Chapter 7: Reason for being stubborn

A/N: It looks like Leon and Riku aren't going to be on good terms. I know Leon's being a jerk but he has his reasons and they'll be explained in this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy seeing the softer side to the stoic gunblade master.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own my oc's.

Enjoy!

/

The last two days were anything but fun for Hikari. After Leon exploded over the fact that she was dating Riku, he made sure to keep her busy and away from him. He made Riku help Cid out with a few things in town while he made sure his sister was by him at all times.

Hikari didn't mind the fact that she was spending time with her brother; it was just the fact that he was intentionally making it so that she couldn't spend time with Riku. The whole reason why she came here was so she could have a nice little vacation with the two men that meant everything to her.

If the two of them were going to act like they wanted to take each other's heads off then she was not going to enjoy her little visit with her brother.

/

"I swear he's doing this on purpose" Riku said.

Sora looked at his best friend with confusion as he stacked up a box of food that was going to be used for the party.

"Who is?" he asked.

Riku gave Sora an annoyed look.

"Leon" he said.

"He's been making me do these hard tasks so that I can stay away from Hikari. And I bet he even made sure I did the hard stuff in hopes that I get myself hurt or something"

Sora just snorted at his friend's logic.

"Don't be silly, Riku" he said.

"Leon isn't like that. I bet he just wanted you to do the hard stuff since he knows you're stronger than everyone in our group. He doesn't want to hurt you"

Riku rolled his eyes. Sometimes he wondered how Sora could be so naïve.

"You didn't see the look in his eyes when you mention that I was Hikari's boyfriend" he said.

"He looked like he was ready to snap my neck"

"No he wasn't. Yeah, he probably went crazy for a second, but I doubt he wanted to kill you. He's not that insane" Sora explained.

"Oh, I'm perfectly sure he's insane" Riku said dully.

Sora sighed and sat on the crate of food to take a break. He could understand why Riku was upset with how Leon treated him, but he didn't blame the gunblade master. After everything that happened to him and Hikari, he had a reason to freak out.

"Just try to ease up on him" he said.

"He may have a huge chip on his shoulder, but he has his reasons"

Riku gave him a dark glare.

"Oh, now you're on his side?" he asked.

Sora shook his head quickly.

"No, I'm not on anyone's side" he insisted.

"I'm just saying Leon has his reasons to be a jerk. He had to deal with Xemnas after all"

Riku's glare vanished right away when he heard that. Just hearing that Nobody's name sent shivers down his spine. Even though the leader of Organization Xlll was long gone, his memory was still fresh. Hikari told him everything about what her life was like having him pretend to be her father. The constant fear of not knowing what he was thinking or how he felt about Hikari and Taiyouko would make even someone like him feel afraid.

He remembered asking Hikari about what her brother did about all of this, but she would just give him a weak smile and say it wasn't her place to say.

Sora had a similar expression his face, wondering what kind of torture it was that Leon had to live with.

"He may be a little cold and serious at times, but he has his reasons" he said.

"He's right"

The two of them turned when they saw Mickey coming towards them. Even the King was helping out with the party.

Mickey had a slightly sad look on his face as he thought of Leon.

"Leon doesn't mean to be cold, but he has his reasons" he explained.

"He had to grow up very fast at a very young age. With having a mother and a sister who were sorceresses, he had to deal with negativity that everyone gave them. He was their only source of protection so he had to be an adult when he should have been a kid. Then with the whole Xemnas and Maleficent issue, he really had to be on his guard. Even though none of us knew what Xemnas was planning, he knew that he was bad news and that being near him was not good. He had to be both a brother and a dad to Hikari since they didn't have a father and Xemnas only saw them as tools for his plans"

He looked at them sadly, as if hoping they would understand what he was saying.

"I'm sure after everything that he had to go through with Xemnas, he's a little edgy when it comes to guys being near Hikari and Taiyouko. He saw them getting hurt because of Xemnas, so he doesn't want to see the same thing happening from another guy"

He gave Riku a small smile and patted his hand.

"I'm sure Leon doesn't hate you" he said.

"He just worries for Hikari's safety. Her life means more to him than his own"

Riku didn't say anything for a moment and just closed his eyes. He understood what his friend was trying to say to him, but part of him didn't agree to Leon's motives. He understood why he would be super protective of Hikari, but he had to know that she was a big girl and that she could take care of herself.

She saved the worlds and defeated Xemnas on her own perfectly. Surely he could see that?

He ran a hand through his silver hair and looked at the sky.

It seemed like if he wanted to enjoy his stay at Radiant Garden, he would have to be the mature one and work things out with Leon.

/

Hikari sighed as she followed her brother through the busy streets of the town. Today Leon asked for her help with the table settings and they had to look for decorations. She would have enjoyed spending time with her favorite older brother if it weren't for the fact that he was purposely keeping her away from Riku.

Heck, when she went to say good morning to him earlier, Leon quickly showed up and steered her away from her boyfriend. She thought it was rude that her brother was acting childish and she wanted him to stop.

"Ni-san?"

"What?"

Hikari sighed and looked at her brother seriously.

"We need to talk"

Leon looked up from the list that Mikomi made for him to look at her. He saw the serious look on her face and knew that she wouldn't do anything unless he listened to her.

He stopped walking and faced her.

"What is it?"

Hikari crossed her arms and gave him a scolding look.

"We need to talk about how you've been acting around Riku" she said.

Leon sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't want to talk about this now.

"I haven't killed him so how is there a problem?" he asked.

Hikari huffed and put her hands on her hips.

"You've been dragging me along like a dog this whole time and won't let me have a moment with Riku!" she insisted.

Leon gave her a harsh stare. She was making it seem like he was the bad guy when he felt like he wasn't.

"I haven't seen you in two months and I wanted to spend time with my little sister" he said.

"You're making it sound like that it's a bad thing"

Hikari huffed with annoyance.

"It's not bad that you want to hang out with me and I want the same thing" she insisted.

"But I just find it rude that whenever I talk with Riku, you suddenly appear out of nowhere and whisk me away to do something else or keep me away from him. It's like you don't want me to be with him at all"

Leon snorted.

"You got that right" he said.

Hikari stomped her foot at that.

"Ni-san!" she snapped.

Leon rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Hey, I'm allowed to hate people and Riku just so happens to be one of them. He's one of the top three" he said.

"But you don't even know him to want to hate him" Hikari insisted.

"Riku's a nice guy"

Leon growled.

"Yeah and grandpa said Xehanort was nice too and looked what happened to you and mom"

He quickly shut his mouth when he said that. He never meant to snap like that, but it seemed his negative emotions were getting to the best of him lately.

He looked away shamefully.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that" he said.

Hikari looked at her brother sadly. She knew he never meant to snap at her like that. But when she heard that statement she started to put the pieces together.

It seemed he was comparing Riku with Xemnas and thought that he was going to hurt her like Xemnas hurt their mom.

"Is that why you're being mean to Riku?" she asked.

"Do you think he would hurt me like Xemnas hurt mom?"

Leon didn't say anything but when Hikari saw the slight blush on his face, she knew that she caught him.

"Ni-san-"

"I don't trust guys who want to get close to you or mom" he suddenly said.

He didn't look at her when he spoke. It was rare for him to show his emotions and he didn't want to appear weak in front of his sister.

"Every time someone got close to mom, they would always hurt her badly" he said.

"She ended up having a horrible relationship with grandpa to the point she would start yelling at him whenever she saw him. Xehanort pretended to care about her when he simply used her as a pawn to fulfill his goals and get close to you. And of course your dad-"

He closed his eyes and controlled his emotions. He had seen so many things in his life. Some of which he didn't want to remember.

He opened his eyes and looked at his sister seriously.

"I spent most of my life watching our mom suffer by people who acted like they cared about her, but only ended up hurting her" he said.

"I was too young to do anything about it so focused on protecting you from suffering the same fate. I couldn't stand the thought of seeing my precious little sister suffer because people wanted to pretend to be close to you. I didn't want to see you get hurt as well"

Hikari tilted her head.

"Is that why you acted like a jerk to Riku?" she asked.

Leon nodded and looked at the sky.

"Maybe I did freak out, but when I heard that you had a boyfriend, I just felt that my fears were coming true" he said.

Hikari went up to him and gently grabbed his hand.

'"I understand why you would be scared about me having a boyfriend, but I'm serious when I say Riku is a good person" she said.

"True, he's made a couple of mistakes in the past, but he's done more than enough to atone for them. Plus, he traveled with mom while we were separated and made sure nothing bad happened to her. I'm sure if you asked Sora and King Mickey, they would be more than happy to tell you how nice Riku is"

She gave his hand a squeeze with a pleading look in her eyes.

"I've never asked anything from you where we were growing up" she said.

"But I'm asking you to please just give Riku a chance. If not for me, then for mom. He kept her safe from the Organization so at least show him some gratitude. You don't have to be friends with him, but just talk with him, try to see the person who helped me when I came to the islands and who motivated me to keep pushing forward in my travels"

Leon hissed and he closed his eyes. He hated it when his sister gave him the pleading look.

"You know I can never say no to you" he said.

Hikari smiled softly.

"I know, but I'm not forcing you to do something that you don't want to do" she said.

"I just don't want to see my brother and boyfriend arguing the whole time"

Leon groaned and held the bridge of his nose. He just had a feeling he was going to regret this.

"Fine" he sighed.

"But if he rubs me the wrong way, then it's off. I'm not going to deal with people who have no respect"

Hikari smiled, glad that he was going to finally give Riku a shot.

"Thank you, Ni-san!"

She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug.

"You'll love Riku, trust me" she said.

"You won't regret this"

Leon patted her head but had a disgusted look on his face as he held her close.

"Oh, I have a feeling that I will regret this" he thought.

/

A/N: Aww, I just love seeing protective Leon…even though he can be unfair at times. But hey, when you've seen a crazy man try to destroy your world just for the sake of getting Kingdom Hearts, it's understandable why he would be so against Hikari dating Riku. He saw his mom suffer and he doesn't want to see the same thing happen to Hikari.

Also, if you read carefully, Leon said he really hated three people. Who could those three people be? I'm sure you can guess two of them but who is the third one?

I look forward to seeing Riku and Leon trying to get along…key word and trying. Will it work out or will they just want to kill each other even more?

Please review and tell me what you think!

Ja ne!