Without a Sound

Disclaimer: Don't get it twisted…

It makes me really happy that some people are pushing me to write this stuff. Applying for music conservatories is really time consuming and so I apologize for that. Hopefully when that's all over and done with and I finally get accepted, (hopefully into Julliard) I'll be able to write faster.

Chapter 20 (SAY WHAT?)

After Sora had blacked out, there was a very long process of calling parents, explaining the situation, and yelling (on the parent's side).

Sora slept through the entire thing… and I couldn't help but give him a concerned glance every five minutes.

It was my fault this happened.

We all knew… even Xigbar's parents knew that Xigbar was lying.

"He wanted me to do it! He told me he liked it! I promise!"

"Xigbar, Sora can't speak, he can't TELL you anything!" I said appalled by Xigbar's excuses.

"No! He told me in sign language! He really did!" Xigbar tried again.

"Son, you don't know sign language. He could have been telling you to stop and you wouldn't know the difference. Why did you do this Xigbar? I'm disgusted with you! A knife? You pulled a knife on a teacher and a student! I can't even look at you anymore!" Xigbar's mom cried.

"Does Sora need to go to the hospital… he hasn't woken up…" Sora's mother, Mrs. Gainsborough said.

"He fell from exhaustion, Mrs. Gainsborough. He should wake up after regaining some energy." Cid, the principal, said.

It was finally decided after all of the arguing, that Xigbar would be expelled from the school and that there wouldn't be any pressed charges.

I asked them why they wouldn't and Mr. Gainsborough said.

"I know my son, he's a pacifist and an extremely kind person. I know that no matter what had happened, he wouldn't want Xigbar to be publicized as a rapist. He would probably tell me something like, I'm going to get over this in a month or two, why should he have to deal with it his entire life. He never realizes how strong he is…" He looked over to his son who was shivering quietly on the couch.

I walked over and placed my jacket over his form and turned to Mrs. Gainsborough.

"I'm going to have to ask that you don't let Sora wear clothes like that to school. It seems that they were too suggestive." I said in a firm voice.

The look that came over Mrs. Gainsborough's face was a look of raw guilt and sadness. "I-I… I wasn't th-thinking… I was j-just so happy that he was finally getting friends… I thought this might h-help a little… b-but I only put him in danger! This is all my fault!" She began to cry and I started.

"I wasn't pinning the blame on you! Please don't take it that way. But I want you to know something, Sora has enough friends. He doesn't need anymore. Because the friends that he has, one's that will stay with him forever. He's got the entire starter team on his side. They won't let him down." I said knowing it was true. They were looking out for Sora the whole time and I was being a selfish jerk…

There was a knock on Cid's door and Cid opened it.

Seifer, Zell, Raijin, and Rude were in the doorway.

"We were wondering why Sora wasn't at practice. Then Yuffie told us there was an accident. What happened to Sora? Is he okay?" Zell asked.

I looked to Sora's parents. They smiled.

"Sora is exhausted so we're going to take him home. But he should be back tomorrow." The parents said together.

"That's good. We were worried." Zell said.

"Well, tell Sora the Chicken Wuss that if he's not here tomorrow we're going to visit him after school!" Seifer yelled.

"Seifer! You can't just invite yourself to Sora's house!" Zell babbled.

I gave a small smile at the small group.

"If your friends of Sora's, you're welcome any time." Mr. Gainsborough said.

"Thank you." Raijin and Rude said simultaneously.

"We have to get beck to practice. But we hope Sora gets better quick." Zell said before they left.

Mrs. Gainsborough chuckled through her tears. "Sora… only Sora would forget to tell his mom about such great friends he has."

I nodded.

Mr. Gainsborough walked over to Sora and took hold of my jacket. He moved to hand it to me before he paused.

I sent him a puzzled look when he turned back to Sora. I gave Sora a glance and then I realized.

Sora held the jacket's sleeve in a tight grip.

Sora then tugged it back towards him with a gasp.

I moved over to Sora and gently pried his hand open and took the jacket.

Sora started to shiver again. I frowned.

Mr. Gainsborough scooped his son up from the couch and began to make his way out of the office, wife following behind him.

-Without a Sound-

The next day, I woke up at 3 in the morning.

I wasn't planning on waking up at that time, but my brain had other ideas. I thought that maybe it was stress that woke me but in truth…

I was worried about Sora. Was he having more of those horrid nightmares? Was he even able to sleep? I hoped that he was able to sleep through the night peacefully.

Sora could never catch a break.

The words that I had said to him yesterday kept replaying in my mind. The guilt hit me in waves.

I admit that I was jealous… but it wasn't Sora's fault. He was happy, really happy, that I liked the way he looked. I could tell, his eyes would shine whenever I looked at him.

And then I go and say he d-word.

Disgusting… I should have known that was the wrong word.

He looked really hurt after I said it.

DAMN IT! I hate seeing that face and yet I still act so cold.

I just want to hold him… and apologize for being an asshole, and tell him he didn't deserve the pain I caused him.

I sighed and got up. It was no use trying to get back to sleep now.

I took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast, and packed my things. When all of that was done… it was 4:15.

Were the school doors even open at this time? I sighed and decided to take my chances and see if they were.

If not, I could always drive for a while.

I grabbed my satchel and walked out of the house. I moved to my bike and turned it on. The bike's rumbling was a comfort to me as I drove down the street.

I slowed a little when I started to drive down Sora's street. I didn't really even notice it at first. But I couldn't help but wonder if he was awake, maybe looking out of his window… maybe even wondering if I was awake…

I slowly passed the house and looked at all the windows. No one was there… I shook my head at myself. Was I really at this boy's house, looking through his windows? That's… so creepy.

I was about to take off again when the front door opened. I stopped and watched in amazement as Sora and a dog walked out of the front of the house. The dog started to whine and Sora turned to the fidgeting dog to keep him quiet.

I watched as Sora and the dog started to walk down the street. I parked my bike quickly and walked towards them.

The dog noticed my presence first and stopped. He looked at Sora who turned around to face me in surprise.

"Sora, what are you doing?" I asked.

'W-A-L-K' He spelled with his hand.

"Where? And at 4:30 in the morning?" I asked.

Sora fidgeted and after a second spelled. 'W-H-Y A-R-E Y-O-U H-E-R-E?'

"I woke up early and decided to see if the school doors were open." I said.

Sora huffed and pointed to me and then spelled. 'H-O-U-S-E'

"You were going to walk to my house?" I asked surprised.

He nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

He held up two fingers, then pointed to his eyes, then finally pointed to me.

"To see me?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Could you sleep?" I asked. "How are you feeling?" I asked.

Sora sighed and plopped down in the grass on his lawn. He laid back and looked at the sky.

He simply shook his head.

"Did you have nightmares?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"You were restless?" I asked.

He nodded.

I moved and sat next to him in the grass. "Sora… I'm so sorry. I feel terrible about what happened and what I said to you before. I was… jealous. I don't like it when other guys look at you. Because you're mine and they wont understand… but then I thought about it… and I realized that I don't really understand either."

Sora turned to me and there were tears brimming his eyes. He pointed to himself and spelled, 'D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G.'

I shook my head and pulled him close. "No. Never disgusting." He clung to me as if I were his lifeline.

After about ten minutes, Sora's dog started to whine and nuzzle his master. Sora moved next to me and started to pet the dog's head with a tiny smile.

That is when I noticed the clothes he was wearing. He was wearing a grey pair of jeans and a green t-shirt that had three pieces of cheese posing for a camera, above the cheese it said: Say People!

I chuckled at the shirt before grabbing Sora's hand for his attention. "You look perfect just like this." I said and kissed his cheek.

Sora blushed and smiled.

"Are you going to school today?" I asked.

He nodded.

"In that?" I continued.

He nodded again.

I smiled. "Good. You look very cute."

'C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T' He spelled.

"Yes, after what happened I expected you to go back to wearing those baggy clothes. But I'm very happy to see that you're still open to change." I said.

He nodded and scratched his dog's belly. He then pointed to it and spelled, 'P-L-U-T-O.'

"Pluto, huh?" I said and the dog perked at the sound of his name.

I smiled a little and patted the dog's head. It licked my head and I chuckled. "What type is he?" I asked.

'I-R-I-S-H S-E-T-T-E-R" He spelled.

I rubbed behind the dog's ears. "I never had a pet. My parents hated animals."

He gave me a questioning look.

"They said the only pet I could ever have was a pet rock." I chuckled.

Another questioning look.

"If you're wondering if I had a pet rock… then no I didn't. But I did take in a cat for a week when my cousin's went out of town."

Sora nodded.

"I like cats… they make very quiet noises if they make any at all." I said as a thought more to myself than to Sora.

Sora, surprisingly, crawled into my lap and snuggled into my chest. He wrapped his arms around me. I like it when you talk to me.

I smiled and ran my hands through his hair. After a couple of minutes, I laid back on the grass and Sora laid next to me.

"You're lawn has really soft grass. My lawn looks like shit and it's barren as fuck. I tried growing some pansies so that my home wouldn't look like an abandoned house... the poor flowers didn't last a month. I was very disappointed." I said.

Sora seemed to snicker before rubbing his hand above the grass with a smug look as if bragging that his grass was better.

"Shut up!'" I snapped. "How do you manage to annoy me without making any noise!"

Sora hissed with a goofy look on his face. Tee hee!

"You know what?" I grabbed his dog and held him close. "You can't have your dog back."

Pluto licked my face and I immediately let go of him. I growled as the dog ran back over to Sora.

"Good for nothing dog…" I grumbled.

Sora stopped suddenly and looked at his watch.

"What time is it?" I asked

He held up a hand. 5 o'clock.

I nodded and said that I would go.

Sora pouted for a second before moving over to me.

I looked at him seriously. He seemed very worn out, but his overall demeanor was happy.

For now… that was okay.

I kissed him on the lips and he sighed into it.

I pulled away and told him I would see him at school.

He nodded and waved as I mounted my bike and drove away.

A/N: REVIEW MY LOVES!