The New Me

Chapter 18


Sora lay on his back and watched the TV; he enjoyed not having to deal with Riku today. Really, he was starting to think that playing the ‘new girl’ was messing with his brain, especially after yesterday.

“Nothing on…” he flipped through the channels, his head was half hanging off the side of couch. He sighed and dropped the remote. He was starting to whish he had gone with Riku, until his brain promptly reminded him of yesterdays’ events.

‘Right! We’re never getting that close again…’ he rolled over onto his side, his back facing the TV. Sora curled his arms around him, ‘That was too close a call…’ he yawned. He was a little bored, and a little tired.

“How did we even get that close…” he blinked and rolled over to face the ceiling, “I need to learn to pay attention to my surroundings when I’m with him.” Sora faintly smiled and twirled his fingers in the chain around his neck. He stopped and held his little crown charm. “I can be really observant when I want…” he yawned again.


He stood outside the window of the little jewelry shop. The First and half of the Second District of Traverse Town were really the commercial and business areas of the city. Most shops set up in first, most hotels in Second. Residents lived in the ending half of the Second District and in the Third. There was also a Fourth District, but no one talked about it, officially, unless you were looking for a ‘good time’. But really, you could have a good time anywhere when you were eleven, you didn’t need to visit the slums for fun. Besides, the slums didn’t have this.

Sora walked back and forth across the window, today it didn’t look like this place had it either.

“No…” he looked around again. “No…” he stopped and shook his head before heading inside. The store really didn’t look like the place one would expect to see a kid in a bright red jumper, white and black jacket, those weird yellow sneakers, and with that much unruly hair, but Sora was determined to find it. He walked around for case to case in the store; the old lady that ran it watching and scrutinizing him all the while. Finally he gave up and walked over to the woman.

She was dressed like any other old woman who ran an over priced store would be. Her pointed green glasses clung to her wrinkled face with the aid of a gold chain; her grey hair was pulled back in a bun, her face was covered in too many bright colors and her dress was a horrible pink. Not like Aerith’s soft pink clothes, no this color looked like the one they plastered all over the clothes they sold girls Sora’s age.

“Um…Excuse me?” The woman raised an eyebrow at him, “Um…do you still have that little silver charm on a chain?”

“We have LOTS of silver charms,” she smiled, a little insincerely.

“Errr, it was in the window. Shaped like a crown…it cost about fifty dollars?”

“Oh that one. No, I sold it yesterday to a young man.”

“What! But I was going to buy it!”

“Well, did you have it on lay away?”

“No,” he mumbled a little.

“Did you place an order to have it delivered here?”

“No…” now he was shuffling his feet. She was being really unfair.

“Do you even have fifty dollars?”

“No, but-”

“Then I can’t help you. Have a nice day.”

“Yea…but!”

“HAVE A NICE DAY,” she said forcefully and pointed toward the door. Sora stuck his tongue out at her and left the shop. He sighed once out side and slumped up against the wall.

“It’s not fair…I was going to buy it…” He let his body slide all the way down until he was sitting. He hadn’t been sure how long he’d been there but soon he heard a familiar sound. There was no mistaking the sound of those boots coming towards him; Sora lifted his head and smiled as he saw Squall walking down the street. He got up and waved to him.

The fourteen year-old waved back. He was carrying a black bag, and still wearing his blue school uniform. His short brown hair stuck up here and there, bit it was nothing compared to Sora’s mess.

“What are you doing here!” He asked as Squall stopped in front of him.

“What do you mean, I live in town, duh.” He knocked Sora on the head.

“But its Thursday. I though freshmen had to stay on Garden grounds during the school days?”

“Yea well, I get special treatment. You know, having a dad in power gets you places.” He smirked slightly.

“You got into a fight and were suspended weren’t you?”

“Yea, well, Seifer started it.”

Sora rolled his eyes. He and Squall started walking along toward Cid’s house. “You know, your dad’s gonna kill you if this keeps up.”

“Really? You think he cares? He lets me live miles away from him to go to some stupid school, and cause trouble. Do you know what he does when I get in trouble? He calls Cid’s place and tells me,” He stopped walking and struck a dramatic pose, “Squall, you can’t pick fights. What would your mom say? Horrible thing fighting. You should only defend. Now if he hits you, you defend yourself, but don’t do so bad that you suck. If you’re going to get yourself tossed out of school you’d better win. I mean it, you can’t come home a loser, that’s not cool.”

He shook his head and started walking, “Dad’s idea of a punishment is to unnecessarily taunt me.”

“I wish my mom would take that course of action,” Sora said as they walked along.

“So, what were you doing sitting outside like that?”

“Oh nothing…the shop sold the charm I was planning to buy…” Sora paused before continuing, he was sure he heard another set of foot steps behind them. He looked up a Squall who didn’t seem to notice. “So I was feeling a little bummed.”

“Hmm.” Squall turned the corner and began taking a back way to the Second District. Sora looked around a little confused, but followed, and so did the footsteps he noticed. “So, that’s all that’s got you down?”

“No…” he tried to look over his shoulder, but didn’t see anything, “Aerith wanted to use me for a fashion doll today. You know for a girl going to Shinra, she really doesn’t seem the type…”

“Yea,” Leon looked around as the two stepped out into the Second District just above the hotel. “Ok, Sora, I’m gonna drop you off at Aerith’s place. When I walk away don’t follow me ok.” Sora stared at Squall as they walked; now he really wanted to look over his shoulder, but before he could, Squall put his hand on shoulder, “Keep going, and don’t look back.”

It only took them five more minutes to reach Aerith’s door step. Squall nodded to Sora who rang the door bell as he walked off. Sora waited until Squall was out of sight before ducking into a bush. He watch the people who had been following them, a dark skinned boy, and silver haired girl wearing a set of sunglasses, each in a Garden uniform, walk by.

“Squall…” Sora whispered, and crawled out from the bush. He slowly made his way down the street behind the two. He couldn’t see Squall any more, just these two. He watched them round the corner into a dead end alley. “He wouldn’t go in there…” Sora crept around the wall and peaked over some garbage cans he found at the start of the alley. Sure enough, there was Squall, and the two other kids standing in between Sora and his friend.

“Ok, Fujin, Rajin. Why are you two following me home?” He was awfully calm about being cornered.

“You’re not too bright, ya know. Allowing yourself to be trapped in here,” the boy laughed.

“Idiot,” the girl just shook her head.

“You’re the ones who aren’t smart. You followed me into a trap.”

“OUTRAGEOUS!” The girl screamed this time. “You’re out numbered, cornered, and out of luck. No teachers here. A six day suspension is nothing we’ll let go unpunished.”

“You only got six days?” Squall shook his head, “Damn I’m out for three weeks.”

The other boy laughed, “Three weeks, maybe we don’t need to rough him up?” The girl kicked him in the shins.

“IDIOT!”

“I agree,” Sora turned around to see a person behind him. His heart stopped, he had missed that there had been three people following them. The teenager reached down and grabbed him by the hood of his jacket. “But I’d say Squall’s the idiot. Doesn’t look like your back up’s coming.”

“Sora!”

“Aww, you’re worried?” The boy was wearing the same uniform as the others, but he wore a grey trench coat over it. His short dirty blond hair hung over his forehead and partly covered his mocking eyes as Sora began to kick him and push away. “Well, you should be worried. Even if he hadn’t followed you, there was no way I was gonna let your stupid pals interfere.” He shoved Sora past Fujin and Rajin.

He stumbled a bit, but ran to stand by Squall.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about? I sent Sora home so he wouldn’t get hurt.”

“Bullshit.” The girl shook her head.

“It’s not like it have mattered!” Rajin pounded his fist into his open palm, “Everyone knows SeeD kicks SOLIDERS ass everyday, ya know!”

Seifer chuckled, “That’s right, damn Shinra Preps got nothing on us Garden kids. Hell that fact that we’re fighting all the time should prove to you we’re tougher than all your friends.”

Sora looked at Squall and back at the kids in front of them. He was kind of worried, were these that kids Squall was always fighting with?

“Look, Seifer, let Sora go home. He’s only a kid. He doesn’t know how to fight.”

“Relax,” Fujin pushed her sunglasses us into her hair, “We’re only going to mess you up.”

“Who says!” Everyone looked at Seifer, a little shocked that he responded that way. He reached into his coat and pulled out a knife. “They wouldn’t let me take my gunblade home, so I’m guess you’re unarmed, Squall?” he smirked, “Good. Because I’m gonna cut up your face for this one, and I’ll give your little friend one too, just so he knows not to get in the way again.”

Fujin shook her head, “Now wait a minute…”

“That’s kinda wrong, ya know?”

“Shut up!” He hand Fujin a knife. “You get the kid, I’ll get Squall.” Fujin looked at it for a moment and shook her head. Seifer glared at her and looked like he was going to shout, but never got it out. Squall didn’t wait for them to make up their minds; he charged at Seifer and knocked him back to the ground. The two began fighting over the knife. Fujin and Rajin began to wrestle Squall off their team mate.

Sora looked around and did the first thing he could think of. He ran and jumped on the back of the girl. Fujin backed up and slammed him into the wall, but he still held on. She grabbed him around the wrist and kept falling backwards, causing Sora’s head to bang up against the wall over and over again.

Finally he let go, just as Rajin dragged Squall up to his feet. Seifer stood up and sneered. “I was joking before! But now I’ll really cut you both up.” He raised the knife to Squall who kicked him as hard as he could when he drew near. He knocked Seifer’s hand back at a terrible angle, the blade slashed across his face. He let out a howl of pain.

Rajin let go of Squall and Fujin let Sora slump off her back. The two looked at Seifer surprised. But just as quickly as he had fallen he was up and roaring past them. Sora watched Seifer charge into Squall; they tussled around on the alley ground back and forth, knocking over trash cans and into walls. Fujin and Rajin seemed just as surprised as Sora as they watched to two fight.

“Man they sure hate each other…” Rajin mumbled as Squall began punching upward, each time his fist connecting to Seifer’s jaw. Eventually, Seifer grabbed Squall around the collar and viscously head butt the other boy hard enough for his head to bounce off the ground. Seifer lifted up the knife and came down in one quick motion.

Sora screamed, and the other two looked wide eyed as Seifer stood up. He staggered around and smiled, “You know….eye for an eye, and all that…” he took a few more steps before falling over. His face was covered in blood for the cut, his nose, and a few loosened teeth. Fujin and Rajin picked him up and took the knife, and carried him. They didn’t bother with Sora, which was fine with him.

He ran over to get a look at Squall who lying with one eye swollen shut, his mouth open, and his face also covered in blood. He looked over at Sora with his open eye.

“You ok?” Sora just nodded. “Good,” Squall slowly picked himself up, “Get my bag…come on. We’ll go to Aerith’s.” Sora nodded and looked around. He spotted Squall’s bag under a garbage can. He raced over to pick it up while Squall supported himself along the wall.

As Sora picked up the bag, he was surprised to see a chain fall out. He picked it up and was taken back by the sight of the silver crown on a chain with Squall’s lion charm. Squall walked over and took the bag, “What’s up?”

“Um, nothing. Here this fell out,” he handed Squall the chain. He stared at it, and took the chain form Sora. He took his charm off the chain.

“Here.”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like I’m speaking Greek. Take the chain. Take the charm.”

“It cost fifty dollars…”

“So you’ll pay me back,” he pat Sora on the head, “Come on. I really need Aerith to cast cure on my face a few times…”

By the time Sora woke up it was night time. He stretched and sat up. The light was on the kitchen. He got up and walked into the room, his mother was cooking chicken and rice. She looked over at him and smiled, “Finally awake sleepy head?”

He scratched his head, “I guess.” He yawned, “How long you been home?”

“Three hours.”

“Really! Man…I slept all day.” His mother shook her head and muttered something about him being lazy.