D O N T P A N I C ;

Chapter six; it felt weird

-RxN-

Awkward.

Awkward.

Soooo awkward...

Sorry, but 'awkward' was the absolute only thing running through my mind.

There I sat, yes, awkwardly beside Roxas on the small sofa (I swear there were puke stains) with my knees held close together, my back straight and my arms crossed securely over my tummy. I guess you could say, I definitely looked as out of place as I felt.

Definitely.

I didn't speak, not once. I only listened to what Roxas and this weirdo were saying, and tried to hide how frightened I was. Basically, I was trapped inside of a criminals house. This guy tried to kidnap me, for crying out loud! This Axel person, I knew for certain now, was most definitely a part (presumably the leader) of that whole epidemic that had occurred not so long ago. The more I thought about it, the most eager I was to leave.

I tried to focus on Roxas. He made me feel at least semi-safe, considering he'd rescued me before and was proving himself to be a decent person. Then again, why was he now hanging out with the guy? I recalled earlier, how he'd mentioned that Axel was an 'ex-member' of some organization. Perhaps he's a good guy?

I looked at him, and watched in disgust as he took a drag from some funky smelling cigarette.

Not.

And so I did all I was willing to do. And that, of course, was wait. If only I had to guts to tell Roxas I wanted to leave...

"Want some?" Axel offered Roxas, extending his long arm out, beckoning him to accept that that strange cigarette. I'd smelled cigarettes before, but this one was different. I was worried that Roxas would except it, because I really couldn't stand smokers. But thankfully, he politely declined. I couldn't help but wonder if he'd only said no because I was there.

I was caught off guard when Axel's very green gaze locked on me. "You want some?"

"W-What?" I squeaked, nervousness evident in my voice.

"You want some?" He repeated himself, laughing.

I immediately shook my head. "Um... No thanks."

I was worried that he would press me further, but to my advantage he simply shrugged it off and took himself another drag. The smell, though not as disgusting as normal cigarettes, still made me want to vomit (what's another puke stain to this disgusting couch?).

"So," Axel began, his eyes on me, "You're Xion's sister?"

I weakly nodded. Why is he talking to me?

"Cool, cool. Me and her are good friends, have been for awhile." He explained. "Roxas, you know her too, yeah?"

"Barely." He answered. "The other girl, Kairi was babbling to me--" He stopped himself, and quickly sent me an apologetic look. "Oops! Sorry, I forgot this is your sister I'm talking about..."

I smiled and shook my head. "That's okay. Trust me, I find her irritating too..."

He chuckled. "Ah, alright. So, as I was saying, Kairi was babbling to me about Xion and how 'annoying' she is."

"Funny, Xion was saying the exact same thing about Kairi earlier today." Axel laughed. "They're always going at each other, you probably know that, eh Naminé?"

It felt weird hearing him say my name. Actually, everything about what had happened that day made me feel like I was trapped in some foreign country, no way out. But even still, I had to at least try to keep my cool.

"Yeah..." I answered quietly. If I hadn't been so shy, it really would have been a great opportunity for me to get into the conversation, but at the time I really had no desire. I did, however have a lot to say about Xion and Kairi. I decided that I could talk about them all I wanted to Roxas later, when I felt more comfortable. I did have to admit though, Axel didn't seem like such a bad guy. Sure, he was smoking something funky, had a decently gross house and kinda scared me but... Past those things, I could tell why Xion was friends with him. I could also tell why Kairi thought he was weird.

"Kairi's annoying." Axel stated, slouching in his chair.

"I agree." Roxas nodded. "I talk to her for two seconds and she's like 'blah blah blah, my hair, blah blah blah, my clothes, my this, my that...'" He shook his head and laughed. "Like, seriously, shut the hell up." I couldn't help but giggle, catching Roxas' attention. His eyes on mine made my cheeks tinge, but by now I was moderately used to it. "I take it you don't like her very much, eh?" He asked me, and I nodded.

"As my sister, I'm forced to care about her. She as a person..." I paused. "Well, I to be honest I kinda hate her."

Both Axel and Roxas laughed wholeheartedly, which made me smile. People actually laughing at my jokes? I liked that.

"Anyways," Roxas started, bringing himself to his feet and looking at me. "It's getting late, we better go."

"Okay." I said, standing.

"Alright, you know the way out." Axel said, waving. "See ya." His eyes met mine once more. "Oh, and nice to meet you, Naminé. I never even knew Xion had another sister until recently."

I wanted to say: 'That doesn't surprise me' but I decided that was just a bit rude, so instead, smiled weakly at him and said: "Oh, thank you, nice to meet you too." And then followed Roxas up the stairs and out the door, secretly very happy to be leaving.

"Sorry if that was boring." Roxas apologized to me, as we walked down the street. I noticed that it had gotten considerably darker outside than since we'd arrived.

"That's okay." I replied sweetly. "It wasn't boring." Scary, maybe, but not boring.

"That's good." He slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "You can come back anytime you like. Axel's a really nice guy, even though he does tend to give off crappy first impressions."

I laughed quietly. "Alright, I'll remember that."

We walked in silence for a few minutes, in which I decided what to say next. I really wanted to ask Roxas if Axel was dangerous at all, but I didn't want to give off the impression that I didn't like him. And I didn't necessarily not like him, I was just a little skeptical.

Okay, very skeptical. But how could I not be?

"I love the stars." Roxas said, ending my chain of thoughts. I looked over to him, to see that he was staring up at the sky. I looked up as well, but only saw the dark blue sky.

"But... There are no stars out." I pointed out, and he laughed.

"Sure there are. There are always stars out, even if we can't see them." He told me. "And look! There's one now." We stopped in our tracks, and both watched as one, tiny bright little light appeared in the sky.

"Wow!" I exclaimed unknowingly. It was probably the first time anyone had seen me actually show enthusiasm, and I could tell Roxas was surprised, for he looked right at me when I said it.

"What's so shocking?" He queried through a chuckle. My face instantly turned crimson.

"Oh, um well..." I murmured. "I haven't actually seen a star come out before."

"Oh yeah? Cool, isn't it?"

"Yes." I nodded, gaze turning from his face to the single star. "Very cool."

I looked at Roxas, and just as I was about to say something, we heard voices nearby. Roxas cautiously looked around, trying to detect who was speaking, but no luck. The voices were gone.

"Probably just someone in their house." He said, just as we heard the voices again. And they were getting closer. "Juuust in case," He sang, "Lets leave."

I nodded in agreement, silently following behind.

"I don't wanna scare you, Naminé..." He began, "But there are some bad kids that hang around this neighborhood, especially at night. Haha, you probably already knew that."

"Bad kids?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"I guess not..." He muttered. "Um, just don't worry about it. I'll just take you home now, yeah? Your uncle is probably wondering where you are."

"My uncle?" I asked, thinking. How did he know...?

"Mhm."

"How... Did you know I lived with my uncle?" I couldn't resist inquiring. I didn't mean to sound suspicious, or rude or anything, I was really just curious.

"You told me." He laughed with good nature. That seemed to be Roxas, a very 'good natured' person.

"Oh." I said dumbly. "Right, sorry, I guess I forgot."

"It's alright."

As we walked, it seemed that those voices we'd heard earlier were getting louder, and sure enough as soon as we turned the corner there were a couple guys standing in a group. I began to get a bit worried. What if they're the 'bad kids'? No one Roxas can't handle, I hope.

"Shit." Roxas said, and I guess that when I really got scared. At that very moment, when all four heads turned to look at us and Roxas came to a halt, I could literally feel the fright pulsing through my veins. I just wanted to get home right away, and that was that.

"Who are they?" I whispered to him.

"Stay close to me." He ordered, ignoring my question. He took my hand in his and pulled my closer to him, so our arms touched as we walked. Naturally, I was awkward with this position, but it's better than getting killed, right?

My heart was beating quickly as we walked past them. Roxas didn't look at them so I didn't either, but they were certainly looking at us. More like watching, really...

I let out a relieved sigh as I thought we were at safety. We reached the end of the street, so I assumed it would be all smooth sailing from there. But just as we were about to fully escape the watchful eyes of these strange people, I heard one man shout, his voice booming:

"Wait."

And would you believe, we actually stopped?

Author's Note: Heeeey everybody! Happy new year (and merry late christmas XD). Sorry that I haven't really been updating this, writers block aahh. But I'm back on track now so expect another update soon(:.

Also watch out for updates for The Sun & The Moon and Giving it Away. Thanks for reviewing those, this and my other stories. My account wouldn't be alive if you didn't:)

Review please! ;D