Thank you to all who reviewed. Enjoy.
*~*~*~
"What?"
He knew he'd take it badly, but he hadn't counted on his son's already pale face to become ashen. He shook his head slowly, and remembered why it was that he was going to such extremes, and squared his shoulders with resolve, speaking softly but firmly.
"You will have a companion with you, and I'm sure you heard me perfectly fine when I informed you that he will be living here with us."
Riku closed his eyes, and pulled his sunglasses off. His fingers were harsh on the metal, and it gave a little under the preassure. "Yeah, I heard you. I think you're out of your mind."
Hinoi Jakunen frowned briefly, twining his fingers together and setting them on top of his desk.
"Look, I'm obviously not jumping up in joy about this either, but this is your fault."
"Oh? Really?" Riku retorted, not sounding all that bothered about being accused. He tucked his abused sunglasses into the pocket of his shirt and scowled at his father, practically reading his mind and not liking what he perceived.
"Don't. Fucking. Say. It." He threated softly in the silent room and stalked out with a nearly over dramatic flair, not giving in to the childish urge to slam the door shut.
He drew in a long, trembling breath as soon as he was sure that he was out of sight and out of hearing range from any servant. His father did know just what to say to piss him off, didn't he?
Running his hands through his hair, Riku closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.
For the love of God, he did not need a babysitter, he needed to get the hell out of Rokio.
School was due to open in five minutes. He chose to skip yet again.
*~*~*~
"Well, if it makes you happy..." Aerith began slowly, breaking the eerie, quiet atmopshere that had descended upon the foursome. Selphie nodded, and Tidus tried not to stare at them.
"Happy? Happy? He's not getting engaged here people."
"He might as well be, he's going to live with the guy after all." Selphie pointed out with a rather irritating grin on her face.
"Well, that's a new way to look at it," Sora laughed out loud, picking up a light green apple from his lunch tray.
They sat outside again at their usual stone table, sorrounded by the chatter of nearly a thousand other people. The sun had taken to hidding behind a nasty, gray cloud that gave hints promising raining just in time to catch the unfortunate few who walked home.
Strangely enough, a purple butterfly flew across the courtyard, and Sora watched it curiously, fluttering from one building to the next. He took a bite out of the tuna sandwich that was one of the few edible things his cafeteria served, and nearly choked when Tidus smacked the back of his head.
"Oy! What was that for!" Sora whined, coughing and pounding his chest with a fist. Aerith winced, and handed a can of orange juice, which he quickly julped down, washing away the large chunk of bread that had gotten stuck.
"For being yourself, that's what," Tidus chidded, patting him on the back like a baby. Sora's sapphire blue eyes glared at him, teary.
"You suck." He grumbled, and handed the can back to Aerith with an apologetic look.
"It's okay, I'd rather not have a drink than lose a friend." She assured him quietly, shaking her head.
"Oooy, Tiiiidus! You're trying to kill Sora because you want to be the star of the futbol team, right? That's horrible!" Selphie chidded him and threw a closed packet of ketchup. It bounced harmlessly off his shoulder, but the blonde took it as a sign of war and picked up his own bag of mustard.
"And you all say I'm childish." The youngest of the four complained, but not too loudly, least both decide that he was a more tempting target.
*~*~*~
By his sixtht period, Sora had concluded that 1.Riku hadn't show up for school yet again. and 2. He was a very unpopular person. He shook his head faintly, and brushed locks of tawny hair out of his face, finding that his fingers were cold. He'd once again forgotten to wear gloves. He frowned. // Oh, well. \\
A little, simple smile found a home on his face as he navigated into his desk, and dropped his books on the wooden surface.
"Hola."
"Hola yourself," Zell waved at him. "You wouldn't happen to be any good at trig, would ya?"
"Nope. Ask Vinnie."
Vincent seemed to sigh silently at the use of that damnable nickname, but didn't dignify a reply. At least, not until Zell leaned in foward, almost falling out of his desk.
:"Ooooooh, Viiinnieee deeear.."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"What are we? First graders?" Nida hit Zell lightly. "Get back, oh tattoed beast, I'll help you."
Sora chuckled, then couldn't ignore the angry shrill of the second bell ringing. Sixtht period had begun.
"Friday. I'm sure you all have plans, and a very short attention span, so I'll be as brief as I can be," Yuna sat down on a clean corner of her desk, the light blue skirt she wore almost falling down longer than her sandal-wearing feet.
"For the rest of the year, you will have one major assignment, and very few else. However, before you celebrate, let me tell you what your project is." She pointed out, in effect stopping the "BOOYA" that had been about to break from Zell's lips.
She smiled quirkly.
"Okay. Here's the sitch. You're going to work in partners that I'm going to assign. Nope, no bitching about it, so shush. I've already made the list, so that won't take but a few minutes. I don't really think most of you will have a problem with it." She paused, and picked up a piece of paper, glancing through it. She hummed an unknown song under her breath, and nodded a little.
"Mmkay, like I said, here's the deal. You're going to have a partner, and together, you will have to write a story, using all that I've taught you in the past month. The story can be based in the past, in the present, in the future, or complete fantasy. It's up to you, really. Pretty much all subjects accepted. Rating should be a light R... at the most," There she cast an eye on Irvine and turned her attention back to the majority.
"The story itself should be anywhere from one hundred thousand words, to one-hundred and twenty thousand. I want detailed profiles of all the main characters, and illustrations or more words than that will be considered extra credit." She took in some of the eager faces, and then the rest of dismayed ones.
"Don't worry. You have until May fifteenth to turn it in. That's practically seven months. You won't be graded on talent, so much as for grammar, spelling, originality and how well you package the story. Any questions?"
Rinoa, looking skeptical, raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"What will we be doing in class meanwhile?"
"Working on the story. However, you'll also have to work up some kind of agreement with your partner and work on it outside of school. Go to each other's houses, through E-mail... It doesn't frankly matter to me, which ever is most comfortable for you all. Anything else?" Yuna paused, and looked around the room slowly in case she missed a timidly raised hand.
"Alright then, you can always ask me whatever you want, but now I'm going to read off the partners." Taking a deep breath, Yuna began.
"Zell and Garnet, Vincent and Kairi, Fujin and Tifa...."
Sora basically blocked it all out as he stared out into the futboll field. The sky had finally cracked, and sheets of rain splashed down on the ground in a contionous beat. The grass quickly became soaked, and Sora knew by personal experience that by the next day, the grass would almost be twice as tall, if not more.
"Ellone and Zidane, Leon and Sora..."
"Huh?" Sora blinked.
"You're with Leon." Vincent murmured to him, flicking a strand of black hair away from his face.
"Oh." Sora blinked. "Cool."
"Not cool." Zell broke in. "He's a jerk."
"I'm sure he's not that bad." Sora replied with a shrug and an easy smile.
"Whatever man..."
"Done! Change or move desks so you can be next to your partner, but remember to fix them afterwards!" Yuna called.
Immediatly, a dozen teenagers got up and shifted around the room. The screech of metal being dragged across the floor filled the room, and some started to bicker about the seat they wanted.
Sora put his stuff together, ready to go over to Leon's desk when a tall shadow fell over him.
Blinking, Sora tillted his head back, and grinned shamelessly at the other teenager.
"Hola!"
Leon seemed to debate with himself if he really wanted to sit by him, then a decision that made, since he sat down calmly on the desk that had been deserted by Vincent.
"Not one for words, are you?" Sora commented casually, head tilted to the side. His cerulean gaze was friendly, not guarded at all.
Leon gave him a cool glance and began unpacking his things with careful, precise movements.
"Nope. Not one for words." He remarked, mostly to himself, and pulled out a red notebook that had seen better days. He flipped through weary pages, filled with chemical equations until arriving at a clean one. Sora nudged his desk, and moved so that he was facing the senior, and smiled a little.
"Okay. I'm up for suggestions."
Leon stared at him, trying to choose on something yet again, when he nodded. When he spoke, his voice was low, intelligent.
"Are you good with history?"
"Yep." Sora laid his chin on the palm of one hand, putting the other-the one that held his pen-over the blank piece of paper.
"Although, I obviously prefer some parts more than others."
"What would you prefer the story to be?"
Since Leon was obviously trying very hard to get along, Sora tried his best as well.
"Hmn. I can work with mystery, and horror, probably comedy as well, but I'd be pretty lost on romance."
"At least," Leon began, voice sounding dry. "We agree on that."
Sora flashed him a happy grin.
*~*~*~
No soccer practice probably should have meant that Sora actually got home at a reasonable hour. Meaning, it usually didn't happen that way, and that afternoon was not any different.
Rich laughter rolled down the courtyard and Sora ducked underneath the tin roof, shaking his head wildly. Drops of water were swung in every direction, and Tifa and Rinoa squealed, ducking out of the way.
"Sora! I swear, you're like a dog!"
"No, a puppy!" Selphie joined in, her arms full of pop cans.
"He's cute and adorable which is why we don't kick his ass when he does stupid things, right?"
The corner of Yena's lip twitched, and she shook her head. Being the coach for the cheerleading squad was fun, even if half the time they just ended up... well, hanging out.
A yellow can was tossed her way, and Yuna barely caught it. She cast a berating eye upon Selphie, who simply grinned and tossed yet another one to Rikku. To the rest, she was more careful in handing out.
"Since the gynmnastic team is using the gym, and it's raining too hard, I guess practice is cancelled?" Sora tossed his wet hair back, popping open the top of his Pepsi. Clean water ran down his throat, accumulating at the neck of his shirt. Even though he'd only ran from the arts wing, where his locker was, over to small gazebo, he was soaked.
"Yep. So we're having a session of bitching and just being girls."
Sora quirked an eyebrow.
"Don't you do that anyway?"
"Well, yea, but..." Selphie struggled for something to add.
"But now we're just being lazy to top it off." Rinoa finished, putting her elbows on the table.
"Oooh." Sora made a long sound of profound understanding, and slid into an open section in the bench. Besides him, there were five girls in there. Yuna, Tifa, Selphie, Rikku and Rinoa. The rest of the team had obviously decided to leave.
"You know, you're not like other guys," Rinoa began, musing as she slid one finger under the metal bit, and pulled it back, causing the lever to open a tear shaped hole in the metal.
"And I think it's 'cause you have a girl's name."
Sora shrugged easily.
"Maybe."
"What does it mean anyway?" Rikku wondered, jumping into the conversation for the first time.
"Sky," Yuna answered with a smile, sitting on the slightly damp tabletop.
"Definately a girl's name. But hey, Sora's so cute he could pass as a girl!" Selphie grinned, a familiar evil glimmer in her eyes that made Sora regard her warily.
"If whatever is going through your head includes make up, a wig, a dress, high heels or anything of that sort, don't." He warned.
"Oh, I'm not!" She protested innocently. "I was just wondering if you were opposed to the thought of earrings."
"Are you kidding? Mom would kill me."
"But you don't not like the idea, right?" Selphie pressed. Sora gave her a suspicious glance.
"I suppose not."
"Bellybutton ring?"
If it had been physically possible, a sweatdrop would have run down the back of his head.
"No."
"Be careful Sora, next she'll be suggesting you get breast implants," Rikku teased, and watched as the teenage boy's cheeks turned an amazing, glowing shade of red.
"I draw the line at not cutting my hair, okay?" He stuck out his tongue at Selphie.
"Pity," She remarked with a long, pained sigh.
"Oh, go bother Sephiroth," He stuck his tongue out.
"We're not suicidal." Rinoa protested, taking a sip of her Dew. Rikku snortled
"Oh, we've tried. Or tried to try. He won't even acknowledge us."
"I always knew he was a smart man, that Sephiroth. Ack! Not fair!" Sora yelped, finding himself on the receiving end of an attack with fizzy drinks.
*~*~*~
The rain was still pouring down when he waved good-bye to the girls, and absently licked his elbow, tasty a quirky mix of Pepsi and pop orange. His skin and clothes were sticky, but thankfully it was all very easy to wash off.
A wave of cold air swept across his face and he sneezed, jerking his backpack over one shoulder and starting his jog. He didn't mind running aroud in the rain, although he wondered if his little sister had managed to snag a ride home earlier. Probably. Or at least an umbrella.
Wiping back chilly wet hair from his eyes, Sora crossed the street warily, knowing that sometimes cars couldn't see civillians in that sort of weather and didn't relax until his feet took him on to the sidewalk.
Inevitably, his thoughts turned to GIFT.
He knew why he'd agreed. He didn't regret it at all. However, he hadn't expected to be told to go live with this Riku. For himself, Sora didn't mind. It wouldn't change his life all that much, considering that between school, trainning, hanging out with friends and sleeping, he usually didn't have much time for his family. Nor did they for him. He loved them, but it seemed to be an unspoken agreement that they had separate, busy lives. His father was the head botanist in charge of deciding what plants could, should, or couldn't or shouldn't be planted in Rokio. His mother worked as a chef. His little sister... well. She was going through a stage of 'pretending I don't know my goofy brother'. So living away from them wasn't a huge problem like it might have been for other people.
Sora's gait slowed down, mindless of the pounding rain and he sighed. So what was bothering him? Besides the over all weird situation.
// I suppose... I'm afraid that I won't be able to help him. \\ Lightninght appeared in jagged edges through the dark clouds, looking like wickedly sharp teeth. // I'm afraid that I've taken on something I can't do. \\
Stopping completely, Sora lifted his face up to the sky, closing his eyes and feeling the rain hit his cheeks, his forehead and his lips.
His expression was contemplative.
// But when has that ever stopped me? Why the second thoughts? I've accepted. I'm not going to back down on this, even if it wasn't what I expected. \\ Wiping away at the water gliding down his face, Sora turned his attention the gray world around him. He tucked one hand into his pocket and resumed walking, absently grateful that his backpack was waterproof. He couldn't remember if he'd been the one to buy it, or his mom. Probably his mom, she tended to have the foresight he didn't. It was probably a trait all parents had.
Licking his lips and wiping away the drops of rain he'd missed, Sora realized he could see his breath in front of his face and grinned. If it just dropped twenty or so more degrees, they might even get snow early!
Giddy at the thought, the blue eyend futbol played continued walking home with a cheerful step, mindless of what others called stinging weather.
But then, that was just Sora. Weird, plain Sora.
His stomach rumbled. // Food,\\ He thought, and started jogging.
*~*~*~
Seated comfortably in the driver's seat of a black, covered jeep, Leon stared straight ahead through the misty atmopshere rain brought and drove. His stereo played some horribly pop popular song that he didn't recognize.
With a derisive snort, he turned off the radio completely and happened to notice a shape on the sidewalk. What initially grabbed his attention was that the person wore no raincoat, nor did he have an umbrella. The second thing he realized was that it was his own writing partner, Sora, walking calmly down the street.
// He's insane.\\ Leon concluded, and mechanically slowed his car down. He debated as to wether to pick up the younger teen or not. As far as people went, Sora wasn't on the bottom, but he wasn't high up on the list either.
Tapping his fingers against the wheel, Leon let out a quiet breath and prepared to roll down his window when Sora took off and vanished behind a corner. He pulled the car farther down the road, but he'd lost sight of the boy.
Shrugging, the senior dismissed the situation and automatically picked up his cell phone when it rang.
*~*~*~
End chapter.
*~*~*~
Next up! Leon and Sora study, and the packing begins. =3
*~*~*~
"What?"
He knew he'd take it badly, but he hadn't counted on his son's already pale face to become ashen. He shook his head slowly, and remembered why it was that he was going to such extremes, and squared his shoulders with resolve, speaking softly but firmly.
"You will have a companion with you, and I'm sure you heard me perfectly fine when I informed you that he will be living here with us."
Riku closed his eyes, and pulled his sunglasses off. His fingers were harsh on the metal, and it gave a little under the preassure. "Yeah, I heard you. I think you're out of your mind."
Hinoi Jakunen frowned briefly, twining his fingers together and setting them on top of his desk.
"Look, I'm obviously not jumping up in joy about this either, but this is your fault."
"Oh? Really?" Riku retorted, not sounding all that bothered about being accused. He tucked his abused sunglasses into the pocket of his shirt and scowled at his father, practically reading his mind and not liking what he perceived.
"Don't. Fucking. Say. It." He threated softly in the silent room and stalked out with a nearly over dramatic flair, not giving in to the childish urge to slam the door shut.
He drew in a long, trembling breath as soon as he was sure that he was out of sight and out of hearing range from any servant. His father did know just what to say to piss him off, didn't he?
Running his hands through his hair, Riku closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.
For the love of God, he did not need a babysitter, he needed to get the hell out of Rokio.
School was due to open in five minutes. He chose to skip yet again.
*~*~*~
"Well, if it makes you happy..." Aerith began slowly, breaking the eerie, quiet atmopshere that had descended upon the foursome. Selphie nodded, and Tidus tried not to stare at them.
"Happy? Happy? He's not getting engaged here people."
"He might as well be, he's going to live with the guy after all." Selphie pointed out with a rather irritating grin on her face.
"Well, that's a new way to look at it," Sora laughed out loud, picking up a light green apple from his lunch tray.
They sat outside again at their usual stone table, sorrounded by the chatter of nearly a thousand other people. The sun had taken to hidding behind a nasty, gray cloud that gave hints promising raining just in time to catch the unfortunate few who walked home.
Strangely enough, a purple butterfly flew across the courtyard, and Sora watched it curiously, fluttering from one building to the next. He took a bite out of the tuna sandwich that was one of the few edible things his cafeteria served, and nearly choked when Tidus smacked the back of his head.
"Oy! What was that for!" Sora whined, coughing and pounding his chest with a fist. Aerith winced, and handed a can of orange juice, which he quickly julped down, washing away the large chunk of bread that had gotten stuck.
"For being yourself, that's what," Tidus chidded, patting him on the back like a baby. Sora's sapphire blue eyes glared at him, teary.
"You suck." He grumbled, and handed the can back to Aerith with an apologetic look.
"It's okay, I'd rather not have a drink than lose a friend." She assured him quietly, shaking her head.
"Oooy, Tiiiidus! You're trying to kill Sora because you want to be the star of the futbol team, right? That's horrible!" Selphie chidded him and threw a closed packet of ketchup. It bounced harmlessly off his shoulder, but the blonde took it as a sign of war and picked up his own bag of mustard.
"And you all say I'm childish." The youngest of the four complained, but not too loudly, least both decide that he was a more tempting target.
*~*~*~
By his sixtht period, Sora had concluded that 1.Riku hadn't show up for school yet again. and 2. He was a very unpopular person. He shook his head faintly, and brushed locks of tawny hair out of his face, finding that his fingers were cold. He'd once again forgotten to wear gloves. He frowned. // Oh, well. \\
A little, simple smile found a home on his face as he navigated into his desk, and dropped his books on the wooden surface.
"Hola."
"Hola yourself," Zell waved at him. "You wouldn't happen to be any good at trig, would ya?"
"Nope. Ask Vinnie."
Vincent seemed to sigh silently at the use of that damnable nickname, but didn't dignify a reply. At least, not until Zell leaned in foward, almost falling out of his desk.
:"Ooooooh, Viiinnieee deeear.."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"What are we? First graders?" Nida hit Zell lightly. "Get back, oh tattoed beast, I'll help you."
Sora chuckled, then couldn't ignore the angry shrill of the second bell ringing. Sixtht period had begun.
"Friday. I'm sure you all have plans, and a very short attention span, so I'll be as brief as I can be," Yuna sat down on a clean corner of her desk, the light blue skirt she wore almost falling down longer than her sandal-wearing feet.
"For the rest of the year, you will have one major assignment, and very few else. However, before you celebrate, let me tell you what your project is." She pointed out, in effect stopping the "BOOYA" that had been about to break from Zell's lips.
She smiled quirkly.
"Okay. Here's the sitch. You're going to work in partners that I'm going to assign. Nope, no bitching about it, so shush. I've already made the list, so that won't take but a few minutes. I don't really think most of you will have a problem with it." She paused, and picked up a piece of paper, glancing through it. She hummed an unknown song under her breath, and nodded a little.
"Mmkay, like I said, here's the deal. You're going to have a partner, and together, you will have to write a story, using all that I've taught you in the past month. The story can be based in the past, in the present, in the future, or complete fantasy. It's up to you, really. Pretty much all subjects accepted. Rating should be a light R... at the most," There she cast an eye on Irvine and turned her attention back to the majority.
"The story itself should be anywhere from one hundred thousand words, to one-hundred and twenty thousand. I want detailed profiles of all the main characters, and illustrations or more words than that will be considered extra credit." She took in some of the eager faces, and then the rest of dismayed ones.
"Don't worry. You have until May fifteenth to turn it in. That's practically seven months. You won't be graded on talent, so much as for grammar, spelling, originality and how well you package the story. Any questions?"
Rinoa, looking skeptical, raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"What will we be doing in class meanwhile?"
"Working on the story. However, you'll also have to work up some kind of agreement with your partner and work on it outside of school. Go to each other's houses, through E-mail... It doesn't frankly matter to me, which ever is most comfortable for you all. Anything else?" Yuna paused, and looked around the room slowly in case she missed a timidly raised hand.
"Alright then, you can always ask me whatever you want, but now I'm going to read off the partners." Taking a deep breath, Yuna began.
"Zell and Garnet, Vincent and Kairi, Fujin and Tifa...."
Sora basically blocked it all out as he stared out into the futboll field. The sky had finally cracked, and sheets of rain splashed down on the ground in a contionous beat. The grass quickly became soaked, and Sora knew by personal experience that by the next day, the grass would almost be twice as tall, if not more.
"Ellone and Zidane, Leon and Sora..."
"Huh?" Sora blinked.
"You're with Leon." Vincent murmured to him, flicking a strand of black hair away from his face.
"Oh." Sora blinked. "Cool."
"Not cool." Zell broke in. "He's a jerk."
"I'm sure he's not that bad." Sora replied with a shrug and an easy smile.
"Whatever man..."
"Done! Change or move desks so you can be next to your partner, but remember to fix them afterwards!" Yuna called.
Immediatly, a dozen teenagers got up and shifted around the room. The screech of metal being dragged across the floor filled the room, and some started to bicker about the seat they wanted.
Sora put his stuff together, ready to go over to Leon's desk when a tall shadow fell over him.
Blinking, Sora tillted his head back, and grinned shamelessly at the other teenager.
"Hola!"
Leon seemed to debate with himself if he really wanted to sit by him, then a decision that made, since he sat down calmly on the desk that had been deserted by Vincent.
"Not one for words, are you?" Sora commented casually, head tilted to the side. His cerulean gaze was friendly, not guarded at all.
Leon gave him a cool glance and began unpacking his things with careful, precise movements.
"Nope. Not one for words." He remarked, mostly to himself, and pulled out a red notebook that had seen better days. He flipped through weary pages, filled with chemical equations until arriving at a clean one. Sora nudged his desk, and moved so that he was facing the senior, and smiled a little.
"Okay. I'm up for suggestions."
Leon stared at him, trying to choose on something yet again, when he nodded. When he spoke, his voice was low, intelligent.
"Are you good with history?"
"Yep." Sora laid his chin on the palm of one hand, putting the other-the one that held his pen-over the blank piece of paper.
"Although, I obviously prefer some parts more than others."
"What would you prefer the story to be?"
Since Leon was obviously trying very hard to get along, Sora tried his best as well.
"Hmn. I can work with mystery, and horror, probably comedy as well, but I'd be pretty lost on romance."
"At least," Leon began, voice sounding dry. "We agree on that."
Sora flashed him a happy grin.
*~*~*~
No soccer practice probably should have meant that Sora actually got home at a reasonable hour. Meaning, it usually didn't happen that way, and that afternoon was not any different.
Rich laughter rolled down the courtyard and Sora ducked underneath the tin roof, shaking his head wildly. Drops of water were swung in every direction, and Tifa and Rinoa squealed, ducking out of the way.
"Sora! I swear, you're like a dog!"
"No, a puppy!" Selphie joined in, her arms full of pop cans.
"He's cute and adorable which is why we don't kick his ass when he does stupid things, right?"
The corner of Yena's lip twitched, and she shook her head. Being the coach for the cheerleading squad was fun, even if half the time they just ended up... well, hanging out.
A yellow can was tossed her way, and Yuna barely caught it. She cast a berating eye upon Selphie, who simply grinned and tossed yet another one to Rikku. To the rest, she was more careful in handing out.
"Since the gynmnastic team is using the gym, and it's raining too hard, I guess practice is cancelled?" Sora tossed his wet hair back, popping open the top of his Pepsi. Clean water ran down his throat, accumulating at the neck of his shirt. Even though he'd only ran from the arts wing, where his locker was, over to small gazebo, he was soaked.
"Yep. So we're having a session of bitching and just being girls."
Sora quirked an eyebrow.
"Don't you do that anyway?"
"Well, yea, but..." Selphie struggled for something to add.
"But now we're just being lazy to top it off." Rinoa finished, putting her elbows on the table.
"Oooh." Sora made a long sound of profound understanding, and slid into an open section in the bench. Besides him, there were five girls in there. Yuna, Tifa, Selphie, Rikku and Rinoa. The rest of the team had obviously decided to leave.
"You know, you're not like other guys," Rinoa began, musing as she slid one finger under the metal bit, and pulled it back, causing the lever to open a tear shaped hole in the metal.
"And I think it's 'cause you have a girl's name."
Sora shrugged easily.
"Maybe."
"What does it mean anyway?" Rikku wondered, jumping into the conversation for the first time.
"Sky," Yuna answered with a smile, sitting on the slightly damp tabletop.
"Definately a girl's name. But hey, Sora's so cute he could pass as a girl!" Selphie grinned, a familiar evil glimmer in her eyes that made Sora regard her warily.
"If whatever is going through your head includes make up, a wig, a dress, high heels or anything of that sort, don't." He warned.
"Oh, I'm not!" She protested innocently. "I was just wondering if you were opposed to the thought of earrings."
"Are you kidding? Mom would kill me."
"But you don't not like the idea, right?" Selphie pressed. Sora gave her a suspicious glance.
"I suppose not."
"Bellybutton ring?"
If it had been physically possible, a sweatdrop would have run down the back of his head.
"No."
"Be careful Sora, next she'll be suggesting you get breast implants," Rikku teased, and watched as the teenage boy's cheeks turned an amazing, glowing shade of red.
"I draw the line at not cutting my hair, okay?" He stuck out his tongue at Selphie.
"Pity," She remarked with a long, pained sigh.
"Oh, go bother Sephiroth," He stuck his tongue out.
"We're not suicidal." Rinoa protested, taking a sip of her Dew. Rikku snortled
"Oh, we've tried. Or tried to try. He won't even acknowledge us."
"I always knew he was a smart man, that Sephiroth. Ack! Not fair!" Sora yelped, finding himself on the receiving end of an attack with fizzy drinks.
*~*~*~
The rain was still pouring down when he waved good-bye to the girls, and absently licked his elbow, tasty a quirky mix of Pepsi and pop orange. His skin and clothes were sticky, but thankfully it was all very easy to wash off.
A wave of cold air swept across his face and he sneezed, jerking his backpack over one shoulder and starting his jog. He didn't mind running aroud in the rain, although he wondered if his little sister had managed to snag a ride home earlier. Probably. Or at least an umbrella.
Wiping back chilly wet hair from his eyes, Sora crossed the street warily, knowing that sometimes cars couldn't see civillians in that sort of weather and didn't relax until his feet took him on to the sidewalk.
Inevitably, his thoughts turned to GIFT.
He knew why he'd agreed. He didn't regret it at all. However, he hadn't expected to be told to go live with this Riku. For himself, Sora didn't mind. It wouldn't change his life all that much, considering that between school, trainning, hanging out with friends and sleeping, he usually didn't have much time for his family. Nor did they for him. He loved them, but it seemed to be an unspoken agreement that they had separate, busy lives. His father was the head botanist in charge of deciding what plants could, should, or couldn't or shouldn't be planted in Rokio. His mother worked as a chef. His little sister... well. She was going through a stage of 'pretending I don't know my goofy brother'. So living away from them wasn't a huge problem like it might have been for other people.
Sora's gait slowed down, mindless of the pounding rain and he sighed. So what was bothering him? Besides the over all weird situation.
// I suppose... I'm afraid that I won't be able to help him. \\ Lightninght appeared in jagged edges through the dark clouds, looking like wickedly sharp teeth. // I'm afraid that I've taken on something I can't do. \\
Stopping completely, Sora lifted his face up to the sky, closing his eyes and feeling the rain hit his cheeks, his forehead and his lips.
His expression was contemplative.
// But when has that ever stopped me? Why the second thoughts? I've accepted. I'm not going to back down on this, even if it wasn't what I expected. \\ Wiping away at the water gliding down his face, Sora turned his attention the gray world around him. He tucked one hand into his pocket and resumed walking, absently grateful that his backpack was waterproof. He couldn't remember if he'd been the one to buy it, or his mom. Probably his mom, she tended to have the foresight he didn't. It was probably a trait all parents had.
Licking his lips and wiping away the drops of rain he'd missed, Sora realized he could see his breath in front of his face and grinned. If it just dropped twenty or so more degrees, they might even get snow early!
Giddy at the thought, the blue eyend futbol played continued walking home with a cheerful step, mindless of what others called stinging weather.
But then, that was just Sora. Weird, plain Sora.
His stomach rumbled. // Food,\\ He thought, and started jogging.
*~*~*~
Seated comfortably in the driver's seat of a black, covered jeep, Leon stared straight ahead through the misty atmopshere rain brought and drove. His stereo played some horribly pop popular song that he didn't recognize.
With a derisive snort, he turned off the radio completely and happened to notice a shape on the sidewalk. What initially grabbed his attention was that the person wore no raincoat, nor did he have an umbrella. The second thing he realized was that it was his own writing partner, Sora, walking calmly down the street.
// He's insane.\\ Leon concluded, and mechanically slowed his car down. He debated as to wether to pick up the younger teen or not. As far as people went, Sora wasn't on the bottom, but he wasn't high up on the list either.
Tapping his fingers against the wheel, Leon let out a quiet breath and prepared to roll down his window when Sora took off and vanished behind a corner. He pulled the car farther down the road, but he'd lost sight of the boy.
Shrugging, the senior dismissed the situation and automatically picked up his cell phone when it rang.
*~*~*~
End chapter.
*~*~*~
Next up! Leon and Sora study, and the packing begins. =3
