Sushi XIII

By Froline El-Vasper

AN: Holy shit! It's been forever since I've written fanfiction (or anything for that matter). I know I haven't written much over the years since I joined This style is a bit different from my other fics, because I want it to be…(oh jeeze…mindless tangent ANYWAY). Yes, yes, another AkuRoku fic (as everyone seems to be calling them nowadays)…and perhaps a little Demyx spliced in later (because Demyx is so cute). And maybe some Hayner x Olette? I dunno. I really wanted to write a KH fanfic, since the first game came out in 2002. So…one day, when several friends and I went to see the premier of Silent Hill (squee!), we ate at a Sushi place, and this is how this fic sprang into existence. Yes…an AU, but hopefully a good one at that…(shrugs). As always, Squizzy owns all (save sushi) and let the stuffness begin…

Warnings: Language, Shounen-ai, Yaoi (graphically so in later chapters). XD

Chapter One: The Spicy Red Dragon

"Oh, wow, guys. You really didn't have to do this for me." Pence grinned widely to his friends: Hayner, Olette, and Roxas. "I mean, isn't this place pretty expensive?"

The four of them stood outside in the summer glow of early sunset in front of a new sushi place called Sushi Thirteen. Well, yes, it was on the rather expensive side, but it was Pence's seventeenth birthday at any rate. Roxas smiled at his friend sheepishly, just like the others did, more so out of reminiscence. Hayner had been planning this for months, enlisting both Olette and Roxas, as well as himself, in odd jobs over the past several weeks saving up for this day. It was hard enough trying to keep the whole thing a secret when they had been gone all the time from The Usual Spot. Hayner was the first to break the silence, punching Pence playfully in the arm.

"Well, we're like family. And it is your seventeenth birthday, so might as well take you someplace special, yeah? And besides—"

"We're making it up for your last birthday, remember, when Hayner gave you a cold?" Olette piped in. Hayner stared at her disdainfully.

"Don't you have a great memory?" He tapped his foot on the pavement. "Surprised you don't remember the time when you "accidently" bumped into Seifer with your face. I hope he didn't stick his tongue down your—"

"Hey! You weren't supposed to tell anyone about that!" Olette turned a bright pink and Pence began laughing. "T-that's not true. And even if it were, it still wouldn't be true!"

Hayner laughed as he let his hands graze the nape of his neck "Way to comeback."

Roxas grinned at the three of them. He was happy for his friends, happy that he could spend time with them, but he knew that it wouldn't last forever. Stop thinking like that, it's the beginning of summer. Roxas sighed heavily. He couldn't escape the truth of the statement; it was one of their last summers together before everyone split up and went their separate ways. He'd really miss them; the times when they'd sit on the top of the clock tower, swinging their legs over the side and grinning at the sunset with remnants of sea-salt ice cream on their lips. They never had to say anything at times like those. They could look from one another and understand how much they all meant to each other.

"So...you just gonna stand there or what?" Hayner waited for a response from his blond counterpart, but received none. "Hellllloooo? Earth to Roxas."

Roxas shook himself from his reverie. He clasped the back of his neck, and a nervous smile crossed his lips. Hayner shook his head "Man, what's wrong with you? You sick or something?" Olette's smile didn't fade, yet she looked minorly concerned "If he's sick, it's all your fault."

"Aw…kissy, kissy, kissy" Hanyer puckered his lips ridiculously, and sucked the air in. Olette marched over to Hayner and slapped the back of his head swiftly. "Knock it off!"

"Ow!"

Roxas laughed along with Pence. "C'mon you two. You wouldn't want to spoil your friend's birthday here, right?" Pence scratched the back of his head and grinned. "Hey, it doesn't matter, Roxas. You know how long they've always had it for each other." Olette and Hayner both turned bright shades of pink to red to fuchsia, and finally, a violent, yet humorous, shade of violet.

"Well, Pence, you do have a point…" Roxas grinned.

"Thanks for making me lose my appetite, Roxas" Olette put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, annoyed.

"So...now that's all over..." Hayner put an arm around Roxas and began to guide him to the restaurant. "Let's put it behind us, shall we? And no more out of you, porcupine head."

"Porcupine he—?"

"I said shut up!"

There was a piece of paper taped to the door with neatly written letters, saying: "Please Slide to Open" with an arrow moving to the right. In the right corner, they noticed a chibi pulling the other way, looking frustrated.

"Oh wow! That's so cute!" Olette remarked, as Hayner slid the door open "Hey! Do you mind? I was looking at that."

After Pence had walked inside, Hayner still held the door, looking incredulously at her. Suddenly, a mischievous grin crossed his face. "Oh. Sorry." He slammed the door quickly, sticking his tongue out.

"Hey! C'mon. Hayyyyynneeer!" Roxas sighed heavily then laughed "I don't know why he does this. 'Specially on Pence's birthday." He looked to Olette, who had a frustrated grin on her face. Roxas looked at the drawing briefly before taking hold of the door handle. "Y'know, you kinda look like that drawing."

"Hey!" she punched him in the arm, suddenly laughing. "Not funny!"

"Ow! Well, you do!" He rolled his eyes before he shook his head and laughed. "And I thought Pence was the one supposed to be taking birthday punches today, not me." He walked inside with Olette, "Let's see where they got to..."

Hayner hadn't lied when he had said the place was nice. Really nice. And probably, pretty expensive at that. There were some polished lacquered tables on the left that went to the back of the restaurant, and a hallway that seemed to lead to private rooms upstairs. The walls and what not, were covered in Japanese paraphernalia. Light music drifted from somewhere he couldn't place. It seemed that they had just opened, and were preparing for a long night, as there wasn't a considerable amount of clientele. To the right, on a raised portion of the floor was a cleanly kept sushi bar...

And that's when he first noticed the red hair.

Most of it was covered underneath the black bandanna he adorned. Some of it poked out from the sides slightly, and seemed to fall to his shoulder blades. The blond couldn't quite catch his eye color, as he seemed intently working on sushi. Roxas began to feel a bit...odd. Yeah, he seemed pretty cool, but, there was something else that he felt that he just couldn't quite place.

He suddenly felt eyes burning on him, yet in that direction. He suddenly noticed another man about the age of the red head with light brown hair that fell to his shoulders, and adorning the same uniform. The red head looked up in his direction and followed the other sushi chef's "discreetly" pointing finger to Roxas. Green met blue for an instant. A hot blush flamed across his face as he quickly looked away. Staring? He wasn't staring. Oh, most certainly not. He...he couldn't have been. And if he was? Well...he was watching the sushi being made. And sushi was good... Sushi being...rolled by the redhead's hands...

Roxas' eyes widened at the thought. Oh, fuck. No...no. Too weird...too weird...

"Roxas? Are you alright?" Olette raised an eyebrow, peering into his face. "looks like you're a bit flushed..."

"Flushed? Me? Uh...no...just...uhm...hot flashes..."

Oh yeah, hot flashes. Good one, Roxas.

Did he hear someone laughing at him from the left?

Olette shook her head "Aren't you a little young to be getting those—" she closed her eyes and turned to the receptionist's desk. A small blond girl with an apologetic smile stood behind the desk, wearing a name pin that said "Namine".

"I'm sorry. He's been acting rather...strangely today" Olette began and looked back at Roxas, who was glaring at her, but that was about as far as she got before the "hostess", known as Namine, let a nervous giggle bubble from her lips and shook her head "It's alright. You shouldn't worry about it. I'll take you to your friends." As she grabbed two menus, she sympathetically smiled at Roxas "My mother gets those all the time"

Roxas' jaw dropped, or at least he thought it did. Was she trying to make him feel worse? Because it certainly was working.

She led them briskly over to Hayner and Pence...

Both of them were sitting at the sushi bar. And the only two empty seats were on the right.

Which were right in front of the red head.

Roxas soon had a desire to leave, not noticing the blush creeping back on his face again. He didn't feel like eating anymore as each step took them closer to the sushi bar, the hairs on his neck raising, as Olette took the seat next to Hayner, and Roxas, without noticing, slid into the seat at the far end of the bar. Hayner took a sip of what looked to be orange soda "What took you guys so long?" Hayner leaned in and smiled "Seifer wasn't good enough for you, huh?" Olette gripped the bar, her knuckles turning white. Roxas wouldn't have been surprised if she had broken a chunk of it off and flung it at Hayner.

"Hey, Roxas, how was it? Was she a good kisser?" Hayner began making those annoying kissing sounds again, as Pence sighed, with a good humoured smirk on his face. Roxas just ignored Hayner's remark and tried looking elsewhere but the front.

Where the red head was…

Olette let an elbow rest on the sleek, laqured wood bar "Well, if it hadn't been for you slamming the freaking door in my face, we would have been here a lot sooner."

Hayner smirked "So it's all my fault, huh? I'd blame it all on Mr. porcupine head over there--"

Roxas decided to ignore their bickering a while longer before intervening again, reminding them that it was Pence's birthday, and that the newly turned seventeen year old didn't have to--no, shouldn't have to put up with them. Then Pence, out of his good, sympathetic heart, would say that everything was alright, and that would probably solve everything.

Roxas breathed a sigh of relief, after staring down at the sushi card that accompanied the menu. He marked in two orders of California rolls, and was about to calmly start his "speech" when, suddenly, something caught his eye.

It was an obnoxious shade of red.

Even though Roxas warned himself not to look, he felt his head turning to face what was in front of him.

Roxas' stomach dropped and his heart nearly burst. It was the red headed sushi chef, as if he couldn't tell sooner.

Fuck.

Roxas saw, with little hope, that the sushi chef's gaze was directed at his work, not him. He took this opportunity to turn to Olette and resume his plan, letting a hand run through his unruly blond hair.

If it had only been that easy.

Roxas found himself not able to look away, and suddenly found himself studying the odd, yet interesting, tear drop shaped tattoos underneath each eye. The fiery headed chef paused briefly and looked up at Roxas, a curious look crossing his features. Roxas felt his skin prickle, as if he had been laced with stapes of fire. He wanted desperately to look away but he found that he couldn't. A ghost of a grin graced the older boy's lips, before going back to his work, raising both eyebrows and mouthing "…oooookay". Roxas suddenly felt his tongue go numb.

He suddenly felt an elbow in his side "Ow!" he winced quietly, and met Olette's incredulous stare. Roxas noticed a blond with various piercing sticking out of his ears and, pinned to his uniform, was the name "Luxord". He stood with a small notepad, looking at Olette, waiting for her to say something. "Two ginger ales, please." she gave him a smile as if to say "There's nothing wrong here. Nothing at all." She shoved a napkin in his direction with something scribbled on it in pencil. The words, after deciphering them, had shocked him. He quickly folded the napkin over and put a forearm over it. The last few words rang in his head, as if Olette herself had said them.

What's wrong with you. It's like you're…gay, or something.

Gay? He wasn't gay! So what. Did looking at a guy make him gay? Hell, if it did, he'd either be going after Hayner or Pence, and he definitely did not have those kind feelings for either of them. Besides…that would be…really…gross. He was so straight. He was as straight as a...as a...pencil or something, but what mattered most was that he was...not...gay. He couldn't be gay.

He...couldn't be. Could he?

He smiled inwardly to himself. Nope, not gay. Not gay at all.

He turned back to his friends, to ease the doubt which he denied so easily. "So...what are you guys having?"

Pence looked back down at the slip of paper in his hands "Well, I'm having shrimp tempura rolls and...some of this kitsune udon stuff. Hayner's having eel and california rolls..."

Olette made a face at Hayner "Eel? Ew...When you're eating that, don't breathe in my direction. Or get some breath mints or…something"

Hayner gave her a look, "Yeah, well what're you having?" he snatched her sheet from her hands, then gave her a wierd look "Spider rolls? I hope it's not alive and laid eggs in your sushi."

"You…butt-munch." Olette ran a hand through her shoulder length brown hair "Spider rolls don't have spiders in them. They have—"

"Do you guys always have to fight?" Roxas grinned, "It's like...you're married or something."

Roxas felt a bit better when he registered the look on Olette's face, and couldn't help but laugh. Hayner was giving him a look to match. Roxas saw Pence nod and jab a thumb in their direction. "Like I said…meant for each other". Hayner grinned in Pence's direction, cracking his knuckles lightly "Hey, that reminds me…isn't it time for your birthday punches?" Pence laughed nervously, as Hayner, with a wicked grin, grabbed hold of his friend's pudgy arm and began to aim his fist at his shoulder. Olette sighed. "How about you take that outside, alright?" Hayner looked around, after seeing several odd looks from various patrons. He shrugged and, took a sip from his soda "Fair enough. Besides, If I were married to Olette, I'd kill myself first". As the blond returned with Olette's and Roxas' drinks, Pence looked across the bar to Roxas "So...what're you having?" Roxas shrugged "California Rolls".

"I swear...if I have to make an order of those again, I'm going to go insane."

All four of them looked at the fiery haired sushi chef in confusion. His pale lips and cheeks were bloated with an exhalation of breath. He scanned all four of them briefly, before letting his eyes return back to the sushi mat, squeezing it gently and unrolling it dexterously. Roxas, suddenly, for some reason, yearned to hear his voice again. Although, it was Hayner's turn to speak.

"What's wrong with California rolls?"

1414

The redhead rubbed his wrist on his forehead briefly before continuing "Everyone orders them...all the time. You'd expect the people that go to Sushi places wanted to be daring." He shook his head, eyes falling on Roxas, "I guess not."

Roxas wanted to get away from the intensity of his stare. It felt like he could see through his clothes, or something. His throat began narrowing, or it seemed like he couldn't suck in enough air as their eyes met again. Or that he, somehow, crazily enough, read the napkin.

But...if he wasn't gay, why was he feeling so...so...

"Then what would you suggest...uh…?"

"Axel. Got it memorized?"

Axel? Roxas' eyes went to his name pin as the red head averted his gaze to Olette. Sure enough, there, written neatly, was the name "Axel".

Even before Axel could open his mouth to answer Olette's question, the brown haired sushi chef shook his head and a rich chuckle reverberated in his throat, looking from the four, to his compatriot, to his work. "Giving the kids your famous sushi speech, I take it?" Axel nodded, yet seemed slightly annoyed. "C'mon Marluxia, they need their cullinary horizons expanded, 'specially this one."

Roxas felt the familiar blush flare on his cheeks again as a slender and long finger, gloved in white latex was pointed at him. He heard his friends giggle. He looked up at Axel to see a grin on his face, for only a few fleeting seconds that pleasantly felt like an eternity, before pointing over at Hayner. "...and this one too, but since he ordered eel, he's only half forgiven." A smile came to Roxas' face, as Olette and Pence laughed, while Hayner shrugged "Hey, can't be perfect."

"Well—" Axel leaned over the bar, coming in rather close proximity of Roxas "--that's why we're here to help."

Did he smell sandalwood? Well...whatever it was, Roxas definetly knew it was emanating from Axel.

"Axel?...Marluxia?" A deep, rich voice intervened. Roxas watched Axel's green eyes go wide as he bit his lower lip, he turned to Marluxia briefly mouthing something that looked like "Oh Shit". Marluxia didn't really seem phased; then again, he was quite concentrated in his work. The four turned to see a man wearing a black suit, his face sporting a scar and an eye patch; a graying ponytail hung over his shoulder and went well past his crossed arms. "Are you troubling these four youths here?" Axel shook his head "No, Xigbar. We were just giving them recommendations." the man, now known as Xigbar, quirked an eyebrow. It was Pence who defended their situation "Yes, sir. They were only helping us." Xigbar made a curteous nod, "Very well, so sorry for the disturbance". He gave Axel a brief glare before turning on his heel and marching off.

"Jeeze. Who was that?" Hayner leaned in, speaking just above a whisper. Marluxia seemed a little too absorbed in his work "Our manager who's got a death warrant on Axel's head" Axel's head snapped to look at Marluxia, with a surprised expression on his face. The other sushi chef didn't even look up, but a slight smirk formed on his lips. Axel let out an exasperated sigh as he leaned against the countertop behind the bar. "Why don't you go ahead and tell them my life story while you're at it?" Marluxia reached for a fresh piece of seaweed calmly. "Well, just stating the obvious. And it's not my problem if he shows up at your apartment with a twelve-gauge ready to blow your freakin' head off."

Axel paused looking at the counter-top for a minute "Wouldn't he do that to anyone?" His compatriot stopped as well and began to regard the ceiling. "Hm. I guess you're right. Sub-machine gun for you."

Axel was about to protest before checking himself and looking back at the four sympathetically. "I'm sorry. You guys must be starving. I can take those, if you're ready." He pointed at the slips of paper. Olette handed them to him, and he looked them over, making various noises of approval "Uh-huh...alright...ah!" Axel's eyes fell on Roxas again "You're Mr. California roll, yeah?" Roxas couldn't help but smile and chuckle, averting his eyes "Yeah..."

"Why not try this instead?"

Roxas took back his slip of paper, and looked to where the red head had pointed. "Spicy Red Dragon Roll?"

Axel grinned, leaning against the countertop again. Axel's strange yet pleasant scent filled Roxas' nostrils. "Yeah, they're reaaaally good. Not too spicy, but just enough for a good aftertaste. Give it a try."

At this particular moment, Roxas' would have even agreed to a suggestion of sushi made from raw liver and pepper. He was beginning to not regret his choice of sitting in front of him at the sushi bar. "Alright."

Axel's grin broadened "Excellent. Trust me, you won't regret it."

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AN: I hope people got the reference to liver-pepper, when choosing the password to enter the "alternate" Twilight Town. Liver-pepper ice cream. Ew. No thanks.

So…R&R…or R&F? 'Tis your decision…