Yay! We're back! Well, this is 25 pages long not counting the Author's Note, so I believe we have a record for this fic now! Phew, and a lot of -
Kiera: (Teleports in out of nowhere) PRESENTS? WERE YOU ABOUT TO SAY LOTS OF PRESENTS?
Me: ...Well...Yeah... (Sweatdrops as she does her Happy Dance)
Sora: (Sighs) Great. Let's just get this over with.
Kiera: Awww, you're just mad because I get better presents.
Me: Whatever, you two. ON WITH THE PRESENTS! These are from Emi and Alex: Kiera (Hands her present), you get a bazooka and a PsP aaaaand... (epic drumroll sequence) THE EPIC SUPER AWESOME NINJA AWARD!
Kiera:YAY!
Sora: What about me?
Me: Oh, right. YOU, sir, get a Nerf Gun, a Nintendo DS, aaaaand... (Epic drumroll sequence again) The ULTIMATE HUGEST PERVERT DUMBASS AWARD!
Sora: (Heavy sarcasm) Yaaaaayyyy- Oooh, wait, I've never had one of THESE before! (Plays with Nerf gun)
Kiera and Me: (Sweatdrop)
Me: Well, um, anyway. THIS is from Morcelink, it's a note: "(rolls on the ground while laughing)Even Kiera called you a dumbass, Sorayeah...there are two cakes for everyone. One is an 84ft tall oblivion keyblade shaped cake. The other is an 84ft tall oathkeeper keyblade shaped cake. There are no special side affect ingrediants(In other words, just normal ones),(Sora is SO FRICKING DAMN LUCKY that I ran out of them)and there is a cake in a case in a protective safe that has been accidentally sent to this fanfic.(Kon and Ichigo screwed up again)Please send it back to me.(WITHOUT OPENING IT OR(grins evilly)you'll find out what happens if you DO open it)Also, is Kiera a fan of Justin?...If so, Ichigo is freaking dead."
Kiera: Justin who?
Me: Justin Beiber.
Kiera: Oh. ...Naaahh, but...Ichigo? Are we talkin' Tokyo Mew Mew Ichigo or the Bleach Ichigo?
Me: Bleach Ichigo.
Kiera: Ohhhh! Okay! ...He can die, then. He stole my cookies.
Sora: That was me, moron.
Kiera: No, NO, we were with Mandy and he ate my cookie stash! THE MONSTERRRR! (Sobs and wails)
Sora and Me: (Epic sweatdrops)
Sora: Mandy, just...please get on with it.
Me: Sure. She'll be fine in about fifty seconds, anyway. ON WITH THE PRESENTS! These are from flowergirl5345, I'll just read the note: "As a present to Kiera and the authoress, I present to you... YOUR VERY OWN MANSION! As for Sor-Sor, you get... a pack of gum(careful, I may have "accidently" put some weird chemical in it. I think it was Chemical X or something? Eh..."
Sora: (Gulps) Great. Your reviewers're trying to kill me now.
Me: NUUU, she said ACCIDENTALLY!
Sora: THERE'S QUOTATIONS AROUND IT!
Me: ...Well, um...anyway...Also, thanks Emi and Alex for the authoress present. XD ANYWAY, MOVING ON! It's from XxAllisonKirkland96xX, here's a note:
"D: You're all so mean to Sor Sor... I'm giving ya all presents anyways! To Kiera: a swift kick in the arse! No, no... A full collection of Hetalia: Axis Powers plus all the music from the show for ya to study and get better at history of WWI and WWII~ (it really works)
To Sora: a kiss on the cheek~ er... No... A new keyblade keychain that I came up with. It turns people into the opposit gender with one hit and makes them pass out so they don't die from the transformation! (it's also rainbow covered with the male symbols on the blade~ sorry but I'm a yaoi addict named Allison (and currently trying to ship cats as nations)) and... You get a Riku plushie! Cuz I know how close you guys are~ To teh authoris: Um... Hm... I give you... A Starbucks gift card with $50, a jack the ripper plushie (I'm a freaky part Brit, sue me), a boeing airplane, and Microsoft's latest style of laptop to ship this wonderful love fest to us all~ but please be nicer to Sor Sor or I'll make you buy a real Seattlit starbucks with that gift card :D" Me: (Cuddles plushie) YAY! JACK THE RIPPER! That guy fascinates me. Sora: (Points at Kiera and laughs) Not only were you gonna get your ass kicked, she was gonna kiss me. Whaddaya think about THAT? Kiera: I think she must be insane to wanna kiss you, MUCH LESS kick ME. Sora: (Sweatdrops) Kiera, you've kissed me, like, eighty times. Kiera: SEVENTY-NINE, THANKS! Sora and Me: (Eyeroll) Me: ANYWAY. Crazy Ninja Lover presents Kiera a bazooka and Sora gets... (drumroll) THIS MAGNIFICENT MUFFIN CRUMB FROM OFF HER SHIRT! Sora: ...Oh. You shouldn't have. Kiera: (Giggles at his expression) ...Hey, is that crumb blueberry or chocolate? Sora: Can't tell. (Stares at crumb with interest) Me: Er...Whatever. shadowless sends, with a note:
"To Sora, you get keyblade armor and a new drive form. it's called hero form. Your clothes turn green and you can't get hurt plus you can dual wield. For Keira you get a time out for hurting Sora too many times. good luck at school." Kiera: HEY, green's my favorite color! ^^ Sora: (Points at her and laughs even harder than last time) HAHAHAHAHA! YOU GET A TIME OUT FOR HURTING ME! Kiera: WHAAAAT? (Re-Reads note) Me: C'mon, Kiera, get it over with. Let's go (Points to pink Barbie Time-Out Chair) Kiera: NAAAAOOOO! (Tries to teleport away) Me: NUUUUPE! (Sets her down in the seat and drops the Bubble on her) Sora: What does that bubble do? Me: Keeps her powers from working. Also, she can scream all she wants, but we won't hear her. Sora: ...Can I borrow that? Me: Absolutely not. I have too many characters I'll need it for. In fact, it's been Ichigo's for forever. I hope he's alright with sharing. Sora: 0_0; Me: Weeeelll. Read, review, ENJOOOY!
Kiera laughed as Sora sighed rather loudly in relief once she parked in the packed parking lot. "Oh, thank God."
Her laughter abruptly turned into a string of mental curses as she heard the bell go off, sighing and grabbing her bag. "Crap! Great, that's just splendid..."
Then she remembered she was a Gatekeeper. Without a word, she grabbed Sora by the shirt. He made a weird noise of surprise, but it was cut off as they teleported. With a bit of the usual pins-and-needles tingling, they ended up standing in the hallway.
There was only one other kid out there, but he was listening to his iPod while changing songs. Luckily.
This time Kiera was the one sighing in relief, keeping her hold on Sora's shirt as she dragged him down the hall.
"Where're we going?" he asked, struggling for a few moments before finally catching up.
"Main office. Gives us an excuse for being late. Besides, you can't just show up and go to school here, even if it's just for one day. ...Speak any foreign languages?"
"What? No!"
"Crap. Not even Japanese?"
"What's that?"
Kiera sighed and facepalmed. "But...The name 'Sora' sounds so Japanese-y! Isn't that, like, their word for sky or something?"
"How should I know?" he wondered with a sweatdrop. Kiera sighed again, "accidentally" tripping him as the main office came into view. "OF NO USE!"
"OW! DAMMIT, KIERA, THAT HURT!" he groaned before easily catching up to her. She swung the door to the office open, strolling in.
"Mornin', ladies," she greeted as she signed them both in as late.
"...Kiera?" two of the three ladies roaming around asked in surprise. The one behind the desk adjusted her glasses before widening her eyes in surprise. "You're back!"
One of the younger women whom Kiera hadn't seen before sweatdropped. "...You know her by name? She's in here that often. ...That's just sad."
Kiera's temple throbbed. "Well, I don't know yours. Care to share?"
"No."
"Alrighty, then. Anyway, I've got a new kid with me. Sora, Office Ladies. Office Ladies, Sora."
"Hiya!" he said brightly, waving in acknowledgement. They blinked in response, tilting their heads as if puzzled. "...Is he Japanese?"
Sora's temple throbbed. "NO."
"Huh. Your name sure sounds Japanese, kid." Kiera threw up a hand with a laugh of agreement. "I know, right! Anyway, do ya...think you could do me a huge favor and put him in all my classes?"
The ladies looked at each other. The younger one leaned towards the others. "Are we allowed to do that?" she stage-whispered.
"Probably not," the second-youngest replied. The oldest one (easily fifty) waved them off with a sort of cackle. "Pfft, screw the system! What's the worst these two could do, huh?"
Sora and Kiera looked at each other and smirked, thinking the same exact thing. Is that a trick question?
They all shrugged, and the two teens focused on looking as innocent as possible as they wrote up Sora's schedule and handed him a ton of books (five, to be exact). "There ya go!" the oldest one said cheerfully.
"Bye, Sora," the youngest one said as they left, in a tone that was WAY too friendly. Kiera's temple throbbed, and Sora laughed as he pushed his hand against the small of her back right before she turned around to say a word or two. "Just keep moving, and stop being so jealous all the time! ...Jeez."
"Shut up. Just shut up!"
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
"Kiera?"
"Huh?"
"Why're we walking so slow?" Sora wondered with a sweatdrop as they continued walking almost as slow as they would if they were underwater.
Kiera smirked. "I'M moving this slow 'cause I don't wanna go to first period. Why're YOU going so slow? You've got the room number and everything right there in your hand."
"If you don't wanna go to first period, why would I want to?"
"Good, you catch on quickly," she said cheerfully. Kiera smirked, rubbing her hands together almost evilly. "This works out great! Since you're a new kid and everything, I could just use YOU as an excuse for being late! I could just say I was showin' you around or to your locker, or some crap like that."
Sora sweatdropped. "...Glad I could be of use to you."
"It's about time, huh?"
"Yeah, I'd know nothing about dealing with useless tag-alongs," he muttered with an eyeroll. "HEY!" she said defensively, stopping in the middle of the hallway. "I've been VERY useful, thanks very much!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but wasn't it YOU that was screaming at me to...what was it again...? Oh, right. 'KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL IT SOOO-RAAA'!" he exclaimed, making his voice all high and girly.
She narrowed her eyes. "I do NOT sound like that. Besides! I'd never even seen those things before! Screw you, those Heartless were frigging SCARY that first day!"
She looked around suddenly as he started laughing at her. "...Hey...wait..." Kiera grabbed him by the back of his shirt, not wanting to make him spill his books and crap everywhere. That'd make too much noise.
"Where're we going NOW?" he wondered, just letting her drag him into the bathroom. He glanced around, sweatdropping. "...Why the hell did you bring me in the girls' bathroom?"
Kiera sighed and rolled her eyes, checking underneath the stalls to make sure it was empty. It was, and she straightened to turn and look at him. "Okay. I'll probably never do this again; at least, not until I've figured out a better way to do it without using up so much of my Gatekeeper energy mumbo-frigging-jumbo crap," she said as she washed her hands out of habit.
"...What exactly will you never do again?" Sora asked suspiciously, trying to decide whether or not he liked where this was going.
Kiera pushed up the sleeve of her jacket, and as she got closer to him he backed up, causing him to back himself against the wall. She rolled her eyes before popping her knuckles and reaching her hand up to touch his face, against the top of his eye.
He seemed to have made up his mind on whether the situation was good or bad; he sure didn't protest. After closing her eyes for just a second (mainly to at least attempt to force those damn tinglies down), she opened them again, that weird energy of hers surging from her fingertips.
His black eye was gone in a matter of moments. Her fingers stayed there for just a few more seconds before she let her hand fall, cocking her head towards the mirror. "Check it out."
Sora blinked at her for a second before snapping out of it, shaking himself slightly as she backed away from him. He turned to look in the mirror, gaping after realizing what she'd done. "Kiera...did you just heal me?"
"Yep. Shocked the hell outta me, too."
"You never told me you could do that!"
"That's 'cause I figured it out yesterday. When the ship made that huge lurch while the guys tried to start it, I was in the bathroom and fell in the bathtub. I whammed into that handle thingy that changes the water-"
"The...faucet?" he asked with a sweatdrop. Her temple throbbed. "...Yeah, that. Sure. But anyway, it broke the skin and I was grabbing my back and cussing up a storm when it just started...healing. Outta nowhere. But then, I felt so tired afterward. ...Kinda like I do now," she concluded with a weary sigh.
"Sucks to have such a cool little ability, then be so tired after healing something as simple as a black eye," she mumbled before stomping out of the bathroom.
Sora followed her not long after, grinning. "Why'd you do it, then?"
"'Cause if people saw you with a black eye, walking with me, they'd assume too much."
"Such as?"
"Well for one, they could think I abuse you. Or I was fending you off or something. Or that you're behind whatever recent robbery or assault charge that's floating around here. Or you were involved in some kind of bad drug deal. Y'know, the usual."
"Usual?" Sora wondered as they approached the door to her – and temporarily his – first period. She just flashed a smile. "Welcome to Memphis."
When she opened the door, the whole class' heads immediately shot up to look. Most of their jaws dropped. "...KIERA?" more than half of them asked in disbelief.
"...'Sup."
Her teacher, Coach Mann, sweatdropped. "...Welcome back, Sage. How long's it been?"
"About five months."
"Four," Levonda corrected, not pausing the slightest in her eternal quest to file her freakishly long nails. To Kiera, they looked the exact same length as the last time she'd seen them. Only this time, they were purple with electric blue zebra stripes.
"Oh. Four. I stand corrected," Kiera replied cheerfully, handing Coach Mann a note. He read it over before nodding, cocking his head towards her usual seat. "Take a seat."
He glanced at Sora, who blinked all innocent-like. "Lucky for you, James was shot in a drive-by and he's out for the next three months, so that seat by Kiera's empty for a while. ...Or maybe un-luckily..." he said thoughtfully before shaking his big bald head and resuming copying whatever assignment he was copying onto the dry-erase board.
Kiera watched in amusement as Sora took his seat, took one look at the board, and immediately leaned towards her. "...What's with all those letters? I thought this was a math class," he asked in a whisper.
"That IS math. It's algebra. Welcome to Algebra II, my personal hellhole," she whispered back somewhat-cheerfully.
His temple throbbed. "...Great." But then he was the one laughing at the complete change her expression made once she realized she was just as lost as he was.
"...I don't get any of this," she moaned, letting her head fall against the desk.
FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES LATER...
"...So, all you have to do is change the product of 'y' and its coefficient into-"
"Sora, for the love of God, shut the hell up before I make you sit in front of all these kids," Kiera growled, temple throbbing menacingly. He just smirked, following her up the stairs as she hauled ass, trying not to be late.
"Not my fault you were too embarrassed to ask the teacher guy."
"I-I wasn't too embarrassed! I just...wanted to do it myself," she exclaimed defensively as she reached the top of the third set of stairs, opening the door to that hallway and waiting for him.
"I don't get why you're in such a hurry. I'm like your personal hall pass, remember?"
She growled in response, which just made him laugh again. Kiera huffed to herself, wondering how this plan had backfired. She had expected a lot more of Sora looking like the idiot, being in a new environment and all, but instead...how the hell did she manage to look like an idiot?
Suddenly, she was tackled from behind, snapping her right out of her thoughts. "YOU FRIGGING BRAT, WHERE THE HELL'VE YOU BEEEEEN?" Morgan shouted in her ear.
Kiera gasped for air, laughing at the same time. "L-Long story! Get the hell off me, you freak!"
Once she was out from underneath her best friend, she noticed Sora looking rather confused and about to summon his Keyblade. She shook her head quickly in warning, which just made him more confused.
Morgan was still laughing, helping Kiera up and handing her a binder she'd dropped. "Damn, you look different. All...non-lazy. You been workin' out?" she inquired, eyeing her up and down.
"Stop checking me out, you're freaking out the new kid!" Kiera exclaimed.
Morgan cocked an eyebrow. "New kid? Where?" Kiera sweatdropped. "...Beside you, moron." Morgan turned and jumped after noticing Sora, who immediately changed his expression to friendly and innocent.
"Oh SHIT, you scared me, New Kid!" she said with a laugh. Kiera rolled her eyes, grinning. "Morgan, Sora. Sora, Morgan."
"Ohhh, so YOU'RE Morgan!" he said suddenly. "Kiera mentioned you." Morgan looked over at Kiera. "Ohhh, did she? When'd you too meet, huh?"
"A few months ago," Sora replied without thinking, making Kiera stomp on his foot when someone poked Morgan's shoulder and handed her some homework they'd copied from her. "Idiot!" she hissed. "Now we'll have to make some epic story up!"
"What was that?" she asked suddenly, having been trying to catch the last part Kiera whispered.
"N-Nothing!" they said a bit too quickly, smiling innocently. Morgan rolled her bright green eyes. "Chyeah, okay. So anyway. Where the hell HAVE ya been, Sage?" she asked as they walked down the hallway together. Sora sweatdropped at how casually they dodged things like people pushing past, random couples fighting with each other, and the occasional lighter being lit or switchblade being brandished.
"Well, um, ya see...I went to...um...JAPAN! Yes, Japan. I went to Japan to help rebuild this school that was destroyed in an earthquake with my cousin. You remember Matt, right? Yeah, it was in exchange for not buying him birthday or Christmas presents for five years. Fair deal. And I met Sora there. And his parents wanted him to come to America for a little while, just to see how things run around here. So yeah," she concluded cheerfully.
Morgan chuckled. "So they chose to leave him in the hands of YOU? And letchya take him to MEMPHIS?"
"I know, right? I think I'm just too charming for my own good." Morgan and Sora both laughed at her on that one, making her glare at them.
Which got all three of them laughing as Morgan opened the door to Spanish II Honors. Kiera had forgotten which class they had been heading for, and now an evil grin spread onto her face.
Spanish? A class where Sora couldn't understand a word she was saying? Ahhh, this'll be great, she thought mischievously as their Spanish teacher noticed them.
She was a Latino woman with long, wavy dark brown hair. Kind of like Kiera's mom's, only shinier. Probably because her teacher had actually showered recently. Her eyes were caramel-colored, and she was wearing a red sweater that hugged her body just enough, not too much.
Her heels clomped at frightening speed as she ran up to Kiera. "Kiera! Cuando el infierno has sido?" she exclaimed, plopping her hands onto her shoulders with wide eyes. ["Kiera! Where the hell have you been?"]
Kiera smiled innocently. "Larga historia corta, fui a Japón y trajo una morón volver conmigo." ["Long story short, I went to Japan and brought a moron back with me."]
"Qué, Morgan fue con usted?" Sra. Valdez asked with a smirk. ["What, Morgan went with you?"]
"Ahora que sólo rude," Morgan muttered with a pout, crossing her arms. ["Now that's just rude."]
Sora had been sweatdropping majorly throughout the whole thing, and now his sweatdrops increased even more as all three girls started laughing. "...KIERA, THE HELL'S GOING ON?" he stage-whispered.
"This is Spanish, stupid-head."
"Yeah, and?"
"You speak Spanish in Spanish class."
"...Can't ya speak English around me?" he whined. Kiera batted her lashes at him innocently. "But that's against the rules, So-raaa."
His temple throbbed in response, and he watched as they continued to talk in Spanish.
Morgan smirked at her. "Así que... no puede entender una palabra estamos diciendo?" ["So...he can't understand a word we're saying?"]
Kiera grinned and shook her head as Sra. Valdez went about her business, saying something about Dion lighting his desk on fire again. "No. No hay una sola cosa. Ai no gran?" ["Nope. Not a single thing. Ain't it great?"]
Her friend's smirk grew. "Así. Cuánto tiempo le gustaba, huh?" ["So. How long've you liked him, huh?"]
Momentarily stunned, Kiera's eyes widened as she shouted "W-WHAT?". That caught Sora's attention, and she waved him off. He went back to moping as Sra. Valdez handed him more papers of which Kiera knew not of.
"Y-Yo no como él, el infierno usted talkin'?" ["I-I don't like him, the hell you talkin' about?"]
Morgan rolled her eyes. "Kiera, he sido tu mejor amigo durante tres años. Le puedo decir cuando usted como alguien, e incluso si yo pudiera... está escrito todo su rostro cuando se mira el muchacho!" ["Kiera, I've been your best friend for three years. I can tell when you like someone, and even if I couldn't...it's written all over your face whenever you look at the guy!"]
Her temple throbbed in response. "Ohhhh, sé lo que pasó! Usted confundieron mi mirada de puro odio para algo más. Totalmente comprensible. Se trata de una fina línea." ["Ohhhh, I know what happened! You mistook my look of pure hatred for something else. Totally understandable. It's a fine line."]
Kiera looked over at Sora as he started fumbling through the papers spastically as if they held information of the Gods or something. She sighed heavily. "...Una multa, horrible malditos line." ["...A fine, horrible damn line."]
Morgan's expression softened. "Kiera, jeez...el infierno ocurrido en Japón? Ese nivel de emoción completamente nuevo para usted. Yo no sabía usted considera cualquier otra que ira o hyperness!" ["Kiera, jeez...the hell happened in Japan? THAT level of emotion's totally new for you. I didn't know you felt any other than anger or hyperness!"]
Instead of getting defensive again, a pained expression crossed her face. It wasn't easy lying to Morgan, but it wasn't like she could just tell her she had found out she had these random powers that connected her to Sora in ways no one else could possibly understand. Or that she hadn't been working out, but instead fighting Heartless and Disney villains and Organization XIII members left and right.
Or where she'd really been all this time in the first place.
So instead, Kiera sighed heavily. "Es difícil de explicar. Serio, lo digo en serio. No puedo explicarlo. ...Aunque quisiera poder, tanto para nuestro bien," she finally replied with a little laugh at the end to try and lighten the mood. ["It's hard to explain. Seriously, I mean it. I can't explain it. ...Even though I wish I could, for both our sakes."]
Morgan stared her down, and Kiera squirmed a little. Finally, she shrugged. "Yo tomo la palabra para que... Esta es la primera vez que he visto a todos ustedes...I dunno. Secreto-y." ["I'll take your word for it...This IS the first time I've seen you all...I dunno. Secret-y."]
Then she twirled some of her dirty blonde hair on her finger as she peered over Kiera's shoulder at Sora, who was still flipping through those papers of his. "Bueno, hablando de 'líneas finas'... es bastante multa por sí mismo!" she said in that tone that always made Kiera laugh. ["Well, speaking of 'fine lines'...He's pretty fine himself!"]
She then cocked her head. "Por lo menos me dicen coincidirán conmigo en que uno!" ["At least tell me you agree with me on that one!"]
Kiera opened and closed her mouth a couple times like an idiotic fish, and Morgan started laughing. "Ohhh HOMBRE, mirar cómo rojo tu rostro es ahora! Hahaha!" [Ohhh MAN, look at how red your face is now! Hahaha!"]
Kiera's temple throbbed, mortified by this whole conversation on the inside. "Bueno, bueno, bueno, sí, estoy de acuerdo. Poco. Sí. Bien. Feliz?" She snapped. ["Okay, okay, fine, yes, I agree. Little bit. Yeah. Alright. Happy?"]
Morgan started laughing again. "Extático, muchas gracias!" ["Ecstatic, thanks very much!"]
Once they moved on to the subject of Pop-Tarts, out of her peripherals, Kiera noticed Sora's paper-flipping got less and less frequent. ...Hmm...That's odd.
Once the bell had rung to signal it was time to run to your next class, Kiera sighed with a hint of relief. She had been starting to frigging miss the English language, thanks to her and Morgan's conversation. Once again, her school plan had failed. She had planned on saying all kinds of random stuff about Sora, mostly about how much of a total DUMBASS he was, but nooo. Morgan had to make her go all deep and thoughtful on the subject.
Dammit.
Once in the hallway, Morgan almost effortlessly switched her sentence back to English, which for some reason just blew Sora's mind. Even though Kiera had done the same exact thing, that's the part she didn't get.
But whatever. Unfortunately, they didn't have class with Morgan until sixth and seventh, so they had to turn in different directions. "Promise you'll be there for sixth and seventh? I'm still tryin' to convince myself you're actually back."
"Promise. Later!"
"See ya. Oh, nice meetin' ya, Sora!"
"You too."
Once they'd turned the corner, Sora nodded. "So that was Morgan."
"Yep."
Sora was about to say more, but then someone ran over and put their elbow on his shoulder, leaning past him to peer at Kiera. "Finally, you're back. I was beginnin' to wonder if we should put out an Amber Alert or somethin'!"
Crap. It was Ian; THE last person she'd wanted to see. He'd only been trying to go out with her for three years. ...And damn, was he annoying about it.
"Hey, Ian," she said glumly. He grinned in acknowledgement before glancing down at Sora, who had been trying to secretively slide his elbow off him. "...Who's this guy?"
"That's Sora, he's- ..." Kiera trailed off, an idea popping into her head. A slow grin spread onto her face. "He's myyyy...my boyfriend. Yep, yes, that's it." Finally, she'd found a use for Sora.
Speaking of Sora, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, but she secretively stomped on his foot so hard that he shut up before he could even get any sound out of his gaping mouth. Ian's face fell, and he frowned. "...Really now?"
"Yep. Has been for months now. Right, Sora?" she asked, her tone suggesting that he go with it if he valued his life.
After hearing that threatening tone of hers, he immediately played along. He even went so far as to wrap his free arm around her waist as he grinned triumphantly at Ian. "Yep, exactly."
"Sooo, is there something you wanted?" Kiera asked, blinking innocently at him. Ian's temple throbbed at their grins, and he crossed his arms and muttered some curses under his breath as he stomped off.
"Where're you going?" she called after him in that innocent tone of hers, and she and Sora both laughed as he flipped them off without turning around. "Nice meeting ya!" Sora called out in his own little cluelessly innocent tone, making Kiera laugh even harder.
"Thanks for that," she said between laughs, sliding out of his grip before the tinglies could take over. Sora grinned. "See? And that wouldn't have happened if you HADN'T come to school just for this one day."
She stuck her tongue out at him on that one, but then an idea suddenly hit her. And it was pure genius, she could tell already. Kiera gasped excitedly, dragging him by his shirt into the stairwell and going down the stairs that lead outside.
"Where're we going?"
She didn't reply, just made him stand in front of her while she put herself in a corner. "Just stay there for a second, I gotta summon something."
"Summon what?"
"A list."
"List of what?"
"STOP ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS, DAMMIT, YOU'RE MAKING MY BRAIN HURT!" she hollered, summoning the list she'd mentioned. Sora just rolled his eyes and moved to stand so close that they were touching in a couple places, just so he could read the list from above her head.
"It's fifty or so ways to piss off teachers," Kiera explained, moving away from him as quickly as possible. She was getting reeeeaaally sick of the damn tinglies trying to take over every time they came in contact.
Even when they'd first started making appearances, the tinglies had never been this constant...or this strong...
"Since we're only here for just this one day, we might as well do what we do best and piss authority figures off to no end, right?" she added, smiling over at him.
They were soon grinning the same mischievous grin, and they hunched over the paper. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do," she said before they lowered their voices to nothing but hushed whispers and occasional evil snickers.
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
"BUM bum bum-bum, BUM bum bum-bum-"
"The hell're you humming?" Sora whispered while putting his hand against his ear as if speaking through an earpiece. They were currently walking with their backs against the wall as they kept their hands formed like guns, looking with shifty eyes at whoever happened to pass by.
"The Mission Impossible theme. It's a must for spy things like these," she whispered back into her "ear piece".
"Ohhh, gotchya. BUM bum bum-bum, BUM bum bum-bum..."
They kept humming until they got to the classroom, and once they reached the door, Kiera opened it with a quick flick of the wrist before rolling into the room. She rolled into a crouch, assuming the Bond Girl position on the floor. "All clear," she said into her ear piece.
The whole class sweatdropped, but they were obviously happy for the distraction. Sora then walked in, singing at the top of his lungs, "DA-DA DUUUUUNN! DA-DA-DUUUUNNN! DA-DA-DUUUUNNN! DA-DA-DA!"
The teacher, a frizzy-haired middle-aged woman (Kiera's least favorite teacher, which was just perfect for something like what they were doing), sweatdropped. "Kiera? What on Earth are you and that young man doing?"
"Saving the world..." she stood up and did another Bond Girl pose with her "gun". "One less-boring classroom at a time."
The teacher, Ms. Robertson (she'd been married – and divorced – a grand total of seven times), just sighed heavily and flicked her hand towards Kiera's usual seat. "Please just sit down. And who are you?" she asked Sora.
"Your worst nightmare," he replied in a low deadly voice that even gave Kiera the shivers. But then she waved him off.
"Oh, don't mind him, that's my new pet. He can sit, roll over, AND play dead! See, watch!"
"Oh no, Kiera, please don't make me-"
"SIT!"
THUD.
"Dammit."
"ROLL OVER!" she shouted, and he instantly started rolling all around the classroom. Now the class was REALLY happy to have her back. "DA-A-A-AMMITTT, KIE-RAAAAA!" he shouted as he continued to roll around, his voice sounding weird with each new direction he rolled in.
"N-NOW SIT UP AND PLAY DEAD!" Kiera shouted between giggles. He instantly stood up before falling to the ground.
THUD.
He hit the floor so hard that they all winced on his behalf, herself included. "...Dammit, Kieraaa," he managed to get out before groaning and letting his head fall back against the floor.
Ms. Roberston's temple throbbed. "...That was wonderful. Thank you for that lovely demonstration, Kiera. NOW SIT DOWN."
"Aye-Aye!" she said cheerfully, bending down to grab Sora and drag him into an empty seat in front of her. It was actually really convenient, which would prove very unfortunate for Ms. Robertson.
She watched them for a few more seconds before sighing heavily and shaking her head. "...What, not even a 'Welcome back'?" Kiera asked, sniffling a little. "I came...all the way out here...even though...my GOLDFISH DIED THIS MORNING ON TOP OF IT ALL! You...You...YOU MONSTER!" she sobbed, letting her head fall against the desk and starting to moan miserably.
Sora patted her back comfortingly. "There-there, Kiera."
"Thank you, little pet Asian child," she sniffled, making his temple throb and the class laugh some more. Ms. Robertson's temple was on Constant Throb Mode by this time, but she simply cleared her throat.
The whole class fell silent, and Kiera lifted her head off the desk before winking at Sora. He nodded, and she secretively summoned a black Sharpie and slid it over to him out from under her crossed arms.
He took it and immediately went to work, drawing a tiny dot on his arm.
Ms. Robertson stood at the head of the class, hands on her hips. "Alrighty. Yes, I know, it's all very exciting that your class clown's back with her little new friend. But this is still my English class, and in here, y'all are on my time until that bell rings! Got it?"
They all nodded, and Sora raised his hand. "Yes...?"
"Why?"
"Why what?"
Sora shrugged. "Why?"
"Well, if you're referring to the bell, it means you switch classes. Surely, I'd expect you to figure that out by now."
He raised his hand again. "...Why?"
"Well, because...When do you usually leave class?"
"Why?"
"Because I asked!"
"Why?"
"Because –" Ms. Robertson cut herself off with an angry expression, and the rest of the class let their snickering turn into laughing. "...Just hush up and pay attention, young man!"
"Why?"
"YOUNG MAN!" she bellowed, and Kiera nudged his leg to signal him to stop as she giggled. He kicked her foot away in response, which made her giggle a little more. Ms. Robertson sighed and shook her head, passing out sheets of paper.
"Alright, first off, I'm passing out random prompts. There's no telling what any of you got, but whatever it is, you'll have to write about it. No ifs, ands, or buts. Got it? Good."
"Yo, this shit's racist!" a random black guy announced. He was sitting to the right of Kiera, and after a second or two of hard thinking, she remembered his name was Devonte.
"And why do you say that?" Ms. Robertson asked in a tone that suggested she really didn't care. He held up his sheet of paper. "This tells me to write about, and I quote, 'Things you like, such as Kool-Aid or fried chicken.' Come on, now, you can't give a black kid somethin' like that, that's racial profilin' right there, ma'am!"
Everyone started laughing except for Sora, who didn't get what was so racist about it. "I'll explain later," Kiera muttered after leaning towards him. Then she leaned towards Devonte.
"Psst. Devonte?"
"Yo?"
"Wanna help us piss her off in honor of my last day in this hellhole?" she asked innocently. He grinned. "Is that a trick question?"
"Okay, here's the plan," she said before saying the rest in a hushed whisper. Meanwhile, Sora was watching the clock intently. Every time a minute passed, he'd make the dot grow bigger.
Once Devonte had nodded and started doing as she said, Kiera began to flick bits of paper everywhere. A lot of them landed on Ms. Robertson's desk, and her temple throbs were steadily increasing. Once one of them landed on her nose, she huffed and snapped her head up from her laptop to look at her.
"KIERA SAGE, FLICK ONE MORE PIECE OF PAPER AND SO HELP ME!"
Kiera crossed her arms, looking at her disapprovingly. "You're racist against paper, aren't you?" The class started snickering, and it turned to laughing as Ms. Robertson started shouting at her and Kiera just smirked the whole time.
"THAT'S IT, THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU, MS. SAGE! YOU CAN'T JUST COME IN HERE LIKE THE QUEEN OF GODDAMN SHEBA! THIS IS MY CLASS, AND YOU MAY BE THIS CLASS' VETERAN CLOWN, BUT I'LL BE DAMNED IF I LET YOU RUN THE SHOW IN MY DOMAIN! YOU HEAR ME? AND YOU'LL BE PICKING UP ALL THIS PAPER AFTER CLASS, NOW GET TO WORK ON YOUR DAMN ESSAY!" she bellowed, panting at the end.
There was a long, tense silence. Which was broken by Sora clicking his tongue with sympathy before holding out his arms. "Awww...Does someone need a hug?" he asked Ms. Robertson.
The whole class burst into laughter, even Kiera, as Ms. Robertson huffed at him in response. "I DON'T NEED ANY GRIEF FROM YOU, EITHER, YOUNG MAN! YOU'RE EVEN WORSE, COMIN' IN HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER AND EXPECTIN' TO BE ABLE TO DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT! I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE SOME FOREIGNER KID, I DON'T CATER TO ANY OF MY STUDENTS, AND YOU'RE NO EXCEPTION!"
"...Wow. I can tell you're a blast at parties," was his reply. Kiera smirked to herself as Ms. Robertson sighed in defeat, the whole class laughing again. She went back to her desk, stabbing her paper with her pen as she wrote each word.
Later, Kiera and Sora handed their essays in at the same time. They put them right on top, and Ms. Robertson practically dove to read them.
She then stared at both essays for a good fifteen minutes. Sora looked back at Kiera, and she grinned as they secretively high-fived each other.
They had written their entire essay in code; a mixture of Pig Latin and a number system they'd made up on the way to class.
On the bottom of their papers, they'd wrote: "This message will self destruct in one hour. We suggest it be deciphered swiftly. No pressure."
Were they genius, or were they genius?
Sora raised his hand, and Ms. Robertson's temple throbbed yet again. "...YES?"
"I have the utmost faith in you. I'm sure a worldly woman like yourself could figure that code out easily!"
And with that, he beamed at her.
And continued to beam.
For twenty-three minutes.
Kiera was glad when Ms. Robertson finally got out of her seat (giving Sora the weirdest look at his smiling) and went to the overhead projector; Sora smiling that long was definitely creepy. "U-Umm, moving on. I believe everyone's turned in their essays."
As soon as her back was turned, everyone switched seats without a single sound. Kiera and Sora ended up next to each other, right by the door.
Convenient, in case Ms. Robertson attempted murder. "We're moving on to gerunds and participles, and then we'll be reading some more of Othello out loud –"
She cut herself off after turning around, eyeing them all doubtfully. She then shook her head and turned back around, fiddling with the plug of the projector.
Kiera and Sora stayed in their seats, while only a select few people quickly (yet somehow quietly) moved. Kiera guessed the quietness was fueled by the whole class's strong mutual desire to piss Ms. Robertson off as much as humanly possible in one class period.
And they were SO succeeding, if her look of total confusion and anger was any indication. "The HELL – okay, nevermind, nevermind. HA! HA! LET'S JUST KEEP GOING!" she said with slightly-psychotic laughter.
Kiera nudged Sora's foot and mouthed one word only: "Lights."
He nodded with a smirk. As soon as Ms. Robertson turned on the projector, which was located right beside the desk in front of Kiera's current one, both teens fell out of their chairs exaggeratedly.
VERY exaggeratedly.
"ARGH, MY EYES! THEY BURN!" they hissed like retarded vampires, making the class laugh again.
Ms. Robertson attempted to keep some control, starting to copy her outline for the day on the overhead.
They got into their seats calmly, like nothing had happened, and Sora nudged her foot next. She smirked and nodded, and he continued expanding his little dot on his arm.
As soon as she knew Ms. Robertson was as distracted as humanly possible, Kiera cleared her throat quietly.
She then belted out into opera as loud as possible. "'I'M HERE FOR YOU,' SHE SAAAAAAID!"
Everyone started looking around as if not knowing who had done it, and Kiera and Sora did the same. Ms. Robertson didn't seem too bothered, and continued writing.
So she nudged his foot. "'AND WEEEE CAN-STAY-FOR-A WHIII-IIIILE'!" he shouted next before continuing to look confused like everyone else.
Ms. Robertson didn't look up, but she gripped her pen tighter. "'MY BOOOOYFRIEND'S GONE'!"
"'WE CAN JUST PRETEND'!"
"LIPS THAT NEED NO INTRODUCTION, NOW WHO'S THE GREATER SIN?"
"YOUR DRAB EYES SEEM TO INVITE. TELL ME, DARLING: WHERE DO WE BEGIIIIIN?"
"THAT'S IT! WHO THE HELL'S DOING THAT?" Ms. Robertson shouted, her head snapping up from the overhead to stare them all down.
They all blinked innocently, and Devonte pointed towards the wall to their far left. "I think it was next door. Whoever they were, they have serious opera talent."
The room erupted into snickering at the look on Ms. Robertson's face, and Kiera bit her lip to keep from laughing uncontrollably.
Sora looked at Kiera, glancing at the now HUGE dot on his arm. She nodded with a grin, and he promptly spazzed out.
He shot straight up out of his chair, grasping at his arm frantically. "It's spreading...IT'S SPREADINNNNNG!" he shouted, gesturing to the dot.
Kiera's eyes widened dramatically. "Oh no! That started out as a freckle when he first got here! IT MUST BE SOME NEW ASIAN DISEASE! SOMEONE CALL THE CDC! QUICKLYYYYY!"
Everyone was flat-out laughing uncontrollably at this point as she and Sora then freaked out after hearing a police siren outside. "Oh no, they're here. Oh my God. Shit. Shit. Shit. What do we do? Miss, you have to help us! Oh God. They must have found all those bodies! HELP!" they cried in absolutely perfect unison, their hands clasped against the sides of their faces in a Home Alone fashion.
Ms. Robertson's temple throb was then so severe that most of the people in the room (Kiera and Sora included) were momentarily frightened she'd explode. "THAT'S IT, THAT'S SO IT! I'M SENDING Y'ALL TO THE OFFICE FOR SOME SATURDAY SCHOOL AT THE LEAST!" she declared triumphantly as she pushed the button reserved for when there was something serious, like a stabbing.
Or, in this case, a defiance of authority.
"Oh yeah? YOU AND WHAT ARMY?" Sora and Kiera demanded in unison again.
"I DON'T NEED AN ARMY, BLOCKHEADS, I'VE GOT A SPECIAL BUTTON JUST FOR THIS!" she shouted back, pressing the Call Office button on the wall triumphantly.
Sora looked at Kiera.
Kiera looked at Sora.
"Should I, Sora?"
"Most definitely."
"There's a lot of witnesses."
"And the chances of you seeing them again?"
"Slim to null."
"Then go for it."
They shrugged and exchanged a grin. Kiera looked to her classmates and bowed dramatically. "I bid ye all farewell! And as for YOU!" she declared, pointing at Ms. Robertson.
"This is the day you will always remember as the day you ALMOST caught Kiera Reilly Sage!" she declared before grabbing Sora's arm and teleporting them out of there, books and all.
They ended up teleporting on their asses on the other side of the school, their books and things falling in random places (one of which landed on Kiera's lap; PROGRESS). They fistbumped and laughed uncontrollably for the next three minutes as Kiera summoned their stuff to her house. Sora put his shoes back on (she'd summoned him a normal pair and demanded he put them on in order to blend in a little better), and they headed for the main exit of her high school.
This involved going down three flights of stairs, and on the second flight, Kiera was caught rather off-guard.
Her shoulder started to burn.
Sora's face fell almost instantly as she clutched her shoulder and looked around. "Please don't tell me..." he commented, trailing off.
Kiera scowled as she heard footsteps, knowing exactly whose they were. "Fine, I'll stay quiet."
"Since when do you sta-"
"Oh, that's right. I think I remember Demyx mentioning something about your shoulder burning thanks to us," Axel commented as he came into view, turning the corner onto their hallway.
Kiera glanced at the clock anxiously. They only had about three minutes until the bell rang for their next class. And then it would be QUITE obvious that Axel didn't exactly belong there.
"Why the hell're you here and what the hell do you want? And it'd be in all our best interests if you were quick about it," Kiera growled, obviously in a foul mood.
Axel chuckled. "I came to warn you, but if you're gonna be that way..."
"Warn us about what?"
"Well, two things. Her, and her father," Axel replied to Sora's question, jabbing an accusing finger towards Kiera.
Sora looked at him as if he were insane. "Your trick's not gonna work on me!" He looked to Kiera for some sort of assurance, and she averted her gaze to the floor as her face grew hot.
Talk about being put on the spot.
Axel chuckled. "You were saying? Kiera, you're lookin' kind of guilty over there. What gives? Haven't you told him?"
"Told me what?"
"It's nothing," she said quickly, shaking her head.
That seemed to amuse Axel even more. "Ha! You could at least try to be convincing! Although..." he said suddenly, tilting his head this way and that as he stared at her. He smirked. "Looks like you can't exactly decide what you're gonna do. Am I right? Well, in that case, I guess I should warn you too."
He pointed his finger at her again, making her temple throb rather majorly. "He's not gonna like being kept waiting much longer. Guess you both have that in common; can't wait for anything. He's getting more and more pissed at you, Kiera, the longer you drag this out. You better act fast and get him off your back. He's a scientist, after all. Excels in the study of genetics. And he's got a little failsafe in case you decide to refuse his demand."
As Sora continued to look hopelessly confused, Kiera frowned. "Wait...You're part of the Organization, right? How come you don't want me to do what my dad wants?"
Axel chuckled. "Isn't it obvious?" He paused, his face falling a little. "...And Kiera? If you want him to stop tormenting you, you're gonna have to face him yourself. You can't spill your own blood to solve your problems this time around. Face-to-face in the Realm of Darkness; got it memorized?"
Kiera's face grew even hotter, her teeth clenching. "What was that? About spilling my own –..."
He nodded as she trailed off. "Yeah. I had a feeling you wouldn't want me to elaborate. We all know you're not as stupid as you look. ...Face-to-face. It's all you can do to solve it this time."
And with that, he went through a dark mass thingie and was gone. Right as the bell rang. "...Okay, I gotta admit, that was pretty good timing," Sora commented as kids filtered around them.
Kiera sighed, grabbed his arm, and teleported them to the car, not worried a bit about regular people seeing them vanish in thin air.
Once in the car, Kiera started it rather violently, her grip on the gear shift so tight her knuckles were bright white.
"Why is it that all Organization members just LOOOOVE to piss me off, and then leave with some cryptic Chinese-fortune-cookie...BULLSHIT?" Kiera demanded to know, flooring the gas as she left the school parking lot and headed home.
Sora was currently trying to put his seatbelt on while her reckless driving made him ram into various parts of the front half of the car.
He didn't finally succeed until they were thirty seconds away from her house, making his temple throb as she pulled into her driveway and hit the brake, making them both lurch forward a little.
His temple throbbed even more as she got out of the car and somehow managed to whack him in the face with her bag. "Dammit, Kiera!"
That was the first thing he'd said the whole time, not daring to say much else for fear of getting the living crap beat out of him.
She leaned her back against the car, breathing a little heavy. She was trying as hard as possible not to let her blind rage kick in, and damn, was it hard.
She had never told anybody about that. Not a soul. Not even Morgan knew about that. "...Sorry," she muttered in Sora's general direction, blinking quickly before looking up from the ground. She turned towards him, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets and smiling at him.
"Sooo? Your take on high school?"
"Why'd you say it sucked? That was awesome!" he replied, almost immediately forgetting about not only her anger, but his as well.
"It was only awesome because you were there, we had that list, and I have awesomesauce powers now. If not for that, you would've gotten the full SUCKISH experience."
They went back and forth about it as they went inside, then a little longer after realizing her mom, Donald, and Goofy were passed out on the floor mid-card-game.
Eventually, though, they went off to do different things. While Sora did God-only-KNOWS-what, Kiera went up the stairs to her room.
She headed straight for her bathroom, and spent at least fifteen minutes just standing in the doorway and staring at her bathtub.
Finally, with a heavy sigh, Kiera went over to the rim of the tub and picked up the shaving razor that was laying there.
Sliding to the floor, she brought her knees to her chest and looked down at the lime green razor, turning it over and over in her grip.
"Spilling your own blood," she muttered to herself. He'd said it out loud, and thank GOD Sora hadn't put two and two together.
Then she'd never hear the end of it.
Of course, that little thought of happiness was snuffed right out when Sora made her jump about a foot in the air after saying way too loudly, "What're you doing sitting in the bathroom and staring at a razor?"
"JEEZ!" she screeched, rubbing her ass and the back of her head where they'd rammed against the tile wall. "Moron, quit scaring me like that!"
"That doesn't answer my question," he said matter-of-factly, moving further into the room.
She glared up at him in response, and he sweatdropped. "Well, that definitely doesn't answer my question."
Kiera felt like strangling him once the tinglies returned. "Dammit, Sora, why do you have to always show up when I'm upset over something?" she wondered angrily.
"Honestly? ...I'm not sure. It's almost like instinct. I just kinda get this little nagging feeling in the back of my head that something's wrong, and sometimes...When it's REALLY bad, I even hear this voice saying 'You moron, go find her!'. ...It's really weird."
She sighed yet again, looking back down at the shaving razor. "...Well...Guess there's no point in not telling you, 'cause you'll just keep asking, am I right?"
"Spot on."
"So I should tell you, then."
"You should."
"...But I don't wanna."
"Why?"
"'Cause I don't like talking about it. As in, I've never told anybody. Ever. Not even Morgan. Which is huge, since I tell her everything."
Except for recently, since I basically have no contact with my old life anymore. Thanks, Sora. She wasn't entirely sure why this was all his fault, but she had recently decided it was. Everything causing her pain seemed to come right back to him, with the exception of her dad.
Just like everything causing Sora pain traced back to Kairi. Funny the way it is...
Sora didn't say anything as she had a mental argument with herself before ultimately losing, and with a sigh of defeat, she started with a question.
"Have you ever been hurting so bad...that you'll try anything to ease it?"
"What do you mean?" he asked carefully.
"There's only so many ways one can read into that sentence," she snapped, but continued anyway. "See, after the car accident...back before my momma was on Constant Drunkie Mode? Things were even harder. Dad's relatives had given her a hard time, scoldin' her about letting me drive that day and whatnot. At his funeral, no less. Could you imagine? Like it wasn't bad enough none of us could really say goodbye to 'im, they had to make things worse," she said heatedly, her accent thickening full-force as her words came out in a rush.
After a second to take a breath, she shook her head. "...I did my best to help her, and she tried her best to help me. But we were both hurting so bad after all that had happened in such a damn short time, you know? And she had one way of making the pain less, and...I had another," she explained thoughtfully.
It was sounding a lot more dramatic than she intended, but she had no other way of beginning her explanation.
So, naturally, Sora was more than a little confused. "Well then...what was your way?"
She held up the razor, and he sweatdropped. "...You shaved?"
Her temple throbbed. "NO, YOU IDIOT!" Kiera cut herself off, taking yet another deep breath before continuing. She felt so nervous at the moment, it wasn't even funny.
"...You shave from time to time, don't you?"
"Sure."
"Have you ever cut yourself shaving?"
"Not recently. Why?"
She let her gaze drop back down to the razor almost immediately once he looked at her quizzically. Which, of course, made him even more curious. "...Well, see, I was shaving this one time, but I was really upset. I pressed down too hard when I almost lost my balance on one foot, and cut myself kinda deep. And, for some reason, it felt...really...good. It sounds weird, I know, but it did. And all it did was scab over. So I did it again the next night, and it felt just as good, maybe better."
She paused, thinking back on it. "...And so that way, I didn't have to cut very deep, and I could be telling the truth when people asked me what I did. All I did was cut myself shaving. ...Y'know, now that I think about it, maybe the reason it felt so good was because...I was the one causing myself that little bit of pain. So it felt like I was in control, instead of being hurt by someone who wasn't even there. 'Cause, let's face it, it sucks to keep being hurt by someone you don't even have the pleasure of punching in the face afterward. ...Eventually I stopped, though. There was this kid at my school who died after cutting his arm too deep, and I didn't want to end up like that. It was hard, and it took a helluva long time, but I stopped. ...So that's what Axel meant. About spilling my own blood. In other words, I can't run away from my problems with my dad anymore. ...Which sucks. Majorly. More than high school before you were there. ...Actually, it sucks more than a slut. Which is very hard to imagine. And it also stinks. It reeks. Like rotten eggs. Or certain cheeses."
She had rambled at the end there, so she made herself shut up and settled with continuing to look at the razor and floor simultaneously.
Kiera didn't jump like she normally would have once Sora crouched down to her level and pried the razor out of her hand. "I'm not considering doing it again, if that's what you're worried about," she informed him.
"I know," he replied, tossing the razor behind him. She smirked as it hit the side of her trash can, the sudden noise making Sora jump.
"So. That's what he meant, huh?" he asked, plopping down on his ass rather ungracefully.
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
"If I recall correctly."
"You recall correctly."
"Why'd you tell me that? You know I never would've asked about that, right?"
Kiera shrugged. "The tinglies told me to. Besides, I'm your Gatekeeper. I know all kinds of stuff about the stupid crap YOU'VE done before I met you from that 'story' you told me, it's only fair you know something about before you met me too, right?"
"True."
She watched his eyes linger on her jeans, then rolled her eyes. "If you're trying to figure out why you didn't see scars before, that's because I don't have any. Although, I have been able to feel where each cut is."
"...Oh. Okay."
She rolled her eyes again as he continued to glance at her legs in the tense silence that followed. "...If you wanna feel, all you have to do is ask."
"I don't wanna sound weird –"
She cut off his protest by unbuttoning her jeans and sliding her right leg out of the pants leg. "THERE," she declared, laying her leg out and balancing the heel of her foot against the ground so her leg was sort of hovering.
Sora sweatdropped. "You're sure not shy about it, are you?"
"Since when've I been shy about anything?"
"That's true."
So technically, she could've just rolled up her jeans and he'd have no problem finding a few of them. But she had done the whole Jeans Maneuver in the hopes it would make him all flustered. That would mean she had a temporary upper hand.
Kiera wasn't expecting a huge wave of nervousness to hit her as he stretched out a hand. In the less than thirty seconds that passed before he touched her ankle, she had plenty of time to mentally spazz out.
Her scalp prickled. Not anything like when danger was near, no, this was a...hot kind of prickling. Then he was lightly touching her ankle, feeling the skin on and around it like a blind person on braile.
And, ironically-yet-fortunately, I shaved this morning, she thought suddenly with a slightly cheerful mental tone. Kiera knew when he'd found one of the four on her ankle by the way his fingertips suddenly stopped and did some sort of double-take.
Or double-feel, in this case.
Plus, she'd memorized where all of them were in the first place. Once he'd found all four, she crossed her arms as he continued to search her ankle. "There's only four down there. Don't worry, there's plenty more," she said dully.
He didn't say anything, but traveled a little further up. Which unnerved her; it wasn't natural for him to shut up and listen to her all at the same time like that.
Kiera counted in her head with each new little groove or etching in her skin that he found, and decided as the number continued to grow that she was rather comfortable. She let her head prop itself against the tiled wall, and bent the leg still inside her jeans at the knee.
Her arms were still crossed, and she slowly let her drooping eyelids shut. It was a long time before she heard a noise.
"Twenty-eight," he declared. Kiera blinked her eyes open, rubbing one of them agitatedly. "Technically speaking, there's thirty-four. I have some on my thigh, too, but I think you've gotten the picture," she muttered as she slipped her leg back into her jeans, buttoning them at the top.
"Kiera?"
"Hm?"
"Some of those felt pretty deep. Like they really hurt," he said carefully.
She shrugged. "That was kinda the point. It felt good at the time."
"Kiera."
"What?" she asked, sighing with annoyance. He was sounding all concerned. Stupid Sora, she'd never seen a case where he had managed to let someone sort out their own problems. He cared too much about people, even people he didn't really know that well.
And, surprisingly, it looked like she wasn't an exception. Of course, she'd known that for quite a while. It was kind of obvious, what with how many times he'd kept her in check or looked out for her in a tough spot.
"That's what friends are for," he always insisted. As if to prove her point, his brows furrowed with concern. "You're sure you won't want to do it ever again?"
Kiera rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not. But for the moment and the near future, I think I'm fine."
"That's not good enough," he insisted, making Kiera's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh, it isn't? Well, sucks for you then, doesn't it? See, this is why I haven't told anyone. I figured they'd react like you. Worried I'd try to off myself or at least start right back up as soon as their backs are turned."
"I just don't want you to feel like you have to do something like that to feel better," he replied patiently.
Patient. That was a new one for him, too. With her, anyways. It made Kiera even more nervous. For some reason, this whole thing made her think of those episodes in random crime shows or sitcoms where some random person was out on a ledge and a good samaritan talked to them through the window or from down below, and of course they listened, and they all lived happily ever after until the next mid-life-crisis or murder.
Another thing Kiera had never gotten; why do people listen to complete strangers who know absolutely nothing about what they're going through?
Whatever.
You should really stop zoning out and thinking about random crap, Kiera scolded to herself.
Instead of mentioning all this out loud, Kiera just rolled her eyes at him with a slight smile. "Sora, I'll tell you what. I solemnly swear that until someone majorly close to me dies, betrays me, or something else unimaginable happens to them, the only time I will cut myself shaving is accidentally. Which actually doesn't happen very often. I've been really careful since that kid died. Giving into temptation and all that."
He stared at her for a few seconds longer before nodding cheerfully and hopping to his feet. "Good enough for me," he commented as he grabbed her hands and pulled her up. She staggered slightly, and his grip tightened.
Kiera was about to say something smart, but then Sora kissed her cheek suddenly. She blinked at him, totally forgetting what the hell she had been about to say.
"Esa fina línea de suyo es mucho mejor que usted cree, y'saber," he said simply. ["That fine line of yours is a lot finer than you think, y'know."]
Now she was flat-out gaping at him, jaw on the floor. "W-Whaaat? How did you..."
She trailed off as he pulled folded paper out of his pocket. It was a ton of sheets of paper, actually, stapled together in the top left corner. On the front was printed "Webster's English-To-Spanish-To-English Dictionary". "Your Spanish teacher gave it to me, it's got pronunciations and everything. I'm pretty good at this whole translating thing. Get the main, long words, and you can figure out the rest of what you Spanish-speaking folks are saying," he explained.
"So...You..."
"Heard every word? Yeah, pretty much. Hey, if you see Morgan before I do, tell her I appreciate all the compliments," he said in that smug "I-SO-Won" tone of his as he simply strolled out of the bathroom, leaving her glaring at him.
She stuck her tongue out at his back. "I saw that."
So she flipped him a rather lude finger gesture, to which he started laughing. "Saw that too, Kiera."
Her temple throbbed majorly. "Now how come you never see what I want you to see with that peripheral super-duper vision of yours? HUH?"