Why? As the sun set over Twilight town, it was the only thing on her mind. Heartless are normally far more aggressive than the invisible that took all those photos from the townsfolk. The moon had not started to rise yet. It was not going to be full for another two days. Hauru did not have anything to worry about on that front. But she grew claws when she fought that invisible at the mansion. And when it died, some faint scent of whoever was watching her remained. The stolen photos were proof enough that she was being watched. But why? Could this person, this entity, know of her true nature? She could no longer doubt any longer that someone or something knew. Who or whatever it was didn't smell like any of the Organization members she had encountered in the past. But as the sky turned black and the stars revealed themselves, she realized that there was nothing she could do but wait.
As she gazed out from the clock tower alone, she looked at her left hand, the one that had sprouted claws in that earlier fight. Was it the start of something? The beginning of her freedom from the moon's influence? "Promise me you'll never use it," said a woman's voice. Hauru knew it was pointless to look for the source. The voices she had been hearing, at least according to DiZ, were nothing more than fragments of memories from a past that was not hers. DiZ seemed to know an awful lot about her kind. Consulting the Treatise by Ansem showed that it was common for lycans to pass memories to those they turn. But Ansem's sample group contained no purebloods. But that voice sounded familiar... She had heard it before. The other times she heard it were her dreams. Especially the one that haunted her so. In those dreams, the voice only ever said one thing. "Goodbye, my love. They may destroy my body, but my heart will love you forever". Sonja. That voice belonged to Sonja. That could mean anything. Surely other lycans overheard. At worst, it just meant that whoever her father was had been turned by Lucian or some other lycan that witnessed that tragic event. Hauru stared out at the gibbous moon and clutched at the pendant she wore.
"A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory? Or a far-off memory that's like a scattered dream? Either way... I want to line the pieces up. Yours... and mine," she said to nobody. She turned to face the sound of footsteps coming up the tower, fighting back the urge to growl. But once she caught wind of the scent she relaxed. Seawater and leather... Riku. It wasn't long before Riku made it to the top of the stairs and came out to the balcony with two sea-salt ice cream bars in hand. "I thought I smelled sea-salt".
"Me or the ice cream?" Riku asked. Hauru just nodded as Riku took a seat beside her, handing her an ice cream bar. "So, you and your pack do anything interesting today?" Hauru nodded and took a bite of her ice-cream.
"I managed to find that thief that made so much trouble for us. But... it wasn't a person". Hauru took another bite and Riku did the same.
"What do you mean?"
"It was a Heartless," Hauru said. "An invisible. But it went down way too easy. It seemed like it was... I don't know. Maybe it was fighting against some kind of control".
"Was that what was watching you for the past month?" Hauru shook her head.
"No. When it died, I caught that scent again, but once I focused on it, it was gone". Riku took another bite of his bar and laughed.
"Can't imagine they'll be able to hide forever. Nothing gets past you". Hauru nodded and looked out into the night sky. "What's wrong? Feeling homesick?" Riku asked.
"Not quite," said Hauru. "I was raised on the Destiny Islands, but I still don't even feel like I know where home is. Like, is my father out there looking for me? Or... does he even know I exist?"
"Maybe he's wondering the same thing about you. Wherever he is, I think he's looking up right now wondering if you're looking back," Riku said, laying a hand on Hauru's shoulder. "And I think he'd be proud of you for getting this far". Hauru smiled at Riku and grabbed his hand in hers, holding it as they looked out together.
"You think you'll find him?"
"Find who?" Riku asked.
"Roxas. You just need him, and Sora can wake up, right?" Riku shook his head.
"There's... another vessel. So, things just got complicated".
"Then let me help. I can go after this other vessel and you can hunt Roxas down".
"That won't be necessary. Besides, you've still got your own things to work on, don't you?" Hauru nodded and let out a sigh. She hated that Riku felt he had to go on these hunts by himself. Hated that he didn't trust her enough to have his back. But it made some sense why. Sora was his friend. He betrayed Sora because he thought it would help Kairi, only to be taken and used by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. "If I'd been stronger, if I didn't succumb to Ansem... Maybe... maybe Sora would be right here with us, looking out at the same moon, the same stars..." Riku's words struck a chord in Hauru. Immediately she was reminded of what Aeon had told her when she delivered the news about Master Eraqus. There was only one way to respond.
"Maybe he would have fallen down a flight of stairs," she said. She paused to take the final bite of her popsicle, savoring the taste that reminded her so much of home. "Maybe he'd have gotten sick. Maybe he'd have fallen in battle". Riku just looked at Hauru.
"What's your point?" he asked.
"My point is that you can't torture yourself with what ifs and maybes. If we focus too hard on what we should have done, we lose sight on what we can do to set things right". Riku paused for a bit and nodded.
"You're right," he said. "I've got to say, you're easily the smartest lycan I've ever met".
"And you, my dear Riku, are quite the man of mystery. I've never seen your eyes since we've been together. First time I saw you... well, if I didn't see you out in the sunlight and eating food, I'd swear you were a vampire," Hauru said with a laugh.
"Would it be a deal breaker if I was?" he asked. Hauru shook her head.
"Not necessarily. And we wouldn't be the first. Almost six hundred years ago, there was a lycan slave who fell in love with a vampire noble. But it was forbidden. She was killed and he swore vengeance. What's worse is that she was executed on the orders of her own father". Recounting the story drew a tear to Hauru's eye, which Riku promptly brushed away with his finger. It impressed her just how well he knew the space around him with that thing covering his eyes. "And on some far-off word, my kind've been hunted for nearly six hundred years".
"Is it lonely? Being the only one of your kind out here?" Hauru shook her head.
"It can be, but a good group of friends... a good pack can see me through. The apprentices were like family for a bit. But lycans aren't meant to be alone. But... I had to stay alone to protect the people around me. It felt so... wrong".
"Well," Riku said. "People and wolves are social creatures... Stands to reason you'd be, too". Hauru smiled and looked at him for a moment. If only she could see his eyes, she could get lost in them.
"Yeah... Glad you came up here. This is nice. A chance to just... talk. And the moon makes this so much more... romantic". Riku seemed to blush at the thought, nearly taken aback. Hauru giggled at the sight of the hardened penitent Riku blushing.
"Well," Riku said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess it does inspire a certain mood, doesn't it?" Hauru nodded. "What do we do now, though?" Hauru flashed Riku a wicked smile and got up behind the balcony banister and Riku followed.
"I know what you're supposed to do," Hauru said. She pulled Riku in close and he pressed one hand against the small of her back and stroked her face with the other while Hauru reached up past his shoulders and locked her fingers behind his head. "You grab the girl... and you kiss her like you mean it". Riku smiled at the thought. Hauru needed this. And she could sense that he did, too. There was only so long they could wait. Only so long they could hold their feelings back. Hauru pulled Riku in closer and beneath the nearly full moon, their lips met. And it felt, in that moment, as their hearts were one. This moment wouldn't last forever. It couldn't. But Hauru would hold this night, this moment in her memory for all her life. When they broke their kiss, the two looked at each other and they threw their heads back. Their joyous howls echoed through the night. Hauru felt as though she'd finally been found.