Author's Note: Roxas/Naminé speaking is a little confusing. Bold type indicates when they're speaking directly to their Others: only Sora or Kairi can hear them. Bold type in quotation marks indicate when Roxas/Naminé speak through Sora/Kairi. Their voices sound like Roxas and Naminé, though it appears the Other is talking.
Sora, do we have to do this every night?
"What?" Sora asked. Since coming home two months ago, Roxas had refused to fade into obscurity. That meant Roxas making comments on everything from dinner (usually praise) to Sora's fashion sense (usually insults).
Checking under your bed. There are no monsters living there. It's stupid.
"You don't remember?"
Remember what?
"When I was six?"
Nope. I saw some of your memories in my dreams when I was separate, but they were mostly about the Keyblade. The only memory of your childhood was that story your dad told. For some reason, I can't access all of your memory. Just like you couldn't access mine. You didn't remember Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Or the Organization, for that matter.
"I don't even want to know about your time with that psycho Organization."
So what happened?
Sora pushed back the shoulder of his pajamas, revealing a faint ring of teeth marks on his right shoulder. "I got this from the monster that came."
Sora, I didn't pop out of you yesterday. You have nothing to gain by lying to me.
"It's not a lie!" Sora insisted. "My mother keeps telling me I imagined it, but I know what I saw."
How does she explain the teeth marks?
"She said Riku bit me when we were playing."
Those aren't human teeth marks. Why would your mother lie about something that serious?
"I don't know. She refuses to talk about it. I just know I feel safer checking under my bed before I go to sleep. Even in hotel rooms. Course, Donald and Goofy weren't so rude as to point it out."
I was just curious.
"Were you always this talkative?"
You never lived with Xaldin. Now there was a guy who didn't shut up.
XXX
"Naminé!" Kairi whined. "I have to do my homework." Unlike Roxas, Naminé didn't speak very often. But she was prone to taking control of Kairi's hand and drawing.
Naminé dropped her pencil.
"Better." Kairi opened her math textbook to the current problem set. "This algebra is so confusing, though." She smoothed out a piece of notebook paper.
The hand picked up the pencil again. The pencil scratched across the paper, meticulously solving and checking each algebra equation.
Kairi stared in wonder. "I thought I slept through this lesson."
I didn't, replied Naminé.
"Naminé, if you do all my homework, is it cheating?"
I guess it depends whether you see me as another person, or if you see me as you.
"So what is it? Are you me, or are there two of us?"
I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Please don't get me wrong. These past two months have been the happiest of my life. I love the beach, the island, school, everything. But even though I only exist as thoughts in your soul, I feel like I'm violating some law.
"What law?"
Only one person to a body. You see, if you admitted to other people that I'm living in you, they wouldn't be sympathetic. They'd call you schizophrenic and lock us in a psych ward. They'll feed you bread and water and pump you full of strange medicines. And you know the worst part? They'll strap you into a machine and administer electric shocks.
"That's crazy."
Haven't you seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
"That was just a movie!"
It was based on a novel. And the author actually observed the conditions in a mental hospital.
Kairi sighed. "Didn't we have this same argument over This is Spinal Tap?"
XXX
Meanwhile, Riku was relaxing in his living room. His mother, Sharon, was folding laundry while his father, Lionel, was reading a newspaper. It would have made a perfect domestic television sitcom scene, if Riku hadn't been turning his Keyblade over and over.
For once, Riku was perfectly happy. The voices that had plagued his dreams -- Xehanort's Heartless, Zexion, DiZ -- had fallen silent since defeating Xemnas. He liked it that way.
There was a knock on the door. Sharon got up to answer it.
A girl of about seventeen was on the porch. She was casually smoking a cigarette. "Does Riku live here?" The moonlight was bright, revealing the girl's outfit of a long pink skirt, white blouse, and denim jacket.
"Who are you?" Sharon asked. "Why are you here at this hour?"
The girl simply blew cigarette smoke in Sharon's face. "I'll ask you again. Does Riku live here. And if he doesn't, could you point me in the right direction."
Sharon coughed. "Yes, Riku is my son."
"May I speak with him?"
"But…" Sharon thought better of it and called toward the living room. "Riku! There's a girl here to see you."
Riku ran to the door, expecting to see Kairi. He looked over the girl, giving her no sign of recognition. "Who are you?"
"I wish to confer with you in private."
Riku gave a smirk. "Fine by me."
"Walk and talk." The girl took another drag from her cigarette as she turned and walked toward the beach.
Riku followed her. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
"My name is Erato. I want to hire you as a bodyguard. You may have to get your hands dirty, so if you have any objections to killing someone, say it now."
"I don't. Who do you want me to whack off?"
"If it comes to it, my aunt."
"Bad blood, huh?"
"As long as she lives, my sisters and I are in grave danger."
"How many sisters do you have?"
"Nine, though one is currently deceased."
"Are they all as cute as you?"
"Depends on who's looking." Erato stubbed out her cigarette. "Isn't that the phrase? 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'?"
"Something like that."
"You have nerve. I like it."
"Nerve?" Riku asked, confused. "I don't follow."
"Flirting with an older woman."
Riku refrained from asking just how old she was. It was an undeniable law of etiquette. Asking a woman her age was invitation to a cold glare, a slap, or worse. "So you said you wanted to hire me?"
"Yes. You will be rewarded."
"Tell me more."
XXX
Sharon was watching Riku and Erato through binoculars from her living room window. "Lionel! Our son is still talking to that suspicious-looking girl."
Lionel didn't take his eyes off his newspaper. "That's nice, dear."
To Be Continued
