Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Smoke Screen ❯ Kinesics ( Chapter 17 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Note to Disclaimers: I do not and nev er will own Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 or Chain of Memories
soâ€¦please& nbsp;do NOT sue me. I have absolutely no thing to give you, should you decide to.
A/N: Chapter 17, which is rather uneventful, is here. It was fun to ;write and it is shorter
than the other chapters but we're getting closer ;to our goal. Just wanted to give you&nb sp;all
something, not to mention that& nbsp;now there will be more awkwardness to&nb sp;ensue. Lots of
feelings. Thanks to& nbsp;those still reading.
Word coding:& nbsp;
'Thoughts' & "Speaking" Random flashbacks or other stuff && nbsp;Everything else

Kinesics
To say that Larxene was surprised was a&nb sp;complete understatement. In fact, she was completely
livid. She had seriously thought&n bsp;he was going to kiss her there in&nb sp;the middle of the forest,
underneath the moonlightâ€”a rather romantic sett ing, if she decided to admit it. But,&nb sp;as always it
seemed, he managed to&nb sp;catch her off-guard. Instead of kissing he r like she thought he might,
Marluxia&nb sp;had simply chuckled before smoothing back her hair again and pulling her to her&nb sp;feet.
He had quickly bent down to&nbs p;retrieve her kunai before she had time ;to properly process what had
just occur red. It made her blood boil to know ;that he had witnessed her in such a&nbs p;stateâ€”no one
ever had before. Grinding her teeth to stop herself from smacking him as he rambled on to Zexion and Roxas about the finer details& nbsp;of their recon mission, Larxene was bare ly able to
contain herself. To her side Axel was whistling a low, merry lit tle tune that was driving her
insane,&nb sp;and that she was sure was being done& nbsp;on purpose to aggravate her. With Axel,& nbsp;it was
always hard to tell his ;intentions. She turned to him in utter aggravation, wanting more than
anything to&nb sp;throw the knife in her hand straight into his temple.
He smirked at her from the corner of his eye, which infuri ated Larxene even more. It wasn't
suppos ed to but she sure as hell couldn't ;understand why it did. She found herself&nbs p;wanting
nothing more than to bash his& nbsp;head in but such displays would surely&n bsp;only cause more trouble
than it was& nbsp;worth. Dragging herself away from Axel a nd his annoying habit, Larxene found
her self standing behind Marluxia as he discussed the finer points of their impending esp ionage
mission, as Zexion had named it,& nbsp;much to her dismay. More than anything&n bsp;she was on edge,
urging to stab ;something or someoneâ€”most likely Ma rluxia. He had a bad habit of being ;in her
way, or just being in gener al. Coincidentally he also had a terrible&nbs p;habit for besting her in about
90%&nbs p;of these interludes and she was beyond ;being shown up or bested. Muttering obscenit ies
internally, Larxene spun away again, ;refocusing her eyes on Axel's form. He was still humming
that annoying tune and she was now more than sure he was& nbsp;doing it just to piss her off becau se
he was continually eyeing her while&n bsp;he whistled.

Larxene was about to&nb sp;storm out of the room when she felt&n bsp;a masculine hand on her shoulder; she&nbs p;
ventured a guess as to who it was . Inclining her head back slightly, she somewhat acknowledged
that Marluxia was tryin g to catch her attention. "What?"
"When& nbsp;will you be ready to set this plan& nbsp;in motion?"
She smirked. "I've been ;ready for years. Say the word." He gave her a skeptical look to which
she& nbsp;snarled at him. "What? I'm serious."
"The fact that I know you're serious i s what frightens me more, Miss Larxene," ;he said while
eyeing her warily.
S he bristled. "I told you not to call&nbs p;me that!"
"Yesâ€¦I do seem&nbs p;to vaguely recall you making such a re quest. It must have, sadly, slipped my mind," he replied with an air of arr ogance that only he could make look eleg ant.
'What a bastard,' she mused to herself as she turned away from his&n bsp;intent gaze. "Yes well, why
don't yo u try using that thing you have, called& nbsp;a memory you asshole. Next time, you'll& nbsp;have one
of my knives imbedded into your brain!"
He seemed completely unfaz ed by her threats, which she suspected h e was completely immune
to by now. Nevertheless it agitated her that her words&n bsp;had no effect on this stranger. Sighing,& nbsp;she
settled into her usual hostile stance, waiting for more information, which M arluxia seemed to
have no problem sharin g.
"It would seem as though Zexion has devised a plan that is thorough as&n bsp;well as bullet proof, to
use modern& nbsp;laymen's terms," he answered, demeanor unread able.
Larxene strongly resisted the urge ;to roll her eyes or punch him straight& nbsp;in the nose; but the
lingering thou ght of Namine caused her to pause, sudde nly taking in the remaining people as if
they were truly aliens. How she ha d gone from only knowing a few people&nb sp;for years to a ton of
people in& nbsp;weeks to months was something far beyond her mental grasp at the time. She had spent
so many years alone, so m any years secluded and non-existent to the&nb sp;rest of the world that it
seemed ;odd that she suddenly know more than Ax el and Roxas. The fact that she knew&nbs p;Demyx
and Zexion was hard enough as&nb sp;it had taken plenty of time to get&nb sp;adjusted to that sudden change
in aud ience. But now there was him, and this&n bsp;band of righteous do-gooders who wanted t o help
her, to save her and Namine& nbsp;when she didn't feel like she needed&nbs p;any kind of saving. The fact
that ;she already dealt with Riku and his fam ily, Roxas' friends and such invading her&nbs p;life made it
like a soap opera dr ama she was all but ready to keep a round.
Marluxia looked utterly bored, as ;if waiting for a response. She blinked. ;"Did you say
something?"

"I asked, Miss Larxene, if you were going to ;accompany your companions on their outing la ter.
It seems as though your friends&nbs p;would like to do some things together before it is time to set this
plan& nbsp;into motion," he replied, apathetically.
She blinked again. "So then we do have& nbsp;a day or whatever, that this is sup posed to start?" He
nodded. "And that's& nbsp;what? 2 days from now?"
"We would&n bsp;really like to start as soon as poss ible. Tomorrow seems a good time to set& nbsp;this plan
into motion, don't you ag ree?"
Larxene's eyes narrowed as Zexion stood before her, Demyx looking uncomfortable ;next to him.
"Don't you think that's&nb sp;a tad too reckless and too short of&n bsp;planning, even for you?"
Demyx nodded&nbs p;his agreement, albeit fearfully. "Zexion, really â€¦this is pushing it, even for& nbsp;you."
Larxene threw Demyx a scornful&nbs p;look while Marluxia turned away, aggravated.&nbs p;"I think we need
at least a few&n bsp;days to iron out any plan, scheming abilities aside."
Zexion rolled his eyes.&nbs p;"Look, novicesâ€¦I know my capabili ties and they do not, never have, and&nb sp;
never will, involve failure. I don't suppose any of you were going to bother& nbsp;asking how the plan
was devised, wh at it entails, who will do what and ;when, etc, were you?" Larxene gave him a
sour look, to which he simply sco wled. "I will be more than willing to&nb sp;layout everything for you.
I would ha te to ruin my flawless records with the& nbsp;likes of amateur scheming."
She would've been offended if it had been any o ther person but she was used to this&nbs p;by now.
Never mind the fact that his words chapped her ass anyway, but sh e waved him away in
complete irritation. Zexion nodded, understanding that this was&n bsp;a good sign from the
temperamental w oman to proceed with the details of thei r idea. Whether she was listening or not
was up to her and the lavender&nbs p;haired youth could care less as this w as not exactly something he
had suggeste d they do. But if Demyx was going t o involve himself so heavily in the affa irs of
Larxene and his best friend from the pastâ€”which it seemed t he musician would with a ferocity
that&n bsp;told Zexion there was no turning back&aci rc;€”then the lover in him would n ot deny his aid.
Nevertheless, though he did not doubt his ability to construct& nbsp;flawless, bulletproof plans, he
couldn't ;say that the participants wouldn't ruin it&n bsp;for him. Sighing, he continued droning on with
the intricacies required to comple te the mission with thorough smoothness, to&n bsp;which Larxene
raised her brows, glanced&n bsp;over the said participants and smacked he r head with fervor.
"You're fucking kidd ing, right? There is NO WAY in hell ;you can send the fag boys on a rec on
mission. Axel will blow our cover&nbs p;within minutes, especially if Roxas is in&n bsp;camouflage!" She
spat.
Upon hearing his good name being soiled, Axel stomped ;over to him, his love forgotten, and descended upon the lighting bug with narro wed eyes, flared nostrils, lips in a sco wl and a
flaming read mane. "Excuse ;me but I am excellent at recon, which&n bsp;is more than anyone here can
attest& nbsp;to about your fucking awful subtlety ski lls, bitch!"

Rolling her eyes at hi s blatant attitude Larxene began speaking aga in. "What the fuck ever, flame
boy. ;Why wasn't I included anywhere in there?&nbs p;I am the main person, fuck."
Zexion&nb sp;smirked. "Simply putâ€¦you were no t included because this is merely phase one. You're
part of phases two and three."
She scowled. "Hey, you didn't me ntion shit about 3 phases."
Now it was Marluxia's turn to wax aggravation at&nbs p;her. "Listen, nymph, it is imperative that& nbsp;you
do as instructed otherwise this ;entire plan will fall into the depths o f oblivion and you will have
lost y our only chance at righting a terrible w rong, understand?"
"Look, flower boy, no ;one tells me what to do. I'm sure as hell not going to wait around for&nbs p;these
gay boys to dictate orders to&nb sp;me like I'm so servant. This is my&nb sp;score to settle, am I clear?" She
seethed at him.
"You're modes of flirt ation, although altogether cute and unconventional , can be rather
disgusting at times.&nbs p;Why don't you just make out already an d save us all a headache?"
Larxene, ;had she been any other person, may have likely turned red as a cheery at R oxas'
impromptu comment; but his opinions&nbs p;did little to phase her now. Instead s he huffed and whirled
away from Marluxia who, although his face was the same&nbs p;color as every part of him, could not& nbsp;
hide the fact that his ears had&nbs p;turned an interesting shade of red undernea th his chestnut hair, nor
could he deny the sudden sweating of his palms. A nd if Roxas had been a complete stranger to
constipated, immature emotions he wo uldn't have been able to tell that these two were indeed
embarrassed by his ;straight forward comment. In fact, he merely rolled his eyes and turned back
to Zexion who was instructing that he and& nbsp;Axel do their recon as soon as nigh t fell the next day.
It was obvious by Larxene's previous outbursts that Sumitse had security cameras setup even in
the surrounding forest-like area that concealed&n bsp;his mansion and underground lab, disguised&nbs p;
cleverly by the white walls. If he&nbs p;and Axel were not to be seen they ;would have to utilize every
piece of&nb sp;information she provided with them, as wel l as their own expertise as being invisi ble.
After all, they had plenty where&nb sp;that came from. Escaping daily beatings wa s their specialty now.
Regardless, Roxas ;knew that they had a hard, long road&nb sp;ahead of them and a night out before& nbsp;
they start would be a nice way ;to prep. Whoever said relaxation was overrat ed had a serious case
of concussions.&nb sp;Blowing out a breath, the young dirty ;blonde turned to look at his companions,&nbs p;
eyeing the setting sun from the corner of his eyes.
"Hey, listen, do what ever you want to prep but Axel and I are going out tonight. I doubt we're&n bsp;
going to have much free time in ;the near future." Axel, from his perch across the way, nodded
enthusiastically, a&nb sp;devilish grin on his face. Roxas rolled&nb sp;his eyes at this. "What about you all ?"
"Zexion and I will join you, if& nbsp;that's okay. It's been a while. What&nbs p;did you have in mind?" Demyx
looked&nb sp;eager to be anywhere but Larxene's mansion .
Axel snorted. "Where else? Let's go&nb sp;get wasted and dance the night away a t Club Nobody!"

"You are the bigges t fucking slag," Larxene supplied, eyes showi ng aggravation. "Yeah,
yeahâ€¦do ;whatever the hell you want. Just get ou t of my house already. I need some sleep."
"What are you going to do, Mar?"
The brunette shot him a dirty ;look before starting to walk towards the&nbs p;front door. "None of your
business, yo u Cretans."
Moments later he was gone&nb sp;from their sight. The rest of the gro up just shrugged as Demyx and
Zexion&nbs p;left, informing Roxas and Axel that they&nb sp;would return shortly after getting ready.
Larxene ignored them as her two roommate s made their way to the restroom to ;get ready as well.
Now that she wa s finally alone, she realized that Namine&nbs p;was in the kitchen making tea though she hadn't heard the girl descend the&nbs p;creaky staircase. She was shocked that her& nbsp;little sister was
even awake now, t hough when she searched further she found&nbs p;Riku standing not too far away
perusin g their tea selection, eyebrows creased. She& nbsp;decided to observe them for a moment,&nb sp;not
sure what Riku was still doing&nb sp;around and how he had become so inter ested in her sister. She
could pick ;up the remnants of idle conversation as ;Namine spoke softly to the other boy, w ho
was smoking a cigarette and waving&nb sp;a box of spiced Chai tea at the young woman.
Namine smiled at Riku while he prepared them two cups of steaming&n bsp;hot milk. She had
originally warmed up water but he had quickly convinced he r to mix it with milk to make the&n bsp;
Chai more like a tea latte than ;regular tea or straight latte. She liked&nbs p;the idea and had quickly
complied; som ewhat intrigued that Riku was even remotely&n bsp;domesticated. Didn't he have
servants for that, kind of like she had? He had explained to her that his mother did&nb sp;not make that
kind of moneyâ€&r dquo;money like his brotherâ€”and he&n bsp;helped his mom with all the household&nbs p;chores
and affairs so she wouldn't hav e to work so hard. The more and mor e she learned about him, the
more a nd more she realized she was totally in& nbsp;love with everything about him. To her&n bsp;side,
Namine could see her sister lu rking in the shadows of her peripheral. She felt a little guilty that
Larxene&nb sp;felt that she had to watch Namine lik e a hawk; but the younger female was&nbs p;also aware
that her sister's hyper vig ilant nature had more to do with their&n bsp;past. The lingering fears that
Larxene&nb sp;had suppressed had now come to fruition&nb sp;through Namine and the young blonde was&nb sp;no
fool to think her older sister&nbs p;was just observing. She knew Larxene was&nb sp;watching Riku,
scrutinizing his every move to ensure that no harm would come to Namine if her sister could
help it. Sighing, the girl brought her attention&n bsp;back to the silver haired male fidgeting& nbsp;with his
belt chain in an attempt&n bsp;to loosen the offending thing from his&nb sp;hips. She let out a soft giggle as&nb sp;he
pulled a chair out for her to be seated.
They quietly sipped their&nb sp;Chai lattes, content with the silence. Nam ine was beginning to feel a
little drowsy when she noticed Riku staring at her; her cheeks reddened. "Yes?"
"For th e sake of normalcy and all thatâ€& brvbar;what with everything that's happenedâ&euro ;¦" he trailed as
she glanced awa y, biting her bottom lip. Riku let out&n bsp;a heavy breath. "I like you, Namine."&nbs p;She
returned her wide eyes to his.&nbs p;"Can I take you to the Prom, as y our date?"

Larxene's ears perked up ;at this inquiry, hiding behind the adjacent& nbsp;wall. She'd almost forgotten
that her&nb sp;sister was in high school and had a&n bsp;life outside the drama of their past.&nbs p;'Of course! The
damn prom is next&n bsp;week. What a time for all this shit& nbsp;to happen,'she mused as she heard he r
sister almost choke on her latte. ;Namine's face had turned beet red, her ability to speak having
vanished while R iku patiently awaited his companion's answer. ;'Say yes, you dumb girl,' Larxene
seethed. She didn't want Namine around whil e all their phases were put into place.& nbsp;'Noâ€¦that's
not itâ€&b rvbar;'
"Iâ€¦" Namine tripped&nbs p;over her words. "Riku, Iâ€¦you're&a circ;€¦sure? Wouldn't you rather do something else?" She gazed at his unchangi ng expression. "It's just thatâ€¦you' re in collegeâ€¦why
you would&ac irc;€¦"
"What part of 'I like&nbs p;you' was missed? Isukiâ€¦for as&nbs p;smart as you areâ€¦this is kin d of new. I like
you. I want t o take you. Do you want to?" His wo rds were direct but his tone was soft&nb sp;with a hint
of mirth under it. L arxene relaxed from behind her hiding place.& nbsp;
Namine nodded slowly. "Yes, Iâ€&br vbar;I would like to."
Sensing that her& nbsp;sister would be fine nowâ€”and&nb sp;better without her aroundâ€”Larxene ;made her
way up the staircase to h er bedroom where the silence that ensued ;was beyond welcomed. Her
mind felt heav y and she wasn't sure if would actually& nbsp;get any sleep, which she found highly&nb sp;
annoying due to the fact that she&nbs p;was craving sleep like a new drug. Her lack of sleep and terrible
sleeping&nbs p;habits didn't help when it came to wor king things out in her head or maintaini ng sanity
in situations that absolutely required it, like now. Her mind was weav ing in and out of a traffic
filled& nbsp;highway, going a million miles a minute& nbsp;trying to formulate and assess ideas for what was
to come. What she did&nbs p;know for sure is that everyone would p robably be out and about for the
ne xt few hours, maybe even well into the&n bsp;evening time so she could finally relax&n bsp;and let loose.
Never sure what this& nbsp;actually entailed, tonight she strived to&nbs p;find something meaningful to
do. 'Well,& nbsp;more meaningful than beating up my copy& nbsp;of the Marquis de Sade,' she thought warily.
Her beloved book was stashed&nb sp;in the farthest corner of her room, s cratched, torn and about as
dilapidated as her house, which was crying for repai r. In all her years of residing in it, she had
barely lifted a finger to fix anything inside of it. Sometimes, ;when she was really bored or trying
to make her mind stop pondering the pa st or deep thoughts, she would give the& nbsp;idea of
redecorating or construction a&n bsp;chance to speak to her. However, more&nbs p;often than not she fell into
a de ep sleep during these times, which was a lways welcomed; or she became exasperated. A couple times she had spotted Axel a nd Roxas repairing a thing or twoâ&euro ;”a broken light post, the
kitchen ;counter, the nails in the wooden floorboards , the carpet, the list could go onâ ;€”but she
rarely ever participated,&nb sp;rather hoping they'd lay off the noise.&nb sp;'Noâ€¦that's not it eitherâ&eu ro;¦' Though
she wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself, Larxene believed ;the reason she did not assist her
housemates with this task was because she&nbs p;was stuck in a past that reminded her& nbsp;of things she
had before, and thing s she'd lost. Unlike most people who wou ld want to move on quickly and
inde finitely, Larxene found herself obsessed with ;the reminders of her misfortunate. She refer red
to it as sadism; a sickness she couldn't rid herself of even though she had tried. 'Not hard
enough.' Ex acerbated by this current train of thought,&n bsp;she rolled over and stared at the bl and,

brown paint job, wishing it wa s a different color. She wished many a&n bsp;thing throughout her days
but didn't ;voice these thoughts to anyone. Her mind&nbs p;was her biggest enemy, she told herself.&nb sp;It
played tricks on her, made her&nbs p;see things that weren't there, made her&nbs p;do things she was opposed
to doing.&nb sp;If Larxene had a heart, it was practi cally non-existent. Her greatest detriment, as&nbs p;she
"lovingly" she referred to it. Sig hing, she let her head hit the pillow&nb sp;in hopes that sleep would
soon come&n bsp;take her.

The muggy but peacef ul night enveloped Twilight Town, as always,& nbsp;in its dreamy hold, fooling
everyone&nbs p;into a false sense of security and whi msical atmosphere. It was nights like this&nb sp;that
made the blonde haired nymph fee l particularly uneasy though try as she might, she couldn't
always resist the lu ll that such a place had. Larxene sighed as she fell onto the couch in the& nbsp;living
room as the moonlight filtered&nb sp;in through the partially opened window, le tting in a somewhat
humid breeze in ;as well. The day had been relatively lo ud, as usual. But there was something th at
had bothered her throughout the entir e time she'd been with Axel and Roxas.&n bsp;In the end, Demyx
and Zexion had&nbs p;refrained from coming with them, which was& nbsp;highly unusual for them, especially
sinc e the group hung out on a daily bas isâ€”at least 3-4 times out the&n bsp;entire week. Marluxia had
been absent&nbs p;as well.
She snorted at this, trying&n bsp;to conceal her slight disappointment with ;laughter as she realized how
dark and&n bsp;quiet the house was without its other&nbs p;occupants. Namine had gone to sleep over&nb sp;Kairi's,
so Larxene assumed that her sister would be coming back the next day . Axel and Roxas had
decided to sta y out a little longer, something about g oing to Sunset Hill to spend some alone& nbsp;time
together. This didn't surprise her& nbsp;too much since she knew they did th is at least two or three
times ever y monthâ€”and who wouldn't want s ome alone time with his or her partner?& nbsp;As for
Demyx and Zexion, both had&n bsp;felt like staying in the night too, something about watching movies
together and& nbsp;just "snuggling close," as Demyx had put it. She smiled, though it was tinged&nb sp;with a
sadness she hadn't felt since& nbsp;she'd lost her parents. 'And here I&n bsp;amâ€¦all alone, as usual.' Su re, she
wasn't a romantic by any me ans; but even the loneliest, meanest, most&nb sp;sadistic people needed
some form of c ompanionship, no matter how sick or twisted&n bsp;it might be.
She was just starting&n bsp;to doze off under the peaceful, soothing& nbsp;moonlight when her phone rang
loudly,&nb sp;jolting her from her hazy state. Cursing,& nbsp;she gingerly picked up the contraption f rom its
cradle. "Hello?"
"Larx, hey,&nbs p;it's me, Demyx," said a very groggy vo ice.
She nodded though he couldn't see&n bsp;her. "You sound like hell. If you we re sleeping, why didn't
you just keep&nb sp;doing that? I'm ok by myself, you guy s know that."
A yawn was emitted fr om the other end of the phone line. ;"Yeah wellâ€¦I wasn't worried, if&nb sp;that's
what you're thinking."
She huf fed. "Gee, thanks Demyx. You're such a g reat friend."

He yawned again, this ;time longer and louder than before. "Hm&acir c;€¦anywaysâ€¦are Axel and Rox as
home yet?"
She shook her head.&n bsp;"No, why?"
"Wellâ€¦Marluxia isn't home yet either and we just thought&nbs p;that maybeâ€¦he was with them?"&nbs p;
Demyx's questioned left her puzzled.
" No," she replied. "I haven't heard from either of them."
"Ok, wellâ€¦tha nks anyway. Night." Click.
She could&n bsp;only stare at the phone as if it&nbs p;had grown three heads and two pair of& nbsp;legs. 'What the
hell? Demyx is s o weird. Who cares if Marluxia is out&nb sp;with those twoâ€¦they can all ;fend for
themselves.' Growing irritated again, she put the phone back and resume d her sleeping position
on the couch,&nb sp;glad to finally be able to relax. And suddenly the door downstairs was slammed,&nb sp;
loudly. Cautious, she drew her knives,&nbs p;sitting up quickly as she listened for ;footsteps, fearing it
might be her step -father's lackeys. When it was clear it was only one person, she relaxed a bit.& nbsp;At
first she thought it was Axel&nb sp;or Roxas. But when the figure stepped ;into the doorway, she felt her
eyes&nbs p;widen in shock as the figure was illum inated by the soft, silver light. Gaping,&nbs p;she took a
step back, unsure. "Hey&aci rc;€¦Demyx called looking for you abou t two minutes ago. Maybe you
should ;call him back?"
Marluxia said nothing a s he nodded and began to approach her.&n bsp;Larxene took another step back
as he came to a halt right before her, h is sapphire eyes unreadable as he reached&nbs p;out a handâ€”too
fast for her to reactâ€”and grasped her ch in. His grip was anything but gentle; ye t it wasn't iron-
like or violent. It&nbs p;just was. Inhaling a shaky breath, Larxene& nbsp;looked up at him, light blue eyes somewhat fearful and annoyed as he contin ued to say nothing. She was about to&nbs p;open her mouth
when he leaned a l ittle closer to her, his face hovering a scant two inches above her own.
"L arxeneâ€¦there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."
"Is that so?" She asked quietly though her t one gave nothing away. She let her knive s flash in the
pale beams of light& nbsp;from outside, allowing Marluxia to see t hem from his view. He nodded at
thi s but did not relinquish his hold on&nbs p;her flesh. She flushed. "Where are Axel&nbs p;and Roxas? I
heard you might have ;been out with themâ€¦" She trai led off when his other hand shot out;&nb sp;
steadying her while the other lifted her chin with his fingers before grasping&nbs p;it completely in his
palm, which was&n bsp;slightly cool against her own heated skin . She prickled. "What do you want
f rom me? What are you trying to do?" ;
He smiled at the flicker of fear t hat ran through her eyes. "You're afraid."&nb sp;
"I am not!" She retorted heatedly. "Y ou wish, you bastard. You'd just love th at, wouldn't you,
you sick asshole. I&nb sp;knew itâ€¦I tried to tell Dem yx that you couldn't be trusted!"

H e blinked at her statement before erupting&nb sp;into a fit of chuckles, his grip on&n bsp;her never
loosening. She struggled a ;bit as he quieted down, the hand that&n bsp;had been under her chin slowly
movin g up her face before settling on smoothi ng back the wild wisps of hair that ;Axel loved to
call her "antennae." It&n bsp;was her turn to blink, in confusion, ;as she looked up at him, not so mu ch
in fear as in puzzlement. He sho ok his head at her. "Of course I'd love that, and many other
things." She&n bsp;was about to spit in his face when&n bsp;he leaned over slowly, his lips touching& nbsp;her ear,
sending shivers up her spi ne. "But not from fear, Larxene. Not in& nbsp;fear. I want to hear you
scream&aci rc;€¦" She tensed at his words, h er shoulders stiffening as his breath sent&nb sp;warm chills down
her spine. "My name, Larxeneâ€¦in ecstasy."
She felt her own shoulders go slack as the last statement he'd made registered in her&nb sp;fear addled
brain. 'What?' She was& nbsp;finally able to look at him when he pulled back, the solemnest of smirks plastered on his finely chiseled lips. Lar xene could do nothing but open her mouth as she fought
for words to express herself. Seconds later, she managed the ;most intelligent word she could
think t o say. "Bastardâ€¦"
Marluxia's s mirk widened two-fold as he leaned over, ;his lips millimeters from hers, before
whispering, "I'll take that as my invitation& nbsp;to proceed, savage nymph."
She had no time to think as he claimed her lips with his own, his grip softening as his hand slid
to her waist, bringi ng her closer, and pressing their bodies ;together until she thought they'd meld
into each other. Larxene's mind could not&nbs p;operate as she felt his tongue prod ag ainst her bottom
lip; she had yet t o really react. Her face felt like it'd& nbsp;caught on fire when she realized her&nbs p;hand
had tangled in his hair against&n bsp;her own accord. Gasping, she opened her&n bsp;lips to allow him inside
as he pressed their mouths together, harder than sh e had expected. Somehow, she was enjoying&nbs p;it
but a part of her was mad ;that he was the one in control. 'Per hapsâ€¦this is more like a game& acirc;€¦'
she thought as she finally joined in, pressing her own lips ;against his in response, earning a
smal l, surprised moan when her tongue grazed ;his teeth. 'Two can play at this gam e, flower
boy.' She felt herself pau se for a quick instant. 'But it is&nb sp;just a game?' She racked her brain&nbs p;for a
reason to make Marluxia's advanc es seem like a sick, twisted game but&nb sp;she could find none as
his hands ;moved down her back at an agonizingly s low pace. The rational but scared part o f her
mind was angry that she was&n bsp;giving into him, letting him have a part of her that hadn't been
touched&nbs p;in ages by any person. But the other&n bsp;part of her refused to let him leave , refused to let
him back out of&nb sp;what he had started. Her conflict threaten ed to be her undoing; but Marluxia
gave her the answer she sought when she& nbsp;felt her back hit the wall. Puzzled,&nbs p;she removed a palm
from his hair to make sure. Indeed, he had backed her& nbsp;up against a wall. 'Whenâ€¦?'
Her mind searched desperately for a n answer as to when he'd started pushing her; she hadn't been
aware. She fe lt him break away, her lips feeling brui sed and swollen, her breath coming in sh ort
pants. Silence reigned for but a&nbs p;moment when she felt his hand smooth b ack her hair again,
stopping briefly to& nbsp;grasp the wisps of her hair, gently ;pulling her head back to expose the ski n of
her pale neck. Her eyes slid&n bsp;closed as she let out a short, breat hy moan when his lips touched the
s ensitive skin at the base of her neck.&n bsp;Her hands rested on his shoulders as ;he continued his
ministrations, slowly movin g down her neck to her collarbone, nippi ng harshly with his teeth
before soothin g the agitated skin with his warm tongue . As for his hands, they had wandered&nb sp;

somewhere down; one unzipping the len gthy zipper of her jacket while the othe r made quick
work of pushing it off her shoulders, his lips never leaving h is skin. Larxene barely registered
that he had, somewhere during their interlude, dis carded his top though she had no idea&nb sp;how or
when. In fact, she was be ginning to wonder whether he had really been wearing one in the first
place ;since his chest was bare underneath her ;fingertips. He let out a small hiss as& nbsp;her fingertips
touched his heated skin,& nbsp;tracing circle patterns everywhere she could& nbsp;touch. She was curious as
she watch ed him let out a heavy, labored breath&n bsp;when her hands ventured further downwards ;and
stopped right above the zipper of&n bsp;his denim jeans. But what had her in awe the most was how his
breath&nb sp;hitched moment she unzipped his zipper and began pulling his pants down. For her,& nbsp;it was
curiosity, uncertainty and marvel all in one, at how a man could&nbs p;be rendered so completely
helpless when&nbs p;enthralled with sexual drive.
However, she& nbsp;had to admit that she relished in t he way his face contorted in pleasure an d
anticipation when she slid her hands&n bsp;into his pants, running her fingers along the lining of his
sapphire blue bo xers. 'The color of his eyesâ€&brvba r;how strangeâ€¦' she noted as&nb sp;he grabbed her
shoulders, pushing her ;back against the wall and stopping her torturous assault on his lower body
part s. It was then that she looked up a nd met his gaze, which was so intense&nb sp;that she was taken
aback, her mouth&n bsp;open but no words coming out. He bre athed out. "Larxeneâ€¦if you are ;not
ready, if you are afraidâ€&br vbar;"
She bit her lip, not sure wh ether she should proceed with her knowledge&n bsp;or not, and bristling at
his comment . "I am not afraid," she whispered, sudd enly feeling bile rise in her throat. "I 'm not
so innocent."
"I think you&n bsp;are."
She laughed hollowly, at which ;Marluxia raised a brow, ceasing his ministra tions. "Don't think
so little of me,&nbs p;Marluxia. I know how to please a man&n bsp;better than you might think. In fact,&nbs p;I know
so many things about sex i t would make your head spin and have&nbs p;you come back begging me for
more."&nb sp;He sighed, letting her shoulders go. She&n bsp;gave him a puzzled look. "What?"
"Pa rt of me is glad that you are knowl edgeable while the other part of me, the part that knows
that isn't you." H e paused. "I don't want the Larxene who& nbsp;thinks she needs to be a man's slav e,
the one who thinks she this is&n bsp;her duty, the one who thinks she has to and that this..." He trailed
of f, not finishing his last thought, a str ange unreadable spark in his eyes. With that, he pulled up
his pants and re ached for his shirt and jacket. "Have a& nbsp;good night, Miss Larxene."
She watched,& nbsp;flabbergasted and in awe, while his figu re vanished back in the night, her door& nbsp;
slamming closed from the adjacent hallwa y. 'Whatâ€¦just happened?' While&nb sp;her mind racked over
the reasons why& nbsp;he suddenly left, she felt a tinge of pain in her chest, unlike anything sh e'd felt in
a long time. She asked& nbsp;herself: isn't that what men wanted? Did n't he want to have sex, for her to
please him, for her to do as he said? She fell to the couch, destitut e and pondering his words. He
had m entioned that he didn't want her as she& nbsp;was, didn't he? Something felt off about his words.
They were foreign, they ;were not demanding, they were not coercing.& nbsp;In fact, for the most part,
the&nbs p;little bit that they had done had most ly been at her pace. She had moved quickly.

"But isn't that what he wa nted?" she asked the silence around her, ;eyeing the window with
distrust. Hugging&nbs p;her arms, Larxene continued to sit there,&n bsp;troubled with the emotions swirling
throu gh her head and heart. No one had m ade her feel so unsettled before, except ;for the one man
she vowed to kill. And he had abused every part of he r, hurt her, and destroyed her. Marluxia ;
made her feel strange but she had no other to compare the strange feelings ;to, and this irked her.
Biting her ;lips, Larxene realized how alone she was&nbs p;in her mansion, in the moonlight, as a
humid, summery rain began to drizzle&nb sp;and hit the window pane. Once again, she felt her walls
crumble as the t ears began to fall and everything around ;her and all sense lost its meaning.

The next day was irksome and qui et. Axel made a noncommittal noise to Ro xas as the pair
observed Larxene sleepin g fitfully on the couch. When they'd arr ived early the next morning
they found&n bsp;her there, still asleep, and more or ;less unclothed. They quickly had covered her to
avoid any unnecessary confrontation once she awakened. But needless to say i t was an utter
surprise to find her there in the first place, with the ;curtain drawn fully open at that. Having&nbs p;a
pension for being a total recluse&nb sp;the image of her lying mostly naked b y the open window was
such a shock& nbsp;that Roxas had almost awakened her with& nbsp;his surprised squeak. Axel had silenced
him before the damage could be done,&nbs p;thankfully.
Nonetheless, Axel and Roxas con tinued to stare at her, willing her to&n bsp;wake up, when they heard
footsteps d escending the stairs. Both men looked up ;in time to see Riku rubbing his sleep&n bsp;filled
eyes with an equally groggy N amine in tow. This in itself was a new development to which
Roxas shot Riku a warning look that Riku returned with& nbsp;annoyance and a snort. Axel nodded
with a smirk, his eyes catching Namine's ;as a blush colored her cheeks upon the& nbsp;realization that
Riku was holding her&nb sp;hand.
"What happened to her?"
Roxas&n bsp;was still glaring at Riku. "I think the bigger question is what're you doing ;here?"
"He slept over," Namine supplied ;nervously. "Everyone went out. Weâ€¦ Iâ€¦didn't know Larxene
was stil l here. It was so quiet and I didn' t want to be aloneâ€¦"
"Cal m down Tanako," Riku snapped. "But seriously& acirc;€¦what happened to her? I don't& nbsp;think I've
ever seen herâ€¦ well, naked orâ€¦asleep."
"She w as naked?" Namine asked incredulously. Roxas and Axel nodded in confirmation. "Oh
my& acirc;€¦what was she doing? What happe ned?"
"Wish we knew that too," Axel ;replied with curiosity.
No one had a&nb sp;clue what had transpired with Larxene the& nbsp;night before; but they weren't eager to& nbsp;
be there when she did awaken. Looki ng at each other, they all made their&nb sp;way to the kitchen just
as she b egan to stir, pretending they hadn't even&nbs p;noticed her. When she came to, the hea d of the

house felt her face f lame at her lack of clothing. Whirling a round she heard voices from the
kitchen. 'Axel, Roxas, Namineâ€¦and Riku?' She blushed furiously, spotting her forg otten articles
by the opposite wall, and made a mad dash to redress herself.&nbs p;Once back in her customary outfit
she& nbsp;made her way to the kitchen doorway ;where she spotted them drinking coffee and&n bsp;snacking
on pieces of toast smothered&nbs p;with a chocolate spread from the local ;store. She was tempted to ask
if t hey had seen her and judging by the ;fact that she woke up with a blanket&nb sp;she had not
remembered using, she ass umed they had. However, no one said a&nb sp;word to her about it, instead
sitting there sipping their coffee and making q uiet albeit boring conversation. Sighing, Larxene& nbsp;
decided it was best to just drop&nb sp;it and proceeded upstairs to her room ;to hide again. She had
made it hal fway up the stairs when the front door&n bsp;opened and voices echoed through the foye r.
"Hey everyone. We're back and ready&n bsp;for Recon!"
Larxene froze at the sou nd of Demyx's voice. She spotted him in& nbsp;the living room with Zexion as
Axel joined them, laughing wildly at something&nb sp;the former had said. She couldn't see ;if Marluxia
was there but doubted it&nb sp;after their encounter the previous evening.&nbs p;She was about to continue up
to h er room when she heard her name.
"W hat do you want?"
Namine's soft voice&nb sp;drifted into her ears. "Please come down.& nbsp;I made you a bagel. You need to&nbs p;
eat."
She was about to retort whe n her stomach growled loudly; she realized&nb sp;she hadn't eaten since
yesterday morning.& nbsp;Sighing again, she gave her silent agree ment and made her way back down
the stairs. She was almost to the kitchen&n bsp;when she heard him. She paused mid-step&n bsp;as their eyes
met. Marluxia's went f rom true alarm to notable indifference while& nbsp;hers went from genuine
surprise to hardened annoyance within seconds. But neither&nbs p;of their facades recovered quickly
enough&n bsp;as their friends caught sight of the ;exchange.
"Good morning, Miss Larxene," Marl uxia replied, the tone of his voice givi ng nothing away
though he remained a&nbs p;little rigidly glued to his spot.
Larx ene bristled, her lips tightening visibly at& nbsp;the greeting. "Yeah, funny seeing you, F lower
boy."
Axel exchanged a side g lance with Roxas; Demyx stared agape while&nb sp;Zexion rolled his eyes. The
awkwardness&nb sp;was so thick it could be cut with&nbs p;a knife and neither Larxene nor Marluxia&nb sp;could
look at each other, turning awa y shortly after said greeting. The change&nbs p;and unusual interaction
suddenly had everyo ne on edge as both the blonde and t he brunette walked in opposite directions
from each other without so much as a&n bsp;sarcastic or baiting remark. Larxene settled&n bsp;quietly into a
chair while Namine se rved her a wheat bagel with cream cheese and a cup of scalding coffee.
Marl uxia secured himself by the window, admiring& acirc;€”whether truly or superficially was&n bsp;
unknownâ€”the lazy morning sunshin e outside. Twilight Town was calm today despite the

journey they were about ;to embark upon. Roxas leaned over to hi s boyfriend in true shock about
what&nbs p;had just occurred.
"Heyâ€¦do y ou think they slept together?" He asked. ;
Axel almost choked on his own coffee.&n bsp;"No way, Roxie-bear. Larxene doesn't let anyone touch,
let alone that creep. Besi des, I swear he's gay!"
"Well, then ;how do you explain the awkward "morning ;after" air that's suffocating us in here?"&n bsp;
Roxas replied back snappily.
"I surm ise they may have started, but I doubt&n bsp;Larxene would have gone further than lett ing him
get within an inch of her&n bsp;actual body," Zexion offered.
"How do&nbs p;you explain the half naked presentation we& nbsp;had earlier?" Roxas hissed.
"I didn't&nb sp;know she was naked!" Demyx's squeak was&nb sp;audible enough that Larxene should have looked up; but she seemed thoroughly absor bed in her coffee and bagel. The musicia n returned
his attention to his friends. "What the hell is going on here? M ar never came home to our house
las t night and when I called here, he wasn't here either."
"Are you sure?" Zex ion's inquiry was full of curiosity and disbelief all at once. "Was there any conformation that he never came here after that? The only fact we have is tha t he did not come
back to our home."
Axel shot Marluxia a cautious loo k. "There is no way. He's justâ€&b rvbar;she'd kill him. I'll admit that I
thought they just wanted to fuck each&nb sp;other to high hell, what with all the heavy flirting they do
but Larxene&acir c;€¦" the red head's smile dropped.&nb sp;"She's too fragileâ€¦she barely ev en lets us hug
her."
To the si de, Marluxia felt beads of sweat and emb arrassment accumulating on his palms as he&nb sp;
listened to his friends discuss what had happened the night before. Did they thing he was unable
to hear them? W hile it looked like Larxene legitimately coul d not or did not, he could make out
everything they were saying. Some of&nb sp;it made him want to laugh; other part s irritated him to no
end. He alrea dy knew how difficult it would be to&nbs p;keep up appearances after his interlude wit h
the lady of the house; what he&nb sp;didn't count on was her obvious lack of control. It was as if
overnight all she had built tumbled down. All the& nbsp;composure he too possessed had been gone the
minute they locked eyes. The s tale greeting he offered her moments ago ;was all he could do
without revealing&n bsp;what had occurred. That added stress woul d only serve to annoy and distract
from the greater task at hand. Resigning ;himself to beating Demyx senseless at the&nb sp;next given
opportunity, the brunette conti nued to gaze out the window in feigned&n bsp;interest. In the background
his friends&n bsp;kept their discussion going.
And in the kitchen, Larxene resumed her wayward thou ghts about how her life had gone from&nb sp;
manageable to utter shit within a few months. 'Everything I've tried so hard&nb sp;to maintainâ€¦all that

workâ€¦gone, in an instant.' She mused bitterly as she drank her all&nbs p;black coffee, taking small
bites from her bagel. Namine eyed her warily as Rik u stepped outside to make a phone call.& nbsp;
Larxene had never felt so emotionally&nb sp;trapped before, her mind, heart and body&n bsp;not quite
processing why they hadn't ;finished what they'd started. It didn't regi ster why they were acting
weird now.&nbs p;All she knew was that when she locked& nbsp;eyes with him now, the blush rose t o her face
at an uncontrollable rate&nbs p;and her body caught on fire. Looking a t the swirling, shiny film atop the
liquid before, Larxene couldn't help but fee l like everything had changed so quickly.&nbs p;And yet,
nothing had.

(I ;was a little more into this chapter, es pecially with this incident occurring right b efore the
Recon Mission! And you know&ac irc;€¦it makes it awkward and throws&n bsp;everyone off. I'm kinda
concerned it's&nb sp;starting to sound like a Soap Opera b ut there won't be repeat incidents of th is kind
of interaction. Just adds a ;little more complication between Marluxia and&nbs p;Larxene, woo! Next
chapter: Recon and the Prom soâ€¦Recon Prom? LOL. T hank you for reading, for reviewing, for ;
being awesome and having faith. Love yo u all. Peace out, and I will try my hardest for it not to
be a th ousand years.)
Sadistickunais