I walked along the hallways of apartments, heading for Soryuju's, or as I call him, Sory. We'd been best friends since before I can remember, along with my cousin Yunnie and Paine. But then he got a girlfriend, and we pretty much lost touch. Then suddenly, I find him and he's totally differnet. He'd joined Order, lost his left arm in some accident, hell, even dyed most of his hair black. I was shocked to say the least. I'd always been fond of Sory, but never thought much of it. When I saw him that day, though, something felt... different. I didn't think too much of it. Hell, I hadn't seen the guy in years. But Yunnie thinks something else, and she won't say it. God I hate it when she knows something and won't tell.
"Here we are." I said dully, walking into the apartment. As I closed the door behind me I groaned. Another boring, uneventful day at the Gizmo. You'd think by 17, I'd have some excitement in my life.
Sighing, I opened the fridge, looking for something to drink. Maybe a soda or something. Nothing.
"Sory, I swear I'll kill you." I complained. Speaking of Sory, I hadn't seen him all day. I wonder if he's all right, and if he is, why the hell he hadn't restocked his damn fridge.
Walking into the hallway of the apartment, I decided to get ready for bed. Going into my section of the apartment, I changed into my pj's and headed for Sory's room. He was never here anyway, so why not sleep in the comfy bed?
Opening the door, I damn near jumped out of my skin. Coming out of the bathroom, he was in nothing but a towel. He jumped more than I did.
"Damnit, Rikku, learn to knock!" he yelled, with the most shocked face I'd ever seen him have. And was that a hint of embarassment? I didn't get a chance to find out because he pushed me out of the room and locked the door.
After a few minutes of laughing my ass off, I stifled the giggles long enough to knock and say "Can I come in yet?"
"What if I said no?" he replied.
"Then I'd pick the lock and come in anyway." I said with my usual cocky attitude. I always win.
"Yeah yeah, just don't try anything." A few seconds later I heard a click and entered.
"Aww, what could I do?" I said with a pout.
He gave me an accusing look. "Only the usual. Try to fuck me."
I grinned. "One of these days, Sory. Just you wait." I said before jumping on his bed and getting comfortable.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" he asked, giving me a look that said the same. "Last time I checked, I said no to your offer." he said, opening a soda that he had apparently brought with him for after the shower.
"Okay, one, you need to buy groceries. I was effing thirsty, and YOU just took the last coke." I said, glaring at him. "And two, since you've been gone, I sleep here. Deal with it."
He was just about to take a sip of his soda before he heard my comments. He turned to me, with that glint in his eye that he always had when he schemed. "Soo... If I give you this." he said, raising the can. "Will you let me sleep in my bed?"
I stared at the can longingly, and turned to look at the pillows. I turned back and forth for a few seconds, trying to decide.
"Fine, damnit, gimmegimmegimme!" I exhaled all at once, lunging for the soda. Grabbing it from his hand, I gulped it down within a matter of seconds, throwing it in the garbage basket a few feet away. "Fine. Have your bed. I'll go sleep in my bed." I said, walking out and into my room, where I crawled in bed and drifted into slumber-tude.
---
A crash of thunder echoed throughout the house, jolting me awake with a gasp. Looking outside the window, I saw that it was pouring, and not a second after I looked, a flash of light and another crash caused me to literally jump out of bed. Quickly deciding to get out of my room, a ran towards Sory's room. Surely, he'd understand...
Reaching his open door, I peered inside. There he was, sitting upright in bed, right leg outstretched, left knee sticking up, with his left elbow propped on it, his head facing the window.
I was about to knock when there was another crash, which caused me to give a small squeak. Quickly, Sory's head turned to face me, making sure it wasn't a threat.
"Umm.. hiya." I said timidly, giving a light wave. "I.. don't suppose you'd let me sleep in here.. huh? I won't try anything, promise."
He sat quietly, eyeing me warily. After a few moments, "Yeah, sure, come on."
I quickly ran over and jumped under the covers. After a few moments of silence, Sory decided to break it. He usually liked silence.
"Still afraid of lightning, eh?" he said, sounding a bit... worried.
"Yeah..." I said sheepishly. He probably thought I was still a child. "Sorry to bug you..." I apologized.
"Nah, don't worry about it." he said, still facing the window.
"So, why you awake? Don't tell me you're afraid too?" I said, trying to sound like my normal cocky self, but pretty much failing.
"With these arms, you'd be an idiot not to be." he said with a slight chuckle. "But no, not really. Just... can't sleep."
"Oh..." was all I could say. After a few more minutes of silence, I grew curious of something I always forgot to ask..
"Hey, how did you lose your left arm?" I asked, hoping it wasn't too touchy a subject. I'd always been curious about how you lose an arm, not to mention two.
He gave a small sigh. "It was Venom's expert sniper from a few years ago. I was too arrogant and foolish to care about walking in the middle of Second District streets, and he got me."
"What ever happened to him?" I asked, curious as to why I never heard of such a sniper before Shadow.
"Simple. I blew the bastard to hell." he said calmly.
"Oh..." I said, slightly depressed.
He nodded. After a few seconds, he let out a soft chuckle. "Still think they're 'kinky'?"
I smiled. That was Sory for ya. Can't stay serious for too long or he'd explode. "Do you really want to know?"
"Actually, no, I don't." he replied, before yawning. "Looks like it's calmed down abit. Let's get some sleep."
"Alright..." I replied, yawning myself, ready to return to dream land.
---
Yawning, I sat up. I still felt exhausted as I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the 'dust' out. Stretching, I got out of bed, and looked at the clock. As I did so, my eyes bulged and I began to freak out.
"What the hell! My alarm was set for 7! So why the fuck am I waking up at 11:30!" I yelled, frantically running to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get dressed. "Sory, damnit! You must have turned my alarm off!" I yelled, looking out the bathroom at the bed, only to find that he was missing.
I groaned as I slipped on my normal shorts that I prefered to call 'small cuts of fabric'. "How the hell could he leave me in bed! I swear, I'll kill that bastard!" I said frustratedly as I made sure my hair was braided and messy, as it should be.
Running out of the apartment and making sure the door was locked, I dashed out towards the Second District, where I normally worked at the Gizmo Shop. Sure, Armie was dead, but someone had to make sure the place didn't completely die.
As I ran through the district, I saw Sory just walking along as he usually did. He had the most arrogant walk I'd ever seen. "Hey, you! Bastard!" I yelled, running towards him.
He stopped to look at me. "Bout time you got up, you lazy bum." he said, turning to face me. "What took you so long?"
"I'll tell you what took me so damn long! You turned off my alarm clock!" I said. "Besides, you have't restocked in ages. What's a girl to eat?"
"And let me guess. You're allergic to shopping? Sometimes I think you're hopeless." he said with a shrug, slightly smiling.
"Oh you think you're just sooo funny, don't you?" I said, putting my hands on my hips, watching as he began to chuckle a bit. "You know what? Fine. I hope you get shot." I said, sticking out my tongue at him.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." he said, waving her off. "Be careful what you wish for. Now, If you'd please come with me, I was getting something for 'a girl to eat'." he said, rolling his eyes.
"Alright! Food!" I said, lightly jumping as I followed him, skipping along beside. What I didn't expect was that as soon as we rounded that corner, there would be an explosion, throwing me backwards into a streetlamp, where I would then black out..
---
I opened my eyes, trying to adjust to bright lights. Everything was white... was I dead? My vision was slightly blurred, so I tried to wipe my eyes, only to find I had a tube attached to my arm.
"What the hell...?" I cursed lightly, and then realized where I was. I was in a hospital room, in a bed, with all the little gizmos and gadgets attached to me. As I looked to my right, I was somewhat surprised at what I saw. There sat Sory, smiling like he'd won the lottery.
"Good morning, you lazy bum." he said with a small smile. "Welcome back to reality. Sleep well?" he asked, as if nothing had happened.
"Oh, I'm fine, just.. a bit sore." I admitted. Truthfully, I felt like I had been hit by a freight train.
"Good. In that case-" he said, only to be interrupted by Yunnie's entrance.
"Oh, thank God! Rikku, how are you?" she said, rushing to her side.
"For the second time, I'm fine. It's not that big of a deal, huh? Just been out for a few hours." I said, trying to act fine.
"Rikku, you've been unconscious for almost 2 days now." she said worriedly. "It is that big of a deal."
"What!" I exclaimed, jolting forward. "What about you, Sory?" I said, turning to look at an empty chair. "Where the hell did he go?"
Yuna slightly smiled. "He only had a few head wounds. You were lucky that's all, too, because he's the one that ran you in here, yelling for a nurse. After they were done with you, we tried to keep him in the lobby, but he forced his way up here. He hasn't left your side since."
I gave a confused look. Sory had been with me for almost 2 days? No way, he had other things to do... right?
"Well, anyway, I'm glad to see you're awake. I have to go check on other patients, okay? You gonna be alright by yourself?"
"Yeah... I'll be fine." I said. After she left, I got out of bed, and tip-toed out of the room. I had a hunch I knew right where Sory'd be. As I climbed the stairs, I reached the rooftop and found him standing by himself, staring at the moon.
I walked up to him quietly and stood beside him. "Umm... hey."
He smiled. "Hey there. Shouldn't you be in bed?" he said, not taking his eyes off the moon.
"Well, yeah, but... I wanted to apologize." I said, looking down at my feet. "I didn't mean to worry you..."
"No need to apologize, blondie. Nothing you could've done to stop it." he said, still kind of smiling.
"Well, yeah, but you didn't have to stay with me for 2 da-" I tried to say, but before I could finish, he had turned and kissed me.
My eyes flew open. This couldn't be Sory... but it was. He couldn't be kissing me... but he was. Why's he doing this? What's going on? All of this was starting to make my head swim, not to mention my heart flutter.
After he broke off, he looked into my eyes, and as I looked into his I could have sworn I saw dried tears. But I couldn't look long enough to be sure, because he then grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. As if to make this any more like a fairy tale, he whispered three words into my ear that I never thought could even be muttered by him.
"I love you."
As we broke apart from the hug, I smiled at him. Now I understood why Yunnie was always giggling when I was talking about him, or when I would complain about where he would be. "I love you too." I said.
As he turned to the moon again, I latched onto his arm and stared at the moon as well.
Then a thought occured to me. "Hey, now that we're together, does that mean we can-" I tried to say, grinning from ear to ear.
He cut me off before I could finish. "Maybe later."