No inspiration as of late, until this came out up.
Not much else to say. Exams kinda suck. Delaying exams for snow sucks even more.
Anyway, enjoy.
Sora had always had a penchant for bringing lost, hungry animals home. The cat he found in a box beside the road, the baby bird from that nest in the tree out back, the puppy from down the street (which had to be returned an hour later when the neighbor came looking), the rabbit, the other cat, the snake, the frog, that fish (minus water; it was buried with care), the other dog, the goat from the petting zoo…the list went on.
The members of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee had been regaled by stories of many of these antics, and they were funny at the time, but looking at the Keyblade Master's newest find, Leon felt he had to draw the line.
Sora's eyes were wide and innocent, distracting Leon as he tried to explain why, exactly, Yuffie had nearly decapitated his new pet with her shuriken.
"Sora…it's a Heartless. You can't keep it." The ninja sniggered.
Sora looked at him unhappily. "But that's what my mom always said!" Both of them ignored Yuffie's laughter. "He looked so lost…and hungry…"
The ninja was practically howling. Leon rubbed at his eyes; this was giving him a headache. "Of course it looked hungry. It eats hearts."
Leon looked meaningfully at the boy, hoping he would understand the underlying meaning, but in typical Sora fashion, it went unnoticed. "But look! He's tame!"
The Keyblade bearer set the pet down at one end of the room, and dashed to the other.
"Come on, Shadow! Come!" Sora's voice was annoyingly high pitched and childish as he waved to the Heartless. The Shadow stood up and looked at him, antennae waving. Leon tensed, readying a fire spell; Yuffie fingered her shuriken.
Then, to everyone's amazement, the Shadow went. It actually went. And when it reached Sora, instead of killing the Keyblade bearer for an exceptionally strong heart…it extended its head like a dog asking for a pat. Sora was all too happy to oblige.
Leon thought his jaw dropped. He knew Yuffie's did. Aerith just clapped her hands and smiled.
Sora grinned at him. "Isn't this sweet?"
Leon wasn't sure if he was referring to the event or the Heartless; he couldn't see anything sweet in the entire mess. Of course, the whole thing was so ludicrous, he supposed if it made the Keyblade bearer's little mind happy (emphasis on little), he could call it that.
He was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea of a tame Heartless when Yuffie asked what he supposed was the most important question: "What are you going to feed it?"
There was silence for a moment.
Sora blinked. "Do Heartless even need to eat?"
More silence. Then Yuffie spoke up. "Well, I dunno…but feeding it is better than having it mug some poor old lady for her heart 'cause it was hungry, right?"
"I guess…rats!"
Aerith rose, staff in hand and a fierce look on her face. "Where?"
"No, I can feed it mice and stuff! Like a cat! Heartless eat hearts, but they don't have to be human hearts, right?"
Yuffie and Sora promptly got into a heated argument about the nutritional values of animal hearts as compared to human ones. Leon sighed and rubbed at his temples again. He opened his eyes to see the Shadow staring at him, big yellow eyes…rather expressionless, actually. He wondered how Sora had ever got 'hungry' out of that look.
The thing lost interest in the staring contest and wandered over to Aerith, who was all too happy to pick it up and hug it.
Watching it cuddle with her, he had to admit it was kinda cute…in a deadly kill-you-in-your-sleep kind of way.
Despite himself, he couldn't help but begin to debate the advantages of a tame Behemoth…
I think this story started when I noticed how cute Shadows were, and turned into a picture of Sora holding one and saying, "Can I keep it?"
Well, Happy Holidays, everyone.
Sayonara!