Warnings, disclaimer, ect, ect, in chapter 1.

erm... I think this chapter might be a little on the confusing side. Sorry in advance, but it's supposed to be a little confusing.

"You, look like hell."

"Thanks Axel, morning to you too."

"What's wrong Roxas?" Hayner asked.

Yeah, remember that whole deal where Vincent told Yuffie to take everyone home? Well, she did. Only to bring them back with spare clothes and such. The group was now staying at the local hotel and apparently dropping in on us during school.

I crossed my arms and rested them on the table before putting my head down on them, "My parents are in town."

Naminé started choking on her bagel and Pence spit out the sip of coffee he had just taken. Hayner dropped his fork, his eyes wide, while Olette spun around to look at me worried.

"How do you know?" Olette asked.

"Friend of Cloud's who used to work with Vincent," I replied.

"Oh damn," Hayner whispered.

"If you ever do anything to jeopardize us again we will not hesitate to remove you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Keep asking questions and you'll find out."

"I think we're missing something here," Axel said, looking at all of us, "I mean, I get that you hate them and all, but why all gloom and doom?"

"Them being here will only lead to bad things," I replied.

The others frowned at me and I looked over at the other table where Kairi was trying to wake Sora up. She was failing miserably. She put her hands on her hips and looked at Riku who seemed to be pondering how to wake the boy up. He leaned over and took a book out of his bag, dropping it onto the table next to Sora with a deafening slam! Sora jerked upright and looked around in confusion while his friends laughed.

Slam!

I looked up to see my mother frowning down at me, her arms crossed. She was wearing her regular attire; dress shirt over a suit skirt with a matching jacket. Her hair was pulled back into a tight no nonsense ponytail, her fingernails painted a deadly red.

"When will you ever learn?" she asked me in her cold voice; I wondered how on earth she ever got clients with a tone like that.

I didn't bother answering; she wouldn't have listened anyway.

"Do you have any idea how hard your father and I work?"

I'd heard it a hundred times before; this was nothing new to me.

"To go around and cause so much trouble like that…"

I didn't mean to.

"You're lucky I have too much work to do to punish you properly."

What else is new?

"Just stay there an wait for your father Roxy."

Roxas, my name is Roxas.

"Don't scream this time. We don't want the neighbors to be worried. Don't be bothering them; you're nothing but a nobody. You're not worth their time."

Nobody.

"Roxas?"

I looked back up, that wasn't my mother's voice.

"Common Rox, wake up."

I know those voices. Why can't I remember them?

"Roxas?"

"Hey, you awake?"

"Common man, you're gonna be late."

"See, I told you go get some sleep."

"Like you can talk, we had to wake you up."

"He was the one who kept me awake with all his tossing and turning."

"We got to go, Ms. Gainsborough's going to be upset if we're late."

"You guys go ahead."

Who are they? Why can't I see them? Where'd my mother go?

"To get me."

Hello father, I was wondering when you were going to show up.

"Your mother's too nice to you."

I'm sure she is.

"Calling you her Roxy-boy."

I assure you I don't like it either.

"You need to be a man! You're going to have an image to uphold. You're going to have to be the face of your family one day."

Never.

"Stop being such a child, learn to be a man!"

You don't want that; you're a liar. You threw me out for breaking that boy's jaw. You don't want me to be a man; you want me to be a pawn.

"Now I'm going to teach you a lesson. You best remember it."

I felt my eyes fly wide before I crossed my arms over my face to protect it. I felt a scared noise weasel its way through my lips before I could stop it.

"Roxas!"

I jerked my eyes open to find myself still resting against the school bench. I was breathing far too hard and I could feel myself shaking. Dammit, I had been doing so well lately. Hayner was kneeling in front of me, his hand on my shoulder. I turned my head a little and I could see Sora right behind me and I could feel his hand on my back. Olette was on my other side, her hand on my arm. Naminé was leaning across the table, a worried look on her face. Kairi, Selphie, Pence, Axel, Zexion, and Demyx were standing off to the side.

Dammit, I hate being the center of attention.

I heard the bell ring and Kairi gasped, "That's the late bell!"

With that she and Selphie turned and ran toward the school. I could feel my breathing slowing and my senses were coming back to me. I was at school, I had fallen asleep, it was all a dream. I let out a shaky breath of relief and felt Hayner loosen his grip on my shoulder a little.

"You alright Roxas?" Sora asked quietly.

I didn't trust my voice so I just nodded a little.

"You should get to class; you're late," Naminé said firmly to the group.

I saw a slightly hurt look cross Sora's face before he nodded and turned to head for the school. Axel, Demyx, and Zexion soon followed and I felt myself relax.

"It was them, wasn't it?" Olette asked.

I nodded at them, "Yeah, it was."

I made a face at my own voice. It was raw, like I had been screaming or-

"Dammit, I screamed out loud, didn't I?"

"Well, yeah," Pence admitted, "Luckily you did it after the first bell had rang so most of them were gone…"

I groaned quietly and buried my face back into my arms, "Great, just great."

I felt multiple arms around me and knew that the others had pulled me into a hug. Naminé and Pence must have come over too since there were more than four arms. My chest tightened painfully and I felt myself go numb. An odd sound filled the silenced schoolyard and it took me around five minutes to realize what I was hearing was my own sobbing.

Cloud picked us up again after school. I was rather thankful since I had spent most of the day avoiding everyone. Axel, Zexion, and Demyx knew better then to ask questions; everyone else was a whole other story. Sora didn't say anything while anyone else was around, but I had a feeling that if he could get me alone he'd ask.

We had been driving for all of five minutes before Sora spoke, "Where are we going?"

"Police station, I want to have a word with Vincent," Cloud replied.

Sora nodded and I stared out the window. The town was flying by in a blur of cheerful colors and the smell of sea salt. Sora and Cloud had struck up a conversation, which I wasn't listening to. I was focused solely on the outside world. Therefore I was the first one to see it coming.

Out of an alleyway came a car, heading straight for us.

I had all of enough time to lean away from the door and yell, "Cloud!" before the car impacted.

The car was sent spinning across the road and into something else as another sickening crunch filled the air and we were sent back spinning the way we had just come from. The spinning was making me seriously ill.

After what seemed like an eternity but was really less than a minute we stopped. We must have sat there for a few more minutes trying to remember how to breathe before Cloud looked at us both.

"Are you guys alright?"

I removed my fingers from the inside of Cloud's seat noticing nice tears where I had been gripping it, "I think so."

Sora nodded a few times, he was pale and his eyes were a little too wide. Cloud gave us both a quick once over before he got out of the car. After another minute Sora and I did as well.

Sirens were in the distance and the car that had hit us was long gone. Apparently we had hit another car and Cloud was next to the people who were in it, making sure they were alright.

"Sora!"

"Roxas!"

We both turned to see Selphie, Kairi, and Olette running toward us. Naminé, Pence, Hayner, and Riku were a heartbeat behind them.

"Oh my god!" Kairi said as he got over to us, "Are you alright?!"

Sora nodded a little and I could see his hands shaking. I was glad that he was just as shaky as I was; it made me feel a little better.

"Shit man," Hayner said from next to me, "did you guys see that?"

"You mean that asshole hitting them? Duh," Riku replied.

"No," Naminé said quietly, "he was aiming for them."

I nodded my agreement to what Naminé said, "Yeah, they definitely were."

"I think you're paranoid," Selphie said, looking around at the chaos, which was multiplying now that the cops were there.

I shook my head, "No, they definitely did it on purpose. I bet if we were to go into that alleyway we'd find tread marks."

Olette nodded, "You think it was the same person?"

"I didn't see a face," I said a little bitterly.

"They must have been hauling ass, I never saw them coming," Sora said quietly.

I looked at him, "That's the first time I've heard you curse."

"That's the first time I've heard you curse," Kairi said in surprise and Riku nodded his agreement.

"He could have killed us," Sora reasoned.

"No," I corrected," they were trying to kill us."

Vincent was rubbing his temples again, "It's a miracle that you three are standing. Your car is totaled."

Note how he said 'are standing' and not 'unharmed'. As it turned out Sora had a broken wrist and I had dislocated my shoulder. The car had impacted on our side of the car. Everyone says that we were really lucky.

They have no idea just how lucky.

Cloud had a few bruises and scratches from when we hit the second car, but was fine otherwise. And yes, the people in the other car were fine as well. The only thing was no one had gotten the plate number from the car that had hit us.

Cloud sighed, "I noticed."

We were all sitting in Vincent's office… again. And we were explaining what happened… again.

The only difference was this time Selphie, Kairi, and Riku were there with us. Witnesses and all.

"I still say that you're all paranoid," Riku said from his chair, his arms crossed.

"We are not," Naminé snapped at him, "just because you don't know what's going on-"

"Naminé," I said with a slight warning tone and the blonde haired girl closed her mouth.

Kairi frowned, "What do you mean? What's going on?"

We all ignored her and Vincent leaned forward, "Riku, is Kadaj back in town?"

Riku's eyes flew wide, "How do you know Kadaj?"

"Answer the question," a gruff voice said from the door.

"Hi Leon," Sora said with a small smile.

"What does Kadaj have to do with any of this?" Riku asked, looking from Vincent to Leon.

"Answer me kid," Vincent said quietly.

"Yeah, Kadaj came back home a few days ago," Riku answered and I glanced over at Sora.

"That's the same time…" Sora said quietly.

"What did Kadaj do?" Riku asked, looking nearly desperate.

"Nothing, yet," Leon said.

Selphie spoke up, "What's going on?"

Vincent leaned back and nodded to Leon who started talking, "The Strife family has received a death threat."

"What?!" Riku, Selphie, and Kairi all said, jumping out of their chairs.

"Who?"

"When?"

"What happened?"

"You think Kadaj is involved?"

"Why did no one tell us?"

"Is that why you've been acting so weird?"

"Was that hit and run the person who's after them?"

"My god, they were trying to hit you!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Is that why Cloud's been picking you guys up?"

"Who would want to hurt you?"

"Are you sure?"

The rest of their questions were being asked at once so no one had any idea what they were asking. I was getting a headache from them.

"Enough!" Vincent cut through them, "I understand you're worried, but we can't tell you much. This is an open investigation and we can't let anyone in on it that isn't already."

He shot Olette, Pence, Hayner, and Naminé looks during this last part. They all smiled sweetly at him and I smirked.

Leon leaned on the front of Vincent's desk, "What we can tell you is that we have a suspect and we are gathering the information that we need in order to prove ourselves. You can't speak of this around friends or family members. It is going to be best to not change your routines. Just act normal. Keep an eye out though, anyone and everyone could be the suspect or working with the suspect, or even someone that we don't know who is in on it."

"You mean, it could be someone we know?" Selphie asked, worried.

"It more than likely is," Vincent agreed.

"I bet you-" Riku started before I cut him off.

"If you blame Axel and them I will pop you one."

"They're the only ones who cause trouble around here, or were until you lot showed up," Riku countered.

I felt my eyes narrow at him and Sora put his arms between us, "Roxas, don't do anything stupid and Riku, stop pointing fingers."

"I'm just saying-" Riku started again, only to be cut off by Cloud.

"Well, don't. You don't know what's going on so stay out of it."

Riku crosses his arms moodily and leaned back into his chair. I huffed and looked back at Vincent.

"Why don't you all go home and get some rest. Tomorrow's Saturday so be extra careful and do not tell anyone about this under any circumstances especially not your family," Vincent stressed to them.

Kairi, Riku, and Selphie stood before glancing at Sora and leaving as they were told. Naminé, Pence, Hayner, and Olette followed a moment later, leaving me alone with Sora, Cloud, Leon, and Vincent.

"Kadaj came back to town about the same time that the house was broken into," Leon observed.

Vincent nodded as well, "So it would seem. We didn't get any fingerprints, whoever did the break in was wearing gloves."

"It had to have been an inside job though," Leon said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.

"They had to have known you weren't home. The boys at school was a no brainer, but everyone knows you run your own company. They would have to have known you weren't there. Who knew you were gone?" Leon asked Cloud.

Cloud frowned, "Well, obviously Sora and Roxas…" he looked at us.

"Olette," I said, "she was there when we found the note. Then Axel, Hanyer, Pence, Naminé, and probably Zexion, and Demyx."

Sora took over, "Riku and Kairi."

"That's the second time Axel's name has come up, who is he?" Leon asked.

"Friend from school," I answered offhandedly, "he, Zexion, and Demyx are from Midgar too."

Vincent and Leon nodded ever so slightly before Vincent spoke up, "Why were you out of town Cloud?"

"Delivery," he answered, "Healin was just where I was staying that night. I was planning on being gone for a week."

"To whom?" Leon asked.

Cloud gave a small shrug, "I was just given an address."

"Contracted by whom?" Vincent asked.

Cloud paused, seeming to try and remember, "Someone named Yazoo."

"Never met them?" Leon asked.

Cloud shook his head, "No, on the phone only."

"Did you ever give him your address?" Vincent asked.

Cloud shook his head again, "I never meet clients at home."

Leon sighed, "I highly doubt this was the work of some teens and I also doubt they're that strong."

"We'll have to question them to rule them out," Vincent said quietly and Leon nodded on agreement.

"Where are you guys going to be?" Leon asked.

Cloud gave a small shrug, "I haven't thought that far yet. Do you think it would be safe to go back home?"

Vincent sighed, "It's hard to say. They will either back off after that hit and run or redouble their efforts. Either way, we should clear your house first and you should change the locks."

"I'll clear it," Leon said, standing straight.

Vincent nodded, "Give Cid a ring, he'll take care of your locks."

Cloud nodded his agreement, "Alright, let's go."