Author's note: ah, feel the akuroku angst floating around? mm...so warm. XD i actually was inspired to write this story because of a dream i had where axel and roxas were fighting. the dream ended when axel said something about calming down. it was really a weird dream but i just had to write what i thought it developed from.

this is going to be a really short story that i expect will be only 3 or 2 chapters long filled with angst, fluff, and...lemons...maaaaybe? -sigh- no school again today because of snow and ice. wow, there might be no school all week!

Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts, the characters, or the world the live in. I do, however, own the events that occur...also I own 200 dollars but that's something else. XD so please don't steal ideas.

Date Started: 1/15/07

Meet me in the Street-Teach me in a Dark Alley

Chapter 1-Axel 1 Roxas 0

It was that simple of a mission. He didn't really consider it to even be a mission. Mission are daring. Mission are quest-y-like things that people went out on and cracked codes to save damsels in distress. But, that's what they are supposed to be. Only in the movies, he guessed. In this case, he was expected to be the fearless babysitter for the hopeless 'damsel': Roxas; or 'kid' as he liked to call him.

He didn't have anything against the kid. He rather liked him...a bit. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure if the feeling was even called 'like'. Roxas hadn't been in the Organization long. Probably less than a year. He blended right in though. Amazingly blended in. He really seemed to not care less about the world since his face never had anything other than a frown. He didn't get why the kid had to be so serious. At least he took time out of his 'busy' schedule to smirk.

When the room emptied of the other members of the Organization, along with all those haughty laughs of theirs, Axel raked a hand through his crimson hair and slumped in his chair, watching the kid sit like a statue in a seat in front of him. After a while, Roxas finally bothered to turn his head to stare back at him with gloomy but bright blue eyes.

"Well," he started, "don't just sit there."

Axel forced a sigh and sat up, still not breaking away from looking at Roxas across the room. "Yeah, well, you can't exactly blame me. There're a lot of things I'd rather do in my day than teach the likes of you." He smirked when he heard a tiny growl escape the younger Nobody's throat. He really got a kick out of smacking him around.

Roxas didn't answer and mindlessly began cracking his fingers while staring at them, his expression not bothering to even twitch. Axel couldn't put a finger on what he and the new kid shared. It just sort of happened. When Roxas came into the Order, they literally cliqued in less than a day. Axel guessed it was somewhat of a friendship. Sad thing is: it's sort of pointless to have a friendship without a heart to feel anything.

"Alright, alright. Meet up with me in the training room in 20 minutes, ok?" Axel said when the blonde refused to answer. The thing is, when Roxas gets pissed off, he gets pissed off.

Roxas looked up again and, sort of snootily, shook some strands of dirty blonde hair away from his face. When Axel looked down, he noticed that Roxas was clenching his hands into fists. "I'll be there." With that threat, darkness began embracing him before it stole him away from the white room.

Axel slightly widened his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek. "'I'll be there...hmph, short fuse," He mimicked cockily and slowly disappeared from the room himself.

xxXXxx

Dusks, he thought, had to be the craziest little lackeys in history. Not only were they quick on their feet, but they were also extremely...annoyingly obedient; like dogs. They did only what they were told to do and rarely went off by themselves for personal time...now that he thought about it, he was technically a Dusk himself.

Two of the white Nobodies snaked around on the ground at Axel's feet, eerily hissing like steam each time they brushed past each other. Axel just stared at them and nudged both in the side with his foot to get them to stop. They instantly shifted away from each other and took place on opposite sides of him, swaying forward and back.

The one on his right let off somewhat of a squeal.

"Yeah, I know I'm late," Axel replied, folding his long arms over his chest.

The Dusk on his left squealed just as the other had.

"Guys, guys, guys...relax. Gimme some time to prepare myself, alright?" That was a lie. He was just testing Roxas. He wanted to see the look on his face when he showed up fashionably late. He stared down the pale white hall and eyed a double door at the very end. "Why don't you guys go ahead," he said, more like ordered, to the Dusks, "I'll catch up with you."

Both Dusks wriggled in place before shooting down the hall toward the double doors. They soon warped themselves through. Axel waited, his arms still crossed and his jade eyes sharply watching the exact spot where the two had disappeared.

3...2...1

A clash of metal...a loud bang against the walls...something helplessly squeaking...

Axel scoffed and walked toward the waiting room ahead. Roxas was ultimately pissed.

xxXXxx

"Useless..." Roxas growled to the floor, stabbing the Oblivion once more into the already torn apart Dusk's chest. Through clenched teeth, he ignorantly swore at it before it faded away into pieces of thin darkness. He didn't look away from the floor and kept his hands tightly clenched around both Oblivion and Oathkeeper.

"So...you did show up after all."

Eyes stinging, Roxas turned toward the doorway to Axel who was just staring at him as if he had just put on some sort of amusing show. "You said 20 minutes," he murmured.

Axel stepped further into the room, now staring at the Keyblades rather than the blonde's face. He crossed right in front of Roxas and stopped when they were merely feet apart. It could've been the end of him. Those Keyblades were just as tense as their wielder.

"At least I showed up, didn't it?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "You send Dusks in here before you show up? Coward," he whispered that last word so harshly that it made Axel's empty chest sore.

"Not coward. Teacher. That was a test. Always getting angry pushes you to do something you don't want to do in battle. You'll lose you're head fighting me...I just figured you should've let some steam out before we started."

"Whatever," the blonde said disbelievingly. "Let's just get this over with so the almighty Superior doesn't go on a year long speech about how we've slacked off."

"This should be quick." Bored, Axel opened both hands and two of his chakrams appeared out of a sudden combustion of sparks and flames. He gripped onto both tightly and dug his feet into the ground, hot orange sparks still dancing out of his palms.

In response, Roxas, too, held on tightly to the hilt of both Keyblades. They both tingled impatiently in his hands which made his whole body edgy. He could feel the heat rushing past his face and the fire hadn't even started yet.

"Tell you what. Let's try fighting without elements. No magic means no curing. Just plain metal against metal. It'll give you some practice if your energy gets depleted during battle."

"Fine with me!" Already eager, Roxas broke into a run and ran at top speed toward Axel while dragging the blades of both Keyblades against the floor.

Axel lowered his body down and swiftly backed away each time Roxas took a swing at him. In his head, he remembered there was a wall behind him...two steps away. Abruptly, he ducked to the ground and snaked along the floor toward the other side of the room. Roxas spun around and crossed both Keyblades over his chest when he spotted a single chakram cut through the air toward him.

The chakram spun against his blades which caused bright sparks to spring from in between both weapons. Teeth clenched, Roxas pushed forward and finally sent the spiked weapon back across the room. Axel caught it in mid air and leapt forward. Roxas pushed away from the ground and met with Axel face to face. He wrinkled his face into a scowl when he stared him down.

"First thing you should know, Roxas," Axel said with one chakram held protectively over his face, "never mess with a fire starter. They can be very unpredictable."

"I'll keep that in mind," Roxas brought the Oblivion down but Axel quickly caught his arm in between both chakrams. He struggled as Axel forced both their bodies back down to the floor.

Then, unintentionally, Axel's chest suddenly burned on the inside. The feeling traveled through his arms and into his hands. By then, he couldn't control it. By the time they both hit the ground again, the heat transferred into his fingers and eventually set both chakrams ablaze. Crazed, he smiled wickedly into the other Nobody's face.

"What? You said no elemental fighting!" Roxas screamed over the raising sound from the fire.

Axel wasn't even sure he heard Roxas say that. He quickly released Roxas from his hold and backed away so he had the chance to toss both fire wheels at his opponent.

Roxas gasped when he found himself backed into a wall, a chakram forced at each side of his head. The flames tentatively licked at his cheeks and he bit his lower lip so hard that if he had a heart, blood would have began dripping. "Axel!" he whined. "You lied!"

"No. You just weren't smart enough." Axel reappeared right in front of Roxas and took each chakram into his hands. The second he touched them, the flames blew out and Roxas trembled lightly from the sudden cold.

"What're you talking about?" Roxas knew he wasn't about to lose. He swiftly swung the Oblivion at Axel but failed to hit since Axel back flipped at least half way across the room.

"Look, kid. You're strong, I'll give you that. But you've got no style. Don't always trust what your opponent says. Especially if your opponent happens to be me," Axel gave another one of his smirks and twirled one chakram in his hand. He was barely breaking a sweat and there was his friend, panting and attempting to hold onto his Keyblades.

"I will beat you!" Roxas cried, eyes blazing.

Axel shook his head. Did he even hear what he said? This was hopeless. Slowly, he straightened himself up and stared down at the kid, smiling.

"This isn't over!" The blonde responded to Axel's sudden relaxed state. "It's not gonna be over 'til I beat you!"

It wasn't until now that Axel noticed how tired and broken Roxas was. Sure, he talked tough. He even had the guts to shake off the burns on the side of his neck. Axel found himself staring at his neck a bit worriedly. It wasn't his intention to hurt him. Just knock some sense into him...shit.

With a heaved sigh, Axel reopened his fists and let the chakrams fade into nothing but smoke. "No. This is over. We'll start again some other time." Quietly, he turned, letting the silver chains on his Organization cloak tinkle against him, and opened a black portal before him.

"No!" Roxas' chest was hurting as he ran head on toward Axel. He was that desperate. No. He wasn't about to lose, he wasn't about to lose! When he was a few feet behind Axel, he swung the Oathkeeper with strong force at Axel's back. "Don't turn your back on me!"

Then, without expecting it, Roxas had his wrist being tightly held before him while his other hand which held the Oblivion kept still under another death grip. "Unh..." He groaned, sweat dripping from his face.

Axel held the boy's hands with his own, keeping the blade of the Oathkeeper only inches from his neck. "Go on," he whispered amusingly.

Roxas stood dead frozen under that glare. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and tried slashing with the Oblivion but failed again. He felt like slashing a couple more Dusks around...

"When you calm down, we'll train again, ok?" Slowly, Axel let Roxas' wrists slip away from him. He really did trust him...trust him enough to leave a Keyblade just grazing his neck. With a pitied sigh, he ruffled up Roxas' hair to which he muttered in annoyance.

It was just then that he wanted to do nothing but find some way to calm his friend down. This training wasn't easy. The Superior was crazy to think that this would actually help Roxas. He knew as well as anyone that Roxas was a hot tempered person...even for a Nobody.

"Huh?" Roxas breathed when he felt Axel touch his face. He nearly shuddered...almost...

"Calm down." Axel wasn't about to let Roxas die because of stupid anger management issues. He left into the darkness, leaving Roxas to stare at the ground, eyes wide, and a couple of Dusks to play with.

if it's worth reviewing, please review! -sigh- i would love to own a pet Dusk, wouldn't you? i dunno! just sounds so protective...unless of course you've got Roxas attacking you...then they're useless. XD i'd name mine zipper! -random!-

thanks for reading and hope you haven't gone blind by reading! ehehe XD

much love,
kokoro77