Disclaimer: I own nothing… Damnit

AN: Spirit week Wahoo (sarcasm) I hate pep rallies

Chapter 11

CLANK!

"That had to hurt," Karl said as he and Koji stood together watching Axel trying to skateboard. Emphasis on 'trying'.

"Are you ok, Axel?"" Koji asked his friend, who was trying to sit up after his board had decided it wanted to go left while it's rider went right.

"Yeah, the four inch thick armor really helps at times like these," Axel said getting up slowly. "You never told me that skateboarding was gonna be this hard."

"If it were easy what fun would it be?" Koji laughed.

"It would be less painful," Axel muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Axel said quickly. The sound approaching engines stopped Koji from questioning further. "Awww crap," Axel said, cringing at the thought of the up coming throw down.

"Sir we'll be in the human's solar system in four hours," Starter, one of the new Deceptacons, reported to Scourge.

"Good," Scourge said smiling under his faceplate. "Almost time."

"Are they always like this?" Karl asked.

"Yelling at each other in public? Yeah. Back on Cybertron this kind of stuff happened so often people just stared to ignore it. Once they went at each other in the middle of Optimus' office and Optimus just ignored them completely," Axel said.

"How is that so amazing?"

"Optimus' old office was roughly the size of a postage stamp. The four of them were practically standing on his desk yelling at their maximum volume," Karl and Axel both shuddered at the thought.

"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF YOU KNOW," Koji yelled.

"DAMNIT WE TRUST YOU! IT'S THAT BASTARD WE DON'T TRUST!" Sideburn yelled back at the boy.

"We'll discuss this later in private," Prowl said stepping in. He'd noticed the people staring and really didn't want this to make its way onto the news like a lot of things Koji did seemed to. Humans thrived on gossip and Koji had been one of their favorite subjects since he'd left for Cybertron.

"Fine, now leave," Koji hissed, dropping his voice down to a reasonable level.

"I meant you're coming with us to the base to discuss this," Prowl said.

"No."

"That wasn't a request Koji."

"I don't care. I was given permission to be here."

"You didn't have permission to sneak out with out telling us," Sideburn said, getting angry again.

"The last time I checked as long as I have my security detail and Optimus' permission I can go where ever I want," Koji said getting angry too.

"You know how dangerous--"

"I don't have to check with you all when ever I decide to leave the house!"

"Koji, we do this for your protection. If you keep fighting us you're going to end up like your father!" Even before he finished Sideburn knew he'd said the wrong thing. The deathly silence that followed confirmed his suspicions.

"Axel take me home," Koji said refusing to look at Sideburn.

"Koji-" Sideburn didn't know what to say.

Koji didn't answer. He couldn't.

"Sideburn don't worry, he'll come around," X-brawn tried to reassure his baby brother. He hated seeing him like this, especially when it had something to do with something he and Koji had said to each other.

"No he won't," Sideburn said miserably.

"You said that when he was kidnapped by Scourge and it turned out he never blamed you--- not that it was ever your fault," X-brawn added hastily.

"X-brawn."

"What?"

"Just shut up."

"Koji? Are you alright in there?" Axel asked through the door. Koji had headed straight for the attic when they'd gotten home and hadn't come down for dinner.

From the silence he guessed that Koji wasn't going to answer. It was probably best to give him the space he kept asking for.

Koji listened to his friend's heavy footsteps as he walked away. He felt a small stab of guilt about worrying Axel but he needed to be alone right now.

What Sideburn had said earlier had hit a nerve. Was he trying to end up like his father? Like her? They'd both lived short lives and had left him alone. His Mom had been fulfilling her duty when she'd gone off to fight in the war. She hadn't wanted to go. He remembered her hugging him good-bye with tears in her eyes. She'd known that she wasn't going to coming back, he had too. His Dad hadn't. That's why it hit him so hard that he'd grieved for what little remained of his life. He'd left Koji willingly. He'd started pulling away, going on digs for weeks on end to distance himself so he wouldn't be hurt like that again. His father had realized his mistake four months before his kidnapping and had tried to make it right but in the end it only caused Koji to get close to him and lose him. Giving his son the fate he'd been afraid of. Being the survivor, dealing with being left alone.

Not totally alone. Optimus and the others had stepped in to take care of him, but they hadn't always been there. They couldn't tell him stories about his parents or ancestors. They couldn't tell him embarrassing stories about what he did as a baby.

Thinking about it now he knew Sideburn was wrong. He wasn't going to end up like his father. His father had left someone behind to remember him. He didn't even have that.

R&R writers block is really getting to me. I need to start the action scenes soon or I'm going to get lost in Koji's depression. if you hadn't noticed the last three paragraphs sucked. i re-wrote them God knows how many times