm not ready to end my life for this curse… yeah, it's stupid and annoying but I still want to live. I don't care if I live like this forever – I don't plan to give up just yet. Now let's go to Hikaru's now – I think it's gonna start raining." Sora walked ahead as Jake stood there in awe of the tiger's words, Sora didn't bother to look back as he was smiling.
At night Jake was sitting upright in his futon besides Ryo's own. Ryo stood sleeping with his mouth hung open and a loose, warm hand clasping the pillow's case, a soft faint as Jake slowly and silently got up from his futon carefully not waking up the rat.
He made it outside as the music had only grown in volume. It was beautiful sound that he had never heard before – soft and gentle, expertly and concentrated standing in the doorway was also Kari and Shichirou once more – both silent and they smiled as they saw Jake as well.
Sora sat on the piano stool pressing his slender fingers onto the chalky white keys magnificently hitting the highest to the lowest octaves in a beautiful serenade like melody. He wasn't even looking at a music sheet and at times he had closed his eyes already having memorized all of the notes and keys places, the sound was both peaceful and sad.
He began to finish off with more lighter notes as he looked more content with the ending, the notes finally died out as he pushed himself away from the piano, stood up with his back facing the three and he turned around to face them, his scowl crossing his face but as soon as he passed the three he had… smiled.
-x-x-x-
We finish another chapter of the Wilted Rose! (: This one was pretty short maybe because I finished it in a day. :D But, the next chapters will also be character-centric ones like this Sora one. And Jake will of course, be involved in all of them.
That lovable sweetie! :)
But, before I forget here's the little preview of more like a future chapter it's actually not going to come soon.
A splash of confetti splattered across the floor and party horns buzzed, Sora had a party hat on his head as Jake ruffled his hair – despite, it being his birthday he looked miserable.
"Sora… you don't have to talk about it…" Shichirou assured.
"Good…" Sora replied. "I don't want to."
The time has come for the tiger to be sentenced to die.
-x-x-x-
The door slid open as Daisuke exposed his face it was silent as their was many wide eyes, he stomped over to Hikaru yanking on her thick curls – she shrieked and Sora and Ryo ran to stop him… it was too late.
Daisuke smirked as Hikaru's eyes narrowed and slits formed.
A feminine, monster-like voice screeched as the shadowy figure fled the place. "Don't look at me! Don't look at me! I'm a monster!!!!!"
-x-x-x-
The shadowy figure stood in front of a fearful Kari, claws raised above the rabbit's head as Sora came running – pushing a stunned Kari out of the way and their was a blood-curdling shriek.
Sora collapsed in front of Kari with a large wound on his stomach, Kari's eyes watered and she sobbed brokenly into the air. As he had fallen limp, her sobs grew as more tears rolled down her rosy cheeks.
"It's terrible to die on your birthday, eh…?" Daisuke inquired to himself, snickering icily.
