As the clock strikes Twelve...

== x ==

Leading me on,
You must have thought I was a fool;
Well of course I was -
I was a fool for you.

Yet these past years,
Have taught me that you don't long.
But before the clock strikes twelve,
Can you prove me wrong?

=== x ==

We were inseparable since the day we were born – twenty-one years, right? Our mothers were best friends, fathers the same, and all were involved in the talks that involved us getting together during our younger years between the back gardens that happened to be side-by-side in neighbouring houses. To us it was a bunch of words that we couldn't make out – to them it was their dream for the future.

Fast forward to us being six – this was the first time I realised how much I needed you to be with me. During one of those lunches that you spent with the guys, who were convinced I was plagued with coodies, Seifer threw me against the old apple tree in the courtyard and threatened to " cut those pretty blonde pigtails off my head" if I didn't give him my lunch money. Of course, I was about to throw all my pitiless change into his greedy hands until you pushed him off me and stood in front, telling him to "back the hell away from my girl". I was too awe-strucked to even ask what you meant by that comment, so watched as he spat some kind of retort at you about how you would never be by my side for longer and walked away in defiance. From then on, you were my guardian angel.

Remember when we were fourteen? You know, where Yuffie and her gang would corner me in the PE changing rooms as soon as class ended and... well, I don't need to explain. I wasn't allowed to tell you, and it was unbelievably hard as you questioned the bruises that flourished into a sickening purple shade as soon as they turned to a colour that resembled puss, and began asking why I was always ten minutes late to our next class as I limped towards where we sat, whimpering and twitching uncomfortably. The reason It happened in those lessons had something to do with how "you weren't around" (which is true – why the heck would you be in the girls changing rooms anyway?), yet you somehow found out and intended to make them pay for what they had done. Thankfully I managed to stop you doing any serious damage – too them physically, anyway – and they left me alone for the time being. You always had your way of finding out the stuff I couldn't keep from you, yet the one thing you didn't ever get was the miniscule crush that was forming with every beat of your heart that sang towards mine.

I thought at sixteen we would finally begin the fairytale romance our parents had thought of. The castle; the beautiful ballgown with a tiara to match (heck, even the unicorns that would take us from place to place); especially the handsome prince charming that would whisk me away in the dead of night while no one was watching. I had been asked by so many guys, but politely declined, saying "I'm still waiting for that perfect someone". I don't think you would have been too pleased if I went with someone you didn't know either. Anyway, I had been waiting for years to ask me, but you went along with your daily routine, not noticing how I had fallen head over heels for you in the past Three-hundred and sixty-five days. I didn't notice it until the day I fell into your arms – literally. You held me in our accidental embrace a few seconds more than what was needed before helping me to stand, hands lingering around each other for a few seconds longer. Then with that grin of yours you made me go into a whirlwind of fantasies I knew would never happen.

The next year was when she arrived. Olive, was that her name? Oh wait, Olette. That's it. As you hung out with her more, you slowly managed to pull out of the vice grip we both had and thought I would be fine. ("You told me for years that you would be fine without me, right? Don't worry about them." I said that as a joke, how easily you believed me was just... amazing annoying) You abandoned me when I needed you most, promises broken as Seventeen became the age from hell. The bitches wanted me dead, the jocks wanted to play, and Seifer suddenly wanted... me. It happened every Friday after school. As I would watch you and your new friend walk away with laughter singing and dancing happily around you, he would slowly approach me and pull me into that alleyway between the school and the sweet shop we always used to go to as kids, saying if I ran away he would "hurt that pretty boy you call your boyfriend." You said I would be fine. You left me to wallow in self-doubt and depression as I watched my innocence fade away bit by bit. One day when I was walking away from the alleyway which I grew so accustomed to, holding my stomach area in pain and trying to blink away the tears that were streaming silently down my face, I felt a light tap on my head and a quiet high pitched thud on the red-bricked pavement. Looking towards the direction where it came from, I saw you and that girl sitting on top of the clock tower, cackling loudly while another two guys began pointing at me and laughing too, the blonde of the pair shouting "You actually hit her" so everyone around me could hear. All I could do was stare into your dancing blue orbs, walking away as soon as you looked into mine and mistaking the empty look in my eyes for a burning pit of hatred. Looks like I wasn't your girl any more.

Eighteen was the age I felt everything around me crumble to the ground in prolonged pieces – Rumours went around the school that you had finally asked Olette out, and I tried as hard as I could to deny it. I kept it up until a few days before we got off for Christmas break, where I saw you kiss her under the mistletoe. You met my eyes, crooked grin flashing before me in a twisted way. I stared at you with hollow eyes and continued with my depressing act until I reached home, where I broke down in tears. That had its good points though – a few days later Seifer stopped our meetings, claiming "this was getting boring". I thought that the scars that would remain could easily be hidden, but not this next one. It started with me throwing up every morning before school, only stopping to eat when I had to talk and my belly beginning to bulge to the point where it looked like I had eaten a small pony. It was a week before graduation when Kairi convinced me to take the test. The small, red plus made me break down in tears. I began to tell my parents about it, hoping they would have some sympathy for all I had been through, but I only got the first three words out before they began screaming in joy, claiming that you were the father. As soon as they mentioned your name I smashed the glass in front of me, the tinkling sound the glass made making them quiet down. I was breathing heavily, telling them to wise up before running up the stairs towards my room. I lay on the bed and burst into tears, somehow feeling a pair of eyes on my back. Looking up a few minutes later, I met your curious azure eyes from the room diagonal to mine and my blood began to boil. Standing up swiftly, I remember walking over to the window, left arm unconsciously concealing my egg-shaped stomach before shutting the blinds, your eyes still burning with curiosity. You were always the slow type when we hung out. As the final days of school approached like the hands on a clock, the whispers began to grow like a child being conceived in a woman. Oh, the irony burned so clear in the cloudless sky that was Twilight Town. I could tell you didn't believe the Chinese whispers floating around the school, not until you saw me in the same hallway that I saw you and her the year before. You stared at the bulge for a few minutes, eyes wide in shock before looking at me. I Imitated the crooked smile you gave me before weakly, swiping it off my face hurriedly and giving you the two fingers. Turning around, I laughed at the hurt in your eyes. Isn't revenge sweeter than you ever were?

Homecoming ended, and I finally became a sour-faced Nineteen. Just the number itself gave me high hopes – the child was born, mom decided to buy me a house a few numbers away from where I used to live and I had no interferences from you and Seifer. That was, until, three months after he learned the child was mine. Li cried when he heard the sudden noise of the doorbell (Yes, I really did name the child Li. Remember that conversation we had about naming our children all those years ago when you actually acknowledged me as a "best friend"?) so I walked towards it to silence the person responsible for the ringing noise echoing throughout the empty house. I saw it was him and went to slam it shut, leaving the past behind, until he put his foot in between and pushed through. I tried to get him out, but he wouldn't budge, saying that "we could be a family now" while attempting to hold Li in his arms. I pulled away in time, trying to quiet my child while screaming at him to get out. He ended up backing out of the house, saying that somehow the child would be his – he never said that going to court in an attempt to win the child through a lawyer would be his way. All I had to say was the real story – how he dragged me into the alleyway with threats about my was-best friend, told me not to tell a soul before showing them the permanent scars he left me to live with for the rest of my would-be short lived life. I won the case with thirty seconds of standing on that podium, and victory hung sweetly in the air. I went home, wanting to get the pair of us a good night's sleep after an eventful day when I see you hanging outside the front gate. Being Ten months old, Li was only able to crawl on the floor and mumble a bunch of words, yet I understood exactly what he said when he saw you: "Who's that outside our door?"

Of course, still being annoyed at you after all those years, I put on a straight face by hiding the smile the child always seemed to give me and made my way towards the house while purposely banging into your shoulder and slamming the front door. I set Li down, watching his curled tufts of blond hair bounce down the hallway as he crawled towards the sofa. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, which I knew I would have to answer, and I opened up to see you standing there with a slight smile on your tanned face while rubbing the shoulder I hit. My face remained blank, asking curtly what you were doing here. This was when you started with apologies I didn't want to hear and storied of how she cheated as you took in my pale skin, hollowed purple eyes and faint stress lines. I ended up snarling at you to get out of my house, watching as he said sorry for one last time before walking down the street. I slammed the door shut, walking towards Li as he gave one of his chubby smiles in an effort to make me happy. As I put him up to bed to sleep, I finally gave him the smile he wanted to see before he dozed off to his dream land. Although when I sleep, I have the same nightmares filled with nothing but darkness and pain that I've been having since the Seifer ordeal ended, making up in me being awake and screaming into a pillow. Everytime I looked out that window and saw your face peering into my house, even when I was Twenty, the pain began to a rate where it felt like someone had pushed me into a bath of water, broken cables that were alive pouring their hearts into the liquid and frying me alive. The only thing getting me through was my child who was sitting peacefully in his room night by night peacefully. How I envied him so.

So here I am, trying to avoid you at the Twenty-First New Year's party my mom has planned. Usually I'm not here, wanting to spend it alone with Li in fear of seeing you again, but I decided to put on a brave face and make my mother smile for the first time in years. I was by the TV, the annual new year's TV show blaring out from the TV screen while it read eleven fifty-five pm. I wanted the time to fly by, so I could get out of here as soon as everyone screamed "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" I fiddled with the black, strapless dress which had a white ribbon tied around the waist area that Kairi helped me pick out – who was here with Roxas' cousin, Sora, a decent guy but I don't exactly want to associate with him at the moment – While watching Li run around with some other children. As he skidded across the floor, squealing with excitement, he ran past a pair of black shoes. I accidentally looked up...

And all I saw was your eyes.

I turned away, suddenly flustered and made my way over towards the drinks stand knowing fully well you were following me. I grabbed a red beaker and filled it with some kind of liquid (I think it was champagne, I didn't catch it as I was in a rush), turning around to walk away until I get stopped by you standing in front of me, that crooked grin in place. My breath caught in my throat, smile falling off my face and a tomato red seeping through the surface. You tried to talk to me, but all I wanted to do was walk away and leave. According to the TV, there was another painful thirty seconds until I could finally leave, making me groan internally. I walked around for a bit, casually aware that he was following me and calling my name in that coy tone of his. With fifteen seconds to go, I told him that I'm sorry for ignoring him, but I just had to leave.

That was when the ten second countdown began.

10

I was pushing my way through the crowd, hearing him call my name again.

9

The crowd seemed to get thicker, although the door was on the other side – I could finally see an ending.

8

Elation went through me as I made it outside, cool air feeling good on my burning skin.

7

I saw Li and grabbed him, getting ready to leave until –

6

I felt a weight leave my arms, eyes closing automatically as my back met the cool, white wall of my house.

5

People got louder and my eyes opened, shocked to see Roxas with both his arms over my head and bangs over his eyes, my arms pinned to my side in shock.

4

I asked him what he was doing in a hushed yet annoyed tone, watching him look up.

3

He removed his left hand from the wall, placing it on my searing left cheek.

2

He chuckled, simply stating "You're beautiful" before he was-

1

Beginning to lean in. I could feel his hot breath on my skin, something I had longed for, for such a long time. Then suddenly –

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

His lips crashed onto mine, both of ours automatically moving in sync while my arms recoiled to circle around his neck as his moved to sit comfortably on my waist. I knew I shouldn't be doing this – the years of pain he had caused, the things I had to go through. It all didn't matter to me at the moment, this was just too perfect to forget.

It's strange how easily we can forgive those we love.

We broke apart, the world suddenly crashing towards us and the cheering ringing loudly throughout the area. I automatically bit my lip, looking to my left to see Kairi staring at me with one eyebrow raised before walking away, staring at me in an "I-better-get-answers-later" way, making me giggle. "What's so funny?" I heard a husky voice ask in my ear. I turned around to look at him, shrugging my shoulders while grinning. I smiled in return, about to lean in again when I felt a pair of eyes staring at me. Looking to my left again, I met the shining, emerald green eyes of Li, staring at me in shock before running inside calling "Granny" repeatedly.

"Oh no..." I mumbled, face paling and arms tensing around Roxas' neck. He was about to ask what, until you heard a small, high-pitched voice go all around the now quiet living area.

"Granny, are mommy and Rox-Rox going to make babies outside?"

Fresh off the press, bb.

Yes, I really did have to add that last bit in. And I wrote the poem thing at the start C:

This is a New year/ Christmas one-shot, So happy new year, and a merry late Christmas! I hope you all had a fantabulous one – I know I did :D

Main influence for this = 140 Days by Handwritten and the pregnancy idea from v e g a s skies by startscribbling12! Amazing things those are x3

Next thing I'm updating is Ghosts from the Past! Yaaaay! Thanks for reading.

Review, or Darren ([upwardsarrow]8) the ANOMNOMNOMRAWR monster will eat you. Be afraid.

Kitty
xzx