Phew. This poor fic has been so neglected lately...
Umm... I have no idea where my beta readers are. o__o I sent this out quite a while ago, but haven't heard from any of them. *blinks* *sniffs* Hello? Well, uh, here's the chapter. Pardon any errors. Ehehehe.... Longer A/N at bottom. *bows out*
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One for the Band - Chapter Twelve
'No Style'
Leon and Cloud's speech seemed to have some sort of impact on the band, for Sora and Riku didn't seem to have nearly as much trouble as they had before. Even Quistis seemed to be avoiding confrontation with the two, purposely turning away every time one of them approached her. Not that it bothered Sora in the least. The fact that his captain wasn't on speaking terms with him only gave him more reason to seek help from Paine, who he knew for a fact was a better instructor then Quistis herself. Rikku and Paine, who had never really had that much trouble to begin with, were now back to their old statuses regarding their fellow band members and it all looked as though nothing were any different. Weeks went by, and although the marching band didn't become perfect, everyone agreed they were functioning better then they had been at the start of practice.
Perhaps Leon was the only one to notice that it was all just the calm before the storm, for he continued to keep the same watchful eye on the actions of the band members whereas Cloud did not. The blond drum major had quickly befriended both Sora and Riku and it was that friendship which probably played a large role in securing both younger boys from any more verbal onslaughts the remaining bigoted band members may have had in store for them.
Sora was walking home one Thursday after band practice, taking his time to look up at the sky and just appreciate the pleasant weather that had rolled in. Riku had stayed behind for sectionals and Sora probably would have stayed with him were it not for the fact that sectionals seemed to drag on forever. Oh well. Bryna had asked him to come home straight after practice anyway and Sora hadn't even bothered to ask why when he'd rushed out the door that morning. Upon realizing his mistake, he'd been wondering why his mother had needed him back so soon all day and that curiosity was really starting to bother him.
Rounding the corner of the block which led into the residential district of the northern part of Destiny Islands, Sora's eyes widened as he nearly collided with a dark clad figure who had just appeared out of nowhere. Veering off to the side to avoid slamming into the man, Sora stuttered an apology, somewhat frazzled at having been jolted out of his daydreaming state so suddenly.
"Gah! S-sorry! I didn't see you th--"
"Sora, how nice to run into you like this." Looking up at the voice, Sora frowned and cocked his head to the side, trying to get a better view of the man's face.
"Kosha?" Sora only barely remembered the senior from way back at the very first day of practice when he'd started the first of many huge arguments in the band hall revolving around Riku and Sora. Ever since then, well, Sora had just figured the older boy had just disappeared.
"The one and only, Sora. Now why don't you and I have a little talk, shall we?"
Instinctively taking a step backwards, Sora found himself firmly held in place by two strong pairs of hands securing his own arms at his sides. Sora's mind nearly froze over in terror. How had he gotten himself into this mess?! He hadn't even done anything wrong! Scrambling frantically for some hold on the ground, Sora let out a yelp as his captors lifted him from the sidewalk with ease and carted the spiky haired boy towards an alleyway several feet away, Kosha's hand sliding over Sora's mouth, reducing his noise to mere muffled shouts.
"Now, now, Sora. I hope you don't mind that I brought a few friends along..."
Snapping his teeth suddenly, Sora clamped his jaws down on Kosha's fingers as hard as he possibly could, the older boy swearing loudly and jerking his hand away from Sora as the two goons behind him released his arms, letting him fall rather painfully to the floor of the alleyway. No sooner had Sora's dazed mind realized that he was no longer held captive and tried to persuade his legs to get him off the ground did Sora feel a sudden burst of pain in his ribs as Kosha snarled, kicking out at the boy sprawled across the ground.
Letting out a sharp cry of pain, Sora recoiled, wrapping his arms around his abused chest, curling up as fast as he could to avoid any more pain. But the pain just wouldn't stop. More blows were unleashed upon Sora's body, the cinnamon haired teenager left to simply close his eyes and allow it to happen.
Was it because they didn't like him?
What had Sora done that was so wrong?
~~~~~~~
"Alright, Leon, let's try another. Assuming that pi is 3.14 and the-- Leon? Le-on. My trig homework isn't gonna do itself." Cloud pouted, looking over at his friend who's attention was obviously elsewhere. Honestly, every time he managed to get the brown haired drum major alone, he was always so cold and stoic.
Stodgy old bastard. Hmpf. Cloud rolled his eyes and continued walking along the sidewalk as Leon stopped dead in the center, not moving. Cloud should have driven to school that morning, but nooo, he just had to listen to Leon when he wanted to walk home that afternoon. 'Let's enjoy the weather, Cloud!' Well, alright, so it had actually been a little more like 'I'm walking. Come if you want.' Grrr.
Leon shook his head, shooting a glare at Cloud before pulling the smaller boy to a halt, jerking his head towards a group of teenagers gathering up ahead of them and across the street. Squinting his eyes, Cloud was able to make out two faces he instantly recognized and which also instantly told him that something was terribly wrong.
Sora and... Kosha?
"Oh shit!" Cloud continued swearing vividly as he saw the other two boys appear and take hold of Sora, dragging the younger boy into a nearby alley. Without a second thought, the blonde sprinted out into the street, nearly causing a three car pileup in the process, not to mention the fiery tempers of the rush-hour's drivers as they all made their way home for the evening. Just who the hell did that kid think he was? Superman?
Regardless of the fact that tons of metal were speeding towards them, both Leon and Cloud darted hurriedly across the asphalt, Leon having chased after Cloud no sooner had he ran out into the busy street. Sneakers pounding loudly against concrete, the drum majors ran up the sidewalk before turning sharply into the alleyway, eyes narrowing into glares as they saw the scene unfolding before them there.
"What's a matter, Sora? Not so brave now that you don't have your fucking friends around you to stick up for you? Fucking fag--" Whatever sour speech Kosha had been delivering was cut off by Leon's fist as it made contact with the boy's jaw, sending him toppling over onto the floor with a sickening crunch which no doubt promised broken bones and a rainbow of a bruise to look at.
Cloud leapt into the fray as well, kicking one of Kosha's friends painfully in the side, causing him to join his leader splayed out across the ground next to poor Sora. All it took to get rid of the third boy way one of Leon's glares of death and the boy was sent scampering off out of the alley as though his very life depended on it. Which it probably did, at that point.
"Sora!" Cloud exclaimed, kneeling down next to the younger boy who was visably shaking, tears streaming down his cheeks in crystal-clear rivers.
"Cloud?"
"Sora, what happened? Are you okay? Shit! Those bast--"
"Cloud."
The blonde turned to look up at Leon, who was, in turn, scowling down at Kosha and his friend, who still lay on the ground, staring up at him in fear. "What is it, Leon?"
"Why not take Sora out of here while I have a small talk with Kosha and his friend here." It wasn't a question by any means, and Cloud didn't miss that fact. In a heartbeat, he was helping Sora to his feet and guiding the younger boy out of the alleyway, casting only one glance over his shoulder as Leon crossed his arms and began addressing the boys at his feet, though spoke too softly for Cloud to be able to make out his words. No matter, though. It was more important to take care of Sora at the moment.
"Sora, which way is your house?"
Slowly being drawn back into reality, Sora blinked numbly at Cloud as though the blonde had asked him which way it was to the moon. "I can't go there. My mom'll flip if she sees me like this." After thinking about it a moment, Cloud saw that the boy was obviously right. Anyone's mother would go ballistic at seeing their son walk through the front door, clothes partly torn, lip bleeding, and covered with dirt and countless bruises.
So Cloud did the next best thing he could think of on such short notice.
~~~~~~~
"Alright, Sora, what kind of ice cream do you want?" No one ever said that people who had recently been beaten to a pulp didn't like ice cream. And Sora had already had stopped in the ice cream parlor's bathroom, cleaning himself up as best he could. With the exception of a few colorful bruises dotted along his jaw, arms, and left eye, Cloud figured the younger boy was faring pretty well considering the afternoon he'd had. Well, at least, Sora was faring as well as anyone could while being so miserable.
"Um... Cloud, I dunno if I--"
"Rum raisin's your favorite, right?"
"Right, but--"
"Right then! We'll have one chocolate chip cookie dough cone and one rum raisin cone, please."
Obviously listening to Sora complain that he didn't feel up to ice cream at the moment was not high on Cloud's list of priorities as he paid for the cones and led Sora over towards a small booth in the ice cream parlor, resting his elbows on the table and lapping away at the ice cream on his cone. Even in his battered state, Sora wasn't about to turn down his favorite kind of ice cream right there in front of him, and the younger boy soon followed suit.
After a few moments of silence between the two of them, Cloud finally spoke up quietly.
"So what happened?"
Sora blinked at the boy and shrugged, turning his attention back towards his ice cream.
"I was just walking home and they showed up."
"They say anything?"
"Same old, same old. They hate my guts, Cloud. I don't even know why. They act like I'm some sort of flaming gay drag queen who's out to destroy everyone else's morals or something. But I'm not..." Sora didn't even make a face as he realized he'd accidentally allowed a raisin to slip into his mouth and bite down on it. Poor raisin...
Rather then just eating everything like Riku was doing, Sora carefully pried the raisins free of the ice cream, shoving them off away from it. "I mean... When you think about it, aren't raisins really just humiliated grapes? They used to be these great, big, sweet and juicy grapes... But... Now they're all shriveled and just look so... lifeless. It's like everything that used to make them full and happy was just taken away from them."
Riku blinked, his spoon of rum raisin ice cream still only halfway to his mouth. Looking down at the raisins nestled in the ice cream, Riku winced, placing the spoon back in the bowl and nudging the raisins out of the ice cream. "Wow. Never thought about it like that, Sora."
Sora sighed sadly. "Yeah, it's a shame about raisins."
"Yeah."
Sora was snapped back out of his memory as Cloud's voice spoke up, the blonde grinning mischievously, blue eyes dancing merrily.
"So why not prove it to 'em?"
"Huh?"
"Listen, Sora. You're gonna have to prove a lot to them, even though you already have. I dunno why, but you just do. You are gay, yes, but you're just Sora. So prove to them you're not some flaming drag queen out to destroy their morals!"
"Uh... I'm not following. How exactly would I go about doing that?"
"Oh, I've got plans... Don't you worry about it, Sora, because I think I've got just the solution to all our problems. The final plan that'll get it aaaaall 'straightened' out." Cloud laughed at his own joke as he polished off his ice cream cone and stood up from the booth, anxious to hunt down Leon and tell him about his brilliant scheme.
~~~~~~~
Several hours later, Sora made his way through the front door of his home as quietly as possible, hoping to prolong Bryna's outburst for as long as he could. It was six thirty by the time he'd made it home, after first stopping off at Cloud's house and cleaning up a bit. At least he wasn't the filthy mess he'd been earlier...
"Sora! Where on earth have you been?!"
So much for prolonging the outburst.
"I just... I fell down the stairs on my way out of school and got a little banged up. But I'm fine now..." Well, no one could say the lie wasn't exactly believable. Sora was often falling down stairs and walking into things, so it sounded pretty good in his mind.
Bryna appeared in the kitchen as Sora was preparing a peanut butter sandwich for himself, trying to make a fast job of it and disappear into his room before further questioning from Bryna could follow. With a sudden jolt, Sora remembered that Bryna had wanted him home on time for something... He'd completely forgotten, of course. That was probably why she was so upset.
"Uhh... What was it you needed me home for, Mom?" Sora asked warily as he turned to look at Bryna. Surprisingly enough, she didn't look angry at all. Just... what was it? Sora couldn't really place a finger on the expression his mother wore.
"Come here, Sora." Bryna pulled Sora closer, leaning forward and examining one of the bruises coloring the side of his jaw. Her blue eyes traveled up to his split lip, down to another bruise on his forearm, all before coming back to make eye contact with her only son. "You fell down?"
"...Yeah."
Bryna was quiet for a moment before releasing Sora and tucking her hands back into the pockets of her apron. "That was quite a fall." What was with this sudden mood swing in Bryna? Where was Sora's normally perky and bouncy mother?
"Everything okay m--?"
"Your father called this morning while you were still asleep. He wants you to go visit him, Sora."
"W...Wha?" Sora blinked numbly at Bryna, leaning backwards against the counter for support. He honestly felt he was going to fall right over on the kitchen floor if he didn't do so.
Sora hadn't ever really been on good terms with his father. He could never really understand what Bryna could have possibly seen in him in the first place and Sora didn't hesitate to make his opinion well-known. His father was the typical businessman who's life revolved around cash flow and material items and he probably had a new Rolex watch every other month. The idea of spending two hours alone with his father, let alone an actual visit, just terrified Sora to no ends.
"He really wants to see you Sora." Bryna gave him a small smile, but it was easy to see that she was distressed by the whole thing. Not one word about seeing Bryna herself, but only their son. Sora's father sure knew how to handle his ex-wife.
"Well I don't exactly want to see him." Sora narrowed his eyes slightly, even though he knew it wasn't Bryna's fault. She was just delivering a message and doing her best to be a good mother. But Sora had just had a really bad day and he didn't want to deal with it. "Besides, I'm going on the band trip soon anyway, I'll be gone doing that." Inwardly, Sora congratulated himself on a good excuse. The trip was only three weeks away, after all, so Sora was going to be way too busy to bother with a parent he'd rather not see.
"That's just it, though. You're all going up to the mainland, remember? You pass right through your dad's town and..."
"Mom, I'm not going." Sora tried not to sound angry, he really did. But he was tired of bad things happening that day and all he really wanted to do at that moment was eat his stupid peanut butter sandwich. Maybe talk to Riku. But the peanut butter sandwich would have to come first. So with that, Sora turned and, with his sandwich in hand, ascended the stairs to the second story of the house, closing his bedroom door behind him.
Sheesh. The entire world just seemed to want to tear him apart that day. Sora walked over towards his desk, jabbing a button with his thumb to turn his computer on before nibbling idly at his sandwich. Looking out the window, Sora sighed, noticing that the sun was nearly gone and Paine wasn't outside in her backyard for Sora to go talk to. She was probably working on that song of hers... Sora couldn't help but continue to wonder why Paine didn't participate more in the music program at school. Color guard was one thing, but from what Sora could see, the older girl belonged in more advanced music courses, composing and creating songs.
But it was her life. Paine probably knew what she was doing. She always did.
Turning back towards his computer, Sora polished off his sandwich and pulled his chair up to his desk. After several moments, Sora soon found himself online, though he couldn't really figure out why. The internet was just sort of a mind-numbing tool Sora used when there was no one around to talk to. It usually amazed him how quickly the hours seemed to go by when seated in front of a computer screen.
Sora raised an eyebrow at his mailbox, noticing that he had some unread mail. It wasn't exactly like Sora received emails all that often. Most people in such a close-knit island community kept in touch on the phone or simply in person. Nonetheless, he opened the mailbox and double clicked on the email, opening a new window with only several lines of text.
From: BusterSeven@aol.com
To: antidark02@aol.com
Sora--
Check the band website. 'Spirit Week' starts Monday.
The note was followed by a link which Sora clicked on out of curiosity, though he had already assumed that BusterSeven was Cloud. Weird screen name, but oh well. As the page loaded, Sora read the contents of the web page, his eyes lazily skimming over the screen.
'Spirit Week-- Several weeks before the band trip, the entire band has a tradition of dressing in "unique" ways for an entire week to get ourselves geared up and into competition mode! Below are the days and themes of dress for the week of April 6th-April 11th.'
Monday - Pajama Day.
Tuesday - GQ Day.
Wednesday - Cartoon Heroes.
Thursday - Sweet and Sour Day.
Sora rolled his eyes. Yes, yes, he was familiar with the whole 'Spirit Week' ordeal. All of this was just typical stuff. Why did Cloud make it sound so important. But no sooner had Sora thought this did he look down and read the last of the schedule.
Friday - Crossdressing Day.
Oh dear.
~~~~~~~
A sailor suit? Well, that's what Sora got for allowing Rikku to play dress up with him again. Actually, the skirt was a bit short, the socks were a bit long, and the shirt a bit tight, but Sora could deal.
The second Sora walked through the doors to the school building, eyes were fixated on him with no sign of leaving anytime soon. Paine and Rikku had assembled themselves on either side of Sora, linking arms with the younger boy and escorting him through the hallway as though on parade. It didn't take too long for the school to figure out what was going on, because the three of them weren't alone.
No, just as Cloud had promised, the drag races had an amazing turnout. There were boys in sundresses, three-inch heels, mid-riff revealing tops, and hip hugging flairs. Girls paraded about in collared shirts with ties, slacks, dress shoes... others wore the baggy shorts and sandals most of the boys on the island wore. Everywhere Sora looked there were throngs of people laughing and joking about their own style, modeling their ridiculous looks with such poise.
"Sora!" Cloud approached, decked out in a blue skirt and white blouse, dragging behind him a scowling Leon. Though Leon didn't appear to be as much 'in the spirit' as others, Cloud had somehow managed to get him to wear a rather frilly pink shirt that Sora was finding a difficult time containing his laughter about.
"Look at this! See? I told you this was gonna work!" Cloud grinned evilly, turning to the crowded hallways of the high school, again surveying his fine work. "Hah! I wouldn't be surprised if a good handful of these guys actually like wearing skirts and tight shirts." Cloud laughed heartily, obviously delighted that his plan had carried through just as well as he'd hoped. Sora couldn't help but laugh along as well as they made their way towards the band hall.
"Riku?!" Sora soon found himself gawking at the silver haired boy whom he assumed was indeed his boyfriend.
Thigh length black socks.
Black platform combat boots.
Red plaid mini-skirt, black tank top, black chocker, a touch of familiar eyeliner...
Sora was positive that Paine and Rikku had somehow played a part in Riku's ensemble as well.
"Hey, Sora!" Riku flashed the younger boy a grin, relishing Sora's amazed expression. He could be so cute when he was lost for words. "Cute outfit." Needless to say, that Friday was quite possibly one of the most eventful days Sora would stumble across in a long time. By the time the final bell rang and the band was assembled on the blacktop, everyone was in high spirits, merrily poking fun at each other and just having a good time. Several people even flocked towards Sora and Riku, rambling off questions at random.
"Sora, have you ever cross-dressed before?"
"Uh, no."
"Riku, did you put your makeup on yourself?"
"Nope."
"Hmpf! And you guys call yourselves gay!"
Both boys exchanged glanced and replied in unison, "Yup."
"But how are you any different from--" The girl was abruptly cut off from her question as Cloud tackled her into and hug, grinning from ear to ear.
"Yes! I'm so proud! Yeees! Finally, one of you airheads got it! They're no different, are they? Hahaha!" From the perspective of anyone who wasn't a member of the band, Cloud would have seemed to be a raving lunatic. But everyone around the group burst into laughter, clapping for his over-dramatic performance. It was working, there was no doubt about it.
Everyone's laughter slowly trickled into silence as a familiar figure appeared in the crowd, causing Cloud's expression to harden slightly.
Kosha had been left with a warning that if he stepped out of line even only once more, he would be kicked off the band. From the look of it, ever since his run in with the drum majors over the weekend, Kosha's attitude hadn't exactly improved any. He was still dressed in his normal clothes, as were his two cronies standing behind him, arms folded across their chests, standing on a defensive stance as though just daring Cloud to try coming after them again. Cloud himself would probably have taken great pleasure in bashing the living daylights out of all three of them, but Leon would probably object. The brunette could be like that sometimes. Honestly, Cloud would never understand Leon's whole fixation with justice. Don't fight until you absolutely have to... Right, right right. But there's also 'fight the good fight.' Can't forget that little saying. Cloud smirked as he strolled over towards the trio, though he probably didn't look very imposing in his feminine attire.
Obviously, skirt or no skirt, Cloud's power as drum major still held firm as he mimicked the position of the three, folding his arms over his chest. Leon stood off to the side with Sora and Riku, more then ready to jump in if Kosha even so much as looked at Cloud in the wrong way, though Leon simply wanted to see how Cloud handled the whole situation. It was obvious to anyone that the blonde had something in mind...
"Kosha. You didn't dress up for our spirit day. Something wrong?"
"You actually thought I'd dress like a girl? Hell, Strife, I thought you had more brains then that."
"And I thought you had the brains to know that we're all supposed to participate in Spirit Week." Cloud paused, smirking as he continued, "Besides. It's fun. Oh well though. You missed out."
"Missed out? Hah! Missed out on parading around the school like some homo? Oh yeah, I sure missed out there." Kosha snorted, rolling his eyes. "You look like a fucking faggot, Cloud. Maybe there really is something you're not telling us."
Cloud simply grinned and uncrossed his arms. There was definitely something going through his mind, but what was it?
"Aaaand that's a lap for showing immense disrespect towards your upperclassman and drum major. Hop to it, Kosha, we've got a practice session to start!"
Kosha merely scoffed at the punishment and turned towards the far end of the blacktop, about to head off towards the edge of the asphalt to start his lap. Turning his head over his shoulder, Kosha spat, "Is that all you can do Cloudy? Give laps? Pretty pathetic."
"You're right, Kosha. So here's an idea." Cloud strode over towards the other boy and suddenly lowered his voice so that the conversation was only between he and Kosha. Leon scowled, leaning forward slightly and trying to pick up a word or two, but he got nothing. The entire band was clueless as to what passed between the two boys, but when Kosha looked up, his face was expression could be easily described with one word alone.
Mortified.
As Leon studied Cloud's smug grin and the band studied Kosha's reaction to whatever Cloud's words had been, every eye eventually drifted towards Kosha as he reached the edge of the blacktop and began to run his lap.
Only he wasn't... running it.
Kosha was skipping.
After five skips forward, Kosha leaped and words came out of his mouth, though the band could hardly pick them up since they were laughing so hard. What the hell was going on? Cloud simply smirked, placing his hands on his hips and shouting at the top of his lungs, "LOUDER, Kosha! We can't HEAR you!"
Skip, skip, skip, skip, skip.
"I'm... I'm a pretty princess!" Flying leap.
"LOUDER, Kosha! Louder! And put more prance in your step!" The entire band was now nearly falling over from laughter, Sora leaning against Riku for support, worried that he might collapse onto the blacktop otherwise. Several people did just that, sitting on the ground with a thud as they clutched their sides, laughing and pointing at Kosha. Even Leon found himself chuckling at the whole scene. It was rather hard not to.
Was it harsh? Oh yes. Cloud knew it was.
...Skip, skip.
"I'm a pretty princess!"
And so it was that Pretty Princess Laps became the newest threat added to the manual for drum majors; compliments of Cloud Strife.
~~~~~~~
That evening, Sora finally found himself walking across his backyard into Paine's own yard, delighted to find the older girl seated on her green lawn chair, notebook open on her lap and pen in hand, scribbling something down. Paine looked up as Sora approached, a grin spreading across her face at the sight of her friend.
"Sora! So how was practice today?"
The spiky haired boy chuckled as he plopped down on the ground beside Paine, leaning back on his hands.
"Absolutely hilarious. I almost felt sorry for Kosha!"
"Yeah, well, don't bother. He's not worth the pity." Paine smirked and closed her notebook, standing up from the lawn chair, instantly causing Sora to pout.
"What? You're leaving? But I haven't talked to you in forever!"
Smiling, the crimson eyed girl bent down and ruffled Sora's spikes of hair playfully before standing back up and sighing. "I have to go pick my parents up from the airport. Trust me, I'd much rather stay here with you. Only I have a feeling they won't be too happy with me if they're stuck there for hours because I don't come to get 'em."
"Can't they take a taxi?"
Paine snorted. "Like my parents would ever allow themselves to be carried around in a taxi. They're too stuck up for that." Another sigh followed this statement before Paine continued, "But I'll catch up with you as soon as I can, okay? I promise. I've been busy lately..."
"With the song?" Sora asked hopefully. He really did want to hear the finished project, whenever Paine actually did finish it.
Paine grinned and nodded. "Yeah, the song..." Almost as an afterthought, Paine tossed her notebook towards Sora as she turned towards the door to her house. "Hey Sora, it's yours."
"What?!"
"It's. Yours." The girl chuckled at Sora's shocked face. He knew it meant a lot to Paine, especially because the little notebook held all of her lyrics and ideas for music... How could she just give it up? Almost as though she could read his mind, Paine said, "I think you should have it... I want you to have it. Write stuff down in it, whatever." She smiled as she opened the back door towards her house, the back of her mind again reminding her how much she smiled now. Now that she had Rikku... Now that she had friends like Yuffie, Yuna, and Sora. It was all good now.
"But... What will I write in it?" Sora asked forlornly.
"Write about you, Sora. Don't you think your story is interesting?" Before closing the door behind her, Paine shot her friend a smirk and said, "This whole thing... Wouldn't it make a good story?" And the door closed gently behind her, leaving Sora holding the precious notebook loosely in his hands.
Huh. He hadn't really thought about it that much. Sora snickered softly, pulling himself up from the ground as he shook his head and made his way back up to his own house. Sora's life making a good story? Yeah right.
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Phew. Things have been absolutely hectic lately. *falls over* BUT guess what I did? I got an LJ. You can now actually choose whether or not you want to hear me babble on mindlessly. XD So here's the URL... and poke fun at me. Ehehehe... Anyway, to make a long story short, yes, this was sent out several days ago. I just decided to post it now because I got no notice from any beta-readers, so if they're reading this, I'm soooorrrrryyyy.
That said, Pretty Little Boy will get another update soon. The only reason OftB has slowed to a crawl is that I'm trying to stall. (Rhyming... geh.) Yes, stall. I need to go on the band trip (April 21st- 25th) in order to get ideas and information. Basically, the last fourth of the fic occurs during this trip. Ehehehe. So in the meantime, chew over PLB. 'Tis somewhat depressing, but have a little faith in me. ^^
~Ori