So yeah, this is my main focus now because innovation is over. Oh how the plot thickens. I'm not quite sure how long this will be. But I do know where the plot is going, which iss always helpful. so yeah, enjoy this chapter and the ones to come and YEAH.


Ardor

Brief Glimpse

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Sora Kayaki had no idea that who he hired was interested in more than just his troubling case.

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"So tell me, how was your date?"

Riku looked up from the novel he was currently reading to peer over at his red-head friend. On his face was an expression that screamed disappointment. Instead of expressing those obvious feelings, the silver-haired male shrugged and went back to reading. Axel frowned and motioned to the blonde inside the threshold. A scoff was heard followed by the sound of scuffling feet. Roxas entered the room, blonde spikes messier than usual. Stoic blue eyes stared at the silver-haired attorney briefly before reverting his gaze to his boyfriend.

"It was okay," Riku answered blandly. More like bizarre. The kid has some serious boundary issues. A finger rested on the page, about to turn it. A pause and then a scoff. "How about your night?"

Axel felt Riku's intense, somewhat burning gaze upon him within seconds. The red-head shrugged his shoulders before gesturing for Roxas to sit at the table with them. Roxas apprehensively complied, making sure to stagger into the chair closest to Axel - thus farthest from Riku.

"Oh we had fun, didn't we, Roxas?" Axel inquired, his voice dragging out his blonde boyfriend's name. Lips twirled up into a devious smirk.

"Fun, fun," Roxas agreed in a mumble, not daring to look Axel's room-mate in the eye. Riku and Roxas had never been … on good terms, if you will. Roxas blamed Axel's perverted and "active" nature for Riku's dislike towards him. Roxas didn't make a fuss of it, he figured if the other male wanted to strike up a friendship, he would.

"He's supposed to call," Riku remarked as his eyes lifted off the novel once more. If he will … I'm not sure. Especially after last night.

"Isn't there a three day wait for calls?" Axel wondered aloud, draping a lanky arm around Roxas' shoulders.

"Like anyone does that," Riku snorted in amusement, rolling his eyes. "I always call people the next day. Seems polite, eh?" For the first time that day, a smile leaked onto the male's lips as he set the book down completely, binding facing the ceiling.

"You just do that because you can't go a week without making out with some poor defenseless sap," Axel commented in a hum. The male furrowed his eyebrows suggestively as his fingers began to mess with Roxas' spikes. A groan of protest was heard from the blonde, but it went unnoticed.

"So?" Riku shook his head, bangs playfully falling in front of his sharp green eyes. "Dating is the number one stress-reliever."

"I thought laughter was," Roxas refuted.

"…For me, dating is," Riku felt the need to explain, eying the blonde with childish defiance. The attorney chortled under his breath before adding in, "If you can laugh whilst making out, then you have it made."

"Who laughs when they're kissing?" Axel asked slowly.

"A lot of people," Riku answered as he leaned back in the kitchen chair. Arms locked across his chest as he eyed the couple with amusement. "But I suppose with you two all that's heard in your sessions is moans. Am I right?"

Roxas' face turned a dark red as he gaped. The blonde looked like he was about to argue: But not words came out. He just sat there in silence, face growing in color by the second. Axel snorted in laughter as he pointedly said, "That's true."

"Well then, I'm glad that someone in this household has a happy, fulfilling relationship," Riku remarked, surprisingly with no hint of resentment in his voice. "Though, I could deal without you two keeping me up all the time." Insert glare afterwards. Dark, dark glare.

"Ah, someone's just jealous that I get some ass," Axel laughed proudly.

"That's not necessary!-" Roxas tried to argue, sending daggers at his boyfriend at the other's 'over-confident' flaunting.

"Phone," Axel cut Roxas off when the sound of a phone ringing cut the blonde's tantrum off. Riku instantly snapped up in his seat. Green hues stared at the vibrating device. Within seconds, the silver-haired attorney was darting across the kitchen towards it with excellent dexterity. Axel laughed when Riku nearly tripped over his own feet once he reached the phone. Coolly, the male answered it and propped it up against his ear.

"Hello?" Riku tried to dismiss Roxas and Axel's smirk.

"Someone's eager to talk to someone," Axel taunted in a low whisper, just loud enough for Roxas and Riku to hear.

"Hi, Riku?…"

"Hey, Sora," Riku said brightly, promptly leaving the kitchen to head for the bedroom for some privacy. He could have sworn he heard Axel declare, "I bet they're going to have phone sex," as he left.

Once in the shared bedroom, Riku snapped the door shut and leaned against it. "You told me to call?…" Sora trailed off, anxiety obvious in his voice.

"Mhm. I wanted to inform you that today is a very special day," a smirk appeared on Riku's face as he continued. "If it's all right with you, that is, I was thinking we could stop by the office and look over some of the company files, then we could go for lunch." A moment of silence overcame the conversation. "…Sora?"

"I'm here," Sora answered quickly. "If you want, that sounds fine."

"Okay," Riku said with a flirtatious smile appearing on his face. "I'll be there in an hour."

"Okay," Sora replied, a bit of happiness filtering into his voice. "See you there."

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One for the case --- minus one for the cause.

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"Riku Karada."

Riku tensed when he heard his name spoken in such a deep tone. Eyes snapped open wider as he cautiously peered over his shoulder. Leaning against the counter of the receptionist desk was none other than his client's 'enemy'. Riku further tensed as he eyed the man with a lack of interest. God do I hate this guy. No wonder Sora is a wreck. If I had to work with this man for as long as Sora as, I'd be driven insane. Riku folded his arms to his chest, making sure not to drop the folder in his hands. "Hello."

"You're here to see Sora, I presume?" Xemnas asked, thick eyebrows arching. The grayish haired man cocked his head to the side, observing Riku momentarily.

No shit. Why else would I be here? For my health? "That's correct," Riku replied calmly. He chewed at lip from the inside. Riku blamed it on nerves and awkwardness.

"May I speak to you for a moment?" Xemnas inquired, his lips curling into a smirk.

"Aren't we now?" Riku replied.

"Funny," Xemnas commented, still eying Riku. He then proceeded to take a seat at a vacant chair in the small room. What really unnerved Riku was that they were the only two in the room. The receptionist had gone off somewhere to get something to drink moments after Riku asked for directions to Sora's office (this place was huge and he often forgot the layout).

Riku nervously took a seat as well, but instead just hid his nerves. He was certain that he'd have to deal with weirdos such as this guy for all his latter cases. "Sora Kayaki is not someone you would want to associate yourself with."

"Why?" Riku asked automatically.

"He's unstable and has a few problems with people. Don't repeat this to him, he doesn't like me talking about it. Ever since he was twelve he's had a phobia of people coming near him. Apparently when he was eleven someone tried to kidnap him when he was at fireworks with his parents," Xemnas explained whilst leaning his chin into his hands.

"So he's afraid of people touching him?…" Riku spoke slowly and uncertainly.

"That's correct. It's natural for these types of phobias to occur. Usually people outgrow them in their teenage years … but Sora is a different case."

"I see. Though he could just not like strangers touching him. Hell, I wouldn't like anyone I don't know touching me," Riku mumbled, glancing down at the ground. That'd explain why he was so persistent about me not dancing with him. Well damn, I feel like shit now. "Is that why he's single?"

"One would assume," Xemnas chuckled and then paused before glancing about, making sure that no one was within earshot. He turned back to Riku with a serious look on his face. "I understand that you're his attorney, Mr. Karada, but your just getting yourself caught up in a lost cause. Sora's not mentally stable enough to handle a job like this. Human contact is vital, you know."

"I understand that," Riku spoke softly and then glanced down at the floor. Still, he didn't see why the other had to sue him. Sure, it was the last resort but still. "I understand what you're saying, sir, but I have faith in my client."

"Come off it," Xemnas stated darkly with a chilling laugh. Riku tensed again. "If you're sticking with him because he's an adorable piece of eye candy, I see where your priorities lie."

Riku glared and vehemently declared, "I don't see where any of this concerns you. It's obvious you don't care about his well-being and that you're taking his flaws way out of proportion." Xemnas didn't seem like the type to treat Sora was respect. It almost looked like Sora was afraid to speak up against the other. And all Xemnas did was scold Sora if he spoke.

"Think of your career, not your lack of sex," And with that said in a low voice, Xemnas left the room.

"Well he's going to be a joy to work with," Riku sighed in anger as he looked away.

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The things in that folder are for his eyes, not yours, Mr. Karada.

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Riku entered Sora's office cautiously. Xemnas' run-in had cost him ten minutes, so therefore he was late. The attorney cringed at the conversation as he lingered in the threshold. He's just an idiot trying to knock me off my game so I can't find proof that Sora's side is strong. He just doesn't want Sora to win. That's all. But damn, he's such a prick. I feel bad for the kid having to deal with him his whole life. Quite bi-polar, if you think about it…

"Hi, Riku," Sora said softly as he walked in, brushing past Riku. Riku blinked and then watched Sora with amusement. The male's eyes lingered on Sora's moving backside, not being able to remove his gaze. Damn he has a nice ass for such a cute guy. "Riku?" Sora asked nervously once he had gotten to his desk. The brunette glanced at his attorney, silently wondering why Riku hadn't entered the room.

"Huh?" Riku said and then looked to Sora. "Oh right," Riku laughed the words and passed over to Sora. Once there, he glanced at the large case Sora was holding in his hands. It looked like a briefcase, with those golden locks on the top, but it was different. It was incredibly skinny, like an art portfolio. But it was like a box … how odd.

"This is where I usually keep all the important things," Sora explained in a soft voice. He then proceeded to motion to the huge filing case. "That, is where I keep this. So it's double-protected."

"So I take it there's a lot of valuable stuff in here," Riku commented as he rose a hand to pat the thin, black, rectangular 'box'. Before his hand made contact Sora quickly pulled it to the side.

"Don't touch it," Sora whispered under his breath, not really certain if Riku heard.

Riku scrunched his nose in distaste. Without commenting he remained standing there. Sora opened it slowly, setting it on his desk. It clicked open and Riku eagerly peeked inside along with Sora.

"Account numbers," Sora began in a mumble, "and records of transactions and contracts…" The brunette removed them and kept searching.

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" Riku asked, feeling like he was suddenly a hindrance. Sora appeared to be in an odd mood, so he kept his hands firmly behind his back: And he kept his flirtatious comments to himself.

"Xemnas said that there's something in here to prove that I'm not worthy," Sora whispered, head hung low. Brown locks of hair fell in his face as he stared dejectedly as the papers he sorted through. His hand, eventually, paused on one. A look of distraught and gloom covered his face. A wince followed and Riku gave a concerned look. Sora looked down-right horrible at this moment. "I assume this is it."

"Sora, you okay?" Riku questioned in a calm and steady voice. Aquamarine hues never once took themselves off the melancholic expression of his client.

"Fine," Sora confirmed as his fingers curled around a packet of papers. A shaking followed suit as Sora lifted them up to eye-level. Before Riku knew what was going on, Sora had thrown the paper back into the case. The brunette turned around sharply, refusing to look at Riku or the collection of papers. A pained look covered the boy's face as uneven breathing was soon heard.

"Sora, you're definitely not okay…" Riku observed, stating the obvious. The silver-haired attorney reached out to reassuringly place his hand on Sora's shoulder. He felt Sora's muscles tense from the simple contact. Sora appeared like he wanted to slap the hand away: But the boy was far too drained of energy, suddenly, to do such.

"It's … nothing," Sora lied.

"It's something," Riku argued with annoyance, fingers lightly curling around Sora's shoulder. "What happened?…" It was a broad statement; he hoped he would receive an answer. Any answer would suffice.

"You wouldn't care," Sora mumbled, shaking his head. "It's my problem, not yours. I… I'm fine. Let's just… try and…" Sora began strongly but at the end he was stammering and shivering as icy cold tears stung his eyes.

"Sit down," Riku instructed uncertainly.

Sora did as he was told at once. The brunette quickly took a seat in his chair and pulled his knees close to his body, up on the chair. Sora then proceeded to hide his face against his legs. Messy locks of brown fell haphazardly.

"Tell me what's wrong. I want to help. You look like you want to cry, and that means something's definitely wrong," Riku stated dogmatically.

"You don't even know me," Sora murmured, refusing to look at Riku. He held the tears in, refusing to look like more of an emotional wreck than he had already come off as. "Leave me alone. My problems don't concern this case. Thus you have no right to-" Sora tried to sound professional, but his strained voice destroyed his cause.

"I thought we already established that we're friends," Riku argued, kneeling in front of the chair, just in case Sora chanced a look around.

"It's not professional," Sora grumbled.

"Would you rather have a boring, stiff, annoying attorney like most of them are, or would you prefer one that actually cares about you, and not just the outcome and the money they want? It's your choice," Riku stated with a quirky look. Sora didn't answer. Riku took this as an initiative to continue. "Now, are you going to tell me what just happened?"

"That… packet," Sora breathlessly said, nuzzling his nose against his leg, shielding his eyes from the attorney.

"Packet," Riku echoed as he shifted. He glanced upwards and onto the desk. The attorney's arm shot up and groped around for the mentioned collection of papers. After a few tries, he found it. Riku brought it to eye-level and examined in carefully. "I… don't get it." The document read as follows.

'Name: Rinoa Sanders

Age: Twenty-four
Martial Status: un-married
Case: Denied'

"What case?" Riku asked as he stared at the small blurb of text at the top. The rest of the page went on about the girl, whoever she was. The case was not mentioned, nor was it elaborated on why it was denied. What ever it was.

"A few years ago she applied her for insurance on her home. When the storm hit, if you remember, her house was destroyed and she was left with nothing. She had signed up for the insurance that restores your things in case of natural disasters," Sora tried to be as bland and simple as possible. "Well, somehow her 'insurance details' got changed around… I think it was someone here that did it, I don't know why they would… but when she applied to get money to fund her new house and stuff, she was denied. They claimed she never asked for such an insurance."

"Why would this?…" Riku trailed off, hoping Sora would get the idea of what he was asking for. A fragile smile appeared on Riku's lips once Sora's eyes cautiously peeked up over his knees, at once meeting green ones.

"She's my sister… was… I mean. The whole company here denied that she ever made a contract with us. We were in debt at the time, just a few thousand dollars, we quickly got out of it, and I suppose they didn't want to be fair and give out hundreds of thousands more. So they lied and destroyed anything that supported her cause. Any how, I was the only one that believed her because I remember her and Saix drawing up the contract. ….So I was temporarily suspended because I tried getting her the money … and Xemnas thought I was stealing from the company and yeah." Sora appeared out of breath as he tried his best not to stare at Riku for too long.

"Then what happened to her?" Riku inquired with an arched eyebrow. By now kneeling was getting uncomfortable, but he figured he'd manage.

"She died. She got pneumonia when the storm hit, seeing her house was destroyed and all and she lacked a good place to stay, and it's a long story… and yeah," Sora whispered with remorse.

"I'm sorry," Riku said with a frown.

"Don't say that," Sora argued, shaking his head. "Everyone says that when I tell them the story. Frankly, I'm tired of being saying that."

"Okay," Riku stated, uncertain what else he could say. "Is this why Xemnas wants you off the chair? Because you're an honest person?" Anger coursed in Riku's veins, but he had to remind himself to remain neutral. For all he knew Sora could be lying… but why would he? Was he that good of an actor?

"Mhm," Sora spoke with a sigh. "Unless there's another reason I don't know of…"

"So we need to find proof that she really did have a contract and you were just doing the right thing and not stealing," Riku said, more so to himself. Sora nodded and then laughed nervously.

"Good luck with that, though," Sora whispered silently.

"What did you do when he claimed you stole?…" Riku asked apprehensively.

"Can we talk about that another time?" Sora asked, looking mentally exhausted.

"Of course," Riku nodded a bit uncertainly but shrugged it off. "Here, let's go have some lunch and stuff, okay?"

"Sounds good," Sora whispered shakily and shyly.

"My treat," Riku added on as he arose to his feet. He helped Sora lock up the things and straighten up the office. He offered his hand to Sora, but the other ignored it and promptly exited the office, waiting to lock it afterwards. Riku sighed. This was such a confusing case…

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He thought that when you said lunch, you meant … work-orientated.

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"What is this place?"

Riku lead Sora inside a rather odd building. Sora was a bit worried when he felt a wave of cold shroud him. The brunette instinctively wrapped his arms close to his body. He was at once thankful that Riku had encouraged him to go home, change into comfortable clothing, and bring a sweatshirt. Sora was surprised that Riku still looked as model-ish and handsome as ever in a black sweatshirt. Sora, though, kept his opinions to himself as he followed Riku faithfully, afraid that if he strayed just for a moment he'd become lost.

The building they had entered was dome-shaped, in a way. Riku never did answer Sora on where they were. Sora at first had been slightly terrified of where his attorney was dragging him for lunch, but he soon shrugged it off. Blue eyes looked towards Riku and what was beyond him. Almost instantaneously Sora froze ; not due to the temperature, surprisingly.

"Sora, come on," Riku egged the other on, motioning with his right hand for Sora to follow.

Sora shook his head no vehemently. "I'm not doing it, Riku!"

Riku's lips folded down into a frown. "It's just ice-skating," Riku argued.

Disdainfully, Sora hurried to catch up with his 'new friend'. They both stopped once they had reached the large area. There were several small tables spread out around the area. On the far right wall was a built-in counter that had a 'deli' like area within. On a newly glossed sign was a menu. Towards the far left was the entrance to the actual rink. Sora paled and then nervously asked, "We're just eating here because they have good food, right to discuss business?…"

"…I wasn't aware I had mentioned business. I thought this was a date?" Riku asked his own question.

"D-date?" Sora squeaked, eyes widening before frantically waving his hands back and forth. "No, not a date! Just two guys hanging out at an… ice-skating rink…. Riku, could you get anymore obvious?" Sora pouted in disdain.

"Huh?" Riku blinked and then smirked when he realized what his brunette friend was getting at. "Oh, you mean that the ice-skating rink is the most renowned place for innocent groping and that nonsense?" Could groping ever be considered innocent?

"Yeah, that," Sora said in a murmur before following Riku to get their lunches.

"Don't worry, Sora. We'll be fine," Riku assured the other. He's so amusing, that Sora. He honestly thinks I thought this was a date. All I wanted to do was relieve some stress … but it seems like he doesn't really take jokes well.

"You're not gonna like leave me to die, right?" Sora asked nervously as they stood in line.

"I don't think you can die here," Riku argued, looking at the ice and then to Sora. He chuckled and tossed his hair playfully over his shoulder, a bit dramatically.

"…When you do that you look kinda stupid," Sora whispered under his breath, a bit timidly. He was a bit worried what Riku would do if he heard it, but sometimes he couldn't keep his comments to himself.

"Ow, Sora, that hurt," Riku complained. Yup. My ego just took a hit.

And that was how lunch started. The meal went well with normal conversation. But it all went downhill when Riku dragged Sora to the corner of the place to get skates. Sora moaned and thrashed about, trying to get Riku to let go of him and allow him to leave. Riku grumbled something incoherent under his breath and just continued with his plan, not deterred whatsoever.

That was until they were on the actual ice.

"Riku!" Sora hollered in agony as he stumbled along once Riku let go. He was thankful that Riku had finally let go of him, but now he was terrified. He didn't know how to skate! He didn't know a thing about it! He lacked grace and skill. In fear, Sora watched Riku gallantly glide about on the ice. Only when Riku lapped him did he notice the pale look on Sora's face as the brunette clung to the wall, looking like he wanted to die.

"Sora, you do know how to skate, right?" Riku asked wearily, crossing his arms against his chest as he came to a skidded halt.

"No!" Sora practically whimpered, hands digging at the plastic walls with terror.

"…Figures," Riku sighed at the clichéness. "Here, take my hand and I'll-"

"No! I…I'll be fine," Sora argued, wincing at the idea of doing such. His feet weakly moved. At first he slid a foot. He grinned at his triumphant but then paled when he lot his foot due to the stupid blades he was standing upon. Within moments Sora had fallen on his backside onto the ice, emitting a strained yell of pain.

"Sora," Riku sighed as he extended a hand to help Sora up. "You hurt?"

"No," Sora answered honestly, moving his leg so he wasn't sitting on it. Blades hurt.

"Let me help you up," Riku said, jerking his hand closer to Sora.

"I'm fine, Riku," Sora said in a quiet voice.

This was getting old. Riku groaned something under his breath as he maneuvered his way into a sitting position. Green momentarily locked with blue. Sora looked away and stared down at the shaven ice beneath his feet. He had caused that… "Riku, I'm fine…" Sora mumbled, shaking his head, wishing nothing more than to be at his boring office.

"Look," Riku shifted so that he was sitting directly in front of the brunette, "you've got to learn to deal with this sort of stuff. Physical contact is mandatory in a job like yours. Like a hand-shake. Do you wanna look rude?"

"Er… not really," Sora whispered, now staring at Riku's skates. Sora was caught off guard when Riku rose his hand into the air. He allowed it to hover, spread out as if he was about to wave. His fingers were fanned out slightly, allowing Sora to briefly see parts of Riku's face behind the hand where it was blocking his sight.

"What?" Sora asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Put your hand against mine," Riku spoke softly.

"Why?…" Sora wondered, biting his bottom lip.

"Gwagh. Don't ask anymore questions, my head's hurting. Just do it, okay? Trust me?" Riku explained with a weak smile. The silver-haired was surprised when Sora slowly rose his hand into the air. The brunette looked like he was deciding whether or not to go through with it. Sora observed his own hand briefly before tediously bringing it closer to Riku's. Inches separated their palms. Sora bit down harder as he willed himself to allow their palms to touch.

Riku heard Sora lightly gasp. The attorney watched in wonder as Sora's cheeks turned a scorching red. The hand against his was shaking, trembling even. Riku frowned a bit. Without thinking, Riku extended his free hand and placed it on Sora's idle one that was resting against the ice. The attorney's thumb lightly brushed against the cold skin, lighting it on fire. A small gasp elicited from Sora's lips again as he stared uncertainly at Riku, too timorous to look the other directly in the eye.

"…Let me help you up," Riku offered with a radiant smile as he helped Sora to his feet.

He's like a blushing pre-teen … so adorable, really, Riku thought brightly.


lalal review please?