Author's Note: Well then! Here we are again. Right back where we started. Remember when you tried to-Oh. Never mind. That's not what we're talking about here, and that's another copyright I'm going to have to deal with ;_;. *Ahem* So we're back with Chapter 4 guys and gals. I'm glad to see people favoriting and liking and the like, it's really encouraging. I'm thinking about it a lot, and...I didn't give quite an accurate description of the story's plot, though I have given several disclaimers. I just want to announce the story will be entering a rocky stage for some people right now. I hate to spoil major surprises in the description, so bear with me, but if you suddenly find yourself disinterested in the story because of that, I won't necessarily blame you, but I won't feel bad. I've run into the same problem before, and, though I was wrong at the time because of the topic at hand (which I admitted to), this story doesn't come anywhere close on the moral meter, if you will.
That being said: tl;dr - if you find yourself coming to a sudden realization after this chapter, I'm sorry if you don't like it or weren't expecting it. But I hope you'll read on regardless. It also looks like the story will end around Chapter 13-14 from what I understand, so keep me held to that word!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Come on, guys, we've been through this. Also that song I was singing up top isn't mine either. You know the one...
Secondary Disclaimer: SERIOUSLY PEEPS. GO BACK AND READ THE PARAGRAPH ABOVE OR THE BEGINNING DISCLAIMERS IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY. I don't want anyone to be upset. :(
"It's not natural, Aerith! Those...need to..." an angry man emphatically gestured, his brown-haired wife's kind smile hiding hints of tiredness and exhaustion at the point her husband was trying to make.
"Leon, they're...boys...will be..." a nine year-old listened intently through his room's floor, his eyes growing sad and heavy with tears.
"Boys will be boys?!" the man shouted, giving Sora a clear hearing of the words, "It's not...they're...and you..." the man's points rambled on, a less-than-pleased tone to his words.
"But he's...son...love..." the wife countered in her gentle-but-stubborn manner.
"So just because...son...GAY?!" his last word seemed shouted, Sora lifting his head off the floor as his ear rung.
"Gay?" Sora grumbled, rubbing his ear as he thought about the word, "Some of the bigger kids use that word. I wonder what it means," the innocent boy contemplated it for a moment, unsure of what was making his father so upset.
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Sora awoke with a start, his body feeling as though it were falling down to his bed from the ceiling. He felt slightly damp with sweat, swinging his legs out of bed as he leaned his head down into his hands. He looked at his alarm clock before heading downstairs, hoping he would get to see his mom.
"Mom?" he called down the stairs, sleepily wiping his eyes as he trod down each step.
"In here, honey," a small but kind voice called to the boy from the living room, making Sora immediately turn to his right as he finished his descent.
Their house wasn't gigantic, but since his father had had a decent job, Sora remembered his mom telling him how they saved up all their money and put as much down as they could, paying their debt off right around the time she'd become pregnant with Sora. She lovingly referred to him as her house-warming present because after he was born, she always told him how full of life and warmth their house felt.
"Hey mom," Sora greeted the woman, giving her a small smile as he passed behind the couch.
She lifted her head up towards him slightly as he lowered his own, giving the woman a small kiss on the cheek as she did the same to him, "Hi honey, how was your day today?"
"Oh, you know...party after party with me!" the boy joked, a smile on his face that was seemingly out of place with the sad eyes he wore.
"What's wrong, dear?" the woman questioned almost immediately.
"It's...nothing," he tried a smile again, closing his eyes briefly as he did so to make it appear more genuine.
The woman lovingly set her feet down from the sofa as she gestured for the boy to sit with her. She adjusted her position to match the pillow she was laying her head on, and suddenly stated as the TV continued to flicker, "Did you know the Ostrich lays the largest eggs of any land animal?" the woman looked to her son seriously, "Yup. Saw it here on Nat Geo just a bit ago," the woman nodded in affirmation before suddenly laughing with her son, the boy's smile no longer hindered by sad eyes.
"You always know just what to say, mom," Sora brightly smiled at his mother, unsure of how she always knew how he was feeling.
"It's a mother's job to know these things," she replied simply, returning his smile, "So what has you down?"
"I just...remember that day I asked to have a talk with you?"
"You mean when you were younger?" the woman replied, nodding.
"Yeah..." he spoke quietly, the two drifting off into a memory.
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"Mommy..." the young Sora began, tugging at his mother's dress, "what's gay mean?"
The woman's eyes opened widely as she looked away from the dishes she'd been washing. As she stared into the front yard, she turned off the faucet and dried her hands, taking her son's hand in her own as she led them to the living room.
"Gay? Where did you hear that word?" the woman began, testing the waters of the conversation.
"I heard dad saying it to you the other night. He seemed really upset about whatever it meant," the young boy swung his feet back and forth as he sat on the sofa, his mother contemplating what to say.
"Gay is...it's a term..." she attempted to explain, unsure of how to explain the word to someone she thought wouldn't fully understand the word, "I don't know, Sora, it's not a bad thing but I think it's a little hard for a 9-"
"Almost 10!" the boy interrupted her puffing out his cheeks.
"I think it's hard to explain what it really means."
"I've heard bigger kids use it, before, but it always sounds really negative when they use it, like when daddy did. Is it a bad word?" he looked up at her.
"No, no," she waved her arms at him, "it's nothing like that. It's not bad at all, it's just...some people don't accept it. To simply put it, it's when a boy such as yourself likes another boy, that's not family."
The thought resonated a bit with Sora. There was his best friend, Roxas, who he loved more than anything else in the world. But he couldn't see why that would be a problem for people. Adults had best friends, right? They spent their whole lives together, so why couldn't Sora spend his with Roxas?
"So...daddy doesn't like that I love Roxas?" Sora frowned, his eyes sad as he continued to look at his mother.
"Daddy has a hard time understanding things sometimes," the woman gave a sad smile, looking away from her son to the living room window.
"Cuz I wanna spend forever and ever with Roxas, he's my best friend! I love him!" Sora pouted, small tears dripping down his cheeks, "Does daddy hate me?"
The kind-hearted woman wrapped her arms around her son, pulling him in closely to her warmth, "Of course not, Sora! He's just...worried, I guess," the woman's face seemed to be contemplative as she held back a thought, pulling her son in closer to her, "You run along and play with whoever you want, okay?" the woman brushed the wet streaks from her son's cheeks, patting him to stand up as she headed back into the kitchen.
"I love you, Sora," the woman smiled as he headed out the front door.
"I love you too, mommy, forever 'n' ever!" he smiled brightly back, closing the door as he rushed off to find his friend.
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"You were so young, I didn't know what to say to you," the woman fondly remembered her young son, happy memories of days she could spend just freely playing with him.
"Yeah...I still..." the older Sora thought about the memories, sadness overtaking his features once more.
"None of it was your fault, you know," the woman said sitting up and resting a hand on his shoulder, "I never want you to blame yourself for it."
"I know mom, it's just..." he trailed off, a bad habit he'd been having lately.
He thought about what he wanted to say, but he couldn't figure out how to get it out.
"I took the car today," he stated, beginning his explanation.
"Oh? That's rare, but it's not like I need two cars," she joked, "Your father and I always told you when you grew up and could drive we'd let you use it whenever. Nothing's changed because he left."
The words stung him every time they were said. He didn't blame himself, really. His father had left years after that happened. But something about the pain his childish antics had brought his mother because of his father didn't sit well with Sora. He'd always felt as though, even in the most innocent of ways, he'd contributed.
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"So I'm going to be the bride, and you'll be the groom," Roxas stated, sliding bobby pins into his hair as he held his toilet paper bouquet.
"Why do only girls and boys get married?" Sora pondered, fixing his 'Sunday best' t-shirt and shorts, "Don't people want to spend forever with their friends? Grown-ups are so confusing," Sora continued, walking up next to his 'bride'.
"Do you know how these things work?" the shy blonde asked, looking around at the make-shift crowd of stuffed animals sitting on sand benches.
"I think they say some stuff and then we put our lips together and we're together forever!" Sora replied enthusiastically, eager to spend forever with his best friend.
"So do you want to kiss your bride?" Roxas blushed, embarrassed for some unknown reason, "I even got dressed up in my best jewelry for you!" the young boy pointed to the pins parting his hair off to the right.
"It's not a kiss!" Sora argued, not wanting to be construed as that 'g' word he'd heard, "It's a deal between us to be together forever!" he nodded, completely disregarding the actual similarities between the two.
"Then here goes..." the young blonde closed his eyes, pushing his face towards his friend's.
Sora responded in turn, their lips barely meeting before a loud voice began to call, "SORA?! What are you doing?!" an angry Leon came and grabbed his son, "We're leaving right now!" he dragged the boy away, leaving his 'bride' at the altar.
"Aerith! Your son was just kissing that boy he's always with!"
A young Sora began to protest that it wasn't at all a kiss, but instead a deal, though a short look from his mother stopped him in his tracks.
"I'm sure they were just playing around, I'm sure. There's no need to get worked up about it," she sighed, her husband's attitude making her weary.
The two continued their argument and Sora was ordered upstairs by his father. He begrudgingly began his trip, his mother's face streaming with tears the last thing he saw before he disappeared upstairs.
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"I took a girl to the mall," he continued, snapping out of his memories.
"Oh?" His mother's interest piqued at the sudden statement, "Is she cute? Did you two hit it off? Am I going to have beautiful grand babies?" she gushed at her boy, only half serious about the multitude of questions.
"It was...okay. She's a little standoffish, and we weren't really going out on a date or anything, but...then suddenly everything took a turn for the worse, and I felt like I did back then..."
"I'm sorry honey..." his mother cooed to him, moving herself over and giving him a hug, which he returned gratefully, "Not really the time, I know, but so you are...?"
"Straight?"
"I prefer the term 'ruler-edge'," his mother joked.
"I guess, I don't know. I usually don't like anyone," his mother nodded at this, "But she just seems like a fun person. I'm always telling Riku I think this girl's cute or that girl's hot, but in reality, nobody ever really seems special to me. I just do it to get him to stop nagging me," he laughed a little at the statement, imagining Riku's silver hair to be an effect of old age, his future self an old bitter woman ridiculing Sora at every turn, "I don't know...I always just wanted to spend my time with-with-" he couldn't finish the sentence.
"It's okay, honey. Don't force yourself. You know it doesn't matter to me who you love or what you do. I think you're an exceptional young man. Even if I have to be biased,' she teased.
Sora gave a gentle smile to his mother, grabbing her hand in his own when she offered it to him. He stood up, his mother giving him another reassuring smile as he headed into the kitchen.
"I just want everything to be simple," he sighed, looking for something to settle his growling stomach.
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"I hate you!" the brown haired boy yelled to the blonde at his doorstep, "I never want to see you again!"
The blonde-haired boy's already sad eyes welled up with tears, "But I thought we were-"
"No! Go away! I don't like you!" Sora abruptly closed the door in the young boy's face, the blonde rushing back to his own house a few doors away.
Sora only later found out the reason his friend had suddenly shown up. He'd come over to tell Sora his family was moving away. Only much later had Sora found out the story the local newspaper was printing: a rock slide a few counties over had reportedly taken the lives of a family of four from Destiny Islands.
"...my best jewelry..." a single tear dropped down a young red-head's face as she played with the crown around her neck.
Even though it started somewhere deep in my heart,
You weren't the one that had to say goodbye.
Have you ever thought about what I sacrificed?
Have you ever known how much it hurt?
End Note: I wonder who's mulling this over right now out there! Anyways, Chapter 5 is going to be a short one from the looks of it, but 6 or 7 should give us a good chunk of plot! I hope you all enjoy, and see you next time! 3 ~Shin-Shui~