Okay people, just so you know, this story is written in Riku's point of view in a completely made up world. I don't own the characters or anything about Kingdom Hearts for that matter. Soooooo, here we go...


Con Artist

Chapter 1

Like Any Other Night

Riku pretended to sleep, motionless. He let his breath out slowly and quietly, listening to his partner. He called him his partner which was not exactly true. The man lying next to him believed that Riku was the love of his life. Dating for one month now, in secret, they had have the best times of their lives. His name wasn't important any more, as this would be the last time either of them would see each other again. The reason why would be because this whole relationship from start to finish was planned. Riku played a con artist for an important company that worked underground, so underground Riku did not even know the head of the company, the company's name, or how many were employed. What he did know, is that they worked to steal information that could put corrupt businesses in turmoil and bankruptcy. In rare cases, some con artist within the company were asked to kill, or so he was told. Riku hoped he would not have to go that far. He was not one to kill for money.

Riku used to work as his own boss. It was hard. Back then, he was forced to stalk people and find targets with loads of money, preferably in their house at easy access. This was difficult. Finally, his efforts were recognized by this organization and they gave him a job. He took it immediately. The best part about working for the organization was that he did not have to dig up info on targets, nor pilage an apartment looking for spare change before taking off. No, doing it this way, he was usually asked to pick up files or paperwork that people had hidden away to prevent the public from knowing their secrets. Or in this case, plant a camera for blackmail.

The guy in bed next to Riku was one of the sons of an acclaimed business man. The reason for getting so close to this guy was because his secret of his true sexuality would cause the press to have a riot. They could literally ruin lives. But the tape Riku had just recorded of last nights performance was not going to be given out immediately. They were going to blackmail him endlessly into submission until they had all the information they needed to tear apart his father's company from the inside out. Riku was paid under the table after he dropped of the information. He usually saved most of the money and although he could move out of his rickety apartment, he did not see the point. He decided to save the money for when he was finished with being a con artist. After all, most of the time he was living with other people in their nice houses, so he did not see the point in purchasing a house he would not see that often.

It did not seem like a month had already gone by. They had done everything there was to do as a couple. Movies, eating out, taking midnight walks under the stars. Most of which they did very secretely however, as no one was aware he was actually gay. It took a while before he finally let Riku stay with him at his house. It took a lot of convincing. Finally the night came when they decided to get very intimate. Starting with a candlelit dinner, from making out in the bed, it did not take long for clothes to come off.

As they ended their miraculous night, Riku was waiting for the him to fall asleep. As Riku determined that he had definitely fallen asleep, he started to slip the man's hands off his waist and on the other side. Riku slid one leg slowly off the bed and on the floor before pivoting to a sitting position. It was not the first time he had to sneak out of bed and he was becoming very good at it. He stood up and found his boxers and pants on the floor, rather far apart. Riku smiled as he put them on. It was a fun night, but he definitely was not attached to the guy. He was nice and all, but not Riku's type. Then again, Riku was not sure what his type actually was. He never actually dated anyone without the intention of stealing from them.

He slipped on a whit button up shirt, but did not button it. He stalked over to the wardrobe that was slightly ajar. Riku had left just enough of a crack in it to hide his video camera. It had taped last night perfectly. Riku, of course knowing where the camera was, was sure to keep his face blocked so he would not be seen, just in case the man did not comply and the video was sent to the tabloids. The last thing Riku needed was notoriety, especially in his line of work.

He pocketed the tape and grabbed his bag he had left in the closet to put the camera in. He had only been staying for a couple nights and did not have much to retrieve. He packed the clothes he had in the closet and grabbed his toothbrush, mouthwash, cologne. He put on his shoes and pulled a piece of paper out of the desk. He wrote the following:

Please contact this number, I am sure this will explain to you why exactly I have left.

Riku

Riku left the number and proceeded to the living room. The sun was just about to come up and he prefered to get to the drop off point before it came up. He buttoned up his shirt, leaving the top two open to reveal part of his muscular chest. He grabbed his bag and quietly left through the front door.

It was hard, getting that close to someone just to steal information and leave the following day. It was not a field for feelings though. Riku was good about not loving the people he was with. Mostly because none of them really stuck out in his mind. They were usually the business type and always busy. Some were laid back though and sensible enough, but Riku still never found himself falling for anyone. And he hoped it would never happen as it would make his job near impossible to complete. Once he gave the information up, the person he just worked so hard to get them to warm up to him, their lives were usually ruined. In one event, a guy killed himself over what the people at the organization did to him. It was not something Riku liked to think about. Most of the people he was after, were not the bad guys. They were just unfortunate enough to have a close relationship with them, such as the guy he was with, who was merely the son of the man they were actually out to get.

Riku walked down the sidewalk, finally coming to the intersection where he would meet the courier who would transport the tape to the organization. Riku slipped out a folder from his bag that stated who to look for. He naturally wanted to take extreme caution of who he would give it to. He read the description of who he was looking for.

Class B Courier:

Female

Black hair, Brown eyes, Caucasion

Will be wearing business attire with hair tied behind back.

Question Code: Please excuse me, but do you know when the buses run?

Answer Code: They should run around 7:30.

Riku memorized the question he was to ask then placed the folder back in his bag. He did not like dealing with couriers. They usually presented themselves rather rudely. They got paid a lot of money to do very little. All they had to do is get the product to a destination, while he had to spend months at a time getting into someone's life. As hard as he worked, the couriers did not seem to appreciate the work they did.

There were three types of couriers in this business. Class C couriers were the cheapest. They carried no weapons and usually delivered the packages at their earliest convienience. They obviously were not chosen too often as most of the items to be delivered were time critical and needed more protection. Class B Couriers where the most common. They always carried a handgun and a knife as supplied by the organization. They were trained to out run and out think police personel in general. They were fairly pricey, but kept the item to be delivered safe and always delivered it on time. Last was a Class A courier, whom Riku had never dealt with before. They carried concealed weapons everywhere on their body and usually always operated a vehicle for transport, whether it be a car, a boat, or even a helicopter. They were trained to kill rather than out run. They would ensure the product would make it to you in one hour or less with the added bonus that no one would live through trailing them. They were extremely expensive and he was told only used in the most extreme precautioned cases.

Riku scanned the street and sidewalks seeing no one in sight at all. No one seemed to even be up yet, which was a bit odd considering this was a fairly large city. A group of cars went by. An elderly couple passed by him, then a man in a suit who looked as though he was in a hury. A younger boy, that looked around 16 or 17 walked on the opposite side of the street. He stuck out in Riku's mind for some reason. He had cinnamom brown hair with blue eyes Riku could spot in the sunrise even from his distance. He was wearing baggy jeans and red jacket. He looked very cute. The boy did not notice him standing there and continued to walk. A couple minutes later, more people started to fill the sidewalks. Finally, a woman started to cross the street that seemed to fit the profile. She had black hair that she was currently tying back apparently forgetting that she was supposed to have it as such. She wore a very clean, black skirt with a white blouse that was under a thin black jacket. She stepped on the side walk and casually turned to view the other side of the sidewalk she had came from.

"Please excuse me, but do you know when the buses run?" he asked normally. She turned her head to speak to him, letting him glance at her brown eyes.

"They should run around 7:30," she replied exactly as the paper had said. Riku casully reached into his bag and snatched the tape. He lifted it up to her and she took it, slipping inside her jacket. "Any follow you." She was more polite then others he dealt with.

"No, I don't believe so," he said honestly. She handed him a small envelope that had his payment inside it. It was more than he expected, he could already tell. He waited for her to state what the organization always asked them to tell the con artists after a drop off. It was standard procedure.

"The organization would like to remind you that you are not to see the target ever again and what happened between the time you met and today is to never be brought up to anyone. Any violation of this rule, your contract will be terminated and you will be asked to pay fine to damages that you caused. Also..." she halted, staring just above his shoulder.

"Problem?" he whispered very quietly.

"Someone is eyeing over here. He looks rather concerned with our meeting," she told him. Riku did not look, as it would be idiotic to peak over and let him know they were talking about him.

"How serious do you think he is?" Riku asked keeping his facial expressions at a normal level.

"His uniform is freshly pressed and he is not in a hury to get anywhere. Not to many business men concern themselves with others who are talking. Something is up," she said.

"Need a head start?" he asked.

"It would not hurt," she replied. "Just make sure he doesn't try and grab you. If he is following me, he will be aware that you made the drop off." They both turned to walk slowly around the corner. As soon as she turned the corner she took off on a dead sprint down the sidewalk. Riku quickly diverted his attention to distrtacting the man who was watching them. He stepped back around the corner and sure enough, the man was quickly approaching. Riku was not sure if the man would follow him, so he needed to do something that would make the man suscpicious. He took off running across the street in a frantic fashion and just as he hoped, the man followed intently. Now the item was secured, but he needed to lose the guy. He slipped into the nearest shopping center, connected to several other stores. He flew through the clothing department and into a shoe store where he slowed his pace. He quickly made his way into a men's clothing department where he slipped a jacket off the rack and put it on with the hood up to hide his silver hair that would stand out. He marched his way to the next store which was electronics store.

He halted and pretended to browse through some computer games. He looked up and noticed the boy he had seen earlier was standing across from him, staring at the opposite shelf. Riku caught his eye and smiled. The boy smiled back. His smile was alluring. He considered talking with him, but he did not have time. Suddenly, the man made it into the electronics store. Riku kept his back turned. The man simply squinted to the of the store to find him. Riku heard him spin around to check behind him, then spin around again to check the electronics. It had caught the boy on the other side of the shelves attention.

"Pyscho," Riku heard him whisper. Riku smiled at the comment. Finally, the man exited the store in a hurry. The boy made his way down to the end of the shelf. Riku took off his hood now and pretended to browse the end of the shelf, but truthfully waiting to bump into the boy, hoping to get his name.

Riku realized what he was doing. He could not do this. He could not get into a relationship. There was no way it could possibly work. He was asking for something that was impossible. He decided to let it go. The boy finished browsing and passed Riku with another smile. Riku gave a small one back, but let him pass without a word. There was not too many moments when Riku regretted his line of work, but his was one of them.

He exited the store and started to walk back to his place. There was not anything to do, but he did not feel much like walking around the city with someone who was just desperate to catch him. He made it to his apartment complex and greeted the owner.

"Good morning Cid," Riku said.

"Mornin'. Where the hell you been? Seems like every damn time I turn around you're gone. You rent is due and know damn good and well you can pay it," Cid said loudly, earning him a disgusted look from a mother who was tying her childs shoe. "What the fuck you looking at? If you don't like my language then pack your bags and get the fuck out!" Riku rolled his eyes as he grabbed the envelope and searched through for how much he owed.

"What is it, a hundred?" Riku asked, thumbing through the bills to find one. Cid looked at the envelope with a bit of an odd stare. Now that Riku thought about it, it was a little strange to have so much money piled into an envelope.

"Yeah," Cid said, exaimining the jacket Riku was wearing. "What the hell are those tags doing on that jacket still? Did you steal it or something?" Riku had completely forgot he had even put it on. He could not believe he managed to get it out of the store without anyone noticing.

"Umm...no. Of course not, just forgot, that's all," Riku lied, pulling the tags off with a quick tug and placing them in one of the pockets.

"Whatever. Listen, if you are gonna leave on an extended stay to where ever the hell you go. Make sure to give me rent in advance, or I may just give your room away, ya hear?" Cid told him.

"Sure," Riku complied, walking to the stairs. He walked up to his apartment and unlocked the door. It was a small, three room apartment. One bed room, one bathroom, and a living room combined with a kitchen and dining room. The apartment itself was not that bad, but the overall all complex basically looked like it had been through a tornado. Cid was not loose with his money when it came to repairs. As long as it passed the minimum regulations, he was fine.

Riku went to his answering machine and hit play to check his messages.

"Hey, Riku! What's going on, I called you like a million times. Anyway, just wondering if you wanted to catch a movie with me and Selphie, but if you are busy, that's fine," Tidus said in the message. Several more were from Tidus, inviting him places or asking where he was.

"I'm busy," Riku said to himself. He did not care for hanging out with friends too much. If he started to hang out with them too much, they wanted to get to know him. And that was something he did not want. No one knew about his job, and he wanted to keep it that way. He lived a pretty lonely life really, which is what he preferred. He did not have time for friends. The last message was for his next assignment.

"Riku, work is in. We will meet at The Quill near lunch time," the voice stated. He was debriefed by the same guy every time. His name was Jack. He was very much a normal guy. Riku always found it hard to believe he worked in such a business as he was always so nice and friendly all the time. Just goes to show how you can never judge people.

Riku took a nap before going to the restaurant. He did not sleep much last night as he was too busy waiting for his partner to fall asleep. He suddenly felt a bit of guilt. Wonder what was currenly happening to him? He probably found the note by now and was on the phone being told that if he did not tell them what they wanted to know, his life would be ruined. Poor guy.

Riku woke up and realized he was probably going to be late for the meeting. He ran out the door, locking it, and ran down the stairs. As he ran out the exit he heard Cid yell at him for something, probably about running so , but he ignored it. He made his way to the restaurant and found Jack sitting at a table near the corner, already eating. He was a tall man with brown hair. He wore square glasses and had jeans and a black T-shirt on. He had a very muscular build with a very square bone structure in his face.

"There you are?" he said, with a mouthful of salad. "I thought you may have missed my message."

"I fell asleep," he explained as a waitress asked what he wanted. "A burger and fries, with a glass of water...On second thought, just the burger."

"Hmph. Not hungry?" Jack asked.

"Not so much. I always get a little nervous whenever I know I am about to do work," Riku admitted, sweeping his forehead with a napkin to remove the sweat.

"Well, hey, if it makes you feel better, this one won't take no month," Jack said, sipping on a soda.

"Oh?" Riku asked, excited to hear that.

"But hey, it is a bit, different," Jack stated honestly with a bit of a smirk.

"Different?" Riku asked, not liking where it was going.

"Well, that young guy that is the heir to BT Incorporated. And, he is celebrating his eighteenth birthday tonight," Jack stated with enthusiasm.

"Is he now?" Riku asked. He had a bad feeling simply by the smirk on Jack's face.

"Well, let's just say we intercepted a call from one of his friends, wanting a nice guy to pop out of one of their cakes and do a number, maybe a few lap dances, get a little flirty, strip a little, one of those deals," Jack said laughing a bit as he saw Riku's face. Riku was horrified at the thought. He had never done anything like this before.

"You have got to be kidding," Riku said, nearly freaking out.

"Nope, not a bit. In fact we have got your costume all lined out. Cat ears, whip, even a break away pants," Jack said smiling at the exceedingly worried look on Riku's face. Riku was a con artist, not some kind of actor who they could throw into any situation and expect him to blend right in. How was he expected to do this with a straight face? What if someone saw him?

"I can't do this!" Riku shouted.

"Oh come on," Jack said. The waitress brought Riku his burger and then sat down his glass of water which he quickly picked up and took a gulp of.

"Do I look like the type of person that would pop out of a cake to strip for people?" Riku asked.

"Not yet, but like a said the outfit we have can change that," Jack said, finishing up his soda and pushing his plate away.

"Fuck you. Oh, this is so embarrasing," Riku said, not even feeling like eating now as he looked at his burger.

"Hey, I am sure you will have fun once you get started. Anyway, while you are there, you are looking for this set of keys that belong to his office. Simple no? Grab those then finish your night, hell they are gonna pay you too, what more do you want?" Jack asked sarcastically. The waitress came by and picked up plates and Jack's glass.

"Not to do it at all would be nice," Riku stated.

"Do you not want your burger?" she asked.

"No, sorry lost my appetite," Riku answered.

"Can I offer you two some dessert. We have cake," she said, ignorant of the whole situation.

"No thank you," Jack said, straining not to laugh at the coincidence. "How about you Riku? You want any cake?"

"No," Riku said in a warning tone. The waitress shook her head, not understanding what was so funny. She left the bill and walked away.

"Well, I will meet you near your apartment complex in a limo with your costume at 8:00. So be ready," Jack said, leaving money on the table and getting up. "You might want to work up a little dance, too. For credibility. You are going to want to look believable after all." Jack left the restaurant, still chuckling over the situation. Riku rubbed his eyes and sighed.

"I so did not sign up to be a stripper."


Muhahaha!!!! If you are as excited as I am to read about Riku popping out of a cake and stripping you will review, yes? I would very much like to continue if you would be so kind to review.