DnS: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to yet another chapter in my story.

Roxas: What, again? Why are you writing this so soon?

DnS: Because for once I can't get the voices in my head to shut up with their damn ideas for the story.

All 17: Talking about us?

Cast of story: o.o'''

DnS: eye twitch Yes. Now shut up. Or I'll get the Q-tips again.

Disclaimer: I own neither Kingdom Hearts nor Final Fantasy, nor any song mentioned in this plot (unless otherwise noted). All songs are given proper credit at the end of their names in the list (like this)

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

Chapter 3:

Of Blonde Boys and Music Notes

Sephiroth's POV

I watched Cloud as he left on his bike. I hate to admit it, but I hadn't been able to keep my eyes off the boy today. I nearly burned three orders as a result. For those that do not understand, that is a VERY bad thing, especially with a boss like Cid. Ah well.

I couldn't even bring myself to give him the extra ticket I had. I asked Demyx to do it, thank god the Mohawk fool managed to do so without bringing up the fact that I had asked him to. That would have been too embarrassing even for my ability to handle. I climbed into my car, and quickly turned on the engine before zooming off. I had to make it to the club early to help the others set up and to finalize our set list with the owner. I arrived right on time, as usual, and headed in through the main entrance. The others were already here, setting up their equipment to the specs the club owner gave us. I said hello to them all on my way through the club. Vincent nodded to me while putting his drums together, Demyx and Roxas managed small 'hellos' while tuning their guitars, and Riku hadn't arrived yet. I headed into the office, and found the owner waiting for me. I hated this man in front of me, but he was the only person willing to give us a gig this large, so I was required to work with him.

"So. Sephiroth, what do you plan on playing tonight? I hope it will be worth mine and my brother's time and money, having given you this gig." The man's cold, amber stare seemed to penetrate right through me, his hair draping over his shoulders. "After all, the Cave of Evil has a good reputation around here, and I intend on keeping it."

"Don't worry Xemnas. You'll get your money's worth from us." I tossed the list to him. Normally, I would have called him Mr. X like he preferred, but I have NO respect for this man. He was colder and more ruthless than I am. At least I have somewhat of a conscience, though not much. I knew the list by heart, having made it up myself the night before.

1. The Kids Aren't Alright (The Offspring)

2. Sonne (Rammstein)

3. Feuer Frei (Rammstein)

4. My Immortal (Evanescence)

5. Bring Me to Life (Evanescence)

6. Dance Dance (Fallout Boy)

7. Miss Murder (AFI)

8. Attack (30 Seconds to Mars)

9. Killing Loneliness (HIM)

10. Simple and Clean (Utada Hikaru)

11. Kri to Mayu (Dir en Grey)

12. Personal Jesus (Marilyn Manson)

13. Here in My Arms (HIM)

14. BYOB (System of a Down)

15. Take it Away (The Used)

16. Helena (My Chemical Romance)

17. Iris (Goo-goo Dolls)

18. Untitled (Simple Plan)

19. Devil Made Me Do It (Murderdollz)

20. Fully Alive (Flyleaf)

21. Coming Undone (Korn)

22. Chop Suey (System of a Down)

23. Shut Up! (Simple Plan)

24. Passion (Utada Hikaru)

As for our encore, we'd figure that out when we got there. We were probably going to do our new one, Eyes on Me (Nobuo Uematsu). Xemnas continued looking over the list, as though scrutinizing for the SLIGHTEST issue with his personal tastes. "Well, this seems acceptable. I look forward to the draw the hottest local band will bring our club."

His smirk said something totally different, so I left before I got the urge to wipe it off his face. I joined with the others in setting up the stage, not really talking much. I set up my mike stand, which had been custom designed to look like a sword stand. Honestly, it was a small tribute to my father, Setzer. He was one of the best kendo practitioners in the world at one point. I noticed that Riku's keyboard was sitting on one end of the stage, and couldn't' help but ask "Where precisely is Riku? He should have been here by now…"

Demyx grinned as he answered. "He's still in the changing room. Roxas had to skip out on his brother, remember?"

I was lost. I blinked a few times, as I tried to figure out how that connected. "Ok… so what precisely does that have to do with my brother being in the changing room?"

Roxas answered, not looking me in the eyes. "Well, in order to get out I had to go to Sora's house for the night, so…"

I chuckled, finally understanding. "Ah, I see. Well, I'll give him another twenty minutes before we have to force them apart so he can get his setup finished."

We all had a laugh at that one. Riku and Sora had been secretly dating for about two years now, and every time the two got together, it was the same thing. They would disappear entirely for a short while, only to reappear rather breathless and sweaty. I wonder what they could be doing…? And yes, I am being sarcastic.

He appeared about ten minutes later, hair mussed and his clothes clinging slightly to himself. I couldn't help but chuckle at his apology for 'being late' as he began setting up. Sora was just offstage, arms crossed and smiling much like the cat who ate the canary. I could see what Riku saw in the boy, he was the quintessential uke. Cute, short for his age, and far past hyperactive. If my brother didn't have him… well, let's just say I don't' think age barriers are that big an obstacle. After all, he's only 6 years younger than me. I've seen far worse.

Ahem. In any case. Once the stage was set up, the others headed into the dressing room to get ready. I followed, however it was merely that I wanted a drink before we went onstage. I always wore my regular clothes onstage, it was simpler. Riku didn't have that option I'm afraid. You see, Riku is my younger brother. On our band's website and during all shows, we called him Roran.

My mother… she was quite a case, in my opinion. My father divorced her when we were young, likely because he came to realize just how crazy she was. He got married again, and I have three younger brothers as well who I have limited contact with. Riku and I stayed with our mother. She never did get married again, and she was so overprotective of us it was almost stifling. Not long after I turned sixteen, I told my mother I was gay. She disowned me, and forced me from our house. She did all she could to keep me and Riku separated after that, never realizing that I was 'his friend Sam'. After our father died, he left us both parts of his estate, which shocked us. I inherited his car and a sword he had bought but never used. Apparently it was ancient, and worth a lot of money, though I could never sell it. Riku had inherited father's personal sword, made to look like a black bat wing. I was holding onto it until he was of age. The reason he and Sora had been secretly dating was my mother. We were both afraid of what might happen if she found out BOTH her sons were gay. Sora's folks knew, and loved Riku to death. All I know is that if Beatrix Jenova were to do ANYTHING to hurt Riku, she would live to regret it. If she even lived.

Time passed quickly as I nursed a coke and rum. I would have liked something harder but I needed to be lucid for our show. Vincent leaned against the wall in a corner, his red cloak fluttering slightly from the movement of the air vent nearby. I rather liked Vincent. He was a little too pessimistic in my opinion, but he didn't talk much and when he did he didn't waste it on trivial matters. I felt a sort of kinship due to this quality. Besides, he was one of the area's best drummers. I did wonder slightly at his choice in shoes and that weird metal glove he wore, but shrugged it off. That was his issue.

Demyx was humming slightly, listening to our set list so as to be ENTIRELY certain he had it memorized. We learned that issue during our first show. Demyx liked to Ad-lib, and that was fine, but not HALFWAY THROUGH A SONG! He had forgotten what song we were doing halfway through, and picked a random song from in his head to try and finish with. We were doing Aerials (System of a Down)… when he switched to The Anthem (Good Charlotte). We were ready to kill him after that one, so now we force him to listen to a burned CD of our set list for 72 hours before hand. He was not allowed to listen to anything else, and had to listen to it in order. His t-shirt was ripped, showing it had once had sleeves, with baggy jeans with chains hanging off them randomly.

Roxas seemed a little edgy, as though something was bugging him, but that couldn't be changed. After all, his issues were his own. Just as none of us bothered the others about our histories, while we were friends we didn't mess with each other's problems unless asked to. He was moving his hands, obviously going over the cords on his Bass for one of the songs. He was wearing his usual gig outfit, a white zip-shirt with a red hood and a checker pattern on the shoulders over a black shirt, a black/white checked wristband, and pants that were black at first, but white on the legs.

Riku was snuggled up against Sora, just relaxing before the show and enjoying some time with his boyfriend. For this show, he decided to wear a black vest with a zipper (partially undone to show his stomach) under a white/yellow jacket with no sleeves. He had baggy blue jeans with HUGE pockets, and a studded belt loosely wrapped around his waist. I could already tell that when he got older he would have a similar sense of style to me, and the family good looks as well.

Me? That's simple. I was wearing the same outfit as this morning, save that I had removed my coat. I knew better than to wear it in a club this small, I would suffocate from the heat of all those people moshing combined with the lights on me. I finished my drink and noticed the time. We were due on stage in five minutes. "Alright everyone. Time for us to go out and earn this paycheck we're getting. Remember, this our first headlining gig. We aren't even getting an opening act, so we need to do well here." Everyone looked at me at this point, Demyx having removed his headphones when I stood. "Let's go." I left the dressing room, the others following suit.

We reached the stage, and I saw Xemnas' twin brother, Ansem, on stage and announcing us. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have for you tonight a wonderful local band. I hope you'll enjoy them just as much as we have, The Cave of Evil proudly presents to you, Hikari no shin!" He moved offstage, clapping, as we walked out to our places. I quickly scanned the crowd, but didn't see spiky blonde hair anywhere… though I did choke when I looked to the bar. Behind the bar, in the Cave's uniform (DnS: the Organization XIII outfit) were some familiar spiky red hair and green eyes. So, this is where Axel worked…

"Yo! How the HELL are ya tonight?!" Demyx yelled into my mic, causing a cheer to rise from the crowd. "Well, like the big dude with red eyes told ya, we're Hikari No Shin. I'm Demyx, the guitarist. We also got Roxas, the bassist, Roran, our heartthrob keyboard/synth player, and last but DEFINITELY not least, the genius drummer Vinnie!"

I watched as Vincent's eye twitched, and smirked slightly. I heard him grumble into the nearest mic (Riku's) "It's VINCENT."

"Right, right." Demyx just waved his hand like it didn't' matter. "And now, I'm gonna turn this over to our lead singer. You know him, you love him, our very own SEPHIROTH, WARLON give it up!"

He handed me back my mic, which I took before roughly causing him to squeak and hurry into position. "Welcome, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, to the greatest show in town! Watch, and be amazed! And if you aren't? Well, too fucking bad you're the idiots who paid to see us." That got a laugh from everyone. I recognized a few friends in the crowd, like Leon (at the bar as usual). "Now then, let's get this show on the road if you don't mind. Our first number is going to be the Kids Aren't Alright." I turned and nodded to the band, which immediately began the number. I closed my eyes, listening to the intro, before finally opening my eyes and looking out over the crowd as I opened my mouth to sing…

When we were young the future was so bright!

The old neighborhood was so alive!

And every kid on the whole damn street,

Was gonna make it big and not be beat.

But now the neighborhood's cracked and torn

The kids have grown up, but their lives are worn

How can one, little street, swallow so many lives?

Chorus:

Chances blown! Nothing's Free!

Longing for, what used to be!

Still it's hard! Hard to see!

Fragile lives, shattered dreams…

I paused, looking around again, hoping for a glimpse of my beauty, but of course with all the people jumping and pushing in the moshpit it was rather confusing and hard to see anything. The next verse arrived, and I quickly continued.

Jenny had a chance, well she really did.

Instead she dropped out, had a coupla kids.

Mark still lives at home, cause he's got no job.

Just plays guitar, smokes a lot of pot.

Jay committed suicide, Brandon OD'd and died,

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

The cruelest dream, reality!

Chorus

Another pause arrived, and I looked again while Demyx went nuts on his solo. I finally spotted a flash of hair that looked familiar, but I lost it before I had to repeat the chorus one last time. I took a deep breath as the crowd broke out into applause. I grinned, and turned to the others, checking on their status. They all looked ready for more. The first song had been chosen carefully, so as to ensure a full warm-up for all the band members. "Alright everybody, now that we're nice and warmed up, how about something a little bit heavier? Would you like that?" The moshers all yelled so loudly it almost caused my ears to ring. Good thing this place was soundproofed or we might have to deal with cops. "Alright then! This next one I'm pretty sure you'll love. It's called Sonne." Another cheer, as the song started up.

Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, aus

Alle warten auf das Licht
fürchtet euch fürchtet euch nicht
die Sonne scheint mir aus den Augen
sie wird heut Nacht nicht untergehen
und die Welt zählt laut bis zehn

Eins
Hier kommt die Sonne
Zwei
Hier kommt die Sonne
Drei
Sie ist der hellste Stern von allen
Vier
Hier kommt die Sonne…

I continued looking through the whole bit, and finally spotted blonde hair at this point. He was over by the bar, talking with Leon. He looked up towards the stage, and I swear his eyes were boring directly into mine. It was a wonderful feeling, and thankfully we had just ended the song. Otherwise, I think I may have screwed up. I thanked everyone for their enthusiasm as we started the next song. Throughout the whole concert, I kept my eyes glued on him. I began to sing even better than before, especially when Sora came out to help me on Bring Me to Life (I can hit the notes, but I needed Sora to do Amy's part so I could concentrate on the other singer).

We made it through the show with no problems at all, having only to make comments and jokes between songs to keep folks interested. The whole place was packed, and nobody had left. Xemnas hadn't been kidding when he said we were the hottest local band right now. I threw a few looks and winks Cloud's way when he was looking while we sang Killing Loneliness, one of my favorite songs. Finally, we had finished the set list and retreated backstage to debate about our encore. My suggestion was last, and every one agreed. We headed out, fully prepared to do it. I just wanted to do it; after all, with my heart so filled with images of Cloud it couldn't be helped. "Alright everybody, for our encore, we're gonna do something a bit upbeat. Here we go!" The others began the song, and I couldn't help but dance a bit until my part came up. After all, it was only my favorite song of this type.

Another day, is going by,

I'm thinking about you all the time

But you're out there, and I'm here waiting.

And I, wrote this letter, in my head,

'Cause so many things were left unsaid

But now you're gone, and I can't think straight.

This could be, the one last chance, to make you understand, yeah

Chorus:

I'd do anything, just to hold you in my arms.

To try to make you laugh.

Somehow I can't put you in the past.

I'd do anything, just to fall asleep with you

Would you remember me?

Cause I know I won't forget you

Together we, broke all the rules

Dreaming of dropping out of school.

And leave this place, but never come back

So now, maybe after, all these years

If you miss me have no fear

I'll be here, I'll be waiting

This could be the one last chance, to make you understand

And I can't let you leave me once again, yeah

Chorus

I close my eyes, and all I see is you.

I close my eyes, I try to sleep I can't forget you

Na na na, na na na

I'd do anything for you.

Na na na, na na na

Chorus

I stared at Cloud through the whole song, watching his reactions. He seemed to be enjoying the music, though I'm not sure if he noticed my look. Oh well. At least I had said SOMETHING about it. We thanked everyone for coming out and headed backstage. The others offered to take care of the cleanup. I headed for the parking lot, and found myself looking at Cloud's bike. He was standing near it, adjusting a leather jacket he had just thrown over his shoulders. I found my feet moving before I knew what was going on. I was standing in front of him in under a minute, and asked "So, Cloud, right? I see you made it. Did you enjoy the show?"

He turned, and looked me in the eye. "Yes, I did. I take it you're the guy who asked Demyx that ticket?"

I nodded, suddenly not sure of what to say. "Yes. I felt we should do something to welcome you to the group. Well, that and as a reward for being the most handsome young man I had ever seen." I stopped mentally. …I DID NOT JUST SAY WHAT I THINK I JUST SAID! PLEASE LET ME HAVE IMAGINED THAT!

The look on his face said I had indeed said it. SHIT! Well, nothing to do now but try to run with it. "Listen… I've been wondering, are you… seeing anyone, by any chance?"

He seemed to finally snap out of it, and looked at me like I was nuts. "As a matter of fact, I am." I felt my heart shatter. Thank god for many, many years of suppressing emotions. "And more importantly than that? Even if I wasn't I wouldn't go out with you, Sephiroth, right? I'm not gay, I'm straight."

My mind stopped for a full five minutes straight. He had left by the time I regained control over my motor functions. He was straight… the most handsome man I had ever seen, and the man I wanted more than any other, and he was straight… the world suddenly seemed a great deal colder and larger than it had since my mother had disowned me. I slowly made my way to my car, wondering when the hell he had come to mean so much to me. But, I couldn't help it. I felt like… I knew him from somewhere before… almost like a far-off memory. Hard to place, and nearly impossible to recall fully.

I somehow made it home, and had finally made up my mind. It would be hard, but I wouldn't touch him. I wouldn't make any advances, I wouldn't do anything. I refused. He was straight and it would have been pointless anyway. Besides… Well, I suppose there was nothing wrong with thoughts… I headed to the bathroom. I showered, removing the sweat that had formed on me during the show. I carefully shampooed every inch of my hair, taking my time to get it all. After rinsing it off, I grabbed a bar of soap and began to lather my hands, slowly running them over my skin as the water hit me. My mind began to wander, and suddenly I realized I was imagining Cloud's hands on me. I hardened as I continued to run my hands on my body, seeing Cloud nude before me, the picture already completed somehow. I brought my hand down, wrapping one hand around myself before slowly beginning to stroke, a small moan escaping my lips. My breathing increased along with my tempo, until I finally released, calling out his name as I did so. I slowly caught my breath, before standing and turning off the water (I had leaned against the wall). I walked out of the shower, toweled off, and headed to bed. Crawling under the covers, I slowly fell asleep, thinking of Cloud and how he might feel here with me, his warm skin against my own…

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X

DnS: Well, there we are. Chapter 3 is now complete. The last song that I didn't mention is I'd Do Anything by Simple Plan.

Sephiroth: …crying You used it! I can't believe you!

DnS: Sorry, but I thought it would prove useful to the plot. Besides, the summary did say you had to keep your hands off, and I needed a reason. It worked

Sephiroth: but, but, MY CLOUDY!

Cloud: death glare Stay away from me you freak.

Sephiroth: runs away crying

DnS: … um… o.O''' Ok, anyway. Please Read and Review, as always I will try to respond to all reviewers. FINALLY THEY SHUT UP!!!

Voices: … We're still here you know.

DnS: … reaches for Q-tips to poke them Reviewers get Demyx plushies in his concert outfit

Demyx: Woohoo! My turn to be a plushie! Grins