In the never ending battle of good vs. evil, not everyone was good, and not everyone was evil. Some people were neutral. One of those people was Riku.
Since Riku wasn't a good guy, he wasn't an enemy of Vanitas's. But at the same time he wasn't a bad guy, which meant he wasn't an ally. (And even if he was, Vanitas was the resident bad guy, and there wasn't enough room in the house for two evil beings.)
But Riku was fun to mess with. Really fun to mess with.
Vanitas quickly learned that Riku was up at the crack of dawn, and had thus adjusted his schedule for he could bother the human before he left for...wherever he went.
So, when the first rays on dawn spilled into the house and when Riku wasn't up, Vanitas knew something was wrong. He crept into the human's room, and pounced on his bed, ignoring the brown cat sleeping at the very end. With a low growl, he stalked up to Riku's face and sat down.
His head-fur hung in his face, but even through the fringe the kitten could see that his eyes were closed. "Hey." He meowed. "Get up."
When Riku didn't respond, he repeated himself, but louder. When he still didn't respond, Vanitas settled for batting the hair out of his eyes. When that still didn't get him to wake up, the kitten meowed in frustration.
"What's wrong with you?" He growled. "You're not dead! WAKE UP!" He pounced on Riku's face, making sure to keep his claws sheathed, and bit Riku's cheek.
That did the trick. Riku shot up, sending the kitten flying to the end of the bed. He landed next to the brown idiot, who still stayed asleep.
Riku nursed his bitten cheek, and even if the dim light, Vanitas could see the utter annoyance and rage in the boy's face.
He hissed in delight. A job well done.
"Vanitas!" Riku hissed back, still glaring. "What is wrong with you!" He gently ran a fingertip over his cheek, examined it, and sighed in relief. His eyes darted over to the glowing thingie with numbers on it, and groaned, flopping back down into bed. "I'm going back to sleep."
Vanitas bristled with indignation. No! Riku wasn't allowed to just go back to sleep! This was Vanitas's time to bother him! He meowed angrily, but Riku grabbed his pillow and covered his own head with it.
Vanitas hissed in anger upon realizing that he wasn't going to get Riku's attention. With a disdainful growl, he hopped off the bed and went over to the window.
He sat down, and felt a slight, cold breeze ruffle his fur. He walked over to the other part of the window, and his eyes widened in realization.
The window was open. He could get outside.
Now, it was cold outside, and Vanitas didn't particularly care for the cold, nor did he actually want to leave the house, but it would teach Riku a lesson.
Vanitas hissed in delight at the idea of Riku, panicking because he had gotten out. Once the lazy bum did get up, he would notice Vanitas's absence, as well as the open window, and go on a wild chase all over the neighborhood just to find him.
With his evil plan fully formed, Vanitas took one last look back at the sleeping boy, and without another sound, hopped out the window.
0 X 0 X 0 X
When Riku finally woke up, he buried his head in his pillow to try to get more sleep. The sun was glaringly bright, and he covered his head with his pillow in an attempt to block it out.
With the light problem fixed, he tried to go back to sleep, only to shiver and take notice of the cold breeze wafting into his room. He pulled his blanket up tighter around him, and squeezed his eyes shut.
It didn't work at all, and ten minutes later Riku was sitting at the table, fully dressed and grumbling angrily as he watched his mom make him his favorite breakfast: a ham and cheese sandwich.
Her back was turned to him, and long silver hair spilled down in a loose ponytail. It was completely natural, and it was where he got his own hair color from. Honestly, he was slightly glad for that, since his dad's muddled brown (...or was it black?) hair wasn't exactly an interesting shade.
But silver made him unique.
"I expected you to sleep in a bit longer. After all, you are your dad's child, and that man isn't getting up for another few hours" she said with a small laugh, glancing back at him from over her shoulder.
"So did I..." he grumbled angrily.
"What made you get up? Is something the matter?" She asked, worry seeping into his voice.
He shook his head in amusement; she doted over him way too much. "Nah, it was just cold."
"Did you remember to shut your window last night?" She asked. "I told you to before you went to bed." She set the sandwich down in front of him, but he could only gape.
Vanitas was in his room this morning...and the window was open.
And he had been awake for ten minutes without the little demon hissing at him and ruining his perfectly good sandwich.
He was jolted out of his thoughts by a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Riku, honey, is something the matter?"
He shook his eat, and set to scarfing down his sandwich. She watched him, still clearly uneasy about his behavior.
He forced a smile on his face, and only hoped that she would buy it. She did, and he fought the urge to sigh in relief as the tension left her shoulders. "Hey, Mom, do you mind if I hang out with Sora and Kairi today?"
She beamed at him. Sometimes, she was just too easy to please. "Oh no, not at all! Where are you three going to be at?"
He shrugged, and her forehead automatically creased in response. "I promise to bring my phone..." He said. Usually the promise was enough to calm her down, but his paranoia had been set off, and now he could only anxiously watch as she bit her lip in thought.
Thankfully, it was enough. "Alright. Have fun, honey. Be back before dinner. Do you need me to pack you a lunch? What about Sora or Kairi? Do you need money?"
She kept firing questions off at him, and he could only roll his eyes. However, the money did sound like a good idea... "Well, a bit of money might help. We might hit the arcade later."
Her eyes lit up, and she laughed softly as she got up from the table and dove into her purse, which was (as always) within five feet of her. She came back holding a couple of 20 dollar bills, and handed them to Riku. He took them, but looked back up at his mother with a single raised eyebrow.
"Food for money," she explained, a bright smile on her face. "And a little extra, just in case you do go to the arcade. Don't think I don't remember last time Kairi went to the arcade," she teased.
Riku resisted the urge to laugh. Last time Kairi had gone to the arcade, she had gotten addicted to Pac-Man and some shooter game with a foreign name. She went through 10 dollars worth in quarters before she finally left (and, of course, left her mark on the high-score list.)
But the memory of the open window flashed in his mind, and any urge to laugh vanished. He would get killed if his dad found out that Vanitas had gotten out...if Vanitas had gotten out.
Plus, he and Grampynort still had the bet going on, and he was determined to win.
"Thanks mom." He flashed her his best -fake- smile, and got up from the table, turning back to leave to his room. "I'm gonna go call them!" He shouted over his shoulder, waiting for her shout back of "okay!" before shutting his door.
Terra was still asleep on his bed, but he ignored the brown cat in favor of rushing over to the window. Sure enough, a bitter, cold breeze was blowing through, and he shut it instantly.
With that done, he grabbed his phone and flipped it open, deciding to call Kairi first. He needed to look for Vanitas, but he had to tell Kairi what was going on first, so his mom wouldn't know anything was wrong.
He brought the phone up to his ear, and within two rings, he heard her voice on the other end, thick with sleep.
"Riku...?" She muttered. "Why are you calling me...it's too early for this." She groaned, and he tried not to smirk at the image of what she was probably doing; laying in her bed, groaning and kicking her legs like she always did when she first woke up. She was probably kicking whatever unlucky cat that had decided to sleep on her bed right off and onto the floor.
He heard a gasp, and a quick, muttered apology. Yup. She kicked one of them off.
"Kairi, it's..." he glanced over at the clock. "8:30. It's not early at all."
"It is for me..." she grumbled, and his mental picture of her sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of one eye, her hair messed up and tangled from sleep. "Aren't I allowed to sleep in on the weekends?"
"Well, we have a mission to do." He replied smoothly, hoping that it would perk her up slightly.
It didn't, much to his dismay. "Can't we do it later?" She complained.
Time for his next act – this one would work for sure. He just had to play towards her outer animal lover. "Well..." he began. "I...think I might have lost Vanitas..."
She gasped, and he heard the faint sound of her bed springs squeaking. Mental-Kairi jumped out of bed and rushed to her closet, and sure enough, he heard the sound of hangers squeaking on the other end of the line. "You mean you lost the new kitten you got!"
He sighed at her condescending tone. "I don't know. I still have to check, but so far, it isn't looking good. He'd be bothering me by now."
"Then start looking!" She groaned. "Sorry, Riku, but I gotta go. Have you called Sora yet?"
"No."
"Then call him. I'll be over there in about 15 minutes, alright?"
"Alright."
Mental-Kairi smiled softly, and when she spoke again, her voice had lost it's rough edge. "See you soon."
She hung up, and Riku threw his phone in his pocket. She'd stay true to her word – he knew that much, but he didn't know how long it would take for Sora to show up. If he was using his bike, well...they'd have to postpone looking for Vanitas for at least another half hour.
That thought brought Riku back into the present: mainly, the present where he was standing in his room, staring at the wall like an idiot. He shook his head, and his face settled into a determined neutral state as he flung his door open and searched throughout the house.
It didn't take him long to find Aqua and Ven, but when he finally finished searching the house, the grim realization dawned on him. Yes, Vanitas really did run away.
And it was up to him and his friends to find the little demon.
He couldn't say that he didn't feel the surge of worry coursing through him. Though, he would never admit it. Even if Vanitas was just a cat, and even if Sora and Kairi would be happy to know that he did care about the demon-kitten, he still would never admit it.
Sure enough, 15 minute later, right when Riku was finishing up his second search throughout the horse (he told his mom that he was looking for a pair of his shoes. She believed him, thankfully), the doorbell rang.
He rushed over to the door and pulled it open. To his surprise, both Kairi and Sora were standing in front of him, each bearing different expressions: Kairi had a determined shine in her eyes, while her lips were drawn in a tight line, while Sora grinned like an idiot. The brunet probably thought of this as another 'mission.'
It was then that Riku noticed the giant net Sora held, gently swaying over his head like a war flag. "Sora...why?" He asked, pointing to the top of his net.
That stupid grin never left his face. "What else are we gonna catch him with?"
"I don't know," Riku replied sarcastically. "Maybe a kennel?" The moment the words left his mouth, his face fell. He didn't know where the kennel went, which meant another 10 minutes or searching just for it...
"Already ahead of you, Riku!" Kairi said, holding up the kennel that -he just noticed- she carried with her. "I also brought a leash, a small collar, and some food, in case he gets hungry when we find him." Her eyebrow slowly raised, and she gave him a withering glare. "Assuming that you didn't find him."
He chuckled nervously, and gave her a sheepish grin. "No..."
"Then let's go!" Sora cheered, pumping his fist into the air.
Riku sighed in amusement, but nodded. "Bye mom!" He called out over his shoulder, waiting for her response before he shut the door and set out on his new 'mission' with his two best friends.
0 X 0 X 0 X
To be continued in Part 2, which will be unveiled next Tuesday! ;D