I thought that the Holidays break would give me time to post the chapter, but it actually did the exact opposite for me, so yeah… I'm sorry.
Disclaimer: Do I really need to bother with this?
Before I start I want to thank RuinsOfTikal, for giving me all this information on KH2 characters when I asked for it, I know this and the chapter is a little late but Thanks so much!
Chapter Five: The New Pollution
His elbow slipped off the armrest. He fell foreword but caught himself before his head hit the chair. The boxcar was unbelievably hot. He took off his grey sweatshirt, just leaving a white undershirt and a pair of brand new jeans. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he looked over at Kairi who was still in her neat green sweatshirt, dark jeans and sneakers. Both of them had returned some of the clothes for money before they left, though they didn't tell Quistis or Nona about it. Besides, they could only have what they carried on their backs, so three pairs of clothes and some other necessities should just about do it for a while. Sora peered over Kairi's shoulder,
"What's that?" Kairi looked up and then back at the magazine,
"I'm not really sure.." She flipped through the pages, showing off pop pastel colored ads with painted up models and some gossip columns on 'What Was Hot And What Wasn't This New Year' and 'How To Win A Guy, Just Using Your Eyes'.
"I mean, it's a magazine I picked off the cart, but all this junk…" She blinked at some of the pages. Sora leaned back into his seat and took down mental observations of the boxcar. The people had changed, come and gone; they had stopped in a few cities already. Not very many people were on this particular car. A middle-aged man in a pair of nice slacks, dress shoes and chrome vest had disposed of his coat. With his sleeves rolled up, revealing a nice golden Rolex, he propped a pillow on the boxcar's wall and had decided a nap was the best thing to do right now. Another younger man in a black bucket hat was reading a paper, about in his twenties; Sora thought. He rustled with the crisp paper and turned the page, folding it over and over. Then Sora looked out the window to get an idea of where they were. The area was still coated with trees, but they were different. Instead of the messy bushy pines, these trees looked all the same; tinted red and white bark, the limbs started high in the trees, basically they looked perfect. The ground was coated with reds and oranges of leaves. The weirdest thing though was the spacing of the trees, they seemed so perfectly positioned, as if some god had bent down and planted each one with its own space; perfectly spread out. It all had a fairy tail look it, or one of those pictures you would see in a professional photographer's portfolio, or a National Geographic.
Sora sat foreword and brushed his dirty brown bangs back with a hand. Kairi placed her magazine down,
"You okay?" Her voice carried on through his mind,
"I feel kind of sick," he began and sat straight, aligning his back with the seat, "and I don't know why." She smiled, for some strange reason. Maybe he was going to start depending on her a little more from now on. She laid the magazine down in her lap and grabbed a water bottle out of her blue sack,
"Here," she held it out. He took it without hesitation and gulped a great deal down,
"Maybe you should take a nap, you seem a bit flustered."
"It's scorching."
"Well," Kairi lifted the armrest and patted a hand on her opposite shoulder, "I'll wake you up when we get there." He looked at her shoulder and then at her. Then, he folded his arms and his head sunk down the cushion, resting upon her shoulder. His eyes drifted off, and he slowly drifted off into sleep. His head aching, his stomach throbbing, feeling like he was on fire; now that he was resting upon her fragrance, he took in her scent and slept.
Kairi continued to read her magazine and time passed. As it did, Sora's arms dropped into his lap. Kairi looked over to him, still sleeping with that peaceful expression on his face she looked down at his limp hands. One twitched and she smiled, feeling motherly for a moment. The fingers relaxed again, and he re-positioned himself digging his head into her shoulder. His ridiculous hair tickled her neck, but she didn't move.
XXX
"Sora," he came around, "Sora,"
"Hmm?"
"We're coming to our stop, c'mon get up." Sora found himself horizontal along the seats. Kairi stood in the isle, trying to get something from an overhead bin. He sat up and rubbed his eyes,
"Wha? Where are we?" He sat up and then was blasted with a major migraine, he groaned. Kairi sat down next to him and placed the bulky backpack on her lap. Sora still holding his head, looked out the window and was hit with the change of the environment,
"Whoa…!" The modern city was just outside. He placed a hand on the glass and gazed at the tall buildings of brick and hollow steel. The street corner signs, huge billboards, graffiti on the side train walls – it was all amazing to him. The porter walked through the cars asking to see people's tickets, Kairi showed him hers and then went back to bouncing in her seat,
"Aren't you excited?" She said re-energized and fully awake. Sora was starting to get there,
"Oh, man!" He kept his paws on the window, looking back at Kairi,
"This is Almm Eisla! It's insane!" Both he and her oohed and awed looking out the window. Some other passengers didn't know what all the fuss was about and went back to sleep. Kairi shook Sora's shoulder all giddily,
"Hey, we're pulling up to the station! We're almost there!" They sat on the edge of their seats; Kairi all pumped and Sora, well, he still felt like shit but the excitement blocked some of that out. As the train came to a halt they held their breath.
XXX
Neat blue and white tiles, a plastered ceiling and walls; there was a wooden plank boarder that crawled around the perimeter of the room at about your waist. Pictures with black and brown frames and awards from the city hung on all the walls, behind the glass and navy countertops, there were shelves decorated with candy, toys and miscellaneous play things. Small white round tabletops and delicate looking, but plastic, columns of black curvy legs; these with a matching set of chairs sat near the large drawn windows as well as around the whole restaurant.
Their muffled voices, from beyond the glass windows, made him glance towards the door. He scratched his head and returned to his work, praying that they would just pass by. But the bell jingled and the man looked back to the stack of bills and sighed. He rose from his seat and stepped out of his back office into the front of the store. Recognizing that the voices belong to children, he quickened his pace to the counter to where two young teens were conversing back and forth. He was going to get on to yet another group of irresponsible, insensible, school-skipping, tip jar stealing, hooky-playing kids.
"What do you kids want?" He interrupted their talk, something about the warm weather. Startled, Sora answered for both of them,
"Hi, uh… There is a small apartment complex above this shop, and we couldn't find the entrance." Sora pointed to the outside of the shop, where cars and people whizzed by the shopping strip. The man scratched his chin and stood tall with his hands on his hip. The unlit cigarette twirled and bobbled at the end of his mouth; he spoke out of the unoccupied corner,
"Visiting someone?"
"Sort of. Do you own the building," He exhaled, "sir?" Sora placed a hand on his forehead, still getting warmer and inhaled deeply. He looked to the old man who eyed this weirdly, soft and plush looking bags cradled his deep-set eyes. The old man nodded while scratching the fuzz along his chin,
"Yeah, why asking, kid?"
"How much is rent?" The elder leaned back and questioned his curiosity, surely he was not thinking of renting a place of his own,
"I can't take in kids." He simply put, and then turned his back on them to return to his bills. Kairi reached out,
"Wait!" He turned around,
"We'll pay whatever you want, and do any chores or anything! We're desperate!" He crossed his arms over his wife beater and pulled his chin up, as the superior he asked,
"What is it, what kind of trouble are you in?"
"Nothing." Sora stated simply, he shrugged his shoulders and removed the hand that was once planted to his forehead. They didn't speak and the landlord was beginning to grow old of this and other things,
"Two misfit teens just can't rent a dorm ro—I mean, move into an apartment complex." Though, who would've called it a complex, it was small, run down and wasn't in the best shape from the looks of the outside. The old man had just fixed himself on the store; which radiated new compared to the rest of the building.
"Please—"
"What do you take me for, kid? Do I look like a compassionate man?"
"Well how about this?" Sora slid a piece of white cardboard on the table, bold capital letters spelled out, 'HELP WANTED' and in smaller letters—like someone else had wrote it—it said, 'we're desperate!'. With his hand still splattered upon it, Sora looked up at the man through his sandy bangs,
"We'll work whatever hours you want for free; we don't care. Anything, just as long as we get a place to stay." The old man scratched his nose and looked at the children back and forth. The thing was, he was indeed desperate as well, and the only kids that would come for the job were these petite little girls, wearing barley anything – which was not part of his dress code – maybe a midriff if there was a draft, with pierced noses and colored streaks in their hair. They were usually dumb too, drop outs of one of the areas high school, maybe mother kicked them out. Either that or it was slackers, slackers that would come in an hour after their shift begins, then spend the whole time counting change wrong and flirting with the opposite sex while the pizza's were set aflame in the oven and the soda ran well over the rim of the glass and the hand holding it. He considered this, and this only, because they seemed distant to those kind of folks, like they weren't from here. They looked determined but they were too young, maybe one more shot though? If only he had pursued a different lie of work, instead of being, Owner of the Local Pizza Parlor…
"What experience do you have?" He asked, defeated,
"Uh, none really." Kairi looked to Sora who shook his head as well. When an eyebrow rose above a deep eye, she quickly thought of something new,
"We used to help out at the nursery home. He can do labor and I can clean, that shows responsibility, right?" Quistis talked about Nona going to a home with Kairi before. And it wasn't a total lie, the work shouldn't be too hard from what they were used to. She looked with pleading eyes and Sora, hidden under his messy locks, took a serious expression. The man thought.
"A quick interview," he motioned to the back office. Sora grinned and Kairi let out a chuckle of relief.
XXX
Sora threw a bag of trash into the dumpster. Still feeling overheated, he sat down for a moment and tried to enjoy a passing by breeze. Going through basic training for a pizza parlor seemed a bit ridiculous to both Kairi and Sora, but they would do anything that they had to do.
"Got a light?" A familiar deep voice.
"No," Sora knew who it was and didn't bother to lift his eyes, feeling to bad to mess with crazy co-workers. He sat down holding his head, and the other walked across the empty back to the side of the street. Looking in both ways she spun around and walked back to Sora. She sat a few feet away with an unlit cigarette resting between her lips. Dressed in a black jacket, tight white pants, and always wearing sunglasses that covered half of her face, she brushed a wisp of her glowing silver hair. She sat leaning on her elbows which were propped up on a higher step behind her, she removed the unlit cigarette, and crossed her ankles.
"What are you doing here?" Fujin asked patient at first,
"What?" Sora looked over his shoulder,
"Why are you standing out back, shouldn't you be working?" She managed to ask relaxed.
"Why?" Sora asked as politely as he could and exposed a palm to emphasis.
"Hey," She demanded with a tone, "You got no business to be talking to me like that." She leaned on her knees, Sora could see a bit of white bandage behind the left lens of her glasses. He let his arms dropped, confused,
"Talking, like what?"
"Right there, with that tone." She snapped.
"What?" his shoulders rolled forward and he turned out his hands, "What are you talking about?" He continued, sincerely confused.
"Alright, that's it! If I hear you speak like that to me again, I'm going to beat your ass." Sora shifted back,
"But, I was just sitting here.. And ya-you come out on your shift and ask me why I'm not working—"
"You little prick," Fujin stood over him, towering him. He was still on the ground and he raised his hands up in defense and scooted back,
"W-wait… I'm confused," He still looked at her through the dark glasses, but just a little more scared. This chick was scary and she was half a decade older than him, what was he supposed to do? Beat up a girl? Why would he want to do that on the second day of the job? He still didn't know. She picked him up by the collar of his shirt, having some difficulty with those toothpicks that were called arms. He raised his eyebrows,
"I-I don't know what's going on!" She let go and he stood there, she started to cry and hold herself,
"Why so cold!" She chocked through her hands, she then sat down on the steps and cried some more, Sora looked around hoping to find some clue of what was going on, and then looked back at Fujin, about to say something but then stepped back towards the kitchen door. He looked around once more and then turned to open the door. When he was about to shut it, he heard her call out,
"Roximas, my baby!" He spun around to the door and peeked through. The silver haired witch was at the edge of the lot throwing her arms around a younger boy, he didn't return any affection. They spoke for a few moments, it looked as though Fujin had calmed down quite a bit, was that all an act? She handed him a few paper bags, he peeked inside, waved and left. As she started walking back, Sora rushed into the front of the store where he caught Kairi off guard,
"Hi." He simply said and then turned to the other boxes of supplies that still lay unopened behind the counter.
XXX
The other employees quit; once they found out of the new recruits they said this wasn't for them, wasn't their style and took off. So, as she closed the cash register and was just about to open the shop back up, she wondered how long their stay here was going to be, and where they – her and Sora – were aiming for or what they were aiming for. This thought was interrupted though, as a figure emerged out of the corner of the shoppe window. It was a kid, but it wasn't even twelve o' clock yet, so it was long before school would be let out. Hanging his head, the boy walked drearily past the entrance and then paused. He hesitated and looked back at the door. Kairi's head rose from her palm, intrigued, and she watched him walk back towards the door. The bells on the door sang as he poked his head through and started to enter,
"Hey,"
"Ah, wait!" Kairi held up a hand over the counter and scooted to the end of the counter,
"You're all wet!" The boy was half in the store and looked kind of confused as the redhead jogged into the kitchen. A drop of liquid dropped from his hair and another dripped off the end of his nose, he scanned the store. She came out with two dishtowels and the boy let himself in, staying close to the door.
"Here." She said, handing him one. He took it and first dried his head. Kairi stepped back and her nose scrunched up,
"Ugh," she covered her mouth and nose, "is that you?" The boy removed the towel from his head and took the other,
"Like roses. Pardon," His tone was annoyed and all though it sounded calm, it held no patience, "Where's Fujin?"
"Huh? Fujin?" The boy removed his towel from his head. Kairi stepped back. His hair was blonde, messy and sticky in some kind of goop, with a yellow tan and a boyish figure. A drenched and stained white baseball tee with black short sleeves and faded jeans dressed him. But what caught Kairi's attention was his eyes; just like Sora's…
"Oh, Fujin… No, I'm sorry she just quit the other day."
"Huh."
"But she should be back later on to get her last paycheck." Kairi tried to help, the boy looked very disappointed, but soon he shrugged it off.
"Hmm," he fumbled with the towel in his hands and attempted to fold it up. He had black and white cloth bands on his fingers and a checkered wristband; they too were also drenched and the white was stained a yellowish-lime. He hesitated as he handed the towels back to Kairi, not knowing if it was rude or not, but then again he didn't seem like he was the kind who cared. She took them with a distasteful look. He spoke motioning to the stools lined up against the counter,
"Do you mind if I, uh,"
"Go ahead." He took his seat and she dumped the towels into the kitchen trash, making a note to take them straight to the dumpster later. Kairi could hear him from the front of the store,
"You know the old girl that worked here used give me free sodas," She came in,
"I'm sure." she caught him sniffing himself and grimacing, the violent aroma made Kairi cringe as well. The boy tapped the countertop and looked around the room until his eyes fell on Kairi, hers were locked on him,
"Hmm?" He asked, curling in his lips and raising his eyebrows.
"What's on you?" Kairi waltzed over to the cash register and, keeping her distance, laid a hand down on the countertop.
"Fish guts." He replied still tapping on the counter, nodding his head, like she was supposed to know that. His superior and annoyed nature thus far bothered Kairi, but she was known for her overbearing sarcasm too,
"Ah, I thought it was a new colon." She added with a snooty tone that matched his, though he didn't notice and looked towards the door pointing a thumb,
"Are you gonna clean that up or what?" Kairi shocked by this remark discretely became furious. Pulling out a can from below the counter, she smirked, shook and sprayed him with air freshener. When he turned back around to se what was the mist she made sure to get a good coat over his hair and face. He broke out into a chain of coughs, Kairi slammed the can back down on the counter. She gave him a few seconds and then,
"It still smells," she said lifting her nose in the air, "I think the stench is emanating from your attitude." She laid an elbow on the counter and when he stopped coughing and his eyes stopped tearing, they met,
"You saw that I was new here and tried to push me over," She frowned, "Well, that's not going to work." The boy's expression softened for a moment, and then cringed so he had to wipe his stinging eyes. Kairi turned around and was thinking about getting Mr. Highwind to kick him out, but not on her first actual day of working; that wouldn't look to good would it? When she started to stomp off to the end of the counter he coughed and added,
"Hey, I didn't know you were new." Kairi looked back with a tired face, "I mean, I knew you were new here but not like here." He put out a palm for emphasis and then wiped an eye. He talked slow, but seemed to place only half a heart in his words. Going further, "You're not from Almm Eisla, are you?" She didn't know how he could tell or why she was going to answer his question,
"No, I'm not."
"Don't seemed so bummed," pause, "it's a blessing." He stood up, the stool legs squeaking as they ran across the floor, "Though I am still curious," he picked up the spray can and fumbled it between his hands, with his eyes still on Kairi, "Why anyone would come here." He said this friendlier, upbeat, and gently put the can down, his eyes casted downwards upon it. The contrast of his golden skin to his dark and wet lashes enhanced his boyish appearance. He looked up, Kairi still stood furious,
"I'm Roxas," Kairi looked at him weirdly and there was silence,
"You could tell me your name… or just stand there, cause that's cool too." Roxas sat back down and Kairi strutted over,
"Kairi," He said, not her. Then she glanced down to her forgotten nametag,
"Now I really feel like an idiot." Roxas stated for the both of them, then smiled. For some reason Kairi felt guilty now.
XXX
Sora stared at the unfamiliar ceiling in the apartment. His mind attracting old memories, mostly good. The good ones about his sisters and the others, about Ansem. He felt overheated, feeling the warmth of his own body and then with the blankets on top of that; he was sweating bullets. There was a reason few checked into this compact, three story apartment; the buildings, he was told, used to be dorms, and the downstairs a little thrift and coffee shop. Only a couple of the dorms had been combined on a floor to make an actual apartment for rent. All had been taken, so Kairi and Sora took a dorm each, which was good. Sora did have a fever, taking the first couple of days off was no biggie to Mr. Highwind, he said, "You'll make it up for me, I'll make sure, kid." And then did that thing where he wiped the side of his nose with a thumb, like a boxer inside the ropes. So laying in his bed, bursting with heat, he stared at the ceiling. "You got to sweat it out," she said, "that's how you get rid of a fever real quick." Sora was fed up though, and threw off his covers. Going into the small bathroom, he filled up a glass of gross lukewarm water and drank. "It must all the environment changes," that would be Kairi talking, "You're body isn't used to it."
He threw on some jeans, closed the door, locking it, and traveled down the long hallway that bisected the third floor – the top floor. Sora learned a new entrance of the apartments, though exiting it would take you to the other side of the block, so you would half to walk between buildings to get to the shop's entrance.
"And then with dry ice, it'll go crazy! Fucking genius, right?"
"Are you sure that's going to work?" Kairi said focused, arms leaning on the counter, a warm dirty white apron tied loosely around her back.
"Are you sure that's pizza?" Roxas leaned back from his heated explanation and scooted the crust-leftover-plate towards Kairi. She raised an eyebrow for a moment and then brushed it off,
"Okay, okay… "She began to untie her apron and while swinging it over her head she said,
"Why do you wanna cook up so much trouble?" folding it over her arm she combed a wisp of hair behind her ear. Roxas picked up his wallet on the counter and saluted. He exited the shop, always in a better mood than when he came in. A few moments later, Sora opened the shop, Kairi spun around surprised. She laid the apron down and came around the counter.
"Hey, feeling better?" She said tilting her head to meet his sleepy eyes. He scratched them and then his scalp, lifting his head and looking around the shop he said,
"Kind of."
"Oh, that kid was just here." She said placing her hands on her hips, her fiery hair fell forward, "It always seems that you just miss him."
"Who? Oh, that kid you pepper sprayed?" He scratched the back of his head some more and walked over to the counter, examining the contents up on the shelves and picking up some items sitting on the counter.
"It was Lysol," She said innocently and followed, she grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around, "Turn around for a sec'," His head twisted around and there was her face, inches away from his. She starred intently into his eyes; he could only stare back with a questionable look. Her face was unmistakably close to his. As she took a step closer, he took one back. His arm bumped into the counter, and he gulped,
"Kai," He asked, "What are you doing?" She lifted her hands and grabbed his face. A thumb and pointer under and over each eye she stretched them wide open,
"Lemme just see something." She pulled back, still starring intently, and blinked, "Huh,"
"What?" He relaxed, confused.
"I don't know," She walked to the mop leaning against the wall and started towards the kitchen, "You gotta see this kid, I swear you guys are twins." She waltzed into the kitchen while he brushed off a forthcoming and nasty tasting thought.
XXX
"Yo-" He stopped at the door with a hand up. He walked in, Sora starred back at the young blonde. The cowlicks in his hair made it look like a fohawk but there was no gel, or hard cased hair. He was wearing a grey jacket, red shirt, faded jeans. Sora in a white shirt and those cargo shorts, recognized him as the boy with the silver haired woman. He continued with the broom,
"We're going to be closing soon." He said with his head still down, the blonde kid put his weight on the foot furthest back and looked out the window. It was pretty late in the day, and the sun had already gone down, it was a navy black that settled behind the buildings and other scenery. He turned back around and stood there with a serious expression, his first one. Sora could feel the tension and stopped sweeping, slowly his head rose and their eyes locked. In quiet and clandestinely disbelief they store into each other's eyes, studying their faces, had they met before? With this familiar feeling hanging around them, they guessed and passed through memories and faces from their past. Where was it from, what could it be? BUT, it was their own.
After hearing the bell, Kairi paraded into the front of the small shoppe. She walked in on them just watching each other; it was all very strange and awkward. She chocked on the silence though and couldn't take it anymore,
"Hey Roxas!" The spell collapsed,
"Hey Kairi," He walked over to her and sat at the counter, blanked out about what just happened.
"Oh, this is Sora by the way. I've known him since – a really long time.."
"How's it going?" Roxas looked over his shoulder, still perched on his stool. Sora kind of stood dumbfounded and then walked towards the wall where he propped up the broom. Kairi ran into the back for something and Sora passed by behind the counter, and Roxas had thought of a witty comment for his silence, but held it back. Hypocrites suck.
As he passed behind the counter once again, they both looked up, instantly, their eyes locked, instantly, and they watched. It was an eerie feeling, looking back into a mirror planted across someone's face, but they held their ground and watched, for something. Both boys with china blue orbs, both reflecting in the other set of eyes, though they were the same, their eyelids in the same place, the color the same, size; it had a different past behind them, or watched in front of them more so. Sora's had seen the same plain fields everyday, when Roxas' had been to new worlds, very different. Their eyelids, Sora's heavy from anxiety, labor, work. Roxas' was unknown for the time being…
"Even though I said I wasn't going to do it," Kairi dropped a round pizza on the table, "This one is on the house."
"Awesome!" Roxas got up from his stool and stole across the room towards the delectable and rich aroma's origins. The pizza was still steaming as he sat down and licked his lips while Kairi drove the cutter across the center of the cheesy treat. Sora watched from behind the counter as Roxas and Kairi enjoyed some slices, in the end he only had one. And he had cut it himself.
XXX
"Hey there," he said, tired, late and with a weak smile.
"How you doin'?" Kairi spun around. As Roxas pulled all the way into the door, she gasped,
"Oh my goodness, your arm!" She repeated. He walked over to the counter and sat down. She asked what happened, and he smiled. Just shaking his head he brushed it off,
"Oh you know," And ended it there,
"People get excited in sports, you know, it isn't a matter of life or death…" he hesitated as he store into space, "No, it's, uh, more important than that…" He couldn't help but smile off. Kairi started to laugh and gave him a little push in the shoulder. He rested his cast onto the counter, and talked about other things though, meanwhile Kairi took a cup to the machine and got them both a soda. She listened to a couple things, him reviewing his 'master plan' to ruin the – until he mentioned tomorrow,
"Ooo, tomorrow is my day off, and I have to do a couple things."
"Like?"
"Sleep in and be lazy."
"Those are errands that have to be done." He said nodding his head. Kairi chuckled,
"You're probably more on top of that than me—"
"But of course." He insisted as he rose from the counter, making his point.
XXX
"What can I buy with sixty cents?" A dirty and lanky child stood on the tips of his toes peering over the counter. His eyes mirrored the toys and goodies on the shelves that covered the back wall. Sora looked up, tired, and pointed to a couple,
"Any one of those," The boy moved his eyes away from them and pointed,
"Can I by that?" Sora turned his head to look, and then back at the boy,
"No, you don't have enough."
The boy rubbed his chin. Both elbows on the table, one of them rolled into a sweaty fist with a couple of coins. He pointed to another object,
"What about that one?" Sora looked up again and back,
"Nope." He said. When the child asked again, Sora didn't bother to look back. Instead he folded his arms and leaned foreword on the counter, oh, and began to grow impatient.
"How about that?"
"Not with sixty cents."
"Well how much does that one cost?"
"More than sixty cents."
"Okay, how much is that blue one?"
"More than you can afford."
"Can I get that one?"
"Is it one of the ones I picked out?"
"No."
"Then no."
The boy rubbed his chin again, scanning what he thought were options and then looked back to Sora,
"So, which ones could I buy again?" Sora sighed and began to point them out,
"That one, that one, that one…." And so on. The boy thought for a moment after Sora finished,
"So," he began and tilted his head again, like a new idea passed his mind, "I can't have that one then?" Sora looked back and then to the boy, astonished,
"No, no-no you can't. Ya just can't."
After the boy made his purchase a few minutes passed and then the bells ran again and Roxas entered with a basketball under his unbroken arm. As he saw Sora at the counter he remembered what Kairi had said the day before. He took a step towards the door but then looked back at Sora, and changed his mind. He waltzed up to the counter and laid the basketball down,
"You wanna shoot some hoops?" he said a little shyly, resting his chin on the orange ball. Sora looked around,
"I gotta work." He had played something like basketball before it wasn't basketball but it was pretty close; but the ball was much smaller than that – and it didn't bounce. Roxas curled his lips in and nodded his head, being understanding,
"Okay." He left the ball on the table and jogged to the door. When it started to roll of the table Sora caught it, and fumbled it between each hand. Roxas flipped a sign on the door, letting the outside know it was 'closed' and turned back to Sora,
"Problem solved." Sora looked suspicious for a second.
"You're on break." Sora looked at the ball and then at Roxas.
XXX
From the pizza parlor they went quite a ways down one street and then another and a quick turn onto this one, and so on. They had finally reached a single vacant basketball court, with tall chain-linked fences surrounding it. Roxas and Sora saw that one hoop was missing it's net so they decided to go to the other end. Before starting, Roxas sat on a bench shaking his arm with the cast, Sora looked over confused. Roxas noticed this,
"You do it for good luck," He rolled his eyes, "It's itchy." He continued to wiggle it, "Drives me insane." Sora nodded and dribbled the ball a couple times, getting used to the feel of the bounce. He caught it on a last bounce and held it in each hand,
"Have you ever played basketball before?" Roxas asked genuinely, for once. Sora bounced the ball once,
"Not really." Roxas wiped a brow, and held out his hands,
"Man, where did you and Kairi come from? Okay, alright, pass it here." It bounced once before reaching him. Roxas fumbled it between his hands and kicked some extra gravel to the side. He began to dribble with his left arm, his uninjured arm,
"You always want to dribble." He then began doing it with two hands, "Doesn't matter how you do it," he began pounding the ball down harder, and even threw it behind his back and between his legs. Sora watched intently. Roxas looked up, and pointed to the hoop with his casted arm,
"To score points you shoot it through the hoop," Sora leaned back,
"Okay, I know the rest." He wiped his nose and got down in a ready position.
"Alright, then let's go." Roxas flashed a smile and began the game. At first, he began to dribble in one place, staring down Sora. With a quick dart to the right he ran around and managed a lay-up.
He laughed with his friend on the bench, waving his arms – one in a cast still – he was quite happy at the moment. Some water bottles lay next to him. His friend, a little on the chubby side, slapped his knee and returned with another comment that made them both break into chuckles. Someone called his name though and he looked up and exited the gym. Roxas sat there with his elbows resting on his knees. Leaning foreword, he watched the game with half-interest. Some boys ran by, all of them were wearing gym clothes, as well as Roxas, and were in the middle of a scrimmage. Roxas' attention switched from the game to his arm; he starred intently at his hand.
The ball smacked the backboard and rickashayed off the rim through the net. Roxas walked back to the half court line, feeling confident and switched from offensive to defensive. Sora, started dribbling and began to move until a quick hand swept the ball from underneath him and Roxas took it back and ran up to do another lay-up. It went through and he walked back again, now more than confident, but not yet cocky. He checked the ball with Sora, Sora now having his heart set on just making one basket began bouncing from one foot to another. Then something stuck his mind, and he stood up,
"What'd you do to your arm?" He kept dribbling but Roxas stood up,
"Kids."
"Pacumb! Get in there!" A man's voice roared across the gym. Roxas looked up confused. He raised his casted arm and pointed with the other hand,
"What about this coach?"
"Put it behind you're back, you'll be fine." Roxas had little faith in his words, but stood up and started to walk to the opposite side of the court. Along the way another, taller boy, rammed shoulders with him,
"You're dead, Pacumb; the traitor." He glared and Roxas continued his way across the court. The coach blew his whistle as everyone got to ran to their places,
"Alright, let's see some effort in this go!"
"What?" Roxas turned around just as the ball fell from the hoop, it bounced once and kept that momentum up until it ran into the fence. Sora was wiping his mouth on the collar of his shirt, which started to get a bit damp, and walked cockily over to the orange-peeling ball,
"Day dreaming?" He asked quietly but smiling, Roxas shocked at first, began to smirk,
"Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what your up to." Sora passed the ball back to Roxas and rested his hands on his knees. He nodded.
Once the whistle was blown, the kids began to play, passing back and forth. Roxas waited on the other side where the action was, in his position as post and got ready as the players traveled down the court towards them. He spoke to the other boy at post,
"Hey Murph', you ready?"
"You better have this, Pacumb." Roxas looked up at the other post, 'on his team'. Annoyed by this comment he shook it off; now another mutual friend has been turned against him,
"Hey, just don't punk out like you did on Tuesday's delivery." He smirked still staring down the court. The other boy stepped towards him,
"Quite talking that shit here—"
Roxas landed on his toes from a shot. It was all net, both him and Sora rested on their knees, breathing a little heavier. Playing for a while now.
"What the fuck, are you one of Ollie's cronies now?" Roxas met him in the eyes. Heated in the conversation, they didn't notice the players running down the court had arrived. Roxas turned and got ready. Someone shot, and he got the rebound. Then another pushed him to the side and he landed on an elbow with his right casted arm up in the air. He grimaced as a boy kneeled over him,
"You better watch out for the next one, Pacumb."
"'Should've kicked him in the nuts!" He said as he landed from a lay-up, Sora turned around confused. Roxas stood silent for a while, just the sound of their heavy breaths. They decided to sit on the bench for a while. Sora sits with his hands on his knees, moisture forming on his forehead and upper lip, he inhales deeply through his nose. Roxas rests his elbows on the back of the bench. Letting his head hang back, he starts to recall the basketball situation that happened earlier that day. A tingling sensation went through his arm and he wiggled it relentlessly and even got as frustrated as tapping the cast. Sora saw his annoyance and began to smile, trying not to show; but Roxas noticed anyway.
"Hey, if you have ever worn a cast, you would know how frustrating it is." He said knowingly. Sora kept smiling,
"I know, this arm." He held it up. Roxas looked at it and sat back against the back of the bench again,
"Really. How did you break it?" Sora store off and hesitated to answer.
"Hey, it can't be as embarrassing as my story." Sora looked up, he wasn't embarrassed of what happened to him, but this statement struck Sora's interest. Suddenly, Roxas was opening up, and he didn't know why. Sora got the feeling he didn't have very many friends.
"Like what?" Sora asked, Roxas leaned into the conversation, hesitant like Sora to answer,
"Well," He began, "You know why that Fujin girl stopped working, right?" Sora shook his head,
"She's a nasty pusher. Actually, you'll learn that most of the hustlers out here are girls. It's kind of strange." He noticed he was getting off topic, and backtracked to his story,
"Anyways, I'm… uh… one of her delivery boys – nicer way to put it – and all I do is transport to the houses she tells me to go to." Sora listened intently,
"So, one of her regulars supposedly called up and asked to meet in a different location, since their parents had been getting suspicious. So bottom line is, dark alley; some stupid kids from school; and it just went wrong." He wondered off, and began to laugh to himself,
"That was supposed to be my last delivery too, what a memory." Silence for a while and then he looked to Sora, who was quiet and probably didn't get the whole story. Sora defensively asked,
"So your into that," He looked up through his messy and damp bangs, Roxas peered underneath his; maybe being truthful wouldn't win a friend after all,
"I guess so," He said a little hostile. The tension rose.
"Does she know?" Kairi he meant,
"No, I don't want her to either. That's why I got out, for good this time." He leaned back again, and Sora relaxed a little more, feeling a bit guilty for judging him, and now knowing he could trust him. Roxas asked,
"Alright, so fess up! What'd you do? Rob a liquor store or something?" Sora smiled at the thought,
"No, no" he giggled and then his smile faded, "Not anything like that."
"Well, c'mon!" Roxas begged. Sora hesitated, and store off,
"Kai's dad," He was going to go on but Roxas was too excited,
"What? You got in a fight with her dad?" He sat up, with much interested.
"Is that why you're on the lam? Aw, what a great story; two—"
"Hey, who told you we were on the lam?" Roxas settled down and innocently pleaded,
"Uh, no one. I just guessed—" Roxas relaxed, and they didn't say anything for a while.
"So you and Fujin, are like…?"
"What? No way. I mean, she gets what she wants, she did get what she wanted, but I never saw her like that. I never really saw her as anything, just a dumb crack addict." The sun began to go down, and the streetlights would soon flicker on, but until then, they talked. Sora fumbled the basketball between his hands as Roxas continued to talk on and on; he was quiet and just listened,
"...and my mother, she never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." Sora quietly smiled at all of his sarcasm and cracks, although his story was kind of sad. His father worked in the military and was moved from post to post across countries. Every semester, Roxas would start at a new school, usually with no luck at getting friends. He never got into anything serious, but this city was – and this is what he said – by far the worst he had ever gotten into trouble. His mother was portrayed as a real snob, with her nose to high in the air to know what was happening on earth, and his father was never home because of work. He said it was too ironic, that the family would move so they wouldn't break up, but there wasn't a family, they never saw each other; there was no quality time, no family time or anything. And really, everyone liked it that way.
"What about yours?" He stood up and began to stretch his arms over his head, ready to go for another round of basketball before they headed home.
"Well…--" Sora started,
"Shit!" Roxas said relaxed enough, though. A group of boys were seen coming around a corner down the street.
"Oh, Fuck. What are they doing here?" Sora turned around to face them, there were so many,
"Why do they hate you so much? What'd you do to them?" This, like a lot of things, didn't offend Roxas,
"I used to be part of another pushers 'posse'," He motioned the quotations with his fingers, "Whatever the fuck that means. Anyways, I sort of left them to help Fujin out, cause, I owed her for something else… It was like I committed some big betrayal, just cause I'm delivering crack for another big boss. She's making more money at nineteen than the other guy is at thirty." Roxas kept his eye over Sora's shoulder and as they got closer he motioned to the exit at the other end of the court,
"We better go…" He took the basketball from Sora and started walking towards the gate. Sora looked back,
"C'mon," Roxas commanded smoothly, Sora followed. After they exited the courts, they quickened their pace. After a couple of tense minutes, Roxas began leading Sora down different alleys and streets than before. Roxas being all shook up by this situation was starting to get to Sora.
They turned a corner, and faced two of the kids from the gang,
"Hey. Pacumb the traitor," They said slyly like a what-do-you-know it's Roxas! Roxas stood still, and starred them down, Sora turned around to find the rest of the gang surrounding them, they were all taller and older than them, some upperclassmen at his school, some little pushovers the same age as Roxas and Sora, and others looked like dumb drop outs, but built ones at that. Roxas could only stand silent as they barked taunts and insults. Sora followed his example.
"Where's Fujin?" The guy who seemed to be the leader stepped out of the line. Roxas closed his eyes and thought of what to do,
"I don't know.. I got out of that, so you can stop following me, now." Suddenly, Roxas and Sora were each being held by the back of the collar. Sora winced, and pulled down on the opening of his shirt, while Roxas did the same looking onwards.
"Don't give me that shit." He began, Roxas wiggled out of his grip and stepped foreword,
"Take it or leave it, but it's true. So quite stalking us."
"Whose that?" He nodded to Sora, who was on his toes, his shirt hanging above his belly with some derelict pulling on his collar,
"Another one of Fujin's delivery boys?" Roxas looked to Sora and back,
"No, has nothing to do with this. He doesn't even know what's going on." The man dropped Sora and spun him around to meet his face, Sora starred wide eyed.
"Leave him alone, Ollie!--" Roxas started, but a fist landed on his face and a knee was thrown into Sora's stomach. Sora landed on the ground gasping for air, while Roxas stumbled back trying to hold his ground. He glared up, holding his cheek.
"Now, you're going to tell us everything."
Chapter Five: The New Pollution… End.
XXX
Finally… So next chapter, they get these kids back. Actually, the WHOLE school back, so you don't want to miss that one. More interesting characters along the way, including Selphie, Yuna and some others. And, okay, I know the final fantasy and Roxas and characters like that are not really in character at all, but hey, they can't all be nice; they need to play their part in the story. Don't you love the boyish and witty Roxas?
Stay tuned for the next chapter! And thanks for reviewing!