I dedicate this chapter to: The Irish, the unicorn, and my friends. I miss those guys.
It wasn't like Roxas was Irish. He wasn't. It wasn't like Roxas actually celebrated such trivial holidays. He didn't. He only acknowledged holidays that gave warnings before they came up. Like how a few months before Christmas department stores had all their Christmas items out and their plastic trees up. Sometimes even Thanksgiving snuck up on him. So when he woke up on St. Patrick's Day he had been expecting a normal Saturday filled with soccer, friends, and food en mass. He was wrong, though. The little Irish sprites had something else planned for someone who didn't even remember their holiday.
When he climbed out of bed, roughly at noon, got dressed, and stumbled down the stairs he received a pinch from his brother. He yelled quite a lot after that, wondering why his brother had pinched him. He thought they had grown out of that by the time Pokemon was out of style. His brother had told him it was St. Patrick's Day and Roxas wasn't wearing green. Which might've explained why he had went back up the stairs and put on a lime green polo T-shirt. He wasn't going to get pinched anymore that day. Once was enough.
The pinching wasn't where the mischief of the Irish stopped. Oh no, that would be asking too much. His mom had put green dye into the pancake batter that day and had left Roxas some cold, puke green pancakes. He just threw them away, thinking the breakfast item had grown moss on it. He fixed himself a normal looking sandwich, no green additives in this except for maybe a piece of lettuce.
He was eating at his kitchen table, staring out at his backyard through the sliding glass door. It was an alright looking yard. It was spacious, the grass just starting to turn green due to the warm weather, a pond in the far right corner where fish were constantly being taken from by cats and birds, and nice looking plants growing in various, tasteful spots. There were bushes growing along the left wall and ivy was slowly taken over the fence opposite of where Roxas was sitting. A tree shaded the pond and flowers grew around it.
A bush moved slightly and Roxas turned his head to see what it was. A little white bunny had hopped out and was now hopping its merry way across the yard. He smiled at it, and the rabbit stopped. It stood on its hind legs and watched him for a moment. Its nose twitched from one side to the other in thought. Then it looked behind, back at the bushes. Then it scampered across the yard as fast as it could. Something was in those bushes.
Roxas stood from the table and made his way to the door. Without slipping into the shoes left by the door for them to go out in he pulled the glass door to the opposite side and stepped out, sliding the door back once he was out. He gazed at the bushes. What could be in those things? And how the hell did a rabbit get into his yard? He was in the suburbs. No rabbit could get into his yard, even if it was a pet. He slowly began making his way to the bushes.
His feet padded silently across the new grass as he walked. As he got closer he could hear voices. Female voices. There were girls hiding in his bush! He stopped when his big toe was not but an inch away from the bush. He reached his hand forward, to scare the girls to come out.
"You really shouldn't hide in people's yards. That's trespassing and that'll get you arrested." His hand wrapped around something and he pulled it up. When he saw was it was his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He wasn't holding a Barbie doll even if the girl looking back at him was the size of one. She had bright green eyes and blonde hair pulled into a ponytail on the top of her head. And she was clad in green. They blinked a few times at each other before they yelled and Roxas let go of her. She levitated in mid air, brushing off her clothing and scowling at Roxas.
"So you want my treasure now, huh?" She asked, crossing her arms at him.
"I thought there was more of you?" Roxas offered back, looking towards the bush.
"There are!" Two more girls flew out of the bush, floating right by their friend. They too were dressed in all green.
"We're the Gull Wings!" The one with brown hair told Roxas.
"And it seems that you were able to capture one of us." The one with gray hair turned to look at the blonde girl. "She needs to give up her treasure."
"What?! No way!" The girl replied, fuming and pouting all at once.
"Rikku, it's Leprechaun law that if a human captures you you have to give up your gold!" The brown haired one turned to her. Rikku opened her mouth to protest but Roxas beat her to it.
"Leprechauns?!" He shouted, taking a small step backwards.
"You were expecting something else?" The brown haired one turned back towards him.
"You guys are floating!" He exclaimed, as if that were to explain how they couldn't be Leprechauns. Leprechauns were little old men with red beards who were at the end of rainbows guarding their gold until they got a Visa card. (Pop culture reference right there.)
"So? Leprechauns are magical creatures. We have magic just like the rest of them." The gray haired one scowled at him as she spoke.
"Paine's right." The brown haired one nodded. "I'm Yuna. That's Paine, and the one you caught is Rikku."
"I'm Roxas." He blinked a few times. Was he actually meeting Leprechauns? Chick Leprechauns?
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Roxas. Now Rikku, give him what he owes!" Yuna scolded, shaking a finger at her friend.
"Oh…" Rikku pouted. "Alright…" She flew right up to Roxas. "Here you go." He lifted his hand to her and she placed a gold coin in it.
"Now it's your turn to help us!" Yuna smiled at him. Roxas was suddenly alert. He had heard of Leprechaun's trickery. He wouldn't be tricked into giving back his hard earned gold coin.
"What do I have to do?" Roxas asked.
"We're looking for a man. Two men, actually. The most important of the two, though, is the Leprechaun Prince." Yuna explained, a spark coming into her eyes as she spoke. "That's what all the Leprechaun's are doing today instead of playing tricks on humans."
"Do you know what this Leprechaun Prince looks like?" Roxas asked.
Rikku nodded. "Yeah! He's said to have very, very red hair and green eyes. Some myths say his hair spikes out." She made wild hand gestures that weren't relevant at all to what they were talking about.
"Huh…" Roxas thought for a moment. Why did Axel pop into his mind? Red hair…green eyes…. "He is like a Leprechaun!" He shouted, mostly to himself.
"You know him!?" They all gasped and flew closer to him.
"Well, it might not be him but it could be." Roxas frowned slightly at them. "His name is Axel."
"Doesn't sound like a very Irish name…" Yuna returned his frown.
"Neither does Yuna, Rikku, or Paine…" Roxas mumbled.
"Point taken." Yuna nodded slightly. "Will you deliver something to him for us?"
"Sure. What?" Roxas held out his hand again.
"This little bottle, please." Yuna produced a tiny bottle with a tiny cork in it from only God knows where and placed it in his hand. She grinned slightly. "You better check your pockets!"
Roxas looked down at himself and began looking through his pockets. Where had the coin gone? When he looked up the three Leprechauns were gone. He frowned and uncorked the bottle, dumping the little note that was inside into his hand. He slowly unrolled it.
"Never take your eye of a Leprechaun,
They play tricks that fool the wisest of men,
And as long as you keep your eye upon them,
They will never be able to fool you!"
Roxas groaned. He'd been tricked! By three little Leprechauns! He pocketed the bottle. Oh well, at least this would be a fun story to tell his grandchildren on St. Patrick's Day.
A/N: Again, I'm sorry. I'll try to have a decent chapter up soon. One that shows character relationships, plot, and funnies. Remember to take your free gummy dinosaur. I have a limited supply so try to be quick!
P.S. I understand if I don't get reviews for this…thing. :'D You may hit me with a spork.