Disclaimer: *yawn*...the disclaimer needs a vacation
Never Again: Chapter 15
The young boy sat at the bar finishing his dinner. To his left sat his "brother", Cinna, who was wolfing down another helping, and to his right was his other "brother", Marcus, who was peering over his shoulder giving Cinna a disgusted look. Their adoptive father, Baku, was a few seats down, harassing the man behind the counter. They started out arguing about Baku's tab. It was still considered an argument now, but louder and with a lot more swearing.
"It's been over a (enter choice word here) month since I've seen so much of as scrap out of your (again, a choice word) tab being paid!" the man said, throwing a hand up into the air in annoyance.
"That's (dirty word) bull (another dirty word)! I was in here Tuesday and left about 20 (dirty word) gil lighter," Baku argued back, slamming a fist down on the table. Some of the plates came down with his fist and shattered on the ground. Both men cursed out-loud as the plates hit the ground, then continued their argument.
"Maybe I would've remembered this so called payment if a certain deadbeat wouldn't come in here and trash everything! Maybe a tip once in a while would've jolted my memory. Think of all the possibilities!"
"Tip! If you want a (obscenity) tip, maybe you should show a little more (beeeeep) respect towards your (curse) customers."
"Show respect to a lazy (cough cough) deadbeat who never pays, like you?" the man dared to say.
"Yeah, a lazy (dirty word) deadbeat who never pays but still saves some time to get yer (beeep) (honk) outta a jam just out of the goodness of his heart! The way I see it, you owe me my tab and then some," Baku fought back. The man behind the counter was obviously getting tired of the argument and started rubbing his temples. Baku glared at the man then turned to the boys. "Finish stuffin' your faces. We're outta here!"
"Hey, what about your tab?" man asked angrily when Baku stood up.
"Ya know what? (Bad word) you! You go to (heck)! You go to (heck) and you die you (bad word) (@%^#)!" Baku yelled back. Blank flinched at each one of his curses as he followed the still-cursing Baku out of the diner. Baku didn't stop cursing until he forcefully flung open the swinging doors to the diner, taking down an innocent passer. "(Beeeep)"
"Baku, look what you did!" Marcus said while stepping up towards the fallen boy to get a closer look.
"I think you killed him," Cinna joked.
"What's going on out here?" the man from the diner said as he stepped outside to where all the commotion was taking place.
"Mind yer own business!" Baku retorted when he saw him.
"It is my business when you start harassing my regulars!"
"You know this kid?" Baku asked.
"Yeah."
"Where's his parents?"
"I don't know. I've never seen them before."
"Ok...What's his name?" Baku asked suspiciously.
"Don't know that either."
"You're useless!"
"Maybe we should take him back home with us," Blank said from the back of the crowd.
"Oh no! I'm still tryin' to get rid of the last thing I let come home with me," Baku answered as he shot Blank a dirty look.
"No...Not permanently. Just until he wakes up."
"I'm sure his parents would love that...their kid staying the night with a bunch of strangers."
"Well, it's the least you can do. You did knock him out cold. You can't just leave him out in the middle of the street."
"Fine!" Baku shouted. He bent down, picked up the sleeping boy in a not so gentle sweep, and turned back to Blank. "I hope yer happy!"
"Very," Blank answered sarcastically as he started following Baku back to their hideout. He ignored the weird looks people gave the passing group and silently laughed at Baku's "What are you looking at?" remarks.
Blank sighed happily when they finally reached the place they called home. He noticed that Baku had put the boy back down on the ground so he shot him a dirty look, hoping that he would notice. And he did.
"What?"
"Your making him sleep on the ground?"
"Where else are we supposed to put him? Unless one of you's gonna volunteer your bed."
"Welcome back, ya'll," a young girl interrupted as she walked into the room. "We have guests? Hey, wut's wrong with the little feller?"
"Baku knocked him unconscious, Ruby," Marcus snickered. Ruby looked worried. She walked closer and knelt down next to the boy.
"Wut in tarnation?" she asked as she picked up the blond furry appendage. "A tail?"
"A tail? I think I've seen him around before..." Blank thought out load.
"Do ya know his name?" Baku asked him. Blank shook his head. "Nobody knows his name. Great."
"Why don't you check his pockets?" Marcus spoke up.
"You're thinkin' about robbing him?!" Cinna asked in surprise.
"No! Check his pockets to see if he's got any i.d. on him...or maybe something else that'll give us a clue of who he is," Marcus argued back.
"Good idea," Baku said as he started to check the boy. "Oh, nice daggers...Do ya think maybe he's rich?"
"Don't get too excited," Blank stated dryly, "I think they're stolen." Baku gave him a confused look. "Just a hunch."
Baku brought his eyes off Blank and continued to search the boy's pockets. He removed the items that didn't give much information and set them in a pile with the daggers. The pile was starting to get pretty big and was made up of things like money, watches, and jewelry. This was definitely the work of a thief. Baku then pulled out a folded up piece of off-white paper from one of the boy's back pockets. "Here we go!" Baku said as he carefully started unfolding the note. "'Dear Zidane'," he started reading. "At least we know his name now. 'I'm sorry I had to leave you here, but I hope you understand it was for your own good...' This doesn't sound too good, you guys. 'I didn't want you to have to go back to that place and live that kind of life. You don't deserve that kind of torment. No one does. I also want you to know that this is not goodbye. I'm going to come back for you, although I don't know when.' Oh boy."
"Sound's like his parents left him high and dry..." Cinna said quietly.
"How 'bout we let the lil feller stay with us?" Ruby asked, still holding the boy's tail.
"No! There's no way in hell I'm doing that!" Baku answered angrily.
"Well, if he's a theif like ya'll thought, he should fit in perfectly."
"...And we could always use another thief to help us out," Marcus cut in. The three boys and one girl all looked up at Baku with pleading eyes and smiled sweetly until he was forced to make a decision.
"Fine, but yer lookin' out for him 'til he wakes up," Baku answered, gesturing at Blank.
"Fine by me."
Author's Note: I know it's kinda been awhile since I last updated, but I'm better about it than I usually am. I've been wanting to finish another chapter...really I have, but with all these storms, and floods, and power-outs...Well, let's just say it's been making writing more difficult. I need the power to get my computer to work, and I need my computer to type the chapter! Grrr. The weather is not on my side. Go, flying monkeys! Go and attack the weather!
-Insomniac-
