Shadows of the Night

It was around nightfall before Rinoa could leave the school building. She had to stay behind and talk to her teachers and the principal. And quite honestly, she was taking her time with it. She wasn't in a hurry to get home, anyway. Hoisting her backpack on her shoulder and headed out into the darkness. It wasn't so bad, there were street lights along each side of the road.

When she turned on her street, she could have sworn she heard a noise coming from the bushes. She halted and waited to listen for any more sounds. When she didn't catch anything she continued to walk down the sidewalk. For a split second she thought she heard someone walking behind her. Without waiting, she quickly turned around and her chocolate brown eyes met with a pair of blue ones. A frown formed on her lips when she recognized Roxas immediately as her 'follower'.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

A light look of discomfort at being caught crossed his features. It was immediately hidden with a sheepish smile.

"I'm walking you home?"

Rinoa watched him with disbelief. 'Really? Was this kid for real?' She thought to herself before letting a dry laugh escape her lips. This seemed to throw Roxas off for a second.

"Oh. Really? Since when was hiding in the bushes considered 'walking' someone home?" She retorted with sarcasm lacing her voice. She wasn't stupid. And right now, Roxas was starting to look like a real creep. If he wasn't, then she wasn't sure what to call him.

"Why are you walking by yourself at night, anyway? You could be raped or something."

"So could you."

"...Touche."

For a while they stared at each other in silence. A part of Rinoa's mind told her to not turn her back on him. Another part told her to just walk away. She was going to go with the first one. Though she usually never believed a word Yuna said, you really can't be too careful. Anyone can surprise you. Even the most angelic face could be the most demonic person. Lifting her hand, she shoved a strand of hair behind her ear while stepping back.

"Well, I'm on my street so you can turn around and go home."

"We have that project to work on, remember?"

"Yeah, well... It's..." Rina glanced down to check the time on her cellular phone. "Eight. So, it can wait until tomorrow." She told him with a light shrug of her shoulders.

"Do you think I'm going to pounce you or something?" Roxas asked, lifting one eyebrow at the brunette with amusement.

"Yes. Actually, I do. It doesn't seem so farfetched since you have cat ears." She pointed out, indicating to the ears that were sewn on the hood with an amused look. The indication made Roxas' smile turn into a light frown.

"My little brother made it for me. I couldn't just snip the ears off..." Roxas said this in a light defensive tone.

"Oh, you have a brother?"

"Two, actually. You might know him... His name is Oz. He's a freshman this year."

"... Did you forget that I just moved here?"

At the question, Roxas blinked with slight widened eyes before looking away to pretend something caught his attention. "Oh, look at that. It's a black cat." He tried to get her to put her attention on something else. He twitched when he felt someone tug on the right cat ear on his hood. He glanced up to see it was Rinoa, frowning, he waved her hand away. He never liked it when people played with his cat ears. "Hands off." He said quickly with a light look of irritation.

"What? You asked me to look." Rinoa pointed out with a light smirk playing on her lips.

"Yeah, but I didn't say you could touch!"

His defensiveness made her laugh lightly to herself. She never met a boy who was so sensitive to something like that. In a way, it was kind of refreshing, but she wasn't going to let her guard down. She still didn't know him.

"When's your birthday?"

This took Roxas off guard and he quickly turned to look at her with a confused expression. He tilted his head while lifting his hand to itch the back of his neck. It was out of habit.

"Uhm... December twenty sixth... Why?"

"That's not even two months away... Now I know what to get you for your birthday!" She exclaimed with a smile on her face.

"Huh? You don't have to... Wait... What are you going to get me?"

"You'll have to see on your birthday."

When she said this in a matter-of-fact tone, she didn't notice that they had started walking side by side while talking. The conversation apparently had distracted the both of them from their discomfort. It seemed like only a couple seconds passed by the time they got to Rinoa's house. She stopped by her mailbox before turning to face the blond male.

"I hope your not expecting to walk me to my doorstep."

"Aw. Why not?"

Rinoa laughed a little bit, "Just go home." She said before turning her back to him and started walking to her door. The brunette tried to ignore the feeling that Roxas was watching her the whole time. At first she really didn't think much of it. Glancing back at him, she flicked him a wave before she disappeared into the house.

When Rinoa got inside, she was relieved that no one was awake to confront her. It didn't surprise her since her father, Squall Leonhart, had to get up extremely early for his job. He was a Counselor for people who just got out of Juvenile Prison. And her step-mom, Yuffie Kisaragi-Leonhart, was a neurological surgeon for the local hospital. Both jobs required for them to get up at ridiculously early hours. Rinoa didn't know how they did it. She would have dropped the job and find another one that didn't require getting up at four in the morning almost everyday and not get off until nightfall.

Walking up the stairs to her bedroom, she let her messenger bag drop to the floor. Stepping over it, she plopped down on her bed and kicked off her shoes to the other side of the room. After she did this, she threw herself at her body pillow and nuzzled her face into it and without a second thought she drifted into sleep.

The first day of school was always exhausting.

Evelyn's Note: Phew. Well, here's chapter three! ^-^ Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. Please take a few seconds to click that lovely review button and leave us a comment! It does wonders for the self-esteem, and it'll motivate us to update sooner~ Panda-chan is going to be written by Panda-chan! See you then! ^-^