"Was there any luck?"
"I wouldn't be here if there had been."
"Of course you would be here. Your friend still sleeps."
"True..." Riku let out a bitter laugh as he dropped in his usual place. He didn't need to take off the blindfold to know where everything was in that room. The couch was seven steps to the north of the door. Seven steps of the normal ones, four longer, and ten smaller ones.
The computer (from where the sounds of the man's typing could be heard) was located six steps west from were he was sitting, and halfway between the sofa and the computer there was an empty space where, as DiZ used to say, someday there would be a device to take people to 'the other Twilight Town'.
Northwest from the couch, twelve steps would take him to the door that took to a hall and after that to a corridor, which was the way to the place where Sora slept now.
There wasn't anything else in that room that mattered to him. Just the computer, the sofa and that empty space.
There wasn't anything that mattered in that house either. Not even in that town. Just Sora and the computer room.
He had been traveling with the King for almost three months, he thought while resting his weight on the right side of the couch. Less than a month ago, he had started wearing the blindfold... And less than two weeks ago, DiZ had found out about that.
Riku felt unable of naming that situation.
He hated to think about that particular day. The day in which Mickey woke him up to see those eyes, that man's eyes, instead of his own. All the other details about that day were blurry for him; he could recall a broken mirror and feeling hate...
He also remembered the feeling of the King's silken touch as he covered his eyes.
He told Riku to let the light guide him.
Was there any of that light now...?
A soft sigh escaped his lips as he rested his head in the sofa's back. He didn't want to go back yet. He knew the room in which he and the King were staying was empty and he didn't feel like being alone. Not since the day he had started to hear the darkness' soft calling again.
Each night he would hear it when he was alone, telling him to go back. And each night he forced himself to remember the path he had chosen. That he had taken the middle road, and that listening to that call would only make him stray from that way, towards a path he had abandoned long ago
Sometimes he could hear the voice in his dreams, and he had to fight against the need of following it. He had to fight to wake up in his usual place besides Mickey, and to close his eyes again to go back to sleep lulled by the calm feeling that the King's presence gave him.
Of course he had never told his companion about that. He had never told anybody, and he couldn't understand how it was that DiZ found out about it. How he had known about that need that Riku couldn't comprehend at all.
Yet that day the man had explained it with clear words.
Sometimes, it is better to let go and feel someone else has control.
He came back to reality when the soft purr of the hard drives stopped together with the noise of the man standing. He could hear the steps coming from the west side of the room (five steps, unlike the six he used to walk) and he couldn't stop a shiver when he felt the soft touch of a hand on the blindfold.
For the first time in almost a month, the light of the screens that were all over the room came to his eyes and he had to close them to avoid the pain. He could feel the smile in the other's face without even looking.
"Do it gradually." DiZ whispered in his ear, in a voice that was rare to hear from him. "Too much light can blind you..."
Riku couldn't help but smile at the irony in those words. He slowly opened his eyes, giving them time to adapt to the soft light in the room, and as soon as he stopped feeling the slight burn he looked around for the blindfold.
It was more than just a piece of fabric for Riku. It was his constant link with the King, a reminder of the fact that whatever happened he had someone to go back to...
And not having it was making him feel uncomfortable. DiZ seemed to read his mind and with a smile, more like a smirk that Riku recognized maybe too fast, the man took his left wrist and firmly wrapped the black fabric around it.
Riku didn't know what to think when the pressure made him feel better.
His eyes crossed the man's for the first time and they stood in silence. He wondered what was DiZ looking at, but the question lived only for a few seconds before a knee parting his legs made him forget about it. A gloved hand forced his face up to see a single eye watching him back from between the bandages.
What was DiZ seeing in those eyes Riku hated so much...?
A soft kiss on each eyelid. Riku couldn't stop the shiver, unable to deny a need that he had felt for a long time now. A wet tongue replaced lips, and then made a descending way to his mouth.
He knew DiZ was kissing somebody else.
It was all right, since he wasn't kissing anyone.
NOTES: Well, my second translation is done.
As usual, criticism is appreciated, and please point out any mistakes you spot so I can correct them.
Thanks to everybody who reviewed my other fics, and to those who review this one, you give me encouragment to keep on translating!
And thanks to Rosalyn Angel for pointing out that mistake!