Disclaimers: I don't own anything but the game merchandise and this story. OTL The challenge, however, belongs to HawkRider.
A/N: Durrrr, haven't updated (nor really been around) in two weeks. Lots of catching up; oh goodie. |D Sorry guys, life's been busy and all that jazz. Can't promise I'll be updating as often as I had hoped this summer, but I'll try and actually finish things so I can start new stuff too. =w=; And hot damn, writer's block go away! :'D This chapter's squished with information/dialogue I didn't have to write, but wanted to anyway. Ah~ I hate how I do that. xD Not my best work; more meh in my opinion so I'll have to pick it up in the next few chapters. OTL
Despite all that, thanks so much for reading, subbing/faving, and reviewing, guys! ^^ Thanks to Rapis-Razuri, WishingDreamer5, HawkRider, Mirae-no-sekai, Chandramukhi, PrincessGarnet17, SilverPaopu, Terra ForceXIII, Broken Locket, Zodiac-Aries, and Zanzetsuken for reviewing the first batch of chapters! :) The support and kind words are greatly appreciated for something so positively cracky in a way. :P I hope you guys continue to enjoy! Remember to R&R please~
.: o1o | Truth | o1o :.
~ Innocent Swan ~
"This is Terra. Sorry I'm missing your call. If you're Axel, it's on purpose. Leave a message—"
Consider the END button pressed. A long, depressing sigh escaped me while I proceeded to knock my phone against my forehead in aggravation. It's been a week since that episode at the Rhythm Mixer followed by the more dramatic occurrence at the dance studio. Aqua and I haven't spoken about that night, though it was pretty obvious my older sister didn't want to; the air she radiated the next day explicitly hinted that she wanted nothing to do with Terra whatsoever and I wouldn't doubt he felt the same way…but that was what I needed to confirm.
Terra looked so upset that night and I wasn't sure if it was something I did or Aqua did. I was tempted to blame Aqua since she was the one yelling at him that night (I'm still clueless about the content of their shouting contest), but of course, I was the one who carried the problem in the first place. I just…wanted to make sure Terra didn't hate me. However with him ignoring my calls…
"Wait! Don't think like that!" Slapping my cheeks to snap out of my misery, I quickly stood up and clenched my fists in determination. "Kairi, we're going to set the record straight! That's why we're standing in the middle of…t-the middle of Terra's university campus…" Needless to say, that so-called courage I had dwindled to nothing again when I realized people were staring at me strangely for being a high school student. At a university campus. By myself! Not to mention that I was a little lost. I knew Terra attended this university…I just didn't know where to find him specifically. Blushing, I immediately scurried away.
"Oops! I'm sorry," I quickly apologized when I crashed into someone. Looking up, I froze in place when I met with the coldest eyes ever to have such a solid, pointed glare. "S-Sorry!"
"Good going, Squall," the man's black-haired companion teased. "You're scaring the poor kid to death!"
The (intimidating) brunet rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
"Fail!" the black-haired girl called out cheekily. "Rinoa barred you from saying that word for a month! I'm so telling!" Instead of answering, the brunet, Squall, simply pinched his nose in exasperation as his companion grinned in victory. Me? Well, I was utterly confused with what I should do. Maybe I could slip away without being noticed—
"What's a teenager even doing here?"
Crap… Giggling nervously, I tried so hard to avoid the man's dangerous leer. "U-Um, I'm looking for someone."
"Kairi?" At the sound of my name, I was relieved to find Terra passing by with Axel and another friend I've yet to know. Terra was blinking at me in perplexity, but thankfully enough, he had decided to approach me and…my accidentally company.
"A friend of yours?" Squall interrogated with a deadpan.
Terra rubbed the back of his head, clearly intimidated by Squall's insistence. "Er, yes."
The black-haired girl snickered behind her palm and didn't really try to hide it. "Oooh, we've got our hands on a pervert— Ow! What was that for?"
The hardened brunet ignored the girl as he continued to address Terra; the flat side of his textbook smacked against her head. "I don't really care why she's is here, but high school students shouldn't be on campus skipping class—"
"Yeah; I'll warn her next time." Terra apologized as I tiptoed beside him, bowing my head in an apologetic manner towards the glaring brunet. Once Squall gave his nod of consent and walked away – most likely to chase after the girl threatening to use the 'Rinoa' card again – Terra turned to me with a semi-annoyed look. "Out of anyone you could've bumped into, you just had to bump into the student body president?"
"S-Sorry." Oh no; Terra was still mad at me… Looking down in shame, I waited for my crush to send me home. First it was the whole thing with Aqua and now I got him in trouble with the student body president? I was so winning points with Terra right now.
Hearing him sigh, Terra suddenly poked my forehead and I glanced at him with a small squeak. He gave me a slight upturn of his lips before shouting at Axel. "I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Call Demyx." Axel grinned as he threw his arm around the blond. "I don't have my phone today."
The blond tilted his head. "Isn't it because Saïx smashed it the other day—"
"Ya know, Demyx, there's a reason why I didn't share that piece of information with Terra. Get that memorized. Stat."
As Terra's friends continued to bicker out of sight, the brunet walked in another direction as I followed after him. "I'm a little hungry. Let's talk in the cafeteria."
"O-Okay." I'm hoping that once Terra's stomach settles, he'd lighten up a little…
¨·..·¨·..·¨·..·¨·..·¨·..·¨·..·¨·..·¨·..·¨
We sat in silence for the longest time even though there was noise all around us. Terra and I hid in a corner of the giant cafeteria and I couldn't be any more grateful. If I was going to cry (hopefully I don't), I didn't want anyone to see me. I mean, who would want to be seen crying in public right?
The crunching of Terra's sandwich wrapper broke my thoughts and I hesitantly eyed him whereas he kept his gaze downwards; the small frown on his face unmistakable. Biting my bottom lip, I attempted to start conversation. "So…it's been a while. Have you been busy?"
"What makes you say that?" Terra passively asked; throwing his garbage in the nearest trash can.
Don't be put off by his lack of attention! "I always get your voicemail when I call."
He hummed momentarily before finally looking at me, except his glance was still unreadable. "Really? Sorry; I've had a lot on my mind with Saïx, classes, and the like."
"O-Oh?" Well at least he was talking! Prematurely encouraged, I nodded absentmindedly to keep our chat going. "Well, that makes sense. Hopefully you're faring better with Saïx than Aqua is with Larxene."
Just as the words rolled off my tongue, Terra's face soured as I covered my mouth. With nervousness you're bound to say something stupid, but come on! Why in the world did I have to mention Aqua of all things? I gaped in utter bewilderment, watching Terra lean forward across the table while avoiding eye contact with me. From what I could see, Terra wasn't even the 'Terra' I knew: he was so solemn, so…serious that he looked like a different person—He resembled Xemnas. Aqua always told me her boss was somber, stoic, and most of all, unfeeling… Why was Terra acting like his brother in front of me?
A little scared, I licked my lips before whispering. "Terra, have I…done something?"
He flinched as if to snap out of his trance, looking at me in perplexity. His eyes widened when he caught my crestfallen expression. Terra quickly spoke up, reaching out to touch me before stopping himself short and pulling away. "No, Kairi, that isn't it at all. I'm just… It's hard to explain."
"Tell me! Please…" I pleaded, hoping that I wouldn't cry in front of him again. That was the worst feeling ever; showing your crush that you were still a helpless little girl. My heart thumped loudly against my chest as I thought of all the reasons as to why we were here right now, without our shared smiles and usual laughter. We were super serious and it was driving me crazy!
Terra remained silent before looking past me. "That thing Larxene brought up at the Rhythm Mixer, about you 'matchmaking'… Is that true? In Aqua's case?"
I lowered my head; my hands clenching tightly together on my lap. I knew it; he was mad at me for doing something so childish and stupid. He probably thought I was weird now; meddling with my sister's love life like it was a game… I wanted to tell him it wasn't, but I couldn't find the right words to describe what I was aiming to truly do. Sucking in a sharp breath, I only nodded when I remained voiceless.
"I see." Terra sighed, sinking in his seat with arms folded across his chest. He sounded disappointed; tired.
At this point, I lost the handles on my feelings. Tears pricked my eyes and one slid down the side of my face as I smiled bitterly without lifting my gaze. "I'm a horrible person aren't I—?"
Suddenly, a warm hand reached out and touched the side of my face. Astounded, I lifted my head with wide eyes and Terra was the first thing I saw. His expression was stoic, but he was reaching out to me; wiping the stray tear away using his thumb. However, that only made another tear escape and the brunet sighed again, but this time with a reassuring smile.
"C'mon, Kairi." Terra softly consoled, wiping the rest of my tears with the sleeve of his shirt before brushing away my bangs and stroking my hair affectionately. "When did I ever say you were horrible? Don't ever think of yourself like that. You're only looking out for Aqua since she's your sister."
"B-But…" I sniffled, fighting off the urge to let out any more waterworks. My cheeks turned red as I allowed Terra to pet me. "Who would do that to their sister right? Naminé's always telling me that Aqua's fine with her independence, but I can't help it; I just want her to be happy."
"…I want her to be happy too, but maybe that's where I'm torn."
…What?
By the time I focused on Terra again, he was sitting casually in his seat; one hand thrown over the back of the chair beside him and his eyes gazed out into the crowd. A scowl was plastered on his face and his eyebrows were knitted together. There was so much confusion written all over Terra's face that it was contagiously rubbing off on me. Whatever did he mean by he wanted 'Aqua to be happy too'? Didn't he… Didn't they hate each other? Maybe Terra was just being nice for my sake. He was acting so strange lately that it worried me; perhaps more than it should.
Leaning forward, I finally confronted him. "Terra, I don't understand you when it comes to Aqua."
He laughed a little; more at himself. "Tell me something I don't know."
I shook my head. "Then what do you know?"
Grimacing, the brunet focused on the ceiling as he struggled to find his words. "Like I said: it's hard to explain; especially to you, Kairi."
Okay… What did that mean? That I was mentally incapable of understanding? "Why is that? Aqua's my sister, Terra. Don't you think I have the right to know what kind of animosity you have towards her?"
It was getting harder for Terra to answer me. "It's not like that…"
"Then please stop dodging the question!" Frustrated and suddenly scared of the answer, the words spilled from my mouth without stopping. "What is Aqua is to you?"
Slamming a fist on the table – inevitably causing my body to jump and momentarily capturing the attention of the other patrons – Terra glared at the tabletop before slapping his face in exhaustion. He inhaled deeply before finally looking at me, his mouth hiding behind his fist. Terra could be viewed as the epitome of conflict at that moment, but I knew better—I knew him better. The brunet was more embarrassed than angry with his cheeks tinted a slight pinkish color and eyes unable to maintain contact. He didn't have to say anything when I already knew what was probably denied all along.
"Aqua's been a thorn in my side ever since we were kids and she still is!"
"Meaning what though?"
"…I'm in love with your sister, Kairi."
