~o~

2

The Visitor

He came bursting into the entrance hall around seven o'clock. There were servants everywhere, attending to this and that, but a sudden hush fell over them when they saw the Ken-doll face of Prince Setzer, smiling hugely.

I gasped. He looked like a peacock. An old peacock.

"Welcome, Prince Setzer!" Chancellor Tsukada boomed, rushing forward and giving a bow. "You look well!"

"Yes, I am well, thank you," Setzer said, giving his head a haughty toss. He was wearing a spangled purple traveling cloak and his long silver hair fell down his back. He looked like an overconfident, overgrown pretty-boy.

The servants had all rushed back into the kitchens and dining hall. Yuffie gave me a significant glance before vanishing as well. I knew she would be listening behind the door.

"Princess Kairi."

Setzer pranced over to me and grabbed my hand. I flinched.

"You are more lovely than I had ever dreamed," he said, his words polished and practiced. He bent over and kissed my hand; I wrinkled my nose and pulled it out of his grasp.

Chancellor Tsukada noticed and shot me a threatening look. I put on my best beauty pageant smile and said, "How are you, Prince Setzer?"

"Very fine, thank you," he said, flashing a set of perfect teeth at me. "It's very nice to finally get to meet you, darling."

Darling?

Chancellor Tsukada cleared his throat and glared in my direction.

"Nice to meet you too," I said through my teeth. Setzer didn't seem to notice.

~o~

Before now, I would have told anyone that it was impossible to be bored to death. Now I wasn't so sure.

Then again, death would be downright pleasurable compared to what I was going through right now.

It was our third time around the garden and I was beginning to wonder if I would be able to climb over the hedge and escape into the courtyard in a dress, or whether it would be best to simply run away and hope he didn't chase after me.

"...And so then I told him, 'If you ever want to win the Struggle Title Match, you're going to have to learn how to jab like me,' and he absolutely begged me to be his personal trainer. And so then I..."

What was he babbling on about now? His stupid "Blackjack" ship? His obsession with gambling? His old girlfriends? I didn't think I could take much more of this. There was only one topic of this conversation: Setzer, Setzer, Setzer.

"Don't you think so, dearest?"

I started. He was asking me a question? "Um, what did you say?"

"I said, you probably think your Setzer could hold onto the championship belt forever, don't you?" He was talking in a mushy, gooey, romantic voice.

"Uh... probably not, if he lost," I said, logically.

He looked surprised that I wasn't as confident in him as he was. "Well... I suppose that is true. You are quite the... smarty, aren't you?" He smiled and patted my hand fondly, though a little less exuberantly.

I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand away. Then I threw all pretenses out the window by saying, "You mean, 'quite the smart ass'?"

He was downright shocked. His eyes widened and he gaped at me like he'd never expected such a thing to come from my mouth. "Uh... no... of course not," he finally stammered. "To be perfectly honest, I have lost a couple matches." He said it like he was ashamed.

Like I cared.

"The first happened a few years ago," he went on. I began to sink into another stupor. "I was defeated by a young man named Roxas."

A light clicked on in my head. "Roxas!?" I cried, completely losing my composure. "You know Roxas?"

"Yes," he said, surprised.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I cried.

"You—you didn't ask."

"How do you know him?" I demanded.

"Um... as I said, he... uh... defeated me..." He was so surprised that he was actually backing away from me now as though concerned that my sudden insanity was contagious.

"When?" I demanded.

"Uh... several years ago..."

"How many?"

"I'm not sure... three or four? Four, probably."

Four years? That was before... I sighed and my shoulders slumped. What little news I had of Sora was from the past.

"Do you... know him, dearest?" he asked tentatively. I could tell he didn't really care; he was just trying to make things less awkward.

"I knew him," I admitted with a sigh. And don't call me dearest, you moron, I wanted to add, but held my tongue.

Setzer seemed to think that the worst of my explosion was over, because he put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Come. Let's go eat dinner. You must be famished."

I flinched away from his touch, but nodded. Maybe I would be able to escape him once we got inside.

The dinner that Chancellor Tsukada had ordered the cooks to prepare was a lavish one. I didn't particularly care for the stuffed crab, poached eggs, and escargot that sat upon golden platters and crisp greens, but Setzer porked it down despite his constant complaints about its quality. I looked up and him with disgust as he swallowed bites of food that would have easily choked a normal person and then patted his mouth daintily with a napkin. Whether he was a man or a woman or a bottomless pit, I wasn't quite sure.

Chancellor Tsukada kept him prattling on about himself with ease, so I was able to chase my food around my plate and ignore him. After a half hour, however, my strategy fell apart.

"Oh, don't worry, Chancellor Tsukada," Setzer was saying, "She simply adores me, already, don't you darling? It's not hard to see." The words brought me out of my reverie with a shock.

Something brushed up against my shoulder. I flinched away from Setzer's arm as he tried to lay it casually across my shoulders.

Fury twisted my mouth into a scowl and brought my teeth together with a snap. This was just too much. We'd just met a few hours ago, for crying out loud. And I adored the wart on the end of Chancellor Tsukada's nose more than I adored Setzer.

"I'm out of here," I muttered mutinously, then jumped out of my chair, knocking Setzer's arm to the side. I clippedy-clapped out of the hall, my long skirts billowing out behind me. I could feel their eyes on my back, but I didn't turn around.

"Princess Kairi!" A voice called after me. "Wait!"

I didn't stop. That voice made me want to run—no, sprint—in the opposite direction as fast as I could.

We were halfway down the hall when he caught up to me, wheezing. "Where... are... you... going?" he panted, grabbing my shoulder and turning me around to face him. A gust of bad breath blew across my face, mingled with nasty cologne.

I wrinkled my nose. "Away from you," I snapped, wrenching my shoulder from his grasp. My own hostility surprised me; I was usually such a collected person.

He looked at me with blatant disbelief for a moment, then smiled with gradual comprehension. "I'm so sorry, dear," he apologized.

My eyes narrowed distrustfully.

"I shouldn't have exposed your true feelings like that," he went on. "I'm sure it was a little embarrassing for you, in front of the servants and Chancellor Tsukada. I can see that, for once, I was wrong."

My mouth fell open with a loud popping sound. I stood there, gaping at him, unable to believe it. He could not be saying this. It was too extreme. No person could be this ridiculously stupid, this outrageously conceited that they couldn't wrap their head around even the most obvious of rejections. It made me sick.

"A heart like yours shouldn't be wagered like a poker chip in a pile. I can make it up to you, though," Setzer said, giving me a toothy grin.

And then, before I could wrap my head around what was going on, he was leaning toward me, his lips puckered and his eyes closed.

I reacted as if he were a piranha trying to take a chunk out of my face rather than an overzealous suitor. I screamed and slapped him away from me, then leapt backward, nearly tripping over my own high heels (which takes skill by the way) in my frantic hurry to escape.

I dashed down the hall, holding my skirts up in one hand, then raced through the large kitchen doors and nearly banged into Leon.

"Kairi!" he said in surprise.

I was gasping for breath. "Hide me, please!" I begged.

Suddenly the kitchen was full of laughter. I looked up at all the smiling faces and realized that I had finally arrived in a place that was somewhat sane. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Here, chile'. You mus' be hongry. I seen how you didn't eat none o' that," the serving maid said, thrust a bright red apple into my hands.

I smiled up at her, then took a bite out of the apple. There was an explosion of good, familiar flavor in my mouth.

"Now what was that all about?" Leon asked in a low, somewhat nasally voice.

A few chuckles broke out and I could see the others standing around me, now: Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid. They were smiling down at me as though I were a misbehaving toddler rather than the ruler of their nation. At least that would never change.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, c'mon, Leon. You couldn't handle two hours of that, either." I took another bite of apple.

"We listened to your dinner conversation," Yuffie said, giggling. "And I can't say that I blame you for running away screaming... but what did Chancellor Tsukada and Setzer have to say about that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I ran away, remember?"

"Oh, right."

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," Leon grumbled. "And maybe you should give him a chance, Kairi. It's what Ansem The Wise wanted, after all."

I stared at him in disbelief and Yuffie shot him a quick, sour look.

"Looks like it don't matter if she does," Cid said, the toothpick in his mouth dangling haphazardly as he spoke. I was surprised that he had managed to keep his sentence free of obscenities thus far; he had the most fabulous mouth known to man. "Sounds to me like the chancellor ain't even givin' her a choice."

"There's always a choice," Yuffie said firmly.

Cid persisted. "What's the point?" he wondered aloud. "It's not like that damn kid is ever gonna…"

"Ahem," Yuffie interrupted with a scowl in Cid's direction, "what do you think of Setzer, Aerith? Think he'll make a good husband for Kairi?"

I shuddered, then set the apple down on the countertop as my appetite vanished.

"No, of course not," Aerith said in her usual gentle voice. "She should marry for love. And she should wait for him no matter how long it takes him to find her," she soothed.

We were quiet for a moment as her words sunk in.

Leon scratched his chin. "By 'him', do you mean—"

"I'm hungry," Yuffie interrupted. "Molly, do you have any of that crab left over?"

"Sho' do. You kin have as much as you like, girl."

"Awesome," she said. "Oh, wait. I'll have to come back for it later, 'cause I've got to get Kairi all settled into bed."

"I'll just go," I said. "I don't need you to unzip my dress for me, Yuffie, despite what Chancellor Tsukada thinks."

She smiled at me, then looked at the crab. "Well... okay, if you insist."

I walked toward the door, opened it a crack, and peeked out into the hallway. It was empty.

"Good night, everyone," I said, before slipping outside.

"'Night, Kairi," they answered. Each face bore an encouraging smile. My heart was filled with gratitude for each of them as I briskly climbed the grand staircase.

~o~

I opened my bedroom door and stepped into the calming, dark, familiar place. I closed the door quietly behind me, then walked across the soft white carpet toward my rosewood nightstand.

My hands reached out, searching for the button on the cord of my lamp that would fill the room with a pool of dim light. However, on my journey, one of my outstretched hands encountered something quite different than what it was searching for.

Whatever it was, it was very warm, smooth, and alive. I gasped as I realized it was skin. Flesh. A person.

My heart leapt into my throat and blocked off my airway, catching the scream that frantically fought its way toward freedom. I leapt backwards, away from the person who I knew was there. Who was obviously waiting for me to do me good or ill. Which, I would surely find out soon.

I stood for a moment, trembling in the darkness. Then my hand shot out and found my lamp. With a single click, I could see everything.

The person stood facing away from me, toward the window; I'd touched his back. He had silvery hair that fell to his elbows and for a moment I was appalled, thinking that it was Setzer who stood waiting for me in my own bedroom.

But then I realized that this person had a different build than Setzer: much more muscular, much more powerful. And there was something familiar about his stance.

He gave a short laugh. "Sorry… I didn't mean to scare you. But I guess that was kind of inevitable."

The voice had deepened, but there was still no mistaking it.

"Riku...?" I whispered, my voice shaking with longing. "Is that... you?"

He turned to face me. My eyes filled with tears. There was a small scar on his chin and his bright aqua eyes had a certain hardness in them. But it was still Riku. There was no mistaking that "screw the world" attitude that radiated from his very posture. I couldn't believe it. A sob wrenched its way from my throat.

"Oh, Riku!" I gasped. My legs buckled.

He lunged for me and caught me before I hit the ground, his expression filled with concern. "Kairi," he exclaimed, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," I whispered, but my head was spinning. I looked up into his eyes. "Just... surprised."

He chuckled.

"How... Where...why did you... what are you..." my voice trailed off; I couldn't form a coherent question. "Oh, Riku!" I sobbed, unable to continue.

"Shhh," he whispered. He wrapped his thick, strong arms around me. "It's okay, I'm here."

I curled up against his chest and pressed my face into the fabric of his T-shirt, letting it absorb the tears, which still flowed freely from my eyes. He held me tightly and pressed his cheek lovingly against my forehead. I cried and cried for an immeasurable amount of time, but he held me through it all, never moving or making a sound.

Finally, I was able to staunch my tears and get a grip on myself. I pulled away from him to look at his face.

He smiled at me. "Better yet?" he wondered.

"I'm working on it," I said. There was a tremor in my voice.

He pulled me close again and held me for a long moment. I could hear his heartbeat under my ear.

"Why didn't you come sooner, Riku?" I whispered. "I've missed you so much."

He was quiet for a moment. "I wanted to, Kairi. But there's a war raging out there—the likes of which you can't possibly imagine." As he spoke into my ear, his lips brushed up against my skin. "I came as soon as I could, but I'm sorry that it couldn't have been years ago."

We were silent. Then, my heart aching to the bursting point, I whispered, "What about... him?"

He didn't say anything for a while, just held me. Finally he murmured, "I don't know where he is anymore. I haven't seen him in over a year. But I wouldn't worry about him if I were you. He can take care of himself, as he was quick to remind me." He grimaced.

"Was he planning on... I mean... did he... mention me, at all?" I swallowed nervously.

He didn't answer.

"Riku...?" I prompted, fear flooding through me.

"I'm sure he misses you, Kairi," Riku said, a little stiffly. "But finding his old friends isn't really his first priority right now."

My shoulders slumped. "So... he isn't coming?"

"He... could be. But I don't really know. I'm sorry."

My heart was bleeding. I could almost feel the hot, sticky moisture burning through me like acid. "It's okay," I said, fresh tears stinging my eyes. "It's not your fault."

He reached up and brushed the moisture from my cheek with his fingers. "Don't cry," he whispered. "I want to see your smile again. I've lived without it so long."

I sniffed a little, then gave him a watery smile. He smiled in return. His eyes flickered down to my trembling lips and, for a brief moment, his own parted ever so slightly and he leaned forward, searching. I couldn't breathe. Then, inches from my face, he clenched his teeth together and he pulled away, the hardness returning to his eyes. He sighed and closed them, his eyelids acting like a shield to hide his hungry, weary soul.

"Riku..." I whispered, caressing his cheek with my hand.

"I've got to go," he said suddenly, catching my hand in its journey down his rough jaw-line.

He must have seen my panicked expression, because he hastily added, "Just for the night—I can come see you again tomorrow, if you want. I'm exhausted, that's all." He looked at the floor.

I softened. "Where would you sleep?"

"On a park bench or something. It really doesn't matter. I'm so tired I could just bed down on the paved road," he said with short laugh.

I scowled at him. "No, that's stupid. Stay here. Please don't leave me."

He sighed. "I can't, Kairi. If they found me here, the guards would kill me on the spot."

"No," I whispered. "I'd never let them, not in a million years. You know that."

The corners of his mouth turned up a tiny bit. Then he closed his eyes and tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a huge yawn. "Oh, that's right. You're a princess now. A hot shot," he teased.

I snorted. "Okay, you need some sleep." I brushed my fingers against the bags under his eyes that I hadn't noticed till now.

He nodded. "'Kay. 'Night, Kairi." He turned toward my window.

He didn't get far, though. I held onto his hand with an iron grasp, dug my heels into the carpet, and braced myself against his departure. He pulled on his arm, then turned and looked at me, surprised. He chuckled. "I promise I'll come back tomorrow, Kairi. Seriously," he assured me.

"I'm not taking any chances," I said slowly.

Taking his hands tenderly in my own, I began to back up toward my bed, kicking my high heels off as I towed him along. He didn't resist me, but his expression was blank and impossible to read.

I released one of his hands to pull the covers back, then sat down eased my legs beneath them. I reclined in blissful caress of my silk sheets, then slid over and pulled on Riku's hand. He didn't budge.

"Uh... Kairi," he said, his voice trembling, "you know that this isn't... Isn't gonna work." His eyes gleamed in the dim light.

I smiled at his uncertainty. "You can sleep on the top," I explained, pulling my sheets around me.

"That's... still fairly... intimate," he said. I could see him blushing bright crimson, now.

Blushing? Riku never blushed.

"Oh come on," I giggled, understanding where he came from, but still unwilling to let him leave my side. "It's like a slumber party, is all. I'm not going to bite you."

He continued to look at the floor. "It's not you who'd do the biting," he murmured.

It was silent as we both contemplated this. Then I spoke. "Riku," I said calmly, "we're friends. And I trust you. And this bed is way too huge for one person, anyway," I added with a laugh.

His eyes roved over the massive bed and he smiled sheepishly. "You sure?" He looked at me intently for some sign of hesitation.

"Positive," I said. "You're not going anywhere."

I gave his arm a tug and he sat down on the heavenly surface with a groan of surrender. Very, very slowly, he reclined until his head was next to mine on a pillow. The anxious look on his face was suddenly peaceful.

He gave a deep, contented sigh. "Do you know how long it's been since I slept in a bed?" he suddenly asked.

"How long?" I wondered, still watching his blank face and relaxed form with glowing happiness.

"The night before Sora and I left the island was the last time. Three years ago." He must have felt me flinch beside him, because he didn't continue. Instead, he stretched and yawned.

His face suddenly looked so childlike in its peace that I had to reach out and touch it. I propped myself up on my elbow and tenderly stroked his cheek with my fingers, then ran them through the hair framing his face. His eyelashes trembled, but otherwise he was as still as a stone beneath my feather-light touch.

"Are you nineteen yet, Riku?" I suddenly asked. He turned his head and looked at me as I traced his lips with my index finger.

"Yeah. And you must've just barely turned eighteen, huh? I remember now... your birthday's in April, isn't it?"

"Yep." I smiled and ran my finger along the contours of his ear.

"You've gone and grown up on me," he accused, peeking at me from beneath his long black eyelashes. I could see a curious expression in his eyes, but it faded as quickly as it came.

I kept my response light. "Yeah. But I'll never catch up to you."

He laughed. "I guess that's true."

I couldn't help but marvel at his beauty. I'd always thought Riku was attractive, but… maturity suited him well. His smile was dashing, his eyes were sharp and bright, and his skin was so smooth… except…

I touched the scar on his chin. It was long healed, but still puckered a little around the edges. I frowned. "Where did you get this, Riku?"

His breath caught a little, but he only stared at me dispassionately. His icy eyes were so blank. What was he thinking?

"Who did this to you?" I insisted.

He sighed and looked up at the plastic stars on my ceiling. "Um… I don't remember. It doesn't matter."

"Riku," I whined, "Just tell me."

"I told you, it's nothing," he said, taking my hand off of the dark mar on his skin and then releasing it.

"Why won't you tell me?" I said, gazing at him anxiously.

"Because."

"Because what?"

He huffed a sigh. "Because you don't want to hear it, Kairi."

I stared at him for a long moment, then a painful idea occurred to me. "It wasn't… him, was it?"

Riku looked at the ceiling. I took his silence as a confirmation.

"Why?" I groaned. "Why were you two fighting, Riku?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Of course I will," I said irritably. "Tell me what's going on!"

He gritted his teeth together. "No. Not right now, okay? I don't want to talk about the past. I've come a long way to see you, so let's talk about something else. Anything but Sora." The name came out as a snarl.

I flinched.

He looked up at me after a moment and must have noticed the pain on my face. "I'm sorry," he said, reaching up and stroking my cheek.

"It's okay," I said. "It just hurts, is all."

We were silent for a long, long time. After a while, I began to stroke Riku's hair thoughtfully. I was beginning to wonder if he'd fallen asleep when he spoke again. "Kairi?"

"Yes?" I replied, a little tentatively.

"You're a good ruler, you know. I talked to some of the people, to get directions to the castle, and they all love you. They keep mentioning a proposal you made…"

I smiled, surprised and gladdened by the turn our conversation had taken. "Yes. They're very patient with me and very kind."

He considered that for a moment. "No," he said, "I don't think they need to be."

"Some people probably do."

He snorted. "You'll be the best, most beautiful queen they've ever had."

"You may be a little prejudiced," I said, laughing and blushing a tiny bit at such glowing praise.

He gave me a cocky grin and said, "I don't think so."

I smiled at him and watched as his eyes softly closed. His breathing gradually relaxed and his mouth fell open just a little bit.

I turned off my light, leaned over, and pressed my lips tenderly against his soft, warm cheek. "Good night, Riku," I whispered, though I knew he was asleep.

I was surprised to feel a movement atop the thin covers. His hand searched along the slippery surface until it found mine, then clutched onto it tightly. It was warm and wide and comforting. I gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Good night, Kairi," he murmured, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

I didn't let myself fall asleep right away. I worried that this was only a dream and that, if I really, actually fell asleep, it would vanish. The very idea was quite terrifying, now that I had him back again.

I could hear his quiet, even breathing beside me. His hand was warm and soft. My eyelids fluttered and I slipped away in the steady, comforting presence of my friend.