Kingdom Hearts: Just This Once
A Light in the Rain production
Neki © Light of Heaven and Kitty Fetish
Reni Concept © Kitty Fetish
Reni © Black Rainy
Kingdom Hearts Characters and Concept © Square Enix and Disney
Final Fantasy Characters © Square Enix
All rights reserved.
Light Note: Light has returned with yet another meaningless oneshot to help me work on the main story line!!
This takes place during Before the Door and our unnamed KH2 at the same time because it's Riku reminiscing about times in BtD. It's about when Riku stayed the night at Sora's house for the first time since the arrival of Neki and Reni(who isn't up because she sleeps like a hibernating bear at times…because I say so…).
Enjoy!
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Whether it be the persistent voice, or the persistent poke, I didn't know, but one of the two brought me out of my warm, toasty and peaceful slumber to find myself almost losing an eye to said poke, "The frap?"
The voice snorted and sat bat on their haunches, "Frap? What kind of word is that Silver?" I recognized the voice to be the owner of the new newcomer. Or one of them at least, "So what's up?"
I choked on my spit and looked at the girl, "What's up?! You ask me that after you wake me up from a perfectly good dream?" In what moonlight was filtering in through the curtains I saw her face take on a sly smile, "What?"
"Dreamin' 'bout little ol' me?" Her grin widened at my obvious discomfort as I stuttered out my refusal to such an idea. The light reflected off her canines, giving her a cat like appearance that was only enhanced by the golden eyes that were making me unnaturally sweaty.
The smirk dispersed, and I let out a pent up breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Fixing her with a look of my own, I questioned the intentions of her late night visit, "Why are you up anyway?" Her lips pursed, and she looked over towards Sora, who was sleeping soundly on the couch above us. I waited, but when no answer came forth, I tried again, "I said—"
Her eyes found mine and my sentence died on my lips, "Can't ever sleep at night really…" Another question formed in my mind, but I decided to wait to see if she had more to say, "Maybe a few hours of sleep a night… Was killer on my mom…" She barked a laugh, which I found rather uncharacteristic of her from what I'd seen so far.
She paused and faced me, those golden eyes glowing despite the blanket of darkness surrounding the world. I stared back in turn, not knowing the proper response to such a surreptitious thing. If that was what one would call it even. Now that I think about it, that was merely a show of trust, and that look she gave me was her telling me it was my turn.
However, in my bleary just-awoken state, I honestly couldn't think of such a thing, so I opted to question her instead, "So what do you usually do?" I could tell she was displeased with me, but again, I hadn't a clue why. She fell onto her bottom, leaning back onto her elbows and staring serenely at the moon through the only open window.
She didn't answer, yet again, so I contently watched her glowing face, the moonlight giving off an ethereal glow unlike any I'd seen before. I blinked at the quiet, pleased sigh escaped the small lips of the blonde, as if the sound was foreign and new to me, "Something wrong?" Her head shook, then she giggled in mirth.
"So have you figured out which I am yet?"
I blinked again, and felt my face flush. Was it that obvious that I didn't know? Coughing, I retorted, "Of course I know who you are." I paused, and she looked at me, "You're the older one." That cat-like smile encompassed her face, and I knew that my test wasn't over yet.
"And my name?" she asked it so casually, picking at her nail, the grin still etched onto her features. I gulped at the lump that had made its home in my throat. Why in the world was I being intimidated by this tiny little girl?
Gaining my composure via straightening my back and crossing my arms, I countered, "Neki." The smile returned to that of a normal person and she faced the window again, "So…What do you do when you can't sleep?" Silence followed my question again, and I should have expected it. A congenial look was on her face, her eyes traveling down to Sora.
She stood, arching her back, and climbed onto the top of the couch, poking Sora's forehead as she had been previously poking mine, "Does he sleep through everything?" I nodded, then realized she probably wasn't paying attention to that and voiced a confirmation, "Hm… Reni's the same way."
Deciding to try one more time before giving up, I asked, "What do you do when you can't sleep at night?" Her attention was reverted back to me, and I guessed I was going to get an answer.
I was.
In the form of her looking around the room, then fixing me with a look that said clearly, "This!"
Not being able to control myself, I let out a rather loud laugh, clutching my stomach in glee as she stood on the arm of the couch, hands on her hips and shouting, "What's so funny, huh?!"
We froze in our place when Sora mumbled something about a Texas cage match for the kid with the pink hat, rolling himself onto his other side before falling back into his even snoring which I had forgotten he did. Situating herself cross legged on the arm, she huffed and looked away from me.
"So you get kicks out of poking people out of their sleep?" I must admit, that while the question hadn't meant to make fun of her, the hilarity of the situation leaked into my voice, earning me my first of many scowls from the older blonde.
"For your information Silver—"
"Now who's the one who doesn't know who their talking to," I interrupted, not trying in the least to hide my smirk. I received a 'can it Silver' and a foot in my face. Latching onto opportunity, I wrapped my fingers around her ankle, holding fast as realization dawned on her and she began to try and wretch her foot from my grip.
"No! We'll wake him up!" I laughed and said that we wouldn't. Sora was like a dead person once he got to sleep. Moving my fingers in a taunting manor, I relished her squirming face, the look of sheer fear that would soon be followed my melodious laughter. I brought them closer and closer, the tips of my fingers brushing up again the naked soles of her feet, electing a squeal from the girl. When suppressing my smirk was no longer an option, I let her know how much danger her feet were really in, "Please no! That's…That's cheating!!"
I inclined a brow, a signature pose of mine according to Kairi, and ran my fingers along the soles of her feet again, the squeal louder then the last, "Cheating? I'm merely using my resources!" Another squeal emitted from her, and I could see the tears of laughter starting to build up at the corners of her eyes, "This is your punishment for waking me up."
Her eyes grew wider still as I began the tickle torture, her unwanted laughter filling the room, leaking out into the rest of the house, "Say it!"
"Uncle Cid?"
"Who?"
"Great Ninja Yuffie?!?"
I began to tickle the other foot as well, making the laughter increase in volume, "Say it!!"
"Say what?!?" she cried, somewhat miserably through her fits of laughter.
"My name!" Rude as it may seem, I watched in glee as she racked the archives of her memory as she cried with laughter until the tears were spent and her voice was hoarse. Finally calling out with as much strength as she could muster, she shouted, "RIKU STOP IT!" I dropped her foot, letting it fall unceremoniously to the floor, and allowed her to gain her breath.
The glare I was receiving was a vicious one, but all in all, I still believed it was worth it, "That's better."
"That's better," she mocked and brought her feet protectively underneath her. Huffing, she crossed her arms, chest still heaving from all the forced laughter.
"So what else do you do besides poke people until they wake up?"
My question went ignored, and I figured as much. Pulling my legs out of the tangled mess that once was my neat sleeping bag, I made my way over to her on my knees, sitting in her previous spot on the arm, "Heey! I'm talking to you."
"I'm talkin' to ya," she mocked again, and I chuckled, leaning forward, "What?!"
"You can't honestly tell me that bugging people while they slept helped you get to sleep," I paused, then continued carefully, "Tell me what to do, and I'll help anyway I can."
I swear she flushed bright red, but I know that I heard her ground out, "I will NOT tell you that…" Sliding off the arm, I sat next to her, poking her side and causing her to flinched sideways, "No!" More poking, "I won't!" Still more poking, "Fine! Just stop it!!" her whining voice was rather cute, I mused and smiled at my victory. I blew on my fingers like they were guys and pretended to put them in holsters at my hips. She rolled her eyes and began making her way over to my sleeping bag, crawling in without a word.
My mouth hung open, and I could only stare at her as she began to make herself comfortable, pulling the bag up to her chin. She looked up at me, blinking innocently, "Aren't you getting' in?" I must have opened and closed my mouth quite a few times in my momentary loss of words, for she scowled and explained, "When I can't get to sleep, I usually just hung out in Mom's bed, and later Squall's. Not Uncle Cid though. Man's a pervert…" She looked up at me again, as she had begun to fiddle with her fingers as she explained.
I could only blink at the blonde girl situated in my makeshift bed. Those big brown eyes staring up at me, innocent and naïve to the position in which we'd be putting ourselves into, I couldn't help but cave. I crawled in next to her, and she snuggled closer to my chest, getting my face to flush a good few shades. I felt her fingers grip onto my shirt, and her breath on my shoulder, her head cradled perfectly in the crook of my neck. Having no where else to put them, I wrapped my arms around her waist, unconsciously pulling her closer to me.
"Thank you, Riku."
My blush deepened, and I found myself savoring the way she said my name. How it rolled off her tongue with such ease, as if she'd said it everyday of her life. Her r's trilled a bit, and the u made an 'oo' sound, making me smile.
"Your welcome, but I'm telling you this now…" Her head moved slightly, "This is a one time thing, okay? Just this once." She nodded, then settled back into my chest, bringing back the color to my face.
Secretly though, I found myself hoping that it wouldn't be the last.
Sighing, I watch DiZ, working away diligently at the computer that monitors Sora's revival. My thoughts had wandered again to the unofficial love of my life. The girl who stole my heart with a simple poke. I frowned and leaned against the wall. That wonderful moment had been ruined however, when morning came.
"Ahhh," I groaned, and DiZ gave me a peculiar look, "I can still hear Sumiko's screaming…"
"What?"
I coughed, rubbing my nose in embarrassment, "Nothing…"
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