[Fic] Nobody's Fool 7/10 (Kingdom Hearts 1930s AU, Axel/Sora)
Title: Nobody's Fool (7/10)
Author: harukami
Prompt: Kingdom Hearts 1930s AU
Pairing: Axel/Sora, Axel/Roxas, some others indicated
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 1246 of total 14948
Summary: A hard-boiled detective gets hired to do a job for a girl who's worried about her sister.
A/N: In ten parts. I'll be posting them twice a day until complete.





Finding Sora took less time than it could, but more time than I'd expected with all my contacts: Just around a month. On the plus side, after the recent encounter we'd had, Saix followed from a discreet distance only when he was around at all, and Larxene definitely kept her nose out, occasionally popping in to ask Demyx if he had any news or not. Probably because Demyx was more susceptible to her charms than I was, but I couldn't be bothered to care.

What I finally turned up was strange, at best.

"It's Riku you'll want to find, not Sora," the docksman said. "For some reason, some suspicious characters started sniffing around after Sora, so you can damn well bet Riku took it into his hands to make sure Sora'd stay safe. We're pretty sure he's been moving him and that girl of theirs around every few weeks, but he'll stick his head out to earn food for them. Kairi too, though Kairi's harder to get ahold of; she doesn't come down here that often. Heads into better parts of town to get food."

"Sounds to me like this Riku isn't a very sociable sort," I said.

"Oh, he's not," the docksman said. "Fat chance convincing him to let you see Sora. Still, Riku'd be the one who'd know something about it."

I was more interested in this Kairi, though, and got the description of both of them from the docksman. She might be more rare to see about, but from the personalities the docksman had described, she'd be less likely to notice me tailing her, and if she did, she'd be more likely to be sympathetic.

I asked around and bided my time, and eventually -- after several sightings of a kid I was pretty sure was Riku, but decided to keep my hands off just in case -- I saw her: a young slip of a barely-teenage girl in a dirty pink dress with, nevertheless, a big smile on her face, out shopping for scraps of food in the dock stalls with a small amount of coins.

Her path back was direct, and I tailed her at a careful distance, hands in my pockets and looking about casually; the crowds were still thick enough that I didn't come across as particularly suspicious. She didn't try doubling back on herself or otherwise trying to lose any potential tail -- I was undoubtedly right that she wasn't like Riku, and probably didn't imagine people with bad intentions around every corner. She came to stop at a certain building that was supposedly abandoned and headed up; I made note of it and headed on. I didn't really want to go in while there were others there.

The next day, however, I waited until I'd sighted both the probably-Riku and the Kairi out and about, and immediately set off at a brisk pace towards the building Kairi had led me to. A quick look around, and then I was in, moving carefully up the rickety stairs and checking the rooms as I passed them.

The kid inside was, at first glance, bored out of his skull; he had a few badly-battered books nearby and the walls showed signs that he'd been bouncing things off them for a while, like the ball he was currently kicking around.

He also looked remarkably like Roxas -- slightly darker hair, slightly dumber expression, but still enough like him that I felt the bottom go out of my stomach and my mouth go dry. Dumbass, I berated myself; it felt almost like guilt. Nevertheless, I'd stepped out into the doorway before I had a chance to stop myself.

"Hey, Riku-- Who're you?" and then the kid was crouching down into a wary fighting stance.

I held up my hands. "A friend," I said, though I wasn't so damn sure I was. "I just wandered in and heard you playing."

The kid frowned, then beamed. "Well, okay!" he said. "Want to toss the ball around a bit? I'm Sora, by the way!"

I should give a fake name, I thought. I didn't want to, though, and I've always sucked at dividing up my wants and my needs. "The name's Axel," I said. "Got it memorized?"

"Uh -- sure." The look on his face was dumb, open, cute. That sick feeling grew.

I stepped in anyway. "Toss it here," I said, clapping my hands and holding them out.

I'm not sure exactly how long I played with Sora; it seemed easy to let things go just like that, to toss a ball back and forth and talk about not much at all: the weather, how good I was at throwing, shit like that.

"You got any dreams, Axel?" he asked at one point, easy, like it wasn't a hard question.

That reminded me of work again and I managed to plaster a smile on. "Heh, well," I said. "The usual. I'd like to strike it rich -- any ideas?"

"Nah, sorry," Sora said, without any sort of look of deception. "If I did, don't you think I'd be out of here by now?"

"Maybe," I said, because, yeah, what kid wants to grow up like this? "What about you? Got any dreams?"

"I want to get out of here," Sora said. "Riku says I can't -- that people are after me. We got chased once, so... I know he means it, but I'm bored. I sneak out sometimes, but not far... just to the roof. I hate it, I want to get out and do things again!"

"You don't seem like the type to be confined."

Sora shook his head. "Not me. I want to see the world," he said. "I've lived in this city all my life -- maybe we can move on soon. We're gonna run out of places to hide eventually, anyway."

"I bet," I said. I caught the ball and looked at the window; the sun was going low and shadows were stretching out. Riku and Kairi would probably be back soon. "...I should go."

"Do you gotta?" Sora asked, and came forward, touched my arm.

I drew a sharp breath and looked at him; he was Roxas's age, so not really that young, but he seemed it, somehow. That didn't stop my reaction, and I took a careful step back. "Yeah," I said. "Trust me, I shouldn't stick around."

"Will you come back?"

Sora's disappointment almost made me take it back, but I tried to steel myself, gave him a smile. "I'll try," I promised. "...Sora, I have a question. Do you know anything about a key?"

He gave me a long look, then threw the ball at the wall. "No," he said. "I don't know anything about a stinking key." He was hurt, and he had the key, all right. It was hard to think of it as mattering.

"What about Roxas?" I asked. I couldn't quite shake the questions Marly had put into my mind. "Do you know a Roxas?"

"...Roxas?" he asked, and though his tone was still hurt, it had also grown confused. "Who's that?"

"Never mind," I said, hurriedly; there was a pressure in my head, building up behind my eyes and I wanted out of there. "It's not important."

"Axel," Sora said, and looked at me. I stopped in the doorway; it was hard to leave and hard to stay at the same time. "Riku and Kairi go out the same time every day. Will you come back or are you just after... whatever you're looking for?"

I looked at him and thought Shit. I was in trouble. "I'll come back," I said.