A Heart Renewed
By: CrimsonCrome
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Kingdom Hearts or any of the companies that own the game. I do own Patience, Garrett, and any other characters/made up ideas. I kind of own Sora's made up mom too.
A/N: Thank you treasureplanet-gurl, Raine Ishida, and A-Mystery-Indeed for giving your kind and helpful reviews. I do apologize again for all of the out of character dialogue that is going on. I hope that it will get better. I am trying my best to use them and keep them in their personalities, but it is quite difficult. I do hope that everyone will continue to read these chapters. I'm thinking somewhere around 10 or 15 will be enough. I'm not sure yet. But I have so many ideas. I love the idea of a keyblade war... I know, it's overused, but brilliant!
Chapter FiveAxel pulled his smoking gun back to the waitress's head.
Garrett gulped; staring at the floorboard that had a hole where a bullet went through that nearly killed him.
"Don't speak again," Axel hissed.
The supervisor walked slowly over to the red head. "Please, that was unnecessary, just take the money and go."
"Don't tell me what to do, old man," Axel warned, waving the gun at him momentarily. "Alright, see you kids later." He dragged the waitress out the door.
Garrett stood. "Is everyone all right?"
Sora couldn't believe what had just happened to him. He was surprised that Axel was that serious of a gang leader. He thought him to be one who was all talk – but unfortunately that wasn't the case. He felt his hands clench at his sides and then finally stood. He pulled Kairi up and hugged her close, she cried into his chest. Roxas was shaking. Patience was deathly pale, even paler than her usual. Selphie grabbed onto the back of Kairi and hugged her, crying, from behind. Riku had a perplexed look on his face and Wakka was covering his mouth with the palm of his hand. Tidus was the only one who really moved. He got up and went to the window.
"I think he's gone," Tidus stated for the whole restaurant to hear. A pent up sigh seemed to let loose from everyone in the room. Several people began to gather their things and call people. Sirens could be heard down the road.
"We'll probably have to stay here," Garrett told his youth group. "I'm sorry, Patience, it seems nothing has gone right tonight."
She shrugged. "You couldn't control it sir," she whispered.
Garrett nodded sadly and joined Tidus at the window. Sora stroked Kairi's hair, glad that they were comfortable enough to hold each other like this, even if Selphie was sort of holding them as well. The two finally let go of him and Sora went over to join Tidus and Garrett at the window.
"Hey, you guys, I think that those people went after Axel," Tidus nearly shouted, then lowered his voice cautiously. "There were two guys and a girl that followed Axel as he ran with the waitress. They left that guy with the girl on his back standing there. I wonder what they are doing."
Garrett sighed. "I hope they don't get themselves killed, that's the last thing we need."
Sora slowly opened the front door and went outside. A girl and two guys were joining up with the boy giving the girl a piggyback ride. They all seemed dirty and worn out.
Then the boy who was giving the girl a piggyback ride turned and looked at him. That moment in time was burned deep into Sora's memory. The boy's hair was spiky blond and he was wearing an all black cloak, in a way somewhat similar to Axel's attire. But his frightening blue eyes were what riveted Sora to that spot on the ground. He broke the stare and looked around, wondering where Axel had ran off.
Sora went back inside.
Kairi was paying the supervisor for their pizza. "How much did you loose?"
The supervisor looked at the manager questionably. "You think it'd be okay? I mean it is gone now."
"Yeah," the manager put a hand to his forehead. "Doesn't matter now."
"We lost about one thousand dollars. It was a really good opening day," the supervisor sighed. "And now we have to tell the boss that we lost the money on the first day. I hope we don't get fired."
"Surely he'll understand," Selphie spread her hands wide.
"I hope," the manager shrugged. "Well, we better apologize to everyone."
Garrett walked over to the supervisor and manager. "You lost one thousand?"
"Actually, one thousand eighty dollars and two cents," The supervisor said unhappily covering his eyes in anguish.
Kairi smiled at Garrett and he smiled back knowingly.
"Don't worry," Garrett said kindly. "There's good days and bad days, but it's on the bad days that we have to have the strongest faith. Stay steadfast, I'm sure the money will find its way back to you guys."
"Yeah right," the manager said miserably.
XxX
Sora was the last one to be dropped off. Garrett turned to him from the front seat of the van. "Hey, will you be there tomorrow?"
"Sure thing. It's right after school, so I'll be there early because I can walk there. I'll have my mom come and bring her car," Sora replied eagerly.
"Good. I don't know if we will even get close to what they had, but we're going to try and keep trying. Maybe a love offering Sunday will help," Garrett smiled and waved as Sora left the van and began trudging across the bridge toward his house on Fate's Cove.
When he reached his house, the lights were burning against the darkness, a shining beacon all by itself. It was about nine thirty when he finally opened his front door to his petite two-story beach house. His mother was in the kitchen.
Sora's house was very small, for a two-story house. On the first floor were the kitchen, the bathroom, and the living room. On the top floor were his room and his mother's across from him. It was made of old wood and straw, but it held nicely against the storms that blew in off the ocean.
In the kitchen, there was an old stove, a refrigerator, and some kitchen counters. There were some aged, black and white photographs of Sora's mother's mother and father. A square table with two chairs was in the middle of the room. Sora had lumbered in as his mother was heating up some instant chocolate pudding on the stove. She turned to look at him and smiled.
"Hey hun, how was your day?" His mother worked really hard and long hours at a local pawnshop. She ran it basically, because the owner was always traveling. She got paid every two weeks, but it was decent. His mother always pushed Sora to do his best in school because she knew that he deserved better than running a pawnshop.
She was a pretty woman, not too tall and not too short. Her hair was usually pulled back in a curly brown ponytail. She always tried to smile, which made her look even more beautiful, but she was getting older, mainly because of how hard she worked. Thin worry lines were present on her pleasant features, even under her plain blue eyes.
Sora loved her a lot because she tried so hard – and still was really nice to everyone. She never used the excuse of "I'm tired," to be grumpy or "I've had a hard day," to make him do things for her. She always kept busy, always kept smiling.
"Well," Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "A lot of bad and good things."
"Really? Are you okay?" She asked, turning completely from her pudding.
"Yeah," Sora shrugged. "You see I kind of got in a fight, but not on purpose. This new gang is in town and they were being really disrespectful to Kairi –"
"So you were just standing up for her?" She asked him, kindly.
"Yeah," he bowed his head in shame. "Selphie's the one that actually started it. But Tidus, Riku, and I all got detentions tomorrow during lunch."
"Oh," Sora's mom smiled broadly. "That girl is always doing something."
Sora shrugged. "That's not the worst part though. We also went to Yuki's deli today, before youth group. This new girl named Patience was working there. She's really nice mom, but she's a nervous wreck. I think she's a refugee from the Dusk Islands. Anyway, she was there and I didn't have any money, so everyone ordered sodas and some ordered food. She brought them back and she spilled pop all over me on accident. She started crying and apologizing, but her boss fired her for what she did. I felt really bad. So we invited her to youth group. But that's not the worst part."
"Aw, that's really sad, is that why the door was unlocked when I came home?" Sora's mother asked, smiling knowingly.
"Oh… yeah, had to changed my clothes. I'm sorry!" He said, scrunching up his face in concern.
"It's okay, nothing's missing," Sora's mom turned back to her pudding and stirred it attentively. "So, how was youth group?"
Sora seated himself at the table and rested his chin on his right palm. "Well, that was pretty bad too. Riku was being unusually mean and said some stuff he shouldn't about Patience. Well, she heard him and went home."
"Oh no!" Sora's mother said in alarm. "So did you lose her completely?"
"Lose her? No, we tracked her down and Riku apologized for his behavior. Then we went to this new pizza place. You see… that was the worst part about my day," Sora said cautiously, not wanting to frighten his mother too much. "When we went to the pizza place, the gang member who I had fought with was there. He was fighting with a waitress, then he left and came back with a gun."
Sora's mother dropped her spoon in the pot on the stove and whirled around. "Oh my gosh! A gun? What happened? Are you okay?" She ran over to him and hugged him close to her stomach.
Sora hugged her back, trying to calm her. "I'm fine mom, but it got kind of wild. The guy with the gun, Axel, actually shot at Garrett once but only to warn him not to talk. Then he ran out with the waitress and all of the pizza places money. I don't know what happened to the woman. We're going to have a carwash to raise money for the pizza place because it was their opening day and they lost a lot."
Sora's mother finally let go of him. She bent down and fixed his hair so it spiked up again. "I'm so glad everyone is okay. Oh, I worry about you so much. I wish I could be there with you all the time."
"Even when I pee?" Sora asked, trying to prompt a laugh from her to lighten the mood.
She did laugh. "NO. You're so goofy." Sora's mother went over to the stove and took off the pudding and placed it on a potholder on the table. She went over and opened a cupboard below one of the counters. She pulled out two bowls and two spoons. Then she placed them on the table and filled the bowls with pudding. Sora grabbed one willingly as she offered it to him. They sat in silence for a while and ate the pudding.
"So…" Sora's mother looked at him questioningly. "What are you going to do about homecoming?"
"What do you mean?" Sora asked, suspicious.
"You going to take anyone? I would prefer you didn't take Selphie, she worries me," his mother said, waving her half chocolaty spoon around.
Sora shook his head. "No, not Selphie. I don't know that I want to go with anyone. You dance with more people if you go alone. Maybe if I went as friends with someone."
"What about Kairi?" His mother asked him, looking intently into her pudding bowl.
Sora eyed her. "What about her?"
"Would you take her to homecoming?" She asked, still avoiding eye contact.
"As a friend? Maybe. Why?" Sora asked her.
"Well…" Sora's mother shook her head. And the conversation ended. Sora washed up the dishes after eating the rest of the pudding in the pot and then traveled up to his bedroom.
It was a really messy room. He had a lot of clothes piled everywhere, strewn about in an abnormal fashion. He lay down on his bed and looked out at the darkened sky from the window in his room. There was no need for a light; he had easily walked in the winding path through his junk to his cot without difficulty. He had it memorized.
The whole first day at school was a shocker, no doubt. But – the thing, strangely, that made him think the most was the way that blond boy stared at him at the pizza place. Were they new refugees from the Dusk Islands? Something was telling him that he needed to see that blond boy again. Something was telling him that some evil was coming – and that boy was the key.
XxX
The next morning Sora woke to the smell of sausage and bacon sizzling downstairs. He grabbed some clothes and walked sleepily down to the bathroom.
"Mom?" Sora asked, confused to see her there. "Why aren't you at work?"
She turned and smiled at him. "I'm taking the day off, the boss said I could, since I haven't for five years now."
Sora gave her another baffled look before she turned and resumed her task of fixing breakfast. He went on his way to the bathroom. Sora took a quick shower and gelled and spiked his hair. He brushed his teeth and then put on some fresh clothes – that looked nearly the same as the ones he wore yesterday. He had many of the same outfits. Sora finished by putting on his big yellow shoes and walked out to see his mother setting the table with piles of food. His eyes lit up hungrily.
"I made as much as I thought a growing boy needs," she said. Sora's mother had cooked sausage, bacon, a large stack of pancakes, some waffles, and scrambled eggs.
"Gee!" Sora cried in surprise. "Thanks a lot mom!" He sat at the table and she handed him a big plate. He put a lot of the food on his plate and ate until he thought he might explode. His mother patiently ate whatever he didn't. He grabbed his backpack and gave his mom a large kiss on the cheek, then went on his way to school. His mother stepped outside and waved him goodbye.
On his way to school, he met up with Roxas at the bakery, who was eating a doughnut. Sora thought the smell of more food was going to make him puke.
"So, you coming to the carwash today?" Roxas asked.
"Yeah," Sora replied. "Dude, that doughnut is making my stomach churn."
Roxas looked from his doughnut to Sora with a bemused look. "Why?"
"My mom made me a huge breakfast after I told her about my day yesterday," Sora explained, rolling his eyes.
"So she stayed home from work to make you food?" Roxas guffawed. "That's hilarious! Wow – mothers."
Sora saw Kairi walking toward them from a grocery store. She was with Patience and Selphie.
"Hey," Sora greeted them as they came over. "You guys want to walk to school with us?"
Kairi nodded. "Sure."
"So how did the sleepover go?" Roxas asked, interested.
"Good," Selphie replied. "We talked a lot about girl stuff and watched some movies and ate popcorn. We also prayed for that lady from the pizza place before we went to bed."
"Hey!" Roxas cried out in surprise. "I prayed for her too!"
Sora averted his eyes, not wanting to admit that he hadn't since everyone present at the time seemed to have. He had just forgotten to pray last night.
"So," Roxas said, turning his attention to Patience. "You should come to church Sunday. Would you like to? All of us sit together. You can also come to my party Friday night. What do you say?"
Patience looked down shyly at her tennis shoes. "Well, I would very much like to. All of you have treated me so nicely."
"Except Riku," Sora spat, forgetting that he was gossiping. "He didn't exactly be nice to you."
"But he apologized and that's all that matters to me anyhow," Patience whispered, more to herself than to the group.
Roxas beamed happily at her. "Oh good! My party starts at five on Friday. So, be there with your favorite blitzball team gear on."
Patience stared at him curiously. "If you don't mind me asking, what is blitzball?"
The group stopped and stared at her. Her face flushed crimson out of embarrassment at the sudden attention.
"You don't know what blitzball is?" Roxas cried.
"I'm so sorry," Patience apologized, nearly shaking with nervousness.
Roxas smiled suddenly at her and said, "Well, I suppose that's okay. I guess they don't have it over there at the Dusk Islands."
"No," Patience whispered.
"Anyway," Sora said quickly. "She'll see what it is at the party and Roxas can explain everything that is happening."
Roxas brightened even more. "Yeah!"
They walked on until they got to the front of the school. Riku and Wakka were already there, talking. When Sora and his friends approached them, they stopped chatting. Sora frowned. Had they been talking about Patience again?
"What's going on guys?" Selphie asked them, halfway interested.
Riku shrugged. "Nothing much. Where's Tidus at?"
Sora looked around at all the students standing outside the building. Tidus wasn't anywhere to be found. That was odd. He was usually the first one there.
Selphie pouted a bit and then walked over next to Wakka. "I hope he's okay."
Sora watched his friends for a while, until he saw Riku signaling that he wanted to talk to Kairi in private. They walked out of earshot and Sora watched them like a hawk. Riku was talking first and he spread his hands wide, as if in question. Then Kairi's face turned a dark red and she averted her eyes – but she was smiling. Kairi nodded her head and Riku smiled. They rejoined the group.
Wakka turned to look at Riku and Riku gave him a thumbs up. Kairi whispered something to Selphie and she giggled. Sora thought he was going to faint. Had Riku asked Kairi out? What was going on?
Without thinking, he turned and started walking toward the school. Ignoring shouts of his name from his circle of friends, he went straight to the boy's bathroom. There, Sora sat on the grubby tile floor and ran his fingers through his spiked hair.
Had Riku beat him to the punch? How was this anyway fair to him? Sora got up and started to pace. Then he heard a toilet flush and out of it stepped Tidus.
Tidus looked pale as a ghost. He was holding a crimson rose in his left hand and stopped uncertainly at the sight of Sora.
"What are you doing in here?" Tidus asked, his face twisting up in anger, turning a beat red color.
"I could ask you the same thing," Sora shot back, his own anger rising.
"I – oh! What's the use? I give up, Sora. I'm horrible at handling women!" Tidus threw the rose at Sora, who caught it. "Here, give it to Kairi."
Sora shook his head and looked Tidus straight in the eye. "Is this for Selphie?"
Tidus went pale again. "No – maybe – yes…"
Sora pushed the rose back into the boy's hands. "Put it in her locker before the bell rings. She likes you a lot Tidus. If you were to put an anonymous rose in her locker, she would flip out. She loves romantic stuff like that."
Tidus shook his head in dismay. "Aw dude, I better hurry I guess."
Sora watched him leave the bathroom, running. Then Sora went over to the mirror and looked at his own self. He tied his right shoe and then left the bathroom just as the first bell rang. All the kids began to rush in from the front doors. Sora walked quickly to his own locker and saw Tidus rushing away from Selphie's and to his own down the hallway. Sora wished he had had the courage to do something like that for Kairi.
The day went on and eventually, Sora felt like it was going to be extremely boring, despite the fact that the whole routine was still fairly new. So, when he got to history class, he decided to talk to Patience, hoping she would be of some entertainment.
"Are you going to the carwash tonight? It starts at –" Sora stopped when she shook her head. "Why not?"
"Well," Patience smiled kindly at him. "I need to find another job. My mom is having a difficult time supporting us on only one income. So, I'm going for a job interview at the pawnshop here in town. I hope that they take me."
"Hey! That's where my mom works everyday!" Sora said with a broad smile. "I'll put in a good word for you. Wait, I thought my mom didn't have to work today?"
Patience shrugged her shoulders. "She's coming in at 4:45 then, I suppose. She said she'd be there."
"Hmm," Sora scratched his head. "That's odd. I never thought that mom would schedule a job interview on the one day she got off after five years!"
Patience turned red. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know. I can reschedule! I didn't know that your mother was off today. Oh, I feel terrible! Five years?"
Sora couldn't help but laugh at her nervous babbling. "It's okay, if mom wants to see you today, then it is for a good reason."
"Maybe I should make it Friday though. I don't want to take up her day off," Patience shook her head in dismay.
"No, don't worry about it. Mom's a really hard worker. She wants to do the job right and besides, the sooner you get to work, the better," Sora turned in his seat as the teacher told him to be quiet, but they continued to pass notes.
Then something hit Sora and he began to realize the situation he was in. Riku had probably either asked Kairi to the dance or asked her out. So – that would mean he would have to find another date to homecoming. And if the date were a real date, instead of just friends, then maybe Kairi would become jealous. That's what he really wanted – to see if Kairi cared about him.
He wrote in the note:
Sora: Are you going to homecoming?
Patience: Maybe – I don't know yet. I'm kind of scared of going by myself.
Sora: You could come with me.
Patience: As friends?
Sora: I suppose if you want it to be that way.
Patience: Um… I don't know.
Sora: Look, I'd like to go with you like you were my date, if that's okay.
Patience: Oh! Um… yeah. That would be pretty cool.
Sora: Really? So that's a yes?
Patience: Sure! Wow – I really didn't expect this. Thanks Sora!
Sora: No problem.
Patience: Okay, I'll make arrangements. I can't wait!
Sora crumpled up the note as the bell rang, completely satisfied.
XxX
At lunch, Sora was eating in the office with Riku, Tidus, and Selphie. Axel's gang was there – including the quiet girl in white – but there was no Axel to be found. Sora knew he wouldn't be stupid enough to show up to school after yesterday. That would have been tremendously foolish.
The room was silent. Everyone just stared and chewed. No one talked, no one made any other noise than a soft swallow, and no one dared to get done eating first.
Sora ended up getting done with his food first, but he waited until the rest of his friends were done.
He watched the girl in the white dress. She had pretty blond hair that was a bit below her shoulders. She had it loosely pulled over to one side. Her eyes were large, piercing and a stunning blue shade. Was she the thirteenth member of this alleged group? Or was there someone else that was the thirteenth one? She didn't look anything like the others, and she was very withdrawn and proper. She seemed to be completely out of place among them.
"If you are done, go to the lunchroom and wait for the bell to ring," a man had walked in from the back of the room and Sora hadn't even noticed him until he spoke. He was wearing a badge that read: Vice Principal Gary Punnett.
Riku stood and Sora followed, along with the rest of his friends. They dumped their trash in a small wastebasket and walked out the door and out of the office to the lunchroom.
Selphie flipped her hair absently and then preoccupied herself with looking at her nails. Tidus was sneaking quick peeks at her. Sora could tell he was nervous. Sora wanted to laugh at Tidus, which would have been mean, but he knew better. The kid was a wreck, worrying about Selphie in the first place.
When they got to the lunchroom, they saw Kairi sitting, unhappily, by herself. She stood when they entered and smiled at them. "So how did it go?" She asked.
Riku shrugged. "It went."
Selphie giggled. "It was awkward, but it's over now. Axel wasn't there of course, which is good, but the rest of them seemed stupid without their leader to guide them."
"Who is that blond girl that was there?" Sora asked the group. He noticed Kairi turned and stared at him curiously.
"I think her name is Naminé," Selphie offered. "I heard it from some other girls that have a class with her. But she supposedly never talks."
"I'd like to figure out why she's with those gang members. She seems so out of place," Sora said, pondering what he had just said.
Tidus laughed. "Yeah right, man! You just think she's cute."
Sora laughed. "So what if I do." Out of the corner of his eye, he tried to watch Kairi's reaction, but didn't really get a good glimpse.
The guys all whooped and laughed at that, patting him on the back jokingly. They began to say something rude when Selphie stopped them with a different question.
"So who's all going to homecoming? We only have until next weekend," Selphie pointed out.
"Why do they always plan it so early in the year?" Riku asked, pacing. The bell rang and all of the kids began to file out.
"So," Selphie said, coming up to Sora, "who are you taking? Did you find yourself a girl yet?"
Sora shrugged. "I might have someone in mind. I might tell you who it is, if you tell me something."
"Okay," Selphie said. "Shoot."
Sora looked around and whispered the question in Selphie's ear. "Who's going with Kairi to homecoming?"
Selphie grinned. "No one. Why?"
Sora's face fell into a deep frown. That wasn't what she was supposed to say. What was he going to do now?
XxX End Chapter Five XxX