Author's note (now made with real chocolate!):

a) death
b) mother
c) finals
d) i want to graduate and go to college
e) cosplay
f) insomnia

the previous list sums up the answer to the question "why". yes, that's right. i am very much aware that i've been dead for a month. and no, this time it isn't because of the lame excuse "school" that you see from me every so often. this time i have very reasonable reasons for being dead. DX all i ask is for forgiveness and a hug. it's been a tough year so far.

my family has been through some pretty hard times what with us trying to buy a house, deaths in the family in california and abroad, petty arguments and taxes. oy. it makes my head hurt so badly! i guess all that stress made my mom "ground" me and make me stop using the computer for three weeks straight save for using it for homework purposes. DX i nearly died. and then i looked at the calender and slapped my forehead after seeing that the convention i want to attend is TWO MONTHS AWAY. so i purchased all the necessary things for putting a cosplay together and considering that i'm on break right now (HALLELUJAH) i can put it together.

-takes in deep breath-

and somewhere in all that mess, akuroku squeezed itself in and said "hey, you know what? take a break and make us hug and kiss and all that stuff that makes you feel good." and so it happened. X3 bless axel and roxas for inching their way into my heart and cheering me up...i hope this chapter makes up for the time i've been gone.

/end apology

Chapter 21: Paint Splatter

So I didn't have AIDS. How fantastic is that? And if this was the case, then Roxas didn't have AIDS either. That meant that we were both free to live life to the fullest again and do what we wanted without the fear that we could die. And so life carried on from that very second I read that line. Just hold up, though. Story isn't over yet. You've still got ways to go. Let's start with the good news, shall we?

Well, after folding up the test sheet again I turned to Roxas and started smiling in disbelief. I could feel my chest heaving and my adrenaline going through the roof. I guess I freaked him out since he raised an eyebrow and took a step toward me in concern.

"Nothing's wrong," I said, scoffing.

"What'd it say?" he asked. "What'd it say?"

But no matter how many times I tried my vocal cords tangled up and there wasn't much I could say. Screw everything else that's gone wrong, this just solved all my problems...ish. For now, I'm gonna try to forget. With another weak laugh I took one huge step toward Roxas and squeezed him around the arms until he started gasping and squirming and all the things that toddlers do when grownups tell them how cute they are.

"Are you ok?" he gasped in a loud voice with one hand trying to push me off of him. I would've screamed, but I'd need a nice cave or an abandoned parking lot to do that. Lord knows what the people outside would think if I screamed like that in here with Roxas...

"Doesn't matter what shit happens now, Rox. You and I are set to go."

"I still don't get it."

That's when I bit my lips together, let out a rough sigh and then held him by the shoulders so I could stare at him eye to eye. That pretty face of yours, Roxas...I swear to god that it makes me crazy. "I'm negative. No AIDS. Nadda."

Sure, it may have been easy to say it, but it was still pretty complicated to figure out how this had come about. It wasn't normal that the doctor, specifically Dr. Gainsborough, would make a mistake. And when they did make one, they would've called me up ages ago to inform me about it. Well, I felt pissed, then I calmed down, then I was pissed all over again. Bi-polar I suppose. Roxas' eyes absently scanned my face and his lips were shaking.

No. No I'm not lying, if that's what you're wondering, Roxas. I'd never lie to you, now would I?

After the first five seconds of him staying silent and shaking, I figured that I'd have to give him another couple of hours to come out with how happy he was. So I just wrapped my arms around his neck and made us stay that way while I waited for that one hour when he would tell me.

Mom started laughing outside in the living room and the tiny sound of Namine doing the same followed. I could hear Sora's feet pounding on the carpet over our heads and I could hear Hayner whooping about winning another game of Beat-The-Hell-Out-Of Dude-With-A-Million-Tentacles in record time. Riku yelled at them after opening the squeaky door which only made the girls' laughter increase.

You know, it's good to feel normal every once in a while. It's good to be able to hug someone without one disturbing thought stabbing at your brain. I guess Roxas seemed to agree.

"I'll just tell you everything later, Axel," he muttered and buried his head in the dip in my collarbone.

xxXXxx

Well, after disconnecting from Roxas for a little while, I finally left the room with the great feeling that I had lifted an even bigger weight off of my shoulders. I could actually breathe, you know. Sure, I'd felt wonderful when I came out of the closet, but this maxed out everything else. Roxas followed silently behind me when I held open the door and tiptoed out into the living room. There, I spotted Namine and mom still giggling on the couch.

I'd forgotten all about our past conversation.

With Aerith's letter folded up and tucked away in my pocket, I headed for the front door, hoping that I wouldn't get caught. Pft. That was useless. Soon as I moved a centimeter mom's eyes shot my way and I froze.

"What'd the letter say, hun?" she asked, crossing her legs and tapping her chin after. Namine, I could easily tell, was debating whether or not she should look at Roxas or not. Her cheeks were turning way red.

"Oh...uh." Come on, come on...if there's a time when the phone should ring now would be the best! I could make an excuse and say that it was junk mail. But then she'd ask me if it was a coupon and would demand that I fork it over. Besides, she already knew it was from the doc. Oo, I could say she misread it! Boy, Axel. You sure are losing your touch.

"Oh, and something came for you too, Roxas. I think it's from your boss downtown."

Roxas' eyes flashed toward Namine when she timidly stretched out a hand to pass him a square envelope. It looked like an invite of some sort, sealed with a silver sticker on the back. His hand shook when he took it from her and I swore that she was on the verge of crying when his fingers slipped away. No, no, please don't make me feel bad, girl.

But thank god that she spoke up otherwise I'd have to go back to explaining the doctor's note. So I stood beside him, feeling squirmy under mom and Namine's stare, and watched as he yanked out a plain white card from the envelope.

I couldn't read the fine print or the cursive (I was never good at writing either one) and waited for him to finish reading to find out what it'd said. Then it occurred to me that I didn't have any idea just what in the nation his job was. Wait...Roxas has a job? And I don't know this why?

Roxas sighed, patted the top of his head and glanced down at the floor. "Well," he started, sounding as if he had no other choice. "He's calling me down there for an appointment. I'm gonna need this week to get as much done as I can on the next project. You can hold down the fort, can't you, Nam...Namine?" Roxas stopped, probably about to say Namine's "cute fiancée nick name" before deciding against it.

She nodded with a sad smile and stared down into the magazine she and mom had been laughing about. She obviously heard him falter. Imagine being called by your full name other than your ever-so-adorable nickname. I guess when people drop calling you out by using your nickname it hints that you're in trouble. Poor Namine.

And so I stared at Roxy, and rather enjoyed saying his name in my head that way.

I guess that makes me a bit of a cruel person, doesn't it?

I guess mom saw me smirking (I didn't even know I'd been doing it) and scoffed. "See that smile there? Something tells me that big boy wants to tag along. Doesn't he?"

I did a double take on her then on Roxas. Boy, that just made me look like an even bigger idiot than all those "-blank- for dummies" books made people out to be. Hm. Maybe I should consider writing one: "How to fall in love without falling flat on your face and screwing up your life worse than a six million cycle carousel...for dummies". Oh, that'd make big bucks.

Mom made a popping sound with her lips. "Well, the silence is reassuring. Roxas, you don't mind Axel tagging along with you, do you?"

"N-No." Psh. He stuttered.

"Don't I get a say in this?" The thing with my mother, man, you can never win in an argument with her. You can be talking about a controversial topic for days and she'll never drop her take on it. Never. So I figured that what I'd just asked went unnoticed. Sure enough, she just stared at me. If it was legal to call your mother a bitch in her face in this house then I'd do it...ok, not really.

"Get your camera and out the door you go, both of you. Yes, Namine and I will hold the fort down. I heard the studio Roxas works at is high class, honey. Imagine you working at one like that."

Namine finally looked up from her magazine and as Roxas walked off to the hallway closet to grab his camera, I couldn't help but notice her loss of "glow". She was like a fallen angel, that girl. Am I responsible for that? Even when she smiles at both of us as I take my own camera for the hell of it and we head for the door, is she smiling inside?

I can't imagine being a person that can't release their feelings. You'd think that Namine would explode from holding her emotions in for so long. I almost asked Roxas, but I was pretty sure that he wasn't willing to hear the end of Namine lying in bits and pieces...

xxXXxx

"There...there...beautiful. Awesome shot. Ok, lemme set 'er up once more and we'll have another go, shall we? Oh, was that the bell I heard? Someone go check, will you? I'm betting that's Roxas at the door. Well go on! Keep posing there, darling, that's it."

When Roxas opened the frosted glass door the first thing I heard was the British-crumpet version of my boss back at home. Please, please do not tell me that Mr. Boss Face wasn't Roxas' boss too. I'm on vacation, vacation! Well, at least the guy didn't sound as girly as my boss. That's one thing to be thankful for.

I knew one thing: mom was right about this place being high class. Compared to my studio back home...man. This place might have been smaller, but everywhere you looked there was a different colored wall. No white, no chrome. A variety of colors. I felt like I'd just dropped in on a canvas being splattered over with paint. Up ahead to the left was a black front desk and seated behind it was some brunette guy wearing a white tank top and silver reading glasses atop his nose...come to think of it, he looked awfully familiar.

"Yeah, that's who you think it is," Roxas muttered to me over his shoulder. He just slipped off his camera bag and was heading further into the multicolored waiting room. I spotted a see-through door on the opposite wall (which was red) and saw familiar lights flashing behind it.

Camera lights.

The guy behind the counter looked up for a second from his computer screen, lowered his glasses and nodded up at Roxas as we passed. "Yo, Roxas."

"Hey, Leon."

If I'd been drinking something I would've spat it right in the dude's face. But that wouldn't've been a very nice thing to do. I just stared at Leon for a second, taking the longest time to match his face with the face of the senior math teacher back in high school.

I guess Leon recognized me too since he lowered his glasses even further and started staring at me from head to toe. I didn't think that such a stiff-faced guy like him would set foot in a studio. Maybe to get his picture taken, sure...

"Riku's brother, right?" he mumbled flatly. After I nodded he pushed his glasses back up and lazily shook a thumb toward the door in front of us. "Luxord's in there waiting on you, Roxas. You can head in there too—"

"Axel," Roxas added while quickly grabbing the cuff of my sleeve and dragging me away. What a feisty little tyke. Before he pushed the door open I already heard the British guy jabbering about posing and "darling" etcetera, etcetera. Once inside the room I compared his voice to Simon Cowell. Ever heard of him? Might wanna do a Google or Youtube search if you have the time. Then you'll understand.

Roxas let go of my sleeve and led me behind a table filled with bits and pieces. Sitting in the middle of all that mess was a silver Macintosh laptop connected to a huge black camera which was propped up on the other side of the room. Behind that camera was a blonde guy wearing a knit, black turtleneck sweater and tight, dark jeans. On his left ear were two piercings, each shaped like tiny crosses that jingled when he swished his head this way and that. So...this is Simon Cowell, I take it?

"Lux, I'm here," Roxas called out.

"Yes, yes I know you are." Luxord glanced over his shoulder for a second and shook his hand just as he aligned the lens the way he wanted. Sitting pretty atop a manmade rock was some random girl in a black dress that fell past her knees. White lace traced the bottom of the dress and the top of her white knee-highs. I almost didn't wanna look at her face since all that heavy black and midnight blue eye shadow looked like it was about to eat her face off.

"Once more, darling...and..." Flash, flash, headache, headache.

Ugh. Camera flashes. I think I've gotta be the only model in this world that absolutely wants to take a hammer to the damn cameras. I squinted when the dots started to fly and groaned out of habit. I guess I should've known better than to act so "rude" since Roxas'...boss, I guess, instantly clicked his tongue, sighed and started bitching.

"Tsk, Roxas, if it bothers you so much why couldn't you just wait outside, then?" Luxord turned away from his precious camera just as Roxas nudged me hard in the side. Once he'd turned our way he rubbed his temple and kept one hand on his hip. I had to admit that he was more masculine than I thought. But just as soon as his eyes fell on me he blinked, blinked again and dropped his jaw just a bit which made him look like a complete girl.

Even little miss muppet sitting behind him gasped when she saw me.

"Uhm," I mumbled, crossing my arms. "Roxas, what's his problem?" Roxas shook his head up at me.

Looks like I was gonna get my answer sooner than I thought since Luxord immediately smiled cunningly and began taking wide, evenly paced steps our way. "You. You're who I think you are, aren't you?"

I shrugged. "Maybe?"

That's when Roxas tapped me on the shoulder and started with the introductions. "This is Luxord, my boss. Luxord—"

"Axel. Of course I know him, Roxas. The man's the only reason why I stay in these shoots for eight hours a day. Hm, you'll rarely hear this from me, but after seeing his photos I've been struggling to keep up with the quality of my male model shoots." Wait...excuse me? Was he actually praising me? And here I was thinking that I could have scalding hot tea poured all over my face...

But I decided to take in the glory and resisted temptation to strike a pose. "Well, thanks—"

"Roxas, I was going to have you work with Yuffie today for practice," Luxord interrupted and motioned to the girl behind him with his bony finger and after looking back at me began stroking the stubby blonde beard on his chin. "But seeing as you've brought a real professional with you I'm changing your assignment to practicing with Axel. You don't mind that now, do you Yuffie?"

Yuffie was surprisingly smiling up at him (despite the fact that he'd dissed her) and appeared more than happy to stand up from the papier-mâché rock. She tiptoed away from the grey painted background and sort of curtsied in my direction. "Don't mind at all, Luxord!" And she resorted to walking happily off and leaving the room. Strange behavior for a girl dressed as a corpse.

"Good. Off with you then. Let Leon know to let you go. Roxas you go on and set up and—ah—Axel you won't need a change of clothes for this one." Luxord quickly held his hand up when I followed my model instinct by wandering over to lone clothes rack to my right. I was planning to change into some goth punk outfit.

"I won't? Hold up, hold up. First thing, is this legal?"

Luxord had turned away to wipe his glasses and type in some thing on his computer when he replied, "Legal? Why in the world wouldn't it be? You see," he leaned in closer to me and even though I assumed that he'd be trying to keep his words a secret his voice rose for Roxas to hear. "Roxas has the best time taking pictures of women. Oh, yes, it's women he can shoot but when it comes to men, do not get me started. Wrong lighting, wrong lens, wrong, wrong, wrong. He has binder full of fireplace worthy pictures. Now that he has you I'm sure that he'll finally make good use of electricity."

Roxas cleared his throat, obviously hinting that he'd heard all that, and as he replaced the grey backdrop with a plain white one he mouthed a quick "Sorry" at me. I tried not to laugh and was forced in to removing my shirt. Now, why in the hell should I? Roxas had a harder time taking pictures of skin, too. Fantastic.

I'd just pulled off my white polo over my head when Luxord stepped back into the room and after whispering something to Roxas handed him two small cans of paint; one red the other blue. Roxas stared at this blankly for a second before setting them down. After that his boss sauntered over to me, looked me over with his hand still on his chin, and clapped his hands together like he'd just gotten the world's brightest idea...which isn't necessarily good.

"Pants," he said simply while staring down at my ripped jeans. "Do they go any lower?"

Roxas spun around when he'd heard that and didn't take a moment's hesitation to walk over calmly and start pulling me over to the set up. "He's fine," he grumbled, tightening his fingers around my wrist.

"Tsk, always missing the little details, Roxas. I'm doing this for your own benefit." With that said Luxord followed behind us and after popping open the red paint can started flinging it in random spots on the white backdrop. Once there were at least five dripping and oozing splatters of red he popped open the blue can and did the same which resulted in a nice white, red, blue and purple spattered background.

"There now, that'll do. Give some color in the shots. I despise blank space. Sit him down and let's get right to it. Oh, and don't listen to Roxas. You can lower those pants, now can't you?" Well...yeah. So with not much of a choice I unbuttoned and lowered them until my hip bones were slightly sticking out. I didn't feel like going any further. Being in X rated shots may be my strong points, but I'm not a slave to the sex industry. Amazing what the media comes up with nowadays.

"Don't worry about him," Roxas bitched while I kicked my shoes off and sat crossed legged on the clean part of the background.

"Hey, it's your boss. What're you gonna do?"

"Murder him." After that pleasant comment Roxas wrapped the camera strap around his neck and started playing around with angles and distance. Ok, so I wasn't sure what to do. It was either I sit here and smile or twist my body and act like I was posing for a freakin' Playboy magazine. He's supposed to be the one coaching me, actually. And after about two minutes of him tweaking he finally told me what to do.

"Just...act natural, ok?" And I swore that my breathing skipped. Seriously, never in my career has a camera man told me to "act natural" on set. I chuckled a bit and cocked my head when I asked:

"How exactly do I do that?" But he'd already snapped the shot.

"You're the model. The best one at that."

"You really think so?" I started turning my head away shyly and that's when he shot another picture. I was thankful that Roxas didn't use the big guns to take pictures. That made the flashes less...flashy. Like the kind that comes out of mini digital cameras. It's good to feel normal.

And all that time he had to have taken at least 30 plus pictures with me doing little to no work. I mostly sat there, smiling or turning my head as we carried on some stupid conversation. I really liked bonding with Roxas, you know. And what was better was that we were alone. But there was one thing we hadn't talked about, and that was the issue concerning me and him and the night before. Suddenly I was feeling pretty cold, and it wasn't just because I'd taken off my shirt. Roxas probably saw that I was bugged since he pulled the camera away and started staring at me in concern.

"Roxas," I started, being sure to look him right in the eyes when I said it. "Think you could...tell me what happened last night?"

He still stood there speechless for a while before he looked to the floor, then to the right, and finally back at me to say, "I told you: I don't know."

"Roxas—"

"You were acting...weird."

I rolled my eyes and leaned back, balancing my weight on both hands. I could feel the wetness of the paint slipping in between my fingers as it started dripping from the backdrop. I had to scoot up to avoid getting it on my pants or anything.

"I know that. All I need to know is what. What did I do?"

"I already told you—"

"You didn't tell me squat!" Still sitting on the floor I unintentionally glared death daggers at Roxas which made him twitch back while clutching onto his camera for dear life. Leashes could never hold me back when I was angry...

"Nobody tells me anything, Roxas! Don't you get that? I mean, what do I have to do to hear the truth?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, looking away.

Completely forgetting that I had paint seeping through my fingers I lifted my right hand and shook it in frustration, getting purple paint flecks all over myself and the floor. I slapped it back down with a squelch which ended up getting some dots on my face. I pretty much eyed my purple fingers for some five minutes while I continued condemning everyone that lied to the depths of hell.

"All that I can say is that I gave you some pills so you would fall asleep. I had to get you to stop squirming around or you were gonna wake the whole neighborhood."

Luxord popped into the room that time and carelessly walked over to the laptop where Roxas had plugged in his camera. Judging by the way he turned his head and raised his eyebrows I'd say that he was somewhat pleased with the outcome. But it didn't matter. He was in his own world. I figured that I'd just ignore him while he "ah-ha'd" and "mm-hm'd" to himself.

"Axel." Roxas' voice shook slightly and I guess he didn't have any idea that his boss had come in when he didn't drop the volume. "You were just—drunk, I guess. I can't really put it another way...here, you get up and we'll get out of here."

"Leaving so soon, Roxas?" Luxord asked, rubbing his chin.

I wished he didn't have to speak up like that. It seems that no matter where I go those that lead are total asshats. Bosses, principles, teachers...all of them. I can never find it in me to like one. I suppose that's because I prefer walking on my own without someone making the trail for me. So I got up from the dripping, makeshift canvas, shook my hands (which ended up getting paint on my pants anyway) and was already raring up to go. I grabbed for my shirt, staining it, and shoved it under my arm and locked Roxas' arm with the other.

You should've seen that Brit's face, lemme tell you. You would've thought I'd slapped him across the face, kicked him in the nads and insulted his ancestors at the same time. Tough luck. In reality, yes, the boss organizes the shoot but it's the model that controls the shoot. So I had every right to take off and leave with Roxas in bitchy fashion.

"I could lose my job for this," Roxas whispered while we exited the room in silence. Strangely, his boss kept quiet on the other side as well. We both failed to duck away from Leon's "what the HELL happened to you" face when we passed the desk and left that building with a nice trail of dripped, purple paint behind us.

"Don't worry. With those shots he'll keep you glued to this place. I guarantee it." I was surprised at how happy I sounded, especially after being so pissed earlier. Truth was, I felt happy. And because Roxas laughed next to me and didn't care at all about my bipolar-ness and the fact that I got some paint on his shirt and face, I knew that he was feeling that same tingle. As I said before:

He's safe. We're safe.

Even with the shit that gets in the way...

xxXXxx

After at least 10 more glares and finger-points later Roxas and I made it at least halfway back home. We'd been walking at a pretty slow pace and didn't much care that people were tittering and what not...ok, mostly I was ignoring them, but anyway...

Roxas couldn't stop flipping through the pictures that he'd taken earlier at the studio. Truthfully, it was pretty embarrassing seeing myself "acting natural" in a picture. I was so used to "sexy" and "naked" and "pinned to nearest hard surface" pictures. Boy was I thankful. I guess that was why we were going so slowly to get home. Somewhere and sometime we were gonna end up back home where abnormal things existed, and getting there quickly wouldn't be so hot. Just watch. Give me another month and Roxas and I can get the hell outta town.

Someone strike up the wedding march and pop the champagne bottles, huh?

"So he's been working at that place for how long now?"

"Dunno. I heard he quit being a math teacher the same year I graduated from high school. I guess he was really more interested in photography than anything else." Roxas referred to that Leon character that I saw back at the studio.

"And you've been there--?"

"Since I left college."

"You didn't tell me this why?"

"Because I didn't think that you would care."

"Why did you think I wouldn't care?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions?"

I chuckled, amused that I'd pissed him off, and tried again to rub off some dried paint on my hands. "Bonding. Trust me, you and I need to get that task done before we get back home. Something tells me that life's gonna return to being abnormal when we set foot in that place."

Roxas' footsteps delayed for a second and he turned his head up at me in between taking a lick of the Sea Salt Ice Cream I'd bought for him. "What makes you say that?"

I shrugged and shook some purple flakes onto the sidewalk. I judged that once we turned this corner up ahead that the house would be right there waiting. I took a second to think and decided to stop walking to delay our return time even more. People were just starting to enter their houses and the streetlights were just starting to flicker on.

"Please don't tell me that you don't sense the sketchiness at your own home." His blank stare obviously clarified that. "Rox," I said right after I pulled my shirt back on. "Believe me. When I confessed that we were like this," I quickly wrapped my index and middle finger around each other to demonstrate, "Our families may act like they're not affected but really, do you believe that? Don't you ever, I don't know, feel like they're staring at you funny?"

He slowly licked at the ice cream and turned his eyes to the ground. "...I guess. But you can't expect them to accept news like that in a heartbeat, Axel."

Sigh. "I know that. But I guess I'm just feeling impatient about not being in my own pad by now without family getting in the way. Now that I know that I'm pretty much healthy for life, I'm ready to get out and set up home base for myself. Know what I mean?"

Roxas vaguely smiled behind his ice cream, but it was a sad smile. Maybe he didn't appreciate the fact that I was proclaiming how badly I wanted to leave his space. Really, Axel, think before you speak. And I almost rephrased that too, but when I saw some movement around the corner behind Roxas I froze. It hadn't turned pitch black out yet and I was thankful for that one. Why? Well it gave me the opportunity to see Marluxia poke his head out from behind the wall.

"Hey," I said loudly. He didn't budge. Roxas stared at me with widened eyes.

"What's up?"

"Roxas, we gotta—"

"Hey, cuz. How've you been?"

"Shit. Reno?" I hissed a quick cuss and momentarily glanced over my shoulder toward Reno's voice. See that, that was my first mistake. Hopefully it would be the last one. I should've remembered that Marluxia was hecka good at basketball. I should've remembered that his strong point in that game was running and keeping the ball away. How is that relevant? Well...

It only took two seconds for him to run up from behind the wall and snatch Roxas right as I had my head turned away. My hands twitched and my legs contracted instantly in response to him being yanked back a couple feet. For a second I couldn't hear anything and life started playing itself like a slow motion black and white film. I yelled out for him and my arms shot out to grab onto his reached out hand. I couldn't hear myself yelling. I couldn't hear Roxas either.

I saw our hands trying to latch onto each other and his ice cream fall to the ground in the process. I saw his eyes flashing and his feet kicking wildly as Marluxia tugged him back with an arm three times stronger than him. I saw his arms being pinned and his feet being dragged even when he tried to run back. And it was torture that I couldn't fill the gap that Marluxia made in between us.

One silver gun was all it took for me to realize that I couldn't help him.

Save me. Save me. That's what his eyes were yelling behind a face that was struggling to stay strong. And I wanted to. I really did. I had to keep myself stuck in one place with teeth clicked together, one foot in front of the other like I was prepared to run and stained hands clenched until my knuckles turned white.

Reno, you bastard.

"You are such an idiot! I told you not to be harsh, Marly," Reno's voice grated out behind me.

"Using your soft approach last time didn't work!" Marluxia barked back while Roxas kept kicking.

"Lemme go! Damn it! Fuck...!"

"Hey, shut up, will you?!" Marluxia shook the arm that was around Roxas' chest to get him to stop, but he still refused.

I took the chance and spoke up, praying that it wouldn't make Roxas die. "Roxas. He'll shoot you if you don't so...don't." And just like a kid being lectured by their parent Roxas looked up, panting wildly, and let his arms and legs go limp. His eyes were quivering so badly I could tell me was scared.

And what did Reno decide to do? Laugh. Laugh like the maniac sadist he just turned out to be. "Well, that's cute, isn't it? But I digress. You and I weren't through with our conversation last time we met up, man."

"What," I said tiredly to the ground. "What's...so important that you need to talk about, Reno?"

"You don't sound very convinced that I mean business."

"I don't believe this..."

"Yeah? Well in that case..." Click, step forward, click. Bang. I blinked and my mouth dropped open as I felt something searing the skin on my right arm. I didn't bother to look since I could already feel that he'd made a bullet graze me. I could feel cold air hit my open cut and it made the blood feel like ice dripping down my skin.

"No!" Roxas screeched even before the bullet went flying. It was seriously torture looking at him without being able to do anything but bleed.

"Maybe that'll show you that I do, in fact, mean business, Axel. Good, he's got the camera too...Now let's go."

i love reno. god i love reno. i watched advent children two years ago and when i saw him i was like OMG...another redheaded sex god. XO

but he's a badboy to me. so that's why i gave him a gun and a cheeky attitude! gotta love it to the death, yo. -shot for catchphrase- 3X

i've recently gotten into forum-ing, i guess you could call it. i'm a total forum-whore in three different places. and i'm officially a senior otaku on one forum for passing the 400 post mark. -confetti- i guess that marks me as having NO life whatsoever. but...oh well. XD

now, about this chapter...i typed it over the course of a month. half of the time spent was me typing softly on the keyboard and slowly so i wouldn't get caught by my mother and the other half was spent at school when we were given "study time". yeah, i write smut, violence and yaoi during study time, teacher. XO and the rest, well, the rest was done TONIGHT. TONIGHT! i blame evanescence for creating "my immortal". that song is the very reason why i decided to write tonight. it's THE ONLY SONG IN THIS WORLD THAT CAN MAKE ME CRY BUCKETS.

NO JOKE. it's so...so...ugh! -emos- it is yet another akuroku related song. listen to it. you'll understand. 3X

and so i end this madness with high hopes that i will be spared and your weapons of mass destruction will be put aside...

THIS IS BUSH'S LAST YEAR, YO -fanfare-

"i-drink-your-MILKSHAKE",
kokoro77