AN - Oh god, fanfic went into a complete freeze and I couldn't review or upload for three days! I'll bet that bugged everyone becasue there were no new fics!
Hey, it only took me a week this time! Yes – grins proudly – and don't worry, this chapter isn't shorter, or just a filer or anything! Thank you reviewers for staying with me, and I'm so sorry I haven't been reading reviews! I'll try to get back into the habit!
Disclaimer: I actually forgot one of these last time . . . but I think eleven different ways of saying it comes down to the same thing: I do not own kingdom hearts, if I did, there'd be a whole lot more goin' on . . . – grins devilishly –
Warning: Some cursing, and yes, if you haven't figured it out yet, the pairings are BoyXBoy.
There is a lot of Leon's life and what he does each day. Then there's a very odd Namine and Riku part. Sora's in there at the end too. There will be nothing about school in this chapter.
Enjoy!
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12: Just Realize.
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" . . . So, do you ever plan on telling your brother why you really moved here?"
Leon didn't tear his gaze from his work as he replied, "Sure, when you admit that you're not some pirate legacy or whatever . . ."
"Nin –ja!" Yuffie corrected irritably through gritted teeth. "God Squally, Pirates are drunken idiots while ninjas are skilled and clever fighters!"
"For the millionth time, its Leon," Yuffie ignored him and struck a ninja stance for affect, and to go even further, she jumped onto the bed, pulling out her 'lucky' ninja spear. It was supposedly passed down from the 'greatest ninja warriors' in the world, onto the Kisagari family . . . supposedly.
"Err, Yuffie," Aerith called nervously from the other side of the room. "Maybe you should put that away for now, and get back to work."
"Hmph, fine," The so –called ninja jumped off the bed, and then pointed her spear at foot away from Leon, "And you'd better get it straight – I am a ninja, this spear is authentic, and some day Ninjas will rule the world, and everyone will have to listen and obey them or die!"
"I'd think I'd take the second option," Leon mumbled, not even once glancing up from the papers surrounding him. Yuffie, apparently insulted, let out a high pitched, "Hiiiii yah!" and threw her spear in a violent and melodramatic fashion.
"Yuffie!" Aerith cried out, wide eyed. Leon didn't even flinch, and really, he didn't have much of a reason too.
The spear was pelted towards the wall, opposite of them, and had dug deep into the shipping paint, sticking. Aerith still ran over, scolding Yuffie while inspecting the wall, almost as if it was 'hurt'. Leon finally looked up, and blinked at the sliver spear stuck into his bedroom wall.
He rolled his eyes, already had been expecting none the less from the girl.
"You know," Yuffie said. "I totally meant to do that. I'm just psyching you out and stuff – all part of my materia."
Right, materia.
Aerith sighed, while Leon retorted, "How many times where you dropped as a baby again?"
Yuffie let out a short, aggravated sigh, "My god, how many times do I have to tell you? None! Zero times! How would I remember that anyway?" She froze for a minute, contemplating over her own question. Then her chocolate eyes widened, "What if . . . I was? What if that's why I can't remember! Oh no! What if I'm brain damaged!"
Leon didn't reply, but personally, he thought Yuffie would turn out 'brain damaged' anyway, considering her mom was basically a tree hugging hippy and all her dad did for living was cosplay bizarre characters and wield the many distorted weapons bought off of eBay. A hippy and a cosplayer make a ninja? Leon never was able to understand the logic, but logic never did apply much to the Kisagari's.
Yuffie was still grieving over her own stupid question, and Leon let out a heavy sigh, "Will you just get that chunk of cosplay junk out of my wall and just get back to work."
"Hmph," Yuffie pouted but obeyed, walking over to the wall. Leon shook his head, and turned his attention back to the papers, which were all basically bills and letters from banks to whoever 'Mr. Miori' was, but considering there were still piles of the papers to go through, there was still hope for the cause. The room was peacefully quiet with only the shuffling of paper, but after a couple minutes, a high pitched whine filled the room.
"Squally, your wall is eating my lucky spear!"
"It's Leon."
"Le –on," Yuffie dragged out in a smart mouth kind of way. Leon put down the papers once again, aggravated, and gave Yuffie a menacing look that said all that it need too.
"Err, Leon," Yuffie said. "What?"
Silence.
" . . . Are you going to say anything?"
Silence.
"Ugh, Leon!" Yuffie cried out, hands in fists. "My god, stop looking at me like that!"
Leon finally looked away, smirking; it was just too much to resist a chance to actually annoy the annoyer. Leon liked to think of it as getting even. "So, what were you saying?"
Yuffie did this odd little twitch before responding, "I said . . . that your stupid, ugly, idiotic, fat wall is eating my precious spear!"
"Ch, don't go hating the wall because of your stupidity."
Yuffie retorted, "You know, none of this would of happened if you didn't have such a cold pole shoved up your –"
"Okay, just stop it," Aerith demanded solemnly, hands on hips, starring them down. "You two are acting like five year olds! My goodness! Now, let's just get Yuffie's spear out of the wall, put it away, and get back to work."
"Fine," They both huffed in unison, and Aerith smiled. Leon once again began sorting through papers, and Yuffie continuously tried to retrieve her spear, until finally, she was able to pry it out, and she triumphantly held it up, before quickly putting it away whilst being under Aerith's motherly stare. Yet, there was a huge gap now visible in the wall, and Leon opened his mouth to most likely make some sarcastic comment, but one look from Aerith made him simply roll his eyes and turn his head down to his work. It was absolutely silent for a couple moments until Yuffie hesitantly brought up a new conversation.
"So, about that sleep over tomorrow . . . are you actually okay with it?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
The quick and sharp reply took Yuffie a couple seconds to respond too, extremely unsure, "Well, I don't really know. I mean, do you really believe this house is haunted?"
"You just changed the subject again," Leon said.
"Just tell me."
Leon heaved a sigh, leaning back against his bed, "I really don't know, but as far as I know, Sora does. He really does think this place is haunted by ghosts, but he hasn't complained in a couple days. So, I guess I can just keep continuing this work, and all I need is one answer to get me the money I really need. One god forsaken answer and I'm nowhere close to anything except knowing there were an accident, and apparently, this family was in some serious debt . . ."
"Don't worry," Aerith assured him. "We'll help you as much as we can."
"Of course!" Yuffie agreed grinning; despite all their arguments, she and Leon were good friends. "And, I think some more people I know want to help out!"
Leon shook his head, "No, I don't want to become some charity case."
"Whaa – No!" Yuffie vigorously shook her head. "They don't care about you; they're interested in the mansion!"
Leon couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the comment, even though Yuffie probably didn't know it held an insult in it. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want the whole town to show up here one day, there IS a reason that this investigation is labeled 'Confidential'."
Yuffie groaned, "God Squall, have some faith in me! It's only two people."
"It's Leon," The brunet replied blankly, and Yuffie rolled her eyes in response.
"Whatever," Then she smirked. "You know, you actually are a lot like Cloud . . ."
Leon froze his working process, and slowly put the stack of papers down. He turned to the girl, with a raised eyebrow, "I'm . . . a lot like a cloud?"
Yuffie giggled, and Leon had no clue why in god's name that girl was laughing, but then Aerith filled in, "I think she means you're like this guy we know, his name is Cloud Strife."
"Cloud Strife? Wow that just screams out, 'I'm depressing'."
Yuffie immediately stopped giggling immediately and actually full down glared at him, "Cloud is awesome, okay?! He is like my best friend ever!"
"You shouldn't say mean things about someone you haven't even met," Aerith lectured. "And Cloud is very nice, and err, 'somewhat' like you . . ."
"Oh really?"
"Well, your both nineteen, and he also has a fifteen year old brother, and one of his parents died awhile ago," Aerith told him. "But of course, there some differences . . ."
"Yeah, like he actually smiles once in awhile," Yuffie retorted loudly.
"Yuffie," Aerith warned. Yuffie put up her hands defensively.
"What, it's so true!"
Leon groaned, "Okay, enough about Rain, or storm, -"
"Cloooouuuud," Yuffie drawled out menacingly. Leon waved her off, "Okay, enough about 'Cloud', let's just get back to our work. Aerith, what's our status as of now?"
"Well, we've basically been centering on the Miori family, and we've found out that Mr. Miori was a business man, he had a son, and the wife was never around. Mr. Miori wasn't the nicest person and had a huge amount of debt in his name. But actual names are unknown as what caused the accident and why." Aerith concluded, in a matter of fact way.
"Well, we still have about a thousand papers to sort through . . ." Leon reminded them, starring around his room.
"Or, we could discuss another important case," Yuffie suggested eagerly. "Like The disappearance of that one girl last year."
"Oh yeah . . . wasn't her name Kasai?" Aerith asked, and Yuffie nodded eagerly, "Yeah, it was! I think her family actually still lives here, and she attended Twilight High . . ."
"Ah, yes! Her name was in the papers, and she'd be in Sora's grade! But I can't remember," Aerith snapped her fingers in realization, and Yuffie kept nodding eagerly, "Oh! Maybe Sora knows something!"
"Maybe," Aerith sighed, and snuck a side glanced at Leon. "But it's not like we could ask him because Leon won't let us."
The said brunet twitched, and intervened loudly, "I'm right here you know."
"Heh, how could we forget you?" Yuffie smirked, already expecting a glare from the brunet across the room.
"Well, Leon, come over here and discuss with us," Aerith encouraged, her eyes slightly narrowing when the brunet made no motion of moving from his spot. "C'mon, this is important for the case!"
"And so are all of these," Leon gestured to the intimidating stacks of papers surrounding them. "And it's pretty obvious that you two are avoiding it, filling in the time with useless conversation . . ."
"This is vital info," Yuffie retorted. "And we're the ones who generously decided to help you because we are all very good friends, and that's what friends do! They help each other through thick and thin! Through fire and ice! Through hurricanes and tsunamis! Through –"
"Hey Yuffie, can you save this little lecture for later and get your but back to work?"
"Hmph, fine, fine . . ." Yuffie purposely stretched her arms up high to glance at her wrist watch. "Oh! Would you look at the time? It's 12:30! Imma thinkin' that's time for some feasting!"
"It's already 12:30?" Leon groaned, and slowly stood up. "Great, all morning and all we were able to find out was that the Miori's apparently purchased a large amount of . . . statues . . ."
Leon furrowed his eyebrows together, then tossed the bill aside and sighed, "Well, I guess we have to eat, and considering we most likely have nothing edible here, should we go out?"
"Sure," Both girls agreed and they all headed out.
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"Hey Namine, do you ever feel guilty of telling Sora, but not his brother?"
The said blond ghost glanced up from her sketch, "I never really thought about it . . . do you want to tell him?"
Riku shrugged slightly, glancing out the window at the three retreating figures, "Well, Sora did say we shouldn't . . ."
"Ah, but Sora isn't the boss of us," Namine reminded him, smiling a little bit. Riku blinked.
"Err, well, uh . . ."
Namine burst into giggles and Riku cocked his head to the side, "Uh, did I say something . . .?"
"Riku, can I ask you something?"
"Uh, sure."
"Do you like Sora?"
There was a pause, "Well yeah, we're friends, or as close as a ghost and a human are . . ."
Namine smiled softly, and set down her sketchbook, "You're so old fashioned."
"Huh? What's that suppose to mean, huh?"
Namine giggled again, "It means that you didn't quite get my question."
"How so?"
"Well, I was really asking whether you really like Sora."
There was some hesitation, while Riku was trying to contemplate the question, and he finally answered with an unsure, ". . . Yeah sure."
He still didn't get it. Namine let out an aggravating sigh, wondering why Riku was dense when it came to this 'topic' when he was so quick and clever at just about everything else. She had always thought that Riku would've been the center of attention when he was human . . .
"Okay," She stood up and glided over to him. "I'm going to put this as bluntly as I can."
Riku nodded slowly, a confused look painted his face. Namine smiled.
"Do you want to kiss Sora?"
She couldn't help but smirk at her own bluntness. Riku's face changed rapidly from confusion to an utter shock.
"W-what?! Why would I want to kiss him? What is wrong with you Namine? It's only been a week, and I'm a ghost for crying out loud!"
"Relax Riku, it was just a question," Namine waved off his distress and preceded back to sit down. Riku gaped at her, "Well, what are you even trying to prove?"
"Nothing," Namine shook her head, smiling. Riku glared at her from a few feet away, and she paid no mind to him.
" . . . I'm leaving."
"Okay then."
Riku let out a loud, annoyed sigh, before vanishing to who knows where. Namine sighed happily, well, that was one question answered.
It all added up, and Namine felt pride in knowing how right she was. First his reaction was just shock – typical. The next thing he said was what was wrong with her – again, typical. Then he said it had only been a week – so what? Romeo and Juliet fell in love in one night (and who cares if their made up?). His next reaction was that he was a ghost – The obvious and biggest problem. But Namine could recall that not once, did Riku mention anything at all about Sora being a boy, and that was enough to prove everything.
She giggled to herself.
Riku so wanted to kiss Sora.
Even if he wouldn't admit . . . or even knows it.
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Sora walked home from school, relieved that the day had gone by quickly and . . . normally. There was nothing supernatural, there were no ghosts, there was nothing odd . . . and best of all, Sora hadn't even seen Seifer all day. He was starting to think that either Hayner heard wrong, or made up the story for kicks, but just in case he kept an eye out for the blond and his gang. Who knows what Seifer was actually capable of?
Once he walked in the miniature forest, he actually felt safe, knowing that the only ghosts that would be here were Riku and Namine. He casually walked up to his mansion (It still felt so insane to call his house a mansion!) and he pulled open the door, and let himself inside. Just as he was about to enter the kitchen, he saw his brother and those two girls from Monday, Aerith and . . . Yuffie, come down the stairs.
"Hey Sora!" Yuffie darted for the brunet boy, and squeezed him tightly.
"Err, hey. . . Yuffie."
"You remembered my name!" Yuffie grinned, and proceeded to hug the boy even tighter. . . If that was even possible. "Oh Squally, your brother is sooooo huggable!"
"It's Leon," Was the taller brunet's first response when he and Aerith came over to them much calmer and slower. Leon sighed, "Would you stop suffocating my brother and go home already, I've had more than enough of you today."
Yuffie pouted, but thankfully let go, and started to walk towards the door, "Okay Fine, I'm going! But just remember –"
"Goodbye Yuffie."
"Hmph," The girl pursed her lips, the turned to Aerith. "C'mon Aerith, let's go! Who needs this –"
"Okay!" Aerith hastily agreed, before Yuffie could finish, and walked over towards the other girl. Once at the door, she waved goodbye at the Leonhart's, and followed the fuming 'ninja' out the door. Once they were gone Sora turned to Leon with a raised eyebrow, "You've been with them all day?"
Leon nodded, groaning, "Yeah, I work with them. Aerith's fine, but Yuffie's just too much."
Sora laughed, "I completely understand what you mean." They both walked into the kitchen, and as Leon sat down, Sora grabbed a soda from the fridge. "Well, I've actually got some homework to do, unfortunately, but it's just like two worksheets . . . oh and, Leon, for tomorrow, we really need some food for tomorrow because," He flipped open the cabinets. "I don't think that a bag of sugar, some pasta noodles, and some old chips with fill our guest's."
Leon smirked, "Sure, I'll go get some food tomorrow, I'm sure that Yuffie will be more than willing to help."
Sora smiled, "Okay, thanks." He proceeded to the kitchen door, but stopped when Leon commented, "You're in a good mood today."
Sora grinned at the statement and replied whole heartedly, "Yeah, I really am."
He exited the kitchen and made his way towards his bedroom, honestly ready to get his homework done so that he could just fool around with Riku and Namine, and maybe even find out some more. He knew that the ghost's weren't telling him everything, but once he realized how much they had already told him, he didn't feel angry or upset on not knowing everything. He'd be able to wait.
Sora entered his bedroom, and threw his backpack on the ground, stretching his arms over his head. It took him a couple moments to realize that Riku was already there, sitting on his bed. Sora grinned and walked over to the ghost, "Hey Riku."
The ghost had obviously been deep in thought, so Sora guessed that he must've surprised him or something because the ghost looked like he jolted as he quickly stood, "S-Sora?!"
Sora couldn't help but laugh, "Wow the ghost getting scared? Isn't that a bit ironic?"
Riku narrowed his eyes, "Yeah, real funny."
Riku's sharp tone startled the brunet, but Sora decided to just let it go. He went into his backpack and pulled out his worksheets, along with a pencil and walked over to his desk, "I've actually got homework to do, but it shouldn't take me long."
No answer, but Sora waved it off again, and started to do his homework, Okay, number one, if Y=5x+2, what is – Okay, wait, why do I feel like I'm being watched? The brunet glanced inconspicuously over his shoulder, and tore his eyes away once he saw the ghost's stare. Why is he staring at me?!What's wrong with him today? Okay, concentrate Sora, Concentrate! As much as the brunet stared down that simple problem, he couldn't get an answer because Riku was staring at him for absolutely no stinkin' reason!
Sora sighed and turned around, "Hey Riku, don't you have something to do? I can't really concentrate with you staring at me like that . . ."
"Does it disturb you?"
The question caught Sora off guard and it took him a minute to answer hesitantly, "Err, no . . . I just can't concentrate . . . Could you, like, go talk with Namine . . . this'll only take me half an hour . . ."
"You want me to leave."
The statement made Sora cringe at its harshness, and Sora tried once again to say the right thing, "Well, do you, um, really have to stay in here? How long have you been in here anyway?"
"That's none of your business!" Okay, now Sora was completely confused, and furrowed his eyebrows, as he said, "Well . . . it is sort of my bedroom . . . so, yeah, it is my business . . ."
"Okay, fine, I'll leave!" Riku stood up, gave him a deadly look and disappeared. Sora sat there, dumbstruck, what just happened? He let out a sigh, his good mood lowering a little as he turned back to his homework, trying his best to concentrate on the problems. He eventually completed his work, though it did take him an hour, double the time it should've taken. He put all his work into his backpack, and set it against the wall for Friday. Then he finally decided to go to the white room, hoping to find Namine so that he could find out what was the deal with Riku's . . . attitude today.
He arrived before the white room door, and hesitantly opened it. To his relief, Namine was in there and Riku wasn't – no offense to Riku or anything, it was just that Sora didn't quite feel like being glared at brutally. The blond ghost was sketching, and even though she didn't even glance up, she knew it was him, "Hello Sora, come in."
Sora walked into the white room, immediately noticing new pictures, "You've added Yuffie and Aerith . . ."
"Of course," Namine Looked up at him and smiled warmly. "Did you want to talk about something?"
"Huh, oh yeah," Sora tore his gaze from the pictures to Namine. "You see, I talked to Riku earlier, and he well, um . . ."
"Had an attitude?" Namine filled in and Sora hesitantly nodded in agreement. Namine giggled a little bit, and then told the boy, "I wouldn't worry about it. He's just worried about what's going to happen to tomorrow. I can assure you he isn't mad at you or anything."
Sora let out a sigh of relief, "That's good; I thought I might've done something."
Namine giggled again, mostly to herself, but Sora cocked his head to the side as he looked at her, "Err, Namine . . .?"
"Oh Sorry Sora, just remembered something . . . funny," She smiled sweetly at him, and Sora couldn't help but return the smile.
"So, should I keep away from Riku for the night . . .?"
"Nah," Namine shook her head, as she picked her sketchbook and pencil up again, continuing to color. "You should go talk to him; he's probably beating himself up about it right now."
"Okay," Sora agreed with a curt nod of his head. "I'll try to find him. Thank you Namine."
"No, Sora, thank you," Namine grinned at him, which caught the boy off guard for a second, but he regained his smile, waved goodbye, and walked back out of the white room. The ghost began color swiftly again, a smile upon her lips, this is working better than I thought!
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Sora tried looking all night, but he couldn't find Riku anywhere, and he didn't dare to go any further than down that first hall. It was nearing eleven, and Sora finally gave up on his search, realizing that it was time for him to go to sleep, or else he'd be a complete drone the next day. He trudged back to his room, pulled on his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and finally turned the lights off and flopped into bed. It didn't take him long to fall asleep, but before he did, the whole time he was still thinking about Riku and hoping the ghost would be okay.
One more day . . .
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Yes, we've only got one more chapter till the sleepover! I'm thinking that the sleepover will sort of start in Chapter thirteen, but really kick off in chapter fourteen! I can't wait to write it! As of right now, I have a whole lot planned for this story, so it won't be ended soon, I know that much =3.
Ah, good old Namine, yes, she said it, and yes, this will greatly affect everything that is bound to happen. Namine just knows things because she is an incredibly gifted ghost, and is also incredibly intelligent. Now, I know Riku is pretty . . . odd in this chapter, but in all honesty, he's just confused over everything and has no clue how to act right now. He isn't completely hopeless when it comes to love either; he just didn't get how Namine was thinking at the time. Seriously, if anyone's going to be oblivious, it has to be Sora!
Oh, and if I spelled Yuffie's last name wrong, I'm sorry! I just never got around to checking, and now that I'm finally able to publish this chapter, I want to get this done quick!
Okay, I'll try to get another chapter in at least a week or two, and that'll be the sacred Friday chapter that has taken me twelve chapters to get too! Finally, huh?
You know the deal, read and please review!
See you soon =3.
