"What are you doing in here, Sora?"

Startled, the small brunette jumped and quickly turned around to face his neighbor, a guilty frown on his face.

"O-oh Mr. Takashi! I…I was just giving Roxas some of my dinner."

Mr. Takashi's face darkened slightly as he took a few steps closer to Sora, eyeing the boy with an intimidating glance. Sora swallowed and looked away from the rough gaze.

"I see…and why exactly did you find it necessary to give your brother food? Did he complain about his hunger when he was not supposed to?"

"Oh, no no, Sir! Its not like that…I just…I uh.."

Mr. Takashi stormed over to Sora and grabbed the boy by his hair, lifting him from the ground. He slammed Sora into the wall and wrapped a strong hand around his neck.

"You just what, boy? You just thought it would be okay to break my rules and feed that brat? You knew his punishment was no dinner! What gives you the right, Sora? Do you make the rules?"

Sora groaned as he tried to pry Mr. Takashi's hand away from his neck. The man was not squeezing hard enough to cut off his air, but it sure was getting harder to breathe. Sora kept pulling at the man's hand until his grip tightened then stopped resisting and stole a glance over at Roxas who was looking on fearfully.

"I asked you something, kid. I expect an answer!"

"No sir!" Sora wheezed, trying his hardest to force a smile for his brother. Mr. Takashi noticed the interaction and dropped Sora to the floor.

"Don't hurt him anymore!" Roxas demanded, standing to his feet. Sora shook his head rapidly, trying to cease Roxas' brave actions, but to no avail.

"Roxas, I suggest you stop right in your tracks. You're in enough trouble as it is…and you can expect your punishment later. Right now Sora needs to get his."

Mr. Takashi backhanded Sora quickly after he responded to Roxas and caught both of the twins off guard. Sora yelped loudly, causing a deep anger to stir inside of Roxas. Mr. Takashi raised his hand again, this time in a fist, and slammed it harshly into Sora's jaw. The smaller twin cried out again, only louder, and Roxas felt his heart split in two.

"That's IT!" The blonde roared, running over to his brother and gently tracing the bruise that was starting to form on the younger's jaw.

"You will never hurt Sora again. I hate you, you bastard. Don't fucking touch him anymore!"

"Roxas please don't…"

"You can do what you please with me, but from now on you better leave Sora alone or else!"

Mr. Takashi growled as his body shook with rage. With a sadistic smile, he lifted his foot and kicked the side of Sora's head with amazing force, knocking the boy into darkness before he could even cry out. Roxas gasped and felt tears form behind his eyes at the sight.

"Sora….Sora say something, please!" He begged, reaching out to touch his brother's shoulder. A large, hairy hand stopped him in his tracks and pulled him up from the floor.

"You better pray to whatever you believe in that I don't kill you, kid."

Mr. Takashi dragged Roxas off into another room and slammed the door closed.

Sora woke up in enough time to hear the screams and cries of his brother echo into the night.

"Sora….Sora please wake up! Please Sora…"

Slowly, Sora's eyes opened and he heard about five sighs of relief from around him. His vision was blurred, but he brought a fist up to his eyes and rubbed them until he could see clearly.

"Sora what the hell was that? Don't ever do that again I swear to God!" Roxas wailed, holding Sora close to his chest. The younger twin, still dazed, rested his head on Roxas' chest and listened to the boy's heart rate slow down to a normal pace.

"Are you okay, Peanut?" Roxas whispered lightly, and Sora nodded, removing his head from the blonde's chest.

"Yeah…I don't know what happened…I'm sorry for scaring you."

Roxas smiled lightly, playfully smacking a hand on Sora's shoulder. The younger boy cracked a sad smile and stood up, offering Roxas his hand.

"Look at this scene you caused, Sora! You're such an attention whore!" Axel exclaimed upon seeing Sora stand safely to his feet. Roxas smacked Axel's shoulder considerably harder than he had Sora's, and the red-head pouted. "What? I'm just kidding!"

Riku glared over at Axel, slightly pushing the taller man aside to get to his boyfriend. Axel rolled his eyes, muttering "touchy" under his breath, which Riku chose to ignore.

"Maybe you shouldn't come to the party tonight, babe. You don't look so well. Why don't I take you home?"

Sora blushed slightly, intertwining his fingers with Riku's gently.

"I'm okay, Riku…thank you though."

The silver-haired boy frowned, but nodded at Sora's wishes and took the seat next to him, playing with a few of his longer spikes.

Sora leaned into the touch, grateful to have the comfort right now. He scanned the table and noticed that everyone had gotten back to their seats and conversations, and some of his anxiety lifted.

"….So then Roxas and I are getting things heated up on the couch…and I could totally tell he was nervous, you know…first time and all…"

"Axel!" Roxas hissed angrily, reaching across the table to cover his loud-mouthed boyfriend's lips.

Sora cringed, again not wanting anything to do with the conversation, and fell against Riku's shoulder where he remained for the rest of the lunch period.

"Hey, Roxas?" Cloud called, briskly jogging through a sea of students to try and catch up with the younger boy. "Roxas!"

Startled, Roxas turned around looking for the source of the voice and smiled lightly when he saw Cloud approach him.

"Hey Cloud…what can I do for you?"

Cloud frowned and put a hand on Roxas' shoulder, guiding him inside of the classroom before the bell rang on them. "I just…want to make sure things are okay with you and Sora. That stunt at lunch…well if you need someone to talk to about things, I'm here okay?"

Roxas stared at Cloud, slightly in shock at the boy's offering, since Cloud was never the type to openly approach someone with a serious matter, then smiled genuinely. "Thanks, Cloud, I really appreciate it."

Cloud blushed and took his gaze away from Roxas, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah…no problem. I…uh…have some time now if you want to skip and go somewhere."

Roxas shot Cloud another incredulous look, truly confused at the boy's behavior as it was the complete opposite of his normal attitude, and crossed his arms over his chest, in thought. There was nothing he really wanted to admit to Cloud, but if he could just drop some hints and score some ice cream, it would be much better than science class.

"Alright Cloud, I know exactly where to go."

Ice cream with Cloud…meet you after school, okay? - love you.

Sora could not help but stare at the words on his phone. Him and Roxas never really went anywhere without each other…just incase they would show up, and the thought made him anxious. He bit down on his lip, deciding if he should text Roxas back. After a minute or two of debate, he chose to respond.

Cloud?? Please be careful. See you in the parking lot. Love you too.

"Whatcha looking at, Heidatchi 2?" Demyx whispered rather loudly, slapping Sora on the shoulder and causing the smaller boy to jump, nearly dropping his phone in the process.

"Just reading a text from my brother you asshole. Are you trying to kill me?" Sora shot back, shrugging his shoulder away from Demyx's large hand. The musician scoffed and positioned himself comfortably in his seat.

"No! For your info, I was just checking to make sure you weren't gonna have another attack thing! If that's okay, Mr. Grumpy boots!"

"It was only a panic attack, Dem, but I appreciate the…concern? Just approach me easier next time, or you might cause one of them."

"Anytime, Skyboy!"

"Excuse me? Mr. Heidatchi and Mr. Nocturne, is my lecture on the pollination of flowers too boring for you? I suggest you both pay close attention, this is vital information."

Sora blushed deeply, having been called out by a teacher the second time that day, and ignored Demyx to focus his attention on Mr. Marluxia.

"So then, class, what happens is the pollen from the male flower's stamen is then carried by wind or bees to the female flower and inserted into her pistol, thus fertilizing her."

Demyx chuckled loudly, to Sora's dismay, raising his hand to make a statement that earned him detention for the next week.

"You mean what Axel does to Roxas every night?"

Sora had never face-palmed harder in his life.

"So…Roxas…I know we really don't talk all that often…But Leon and I both could tell something was up with you two. For at least the past week, anyway. Sora's been jumpy and irritable…and after that panic attack…you know? Something has to be up…"

Roxas nervously licked at his sea-salt ice cream, feeling rather uncomfortable with the whole situation. Slowly, he removed the ice cream away from his face and sighed, catching Cloud's attention.

"Look…I'm not even sure what's going on right now. Our father has been a bit of an asshole lately and that probably has the little one on edge. I'm probably just on edge from him being on edge. Its like dominoes, you know?" Roxas cracked a smile at the end of his explanation, but soon frowned when he realized Cloud looked slightly ticked.

"Roxas this isn't a game for me, I'm really concerned about the two of you. I can tell that you're just bullshitting me and I don't appreciate it. Either take my help or not, but don't play around with it."

Roxas winced noticeably, knowing that all of what Cloud just stated was completely true. With a guilty nod, he apologized lightly and took a deep breath.

"My dad gets drunk a lot, and he sends us away to our neighbors. Our neighbors…well they aren't very pleasant, to say the least. Our father isn't even a bad guy when he's drunk, you know? I try to tell him that and he insists that we go to them just in case something happens. Its totally a bother…and for the past two weeks or so, they've been a little skeeved off with the two of us being there all the time and they're taking it out on us. Sora has been through some things, and seen some things that no one our age deserves to witness, so that's why he's probably so stressed."

Cloud's eyes widened in shock, an interesting display of emotion that Roxas never thought he'd ever see from the enigmatic boy, before his gaze turned deadly. "What have they done to him? And why aren't you doing anything about it?"

Roxas winced again. That one hit a little close to home. He took a rather large bite out of his ice cream to buy some time and collect his emotions before continuing.

"Its not like that, Cloud. There's really nothing I can do. Threats have been made, ones that they can and will carry out…and I'm not risking Sora's life even more than I already have. I swear to God if you tell one single soul, even Leon, there will be hell to pay. And don't you doubt my protection of Sora again. I'm doing my best." Roxas hissed lowly, so lowly it was almost a whisper, and nibbled angrily at his ice cream while Cloud sank down into his chair.

"I-I'm sorry…I didn't know. These people sound like real bastards, and I'm not afraid to take them out if need be, you know that right?"

"Yeah…I know…but even just telling you about it right now, I've probably put Sora in more danger. If they find out…they'll never let him live it down. So you have to stay low key about this until I can think of some sort of plan to get out of it. Now finish your ice cream before it melts."

"Right, right…well the offer is there should you want to take it. And I'll stand by it for as long as its needed."

Roxas smiled lightly, letting his anger disappear as he held out his hand towards cloud. The older boy smiled as well and shook Roxas' hand firmly.

"Thank you, Cloud."