OMG IM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT!!! THE CURSES OF WRITERS BLOCK HAD TAKEN ME!

oh, hey, check it out, chapter eight! nvr thought id type it this far...

okay, so marlys evil now, but so is traffic. whats worse? i personally would rather be faced with marluxia, that's just me, of course. its in my blood to have at least a little bit of fan-girl genes! rofl... not... really...

also, tory, get ahold of me or update cause you KNOW i cannot wait much longer for ToM to be up without exploding into 358/2 different pieces.

CHAPTER 1

Zexion, in his rapid leave, did not take the time to pick up his book before his departure -it also was not conveniently given to him by the Flurry of Dancing Flames- and had to sit through Rixah slowly picking at her ice-cream, in a depressed-like fashion.

Naturally he knew he was under no obligation to baby-sit this child, yet the thought of being blown up from the inside did not appeal to him. He was also very well aware that she was a mere 3 years behind him.

They left after a while, but it took thirty minutes to get to Trissania's house and that was just enough time to miss the first half of his movie. The Schemer didn't ask for her to attend alongside him for wrong impressions would've been in order, among other things. This was obvious.

Rixah certainly would've declined the offer had it been presented anyways.

I will not spend anymore unnecessary time with these people, Rixah internally decided. This was before talking to her mother and attending the funeral thing, but the idea was still half-way in effect. Her mother called again just before they got on the highway, but Rixah told her Axel picked her up, then Zexion took her so she could spend the night at Tris's. Technically this wasn't considered a lie.

The brunette didn't hint that she knew about her dad being dead and all, because that would bring up conversations that she didn't want to discuss right now.

Rixah only apologized minimally for not telling her mother earlier about the sudden departure.

"So, are you going out with one of these boys?" Tanya asked casually after the worry.

Despite Rixah's cell being on speaker, she told her mom the truth about them. The absolute truth. No one could have possibly denied this sort of truth if they think logically.

"Are you joking? These guys are total freaks." Rixah rolled her eyes after glancing at the not-paying-any-attention Zexion. He was probably too busy dissecting other matters that hovered above her negative opinions, priority-wise of course.

Soon Rixah hung up and Zexion eased out of his concluding reverie.

"How much longer until we arrive?" Zexion had a migraine once more; not a shocker, if you think about it...

The purple eyed girl gave him an undefinable, yet long stare and said, "about twenty minutes. Take a- yeah, left up there- damn, traffic. ...You've got to be kidding me." Rixah turned to see if they could pull out without doing anything illegal -not that it would help her discreetly corrupted record much-. Nope, four other cars were already behind them. There was major construction in front of them as well, not to mention TONS of backed up cars.

Zexion delicately tapped his index finger on the steering wheel, impatience clear in this gesture.

"Well," Rixah reasoned with his unspoken question, tapping on the digital clock at the same time, "it can't be that long."

Jinxed.

In about a span of three hours, they'd moved a total of two feet. Zexion was keeping himself occupied by sulkily playing with a lighter supplied by Rixah. She was messing with it first, but he confiscated it after she almost set her pants on fire. Now Rixah was utterly bored.

The people behind them didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry because the number kept growing instead of the other way around.

Rixah smashed her head against the dashboard and moaned audibly.

"I hope you realize that by-"

"I realize it, trust me."

After a few more moments, Zexion huffed, "you are a clear hypocrite. You undeniably stated-"

"I know what I said, so BLAH!" She pouted after the snap and slithered further down the seat.

The sun was setting at an alarmingly fast pace. Soon it would be dark out, and the traffic was just inching along.

"Ah, just take me home." The Somebody finally gave into it.

"We have just participated in a pointless drive." It wasn't a question, and if it wasn't for the fact that Zexion was the one in the driver's seat and it wasn't his time being eaten, he may have found it slightly amusing.

Rixah fumed and was set on the saying "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" for the moment.

Zexion pulled out into the grass and made his way out of the car jam.

Any day now...

Roxas gleefully stared at his new goldfish rightly named Cake-o. The spiky blonde had just went out and bought it with the money he was given from Tanya.

It was cute, and had a small round bowl with colorful rocks. When Roxas traced his finger on the bowl, it followed.

Speaking of the fish, it needed to be fed.

Roxas walked out of the small room, a smile on his face. He was having fun.

After the blonde left, there was a flash of light, and the tiny fish floated to the surface. Axel, who'd been silently watching nearby, grinned in wicked triumph. He scooped the lifeless fish out of the bowl and replaced it with a similar looking one. This was part of Axel's job, and Roxas wouldn't know what just happened until later. If he ever even asked, that was.

"So... Number XIII's pretest was successful."

"It... was a fish." Sai'x shook his head in mock-surprise.

Xemnas sighed, rubbing his temples. "Yes, but what works is legitimate."

When Rixah got home, she immidently noticed Marluxia's door open in their corridor. There were three bedrooms and a bathroom in their hall, not counting Rixah's private bathroom though.

The brunette dared to poke her head in, spotting the head of pink hair stroking a potted plant.

The Graceful Assassin finally noticed her staring at his with a blank look, and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Huh. He sounded put together, mentally-wise, today.

Even so, Rixah gave him a death glare and walked away.

Marluxia sniffed and decided she wasn't as worthy of his attention as the fine specimen before him.

Meanwhile, Zexion confronted Axel.

"What are you playing at, Neophyte?" VI questioned bitterly. They were in the kitchen; Axel was getting ice-cream.

"Dunno what you're talking about, Zex."

Zexion's visible eye twitched at the nickname. "Do not call me that. You know perfectly well of what I'm talking about."

"Riddles. Hey, I don't like them." Axel grabbed a spoon then gave Zexion a sly grin. "Got it memorized?"

It's been SO LONG! i would've had this up faster, had it not been for the mistakes of certain people. *COUGHSAMMICOUGH*

R&R on a happier note, please! also, since i rushed through my revision, if there's anything out of place, just tell me, k?