A/N; AND NOW WE ENTER THE MODE OF INTRODUCING LEON!!! -CHEERS- Yeah, I noticed he hasnt gotten face-time yet. i figured, hey, what better way to get him on the scene? LOL i shouldnt've cheered, though. I dont even like Leon. I. HATE. HIM. -runs from Leon lovers- But anyways....
Also, I've come to a conclusion that I'll start updating about once a month now. I have several other stories and am currently working three other projects which I hope to publish sometime in May. I hope this doesnt strike as terrible to you people. Ya'll are the best in the world!!
So, once a month from here on. I'll be able to stick to that. -smiles- And I'm also trying to get more conflict in the story. I already had one panned out from the start. However, that wont be for another....two? Three chapters? Something like that. DX Excuse my unpreparedness!!!
Enjoy.
Ps, this is edited version. Arigato CloudyMorning-san for informing me of my Japanese errors –bows- x3
V3r53 u!n3 (Verse Nine)
"Master, if you don't mind me saying," Yuna began the following evening, hands over each other. "I've noticed that, unlike the other humans you chose before - you're treating Sora Strife with patience and care."
Riku ceased re-sewing his head back to his neck and gazed at the brunette priestess in the mirror thoughtfully. "You think so?" he replied absently, hardly aware of that fact. Thinking it over, the faces of his past almost-lovers flashed through his mind - how quickly he made the process then! Sometimes he wouldn't be with a person for more than a week! Every year he went through about seven or eight victims.
The silveret shrugged at that, then smiled a bit. "I suppose I do," he said, picking up the thick needle and thread once more and sliding it into his flesh.
"You're very certain about him, arent you?" she added, taking a seat next to him.
"Very. He said he'd come tonight," Riku recalled, twisting his face in concentration as he tried to reswe the back of his head, the most difficult part since he couldnt actually see it. "and Sora doesnt seem like the type of person to go back on his word - at the most, I think he's just afraid. And who wouldnt be, Yuna-? Ow!" He exclaimed, more in surprise than in pain as the needle nicked him.
"You must be so happy," Yuna said, gently taking the needle from the vampire's hand and settling it down on the dresser. She took a small hankerchief out of her skirt pocket and patted the blood off of his finger. It smeared black. "To think," she put the cloth away and resumed the chore for him, tying his silver hair back. "After all this time....You finally found...the one."
"Yes. Do...you think he thinks of me as often as I think of him?" Riku wondered, eyes half-lidded and downcast in a dreamy rapture. "I cant stop thinking of him. Even as I lay in my coffin sleeping, I dream of him."
Yuna nodded, empathetic, as the cut the thread off. "Done."
"Thanks."
He got up and looked out the window at the sinking sun. "this time, I wont be betrayed," he commented darkly. "If Sora doesnt make the choice I want him to, I'll be the one who does the back stabbing..." He felt the tips of his sharp fangs with his tongue.
Yuna stared at him worriedly. "But like you said," she interjected, "he's not like that." She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder in solace. "Master, I'm fairly certain things will progress smoothly. You will be free."
Riku's gaze softened as he turned to his caretaker. A somber look crossed his face. "Yes, though...my freedom only for him to be caged?" He wrapped his arms around her small body, sighing as he rested his cheek onto her soft breast. "Yuna...what do you think Sora will do once I tell him what happens after I perform my Kiss?"
The priestess furrowed her eyebrows, but tried not to let her worry show in her voice. "It'll be overwhelming, but I'm confident that Sora Strife will do what is best for Master," she half-lied. She really did want to believe in the young boy, but...that was the thing. Yuna also knew that the concept would frighten a fragile mortal like him.
"He'll do it," she said, then set her lips in a thin line as Riku smiled at this reassurance, embracing her once again. Yuna downcast her eyes sympathetically.
...Even though he'll be condemned to Hell.
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
He kissed me- he kissed me, was all Sora could think about as he lay on his bed. Even when he met up with an extremely relieved Kairi, it seemed the only image Sora was able to conjure up in his mind was the way Riku leaned onto him; how his luminous jade orbs became concealed under milky lids; and, of course, how those thin, drool-worthy lips inched toward his own until finally meeting in such a captivating and alluring manner.
The brunet shifted above his mattress, pulled he covers tighter towards him, then gave up trying to sleep and tossed his blankets to the side. He sighed, rubbing his eyes and stretching.
"How am I ever gonna get any sleep if I keep thinking about him?" Sora chastised himself, pouting, before a knock sounded at his door, making him jump.
"Sora? Are you still awake?"
Recognizing the voice, sora calmed down. "Er, yeah. Didja wanna come in?"
There was no vocal response, instead the knob turned and clicked as the door opened, revealing the brunet's older brother. He didnt look much like Sora or their mother, Aerith - his hair a darker brown than theirs - but he held many of Cloud's strong, chiseled features around the face and toned muscles from working in the dojo. His eyes were a stormy gray that were quite handsome unless he was angry. And a long, thin scar ran diagonally across his nose from a fight he had a few years ago on the streets.
No doubt Squall Leonhart Strife was totally hot-looking and it was times like this that Sora wondered why he didnt receive any of those 'good-looking' genes.
But, whatever, this was all beside the point.
The older brunet stared at the younger, an awkward shift in his steps as he sat beside the teen. "Hey, um," he hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. "I came to see if you were awake, because I...I need to talk to you."
A heart-to-heart? This was new, since Leon wasnt much of a talker, even when their parents were alive. For some odd reason, it was always like he was hiding something from the rest of the family...like he had a great weight on his shoulders. But Sora was open to these things, so he nodded, going along with it. "Whats up?"
Leon exhaled audibly through his nose as he attempted to grasp for words. "Listen, I noticed that you havent really been yourself lately ever since you paid your respe....I mean, visited Mom and Dad." Putting down his hand, he looked over at Sora seriously. "Is there something thats...bothering you? Do you want to talk?"
The younger brunet blinked in surprise, noticing for the first time his behavior had been out-of-place for the past two weeks. Last week he had stayed at Kairi's - needing her comfort over his own silent brother's Then before that was his whole run-in moments with Riku, and that had been enough in itself to make him so spacey-outy. And after all that, Leon actually noticed?
"I havent been acting strange," Sora tried to reassure. Then he fidgeted a bit anxiously. "At least, I dont think I have..."
"You've been quiet," Leon pointed out.
"Its a crime to be quiet? Everyone gets quiet."
The older brunet raised a skeptical brow. "Sora, you're never quiet," he said.
"Lies!" the teen exclaimed humorously, attempting to brighten the mood. It seemed to work as a small chuckled escaped his older brother.
"Then what was that outburst?" he inquired.
Sora burrowed in a ball, hugging his knees to his chest - he didnt exactly want to admit defeat yet. "I dunno..." he pouted.
Leon sighed again and sat close enough to Sora to a point where they touched. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again, and when the younger brunet looked up, he was taken aback at the slightly softer look in those cloudy eyes. Was Leon...actually worried? Sure, it wasnt like he loathed the younger or anything, but they didnt actually 'bond' often.
Leon broke the stare, then spoke. "Its been months," he began, tossing a brown lock out of his face, "since the accident happened. Sora, are you listening?"
The teen nodded attentively.
"I just want you to know, Otouto-san, that even though Mom and Dad are gone...you still have me." Leon took the opportunity to let this information sink into his brother's brain before continuing. "As your older brother, its, of course, my duty to take care of you. But I want you to know I'm...slightly worried about you - as the human I am.
"So I want you to be happy, and not dwell on things that...arent your fault."
Sora's sapphire eyes widened. Leon thought...he thought that he was upset about his parents death! Well, that wouldnt be too far off, would it? The whole reason Sora went to the graveyard that day two weeks ago was because he was still upset....still grieving....
...and still blaming. Blaming himself that his parents were killed. It was all his fault, he knew. The police found a wrecked car and two bloody, mattered bodies massacred a few feet away from their vehicle. the authorities believed to be the person to have crashed into them to have driven off, apparently unscathed to have escaped like that. Leon came to pick him up across town, eyes distant and chest rising up and down quickly, heaving his breaths. A man about the older's age occupied the seat next to Leon, a solemn look about his eyes. Sora sat in the back seat, confused. Werent his parents supposed to have come pick him up...? And who was this man?
"Leon...?" he had begun to question.
Stormy eyes narrowed before closing, a single translucent tear falling down his cheek. "I'll tuck you in tonight," was all he said as the stranger man gently offered a hand to hold - Leon didnt pull away. And he did comply with his offer, though Sora wondered why. He wondered why he parents werent home and why Leon insisted to sleep next to him - with him. The man had gone home on Leon's request - more like insistence. Sora didnt see another tear escape from Leon's eyes, but he did hear the struggled breaths.
"Mom and Dad...they got in an accident," Leon whispered slowly, wrapping a free arm across his younger brother's torso. Sora's brows furrowed - the true meaning behind the words hadnt sunk in yet. The older Strife went on, "They got taken to the hospital, but...I'm sorry, I wont sugar-code this, Sora, but...There were too many wounds...So much blood. It was inevitable. They didnt make it."
It was silent for a long while, and it was then Sora realized he wasnt even breathing. As he inhaled to fill his lungs, tears immediately exited, flowing down his eyes in salty rivers. A cry escaped his lips but they soon morphed into multiple sobs - and very soon he was bawling. For the first time since he was a toddler, Sora wanted Leon to hold him. Hold him in his strong, protective arms. Leon encased him securely, tucking his head in the crook of the older's neck.
Sora kept screaming numerous nothings, things like "When?!", "Lying! You're lying!". He clawed at his brother's nightshirt, literally clinging to him. "Come back!" he hollered. "Make them come back! Leon!"
A sympathetic stare had bore across his brother's countenance. His face burrowed Sora's unkempt brown hair. The wails didnt die down all night, but Leon was patient. Not only that, he was also a child of those who had passed - his parents. Leon was also empathetic - he knew Sora's pain, if not a tad more, with the secret he had hidden and never revealed. Into his younger brother's hair, Leon whispered softly,
"Shou ga nai...Otouto-chan(1)."
I needed so much help that day, Sora recalled, brought back to the reality of the present. Inside him, his heart twisted about at the mere memory of Leon's sad eyes, the protection he wanted to secure Sora with, and the screams he had emitted in sorrow. The younger brother gazed back up at the older, true clarity breached within them. He just doesnt want me to go through that pain again. I just stayed at home for weeks, crying my fluids out and I absolutely refused to go to the funeral. Because then...I might've broken again.
Sora smiled at Leon reassuringly. "It has nothing to do with that, Onii-chan," he explained, wanting nothing more than for that look in his brother's eyes to disappear. "I do miss them...alot," his eyes watered, voice wavering in just the slightest, but he continued. He had weeks to cry, so he wasnt going to start again now. "But its nothing. Probably just some teenage mood-swings I have."
Leon widened his eyes in surprise. Then his face turned kind, a most uncharacteristic feature upon him. He got up. "Sure, mood-swings. At the peak of adulthood, arent you?" He ruffled Sora's hair roughly, making it messier than before.
"Ack!" the younger exclaimed. He straightened up to chastise the older when he found Leon was already at his door.
Smiling, he had one hand on the knob. "Oyasuminasai(2)," he said softly, giving Sora the cloaked affection on his face that only an older brother could give to his younger.
Sora beamed, fixing his hair back as best as he could. "Heh...yeah, oyasuminasai," he returned, opening his mouth to say more, but then reconsidered. He pulled open his blankets and buried himself beneath them, getting comfortable. Leon nodded, closing the door behind him.
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
The following day, Sora felt as if the school day couldnt get any slower. Classes dragged throughout the day, and it didnt help that Kairi all-of-a-sudden developed a tendency to hover over him and inspect his every move. She insisted that he never be concerned with Riku ever again.
"No matter if he's giving you some sappy sob story with his parents," she said, a determined expression on her face. "Anyone could make something up about their life when you dont REALLY know them! And I dont think you know him!"
Sora looked over at his friend, unnerved. "You werent there, though, Kairi," he tried to explain. "There was pain - true pain - in his eyes. It made me so sad to hear how...broken his voice was. And him not going to school, living in shadows...Doesnt it seem like he's been forgotten, somehow? I cant help but feeling sympathetic. Kairi, wouldnt you?" He gave her an almost pleading look in his sapphire eyes.
Kairi twisted her pink lips into a frown, trying her hardest not to be fazed. "You can act like something hurts you," she concluded. "I mean sob story plus pedophile actions....It doesnt match to me."
"Japan's, like, the safest place in the world, Kai."
The maroon-haired girl wagged a single finger. "I wouldnt be too sure about that - havent you been listening to news reports lately?" At her friend's blank shake of his head, she went on, "Dont you remember? You were the one who told me about those two teenagers that supposedly got killed."
Sora hesitated. "They never technically found the bodies," he recalled vaguely.
"But there was supposed evidence of blood," Kairi countered. "Near the - listen up now - Kura church! Now, does that or does that not say something? Isn't Kura church the inhabitence of your little boyfriend?"
Sora ignored her dis, saying, "Supposed evidence, Kairi. Keyword: Supposed - it hasnt been proven it was blood or even if it belonged to a human, much less the two teenagers that are missing." Sora fiddled with his backpack strap. "He told me to come tonight. Then he'll ex...." Beside him, his friend sighed.
"Sora, cant you see how worried I am about you?" she asked, a plead in her tone. They stopped in the middle of the hallway, Kairi gazing at her friend intently. "This man is changing you, but you're too kind and sympathetic to let go. Just leave him alone."
"I cant!" Sora all but yelled. Students paused a bit, examining the pair before going on about their business. He blushed, embarrassed, but continued in a stage-whisper. "Kairi, I just...can't. I've been him before, thinking I was all alone. I dont understand much about him, but I do know that he needs someone to be his friend."
Kairi widened her pale blue eyes in disbelief. "I...I can't believe this!" she exclaimed, but still trying her best not to be too loud. Her hands fidgeted and waved about, unsure of what to do with themselves. "You, Sora...You really think friendship is all he wants?! You told me what he did to you, what he said to you, and it is not cool! How can you not see it?! Sora, I...!" Then, without a second thought, she embraced him - arms under his, holding his chest. Sora widened his eyes in surprise, but made no move to remove his friend. They hugged before, but this one, he felt, was more caring and concerned.
"Kai..."
"It hurts me - and Leon, too I'm sure - to even think of someone hurting you!" she said, her voice hoarse. "I don't know anything about this man, this Riku....So can you blame me if I think he can do something bad to you? All I have are your descriptions and I dont like him! You worry me, Sora! You make me worry for you! Dont go..."
Sora's heart hammered guiltily for knowing he was the reason his friend was so disdrought. She was shaking her head in his chest and quietly he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Kairi," he said, wishing there was some way he could really express it - really show there was no need to be so concerned over him.... He swallowed the saliva in his mouth.
"Say, would you feel better if maybe you came with me?" he asked of her softly. Kairi stopped moving for a moment, then slowly detatched herself from the brunet. Her eyes locked on to his mirroring ones. Sora nodded encouragingly. "Please, Kairi, come with. Then you'll see Riku for who he is, and I'm sure you'll see him the way I do - just a normal guy who's...isolated and wants someone to care for." Sora noted how perhaps he should keep the whole Riku loving him thing to himself. "He'd feel better if you were his friend as well."
"....I would feel better...." Kairi said finally, swinging on towards going along with the plan. She furrowed her maroon brows, then looked at Sora inquiringly. "You dont think he'll get mad?"
A flash of what Riku was like after Kairi had called yesterday blitzed through his mind. would he be like that again...? He was already pretty upset when his friend just called - how would he react when he arrived, with her right by his side?
"The...The thought of someone else having your heart...instead of me...."
He wouldnt do anything - not if I'm not in love with Kairi or anything. But should I hold off until he tells me everything today? And perhaps I should give him some warning as well....
"Sora?"
"Okay, how about this, Kairi," Sora began, formulating a compromise. "What if I go today, tell him you're coming, and next time I visit, we both go together?"
"What? What happened to today?" she asked. Then a peeved glare flashed in her eyes again. "Dont tell me he's treating you like a possession and he wont like me!"
"No, its not that," the brunet explained calmly, holding his hands up innocently. "Its just...he asked only for me. It'd be rude if I brought you out of the blue."
"So I'm a nuisence?" Kairi clarified flatly, a brow arching.
Sora sighed, but a small smile ghosted over his lips. "You're never a nuisence...Will you be happy if I said I'll call you again?"
Her eyes brightened again and she pulled out her neon pink cell phone. "YES!" she exclaimed happily. "I'll call every five minutes so that if he tries anything, I'll know! I'll know immediately."
Her hyperness alarmed Sora all of a sudden and he gripped her shoulders so she'd calm down. "Hold on , hold on," he stopped her. "Dont do that, please Kairi. I'll call you."
"But...But..." she stuttered. "He'll do something!"
"I swear, if he does, I'll scream," the brunet attempted to reassure.
Kairi considered this, then nodded. "You do scream pretty loud...." she recalled, and nodded again. "Fine, I'll wait in front of the church, then."
This is probably as good as its going to get...Sora thought and extended his hand. "Shake on it?" And Kairi took it, fervently shaking their hands up and down. As they resumed walking down the hallway, both assured, Sora wondered,
I wonder what it is Riku wants to tell me...What reason could there possibly be to love me? The way he said it....It was like its something he has to do - like a chore. A pang of hurt suddenly stabbed its way into Sora's heart. Is that true? Is loving me just a chore? Then he'd be exactly as Kairi suspects him... He downcast his sapphire eyes. I suppose I'll find out all tonight....But what will I do when Riku tells me...
...he has no actual feelings for me?
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
Xelruna: Dah-dah-daaaaaaaaaaah! And there was chapter nine for you! -beams with pride- It took two days to do this, so I hope you enjoyed!Its sorta a cliffhanger, ne? I just felt I typed alot. Now I'm pooped -deflats to puddle of goo-
Sorry there's no conflict, yet, Brie-sempai. I'm trying to get to it -anime sweat drop-
So, yeah, once a month. Got it memorized? XXD
It can't be helped…Little brother
Good night