A/N: NO, Sora and Roxas are NOT brothers. Also, it was fun being at exactly 48,000 words while it lasted. Anyway, read on!
o.o.o
Follow Me Home
Chapter Twenty-Four
o.o.o
Mr. and Mrs. Yamada led Sora down to the basement. There were an assortment of boxes piled on shelves; each had their own label. Sora hadn't been down here in years; it used to be a lounge area but now it was turned into storage. Mrs. Yamada hesitatingly went over to the corner of the room and reached for a small, wooden box on the top of the shelf. Mr. Yamada helped her get it down and she brought it over to Sora. Her expression was pale and unnerving.
Sora took the box and after exchanging looks with his parents, he opened it. Inside were a bunch of baby pictures. Sora recognized himself; he had seen his own baby pictures before, but these must have been from somewhere within the first few months of his life. He then came across a picture of his mother laying in the hospital bed and holding two babies. One was wrapped in red and the other in a blue blanket. Sora noticed that the baby's eyes were different colors; the one in the blue blanket, presumably himself, had matching aqua eyes. The other had undeniable yellow eyes.
'Yellow eyes...'
"M-Mom... who is... this?"
"Your... twin... brother..." She answered sheepishly, "Vanitas."
Sora nearly lost his balance upon hearing that name.
"EH?!"
"At the time, we couldn't afford to keep both of you... so we kept you and gave your brother to a friend. It was a very hard thing for us to do." Mr. Yamada admitted.
"What do you mean you couldn't afford us?" Sora was even more confused. "What friend...?" His brain was starting to hurt. "...huh...?!"
"T-that's not important! Anyway... when I saw that your brother was meddling with that good for nothing ex-girlfriend of yours, I nearly jumped out of my seat. I knew it was him. His first name was the same... his last name was the same one as the friend that we gave him to... it was definitely a shock!" Mrs. Yamada exclaimed.
"That's... you're kidding..."Sora couldn't wrap his mind around it.
"It's true. And it looks like we made the right choice." Mr. Yamada said.
"I knew that there was something wrong with that child..." Mrs. Yamada shuddered.
"I... still don't... understand..."
'I actually beat up my own brother...?'
"Were you ever going to tell me?"
"We didn't feel the need to." Mrs. Yamada said sympathetically. He didn't know about you either." Her demeanor suddenly changed and she smacked him in the shoulder. "When were YOU going to tell us that you were actually alive?! Do you know how many sleepless nights we had just crying?"
"Mom!" Sora backed away from her, but held onto the wooden box. "Anyway... do you mind if I... look at this some more...?"
"I suppose. But do it upstairs."
They all went back up into the living room. Sora was still freaked out over the revelations he had just heard. It was mind-boggling. How could he go through his entire life up until this point without even knowing that he had a twin brother? He felt like he should be upset that they hid this from him, but he wasn't really in a very good position to do that. He took a seat on the couch and flipped through the tons of pictures in the wooden box. He noticed that in every picture of him and Vanitas, he looked upset.
"He must have just been born that way." Mrs. Yamada sat next to him. "Your little brother was evil since day one. I never thought that a baby could do something out of spite, but you were always crying whenever he was around. You two had to sleep in separate rooms because you couldn't fall asleep if he was nearby."
"So... how old were we when you decided to... give him up?"
"About five months."
"And... you never planned on telling me...?" He repeated, just for confirmation. Mrs. Yamada shook her head.
"Wow..."
o.o.o
Kairi's cell phone went off next to her. Checking the caller ID, it was Aqua. Kairi answered in a mellow tone.
"Hey."
"Kairi, how are you? It's been a while!"
"I'm okay."
"You sound tired... or something."
"Yeah... I'm taking a new medication..."
"Medication?"
"It calms me down."
"Oh, well I hope that you're doing better. Actually, Terra and I are on vacation here on the Islands. Want to meet up?"
"I don't know. Roxas isn't home. I don't have a way to get to you."
"Silly, we can pick you up. Come on, get dressed."
"Okay."
Kairi hung up with them and just lay there for a moment. She didn't feel like doing anything; not even seeing her good friend. Ever since her therapist prescribed this medication, she had become very neutral about everything. Even her lingering thoughts of Sora were just shrugged off. It was almost scary, but in her mind, that was okay for the moment.
She got herself out of bed and threw on some clothes, not even bothering to check her hair or wash her face. She just didn't have the motivation.
o.o.o
Roxas was out searching for jobs. He had already applied to twenty places and was starting to feel exhausted. He didn't really have any job preference, obviously. He figured that if he was away from Kairi for at least six hours a day, he would be able to regain his sanity—given that the job didn't stress him out either. He knew that he shouldn't be applying during the evening, but he had started around noon. He left Kairi with Axel; Axel promised that he would watch her for the day.
As soon as he felt like he had filled out enough applications, Roxas wasn't quite ready to go back home. He kind of just wanted to spend the day by himself. He needed some fresh air, anyway. He got onto the bus and went down to the beach.
o.o.o
Kairi waited for Aqua and Terra outside of the apartment. They pulled up about five minutes later. Aqua jumped out of the car and embraced her.
"I've missed you so much!"
"Me too..."
"Well, come on. We're really excited to explore this beautiful place!"
Kairi got into the car with them and fastened her seat belt.
"Hey, kiddo." Terra greeted from the front.
"Hey."
Aqua and Terra tried to ignore her attitude and just focused on staying positive. Kairi really did like being around these two, but she couldn't show it. They went down to a nice restaurant on the outskirts of town.
"Kairi, aren't you hungry?" Aqua asked after looking through the menu for a few minutes.
"Not really."
"Have you already eaten?" Terra asked.
"No... I'm just... not hungry."
"Oh... I'm sorry." Aqua felt bad for coming here.
"It's not your fault. You two should enjoy yourselves. I don't mind watching."
Aqua and Terra exchanged anxious looks. After an hour of awkward dinner conversations, they finally decided to take her back home.
o.o.o
Later that night, Sora went downtown. He had way too much to drink already and was heading for the host club that Riku worked at. He walked inside and sat at one of the tables. Riku noticed him right away.
"Excuse me, ladies." Riku hurried over to his friend, who was nearly falling asleep at the table. "Sora, what are you doing here?"
Sora looked up at him and busted out laughing. Confused, Riku grabbed a drink of water and offered it to him.
"Hey... you wanna know... what?" Sora's words were slurred and he couldn't stop laughing. "My life... is hi-larious."
"Why do you say that?"
"J-Just think about it... my lifelong partner cheated on me with one of my best friends... then everyone thought that I was dead... then I stayed with my aunt and uncle... my uncle taught me how to fight..." Sora hit the table a few times with his fist, "and THEN, oh, it gets good... I find out that Kairi... get this... that Kairi is being raped and tortured by my own twin brother!" He exploded in laughter. Riku gave him a very concerned look. "On top of that, oh you won't believe this... Roxas actually cheated on Kairi before. Want to know how I know? Because he has a daughter!" Sora could barely contain himself.
"Alright, you need to go home. You're saying a bunch of nonsense."
A few girls surrounded Riku and begged him to come back to them. They noticed Sora.
"He's a cutie, does he work here?" They sat next to Sora.
"Back away, hoes!" Sora pointed his finger to the air, but then slumped over. Embarrassed, Riku immediately pulled Sora out of the booth and escorted him quickly out of the club. He flagged down a taxi and forced Sora into the back seat.
"Go home!" Riku demanded. He gave the driver some money and they drove off.
Sora couldn't stay still in the back seat. He kept switching from one window to the other, watching the trees and buildings go by. That's when he came up with an idea.
"Hey, can you take me... to... Sun Set Valley Apartments? I can stay there!"
"That's ten minutes in the other direction. Are you sure?"
"Ugh, of course I'm sure!"
The driver made a u-turn and headed towards the direction of Kairi's apartment.
o.o.o
Roxas didn't have the will to go home. He was enjoying the quiet nature of the beach and if he had a choice, he would stay there forever.
Even though Kairi was on medication now, (which seemed way overdue in Roxas' opinion), she was still unresponsive. Roxas felt a bit selfish again for wanting her to hurry up and get better, but he knew that as soon as she did she would just go back to Sora. There was no place for him in her life anymore.
"What should I do...?"
o.o.o
Sora got out of the taxi and stood in front of the apartments. He wobbled over to the door.
"Oh, crap. I don't know what room she's in..."
He was still very much intoxicated; he drank half a bottle of vodka. He knew that it wasn't good for him, but with everything that had been going on lately, Sora wanted an escape. Why he was here in front of Kairi's apartment at the moment was beyond him. He didn't want to think about it either. He spotted Axel inside and waved to him.
"Axel! What a stroke of luck!"
"Oh, hey dude. I was just checking mail. What are you doing here? You reek of alcohol, by the way."
"Thanks. I was looking for Kairi. I want to fuck her brains out."
"Whoa! Well, don't let me get in the way."
Sora just stood there, trying to keep his balance and giggling to himself. "It's funny that you think I'm serious."
"Alcohol will definitely mess with ya." Axel winked. "But if you want to see Kairi, I guess you could. She's upstairs." Roxas never really warned him about Sora. Even if he did know, Axel didn't really care.
Sora followed Axel up five flights of stairs; by the end he felt like he was going to die. Axel opened the door to the apartment and Sora walked inside after him. He suddenly felt dizzy.
"Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn't be here..." Sora tried to compose himself, but the effects of the alcohol were still in control.
"Kairi, your boyfriend or whatever is here!" Axel called out.
"I'm not... her boyfriend..."
"That's why I said or whatever." Axel grinned and retreated to his room.
Sora suddenly felt stupid. No amount of alcohol could prepare him for Kairi in her pajamas.
Wait, she was already out of her room? She was standing in the hallway?
'I'm so... lost...' Sora put his hand on his forehead as if he was checking for a fever. He shouldn't be in this apartment right now...
"...Sora?" Kairi trotted towards him.
That was it. He couldn't control it any longer. He could feel it coming up like word vomit.
No wait—actual vomit.
"...oops..."
o.o.o
o.o.o
A/N: I wonder what will happen next? Leave a review, please!