A/N: KH is not mine... if it is, Axel wouldn't be dead and Roxas won't diffuse into Sora. XP
"Doctor! There's a new patient that needs your assistance."
Looking at the young nurse beside him, he sighed. "I need to talk to Riku's parents now..."
"It's an emergency, doctor! Let me handle consoling the boy's parents!" The nurse replied.
"But—"
"Don't worry! The great ninj—the great nurse Yuffie can handle anything!" She chirped.
"That's what I'm worried about..." He muttered silently, remembering that the nurse has a weird fetish of thinking that she's a ninja.
"What?"
"Nothing. Fine, I'll trust you to break the news to his parents'... carefully," He warned.
"Okay! Oh, the new patient's in room 138."
"...Whatever."
Turning around, he scurried towards room 138. Upon entering the room, a mass of red spikes and long golden hair greeted him. Blinking a few times to clear his vision from the contrastingly blinding color, he walked towards the bed.
"What's the condition?" He asked.
"It seems that it's a cause of hyperventilating, doctor. The patient lost her consciousness and now an oxygen mask had been installed upon her. It was a close call, but she made it... It's as if something was preventing her from going to the other world." The nurse, Aerith, replied with a smile.
"Hn," he scoffed. "Good thing, too. Wouldn't want two patients to die at the same day, would we?"
"Doctor? She- she's gonna be okay, right?" the blond girl asked.
"Yeah, like what Aerith says; it was a close call, but she made it." He replied, after checking the condition of his new patient.
"...Leon?"
Turning around, Leon met face to face with Axel. "...Axel?"
"You two know each other?" Roxie asked, after taking a glance at the two of them.
"Yeah, he's the doctor that took care of Riku... Speaking of which... did Riku... did he..."
Leon's face became stoic at the statement. He averted his gaze towards the floor in shame as he replied. "He... died... just about fifteen minutes ago... I'm so sorry... I—" He paused, choking on his words as the feeling sorrow built inside of him. 'As a doctor I'm not supposed to show my emotions like this, damn it! But why Riku?!'
"So it's true..." Axel mumbled. "Leon, you may not believe this... but we just saw Riku or what's left of him, anyway... about thirty minutes before Sora hyperventilated and was rushed here..."
"...Sora?" Leon asked, his eyes darting towards the peace mask of the unconscious girl lying on the white bed.
"You know her too?" Roxie asked, suddenly.
"Heh," he smirked. "Everyone who knew Riku, knows Sora. That kid never stopped talking about her...," he added sadly.
The three of them stood in silence, watching the unconscious brunette on her bed, lying peacefully with an oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose.
"Axel... you said you saw Riku... what do you mean by that?" Leon asked abruptly.
"... To make the long story short, you know how Riku's only reason in fighting against his disease and going through all the painstaking rehab is Sora?" he asked, which was confirmed with a nod from Leon. "Well, it seems like that reason was... broken... when Sora forgets about him and..." He paused, letting out a sigh. "Let's just say, Sora's too preoccupied with her boyfriend at the time and treated Riku... heartlessly."
"Hmm..." Leon voiced, looking thoughtful before letting out a sigh. "I forgot how sensitive that boy can be... Don't blame him, though. He was looking forward for the day he's able to return home for the weekend to meet Sora, but--"
"But it's still no reason to throw away his life... especially when we're here to help him get through his hard time..." Axel finished for him.
"... Couldn't say it better myself," Leon smirked.
"...and if only he waited...and tried harder to win Sora back," Roxie added. "That time, Sora was actually pissed because a lot of people whom she couldn't remember were trying to be intimate with her... and she always hated it when she's treated differently...
"And I think it was mainly Tidus' fault. He knew about Riku and Sora, hell, everyone knows about them! Maybe that's why he used Sora to have his revenge on Riku..." Roxie said, deep in thought.
"Revenge? " Leon asked.
"...His old girlfriend dumped him because she likes Riku more..." Axel replied, struggling to hold his laughter.
"Oh... no wonder. The nurses here also had a crush on that boy..." Leon said, smiling as he took a glance at the blushing Aerith. "He also got this free-spirited personality that attracts people..." he added. 'That is why he is the only patient who can break into my walls of defense ', he added silently, smiling wistfully at the memory of the first time he met Riku.
- - -
"Riku, this is Leon. He'll be your doctor from today onwards..." A younger Aerith said to the fifteen-year-old boy who was sitting cross-legged on his assigned bed.
"Hn," Leon scoffed.
Grinning widely at the grumpy doctor, he offered a hand. "Nice to meet you, Leon!" he said brightly.
"...whatever." Leon ignored the extended hand and averted his gaze towards the nurse. "What's his problem?" he asked the nurse.
"Shouldn't it be 'condition'?" Riku retorted, slightly annoyed by the doctor's rude behavior
"I'll say what I want," Leon replied.
"Well, then... you can't blame me for saying things want to say," He grinned mischievously, after he took a glance at the doctor's nametag. "Nice to meet you, Doctor . Hope we can get along well."
"It's ."
"You can't order me to say what I want to say," he smirked. "Besides, would you rather be called Doctor heart instead?"
"...Whatever."
Smiling brightly, he extended his hand towards the doctor again. "Well then, hope we can get along well, Squall!"
Unconsciously, Leon flashed one of his rare smiles towards the silver haired boy in spite of himself before he shook said boy's hand. 'This is going to be one interesting patient,' he thought.
- - -
Back to Sora's room, Leon stood watching said unconscious girl. 'I won't let anything happen to her... this is the least I can do for you, Riku...' he thought.
A soft breeze blew past him, fanning out his wavy brown locks that reached barely past his shoulder blade. The breeze strangely has the same feeling of warmness and carefree feeling Leon could only get when he's talking to...
'... Thank you for everything, Squall. Take care of her for me...'
Leon's eyes widened slightly in surprised before he smiled to himself.
"Of course I will, Riku... I promise you that...," he whispered back to the breeze.