Oops...

[leekspin]

WHO: Orihime, Axel, Roxas
WHAT: Trying to help someone out lands Orihime in hot water. What to do? Run like crazy!
WHEN: May 29, 2008 - Evening
WHERE: Clairbourn Streets

Comments

[red_travels]

Axel wasn't expecting his father to meet them at the door...but when they walked up the steps to the porch, there was Sage, seated on one of the plastic patio chairs outside, a cigarette caught between two fingers and a surprised look on his face. He was a tall, lean man in his mid-forties, with thick dark brown hair and narrow green eyes; he had only recently picked up smoking again, and Axel knew that it was because getting settled into this new job was wearing him out. This was probably the last things Sage wanted to have dropped in his lap at the moment...

"Well, I didn't figure you two had snuck out to kidnap girls," the man said, flicking the ash away from his cigarette and eyeing the redhaired girl in his son's arms and then glancing at Roxas. "You boys care to explain, or shall I just guess?"

Axel gave his father an uncomfortable look. Sage was a reasonable man--much more reasonable than a lot of fathers at least--but Axel hated to just spring this on him. He cleared his throat, then said, "I was just out practicing... There's a construction site not too far from here with lots of wide open space and nothing really flammable; figured it was a good place to work with my chakrams to really fine-tune the fire-attacks, you know?"

Sage nodded, and then gestured wordlessly at the girl in Axel's arms.

Axel fidgeted. "She was being chased," he said. "We couldn't just leave that alone."

"You boys all right?" Sage asked, frowning. He knew Axel liked to get his hands dirty and hated to see people being bullied, but he often worried that he and Roxas would end up biting off more than they could chew one of these days...

"We're fine, Dad," Axel replied, not mentioning Roxas's little run-in with the brass knuckles. Roxas was practically his brother--Sage viewed the blond as a second son, and would have been worried to hear about that particular aspect of the rescue mission. Sage had been just as devastated by Roxas and his family's hospitalization as Axel had, after all, and the two of them were particularly touchy about making sure Roxas didn't sustain any more head injuries.

Forgetting about them once had been enough.

"You don't mind if we let her stay overnight, do you?" Axel asked then. "I dunno what happened to her...or why she was being chased, but...if she's in some kinda trouble, I don't wanna take her to the hospital where they're gonna ask a bunch of nosy questions."

Sage pulled a drag off his cigarette and tilted his head, rising to his feet to get a better look at the girl under the porch light. He brushed a section of her orange hair off her face, then frowned. "She's all right?"

"She's just unconscious, I think," Axel replied, and Sage shrugged.

"You're a smart kid," he said; "if you think it's best she stays here, I guess she stays here." He looked at Roxas. "You agree, Rox?" he asked.

[punk_of_hearts]

"Totally," Roxas agreed, pushing open the door and holding it for Axel. "I can crash on Axel's couch and she can have my bed. Besides, it's not like we knew where the hospital was anyhow." It hadn't been part of the tour.

[red_travels]

Sage dropped his cigarette onto the porch and stepped on it, then followed the boys inside, closing and locking the door behind him. "Well, I'll trust you two to keep an eye on our guest," he said. "Let me know if you need anything; I'm heading to bed though. I have work in the morning."

"'Night Dad," Axel said, climbing the stairs to head for Roxas's bedroom. He waited for Roxas to tug the sheet back from the mattress, and then he placed the girl carefully down, resting her head on the pillow and folding her arm over her abdomen. Then he shrugged at Roxas and sat down on the mattress beside the girl, leaning over her and boggling a moment.

She was...really kinda pretty, now that he looked at her in good light. Heart-shaped face, big eyes, that shocking orange hair...she had delicate hands and a long neck, nicely belled hips and quite a bosom to her... It was no wonder those guys were so intent on chasing her--Axel wouldn't have minded doing a bit of chasing himself, truth be told. But what had prompted to those guys to be so violent and nasty about it? He supposed he wouldn't know 'til she woke up...

Leaning over to inspect her face a moment, he reached one hand out to wipe a smudge of dirt from her cheek.

[leekspin]

The girl didn't stir from where she was laid, and remained quiet. Her stillness was almost worrying. Not a twitch, not even a sigh. Her face was starting to purple where she'd been struck, and it was clear that she would bear some ugly bruises on the morrow...but it didn't seem like she would wake up before morning.

However, this was Orihime. She always managed to surprise people.

"Mmm...don't..." Her voice was soft, barely a whisper. But her lips had definitely moved, and her brow was crinkled. "You can't...you mustn't..." She was frowning, as though worried or even frightened as she turned her head and groaned. "No...NO...!"

Then abruptly she snapped straight, screaming, "A RABIES GUN WON'T WORK ON THE DOGMAN IT'LL JUST MAKE HIM STRONGER!!!" Welp. Looked like the girl was wide awake now. But heaven help the man (Axel in this case) who might have come over to check on her; she had a nasty habit of accidentally skullbashing anyone who got too close when she jerked awake like that.

She blinked as she gasped for breath, finding that she was looking at her knees, covered in a sheet. More bizarre yet, she was lying on something soft, not the hard ground she last remembered, and the stink of tar, sweat, and cigarette smoke wasn't choking her senses either. She was somewhere warm, and somewhere safe. Had she been...saved?

The bedsprings creaked as she shifted, her hand moving unconsciously to her shoulder to pull up the ragged and torn blouse to preserve her modesty. Geez, that was scary! She was lucky not to wake up somewhere awful, or worse yet, not wake up at all. But this wasn't home, wherever it was. Orihime didn't have a bed.

Did she hit something?

It was as though she hadn't felt the sudden jarring impact. How? Who knew? She turned her head, blinking hard to clear away the last bits of fog from her vision to see someone with a head of spiky hair beside her. The one from the site, wasn't he? She was sure of it! She got a good look at him when he'd gone to stand in the light, it was surely one and the same!

And she'd just smacked him with her head. ...Oops. "AH! I'm sorry!" she suddenly jerked around to face him. Way to repay the guy that saved her, yikes! "Are you okay? I have a really hard skull..."

[red_travels]

Axel frowned when her face twitched, and then she started muttering something, and he leaned a little closer to try and make out what she was saying--

"AUGH!"

--and then let out a yelp of pain and alarm when she bolted upright, cracking him soundly in the forehead with her own. With a whimper of pain, he clutched at his brow and doubled over where he sat, his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth grit in pain. Oh man...you'd think he would have learned not to loom over people who were sleeping anymore. Roxas had cracked him in the head once or twice for the same offense, but...what the hell was this girl's skull made of? Titanium?

He groaned in response to her question, waving one hand somewhat dismissively. A hard skull indeed. "Nngh...I'm...oh man..." He rubbed his forehead and then lifted his eyes, one of them still squeezed closed in a grimace and the other now meeting the girl's gaze.

Well. Now he would have a goose-egg to match Roxas's. Although getting bashed in the brow by a girl's face was somehow less badass than getting cracked in the skull with brass knuckles.

"Yes," he said finally. "Yes, I'm okay." He rubbed his brow once more for good measure, then opened the other eye and looked at the girl, frowning. "Are you okay, bird?" he asked, and offered a wan smile. "You're safe here, so don't worry; this is my house. You were unconscious by the time I caught back up to you; those guys didn't do anything nasty to you, did they?"

[punk_of_hearts]

"Great, now you think you're Batman," Roxas joked as Axel tried to collect his flattened thoughts. "We kicked their asses but good for you in any case," he informed the girl with a grin, handing her a glass of water. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like the right thing to do. "What's your name anyhow?"

[leekspin]

Nasty...? Orihime closed her mouth, and drew back faintly, trying to think back. They'd subdued her, she remembered that...made it so she couldn't move. But then that one guy hit her in the face, and everything got hazy after that. "Mmmm...? I don't think so... I feel pretty good!" she began to grin, somewhat crookedly as the bruised side of her face made it painful. Only her throbbing head really seemed to give her any trouble, but she kept quiet about it so they wouldn't have to fuss. For someone who'd almost been molested or worse, she sure wasn't the sort to dwell on that fear and horror. "I'm right as rain and totally healthy, so don't worry about me!" And she saluted.

By the time she lowered her hand, she had a Roxas to examine. "Oh thank you," she beamed, gratefully accepting the glass of water with one hand. She kept the other on her shoulder, so as not to embarrass them unduly with her undergarments. Her eyes widened in awe at his claim, and she glanced between the two in open admiration. "You guys got them? Really?! Thank goodness." Relief softened her features as she smiled, tilting her head to the side. And neither of them had been shot either! "I owe you both big time, no doubt about it," she said decisively, raising the glass to take a sip.

But before the water touched her lips, she drew it away with a sheepish chuckle. "Oh, right... I'm Orihime. Orihime Inoue, pleased to meet you. I really can't thank you enough." She inclined her head deeply in gratitude and respect.

[red_travels]

"Orihime, huh," Axel echoed, lifting his hand to absently rub his aching forehead again. "Pleasure. My name's Axel; got it memorized? Though I supposed I'd answer to Batman..." He gestured at Roxas. "This is my pal Roxas; he lives here with my dad and I. You can stay the night here if you want. Rox crashes on the couch in my room half the time anyway, so you're not putting anybody out."

His expression sobered a bit. "We...we did get those guys," he said, "but I must admit I'm curious what you did to get 'em so mad at you..."

He didn't comment on whether or not she owed them one. Axel rarely asked for favors, but he never minded banking a few that he'd rightly earned. If Orihime Inoue wanted to owe him a favor, that was perfectly fine with him.

[leekspin]

"Ah ha ha ha...! Ha...! Well...it's a little embarrassing!" Orihime confessed with a small, embarrassed smile. She drew her knees up to lean over them, allowing her to remove her hand from her shoulder and hold the glass within both palms as she took in a breath and let it out with a sigh. How to explain without sounding stupid?

Hrmmmmmmm. No, it was a stupid thing to do, she probably wouldn't be able to dodge that! But she still didn't regret her actions. She only wished that she'd been a more capable fighter...like Batman, as Axel called himself (which earned a giggle when he said it, she loved people with a sense of humor). "Ah...well one day, I was walking home from the grocery store!" Which was today. But she was explaining it like a bedtime story! "It was pretty late, and already dark when I'd left home, but I was out of butter, and leeks happened to be on sale too. So I had to get something good for dinner, right?" It was justified!

"As I was walking along, I noticed another lady further up the street walking the same path that I was taking. 'Oh good!' I thought. 'Now Tatsuki, my best friend, won't yell at me for walking around alone!' But then all of a sudden, the lady vanished! I heard sounds of a struggle, and all of a sudden, adrenaline kicked in, and I was totally charged!" She clenched her fist dramatically. "I knew there was an alley close to where she'd just walked, so I ran as fast as I could, and sure enough, a man had grabbed her and was threatening her with a knife. I pounced! Two quick punches, then a throw, and boom! He was out cold!" she gestured emphatically...before her enthusiasm once more was shaken by embarrassment. "Then I noticed that there were a lot more in the alley, looking at me.

"The lady fainted, and suddenly I decided to run. If I tried to fight them there, then the lady would be in danger if I lost, and I'm only a first-level black belt...I couldn't handle that many on my own, especially in such a cramped place. So I ran! I was hoping to find a place with a lot of people, because they probably wouldn't try anything if there were a bunch of witnesses. I knew I couldn't go home, because then they'd know where I lived, and that would be pretty dangerous. So I went the other way...but...I guess I didn't know the area as well as I thought, because there was a construction site there all of a sudden. Then I realized it might be a good enough place to hide, and I probably would have been caught if I turned back, so, I kept going!" she shrugged, grinning.

"And then I ran into you, ha ha! Lucky thing, really..." She lowered her head, smiling at her glass. Really, really, REALLY lucky. Orihime might not have survived the night if not for Axel and Roxas's intervention.

She glanced up at them beneath her lashes, falling quiet as she studied them. There weren't any obvious injuries, but one could never tell. "Ah...I am sorry, though. If you got hurt, then that was because of me. So...thank you...and if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know?"

[red_travels]

Axel puffed a laugh--she was explaining her case as if she were recounting a movie! So...she'd really gotten herself into that mess for the sake of someone else? A complete stranger, even? Wow, Colorado girls really were kinda nuts. But then, Axel supposed he and Roxas had pretty much done the same thing, so...maybe there was enough crazy going around for everyone.

He grimaced and rubbed his forehead again, then shook his head. "Nah," he assured her then as she fretted over having involved them; "aside from some minimal cranium damage from being bludgeoned by your head, I think I'm fine." He glanced at Roxas, then looked back at Orihime. "We're pretty tough, I like to think," he said. He angled his head then. "Only a first level blackbelt," he chortled, grinning at Roxas and jerking a thumb toward her. "Bird, that's nothin' to sneeze at, I'd wager," he said. "I dunno too many girls with black belts. What art?" He hadn't actually seen her fight much. He wasn't much for hand-to-hand combat, but he never minded watching people practice their forms. Martial arts were fascinating to watch--especially when performed by someone who had mastered them well.

[leekspin]

"Ah...that is to saaaaaayyyyy..." Her grin turned sheepish. "I don't really have a black belt! Not officially. I just learned a little karate from my best friend, and she said that's the level I was at, just about." She hitched her shoulders slightly, apologetically. "She's much better at it than I am. She's even going to nationals this summer!"

These two guys seemed really nice. She liked them instantly, and felt she probably would have even if they hadn't saved her life. Orihime usually made friends easily, but there were some people she felt she clicked with better than others.

She drank deeply from the water glass until it was drained, heaving a sigh of contentment. With the glass settled against her hip, she wrapped her arms around her knees and grinned. "So how about you guys? Are you night-shift construction workers? How'd you know?"

[red_travels]

"A...little karate," he echoed, and then laughed and shook his head. "If it only took a little learning to get you to black belt level, remind me never to piss you off."

Axel reached for the empty glass, taking it from her hand and setting it on the night table. Then he regarded her a moment. "Ah, no, we don't work there," he said; "I was just out practicing with my chakrams when you ran up all ferclempt like you were." He shrugged. "Figured it woudln't'a been sporting of me to just leave you to your own devices. Luckily Roxas was hanging around, too," he added, jerking a thumb toward the blond. "Don't think I coulda handled all of 'em on my own."

[leekspin]

Orihime laughed. She hardly EVER got mad! And she doubted Axel would ever manage to 'piss her off' as he'd said. "Well you're a hero now! It's against the rules to beat you guys up." she grinned, nodding enthusiastically.

She sure remembered those chakrams, though. How could she forget? They were on FIRE!!! "Those were amazing!" she suddenly chirped, her eyes sparkling furiously. "I never saw anything that cool! Not in real life, anyway! You really practice with them? It was the most awesome thing I ever saw!"

Orihime turned to beam at Roxas. "I bet you were amazing too! I'm just sorry I didn't get to see it, but I know it would have been worth an action film. Those were a lot of guys, and you both managed to take them out even despite being outnumbered, and them having guns and knives and all those things..."

Suddenly she stopped, her head snapping around to the door. Hopefully their father hadn't heard that, he'd probably have a heart attack. Orihime grinned, reining in her excitement, and continued in a whisper, "You're real action heroes!"