Stolen

Chapter Five:

The following evening Squall and Sora ate dinner together at the tiny kitchen table. Since Squall had allowed Sora to freely wander his apartment, he didn’t see the need in continuing to consume meals on his bed.

He followed Sora to the sink and they both set their dirty dishes on the counter. Sora turned on the tap and fished the dish soap out from the cupboard under the sink, while Squall leaned back against the counter with a tea towel in his hand. For a few minutes, the only sound in the kitchen was the swishing of water and a tea towel being rubbed against glass.

Squall was hesitant to break the comfortable silence; he’d give anything not to do what he was supposed to. “Sora?” he said eventually, grabbing the teen’s attention.

Sora handed over the last plate for Squall to dry. “Yeah?” he asked, absent-mindedly sticking his hand back into the now dirty water to pull the plug and drain the sink.

“We should go for a walk later tonight,” Squall replied in an unreadable tone. He turned his back on Sora, not able to bring himself to look at the teen. He frowned at himself, feeling the guilt overwhelm him.

“A walk?” he heard Sora question.

He probably thinks I’m rewarding him for not trying to escape, Squall thought. If only he knew how wrong he is. “Yeah,” he replied walking over to the cupboard to put away the plate he had just finished drying. “Some fresh air will do you some good,” he offered as a weak explanation as he turned around to face Sora.

“Oh,” the teen said. His face suddenly lit up as he continued, “can we go now?”

“No,” Squall answered too quickly. It’s not time yet, he added in his mind. He still had a few more hours before he had to give Sora away. Not give, he corrected bitterly. Sell. Squall avoided Sora’s eyes as he tried to come up with a logical explanation. “There are too many people on the streets right now,” he said. “It is best if we wait until later. The less people are out, the less likely we will run into any problems.”

Sora seemed to accept this; he nodded while drying his hands on a towel hanging off the handle of the stove. They spent the rest of their evening lounging in the living room, watching whatever program Sora had chosen on Squall’s small TV. More accurately, Sora had been too absorbed in watching TV to notice Squall’s attention had been on him the entire time.

Regretfully, Squall stood from his position sitting on the leather couch next to Sora. He could feel the teen’s eyes follow his movement as he bent down to grab the remote control and shut off the TV. “It’s time,” Squall muttered ushering Sora into his bedroom.

He was thankful that Sora didn’t protest when he told the boy he had to be tied up for their little stroll around the block. He dug out one of his hoodies for Sora to wear and when the teen pulled on the article of clothing, Squall felt another stab of guilt. Sora looked up at him with innocent eyes, wearing a sweater that was clearly about three sizes to big for him; his fingers were even hidden in the ends of the sleeves.

I should just keep him for myself, Squall thought as he started down at the adorable teen in front of him. Keep him safe.

But it’s not possible, another part of him argued. I have to give him away.

“Squall?” Sora asked, bringing the man back to reality. “You okay?”

Replacing his guilty stare with a frown, Squall continued to get Sora ready. He took Sora’s hands in his own and tied them together inside the pocket of the sweater. “It’ll be suspicious if it’s obvious that you’re tied up,” Squall explained when he noticed Sora’s confused expression.

“You’ll also be wearing this,” Squall said picking up a long piece of cloth from where it was placed earlier on the nightstand.

Sora was confused for a second before it sunk in and his excited attitude seemed to take a beating. “A blindfold,” he said quietly.

“It is necessary,” Squall said answering another of Sora’s unasked questions. “I can’t risk having you know where I live.”

Sora accepted it without another word and let Squall guide him to his front door by the arm. “Wait here for a minute,” he told Sora and walked back into his bedroom.

He rummaged around under his bed for a minute before pulling out a suitcase. He quickly unlocked it, staring down at its contents. Squall prayed that he would have to use them, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He lightly brushed his fingers against the revolvers before removing one of the guns from the suitcase. Squall made sure it was loaded with the safety on and tucked it into the waistline at the back of his tight leather pants.

Squall started at the remainder of weapons sitting in the case. He had a feeling that he’d need one, so Squall pulled out a seven inch combat knife which he strapped, along with the sheath, securely to the outside of his right ankle.

“Squall,” he heard Sora’s slightly panicked voice from the front of his apartment. “Where are you?”

“I’ll be the in a second,” Squall answered as he locked the suitcase of various weapons and shoved it back under his bed. Within seconds he had returned to where he left Sora and pulled up the hood of the sweater, concealing the blindfold. Grabbing the teenager by the arm, just above the elbow, he opened the door and led Sora out into the hallway.

~*~

Sora felt Squall gently push him into what he assumed was an elevator. A button was pressed and Sora was able to count the chimes to figure out that Squall’s apartment had been on the 23rd floor.

Walking was easy inside the building, since the carpeted floor was relatively smooth, but outside was a little bit more of a challenge; the ground was uneven and Sora tripped often. He could tell that Squall was trying to lead him the best that he could, with all the gentle instructions such as “careful” and “step up” he was receiving from the older man.

Since his sight had been temporarily taken away from him, Sora’s other senses were somewhat heightened. Being very aware of the hand that was enclosed on his arm, Sora noticed every change in pressure of each of Squall’s fingers. The grip tightened almost painfully each time Squall would steer him in a different direction.

It surprised Sora of how much of the sounds of the city he was now picking up on. He heard buzzing from streetlights and the rush of water from sewers below them. He was aware or the sound of their feet hitting the concrete of sidewalks and sometimes of the crunching of gravel from under their shoes.

But then all of a sudden all the crunching stopped and was replaced with a soft squishing noise when Sora’s feet came in contact with slightly damn grass. Sora’s confusion was interrupted by Squall’s cool voice.

“We’re here,” he said and the hand that was gripping Sora’s arm was gone.

Sora heard the rustling of clothing before he felt the hood he was wearing was pushed back. The tips of warm fingers brushed against his cheeks, he couldn’t stop the blush that followed, and the blindfold was untied from the back of his head.

Sora stared up into Squall’s troubled eyes; their faces were only inches apart, much to Sora’s surprise. He took a step back and tried to hide behind his bangs before he turned away. He knew he was unsuccessful in keeping his embarrassment from the other’s attention when he heard Squall’s voice again.

“Sora?” he asked. “Is something wrong?” After a moment of silence Squall continued with a small explanation. “Your face is all red.”

“It’s nothing,” Sora replied. He turned back to face Squall but his gaze was lowered to the ground and he was slyly squishing a patch of grass with the toe of this shoe. “I’m just a little hot, that’s all,” he lied.

Sora wasn’t sure if Squall believed him or not, but the awkward moment had passed and he watched the older man walk towards a bench on the side of a path that weaved its way through the grass. For the first time Sora actually took a second to take in his new and unfamiliar surroundings. The park they were in was fairly dark, only lit faintly from a street lamps placed around the parameter of the park. Here and there bushes and flower gardens were planted near the paths. The flowers gave off a beautiful but not overpowering fragrance.

“Park Hollow?” Sora asked reading a sign he found as he followed Squall to the bench and sat down close beside him.

“Yeah,” Squall replied leaning back and resting his arms on the back of the bench. “Usually fireflies are out at this time of night. I thought you’d like to see them before –” Squall cut himself off and frowned deeply.

Sora’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. It wasn’t the first time today that Squall had done something odd and Sora had the feeling he was up to something. But I still don’t know him very well, he reminded himself. “Before what?” he asked cautiously.

“Nothing,” Squall replied, looking away. “Never mind.”

Sora was about to protest when a small twinkle of light out of the corner of his eye distracted him. He turned his head away from Squall, his eyes scanning the dark surroundings. Another tiny flicker of green light caught his attention and the beauty of it blew Sora away. Little slowly fireflies rose up from nowhere, their abdomens every so often giving off a soft green glow.

The insects flew lazily in the cool spring night and Sora couldn’t help being mesmerized by the beetles; it was one of the prettiest things he’d ever laid his eyes on. Standing up from his spot on the bench, he slowly made his way over to the bugs and soon he was standing in the middle of the small swarm.

He was so fascinated with the little insects that he hadn’t noticed that Squall was now standing behind him until the other man spoke.

“Do you like it,” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sora spun on his heals, making himself dizzy from the speed and he almost lost his balance. He took a moment to steady himself before he lifted his head to gaze up at Squall. “I – It’s,” he began but the words were lost to him. He shook his head slightly in an attempt to compose his thoughts. “Thank you,” he finally managed to get out.
~*~

Sora seemed to be really enjoying their little trip to the park that it almost broke Squall’s heart to have to blindfold the kid once again. The fact that Sora couldn’t shake the smile from his face, made it harder for Squall to do what he had to; he took his time in leading the boy, trying to make the little bit of time they had left to spend together last. He already regretted having to hand the teenager over.

He went over the reasons why he shouldn’t let his creepy client have Sora, but once again the reasons why he had to go through with it out weighed the others; he had a job to do and if he screwed it up, he would be throwing his reputation along with his livelihood right out the window.

Sooner than Squall would have liked, they reached the alley. He pulled Sora to a stop and glanced down between the buildings. Like the other times Squall was forced to go there, he found his shady client sitting on top of the dumpster. As far as he could tell, the other hadn’t noticed them. He took a quick look down both directions of the street and he was satisfied that no one was around. Squall pushed Sora gently until the boy’s back came in contact with the wall so it looked as if he was casually leaning against the bricks.

“Squall,” Sora asked, his head tilted slightly to the side. “Are at your apartment yet?”

Squall leaned forward, resting his forehead on the top of Sora’s head. “Not yet,” he whispered closing his eyes. He couldn’t help bringing up his hand to cup Sora’s cheek and gently caress the soft skin with his thumb. “Everything’s fine,” he lied. “Don’t worry.”

Sora said nothing; if he was worried, it didn’t show. He only pressed closer to the hand on his face and his lips parted slightly.

“Stay here and don’t move,” he continued and he regretfully pulled away from Sora. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” When Sora nodded, Squall turned the corner and trudged his way down the alley.

He came to a stop a good distance away from the man. Squall couldn’t help the glare that he directed towards his client. He watched as the man jumped down from the dumpster, not daring to speak yet. Squall observed the man’s excited yet nervous behaviour and his mind was full of images of the creepy older man violating the innocent teenager that was tied up and blindfolded just out of view. He let a disgusted growl in the other’s direction.

“Do you have him,” the shady man asked as his slowly inched closer to Squall. “You didn’t let him get away, did you?”

“Of course not,” Squall snapped. Like ripping off a band-aid, he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. He eyed the filthy dumpster suspiciously. “Where’s the rest of the munny?”

“The boy first,” the other demanded.

“No, hand over the rest of the munny now or no deal,” Squall negotiated.

The shady man backed up a few paces, shrinking closer to the ground. “A-about that,” he started, nervously running a hand through the greasy dark brown hair. “I-I can explain.”

“Save it,” Squall barked. He almost took a sign of relief at the fact that the rest of the munny wasn’t there. “The deal is off.”

“No! I must have him,” he man howled, suddenly lunging at Squall.

Squall quickly dodged, reacting with a kick to the man’s back, sending him face-first into a pile of garbage bags and old cardboard boxes. The man moved to get up, but Squall took advantage of the situation and pulled the other up by the bandana tied around his neck and shoved his face against the wall. He grabbed the man’s right arm and twisted it painfully behind his back.

“I’ll only say this once, Pence,” Squall forced out, pulling the revolver out and pressing it to the man’s temple with the safety off. “You didn’t hold up your end, so the deal’s off.” It took all his willpower not to just pull the trigger right there. “If you try to come after the boy again, I will end you.” Just to make sure he was understood, he pushed harder against the chubby arm in his hand until he heard a strangely satisfying snap of the arm breaking.

Pence let out a cry of pain and when Squall released him, the man whimpered pathetically towards the other end of the alley. Squall’s eye’s followed Pence until the man was no longer in sight.

He had little time to enjoy his victory before he heard a panicked shout from the end of the alley where he had left Sora.

“Squall,” he heard Sora yell. “Squall, help me!”

~*~

AN: Dun, dun, duuun. So, Shady Guy's secret identity is finally revealed. Let me know what you think!

And as always, thanks for all the reviews. I love you guys.