Action is forthcoming. Patience, please.

Also, this is going to be the only update for a long time, if I don't get enough time to finish off Jump. Sorry...

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

Xxx XXX xxX

Chapter 2: Shade Hunter

BLEE-BLEE-BLEE-BLEE-BLEE—

My hand snapped out to jab the 'Snooze' button, but instead of smashing my face back into my pillow, I sat up and glanced at my hand.

The aura was still there.

"DAMMIT!" I hissed, hurling my pillow at the floor. I hunched over, drawing my legs to my chest. "It wasn't a dream…"

"Personally, I'm kind of happy about that," a voice said from behind me.

I looked around to see Sora was leaning against my doorframe. "Why?" I grumbled. "We're freaks now. Circus, if you want to get specific."

"I dunno," Sora replied, shrugging. "I mean, I kind of like using these powers."

"Why? Think they'll help you get a date?"

He blitzed to the side of my bed, my pillow in hand, and forced it onto my face. "What was that?" he grinned, although I could hear his teeth grinding.

I just shoved the pillow off of me. Sora was so weak.

"I never wanted these abilities," I mumbled. "I wanted to be a normal kid, I still want to, and I don't need pity or charity."

"I don't think people would pity you for these powers," Sora remarked, falling backwards. As expected, his spiky brown hair halted his body's arcing fall. "I think they'd be jealous."

I sighed and collapsed back onto my pillow. My own spiky blond hair stopped my fall. "That's exactly what I don't want," I grumbled. "I just want to be Roxas Curtiss, normal sixteen-year-old human male."

Sora bounced back to his feet. "C'mon, Roxas," he said. "You're always going to have these powers and you might as well grow to put up with them."

"How do you know if we're going to keep these powers?" I scowled. "For all we know they'll be gone by tomorrow!"

It was as if he didn't hear me. "By the way, I figured out why we don't go splat when we fall," Sora grinned. "We're completely unaffected by kinetic energy!"

I just stared at him.

"Also, can we call the seeing of glow-y thingies 'aura sight'?"

Okay…

"Whatever," I replied, waving a hand.

He pumped his arm. "I have more votes than Xion now," he said.

"Did you spend all night trying to explain how our powers work and whatnot?" I snorted, rolling my eyes. Sora didn't have OCD but he certainly acted it at times. "You need your sleep, you know."

"I'm too hyper to sleep," Sora sang. "Oh, and you're making breakfast today. Good luck!"

You know that crazy tiger from Winnie the Pooh? Yeah, Tigger. I swear it looked like Sora literally bounced out of my room.

"Dammit," I said, swinging my legs off my bed. It wasn't that I was a bad cook (all three of us had had to learn how to prepare edible food), but that I found the act of cooking very, very boring, to say the least.

Xxx XXX xxX

Xion was up too, already dressed and reading the newspaper. I set a plate of pancakes down in front of her, along with the perquisite fork, knife, and sweet, sweet syrup.

"Enjoy," I sighed. "Sorry, but this is all we have right now."

She frowned, running a hand through her jet-black hair. "Remind me to pick up some bacon and eggs after work," she replied, picking up a fork.

Our sister worked as a secretary to keep a roof over her brothers' heads. It was horrible, really; I had taken a look at Xion's grades in college and she had had the potential to rise to a corporate CEO. Unfortunately, our parents' deaths had forced her to drop out in order to take care of us. Sora and I always feel guilty when we remember this.

"Xion, you still have that aura around you," I said, plopping down beside her.

"I know," she replied through a mouthful of food. "So?"

I sighed and rested my head on my hands. "I was kind of hoping that we'd lose these freak abilities after yesterday," I admitted.

My sister set a hand on my shoulder. "We have these powers because we do," she smiled. "We were chosen—I guess. Now I sound like some corny master in some kung fu movie, don't I?"

She giggled. I stared at her, amazed—Xion never did something as girly as giggle. Ever.

"I—I guess," I muttered, still not quite believing my ears.

"Come on," Xion snorted. "I can giggle, right?"

"Yes, but that's not what's on my mind."

"Then what is?"

"Do you—I don't know, do you like these powers?"

Xion's expression morphed from amusement to thoughtfulness. "I accept that we can do this stuff," she said slowly. "I guess I'm neutral about it, if you want my personal opinion—I'm okay with having them."

It was my turn to scowl. "Aren't you afraid that, you know, we'll be labeled circus freaks?" I asked. "Freaking sideshows?"

"Not really," she answered. "I mean, who would believe us if we told them?"

My response was to blitz to the kitchen and return with a plate of my own pancakes.

"Okay, good point," Xion admitted. "If we show them, we'll probably be—"

"Captured by a bunch of feds?" Sora suggested, sitting down on the other side. "Experimented on? Burned to death by a mob?"

"Not what I was looking for," Xion said dryly. "I was thinking more along the lines of shunned."

"And that's exactly why I don't want these powers," I muttered, picking at my plate.

"Aw, c'mon—"

"You're not going to convince him like that, Sora."

Sora leaned his head on his tented fingers. "Roxas," he began earnestly. "We—maybe we can do this stuff because we were chosen to be able to. If so, then whatever purpose we were meant for probably isn't going to give us the luxury of rejecting it."

"If," I echoed. "Or we could be genetic freaks."

"Then wouldn't we have had these powers from birth?"

"Okay, then," I smirked. "So if I reject my purpose, is some gangster going to come in here and 'pop a cap in my ass'?"

"Don't move," a cold voice said from behind me, and something pressed into the back of my head.

I promptly slapped the fork away. "Xion!"

Xxx XXX xxX

Sora and I went to Kingdom Key High, a close-by high school that was within walking distance of our house. As usual, we split up just before anybody could see us walking together.

"Alright, Sora, see you after school!" I called, waving.

"See you!"

KKH had a rotating block schedule—that is, we would have odd-numbered classes on one day and even-numbered classes the next. Today I had Japanese 3 first, Pre-Calculus second, and Phys-Ed last.

I jogged towards the languages building and sprinted for Room 307 when I heard the warning bell. I slid through the door just as a loud chime signaled that whoever hadn't made it was now late.

"Just in time as usual, Mr. Curtiss," Mr. Miyazaki said dryly. "Now take a seat."

My 'particular' seat was the back left corner of the block of desks, behind my friend Riku. "Hello, my bishounen friend," I smirked, poking a strand of his long silver hair.

"I hate that nickname," he growled. "Just because I choose to have long hair doesn't mean I'm a—"

"Beatnik?"

I chuckled as he gave me a glare that would've scared off Death himself.

Riku was the ideal man in the eyes of many—oh who am I kidding, most—girls at KKH. He was a member of the blitzball team, was absolutely ripped (and supposedly hot), had incredible (for a jock) straight B's, knew more about hair/skin care than most preppies, etc, etc, etc.

"I don't think Riku's peaceful enough to be a beatnik, Roxas," Kairi murmured.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Riku grumbled, burying his head in his arms.

Kairi, his girlfriend, was the ideal girl in the eyes of most guys. She was beautiful, with long auburn hair and violet eyes and a body to drool over, she was brainier than most of the geeks, and she was kind and friendly to everybody AND popular as hell. Fortunately, I'd finally gotten over my crush on her by the middle of eighth grade, after damn near three years of trying, and I still found myself staring at her every so often.

I'd known Kairi since middle school and Riku since freshman year, and both knew of my family's…situation. But what both didn't know was that Sora was my brother, as we had enrolled under separate last names.

"So how many boys' hearts have you broken this week, again?" I asked.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Just because I get tons of love letters doesn't mean I write back to them, okay?"

"Then why do I keep on finding letters from this guy named Oathkeeper in that mailbox of yours?"

She had actually set a small cardboard box in front of her locker so nobody would try to hack her locker.

"He's determined, I guess…" Kairi replied, leaning back.

I knew who Oathkeeper was, of course, and I knew he'd been in love with Kairi for at least six years.

"Well, good luck to him," I chuckled. "I highly doubt anybody could live up to Riku!"

Silver-hair smirked. "For once Roxas says something intelligent."

"Look who's talking," I retorted. "I still have those videos of you at that one party, you know."

Riku's green eyes popped open with panic. "I was drunk at the time!" he protested. "Of course I'd have said something stupid!"

"I don't know about that…" I said slowly. "I seem to recall that there was no alcohol at your seven-year-old cousin's birthday party…"

"What?" Kairi asked, cocking her head to one side. "What did he say?"

I grinned evilly. "Blackmail time," I sang, whipping out my phone.

"Don't you dare," Riku hissed. A vein was throbbing in his forehead and I could hear the grinding of his teeth. "Put away that phone before I kill you, Curtiss."

"Touchy, touchy," I chuckled. "But you'll have to catch me first, fatty!"

With that I gracefully jumped out of my seat and dashed around the perimeter of the seating area. A roar of rage boomed behind me and Riku, like the ox he was, lumbered after me. He may have been the star defender of the blitzball team, but he couldn't sprint for shit.

"Mr. Curtiss! Mr. Jenova!" Mr. Miyazaki shouted from the front of the room. "Would you kindly not act like children?"

"He started it!" I called, pointing back at Riku even as I slid like a snake between two rows full of girls. "Well, excuse me, my lovelies…"

The only boy in said two rows smacked me over the head as I passed. "Do I look like a girl to you?" he snapped.

"Sorry, couldn't tell the difference!" I replied as I rushed to the front of the room. Several girls giggled at that and began teasing the now visibly irritated boy.

The brunette boy's eyes narrowed. "What was that?" he murmured, standing up.

"I said, I couldn't tell the difference!" I smirked, stopping. "What're you gonna do about it, huh?"

He clenched his fists. "Care to say that again to my face?"

Even Riku was staring at us now.

"I already did, idiot," I said. "Hard of hearing?"

The guy sighed and gently rubbed his temples. "Calm down, Noctis, he's just a boy," he murmured. "An ignorant, arrogant whelp who doesn't know his place, but a boy nonetheless…"

"I'm sorry, are you insane?" I asked. I knew I was pushing my luck but for some reason I couldn't stop. "I mean, you're talking to—"

'Noctis' flashed across the room and socked me on the jaw, sending me reflexively staggering back.

Was I angry? No, because—HOLY SHIT did he just blitz in front of me?

"How in the hell did you do that?" I asked, wiping my mouth. Why did I not feel pain—oh right I was 'unaffected by kinetic energy'. And yes I know what that means.

"No injury from even a blitz-enhanced blow, hmm?" 'Noctis' said, nodding. "So my suspicions were correct."

"What…?"

"My name is Noctis Lucis Caelum," he stated coldly. He turned for the door. "I came here to tell you of your destiny."

I stared at him wide-eyed. "What in the hell are you talking—"

"Shut up," he said coolly. "As I was saying, Roxas Curtiss—"

I could distantly hear Mr. Miyazaki yelling at the both of us to sit down.

"You are a Shade Hunter."

Xxx XXX xxX

I so wanted to add a part where Noctis tells off Mr. Miyazaki, but there was nowhere I could slip it in.

Reviews, please! First reviewer to Chapter 2 gets a basket chock full of chocolate chip cookies!