Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Smoke Screen ❯ Distraught ( Chapter 9 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: sadistic_kunais 
Larxene is distraught as things begin to change.
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.30.2012 | Updated On: 08.30.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 15.7K | Visits: 135 | Status: Completed
Larxene is distraught as things begin to change.
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.30.2012 | Updated On: 08.30.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 15.7K | Visits: 135 | Status: Completed
Note to Disclaimers: I do not and nev er will own Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 or CoM so…please do
NOT sue me. This is way beyond standard at this& nbsp;point, doncha think?
A/N: Chapter ;9 is finally done, after waiting forever&nbs p;and ever! However, the rules have not
changed. The boy/boy love shall continue ;(sorry all—it's STILL not the main pairing) as
will the Mature themes& nbsp;(I.E. that means Rape, Sexual Assault, D omestic Violence, Gangs,
cussing, blood, horr ible things that SHOULD NOT happen to pe ople, etc…) and that
means&nbs p;this story is not for young ones! I&nb sp;can't stress that enough and I sure d on't want a
lawsuit. I am working h ard to keep everyone in character as wel l as making them fit into
the story 's concept. The content is getting more mature and less friendly, so just know t hat.
Okie, that's it. And most important ly, I am SOOOOO sorry it took so lo ng. The Computer
fiasco was ridiculous; still is.
Word coding: ' Though ts' , "Speaking", Random flashbacks or ;other stuff, Everything else
:THERE I S SUPPOSED TO BE A LINE BREAK HERE:& nbsp;
Distraught
Larxene was utterly bo red as she lay on her bed fiddling with her book, which was in the worst&nb sp;
condition it'd ever been in due to&nb sp;her recent abuse. She knew, mentally, that the house needed a
replenishment of&nbs p;groceries as well as other household suppli es; however, she was in no mood to
do this. But she knew she needed to , especially with Namine staying in the house and Roxas and
Axel's heinous appet ites. Not to mention that people had bee n over regularly as of the late and ;
the kids had just trashed her kitchen,& nbsp;along with food, not too long ago. 'Gee…thanks for
supervising Axel , you twit,' she mused as she glance d over at her coat. She groaned as she looked
at it knowing full well it was better to go sooner than later&nb sp;or Axel would be hounding her. She never really understood why he didn't do&n bsp;any of the shopping himself. It was as if it was a
woman's job only,&nb sp;which she found highly sexist. Of course,& nbsp;Axel never said this directly and she&nb sp;
had her reservations about him anyway ;since he was gay. Scowling despite the stupidity of the
situation, Larxene found&nbs p;herself reaching for her coat in the s lowest fashion possible.
Thoroughly annoyed, she snatched her wallet from the makeshift&nb sp;bedside table and proceeded
downstairs. Im mediately she spotted Axel lounging on the&nb sp;couch, Demyx and Zexion talking in
th e kitchen and Roxas watching TV. Namine was nowhere in sight; she seemed to have a knack
for disappearing when Larxene&n bsp;was around.
However, all discussions and& nbsp;activities ceased when she appeared at t he foot of the stairs, her
wisps of hair twitching wildly in the lighting a s though they had minds of their own.&nb sp;Her scowl
deepened when Axel smirked at her from his position of burning the& nbsp;yellow pages while Roxas
merely nodded&n bsp;momentarily before returning his attention to& nbsp;the television. Demyx gave her a
wi de eyed look before searching from something& nbsp;in his pockets while Zexion shook his&nb sp;head.
She already knew what it was&nb sp;Demyx was looking for but pretended to&nbs p;have no clue just as he
walked ov er to her. "What?"
"Hey Larxene, ha ve you seen my cell phone? It's been&nbs p;missing for a couple days and I need&n bsp;it to
call—" he paused ;as if carefully choosing his next words.&nbs p;"Um…I just need it back. Hav e you
seen it?"
"No," she replied&n bsp;flatly. "Is there anything you need in&nb sp;particular because I'm going shopping just ;
this once and if I forget something&nbs p;then oh fucking well." No one said a&n bsp;word. "Fine, your loss
assholes."
Wi th that said Larxene was gone, disappearing&n bsp;into the cool evening air just as th e street lights
around the town came&nbs p;to life. She could see faint figures w alking around from inside the crack in < br> the wall, the one that no one seemed to care to fix anytime soon. She r olled her eyes as happy
couples kissed&n bsp;and flirted mercilessly around the town s quare while shops lights came on as well .
The candy shop owner was talking away with the local towns kids and she&n bsp;resisted the urge to
throw smoke or& nbsp;stink bombs at them from her cache. ;She was itching to though, more than sh e
let on. Stifling a chuckle, and s aid urge, she made her way to the " market" in order to replenish.
Most of&n bsp;the time she went after hours where the nice store owner let her in to shop privately—the
lady liked h er for some strange reason. Whatever the ;case, she didn't understand why, for the&nbs p;life
of her, she'd decided to go out so early for once. 'Oh… yeah…' Remembering the reason, she
quickly slipped past the market towa rds the bridge connecting Twilight Town to&nb sp;the infamous
Traverse Town, which was ;ruled by her step-father. 'The fucking de ad beat scumbag…' she
muse d as she crossed over it, ignoring all&n bsp;the stares she received from the townsfol k for not
really being seen before along with her attire of a long, black,& nbsp;leathery trench coat.
It seemed to be a trend all over as Axel, Roxas, ;Demyx and Zexion all had one as well&nb sp;when
they'd all first met. And recent ly, she'd finally realized that Marluxia had& nbsp;one too. She shrugged
it off as&nbs p;well placed marketing for the seller. She&n bsp;was already on the other side by the time she
came out of her reverie,& nbsp;which was right before she bumped into&n bsp;a man wearing an obnoxious
eye patch . Larxene grimaced as he turned to look& nbsp;at her, his exposed eye narrowing on&nbs p;her as she
paused in the middle o f his path. Suddenly his lips turned up& nbsp;in a wayward, somewhat perverted
looking grin as he leaned towards her. For ;her part Larxene leaned away from him.
"Hey there little missy, are you lost&nb sp;or something?"
"No," she replied rudely&nb sp;as she began walking past him. "Get o ut of my way. I'm busy." She was surprised when he stepped in front of ;her. She felt her scowl return as she&n bsp;glared up at him,
taking all of ;him in. There was the evident eye patch , graying hair pulled back in a ponytail
and—'A gun?' Shaking he r head, she backed up a little and tried again. "Listen, you're in my way < br> buddy. What the hell gives?"
"You're ;not familiar with this place are ya, li ttle missy?"
Her eyes narrowed, her fing ers involuntarily gripping her hidden knives. ;"What the hell are you
talking about,&n bsp;jackass?"
He smirked, raising a brow at her. "Well, if you were from he re, you'd know who I am. On top of& nbsp;
that, you wouldn't be so abrasive, especially if you're all alone."
She bac k pedaled as he began walking towards he r. She was by no means afraid, just ;annoyed.
"Hey asshole, just get the fuc k out of my way and I won't cut&nbs p;you. I don't care who you are, you&nbs p;
pirate wannabe. I couldn't careless if ;you were God. I'm busy and you're inter fering so move it!"
"As if." At the point the man had pulled his gun a nd looked at it. "She's a beauty, ain't& nbsp;she?" She
let out an exasperated br eath. "Now, if you don't want her barrel in between those pretty eyes of
yo urs, you'll listen to what I've got to&n bsp;say." He began raising the pistol as ;he spoke. "A pretty
little thing like&n bsp;you—" His speech was cut sh ort when he found himself face to face&n bsp;with four
knives, all pointed at his eyes, with the young woman looking posi tively murderous.
"…shouldn't be&nb sp;acting hard."
"Acting hard? I don't a ct, idiot," she spat back as she pushed& nbsp;her kunai closer to his widening
ey es. Suddenly she really looked at him, t aking a good look at his features again. Before either of
them knew what wa s going on, she was lowering her weapons . "Are you…um…by any
chance…Xigbar?"
"Ahaâ€& brvbar;so you know my name after all, li ttle girl." The man answered as he lower ed his gun
fully. "Yeah, I'm Xigbar.&nbs p;Who wants to know?"
"You know a D emyx, don't you?" She asked.
Xigbar sudd enly did a double take. "Demyx? Hell yea h I know a Demyx. You friends with him
or somethin?"
She shrugged nonchalan tly. "I wouldn't say that. But whatever. ;Listen…you don't remember, I
guess, but we met at one of his con certs. I thought you looked familiar with&nbs p;that stupid ass eye
patch…Xi ggie" She brought the hood of her jacket down.
The older man let out a ;laugh. "Course I remember you now! Larxene,& nbsp;is it?" She nodded. "Hey!
What brin gs you to this side of the bridge?" ;
"I'm…here on business," she s aid, unconsciously clutching the cell phone i n her pocket.
"Well, don't let me g et in the way," he responded. "But, it&n bsp;might interest you to know that my < br> coffee shop is about five minutes that&nb sp;way, if you wanna get something to dr ink. I might even be
able to help&n bsp;you. You game?"
Glancing at her watc h, Larxene slowly nodded. "Yeah…gue ss I got some time to blow. Not lik e
those jerk offs need me there rig ht now. I could use a drink. You do n't just serve coffee, do you?"
Slapping her lightly on the back with the f amiliarity of old time friends, Xigbar let&nb sp;out another
laugh. "What would a coff ee shop be without some good old Irish&n bsp;coffee?"
She offered him a small,&nb sp;quick nod, one that she felt was suff icient enough for someone she'd
only met a couple times before. As they walked&n bsp;to their destination she could feel Demyx 's
phone vibrating in her coat pocket&nb sp;but she chose to ignore it for the&nb sp;time being. She was pretty
sure she&n bsp;knew who it was but figured that she needed some kind of nourishment before she
started her search to harass the&nbs p;young, flower loving youth. In truth, she&n bsp;didn't even know why
she was botheri ng thinking about him let alone actually ;going to look for him. Annoyance welled ;
up in the pit of her stomach as&nb sp;she was Xigbar's coffee shop come into&nbs p;view, the neon sign
looking haggard bu t still lit. All in all, the place looked like a junk heap but she didn't&n bsp;really care;
she'd grown up around e nough of the stuff to know that it was safe even if it had been years. ;
Glad to be out of sight from the&n bsp;townspeople, Larxene snagged a chair by t he counter as Xigbar
disappeared behind it and into the inventory room out back. The café was small, quaint even ,
with its comfortable chairs and small& nbsp;tables. But what she found most interest ing were the
decorations: a very large&n bsp;assortment of model-like but usable guns were hanging from practically
every corner&nb sp;of the shop, littering the walls instead&n bsp;of typical picture frames. In fact, the&n bsp;only
picture she saw was the one&nbs p;directly behind the register, which was of& nbsp;Xigbar—obviously—
Demyx ;and a man with short, bleached blonde h air and pierced ears. She didn't have a& nbsp;clue as to
who he was but she& nbsp;supposed it didn't really matter as Xigb ar placed a cup of steaming, coffee in&n bsp;
front of her. She could smell the&nb sp;liquor drifting up from within the steam&n bsp;and inhaled it all before
she picked it up to taste it. She'd never bee n much of a drinker until recently, nor& nbsp;had she liked
coffee so much but&nb sp;it seemed the bittersweet taste combined w ith the alcohol was too appealing
to&nbs p;reject.
Once she'd set it down, Xigbar leaned over the counter and gave her&nb sp;a fixed stare. She felt her
hands&nbs p;tighten around her kunai as before. Trust&n bsp;was something she took seriously. But he& nbsp;seemed
harmless, for the most part, ;as he popped open a bottle of Jack ;Daniels and poured himself a shot
along with some coke. Larxene was about to&nb sp;open her mouth to say something when he raised a
hand to silence her whi le he took a sip. "So, Larxeneâ€&b rvbar;what were you doin that you were i n such
a rush?"
"Like I saidâ €¦I'm here on business," she replied&n bsp;quietly as she drank more of her bev erage.
"Like I said, what kind?" He ;shot back as he downed his second shot. "Traverse Town ain't
adverse to simple& nbsp;business that ain't of the dirty kind.&n bsp;So what? You tryin to knock someone off?
Listenin to the rumor mill? Lookin& nbsp;for someone in particular?"
His words&nb sp;were hitting to close to home and she didn't like it one bit. Instead of ;answering she
buried her face in her&nb sp;drink as she took a rather large gulp , surprised when she actually felt the < br> small tingle of the alcohol. Suddenly her brain became fuzzy as she felt her ;vision begin to blur.
'Whatâ€&brvba r;a ruffie?' She recognized the familiar effects of the date-rape drug course through& nbsp;her;
but she also knew how to fight them. "What the…fuck did ;you do to my drink?"
Xigbar let ou t a laugh as he poured himself yet another shot of whiskey. "Well, you
see& acirc;€¦somethin tells me you're not g onna tell me shit unless you're a little messed up so…I added
an& nbsp;ingredient."
Immediately her guard went& nbsp;up as best as it could with the&nbs p;drug coursing through her system.
Larxene&n bsp;knew she appeared pretty sane and normal& nbsp;but inside her body was fighting. Leaned
back in her chair a little, she&nb sp;sighed. "What the fuck is it with all you men? So fucking
shadyâ€&brvba r;always needing to feel so in controlâ €¦and using shit because you couldn't& nbsp;get a girl to
like youâ€&brvb ar;" she gave him a disgusted look. "Or& nbsp;to fuck you."
He raised his hands&n bsp;as if in surrender. "As if little mi ss. I know I could get a girl; I&nb sp;don't need
drugs for that shit. I&nbs p;use mine for conventional purposes only." < br> "How conventional," she spat as she glare d at him.
"They don't seem to be&nb sp;affectin you so much, so what gives?" ;
She glared harder. "Nothing. It's none of your damn business."
He was about&nbs p;to open his mouth when someone called to him from the back. Instead of going&n bsp;
however, he yelled. "Yeah, flower boy&aci rc;€¦just fuckin leave. I don't have&n bsp;time for this right now."
As if ;nothing was wrong, Larxene snapped forward, grabbing the collar of Xigbar's shirt. "What& nbsp;
did you just say?"
"I said the drug ain't affectin you so—"&n bsp;
"No, your worker…what did you just call him?"
Xigbar gave her ;a puzzled look. "Flower boy?"
Before he could say anything else about her sudde n question Larxene had hopped over the < br> counter and ran to the back just as& nbsp;the exit door slammed shut. 'Shitâ&e uro;¦' she mentally swore as she < br> ran, threw open the door and disappeared& nbsp;into the cooling night air. She could&nb sp;see a figure
walking a good amount&nb sp;of feet in front of her and made ;to run after it. However, she could als o
feel the effects of the drug real ly beginning to set in as she made her way towards the person.
Suddenly her vision blurred and she couldn't see whe re she was walking anymore. 'I can't
fucking believe this…he must h ave used more than one…can't b elieve I let my guard
downâ€&brvba r;fucking idiot…' she swore aga in and again as simple standing became h arder. She began
to feel faint and she had but a moment before she'd fall&n bsp;over and pass out, she knew. Reeling ;
herself to stay sane, she managed to&nb sp;call out to the cloaked figure before ;she collapsed onto the
cobble-stoned ground, her world going black.
Up ahead, t he figure turned, his face annoyed. 'Who&n bsp;the hell is calling to me? Hayner di dn't even
work today and it sounded ;female…' Sighing, he looked ar ound, not seeing anyone in his direct line of vision. Shrugging, he started to&n bsp;walk back to where the shout came fr om as he pondered.
'I only know two females from this area and I doubt&n bsp;Namine is—' And just like&nb sp;that his thoughts
cut off as he spotted the heap laying on the ground no t too far away from the street lamp,&nbs p;which
looked like it was about to ;burn out. More out of curiosity than ge nuine shock, he made his way
over&n bsp;to inspect what it was. He felt a&nb sp;small gasp leave his throat as he sta red at the fallen form of
the young woman on the ground. "Larxene?" he whis pered to no one as he registered the&nbs p;wisps
of golden hair laying flat again st her matted hair. He could see the&nbs p;sheen of sweat covering her
forehead a nd even though she was unconscious he co uld see her body trembling. 'What the ;hell is
going on?' Feeling even shi ttier by the second, he reached down to& nbsp;pick her up, not sure where
he ;was going to take her. Definitely not t he youth hostel; there wasn't anything that&n bsp;could be
done in that hell hole ;of a place. The only place he could&nbs p;think of was Xigbar's and judging by < br> where she'd fallen, she'd been coming fro m that general direction.
However, something& nbsp;told him that might not be the best idea. Wracking his brain in complete desperation, Marluxia tried to find somewhere&n bsp;to take. Only one place kept popping ;up and he
didn't want to take her& nbsp;there. It was one of the last place s he wanted to be at the moment. Bu t
still, even after about a few min utes of thinking he could come up with&n bsp;nothing and Larxene
wasn't looking any&nb sp;better. If anything, she'd actually started&nbs p;shaking and was whispering
incoherently in& nbsp;his arms. When he was younger, full ;grown panic might have set in but at&nb sp;this
point in his life he didn't ;have a reason to do that. Instead he&nb sp;decided that maybe it was better if < br> he took her to that awful youth host el since it didn't seem like he had ;much of a choice. Angered
that he had no place else, he simply returned to his original direction, only this time he picked up
the pace. Whether it w as for her sake or his he didn't ha ve the slightest clue. As it was, things
were already pretty crappy as Demyx&nbs p;hadn't answered his text messages for about a week now,
and he had the fe eling that the musician had lost his pho ne. At any rate it seemed to be one of the
trivial things to think abo ut in his current situation.
When the&nb sp;youth hostel finally came into view Marlux ia began to feel sick, dreading having t o
deal with Hayner when he got to&n bsp;his bed. Steeling himself for the onslaug ht he walked in,
straight past everybody who might ask questions until he arrive d at his bunker. Surprisingly
Hayner was not present, his bunk cleared off with& nbsp;only his bedding remaining. Marluxia raised&n bsp;a
brow. 'He never said anything a bout leaving…oh, who gives a s hit…' he thought as he pla ced
Larxene on his bottom bunk. Her ;limp arms instantly flopped on the sides&nbs p;of the bed as she lay
there as&nb sp;if she was dead. 'What the fuck ha ppened to her? It's like someone drugged ;her…' His
face went ashen . 'Someone DID drug her!' He'd seen&nb sp;the symptoms before, usually on girls at&n bsp;
parties his friends had when he was& nbsp;in High School. He remembered a few ;incidents and he
berated himself for re membering them; they were part of what h e was trying to forget.
Aggravated by&nb sp;everything, he searched his small bag to&n bsp;see if he had anything he could wet& nbsp;to
wipe off her head and cool her rising temperature. His last choice was&n bsp;his only washcloth, which
he didn't like to share with anyone, so he used&nb sp;it since there was nothing else other ;than a sock or
a pair of his boxers. Once wet, he began wiping her fo rehead and all the sweat he found on&nbs p;her
face and surrounding areas such as her neck and her ears. However, he ;soon realized that he'd
need to remove& nbsp;her heavy, black leather coat that looke d like it was baking her from within.&nb sp;He
felt his cheeks redden.
He di dn't even want to touch her, mainly beca use she was totally crazy and dangerous. ;He still
had battle scars from their&nb sp;last encounter. Shaking his head, he knew& nbsp;he had to do the right thing
n o matter how much he didn't want to,&nbs p;especially with her. His fingers found the& nbsp;zipper, making
quick work of it bef ore having to practically peel it from h er sweaty skin, the leather sticking as
he pulled it off. Nevertheless she made no movements as he stripped her dow n to her only layer;
his eyes almos t popped out of their sockets from her&n bsp;dress—or lack thereof. It appear ed that
Larxene seemed to wear very ;little clothes as he took in her state& nbsp;of dress: a simple tank top and
underwear. He felt his cheeks burning at&nb sp;this though he knew he could not let& nbsp;her sleep in the
hostel in such&nbs p;clothing. Begrudgingly he pulled his pair o f pajama pants from his bag and
gin gerly slid them up her bare legs. She&nb sp;seemed to come to a little at his&nbs p;touch, her head rising a
little before she murmured something incoherent, then fell back onto the bed, unconscious again. < br> He felt relief flood his tense body as he pulled his covers over her before& nbsp;taking a seat next to her
still&nbs p;body, his head falling to his hands as he tried to grasp the situation in ;its entirety. He would
have pondered it longer had he not felt and heard v ibrating from Larxene's coat, which was
currently sitting in a heap next to him.
More than annoyed, and not quite s ure he could handle any more surprises f or the night, he chose
to ignore th e buzzing as he went back to his th oughts. At this point he knew he would&n bsp;have to
stay up and watch her j ust to make sure nothing happened to her , incase her condition changed,
and most ly, because there was nowhere for him to sleep. He hated being responsible; it w as what
got him into trouble in the first place. But as time passed, and&nb sp;his thoughts began to fade into
nothi ngness, he found himself looking at her sleeping form. And though she didn't look&nbs p;the least
bit peaceful, for some stran ge reason he found that for once, in&nbs p;a long time, he could actually
close&n bsp;his eyes. He wasn't sure what was go ing to happen tomorrow but as before, fo r once he
couldn't care less.
:: Line Break::
Grogginess was something Lar xene had never favored though it was com pletely familiar to her
since she spent& nbsp;many a night smoking and drinking with&n bsp;Axel before Namine came over.
However,&nb sp;today it was particularly not welcomed as& nbsp;she tried to remember where she was ;and
what she had been doing. She w as about to mumble something when she he ard someone
speaking.
"You've been out&n bsp;for two days, incase you wanted to k now."
Automatically she pulled the covers&nbs p;up over her body though she was, to&nb sp;her own surprise,
wearing pajama pants&nbs p;over her normally uncovered legs. "Whatâ&e uro;¦how the hell did I get here?"&nbs p;
She glanced around. "What is here?" Marluxia sighed as he rubbed his tired&nbs p;eyes. He'd been in the youth hostel fo r two days straight,
even neglecting wor k though he figured Xigbar didn't care t oo much as the older man hadn't
bot hered to call. "It doesn't matter. What in the seven levels of hell are you ;doing here, you crazy
woman?"
She blanched, annoyed but not so shocked at his response. "I was just passing through,&nb sp;not that
it's any of your business."& nbsp;
He shook his head. "Yeah, fine,&nbs p;whatever. Anyway…your phone was v ibrating. You might want
to answer it."& nbsp;
He had started to exit the large&nb sp;room, which was surprisingly filled with o nly a few people, when
she called o ut to him. "Hey."
Marluxia cringed as&nb sp;she called to him, not really wanting ;to deal with her. "What?"
"Why two ;days?"
He scowled. "You were drugged. D on't you remember?"
She wracked her brai n for the instance but couldn't seem to& nbsp;recall; everything was fuzzy.
Angered th at she hadn't been able to combat the&nb sp;effects as she had when she was young er,
Larxene let her head fall to he r hands in frustration. "No I… what the fuck does it matter if it
happened again anyway?" She was mumbling ;more to herself but Marluxia still strained& nbsp;to hear.
She didn't give it a second thought as she stood up, reached for her coat and threw it over her
shoulder. "See ya around…maybe."&nb sp;
He gawked at her as she passed b y him, through the entrance and into the wide open town where
the sun was&n bsp;shining brightly. She'd walked off with h is only pair of pajama pants and she&nbs p;hadn't
even said thank you even though he hadn't expected it from her judging& nbsp;by previous experience.
Nonetheless, he felt a sudden urge to chase after her&nb sp;but restrained himself as she disappeared
into the blaring sunlight outside. The w eather change was welcomed as it had bee n raining on
and off for days on&nb sp;end and he was glad that at least&nbs p;now he wouldn't get wet. Crazy as
everything was around him, Marluxia couldn't ;bring himself to return to Demyx's; he just didn't
want to hear the whiny musician when he came back. But his atte ntion was pulled away when he
noticed&nb sp;Larxene's cell phone lying on the bed,&nbs p;vibrating like it was the gadget's prime&nb sp;existence.
Curious as to why she didn 't bother to come back for it, let alone take it in the first place, he&nbs p;
picked it up and flipped open the ;top. He felt his eyes widen when he&nbs p;saw the caller ID flashing
Zexion's na me. Judging by the picture on the screen saver, he had the distinct feeling that he
wasn't holding Larxene's phone. In fa ct, he had the sickening feeling it belo nged to someone he'd
been trying to ;reach for ages but hadn't been able to& nbsp;get a hold of for days. Squeezing t he phone
in annoyance, he found himself& nbsp;finally chasing after Larxene, barely managin g to find her on her
way across&nbs p;the bridge back into Twilight town. She&nbs p;didn't look the least bit bothered by all the
people giving her odd looks ;about her choice of dress, which happened&nb sp;to be her thick, heavy,
hot black&nbs p;coat with her hood pulled up. He knew& nbsp;it was her just by the coat itself.
She was already over the bridge by the time he caught her, snagging the&nb sp;corner of her sleeve as
her arm swayed back reflexively. Annoyed that she was being harassed again, Larxene whirled
a round, almost punching Marluxia in the face&n bsp;as she swung her fist in his general direction. Her
shock faded as she realized it was Marluxia; she didn't want&nbs p;him to see her that way. For his part
Marluxia look thoroughly irritated, his& nbsp;arm still in its position of blocking&nb sp;her punch.
"Hey, where the hell do&nb sp;you get off?"
She scowled. "Where&nbs p;the fuck do YOU get off, you girly&nbs p;jackass?"
Rubbing his temples, Marluxia gav e her a sarcastic smirk. "Listen, why do you have Demyx's
phone?"
She blanc hed, her hands automatically flying to her&nb sp;pockets. 'Shit.' She didn't have the&nbs p;phone!
Keeping her face as nonchalant as possible, she waved it away as though it weren't as big a deal
as s he'd just made it. "Why does it matter?& nbsp;I picked it up instead of mine. Com mon mistake, so
what?"
"In any othe r instance I'd say that was true but&nbs p;in your case…it doesn't seem ;right," he snickered.
"You don't seem l ike the type who "just" does something f or no reason, let alone make "common
mistakes" as you so delicately put it."&nbs p;
Feeling ready to explode, Larxene gave ;him a loathing look as she flipped him& nbsp;off. "I don't care
what you think flower boy. Go bother someone else ;with your petty assumptions. I have to go."
Marluxia said nothing more as she&n bsp;disappeared over the bridge and into Twil ight Town without
so much as a seco nd glance his way. He sighed in annoyanc e as he felt a headache coming. He
wasn't sure if he could handle much ;more of either town or its occupants. B ut he knew one thing,
and that was& nbsp;that Demyx needed his phone back. 'Bu t how is he gonna get it?' He d id not want to
return to Twilight T own, at least for the time being. Instea d he decided mailing it anonymously
was& nbsp;the best solution. Five seconds later he was filling out an address on top of a form for
overnight delivery, which& nbsp;he assumed was stupid since he didn't&nb sp;have much money. But he knew
he needed Demyx as his contact or else he'd go somewhat insane, though he would nev er admit
that to anyone. He was, as in his friend's phone, the Graceful Ass assin, never showing much or
fearing muc h or feeling much for that matter. He&nb sp;was a blank slate without knowledge of&nbs p;how to
feel, according to many people& nbsp;he'd known in the past. It was true that he was more calculated
and ca lmer, more level headed and methodical than&n bsp;most people. In other's eyes, he was ;an
enigma yet to be deciphered, everyth ing "normal" people wanted to be seen as in everyday,
boring life. But inside&nb sp;Marluxia was screaming to be what everyone else was though it'd never
show. B eing nonchalant and somewhat emotionless had its perks just like it had its downfalls ,
something he'd been learning to cope&n bsp;with the hard way—lately. Shakin g his head he started
back in the&n bsp;direction of the hostel, hoping to receiv e some sleep before Xigbar decided to fi nally
call him in for work.
A few hours later found him back at work&n bsp;and hating it. His boss had called h im just as he was
straightening himself& nbsp;out after his "eventful night," which wa s putting it lightly, he thought. He
let out an aggravated sigh as Xigbar's ;singing filtered into the back room while&nb sp;Marluxia tried to
stock the coffee in to the empty, stainless steel shelves before& nbsp;him. Hayner hadn't been to work in
a few days, and it was a sudden&nbs p;wonder why he'd disappeared so soon, not&nb sp;to mention where.
Sighing again just as Xigbar's voice hit a high noteâ&euro ;”and cracked suddenly—that sounded awful,
Marluxia returned to his idle&nb sp;thoughts. Blocking out the terrible sound was his first job but his
thoughts kept drifting back to Larxene. He couldn't&nb sp;shake it, the idea of her being a&nbs p;horrible fake.
He knew she was faking& nbsp;it, all of it. But what the it actually was, well, he didn't know. H e had
his suspicions though. In the meantime he figured it was best to ;drop it until he could actually get
along with his friend again, and then fire questions at the musician. Even if Demyx hadn't broken
the first time, afte r a few more tries Marluxia knew he ;would. And there was something sick
abo ut knowing his friend's weakness and playing& nbsp;on it—sick indeed. Sighing as&n bsp;he heard Xigbar
continue to sing in& nbsp;his oh-so-special off key voice, the you ng man simply let his head hit the
shelves in front of him while continuous ly cursing. 'Damn my life.'
::Line& nbsp;Break::
Larxene prepared herself for ;the onslaught as she walked through the ;gates leading to the
mansion. She was&n bsp;sure people would wonder where she'd been the past couple of days but wasn't ;
so sure anyone would ask. Nevertheless, ;she felt the need to prepare incase any one did ask and
she felt like givin g them all death looks or ripping Axel's throat. A small, defiant, sadistic smile&nbs p;
came to her face at the thought o f Axel screaming for mercy at her hands, though something told
her he'd never&nb sp;do that. Therefore, to say she was su rprised was an understatement, to the least.& nbsp;
Larxene was pretty much floored when&nbs p;Axel stayed completely silent as she marche d through the
living room. Axel didn't&n bsp;even spare her a glance as he contin ued reading the newspaper in his
hand,&n bsp;which he seemed quite enthralled to have& nbsp;in his grasp. Larxene had no clue w hat it was,
and she couldn't believe&nbs p;he was so passionate about reading whatever it might be. Part of her
wanted&nb sp;to smack him upside the head and tell him to stop faking interest when it&nbs p;was so unlike
him; but her pride did not allow this so she simply ignored him and proceeded upstairs. She
ignored the soft sobs that arose from Namine's& nbsp;room, mainly because she had no idea&nbs p;what to do
for her sister. She di dn't know if she could do anything. ' Useless…' she thought as she&nb sp;dropped
her coat on the floor, ignori ng the unfamiliar itch of Marluxia's pajama&n bsp;bottoms.
Contrary to what the people ;living in her house thought she tended to sleep relatively bare
clothed since T wilight Town was so hot, most of the&nbs p;time. Sighing in annoyance, she kicked the& nbsp;
book again instead of drinking away ;her frustration as per the usual of her nightly activities. She
was ready to&nb sp;spark up her cigarette when she noticed&nb sp;her phone blinking with the telling of&nbs p;a new
voicemail message, or a text.&nb sp;At the moment she wanted nothing more ;than to chuck it across the
room i n hopes that it would shatter to a million pieces. She'd laugh. But instead she& nbsp;opened it and
felt her eyes narrow& nbsp;in utter disbelief. 'That fucking bastard& acirc;€¦' she was clutching her ph one so
hard she felt it cracking in her hand.
When a minute ago she&nb sp;was ready to rest she was now ready&n bsp;to put her hands around her step-
fat her's neck and kill him, take away every ounce of his breath. 'Pay you back&n bsp;for everything
you've done, you sick ;son of a bitch,' she felt a piece&n bsp;of her phone slip to the floor benea th her,
clattering loudly. Other pieces began to follow, slowly falling to the g round beneath her feet; but
this time&nb sp;it was soundless to her ears. All she could hear were his agonized screams as she made
him sorry for all the&nbs p;awful, morally wrong things he'd done, the& nbsp;offensive, heinous acts he'd
committed. She wanted him to hurt, to suffer as&nbs p;she had for years, to feel the pain&nb sp;she couldn't rid
herself of even now. She wanted to stab him, hit him, a nything to make him pay. 'Make him pa y,'
she felt the last broken piece&n bsp;fall. "I'm going to make you pay." < br>
Meanwhile, downstairs, Axel and Roxas had migrated to the loveseat couch located by the
fireplace, their legs interlaced, ;the red-head cradling Roxas against his ches t. The blonde
appeared to be sleeping&nb sp;but was staring idly at the fire as&n bsp;it burned peacefully in its spot,
re leasing a crackle every now and then. Ze xion and Demyx had moved to the kitchen& nbsp;to make tea
and were talking in&nbs p;hushed whispers. None of them, they'd agree d previously, were to say
anything to&nb sp;Larxene when she returned. Axel had thrown a fit as teasing her was his favor ite
pasttime; but Roxas convinced him ot herwise. Upstairs Larxene had begun packing u p her small
bag, stuffing it with n ecessities and clothing. It was time and ;she'd been ready for years. She
knew&nb sp;what she had to do, and even though&n bsp;she'd just returned and was extremely dis oriented and
tired, she refused to let&n bsp;that stop her. There was so much she had to accomplish, and she'd be
da mned to hell if she let mere fatigue&nbs p;get in her way. She was almost out&nbs p;her doorway when she
fell back against the frame, shivering as goosebumps overcame& nbsp;the surface of her skin. She
grippe d the door so hard she thought it m ight break like her phone; the images di dn't stop.
Flashback
"Good evening, it's so good that you could make i t!"
Larxene rolled her eyes as Co ra continued to fawn over the man sittin g across from her at the
dinner tab le. Mr. Sumitse was his name. He was&nbs p;a wealthy businessman that the family had&n bsp;
known for quite some years, mainly b ecause he had helped both Larxene's parents&n bsp;arrive at their
current state of liv ing: being rich. However, Larxene had suspect ed that for quite some time now,
Co ra and Mr. Sumitse were having an affair . She never told her father or said ;anything to her
mother. All she really& nbsp;did was hang out with her friends a nd drown herself in school or work so&nb sp;
that there was no need to really ;acknowledge what was happening. However, there&nb sp;were those
rare occasions when Mr. Su mitse came over—which wasn't really& nbsp;rare since it was every
Saturday fo r dinner—and she had to sit&nbs p;there, staring at the dysfunction as though it was a part
of her normal l ife, which it was. Sighing, Larxene brought&n bsp;her attention back to the present
wh ere Mr. Sumitse was talking amiably with ;her mother while her father conversed with&n bsp;their
chef in the kitchen, oblivious ;as usual. She was returning her stare t o her table set when she
heard her& nbsp;name.
"Yes?"
"Ah… ;young miss Larxene…not so young&nb sp;anymore, I see," he said, a creepy sm ile placing his
lips.
She hated&n bsp;his smiles; they made her uneasy. "Yes,&n bsp;I suppose so."
"Isn't she just&nbs p;darling? She is such an impeccable young&nb sp;woman!" Cora gushed, practically
falling o ver herself to talk to her business part ner.
Larxene wanted desperately to mel t into a puddle at that moment, and ;just disappear.
"Mother…"
"No, no. Your mother is quite right, Miss Larxene," he replied, nodding, his ;eyes boring holes
into her own sky ;blue pair as he leaned back, his gaze&n bsp;somewhat unreadable. "By the way, Cora, < br> I was wondering, would you like to s pend a weekend up in the mountains with& nbsp;the business
firm?" Upon Cora's joyous&n bsp;yet somehow modest shout of agreement, he smiled broadly, "Well,
please do bring& nbsp;your family."
Larxene chose this moment to excuse herself to the kitchen. ;"Mother, I'm going to go speak to
father." When her mother didn't respond, she& nbsp;simply left, rolling her eyes along the& nbsp;way; Mr.
Sumitse had that effect on her mother. Once in the kitchen, she&nb sp;walked up to her father who had
just finished conversing with the cook and&nb sp;was laughing heartily. "Father, is dinner ready yet?"
Her father nodded. "Almost dear. And where is Namine?"
"Ups tairs, still getting ready," she replied. "I' ll go get her." She was up the stai rs within minutes,
and moments later she was knocking loudly on Namine's door. " Namine? Dad says dinner is
almost ready& nbsp;and it's time to come out."
"No, I don't want to." The response was& nbsp;muffled and Larxene had to strain to&nbs p;hear it.
"Why not? Is something ;wrong? Are you scared to come out of&nb sp;your room?" She gave the door a
hard shove when Namine refused to open i t, forcing her way inside her little sis ter's room. Once
in, she saw Namine ;sitting at her vanity with her usual sk etchpad and set of fancy watercolor
colo red pencils, drawing furiously on the white&n bsp;sheet of paper. Curious, Larxene walked u p to
her and placed a gentle hand&n bsp;on her shoulder. "Namine, what are you&nb sp;drawing?"
"He's a bad man, Larxene, and I don't like him."
She blinked. "Who, Mr. Sumitse?" Namine nodded an d Larxene sighed; she couldn't agree more&nbs p;
since he just gave her the creeps ;ever since she caught him staring at he r during dinner a couple
years back.&nbs p;"Yes, I understand how you feel Namine.&nbs p;But mom and dad said this is the last dinner
for a few months since Mr. Sumitse will be out of town after&nb sp;that. Just…let's get it over&nbs p;with, ok?
Then we can…I ;don't know…go for some sea-salt&nb sp;ice cream with Uncle Ansem or something?"< /i>
Namine perked up at the mention&n bsp;of their favorite uncle. "Ok, okâ€& brvbar;just this last time...for a
while."
As Namine exited, Larxene took a&nb sp;look at her sister's sketchpad. On the&nbs p;white sheet was a man
who looked an awful lot like Mr. Sumitse, gripping a young woman by her arms and backed&nbs p;
against a wall, terrified. The scene l ooked completely lewd and lecherous, and Larx ene felt a
shiver run down her spin e as she observed the drawing. Namine te nded to pick up on things
other peo ple did not; she only hoped this picture wasn't anything that did or could happe n. The
disgust rising in the back o f her throat shook her from her reverie& nbsp;just in time for her father to
call her downstairs. Putting the image aside , she made her way down the stairs and entered the
large dining room where& nbsp;Mr. Sumitse and her father were conversi ng. Cora had disappeared
and Namine was& nbsp;seated as far away from Mr. Sumitse ;as possible. Larxene made a disappointed
face when she realized she had to sit across from him--she cringed. Namine&n bsp;gave her a
sympathetic smile, knowing&nbs p;full well that her older sister hated the man. But Larxene nodded
nonetheless, ;not wanting Namine anywhere near him. If&nbs p;anything, she was ready for the night to
be over just as she saw her ;mother return, her face flushed and hair&nbs p;only slightly out of place.
Larxene sn orted. 'Mother…you're just sick.'&nb sp;
Flashback
Larxene dropped her bag&n bsp;as he arms encompassed herself, hugging h erself tight as tears
threatened to fall from her closed eyes. The flashback was completely not welcomed--and totally
unexpec ted--as she felt her body trembling. She ;wanted to run, to hide, to disappear as the
memories came flooding back in ;a river of pain and disgust. But most&n bsp;of all, the one thing she
wanted&nbs p;to do, she knew she wouldn't. Backing up slowly, she reentered her room, back first,
closed the door and slid down&nbs p;against the wall. After a few moments she brought her eyes from
behind her&nbs p;hands to look out the window. Outside, ;the moon was shining brightly, and she turned
her head away--for the first time in years--in fear.
:Again, imagine s aid line break inserted here:
(Finally , right, right?! So there was a little&n bsp;more about Larxene and her past, and ;this chapter
did focus on Mar/Larx more than the others! I'm sorry of Mar is outta chara, but he IS kinda
har d to write since not THAT much of h is personality is fleshed out in the man ga and Chain of
Memories. I'm working&nb sp;with limited stuff here, but hey, I'm ;doin my research! A VERY special
thanks to all who R & R'd and who&nbs p;are still reading…you guys rock&n bsp;my world and I love you!
Bye fo r now, all!)
Sadistickunais
NOT sue me. This is way beyond standard at this& nbsp;point, doncha think?
A/N: Chapter ;9 is finally done, after waiting forever&nbs p;and ever! However, the rules have not
changed. The boy/boy love shall continue ;(sorry all—it's STILL not the main pairing) as
will the Mature themes& nbsp;(I.E. that means Rape, Sexual Assault, D omestic Violence, Gangs,
cussing, blood, horr ible things that SHOULD NOT happen to pe ople, etc…) and that
means&nbs p;this story is not for young ones! I&nb sp;can't stress that enough and I sure d on't want a
lawsuit. I am working h ard to keep everyone in character as wel l as making them fit into
the story 's concept. The content is getting more mature and less friendly, so just know t hat.
Okie, that's it. And most important ly, I am SOOOOO sorry it took so lo ng. The Computer
fiasco was ridiculous; still is.
Word coding: ' Though ts' , "Speaking", Random flashbacks or ;other stuff, Everything else
:THERE I S SUPPOSED TO BE A LINE BREAK HERE:& nbsp;
Distraught
Larxene was utterly bo red as she lay on her bed fiddling with her book, which was in the worst&nb sp;
condition it'd ever been in due to&nb sp;her recent abuse. She knew, mentally, that the house needed a
replenishment of&nbs p;groceries as well as other household suppli es; however, she was in no mood to
do this. But she knew she needed to , especially with Namine staying in the house and Roxas and
Axel's heinous appet ites. Not to mention that people had bee n over regularly as of the late and ;
the kids had just trashed her kitchen,& nbsp;along with food, not too long ago. 'Gee…thanks for
supervising Axel , you twit,' she mused as she glance d over at her coat. She groaned as she looked
at it knowing full well it was better to go sooner than later&nb sp;or Axel would be hounding her. She never really understood why he didn't do&n bsp;any of the shopping himself. It was as if it was a
woman's job only,&nb sp;which she found highly sexist. Of course,& nbsp;Axel never said this directly and she&nb sp;
had her reservations about him anyway ;since he was gay. Scowling despite the stupidity of the
situation, Larxene found&nbs p;herself reaching for her coat in the s lowest fashion possible.
Thoroughly annoyed, she snatched her wallet from the makeshift&nb sp;bedside table and proceeded
downstairs. Im mediately she spotted Axel lounging on the&nb sp;couch, Demyx and Zexion talking in
th e kitchen and Roxas watching TV. Namine was nowhere in sight; she seemed to have a knack
for disappearing when Larxene&n bsp;was around.
However, all discussions and& nbsp;activities ceased when she appeared at t he foot of the stairs, her
wisps of hair twitching wildly in the lighting a s though they had minds of their own.&nb sp;Her scowl
deepened when Axel smirked at her from his position of burning the& nbsp;yellow pages while Roxas
merely nodded&n bsp;momentarily before returning his attention to& nbsp;the television. Demyx gave her a
wi de eyed look before searching from something& nbsp;in his pockets while Zexion shook his&nb sp;head.
She already knew what it was&nb sp;Demyx was looking for but pretended to&nbs p;have no clue just as he
walked ov er to her. "What?"
"Hey Larxene, ha ve you seen my cell phone? It's been&nbs p;missing for a couple days and I need&n bsp;it to
call—" he paused ;as if carefully choosing his next words.&nbs p;"Um…I just need it back. Hav e you
seen it?"
"No," she replied&n bsp;flatly. "Is there anything you need in&nb sp;particular because I'm going shopping just ;
this once and if I forget something&nbs p;then oh fucking well." No one said a&n bsp;word. "Fine, your loss
assholes."
Wi th that said Larxene was gone, disappearing&n bsp;into the cool evening air just as th e street lights
around the town came&nbs p;to life. She could see faint figures w alking around from inside the crack in < br> the wall, the one that no one seemed to care to fix anytime soon. She r olled her eyes as happy
couples kissed&n bsp;and flirted mercilessly around the town s quare while shops lights came on as well .
The candy shop owner was talking away with the local towns kids and she&n bsp;resisted the urge to
throw smoke or& nbsp;stink bombs at them from her cache. ;She was itching to though, more than sh e
let on. Stifling a chuckle, and s aid urge, she made her way to the " market" in order to replenish.
Most of&n bsp;the time she went after hours where the nice store owner let her in to shop privately—the
lady liked h er for some strange reason. Whatever the ;case, she didn't understand why, for the&nbs p;life
of her, she'd decided to go out so early for once. 'Oh… yeah…' Remembering the reason, she
quickly slipped past the market towa rds the bridge connecting Twilight Town to&nb sp;the infamous
Traverse Town, which was ;ruled by her step-father. 'The fucking de ad beat scumbag…' she
muse d as she crossed over it, ignoring all&n bsp;the stares she received from the townsfol k for not
really being seen before along with her attire of a long, black,& nbsp;leathery trench coat.
It seemed to be a trend all over as Axel, Roxas, ;Demyx and Zexion all had one as well&nb sp;when
they'd all first met. And recent ly, she'd finally realized that Marluxia had& nbsp;one too. She shrugged
it off as&nbs p;well placed marketing for the seller. She&n bsp;was already on the other side by the time she
came out of her reverie,& nbsp;which was right before she bumped into&n bsp;a man wearing an obnoxious
eye patch . Larxene grimaced as he turned to look& nbsp;at her, his exposed eye narrowing on&nbs p;her as she
paused in the middle o f his path. Suddenly his lips turned up& nbsp;in a wayward, somewhat perverted
looking grin as he leaned towards her. For ;her part Larxene leaned away from him.
"Hey there little missy, are you lost&nb sp;or something?"
"No," she replied rudely&nb sp;as she began walking past him. "Get o ut of my way. I'm busy." She was surprised when he stepped in front of ;her. She felt her scowl return as she&n bsp;glared up at him,
taking all of ;him in. There was the evident eye patch , graying hair pulled back in a ponytail
and—'A gun?' Shaking he r head, she backed up a little and tried again. "Listen, you're in my way < br> buddy. What the hell gives?"
"You're ;not familiar with this place are ya, li ttle missy?"
Her eyes narrowed, her fing ers involuntarily gripping her hidden knives. ;"What the hell are you
talking about,&n bsp;jackass?"
He smirked, raising a brow at her. "Well, if you were from he re, you'd know who I am. On top of& nbsp;
that, you wouldn't be so abrasive, especially if you're all alone."
She bac k pedaled as he began walking towards he r. She was by no means afraid, just ;annoyed.
"Hey asshole, just get the fuc k out of my way and I won't cut&nbs p;you. I don't care who you are, you&nbs p;
pirate wannabe. I couldn't careless if ;you were God. I'm busy and you're inter fering so move it!"
"As if." At the point the man had pulled his gun a nd looked at it. "She's a beauty, ain't& nbsp;she?" She
let out an exasperated br eath. "Now, if you don't want her barrel in between those pretty eyes of
yo urs, you'll listen to what I've got to&n bsp;say." He began raising the pistol as ;he spoke. "A pretty
little thing like&n bsp;you—" His speech was cut sh ort when he found himself face to face&n bsp;with four
knives, all pointed at his eyes, with the young woman looking posi tively murderous.
"…shouldn't be&nb sp;acting hard."
"Acting hard? I don't a ct, idiot," she spat back as she pushed& nbsp;her kunai closer to his widening
ey es. Suddenly she really looked at him, t aking a good look at his features again. Before either of
them knew what wa s going on, she was lowering her weapons . "Are you…um…by any
chance…Xigbar?"
"Ahaâ€& brvbar;so you know my name after all, li ttle girl." The man answered as he lower ed his gun
fully. "Yeah, I'm Xigbar.&nbs p;Who wants to know?"
"You know a D emyx, don't you?" She asked.
Xigbar sudd enly did a double take. "Demyx? Hell yea h I know a Demyx. You friends with him
or somethin?"
She shrugged nonchalan tly. "I wouldn't say that. But whatever. ;Listen…you don't remember, I
guess, but we met at one of his con certs. I thought you looked familiar with&nbs p;that stupid ass eye
patch…Xi ggie" She brought the hood of her jacket down.
The older man let out a ;laugh. "Course I remember you now! Larxene,& nbsp;is it?" She nodded. "Hey!
What brin gs you to this side of the bridge?" ;
"I'm…here on business," she s aid, unconsciously clutching the cell phone i n her pocket.
"Well, don't let me g et in the way," he responded. "But, it&n bsp;might interest you to know that my < br> coffee shop is about five minutes that&nb sp;way, if you wanna get something to dr ink. I might even be
able to help&n bsp;you. You game?"
Glancing at her watc h, Larxene slowly nodded. "Yeah…gue ss I got some time to blow. Not lik e
those jerk offs need me there rig ht now. I could use a drink. You do n't just serve coffee, do you?"
Slapping her lightly on the back with the f amiliarity of old time friends, Xigbar let&nb sp;out another
laugh. "What would a coff ee shop be without some good old Irish&n bsp;coffee?"
She offered him a small,&nb sp;quick nod, one that she felt was suff icient enough for someone she'd
only met a couple times before. As they walked&n bsp;to their destination she could feel Demyx 's
phone vibrating in her coat pocket&nb sp;but she chose to ignore it for the&nb sp;time being. She was pretty
sure she&n bsp;knew who it was but figured that she needed some kind of nourishment before she
started her search to harass the&nbs p;young, flower loving youth. In truth, she&n bsp;didn't even know why
she was botheri ng thinking about him let alone actually ;going to look for him. Annoyance welled ;
up in the pit of her stomach as&nb sp;she was Xigbar's coffee shop come into&nbs p;view, the neon sign
looking haggard bu t still lit. All in all, the place looked like a junk heap but she didn't&n bsp;really care;
she'd grown up around e nough of the stuff to know that it was safe even if it had been years. ;
Glad to be out of sight from the&n bsp;townspeople, Larxene snagged a chair by t he counter as Xigbar
disappeared behind it and into the inventory room out back. The café was small, quaint even ,
with its comfortable chairs and small& nbsp;tables. But what she found most interest ing were the
decorations: a very large&n bsp;assortment of model-like but usable guns were hanging from practically
every corner&nb sp;of the shop, littering the walls instead&n bsp;of typical picture frames. In fact, the&n bsp;only
picture she saw was the one&nbs p;directly behind the register, which was of& nbsp;Xigbar—obviously—
Demyx ;and a man with short, bleached blonde h air and pierced ears. She didn't have a& nbsp;clue as to
who he was but she& nbsp;supposed it didn't really matter as Xigb ar placed a cup of steaming, coffee in&n bsp;
front of her. She could smell the&nb sp;liquor drifting up from within the steam&n bsp;and inhaled it all before
she picked it up to taste it. She'd never bee n much of a drinker until recently, nor& nbsp;had she liked
coffee so much but&nb sp;it seemed the bittersweet taste combined w ith the alcohol was too appealing
to&nbs p;reject.
Once she'd set it down, Xigbar leaned over the counter and gave her&nb sp;a fixed stare. She felt her
hands&nbs p;tighten around her kunai as before. Trust&n bsp;was something she took seriously. But he& nbsp;seemed
harmless, for the most part, ;as he popped open a bottle of Jack ;Daniels and poured himself a shot
along with some coke. Larxene was about to&nb sp;open her mouth to say something when he raised a
hand to silence her whi le he took a sip. "So, Larxeneâ€&b rvbar;what were you doin that you were i n such
a rush?"
"Like I saidâ €¦I'm here on business," she replied&n bsp;quietly as she drank more of her bev erage.
"Like I said, what kind?" He ;shot back as he downed his second shot. "Traverse Town ain't
adverse to simple& nbsp;business that ain't of the dirty kind.&n bsp;So what? You tryin to knock someone off?
Listenin to the rumor mill? Lookin& nbsp;for someone in particular?"
His words&nb sp;were hitting to close to home and she didn't like it one bit. Instead of ;answering she
buried her face in her&nb sp;drink as she took a rather large gulp , surprised when she actually felt the < br> small tingle of the alcohol. Suddenly her brain became fuzzy as she felt her ;vision begin to blur.
'Whatâ€&brvba r;a ruffie?' She recognized the familiar effects of the date-rape drug course through& nbsp;her;
but she also knew how to fight them. "What the…fuck did ;you do to my drink?"
Xigbar let ou t a laugh as he poured himself yet another shot of whiskey. "Well, you
see& acirc;€¦somethin tells me you're not g onna tell me shit unless you're a little messed up so…I added
an& nbsp;ingredient."
Immediately her guard went& nbsp;up as best as it could with the&nbs p;drug coursing through her system.
Larxene&n bsp;knew she appeared pretty sane and normal& nbsp;but inside her body was fighting. Leaned
back in her chair a little, she&nb sp;sighed. "What the fuck is it with all you men? So fucking
shadyâ€&brvba r;always needing to feel so in controlâ €¦and using shit because you couldn't& nbsp;get a girl to
like youâ€&brvb ar;" she gave him a disgusted look. "Or& nbsp;to fuck you."
He raised his hands&n bsp;as if in surrender. "As if little mi ss. I know I could get a girl; I&nb sp;don't need
drugs for that shit. I&nbs p;use mine for conventional purposes only." < br> "How conventional," she spat as she glare d at him.
"They don't seem to be&nb sp;affectin you so much, so what gives?" ;
She glared harder. "Nothing. It's none of your damn business."
He was about&nbs p;to open his mouth when someone called to him from the back. Instead of going&n bsp;
however, he yelled. "Yeah, flower boy&aci rc;€¦just fuckin leave. I don't have&n bsp;time for this right now."
As if ;nothing was wrong, Larxene snapped forward, grabbing the collar of Xigbar's shirt. "What& nbsp;
did you just say?"
"I said the drug ain't affectin you so—"&n bsp;
"No, your worker…what did you just call him?"
Xigbar gave her ;a puzzled look. "Flower boy?"
Before he could say anything else about her sudde n question Larxene had hopped over the < br> counter and ran to the back just as& nbsp;the exit door slammed shut. 'Shitâ&e uro;¦' she mentally swore as she < br> ran, threw open the door and disappeared& nbsp;into the cooling night air. She could&nb sp;see a figure
walking a good amount&nb sp;of feet in front of her and made ;to run after it. However, she could als o
feel the effects of the drug real ly beginning to set in as she made her way towards the person.
Suddenly her vision blurred and she couldn't see whe re she was walking anymore. 'I can't
fucking believe this…he must h ave used more than one…can't b elieve I let my guard
downâ€&brvba r;fucking idiot…' she swore aga in and again as simple standing became h arder. She began
to feel faint and she had but a moment before she'd fall&n bsp;over and pass out, she knew. Reeling ;
herself to stay sane, she managed to&nb sp;call out to the cloaked figure before ;she collapsed onto the
cobble-stoned ground, her world going black.
Up ahead, t he figure turned, his face annoyed. 'Who&n bsp;the hell is calling to me? Hayner di dn't even
work today and it sounded ;female…' Sighing, he looked ar ound, not seeing anyone in his direct line of vision. Shrugging, he started to&n bsp;walk back to where the shout came fr om as he pondered.
'I only know two females from this area and I doubt&n bsp;Namine is—' And just like&nb sp;that his thoughts
cut off as he spotted the heap laying on the ground no t too far away from the street lamp,&nbs p;which
looked like it was about to ;burn out. More out of curiosity than ge nuine shock, he made his way
over&n bsp;to inspect what it was. He felt a&nb sp;small gasp leave his throat as he sta red at the fallen form of
the young woman on the ground. "Larxene?" he whis pered to no one as he registered the&nbs p;wisps
of golden hair laying flat again st her matted hair. He could see the&nbs p;sheen of sweat covering her
forehead a nd even though she was unconscious he co uld see her body trembling. 'What the ;hell is
going on?' Feeling even shi ttier by the second, he reached down to& nbsp;pick her up, not sure where
he ;was going to take her. Definitely not t he youth hostel; there wasn't anything that&n bsp;could be
done in that hell hole ;of a place. The only place he could&nbs p;think of was Xigbar's and judging by < br> where she'd fallen, she'd been coming fro m that general direction.
However, something& nbsp;told him that might not be the best idea. Wracking his brain in complete desperation, Marluxia tried to find somewhere&n bsp;to take. Only one place kept popping ;up and he
didn't want to take her& nbsp;there. It was one of the last place s he wanted to be at the moment. Bu t
still, even after about a few min utes of thinking he could come up with&n bsp;nothing and Larxene
wasn't looking any&nb sp;better. If anything, she'd actually started&nbs p;shaking and was whispering
incoherently in& nbsp;his arms. When he was younger, full ;grown panic might have set in but at&nb sp;this
point in his life he didn't ;have a reason to do that. Instead he&nb sp;decided that maybe it was better if < br> he took her to that awful youth host el since it didn't seem like he had ;much of a choice. Angered
that he had no place else, he simply returned to his original direction, only this time he picked up
the pace. Whether it w as for her sake or his he didn't ha ve the slightest clue. As it was, things
were already pretty crappy as Demyx&nbs p;hadn't answered his text messages for about a week now,
and he had the fe eling that the musician had lost his pho ne. At any rate it seemed to be one of the
trivial things to think abo ut in his current situation.
When the&nb sp;youth hostel finally came into view Marlux ia began to feel sick, dreading having t o
deal with Hayner when he got to&n bsp;his bed. Steeling himself for the onslaug ht he walked in,
straight past everybody who might ask questions until he arrive d at his bunker. Surprisingly
Hayner was not present, his bunk cleared off with& nbsp;only his bedding remaining. Marluxia raised&n bsp;a
brow. 'He never said anything a bout leaving…oh, who gives a s hit…' he thought as he pla ced
Larxene on his bottom bunk. Her ;limp arms instantly flopped on the sides&nbs p;of the bed as she lay
there as&nb sp;if she was dead. 'What the fuck ha ppened to her? It's like someone drugged ;her…' His
face went ashen . 'Someone DID drug her!' He'd seen&nb sp;the symptoms before, usually on girls at&n bsp;
parties his friends had when he was& nbsp;in High School. He remembered a few ;incidents and he
berated himself for re membering them; they were part of what h e was trying to forget.
Aggravated by&nb sp;everything, he searched his small bag to&n bsp;see if he had anything he could wet& nbsp;to
wipe off her head and cool her rising temperature. His last choice was&n bsp;his only washcloth, which
he didn't like to share with anyone, so he used&nb sp;it since there was nothing else other ;than a sock or
a pair of his boxers. Once wet, he began wiping her fo rehead and all the sweat he found on&nbs p;her
face and surrounding areas such as her neck and her ears. However, he ;soon realized that he'd
need to remove& nbsp;her heavy, black leather coat that looke d like it was baking her from within.&nb sp;He
felt his cheeks redden.
He di dn't even want to touch her, mainly beca use she was totally crazy and dangerous. ;He still
had battle scars from their&nb sp;last encounter. Shaking his head, he knew& nbsp;he had to do the right thing
n o matter how much he didn't want to,&nbs p;especially with her. His fingers found the& nbsp;zipper, making
quick work of it bef ore having to practically peel it from h er sweaty skin, the leather sticking as
he pulled it off. Nevertheless she made no movements as he stripped her dow n to her only layer;
his eyes almos t popped out of their sockets from her&n bsp;dress—or lack thereof. It appear ed that
Larxene seemed to wear very ;little clothes as he took in her state& nbsp;of dress: a simple tank top and
underwear. He felt his cheeks burning at&nb sp;this though he knew he could not let& nbsp;her sleep in the
hostel in such&nbs p;clothing. Begrudgingly he pulled his pair o f pajama pants from his bag and
gin gerly slid them up her bare legs. She&nb sp;seemed to come to a little at his&nbs p;touch, her head rising a
little before she murmured something incoherent, then fell back onto the bed, unconscious again. < br> He felt relief flood his tense body as he pulled his covers over her before& nbsp;taking a seat next to her
still&nbs p;body, his head falling to his hands as he tried to grasp the situation in ;its entirety. He would
have pondered it longer had he not felt and heard v ibrating from Larxene's coat, which was
currently sitting in a heap next to him.
More than annoyed, and not quite s ure he could handle any more surprises f or the night, he chose
to ignore th e buzzing as he went back to his th oughts. At this point he knew he would&n bsp;have to
stay up and watch her j ust to make sure nothing happened to her , incase her condition changed,
and most ly, because there was nowhere for him to sleep. He hated being responsible; it w as what
got him into trouble in the first place. But as time passed, and&nb sp;his thoughts began to fade into
nothi ngness, he found himself looking at her sleeping form. And though she didn't look&nbs p;the least
bit peaceful, for some stran ge reason he found that for once, in&nbs p;a long time, he could actually
close&n bsp;his eyes. He wasn't sure what was go ing to happen tomorrow but as before, fo r once he
couldn't care less.
:: Line Break::
Grogginess was something Lar xene had never favored though it was com pletely familiar to her
since she spent& nbsp;many a night smoking and drinking with&n bsp;Axel before Namine came over.
However,&nb sp;today it was particularly not welcomed as& nbsp;she tried to remember where she was ;and
what she had been doing. She w as about to mumble something when she he ard someone
speaking.
"You've been out&n bsp;for two days, incase you wanted to k now."
Automatically she pulled the covers&nbs p;up over her body though she was, to&nb sp;her own surprise,
wearing pajama pants&nbs p;over her normally uncovered legs. "Whatâ&e uro;¦how the hell did I get here?"&nbs p;
She glanced around. "What is here?" Marluxia sighed as he rubbed his tired&nbs p;eyes. He'd been in the youth hostel fo r two days straight,
even neglecting wor k though he figured Xigbar didn't care t oo much as the older man hadn't
bot hered to call. "It doesn't matter. What in the seven levels of hell are you ;doing here, you crazy
woman?"
She blanched, annoyed but not so shocked at his response. "I was just passing through,&nb sp;not that
it's any of your business."& nbsp;
He shook his head. "Yeah, fine,&nbs p;whatever. Anyway…your phone was v ibrating. You might want
to answer it."& nbsp;
He had started to exit the large&nb sp;room, which was surprisingly filled with o nly a few people, when
she called o ut to him. "Hey."
Marluxia cringed as&nb sp;she called to him, not really wanting ;to deal with her. "What?"
"Why two ;days?"
He scowled. "You were drugged. D on't you remember?"
She wracked her brai n for the instance but couldn't seem to& nbsp;recall; everything was fuzzy.
Angered th at she hadn't been able to combat the&nb sp;effects as she had when she was young er,
Larxene let her head fall to he r hands in frustration. "No I… what the fuck does it matter if it
happened again anyway?" She was mumbling ;more to herself but Marluxia still strained& nbsp;to hear.
She didn't give it a second thought as she stood up, reached for her coat and threw it over her
shoulder. "See ya around…maybe."&nb sp;
He gawked at her as she passed b y him, through the entrance and into the wide open town where
the sun was&n bsp;shining brightly. She'd walked off with h is only pair of pajama pants and she&nbs p;hadn't
even said thank you even though he hadn't expected it from her judging& nbsp;by previous experience.
Nonetheless, he felt a sudden urge to chase after her&nb sp;but restrained himself as she disappeared
into the blaring sunlight outside. The w eather change was welcomed as it had bee n raining on
and off for days on&nb sp;end and he was glad that at least&nbs p;now he wouldn't get wet. Crazy as
everything was around him, Marluxia couldn't ;bring himself to return to Demyx's; he just didn't
want to hear the whiny musician when he came back. But his atte ntion was pulled away when he
noticed&nb sp;Larxene's cell phone lying on the bed,&nbs p;vibrating like it was the gadget's prime&nb sp;existence.
Curious as to why she didn 't bother to come back for it, let alone take it in the first place, he&nbs p;
picked it up and flipped open the ;top. He felt his eyes widen when he&nbs p;saw the caller ID flashing
Zexion's na me. Judging by the picture on the screen saver, he had the distinct feeling that he
wasn't holding Larxene's phone. In fa ct, he had the sickening feeling it belo nged to someone he'd
been trying to ;reach for ages but hadn't been able to& nbsp;get a hold of for days. Squeezing t he phone
in annoyance, he found himself& nbsp;finally chasing after Larxene, barely managin g to find her on her
way across&nbs p;the bridge back into Twilight town. She&nbs p;didn't look the least bit bothered by all the
people giving her odd looks ;about her choice of dress, which happened&nb sp;to be her thick, heavy,
hot black&nbs p;coat with her hood pulled up. He knew& nbsp;it was her just by the coat itself.
She was already over the bridge by the time he caught her, snagging the&nb sp;corner of her sleeve as
her arm swayed back reflexively. Annoyed that she was being harassed again, Larxene whirled
a round, almost punching Marluxia in the face&n bsp;as she swung her fist in his general direction. Her
shock faded as she realized it was Marluxia; she didn't want&nbs p;him to see her that way. For his part
Marluxia look thoroughly irritated, his& nbsp;arm still in its position of blocking&nb sp;her punch.
"Hey, where the hell do&nb sp;you get off?"
She scowled. "Where&nbs p;the fuck do YOU get off, you girly&nbs p;jackass?"
Rubbing his temples, Marluxia gav e her a sarcastic smirk. "Listen, why do you have Demyx's
phone?"
She blanc hed, her hands automatically flying to her&nb sp;pockets. 'Shit.' She didn't have the&nbs p;phone!
Keeping her face as nonchalant as possible, she waved it away as though it weren't as big a deal
as s he'd just made it. "Why does it matter?& nbsp;I picked it up instead of mine. Com mon mistake, so
what?"
"In any othe r instance I'd say that was true but&nbs p;in your case…it doesn't seem ;right," he snickered.
"You don't seem l ike the type who "just" does something f or no reason, let alone make "common
mistakes" as you so delicately put it."&nbs p;
Feeling ready to explode, Larxene gave ;him a loathing look as she flipped him& nbsp;off. "I don't care
what you think flower boy. Go bother someone else ;with your petty assumptions. I have to go."
Marluxia said nothing more as she&n bsp;disappeared over the bridge and into Twil ight Town without
so much as a seco nd glance his way. He sighed in annoyanc e as he felt a headache coming. He
wasn't sure if he could handle much ;more of either town or its occupants. B ut he knew one thing,
and that was& nbsp;that Demyx needed his phone back. 'Bu t how is he gonna get it?' He d id not want to
return to Twilight T own, at least for the time being. Instea d he decided mailing it anonymously
was& nbsp;the best solution. Five seconds later he was filling out an address on top of a form for
overnight delivery, which& nbsp;he assumed was stupid since he didn't&nb sp;have much money. But he knew
he needed Demyx as his contact or else he'd go somewhat insane, though he would nev er admit
that to anyone. He was, as in his friend's phone, the Graceful Ass assin, never showing much or
fearing muc h or feeling much for that matter. He&nb sp;was a blank slate without knowledge of&nbs p;how to
feel, according to many people& nbsp;he'd known in the past. It was true that he was more calculated
and ca lmer, more level headed and methodical than&n bsp;most people. In other's eyes, he was ;an
enigma yet to be deciphered, everyth ing "normal" people wanted to be seen as in everyday,
boring life. But inside&nb sp;Marluxia was screaming to be what everyone else was though it'd never
show. B eing nonchalant and somewhat emotionless had its perks just like it had its downfalls ,
something he'd been learning to cope&n bsp;with the hard way—lately. Shakin g his head he started
back in the&n bsp;direction of the hostel, hoping to receiv e some sleep before Xigbar decided to fi nally
call him in for work.
A few hours later found him back at work&n bsp;and hating it. His boss had called h im just as he was
straightening himself& nbsp;out after his "eventful night," which wa s putting it lightly, he thought. He
let out an aggravated sigh as Xigbar's ;singing filtered into the back room while&nb sp;Marluxia tried to
stock the coffee in to the empty, stainless steel shelves before& nbsp;him. Hayner hadn't been to work in
a few days, and it was a sudden&nbs p;wonder why he'd disappeared so soon, not&nb sp;to mention where.
Sighing again just as Xigbar's voice hit a high noteâ&euro ;”and cracked suddenly—that sounded awful,
Marluxia returned to his idle&nb sp;thoughts. Blocking out the terrible sound was his first job but his
thoughts kept drifting back to Larxene. He couldn't&nb sp;shake it, the idea of her being a&nbs p;horrible fake.
He knew she was faking& nbsp;it, all of it. But what the it actually was, well, he didn't know. H e had
his suspicions though. In the meantime he figured it was best to ;drop it until he could actually get
along with his friend again, and then fire questions at the musician. Even if Demyx hadn't broken
the first time, afte r a few more tries Marluxia knew he ;would. And there was something sick
abo ut knowing his friend's weakness and playing& nbsp;on it—sick indeed. Sighing as&n bsp;he heard Xigbar
continue to sing in& nbsp;his oh-so-special off key voice, the you ng man simply let his head hit the
shelves in front of him while continuous ly cursing. 'Damn my life.'
::Line& nbsp;Break::
Larxene prepared herself for ;the onslaught as she walked through the ;gates leading to the
mansion. She was&n bsp;sure people would wonder where she'd been the past couple of days but wasn't ;
so sure anyone would ask. Nevertheless, ;she felt the need to prepare incase any one did ask and
she felt like givin g them all death looks or ripping Axel's throat. A small, defiant, sadistic smile&nbs p;
came to her face at the thought o f Axel screaming for mercy at her hands, though something told
her he'd never&nb sp;do that. Therefore, to say she was su rprised was an understatement, to the least.& nbsp;
Larxene was pretty much floored when&nbs p;Axel stayed completely silent as she marche d through the
living room. Axel didn't&n bsp;even spare her a glance as he contin ued reading the newspaper in his
hand,&n bsp;which he seemed quite enthralled to have& nbsp;in his grasp. Larxene had no clue w hat it was,
and she couldn't believe&nbs p;he was so passionate about reading whatever it might be. Part of her
wanted&nb sp;to smack him upside the head and tell him to stop faking interest when it&nbs p;was so unlike
him; but her pride did not allow this so she simply ignored him and proceeded upstairs. She
ignored the soft sobs that arose from Namine's& nbsp;room, mainly because she had no idea&nbs p;what to do
for her sister. She di dn't know if she could do anything. ' Useless…' she thought as she&nb sp;dropped
her coat on the floor, ignori ng the unfamiliar itch of Marluxia's pajama&n bsp;bottoms.
Contrary to what the people ;living in her house thought she tended to sleep relatively bare
clothed since T wilight Town was so hot, most of the&nbs p;time. Sighing in annoyance, she kicked the& nbsp;
book again instead of drinking away ;her frustration as per the usual of her nightly activities. She
was ready to&nb sp;spark up her cigarette when she noticed&nb sp;her phone blinking with the telling of&nbs p;a new
voicemail message, or a text.&nb sp;At the moment she wanted nothing more ;than to chuck it across the
room i n hopes that it would shatter to a million pieces. She'd laugh. But instead she& nbsp;opened it and
felt her eyes narrow& nbsp;in utter disbelief. 'That fucking bastard& acirc;€¦' she was clutching her ph one so
hard she felt it cracking in her hand.
When a minute ago she&nb sp;was ready to rest she was now ready&n bsp;to put her hands around her step-
fat her's neck and kill him, take away every ounce of his breath. 'Pay you back&n bsp;for everything
you've done, you sick ;son of a bitch,' she felt a piece&n bsp;of her phone slip to the floor benea th her,
clattering loudly. Other pieces began to follow, slowly falling to the g round beneath her feet; but
this time&nb sp;it was soundless to her ears. All she could hear were his agonized screams as she made
him sorry for all the&nbs p;awful, morally wrong things he'd done, the& nbsp;offensive, heinous acts he'd
committed. She wanted him to hurt, to suffer as&nbs p;she had for years, to feel the pain&nb sp;she couldn't rid
herself of even now. She wanted to stab him, hit him, a nything to make him pay. 'Make him pa y,'
she felt the last broken piece&n bsp;fall. "I'm going to make you pay." < br>
Meanwhile, downstairs, Axel and Roxas had migrated to the loveseat couch located by the
fireplace, their legs interlaced, ;the red-head cradling Roxas against his ches t. The blonde
appeared to be sleeping&nb sp;but was staring idly at the fire as&n bsp;it burned peacefully in its spot,
re leasing a crackle every now and then. Ze xion and Demyx had moved to the kitchen& nbsp;to make tea
and were talking in&nbs p;hushed whispers. None of them, they'd agree d previously, were to say
anything to&nb sp;Larxene when she returned. Axel had thrown a fit as teasing her was his favor ite
pasttime; but Roxas convinced him ot herwise. Upstairs Larxene had begun packing u p her small
bag, stuffing it with n ecessities and clothing. It was time and ;she'd been ready for years. She
knew&nb sp;what she had to do, and even though&n bsp;she'd just returned and was extremely dis oriented and
tired, she refused to let&n bsp;that stop her. There was so much she had to accomplish, and she'd be
da mned to hell if she let mere fatigue&nbs p;get in her way. She was almost out&nbs p;her doorway when she
fell back against the frame, shivering as goosebumps overcame& nbsp;the surface of her skin. She
grippe d the door so hard she thought it m ight break like her phone; the images di dn't stop.
Flashback
"Good evening, it's so good that you could make i t!"
Larxene rolled her eyes as Co ra continued to fawn over the man sittin g across from her at the
dinner tab le. Mr. Sumitse was his name. He was&nbs p;a wealthy businessman that the family had&n bsp;
known for quite some years, mainly b ecause he had helped both Larxene's parents&n bsp;arrive at their
current state of liv ing: being rich. However, Larxene had suspect ed that for quite some time now,
Co ra and Mr. Sumitse were having an affair . She never told her father or said ;anything to her
mother. All she really& nbsp;did was hang out with her friends a nd drown herself in school or work so&nb sp;
that there was no need to really ;acknowledge what was happening. However, there&nb sp;were those
rare occasions when Mr. Su mitse came over—which wasn't really& nbsp;rare since it was every
Saturday fo r dinner—and she had to sit&nbs p;there, staring at the dysfunction as though it was a part
of her normal l ife, which it was. Sighing, Larxene brought&n bsp;her attention back to the present
wh ere Mr. Sumitse was talking amiably with ;her mother while her father conversed with&n bsp;their
chef in the kitchen, oblivious ;as usual. She was returning her stare t o her table set when she
heard her& nbsp;name.
"Yes?"
"Ah… ;young miss Larxene…not so young&nb sp;anymore, I see," he said, a creepy sm ile placing his
lips.
She hated&n bsp;his smiles; they made her uneasy. "Yes,&n bsp;I suppose so."
"Isn't she just&nbs p;darling? She is such an impeccable young&nb sp;woman!" Cora gushed, practically
falling o ver herself to talk to her business part ner.
Larxene wanted desperately to mel t into a puddle at that moment, and ;just disappear.
"Mother…"
"No, no. Your mother is quite right, Miss Larxene," he replied, nodding, his ;eyes boring holes
into her own sky ;blue pair as he leaned back, his gaze&n bsp;somewhat unreadable. "By the way, Cora, < br> I was wondering, would you like to s pend a weekend up in the mountains with& nbsp;the business
firm?" Upon Cora's joyous&n bsp;yet somehow modest shout of agreement, he smiled broadly, "Well,
please do bring& nbsp;your family."
Larxene chose this moment to excuse herself to the kitchen. ;"Mother, I'm going to go speak to
father." When her mother didn't respond, she& nbsp;simply left, rolling her eyes along the& nbsp;way; Mr.
Sumitse had that effect on her mother. Once in the kitchen, she&nb sp;walked up to her father who had
just finished conversing with the cook and&nb sp;was laughing heartily. "Father, is dinner ready yet?"
Her father nodded. "Almost dear. And where is Namine?"
"Ups tairs, still getting ready," she replied. "I' ll go get her." She was up the stai rs within minutes,
and moments later she was knocking loudly on Namine's door. " Namine? Dad says dinner is
almost ready& nbsp;and it's time to come out."
"No, I don't want to." The response was& nbsp;muffled and Larxene had to strain to&nbs p;hear it.
"Why not? Is something ;wrong? Are you scared to come out of&nb sp;your room?" She gave the door a
hard shove when Namine refused to open i t, forcing her way inside her little sis ter's room. Once
in, she saw Namine ;sitting at her vanity with her usual sk etchpad and set of fancy watercolor
colo red pencils, drawing furiously on the white&n bsp;sheet of paper. Curious, Larxene walked u p to
her and placed a gentle hand&n bsp;on her shoulder. "Namine, what are you&nb sp;drawing?"
"He's a bad man, Larxene, and I don't like him."
She blinked. "Who, Mr. Sumitse?" Namine nodded an d Larxene sighed; she couldn't agree more&nbs p;
since he just gave her the creeps ;ever since she caught him staring at he r during dinner a couple
years back.&nbs p;"Yes, I understand how you feel Namine.&nbs p;But mom and dad said this is the last dinner
for a few months since Mr. Sumitse will be out of town after&nb sp;that. Just…let's get it over&nbs p;with, ok?
Then we can…I ;don't know…go for some sea-salt&nb sp;ice cream with Uncle Ansem or something?"< /i>
Namine perked up at the mention&n bsp;of their favorite uncle. "Ok, okâ€& brvbar;just this last time...for a
while."
As Namine exited, Larxene took a&nb sp;look at her sister's sketchpad. On the&nbs p;white sheet was a man
who looked an awful lot like Mr. Sumitse, gripping a young woman by her arms and backed&nbs p;
against a wall, terrified. The scene l ooked completely lewd and lecherous, and Larx ene felt a
shiver run down her spin e as she observed the drawing. Namine te nded to pick up on things
other peo ple did not; she only hoped this picture wasn't anything that did or could happe n. The
disgust rising in the back o f her throat shook her from her reverie& nbsp;just in time for her father to
call her downstairs. Putting the image aside , she made her way down the stairs and entered the
large dining room where& nbsp;Mr. Sumitse and her father were conversi ng. Cora had disappeared
and Namine was& nbsp;seated as far away from Mr. Sumitse ;as possible. Larxene made a disappointed
face when she realized she had to sit across from him--she cringed. Namine&n bsp;gave her a
sympathetic smile, knowing&nbs p;full well that her older sister hated the man. But Larxene nodded
nonetheless, ;not wanting Namine anywhere near him. If&nbs p;anything, she was ready for the night to
be over just as she saw her ;mother return, her face flushed and hair&nbs p;only slightly out of place.
Larxene sn orted. 'Mother…you're just sick.'&nb sp;
Flashback
Larxene dropped her bag&n bsp;as he arms encompassed herself, hugging h erself tight as tears
threatened to fall from her closed eyes. The flashback was completely not welcomed--and totally
unexpec ted--as she felt her body trembling. She ;wanted to run, to hide, to disappear as the
memories came flooding back in ;a river of pain and disgust. But most&n bsp;of all, the one thing she
wanted&nbs p;to do, she knew she wouldn't. Backing up slowly, she reentered her room, back first,
closed the door and slid down&nbs p;against the wall. After a few moments she brought her eyes from
behind her&nbs p;hands to look out the window. Outside, ;the moon was shining brightly, and she turned
her head away--for the first time in years--in fear.
:Again, imagine s aid line break inserted here:
(Finally , right, right?! So there was a little&n bsp;more about Larxene and her past, and ;this chapter
did focus on Mar/Larx more than the others! I'm sorry of Mar is outta chara, but he IS kinda
har d to write since not THAT much of h is personality is fleshed out in the man ga and Chain of
Memories. I'm working&nb sp;with limited stuff here, but hey, I'm ;doin my research! A VERY special
thanks to all who R & R'd and who&nbs p;are still reading…you guys rock&n bsp;my world and I love you!
Bye fo r now, all!)
Sadistickunais