Author's Note: Welcome back to another chapter of Saviour. Yes, I'm starting to notice, a bit belatedly, I have a few spelling errors where no one understands where the hell it even came from. My bad. I like to get through these things as quick as possible so that I'm able to keep you, my readers, happy. Anyway, on with the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney and Square does.
The drive to Paopu High had been short, but filled with small talk and fine jokes. But it all came to an end when they had pulled into the school's parking lot and parked as close to the exit as they could; the closer to the exit they were, the quicker they got out. As the four teenagers piled out of the Charger, they each got a good dose of the brisk November air. As their breath showed up in white puffs of air, they tried to bring their thin jackets closer around their bodies, shoving bare hands into pockets in attempts to keep warm. While Sora and Roxas loved the warm weather between June and August, Riku and Xion preferred the crisp and cool weather between October and December. They almost couldn't get enough of it. It seemed they had met their quota, though, as the only female of the crew's tiny teeth started chattering and clicking together while small tremors went through her body. To her, this would be a good time to steal that boy's hoodie…
Riku took notice to the tremors and fought down the urge to wrap his arms around her to try to keep her warm; they were in front her freakin' brothers, after all. That wouldn't look suspicious at all. A stoic expression took over his face as he whispered to her, "You okay?" He asked while placing a hand on her shoulder, this being the only comfort he could give right now.
Xion nodded in reassurance, though, letting her hands leave her pockets long enough to give the silver teen the thumbs up before feeling a pair of long, boney, lanky arms encase her upper torso, these limbs and hands being warm despite only being clothed in the fabric of a black thermal and leather gloves with the tips cut off. She knew who it was immediately, though, ignoring the flash of jealousy in Riku's aqua eyes as she leaned back and patted the hands around her ribs.
"H-hey, Axel." She greeted the taller red-headed male as her lips shook softly, their flesh already beginning to grow pale in the cold air.
"Hey. You're lookin' pretty cold." The red-head replied, his mouth set in a lopsided grin as he spoke, his expression cocky as if he could feel the waves of hatred rolling off the other male, coming from his pores in invisible streams.
"No really?" She replied sarcastically with a small giggle, her head tilted to the sky to see Axel's face, oblivious to the vicious glare that seemed to be challenging him. She moved out of his grasp, though, moving to stand beside Riku without looking too suspicious. Roxas moved around to their side of the car.
"Roxy!" Axel cried out before suddenly tackling the sandy-blond into a bush. But the excitement and the combination of bad lungs in cold air was too much and he started hacking with the effort of trying to get up. "Oh crap, I forgot! I'm sorry, Roxas." He quickly apologized, getting up and pulling the boy out of the bushes. Roxas merely tried to wave the boy off, his hands beginning to dig through his book bag for his inhaler.
Axel had been Roxas and Xion's best friend since middle school. Yes, Tifa and Cloud had thought he was a bad influence with his tattoos and piercings but he was such a sweet guy at heart who wanted to make himself noticed. So he did with his loud behavior, dark clothes, and love of fire. He was very close with the twins, but which twin he was closest to, everyone had yet to figure out…
Sora came around to stand beside the group of kids, his hand rubbing circles into Roxas' back as if it would help his lungs open up again. "Are you gonna be all right?" He asked softly. Roxas only nodded and let out a slow, shaky breath before bringing the inhaler to his lips and pushing down on the button, inhaling from the aerosol can that would help his lungs breathe.
"I'm really sorry Roxy, I didn't mean to smother you with my love." Axel said beside him, that grin coming back to his lips as Roxas repeated the inhaler process again, beginning to laugh with him, albeit a bit raspy, before raising his hand and pushing him back with a playful shove.
Xion didn't even know that she had been holding her breath until she felt Riku's hand on her back, smacking it out of her. She covered it up with a cough, though, turning to look up at him bashfully. She always worried about her brother when his asthma acted up. Sure there wasn't much of a need to worry, it never really went out of control to the point that he needed to go to the hospital, but it was still one of those constant worries; what would happen?
"Thanks." She whispered to him, leaning against the side of the car as she returned to watching Roxas and Axel horseplay while Sora was there to referee and scold at the same time.
"Hey Riku." But her relaxation didn't last long. Blue hues shifted to the side in time to see that their little group had gained three more stragglers, all female.
The girl standing on the right seemed to be the tallest and the oldest, Xion knew she would graduate this year. Her dark silver locks were gelled upon her head in a Mohawk style and a few strands in the front making some parted bangs. Her eyes were a deep scarlet, a peculiar eye color if she had ever seen one. And she was dressed from head to toe in black and silver, starting from the black sweater on her torso to the large, pointed boots on her feet. "Yo." She greeted. Short and simple.
The girl standing on the left was the second oldest and seemed to be only a few inches shorter, a third year student. Her hair was styled to fan out around her in choppy layers, but she somehow made it look natural. Her eyes were just about as peculiar as the first girl; her irises were mismatched, her left eye being blue and her right eye being green. She dressed almost a complete opposite of the first girl, sporting a pink hoodie and jeans with grey faux fur boots. She merely lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers at them.
But the girl in the middle, who had greeted only Riku, stood out the most between the two. She was shorter than both of them and probably the youngest, looking to be about Xion's age and was a second year. Her hair was a bright yellowish blonde worn with many braids and a large ponytail at the top of her head. Her eyes shared the same green of the second girl's right eye, probably related somehow. She appeared dressed in a bright orange zip-up jacket, black jeans and brown boots. She stood and appeared to have the most confidence out of all of them.
"Hey Paine, Yuna, Rikku." Riku greeted them with a wave of his hand while Xion wrinkled her nose and tried to make herself less noticeable now that those three were there. She didn't know much about them, just that they called themselves YRP. The initials of their first names. One thing was for sure, though, she showed clear distaste for the one called Rikku, and she would return the looks of distaste as well.
Rikku winked at the boy before she spoke. "Do you have those notes prepared for chemistry class?"
He blinked for a moment. Chemistry notes? "They were assigned last night for you to do." And then he suddenly remembered; he hadn't prepared any such notes for chemistry because he was at Xion's most of the night and hadn't had the time to make them. Xion looked up at him expectantly, clutching her notebook tight to her torso.
"No I don't, actually." He replied with a small chuckle before lifting his hand to his head and running it through his silver hair. "Totally slipped my mind last night."
The blonde girl simply smirked before motioning for him to follow. "That's okay, you can copy my notes. They're in my car." She said before turning away from the posse and strutting over to her car with Yuna and Paine not too far behind.
Riku sighed softly before looking to Xion. "Go. You need them." She murmured softly, pushing herself from the car and moving to go over to Roxas and Axel. She didn't bother to pass him a glance, letting him know that something must have ticked her off. But he knew how she didn't like people to pester her when she was angry, so rather than try to figure it out, he did as he was told. Xion trusted him, right?
Sora noticed that someone happened to be missing from their group and looked up, finding that their silver haired friend was now missing. "Where'd Riku go?" He asked, looking to Xion who had been standing with him.
She simply shrugged her shoulders. "He went with those three girls. Something about homework.""Oh." The chocolate haired male simply replied. Before anything could be decided about who won the horse playing match between Roxas and Axel, the bell rang and it was time for everyone to be heading to their first period, but not only was Riku missing, someone else wasn't there as well.
"Where's Kairi?" Roxas asked with curiosity in his voice. Kairi happened to be Axel's older sister, despite the height difference between the two, and Sora's girlfriend of six years.
Axel gasped like he suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah. She's not feeling well. Said she might come in late if she started feeling better." Kairi was the senior class representative and never missed a day unless she absolutely needed to. She really must not have been well.
Sora frowned. "I'll call her during my free period." He said with a nod of his head as they all entered the school. Xion frowned as well, but for her own reasons. Riku related reasons. While Roxas and Axel remained oblivious to it all.
XxXxX
I can't believe I managed to make another chapter! I'm beginning to wonder if I should sort of put Saviour on hiatus while I try and finish the Devil's Dance Floor. We'll see, though. Suggestions and opinions are always welcome, and thanks to glos-peach for helping me with the name of the school and just helping me out in general. =] You're great! 3
Much thanks and love to everyone reading.
-HarlequinHellion