Gutter Snipe, a kingdom hearts fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't have ownership over Kingdom Hearts. .. Because if I did, the whole storyline would've been completely different. :x

Warnings: AU. Yaoi. (That's BoyxBoy love, so please leave if you don't approve. )

Does anyone else think I'm taking up too many stories at once? --; Well, this one WAS supposed to be a one-shot, but then all these ideas that wouldn't fit into my other stories popped up.

And so, this one will be shorter than the others, maybe ending at 5-6 chapters or so.

The title was originally going to be Guttersnipe. (One word!) It means street urchin or someone of the lowest class...I thought it fit. --; But then, I thought it would look better separated. :D Thus, Gutter Snipe.

Question:

Did they ever give Sephiroth a last name? I didn't really want to put his sword as his last name, a bit too cliché… So I'm willing to change it. xD

…In any case, I'm basing the Riku's and Sora's last names on what they wanted to name their raft. (Highwind and Excalibur.) Last names might be important later.

Yes, I've thought of Cid. Riku will not be related to Cid.

And here it is. x3

Gutter Snipe

Misanthrope Contentment

There are some people, of whom even if you only meet once, you can't forget.

Riku wasn't sure why everyone was in such a fuss.

The orphanage's staff was in an elated mood. His own silver hair had been brushed until it crackled with shine (he abhorred static!). Everyone in the entire residence had been brushed and polished off.

All in preparation for a certain person's visit. Or persons, plural. He didn't pay too much awareness to details that he simply wasn't interested in.

A donator, he recalled.

All and sundry ran in circles with no known destination, each carrying various scented sprays and dusters,

The air inside smelled like a garden, overflowing with lilies and sweet, sweet grass. Sitting on a sofa cushion caused a mist of wildflowers to gist around the area.

It wasn't a scent that Riku was especially fond of.

So he found himself outside. His hair gradually grew windswept, erasing all traces of previous clamoring. The edges curled slightly. Because nothing was ever perfectly straight.

It wasn't a bad place, really. …It was actually quite pleasant. There was a tranquil feeling in the air, but it was held up by uncertainties of actuality that no one spoke of. The orphanage's foundation principally held kids until the lucky ones were adopted.

The rest were put back into foster care. They plainly didn't have enough funds to support kids and teens constantly.

It wasn't an excuse.

…But on the stone steps in front of his had-been home for years (the sixth step, because that's the place he fell that point in time so long ago), Riku was content.

Because his hair was mussed again, and carefully lain-out clothing was once again creased. And because there wasn't gloss overlaying his features, and because his expression was just that – unguarded.

He should have been grateful. He knew that, and should have taken care, he supposed. But Riku wasn't going to hide himself.

All the make-up and brush-offs tried to hide his flaws.

And Riku was quite happy being imperfect.

"Today's the day." Cloud's voice fractured its way out of his static-filled cell phone.

Leon nodded absentmindedly. He didn't mind that the blonde couldn't really see him. Cloud most likely knew him well enough to imagine it for himself, anyway. He himself could imagine his associate's eye roll to his expected non-response.

The two weren't close. They were mere acquaintances, connected by circumstances that fate had decided to throw in their faces. Leon could swear he heard 'Fate's' laughter somewhere above the city's skyscrapers, a distinctly sadistic giggle.

"So I'll meet you there?" Leon's eyes drifted indifferently toward his phone. He really had to get a new one… There was a gap in the phone's screen, for goodness sake. He was pushing buttons on pure memory alone.

"Seph's coming too, remember?" He replied to Cloud's earlier question. His mouth spoke before his brain could, distantly recalling Sephiroth proclaiming that his afternoon was free.

"Besides, if I left you two alone, the circle's funds would be diminished and every foster care center would be dripping coins." Sephiroth remarked, sounding thoroughly flippant.

…But he was hinting at truth, Leon knew. With their…varied backgrounds and all.

"Right, the bastard doesn't think we can handle things on our own." Cloud chuckled. "Meet you guys at the usual, then."

"Ah." Leon said, softly, before hanging up. He didn't wait for Cloud's reply.

At some distant past neither of them wanted to talk about.

He looked up at the round clock mounted on his wall. The short hand was almost reaching the one.

Two hours.

He started getting ready. Sephiroth insisted on showing up early.

To see if the asylum had anything to hide.

"Here, Decaf." Sephiroth stated as he set a cup in front of Cloud. Behind him, Cloud made a face at Leon.

Leon smirked. Cloud hated decaf.

And Seph knew that.

He nodded a thanks as a latte was set in front of him.

They were an hour early.

Kairi was a nice girl. Riku liked her.

…Not in that way. He looked at Kairi like a sister, and she him as a brother.

That didn't stop him from pestering her.

"When do you think they'll be here?" Riku asked, for to Kairi what seemed the forty-seventh time.

"For the last time, Riku, they'll get here when they get here." Kairi grumbled in her soprano voice.

If was actually pretty unbelievable, how they met. How they became friends – an orphan and the mayor's daughter. An unexpected, odd combo.

Like chocolate and vanilla. Someone who had never heard of the mishmash would've have called it weird, but they went together quite well.

Kairi worked at the orphanage. At first, it was simply for school credit. But after coming often and meeting the people there, she had become one of the staff, almost.

She enjoyed it, because it made her smile to have helped. In her own way.

And it had helped her grow.

"Just one thing, Kairi."

"Mm?" She acknowledged curiously.

"Why's everyone in such a fuss over this? The place will keep getting money either way…won't it?"

She was quiet. Kairi's foot tapped the ground thoughtfully. Her hand started twirling the necklace around her neck, wistful.

And Riku wasn't quite sure what to think when she finally spoke.

"They… We want to show them that we aren't a waste of time, Riku."

She stopped, pausing as she stared at the street. Riku's eyes followed her gaze.

He watched as a black sports coupé pulled up the curb, dangerously close to the sidewalk's edge.

There wasn't a scratch on the seamless, finished paint, and the wheels were strangely clean for having just driven through the city streets. And the way the car came to a sharp, well-exercised rest spoke of a talented driver.

He barely realized when Kairi called she was going to inform Aerith.

Leon eyed the orphanage as he got out of the car's shotgun seat. Critical, blue-gray eyes went over every narrow detail as he managed to quietly slam the door, in a way only Leon could do.

He saw what was acceptable. What was poor, and what could easily be fixed.

Asking a youth sitting on the steps outside, gaze locked on them curiously, where to find the manager of this small attempt of sanctuary, the trio swept inside, unhurriedly.

Cloud frowned, and stopped to tie his shoe. The other two paused to wait for him, although the taller one did make a minor sound of annoyance.

Leon's mind drifted backwards to the youth, then glanced at the different, taller silver-haired man not a few steps in front of him.

The boy had an uncanny resemblance to Sephiroth.

"The sleeping rooms are this way." The female supervisor had a rich, soft voice, and a light accent if you listened hard enough. She had on a faded, but still professional dress. "The wash rooms are connected to the sleeping rooms, and some of them, for the older ones, are private." The light pink suited her.

If you concentrated, a slight hardness was in her voice as well. That spoke of hard times and things most people never thought about.

"May we see your kitchen, as well?" Sephiroth asked, one hand idly clicking a small, blue-inked pen while the other cradled a basic, black clipboard. His hair trailed behind him as he walked, even when it was tied back.

"Oh, of course. This way."

…It wasn't a bad center at all. Leon couldn't find any faults worth mentioning. The children staying there seemed content enough – it wasn't anything like their last assignment, in which the poor kids had been starved and worked for money.

(He was frank – there wasn't any point in not being blunt about things.)

Everything was clean. No health regulations suspended anywhere. Dust was next to nonexistent – except in those remote corners that no one ever really looked at.

However, it was obvious that the place had just been cleaned. …It was just those little marks and how everyone tread a bit more carefully that usual. How the cabinets and countertops shone with a little more shine than if they were used day by day.

It was pretty, like a magazine. It wasn't a place lived in – especially not by kids left behind and abandoned.

And no one was running around unguarded. Glancing into rooms, the children were quiet. There was a group of three girls, who must have been no older than eight, sitting on a carpeted floor, playing some board game Leon had never known.

They grinned, like mischievous kids their age should, but restrained their laughter. And the girl with orange-tinted hair looked up with wide eyes as they walked past their doorway.

It was unnatural.

"We asked the children to behave themselves, if you're curious." The woman in pink said, glancing at Leon's expression. Her warm brown eyes nodded toward doors. "They aren't normally this quiet.

"Setting up a nice impression?" Cloud joked, well aware that his words hit dead center.

"Mm." The woman agreed.

Sephiroth had slowly let himself lag behind as the other three walked. Leon and Cloud noticed, he knew, but they let him do as he wanted.

He had also done so, ever since his…second inspection. (The first had gone so disturbingly wrong; they had never mentioned it since.) He found that it was easier to wander when there was no one playing tour guide for you.

"Hi mister!" A little boy, almost unnoticeable, chirped from his position on the stairs. His legs were short, still not fully grown, and they swung freely from his seat.

"Hello." Seph replied, not unsurely. What else was he supposed to do in situations like this, anyway?

Luckily, he didn't have to think of anything.

"Miss Aerith said not to talk to any of you, but you don't look like bad people." He commented, cutely spiked gray hair tilting. "Doesn't your hair ever get tangled? My sister's hair is just up to here –" He held a hand up to his shoulder. "- but she complains about it getting tangled all the time."

"Oh?" Well…he did always ask kids at the other foundations… "Are you and your sister happy here?"

"Oh, you bet, mister! We get to play all day, except when those bizarre stuck-up business people stop by. Then we have to sit there and be all quiet while they do their toadying thing." The kid made a face, obviously mocking the people he was referring to.

"Businessmen?" Sephiroth inquired. He was going to ask more, when he was cut off.

"Raijin! Rai – you didn't go outside again, did you?" A loud voice called from the upstairs. "You're not supposed to be bothering anyone today!" Steps could be heard resounding against the wooden floor.

"Oops, that's my sis." The adolescent – Raijin, he was now revealed as – said sheepishly. "I better get going before she gets loud. Nice meeting you, mister."

With that, he dashed up the stairs before the silver-haired man could blink.

…And blink he did, in bemusement. Seconds later.

He made a check on his clipboard.

There was barely audible humming from the doorway.

Sephiroth followed the light, remiss melody down the stairs, across the hallway and outside, where the source continued, oblivious.

There was a girl humming in tune with the other teen that had aided them earlier. Her red-tinged hair swayed in time with her coral-colored skirt as she tapped her foot to a beat only they could hear.

They didn't notice him watching them.

Cloud was bored.

It seemed as if the days repeated themselves, day in and day out. An adoption center one day, a church the next… He had passed the church on the sole taste of their soup. Absolutely delicious, to him anyway.

He coated his lips in remembrance of that thin, savory liquid.

…Until the cook mentioned his secret ingredient.

"Aha! The essence of clams knows no end!"

"C-clams? No way-"

"Of course! The children here adore them!"

Cloud hated clams. Ever since that stupid excuse of a seashell clamped on his foot at the beach, all those years ago. (He still had the scar to prove it, too.) He refused to look at them.

Well, then again, he had a fond, sadistic pleasure in ripping their innards apart.

That, above all else, made him happy.

(How the hell had he judged that taste wrong, anyway? They had a unique, entirely their own flavor that was hard to mistaken. Cloud, despite appearances, was a hard criticizer. Even towards himself.)

Well, that and teasing his more…stoic companions. Sure, he trusted them with his life and all, but exactly how long could one person take without laughing?

And when they did laugh, they had this oh-so amazing way of expressing amusement that the whole room turned in their direction.

It wasn't fair.

"These are some of their bedrooms. They're a bit messy, but we haven't had time to clean up yet today. You arrived a bit early." A pleasant, honest voice interrupted his mindless thoughts.

The woman seemed to have relaxed around them. Strict for appearances sake, Cloud supposed. She was nice enough, with her short brown hair and straightened salmon dress, which somehow still flowed in waves.

Her name was Aerith. While the mayor did his best to support all foster centers in the area, she and her family funded that specific orphanage. Cloud halfheartedly thought it was nice of them to do so. (He would have put more energy into it if he wasn't silly enough to skip his morning coffee.)

"The rooms here are actually rather nice." Leon commented quietly, directing his comment at Cloud. He nodded to himself and made a mark on his paper.

"This is a room of one of the older kids. He's been around for quite a while." Aerith sighed, long fingers smoothing out a crease on the bed.

They didn't comment. How could they, to a vague remark such as that?

The layered brunette took to examining a small pot in the corner, varnished with brilliant gray glaze that reminded him of tinted sunglasses. It wasn't displayed, more hidden than not. And it was filled to the brim with cotton.

Cloud couldn't help but wonder why cotton and who in the world lived there.

Leon gave him a droll look. It was obviously that he knew that Cloud's mind had been elsewhere.

He merely returned a sheepish grin.

As they turned to leave, Leon being closest to the door, a head collided into his chest.

Riku stumbled backwards.

Leon's mind placed the features.

"Oh – hello sir." The girl said politely, blue eyes blinking inquiringly. Sephiroth inwardly winced at the 'sir. …It made him sound old. "Are you lost?"

"No." He answered back, with just as much pleasantry. "I wonder if one of you could find me the account record of this…establishment?" Seph had found that words made more of an impact than most people imagined.

The boy sitting on the steps shook his head, shrugging at his lack of knowledge in that area, but the girl nodded. "Oh, I know where those are. Miss Aerith keeps them in her office. I could go get them if you'd like?"

At his nod, she ruffled the seated teen's reflecting hair teasingly and went inside.

"How long have you been living here?"

Riku looked toward the older man at the innocent question, quirking an eyebrow. "Why would you want to know?"

"I'm the department's assessor." Broad shoulders shrugged. "So I have to ask shit questions like that. Purely document's sake."

A prolonged blink responded to his wording. "I would have thought the government guys would have more…refined speech than that." Riku commented dryly.

"Stereotypes seem to be dominating everywhere, aren't they." A comment as the taller man settled on a step lower than the teen. "You would think that they only applied to things such as schools."

"We're all home-tutored here, anyway." He paused, wondering why he was conversing with a stranger. "Name's Riku Highwind. Nice to meet you."

"Sephiroth." He chuckled at the kid's expression as he mouthed the syllables.. "Odd name, I know. My old man had eccentric tastes. Sephiroth…Masamune, you could say."

"You could say?" Riku did shake his offered hand, nonetheless. His hand grasped it firmly, and Sephiroth grinned. He liked the teen's attitude.

He would go far.

"You could say…I kind of named myself."

"Whoa, sorry." The kid said, quickly excusing himself, cheeks tingeing ever so slightly. Leon gave him a nod in return, accepting. "But I didn't really expect you guys in be in here…" His gaze shifted to his home's founder.

"We're checking most rooms." A voice behind him said. Sephiroth's figure appeared in the doorway, shading some of the incoming light. "From most age groups, Riku."

Aerith turned, apparently snapping out of her daze near the bed. She stopped smoothing the deep blue sheets and smiled at the orphan.

"Oh, Riku. Would you mind taking these three to the laundry rooms? I have to go find some of the foundation's papers… I forgot they were needed earlier."

"Sure, no problem." The teenager, Riku, replied, brushing himself off. He smiled lightly, but there was just something missing. A spark that showed in a person's face that made their expression shine.

"Just let me pick up…" He trailed off, walking over to one of the drawers and pulling out an object small enough that the room's occupants couldn't see. Riku tucked it into his pocket.

Then he turned and walked past Sephiroth. A glance over his shoulder clearly stated that the teen expected them to follow.

Riku nodded at several others as they walked by. He held a victory sign up to a group of little kids – they looked around eight.

Such a wrong time to be left behind, Leon thought. Just old enough to understand and remember.

As he walked through the hallway again, this time following the backside of the hoary-haired teenager he had just met, the smiles from those same three girls he had seen earlier seemed much more sincere.

Riku's jeans were torn, he noticed. The bottoms well-dusted and slightly ripped. The stonewash managed to be slightly faded. It spoke of use, and it was also an effect others strived for with scissors.

The reassurance was astoundingly loud.

The trio left soon after. Everything seemed in order.

The next day, only Leon showed up. The other two had some other appointments that day, so he was the only one available for filling out the last few forms.

He'd gotten to know Riku, if only a little. The teenager led him to the office, which was locked. Neither Aerith nor Kairi seemed to be around at that moment.

"So, where you from?"

Leon looked up at the kid's voice. It wasn't too deep, just beginning the drifting of puberty. A bit late, but it created a low alto, fitting.

"Here and there. Came from the city a few years ago." He replied, easily evading the question. "You?"

He had almost deemed the question too personal when Riku replied. "On this little island, a little offshore. A lot different from this place." His voice held a wistful note as he spoke. "A bunch of us called it Destiny, but I forgot its real name." A pause. "Something with a P…?"

"…How did you end up here?"

Riku chuckled. But his next words completely contradicted his laughter. "Oh, the island burnt down."

The statement took a few moments to sink in. Before he could open his mouth to reply, the same voice spoke again.

"Ironic, isn't it? That a place surrounded by water could…succumb to something like fire so easily."

They met a few times afterwards, as well.

Sometimes Sephiroth and Cloud came along. Sometimes it was Kairi. Other times it was a few of the children from the orphanage. They had wide eyes as they walked around the malls and cafes they met in.

"They don't go out of the building much." Riku explained, noticing Cloud's pitying look. "Unless Miss Aerith takes them grocery shopping or something of the like."

"There are field trips, too. But those aren't too often – it's not affordable." Kairi said softly. "They deserve it so much, too, those poor kids…" She looked up afterwards, focusing on her friend's appearance. He despised pity, after all.

"…They do." He didn't include himself.

Cloud grinned as the kids clung onto him after he bought each and every one of them sweets.

And things were picture perfect for exactly two weeks.

"Do you like being here, too?" Cloud asked a kid clutching his leg.

The blue-eyed blonde looked up happily. "Of course! Everything just awesome here. Loads better than those other places." He made a face. "At least here, people care about you."

Cloud abruptly noticed that these children these days grew up far too fast.

"I'm going into foster care soon." Riku said, bluntly. The statement came strongly – he'd held his breath for a while beforehand.

The words took a moment to sink into mind.

He didn't realize he was staring at the floor, at the tile textures until he was. And when Leon looked up, gray clashed with green and something changed.

"When?" The date and time lingered in the air, cluttering and gasping until he fell off the high he didn't realize he was on. And his Squall personal told himself it wasn't important, and Leon agreed, because he couldn't argue with himself and win.

Earlier, they had all the time in the world.

That night, when he picked up his glass to have his usual cup of water, Leon found his hands unstable.

He couldn't sleep that night. And when he did, he dreamed.

It was a quaint place. The leather-clad man probably would have never known that it existed if it wasn't for the person sitting athwart from him.

He asked for coffee. Black, with the milk and sugar separate. Leon liked doing things himself.

Riku had ordered almond tea, and he had expected it to come in a cup.

Not a bowl with a spoon.

Leon was amused as his companion nodded a baffled thanks to the waitress, being too polite to question or refuse the drink. She waitress nodded happily and walked off, ready to add their order to the cue line.

He watched as the younger male across from him took a sip, and he watched as his eyes blinked in wonder.

"It's…not bad."

Leon snorted. "Most things in life are like that."

He woke up with a start, but was reluctant to open his eyes. He leaned against his headboard and wondered why he cared so much about someone he had just met.

"He works for us, you know?"

Kairi looked up, expecting Leon's questioning look. They were on the stairs again – Riku having slipped inside for a moment. She answered, proudly.

"Oh, not anything like that. Not staff or anything – he's an orphan that got passed into this place. But he works at his own job and always gives half his pay to this place." Her arm waved at the front door, in a simple gesture.

"He works at a museum. Pretty good job, really. He could support himself with it…if he was old enough, legally."

Leon looked up at the doorway. Its shining copper lining seemed to have lost some of its splendor.

The redhead sighed sadly. "It's his dream to see it flourish, really. He's told me about it so many times… And with the new construction and threats to bulldoze the place – stress's going around everywhere."

A call from inside distracted his thoughts. "Kairi! Are you around? I need someone to watch Olette and Selphie for a moment." Shuffling.

"Coming, Miss Aerith!" Softer, she continued. "I'll miss him. …Riku's a good guy." She laughed at herself, in a tone Leon couldn't place. Kairi pushed against the wall she had been leaning on and dusted herself off.

"Not too sure why I'm telling you this, mister."

She went inside.

His head was spinning. Not so fast that dizziness numbed his mind immediately, but rather in a slow, remote way that invited mixed thoughts.

Leon didn't wait for Riku to come outside, that day.

"He's leaving soon."

The brunette's blunt comment started the conversation, promising. Cloud looked up. His facial expression didn't betray his thoughts on the matter, but his friends knew him well enough not to need them.

"You going to do anything about it?" Cloud inquired. He was unusually serious, and that was more of an eye-opener than anything else.

Leon shook his head. And Sephiroth voiced what he couldn't.

"There's not much we can do, really. We can't pause business for a single person." No matter how much we'd like to.

Someone like that was hard to find.

The thought of adopted the teen drifted through his mind. But that was possible. Leon wasn't capable of such a large task…

And he wasn't comfortable with such a relationship.

Sephiroth was quiet. He thought back.

The kid would go far. If he let himself.

The next day, Riku didn't greet Leon at the door like he usually did.

He left them a card. A white card. Saying 'thanks' and 'take care'. Simple things that really didn't speak of anything.

Kairi had tried to smile as she handed it to them.

Riku's signature lined the bottom. Somehow, the simple piece whitewashed anything those fancy, professional companies could come up with. It wouldn't have been better lined with gold.

There were six stars in the corner. Like the sixth step.

Riku stared at them every night.

"I like to think of them as places we can't get to just yet." He said one day. "Almost like other, little worlds parallel to our own."

"Wishful thinking." Sephiroth commented, lightheartedly.

"Maybe." Riku had replied.

"But just the same…"

Leon had signed a recommendation to the place. All three of them did –Cloud, Sephiroth, and himself. Proudly. Because it was a charity worth mentioning.

They didn't…he wouldn't let it be torn down.

Because that's that Riku would have wanted.

All he needed to do was to reach out a bit more. So that the pen touched the paper.

The pot of cotton was empty.

They met again, three years later.

Riku was eighteen.

Because sometimes, you just tell people what they want to hear.

-End Chapter One-

…I'm always a bit rushed. xD :bangs head on the wall:

Review, please? I adore feedback. They help me write and come up with ideas (I wing it.), so… x3 Sankquu.

(Oh right, in this story, eighteen's the legal age. For most things.)

Tell me if you liked it or hated it. :D