(A/N- hey everybody, my greatest apologies for not updated in forever, but I have REALLY had a lot to do…no joke, I'm sure you all understand. Well, I plan to end this series at the tenth chapter so please, if you want me to continue feel free to drop any ideas by me.)
Chapter 7
"…I'll stay with you."
Kairi held Sora, and Sora held Kairi. And for a moment all that was going through her mind melted into nothing. She looked up at Sora and slowly she felt her face coming closer to his…closer…closer still…and then…
…She blacked out.
Yuffie walked home down the sidewalk of this dark alleyway. Most young women would not dare walk down a dark alleyway, even if it was a shortcut home, but Yuffie was a confident woman, she worried more about what she would do to ANY person who tried to rape HER.
"I'll give 'em some good 'ol ninjutsu right to the pelvis!" Making kicking noises while she fought invisible rapists, not to mention carrying groceries was definitely not abnormal…nope…not for Yuffie.
Unfortunately her battle with the invisible men was cut short as she heard a noise.
"Ugh…" It groaned.
"Ack!" She yelled dropping her bags. "Who's there?" fumbling through her pocket she pulled out a bottle of mace. "I'm warning you. Stay away!"
She saw something creeping towards her from the shadows of the alley near her.
Holding her bottle in a shaking hand she aimed it at the figure. "S..Stay back."
Then the figure slumped to the ground and the face of a good looking brown headed man with a scar across his face fell into the light of the street lamp. "H…He…Help me."
"Omigosh!" Yuffie ran over to the man and helped him sit up. "Are you alright? We need to get you to safety." She noticed that he had a gun holster and a slightly bleeding injury on the back of his head.
He pulled a cell phone out of his jacket with a trembling hand and pressed speed dial, "…tell…cough…tell him to come to the corner of Midgar and pick me…cough…pick me up…" his hand gave way and the cell phone hit the ground. Yuffie picked it up and heard a ring on the other end. She held it close to her ear when she heard…click…
"OY! Leon, where you been you fucker, I'm here working my ass off and I still don't have no damn coffee!" the voice over the phone yelled.
Silence.
"Hey…You there bro?"
Silence still.
"Leon, I swear if you picked up a hoar…"
Yuffie lightly spoke. "Um, I take it Leon is the guy with the scar that's unconscious in front of me. Right?"
"…Dude…" The voice whispered. "Leon actually bought a hoar…? SWEET! FINALLY!"
"Now wait a minute you motherfucking pervert! I'm no hoar! I just found you're friend unconscious and he gives me his phone to call you!"
"What? Are you serious? Is he okay? What happened?
"I don't know, but he wanted me to tell you to come pick him up here at the corner of Midgar."
She could hear the rustling of a coat being put on and a door closing shut. "'Kay, Midgar Lane, gotcha toots."
Yuffie mumbled back over the phone. "I'm not your toots, and by the way, who is this? His brother?"
"HAHA, no way. The name is Axel. Got it memorized? I'll be there in a few minutes, just hold him there and don't worry you're pretty little face off."
Before she could retort to his sexual comments, he hung up. Yuffie lay back next to this so called 'Leon'. She turned her head to look at him, he seemed so peaceful, or maybe it was because of severe pain and unconsciousness, but who cared?
Deciding to pass the time away, she reached into his jacket and pulled out his wallet. Looking through his cards and cash, not to mention pocketing a few bucks, figuring she had just saved the guy's life, she noticed three things.
The first thing. His badge.
"Holy shit, this guy's a cop!"
The second thing. His License.
"I knew his name wasn't Leon, Squall huh, I'll make sure to keep that in mind."
The third thing. A picture…
"…wait a second…is that…Sora?"
She was warm; she could smell hot cocoa and a slight scent of a cherry perfume. Slowly opening her eyes, Kairi pulled herself up and took in her surroundings.
She was on a couch, a soft blanket protecting her body, the room was dimly lit with candles, a soft fire glowed in the fireplace and the light danced off the portraits and pictures hanging on the walls. And next to her there was a coffee table, and laying on it, asleep was…
"Sora…" his name softly escaped her lips. How had she gotten here? Where was 'here'?
"Hey you're finally awake." Kairi turned to see a woman come through the door to the room, she wore a white collared shirt, unbuttoned at the very top, her long black hair let down so that her bangs help shape her face and the curves of her body. She had an apron on that read "7th Heaven Bar and Grill" At first Kairi thought the woman was in her mid-twenties, but when the black-haired beauty came to sit next to her on the couch, Kairi saw that her eyes held years of wisdom…and pain. Her soft features gave off an aura that made Kairi comfortable.
Setting a tray down with some food and hot chocolate she spoke again. "You know he didn't leave you at all since you guys got here." Indicating towards Sora.
"W…What? Sora?"
"Yeah, say, you guys aren't an item are you?" The lady leaned in with a smile, seeing Kairi blush slightly said more than words could.
"W…What? No, we're just coworkers, I could never…"She turned to look at Sora, his head tilted and his chest rising and falling to a slow beat, he looked so…handsome.
'No way did I just think he looked…handsome…no…and who is she to say we're a couple?'
"Miss, may I ask who you are, and where I am?" Kairi quickly tried to change the topic of her and Sora.
The other woman stood up and put her hands on her hips. "I suppose that's a fair question, you're in the 7th Heaven, only the greatest pub around." She winked with a smile. "And I'm the wise and powerful owner of this fine establishment, the names Tifa, Tifa Lockheart. Nice to meet you Kairi." She extended a hand.
Kairi extended hers cautiously. "How did you know my name?"
Looking at Sora she said, "Sora gave me the whole story, your fine."
Kairi suddenly came to the realization of what that meant.
"Wait! So you know why all this stuff is happening?" Kairi desperately wanted answers and hopefully she would give them to her.
Tifa's face became grimmer, "That's a fair question as well, but it won't be the same coming from me, I think Sora should tell you himself when he wakes up. Come on, I'll take you to the front and we can talk with everyone else there." Tifa stood and pulled Kairi by the hand to the door.
"…Everyone else?"
"Sir…um, there is someone here to see you." Riku's Secretary Namine hesitantly spoke.
"Nam, can't you see I'm busy, this is work that has to be done today and I'm behind schedule."
Namine lowered her eyes and stammered. "Y…Yes Mr. Riku. I'll tell the gentleman to come back later." She left the room and the room was quiet…until…
"NO I WON"T COME BACK LATER!" The door to Riku's office burst open and in came a furious Roxas.
"Well, well, Roxas Strife, this is an odd occurrence, I take it my family doesn't know you're here, or you wouldn't be standing there." Riku said with a smirk. Namine came rushing in.
"Sir, I'm terribly sorry, he just…"
"Don't worry about it Nami. Why don't you take the day off," he looked at her with steal blue eyes, showing a kindness rarely shown. "You've been working almost as hard as me."
"Y…Yes sir. I suppose I will. Um, well, goodnight then sir." She bowed and left the room a small blush of embarrassment on her face.
Riku's attention now turned to Roxas. "So what brings you here?"
"I came to ask you some questions." He glared at Riku.
"Questions, well, I'll be a good sport this once, usually I'm not too friendly to your family so…"
"Where's Sora." Roxas interrupted.
Riku stopped talking, caught off guard by this; did Roxas know that Sora was here in the city? Did information slip somehow? No, he couldn't know, Riku would play it cool, not let his guard down.
"What's with that question, hasn't he been gone for a while, why would I know where he is. Last I heard he was dead."
Roxas slammed his fist onto the table. "Dammit, don't tell me lies that you don't care, you used to be his best FRIEND!"
Shot through the heart, but he wasn't going to let anything slip.
"I don't know what you're talking about, now please leave me alone, or I'll inform the guards." Riku turned his chair so he was facing away from Roxas.
Roxas didn't move, and a moment of awkward silence followed. "My mother…" Riku turned his head slightly to listen. "…She's dying, her last request is for me to find him, and I swear, even if it means my death, I will find him, I'll make him come back." And with that Riku heard the door slam as Roxas left.
"Damn fool, he's getting himself into deeper water than he's used to." Riku said shaking his head.
As Roxas was leaving the corridor a soft voice interrupted him.
"That's very sweet of you." It was Namine; she was at her desk in front of Riku's office wing. "To want to give your life to make someone close to you happy." She turned her eyes toward the ground with a sad tone. "I've never seen someone here in this house so loving."
Roxas tilted his head, "Aren't you supposed to be on a day off?"
Namine sighed, "Yes, I suppose so, but then I realized that I've never left Riku for over two years, it's not that I love him or anything, it's just…" She turned her head to look out the window down onto, "…I admire him, in this world of cold hearted people, his heart still has goodness, even though he doesn't admit it. Kinda like you." She looked at him kindly.
Roxas blushed a little bit and then asked, "Hey, if you're that bored, do you want to go out to eat," he looked away, trying to look more profound. "You know, not like a date, just, to pass time away." He peeked at her to wait her response. She WAS kind of cute.
Namine gave a smile. "Sure, that'd be great."
"Well good mornin' beautiful!" Rikku happily squeaked as she flipped some pancakes in the cooking area of the bar.
"Rikku, I hope you don't go and mess up those pancakes, I'm a hungry, and god damned if I have to eat your bullshit cooking again." Grumbled Barret sitting at one of the tables.
It had started raining, outside the soft patter of rain was heard against the windows, and the bar's 'closed' sign shown bright. The bar was very simple, almost like any other, except on the walls there were articles and pictures hanging in various places. Soft neon lights lit behind the counter, and low hanging lamps lit the tables as well as a few scattered pool tables.
"You are already familiar with Rikku and Barret, but you still need to meet the rest of the staff, Barret is our cook, and Rikku is one of four of our waitresses."
Kairi turned towards Tifa. "Four?"
"Yeah, including me, this place would have burned to the ground if only Rikku worked here." Kairi surprisingly turned to see a woman with dirty colored hair and a black leather suit playing pool at one of the tables. "The names Paine."
"Paine?" Kairi thought 'what an odd name, I bet there's a reason she has it though.'
The through the front door burst through two people. One good looking brunette with one blue eye and a green eye, dressed in a cow boyish style.
"Come one Marlene; let's show daddy what we bought at the store." She said.
The other, a small girl with a bright smile dressed in a very extravagant hat and shopping bags came through, slightly wet from the rain.
"Daddy! Look, Yuna helped me pick out clothes so I can look pretty for you!" She ran over into Barret's arms and gave him a hug, looking like a rag doll compared to the burly man.
"Honey, you don't need to go spend all my money on expensive stuff to look good." Barret took a good look at the small girl, slightly disappointed that her dad didn't compliment her. "But you DO look older, and very beautiful, isn't that right Paine." Barret desperately turned to Paine for support.
Paine dully looked up from her game, "Dashing." Then resumed. Marlene shined with happiness and went off to play in her room.
Tifa then spoke up. "Well there are the other two, Yuna and Marlene."
"Wait, the little girl works?"
"Well," Tifa scratched her head. "Informally she does."
Everybody began to resume where they were, Tifa started wiping the tables, almost as if it was a habit, Barret scrutinized Rikku, Paine Started a new pool game. And Yuna sat down and started reading her book. Kairi, not sure of what to do, began to walk around the pub reading the various articles and looking at the different pictures, her questions would have to wait till Sora woke up.
She found many articles having to do with the two royal families, one having to do with a rumor that Cloud Strife had cheated on his wife, but at the end concluding it just a rumor. Others were postcards sent from different parts of the world, and after she passed pictures of the Strife Family she found herself staring at the corner of one of the walls.
"Tifa, what are these?" Kairi called over to Tifa. Tifa put her towel down and came over to what she was looking at, standing next to her, a small smile crept across Tifa's face, and she placed her hands on one of the frames.
"They were Sora's first Comic strips in a newspaper over in Twilight Town. He was so happy that he sent me the papers and I got them framed.
Kairi examined them, they all had animal characters, a mouse named Mickey, a Dog named Goofy, and a rambunctious duck named Donald. She let out a chuckle after reading a few. They WERE pretty funny, it occurred to her that she never really read Sora's comics, she then felt pretty mad at herself.
Yuna came over and put her hand on Kairi's shoulder, "You know, he really is a sweet guy, so how did you two meet?"
Kairi turned a bit red, "Well, actually, it started with a bike crash…"
She then began her long story of how they got into their present situation…
Leon struggled to open his eyes; his head hurt like an atomic bomb had gone off in it.
"Oy, Leon, get up you lazy ass, I'm tired of being here with this tomboy." A red head said from across the room.
"Who you calling a tom boy you freaky mop head!" Yelled Yuffie from the other, her fist raised.
"Mop- head! Why I oughtta…" The two then began to glare at each other. But before they could start their attacks Leon interrupted.
"Hey Axel, I got good news."
Axel, interested now with Leon's information tilted slightly. "Really? Wait, you NEVER have good news with out bad news."
"I suppose I have that too." Leon chuckled.
Axel crossed his arms and pouted. "I knew it, damn. Well, spill it."
Leon sat up from the couch he was laying on and looked Axel in the eye and spoke solemnly. "I found him. I found the guy we're looking for."
"Whoa really?"
"…but he got away."
Axel slumped down on a chair. "Dammit." He pounded the table. "So at least we know he's in the city. But where…"
Yuffie, determined to make her presence known, stood up and held out the picture she had found on Leon. "I take it you guys are looking for this guy, Sora Avalon. Well, I happen to know where he lives."
Leon and Axel both jumped up and stared at Yuffie, this was one major coincidence. "No way…" they both gawked.
Yuffie held up one finger and swayed it from side to side. "ah-ah-ah, but before I help you two fine detectives," she turned with a smirk, "I want to know the whole story. Why are you looking for him, what do you want with Sora Avalon?"
Leon regained his composure, "Fair enough, we'll tell you…" Yuffie turned her head to look at him. "First of all, his name isn't Sora Avalon…
…it's Sora Strife."
(A?N- once again, sorry for the late update, please read and review :3)
