Hi's! I'm here. I'm alive. I've been very busy. My Senior year of high school is finishing up, and that brings a lot of stuff that needed to be done. I'm not making promises about speeding updates up in the summer because there is this thing called a job. Anyways, enjoy.

The Update you've been waiting for, and a late night one too (11:15pm on a school night. Don't tell my mom)

And it's a long one too!

Chapter 13: Shopping

Ezra waited for about five minutes after cleaning up the mess he made for Kanan to come out of the bathroom, in a fresh pair of clothes and hair brushed and pulled back.

Ezra felt Kanan's eyes scan his body, scrutinizing him. "We should fix that hair." Kanan grabbed the hair brush from the bathroom. "Here turn around, you'll need help with this."

Ezra did as he was told and turned around. He felt the brush going through his hair, pulling at the snags from eight years without brushing.

"Your hair is far too long. Also on the list is a haircut." Kanan said.

"Okay." Ezra said, flinching slightly with the pain from Kanan pulling his hair.

"Sorry," Kanan said.

Ezra was confused, "Sorry?"

"This is hurting you, isn't?" Kanan asked.

"Well, a little," Ezra said. Flinching again as Kanan pulled at another knot. "But it's not like you can help it."

"Here, let's see if this helps." Kanan said. He set his other hand on Ezra's scalp where the pulled hair was connected.

"That helps some." Ezra admitted when the pain lessened.

"Good, it looks like we could be here for a while." Kanan joked.

It took four minutes for Kanan to brush out all of the snags and knots in Ezra's hair.

"My guess is that you didn't have access to a hair brush?" Kanan asked.

"What do you think?" Ezra asked. "In fact if I wanted to cut my hair shorter I had to find a pair of old paper scissors that were half dull, and cut it myself, while it was still all snaggy and knotty."

"Well hopefully the hair dresser can do better." Kanan muttered.

Ezra bit his lip, which Kanan didn't notice. He knew hair-dressers cost money, and he didn't want Kanan spending a lot of money on him.

"Well, we're burning day light." Kanan said. "Let's get going to the store to get you some decent clothes."

Kanan walked towards the door. Then turned around and noticed how Ezra had not moved from his spot. "Is something wrong?"

"Um, no." Ezra said and followed Kanan to and out the door. Kanan led him out of the apartment and to a car.

"Climb on in." Kanan instructed.

Ezra opened the door and sat down in the passenger's seat.

"Buckle your seatbelt." Kanan told him, after he buckled his own.

"What?" Ezra asked.

"You heard me, I'm not starting the car until you buckle your seat belt." Kanan said.

"Why does it matter?" Ezra asked, severally confused, but hey, he hasn't rode in car in nearly eight years.

"Besides the fact that I can get ticketed if you aren't wearing it, it will keep you safe." Kanan said.

"Safe?" Ezra questioned. "Why would you care if I was safe?"

"I'm responsible for you now. I need to make sure you are safe." Kanan said. "Now buckle up."

Ezra didn't argue this time. He buckled his seatbelt and Kanan started the car and drove off.

They drove in silence for perhaps three minutes, before Kanan realized he was not going to get conversation out of the boy, so he turned on the radio.

"I don't wanna change the world. I just wanna leave it colder. Light the fuse and burn it up. Take the path that leads to nowhere. All is lost again, but I'm not giving in." the man on the radio sang.

Kanan was slightly familiar with the song, he thought it was rather good.

"I will not bow, I will not break, I will shut the world away. I will not fall, I will not fade, I will take your breath away."

Kanan realized that there was now an added voice. He quickly realized it was Ezra singing softly along with the song. He gave a slight smile, not saying anything as Ezra continued.

"Watch the end through dying eyes, now the dark is taking over. Show me where forever dies, take the fall and run to Heaven. All is lost again, but I'm not giving in. I will not bow,
I will not break, I will shut the world away. I will not fall, I will not fade, I will take your breath away." Ezra continued to sing, unaware that Kanan was currently pulling into Wal-Mart nor that he was getting louder to the point where he was actually louder than the radio. "And I'll survive, paranoid, I have lost the will to change. And I'm not proud, cold-blooded fake, I will shut the world away."

Kanan pulled into the parking spot but left the car on and the radio going as Ezra continued to sing, totally unfazed. "I will not bow, I will not break, I will shut the world away."

Kanan decide to be slightly mean here, but he was curious. He turned off the radio, but Ezra did not notice and was now singing alone to the song he was previously singing. "I will not fall, I will not fade, I will take your breath away. And I'll survive; paranoid, I have lost the will to cha—" It was here that Ezra noticed that the music stopped.

"How long did you hear me?" Ezra asked, embarrassed.

"Since the first time you sang the chorus." Kanan admitted.

Ezra hid his face in his hands in attempt to hide the growing redness that was spreading across his cheeks. "When did you turn off the radio?"

"Half-way through the last chorus." Kanan explained.

Ezra didn't respond.

"Why are you embarrassed? It's not like I've never heard you sing before." Kanan said.

"I don't know." Ezra said, removing his hands from his face.

"Well, we're here." Kanan said. "You ready?"

"Why do you want to spend money on me?" Ezra asked the question that has been bugging him nearly all morning.

"You need clothes Ezra." Kanan explained. "You can't keep wearing my clothes, they're fall too large for you."

"But—" Ezra started but Kanan cut him off.

"It's not a big deal kid. You need clothes right away and I have the money to get it for you." Kanan said.

Ezra sighed.

"Come on, let's get inside." Kanan said, turning the car off and unbuckling his seat belt.

Ezra unbuckled as well and got out of the car. Kanan walked into the store, Ezra falling into step behind him.

When they got into the store the front manager went up to greet them.

"Good morning sir," he greeted Kanan with a friendly smile. "How may I help yo-" He noticed Ezra behind Kanan now and glared at him. "Get out of here Phantom."

Ezra started sub-consciously walking backwards. He had bad experiences with this store manager. Kanan stopped him from escaping by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"He's with me sir. I'll keep him out of trouble." Kanan said.

"Do you know who he is?" the manager asked angrily.

"The question is sir, 'do you know who he is?'" Kanan corrected. "His name is Ezra Bridger and he is currently under my charge."

Ezra could hardly believe that Kanan was defending him.

"Like I said, I'll keep him out of trouble." Kanan said. "Come along Ezra." Directing Ezra further into the store, grabbing a cart along the way.

Kanan made his way, with Ezra walking right beside him, towards the clothing section. "Do you know what size clothes you wear?"

"No," Ezra said.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to keep trying sizes on until one fits." Kanan said. He grabbed four pairs of jeans all of different sizes and a few different sizes of T-shirts. He lead Ezra towards the fitting room and handed him the clothes. "Try these on until you find one that fits you properly."

"Ok." Ezra responded. Ezra first took off the pair of Kanan's sweat pants he had been wearing and tried on the second largest pair of jeans. They were far too wide, so he tried the next one, which was still too long. The smallest pair of jeans however fit him right. So he put the sweat pants back on and laid the jeans neatly in a pile.

He then proceeded to try on the T-shirts. He tried them on until he found the size that fit best.

He changed back into the clothes that he was borrowing from Kanan and left the fitting rooms.

"What size are you?" Kanan asked after Ezra returned.

Ezra told him the sizes.

"Smaller than I thought." Kanan murmured, but started looking at pants and shirts in the proper size. Ezra was slightly worried at the growing pile of clothes in the cart, this had to be adding up to a lot of money.

Soon enough the cart was piled high with five pairs of jeans, at least sixteen T-shirts if not more, about ten pairs of socks and eight pairs of underwear.

Kanan glanced at Ezra's feet and took in the state of his shoes. He was pretty sure not even duct tape could save them at this point and stated heading over towards the shoe section, his charge right behind him.

On the way towards the shoes an article of clothing caught Ezra's eye. It was an orange hoodie that seemed to be extremely warm and comfy. He didn't want Kanan to spend too much money, heck he had to be spending over $150 already he didn't want to burden Kanan with wants, so he quickly looked away, but not before Kanan saw where Ezra had glanced. He smiled and grabbed the hoodie and put it in the cart.

"No Kanan, it's too much." Ezra protested.

"Kid, like I said, you need clothes. And there is nothing wrong with wanting a particular piece. Besides, it's on clearance, only $6.50, other necessary articles of clothing already in the cart is worth more than this." Kanan reassured. "You can have the hoodie."

Kanan started to walk back towards the shoes.

"Thanks." Ezra said, walking at a slight jog to catch back up.

"No problem Ezra." Kanan said, rubbing his head.

Kanan and Ezra had finally reached the shoes and Kanan had Ezra try on several pairs of shoes until they found a pair of tennis shoes that fit Ezra nicely.

"Well, time to check out." Kanan said. The pair walked up front and Kanan started to unload the clothes onto the belt. Ezra watched as the cashier scanned the items and put them into bags, and more bags and even more bags, and as the price went up, and up, and up.

"Your total today is $290." the cashier said.

Ezra paled, that was far too much money, and Kanan was bound to think so as well. Too much money to the point that Kanan would defiantly discover that he was too much trouble and back onto the streets it was for him. But Ezra watched in shock as Kanan pulled out a debit card without so much a word and slid it through.

Kanan loaded the bags into the cart.

"Have a nice day," the cashier bid them.

"You too." Kanan replied. As he started to walk off, not noticing that Ezra was still frozen in place.

"You better catch up to your dad, kid." the cashier told Ezra.

Ezra didn't bother to correct her and ran to catch up with Kanan.

"Don't say it kid." Kanan said,

"What?" Ezra said.

"You know what." Kanan said, leaving it at that and exiting the store, Ezra right on his heels. Kanan vaguely wondered when Ezra would learn to trust the fact he was never going to kick him out nor was he ever going to be upset about spending money on him for the necessi

They got back in the car, Ezra did not bother to fight Kanan about the seat belt again, putting it on right away. Kanan drove back towards the apartment so Ezra could get a chance to change into his own clothes before they would go do the other things that needed to be done.

Because someone always asks, the song was "I Will Not Bow," by Breaking Benjamin. So bye's for now. Hopefully I'll come up with something.