Kalli's LiveJournal

Staff Information!
Hit Banners & Awards!

Contact/Feedback/Etc.

Pause

Sora slumped back against the alley wall, exhausted. If nothing else, Leon was certainly thorough no matter what the activity. But the day certainly was nothing like the night previous had been. Instead of exhaustion from fullfillment, this was exhaustion from sheer emptiness. 

Leon could quite well knock Sora around but seemed to be chosing not to - at least not at the moment. And while Sora really thought some the neat moves and tricks he brought from the Islands would work, instead they just made him an easier target. Whatever the secretive past Leon had yet to mutter more than a few words about was, it was something so intense that nothing seemed to escape the man. He was a sharp one, quick to act and quite willing to ask questions later. 

"Get up," Leon said harshly, nudging Sora's foot with his own. "We aren't done." 

"Just one break," Sora said, still gasping for breath. Before he could blink, he found himself sputtering and wet, sitting square in the middle of the storm drain. 

"You don't always get a break," Leon replied when he saw Sora's half-forming a protest. And Sora knew that Leon was right. But still, there was time for a break at the moment, and if there wasn't going to be one later, it seemed to make sense to cease it just then. 

It wasn't as though water really bothered Sora anyway - he could swim as well as any fish and the storm drain wasn't cold. Despite his heavy clothing, he found that he could nicely float. 

Yeah, Leon would knock him around a little in a minute, but he knew it wasn't with any intention for harm, just as part of the practice. Instead though, Leon just walked off, silently. 

Sora couldn't quite figure it out as he scrambled out of the drain and tried to figure out where Leon had gotten to. Finally he found his teacher brooding over a cup of coffee at the cafe. The waitress excused herself when she saw Sora approach, and Leon didn't look so happy to be found either. 

"If you want to find your friends, you need to be serious," Leon said, his hands wrapped around the cup. 

"If I don't get hurt and still get things done, what's wrong with enjoying myself?" Sora asked, trying to smile. He knew his smile would have little effect on Leon, but it was worth a shot. 

"I knew someone like that once." 

There was such a finality in Leon's voice that Sora couldn't bring himself to ask the next question. 

Later, much later, Sora lay awake wondering just who he was being trained to be.