NieA here! ^_~ Chapter Two finally completed, and plenty of thanks to those who have thus far reviewed ^_^ And although I love Square dearly, Square, sadly, does not love me -_-* I don't own any copyrights to these characters... yet ^_~ Gimme another 10 years or so, and Square will HAVE to love me... you'll see what I mean. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and please don't forget to leave a review! Feedback is *greatly* appreciated. Thanks!
- - b e g i n n i n g o f c h a p t e r t w o - - Interferences.
Warmth... it had been so long since he'd felt it... The cold, unrelenting chill had haunted his heart for what seemed like centuries, and now it was finally gone. He had finally felt the graciousness of a good night's sleep, without the darkness tormenting him even in subconsciousness. The visions were pleasant this night as well, possibly because now he had found is way out from the shadows, where such visions could never find him. But every 'vision' has it's ending. As his dreams began to fade, his eyes fluttered open and blinked softly into focus, and his body slowly became physically conscious. Conscious of the big, brown, spiked anonymous thing weighing down on his chest, anyway.
"What the..." Riku stared down at Sora's head resting on his chest, rising and falling softly with Riku's rhythmic breathing. Sora's arms were encircling his head, and his face was buried uncomfortably into Riku's vest. Riku's eyes then scanned the room curiously -- they were alone.
"Umm... Sora?" Riku called gently, placing a hand on Sora's shoulder and giving it a light shake. "Hey, Sora."
"Mmphhh...."
"Hey, wake up. Your drooling all over my shirt."
"Eh?" Sora's head perked up a little too quickly. His hands flew to his head as a sudden dizzy spell hit him with a sharp headache. "Oww..."
"You alright?" Riku asked with an amused little grin on his face. Sora could be such a moron sometimes...
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Sora flashed Riku his trademark smile, any sign of pain gone from his voice. Luckily the headache was an extremely short lived one. "How 'bout you? Aerith said I could give you a potion now if you still think you need one."
"I'm fine." Riku murmured, sitting up in the small wood framed bed. He felt great, actually. It was almost as if the incident outside the bungalow hadn't taken place at all.
"Great! Pretty soon we'll be able to spar again, just like we used to. With wooden blades and everything."
"Wooden blades?" Riku said, glancing over at Sora almost daringly. "You seriously think you'll be able to defeat me with a wooden blade?"
"Without a doubt." Sora grinned.
"Wanna confirm that?"
"Are you kidding?? You just got out of bed, Riku. I'd rather you didn't try to put your body to the limit, or else you might get sick again."
"I'm fine." Riku insisted as he slid his feet off the edge of the bed. Sora didn't look at all convinced. "Alright, so I'm probably a little rusty, but you're not so much of a challenge that your gonna beat me into a coma, Sora."
"Tomorrow, okay?" Sora suggested with a promising smile. "Besides, I promised everyone that I'd take you out to the bonfire once you got well again."
"The bonfire?" Riku repeated, a thin silver brow perking with interest. The last time they'd ever had a bonfire on Destiny Island was years ago. Even though he could only vaguely recall what had actually happened then, he could easily remember it being alot of fun.
"Yeah, Selphie and Tidus thought it would cheer you up. So, how 'bout it?"
"Sounds great, I guess." Riku said. "Though I'm still all for sparring."
"I'll think about it." Sora said, though by the grin on his face Riku knew his mind was already made. Absolutely transparent. With a mischievous little grin of his own, Riku followed the brunette out into the warm night.
-----------------------
Someone could have come across now and rendered Riku blind, and he would have been perfectly content. The image laid out before him was irritating the shit out of him, and even more so because his and Sora's spar-- which was two seconds from taking place-- ended up not happening. And all because of one squealing, giggling little girl with a big, hideous head.
Sora. Kairi. So close, laughing, smiling, completely in their own little world while Riku sat on the log across from theirs and sulked like a child. As for the rest of the world-- they looked absolutely peachy.
"Hey." For a moment, Riku was forced away from his loathing and instead shifted his focus to the swordsman that now sat beside him. "I take it you're Riku. I'm Leon."
Riku nodded his subtle greeting; he was still upset over obvious matters, but that didn't need to stop him from wanting to meet the darker swordsman.
"Aerith mentioned that you were skilled behind a blade. Feeling up to a spar, or are you still feeling shitty from yesterday?"
Riku grinned despite himself. "You don't waste any time, do you?"
"I see no sense in wasting time on idle chatter when there are more important matters at hand. So, are you up to it?"
"Definitely." Riku said, more than happy to have something to do other than drown in resentment. It wasn't usual for him to do so, but ever since he woke up he seemed absolutely prone to it. A distraction was exactly what he needed, and besides, if Sora could find someone more interesting, Riku could sure as hell find someone too.
"Great." Leon handed Riku a wooden practice sword matching his own, and then lead him a little way down the beach away from the bonfire.
"Think the darkness is going to affect you?"
"Not at all." Riku replied with a smirk -- he knew Leon was referring to the lack of proper lighting, but he couldn't help but think of a whole different kind of Darkness. Ah, whatever. Riku slid into a stance and his opponent did the same. Before another moment passed, the battle had begun.
The two rushed towards each other, and their blades clashed and deflected instantly. Leon then rushed his blade towards Riku's abdomen. Riku quickly dropped into a sideways roll and evaded the move, striking upwards as he fluidly spun back onto his feet. Leon quickly dodged Riku's attack with his blade, then took a sharp step backwards to observe his opponent's stance. Riku was about a second from rushing an attack into his side, propelling off his left foot and putting all his weight into the right. Leon took the opportunity to force Riku's blade aside quickly with his own, taking Riku a little off balance, then delivered a quick blow into his midsection with his shoulder. Riku, unable to control the momentum in time, staggered back a few steps before falling hard on his back.
"Guess I'm still a little rusty..." Riku murmured good humouredly, an amused half grin on his lips. Leon then stepped forward and offered his hand to Riku, and with a malignant little glimmer in his eyes, the silver haired teenager grabbed his opponent by the wrist and thrust him down to the ground. He then quickly and forcefully pinned the swordsman beneath him, his knees straddling Leon's hips and his hands gripping his shoulders tightly.
"But the moment I reclaim my strength," Riku murmured, the slightest hint of a grin still touching the corners of his lips as he dipped down to whisper directly into Leon's ear. "You're finished."
Riku then lifted himself off Leon's body and stood, but the swordsman couldn't bring himself to move. Instead he just stared up into the clear night's sky, trying to disregard the silver haired boy standing only a few feet away from him. The little bastard had beaten him. And not even by skill or strength, but just because he had caught Leon off guard. Leon. Off guard. Who would have imagined?
Ah, whatever. Leon brushed the thought out of his mind, then picked up the wooden sparring sword off the sand and rose to his feet. Not far off, Riku was standing with his back to him, his eyes averted to the sky and his porcelain skin bathed in moonlight. His arms hung loosely at his sides, and shoulders fell slightly, relaxed.
"I've spent nearly my entire life on this island," He murmured softly. "Though it's never failed, not once, to entrance me."
It fell into silence between them, though neither could admit it to feeling at all awkward. Within moments, Riku turned and faced Leon, his expression not revealing a trace of his thoughts.
"But it's pointless getting emotional about it. You'll see what I mean soon enough, that is, if you're staying here. Are you?"
"Yes," Leon answered, his voice strong though nearly inaudible. "For the time being, anyway."
"Great." Riku said warmly, adding another one of his roguish half grins. "I was beginning to think I was going to get stuck without a sparring partner. Sora's too busy letting Kairi drag herself all over him, and everyone else is weaker than hell."
Leon just nodded vaguely and gave a partial smile. Not the talkative type, Riku guessed.
"How did you get here, anyway?" Riku asked. Leon shrugged a little, allowing his partial smile to falter a little.
"On the gummi ship. We heard you were in bad condition, so Aerith came to help and we all accompanied her. Since then, this is where we've stayed, and it doesn't look like we're going to be leaving for a while."
"Hey, Leon!!! Whatchya doin' way over there??" The silhouette of a petite feminine figure called as she ran in their direction. Leon barely managed to catch his balance in time as the girl pounced onto his back, practically strangling his neck with her arms.
"Get off." Leon growled lethally, though the girl, still attached to Leon's shoulders, instead smiled widely at Riku and waved.
"Hey! You're name is Riku, right?" Riku merely nodded. "I dun think you know me. My name's Yuffie Kisaragi! Nice ta meet ya while you're actually awake! When we got here you looked like crap."
"Thanks." Riku muttered sarcastically. For one reason or another, the girl was beginning to annoy him.
"Yuffie."
"Yup?"
"Get off my back."
"Yup! Sure thing, Squall!" Yuffie hopped down to the ground promptly, and instead took to clasping onto Leon's arm.
"Yuffie." Leon growled again, this time sounding ten times more irritated.
"Yup?"
"It's Leon. Now get off my arm."
"Aww, c'mon, Squa--I mean, Leon! Why are ya acting so mean all of a sudden?" When Leon failed to answer, Yuffie's eyes wandered over to Riku, who didn't look any happier in the least bit. "Ohhh..." Her eyes traveled back to Leon. "I'm not interrupting anything special, am I??"
"Don't be rediculous." Leon sighed, then shoved Yuffie off of his arm. "Now go back to the bonfire, will you? I'll be there in a moment."
"Fine." Yuffie sighed, looking dejected for a second or so before instead focusing on Riku's calm expression. "Just to let you know, I think Sora was looking for you. Maybe you should go see what he wants."
"Why don't you tell him that you found us?" Leon suggested. It seemed a little too obvious that Yuffie was trying to gain Leon's attention back for herself, but Leon wasn't at all interested in giving up Riku's company for Yuffie's. Especially since he'd just spent the last couple years putting up with her childish obsession over him. Sure, she wasn't that bad of a girl in general, but she wasn't necessarily the type he'd want hanging all over his back every second of the day. Needless to say, that's exactly what he'd been stuck with.
"I guess I could." She murmured. "Well, later you two!" Yuffie then turned away and took off down the cove.
"Well, She's... cute... I guess." Riku said after Yuffie was already out of sight. Leon just shook his head and sighed a little. When he looked back at Riku, he actually looked the slightest bit amused.
"Sure, when you look at her maybe. I apologize for that, by the way."
"Don't worry about it." Riku then shifted his eyes down the cove, in the direction he knew the bonfire was located. "Well, I'm gonna go see what Sora's up to. Coming?"
"I might as well." Leon decided, then fell in step beside Riku as they made their way down the beach.
- - e n d o f c h a p t e r t w o - -
*appears, lounged in front of the computer with a random bishounen leaned over her shoulder, glaring into the computer screen*
Yuki. You're pathetic.
NieA. Why now?
Yuki. I thought you were gonna write my fanfic tonight. This doesn't look very Furuba-ish to me.
NieA. I'm working on it.
Thanks to all that have taken the time to read my work, hopefully you've enjoyed it so far ^_^ Please remember to leave a review! The more reviews, the happier I am, the more often I update *hint hint* ^_~ Bai bai, for now!!!
Yuki. NieA...
NieA. Yeah, I'm getting to it Prince, just gimme another week or so...
Yuki. A week?!?! I have to wait a week on you to get your lazy self to start writing *my* fic, which you *promised* me would be started 47 hours ago... *is wearing an irresistibly adorable Sohma-kun pouty face* ... I could never rely on you for anything, could I...? And I thought you loved me...
NieA. .... I'm sorry... *sniffle* ... I do love you, Yuki-kun...
Yuki. No you don't. You can't even write a simple fanfic for me. Now I'm never going to get to hug Tohru or anyone because you hate me.
NieA. ... Yuki-kun...
Yuki. That's it. Forget about me, and go back to your other bishounen! You don't need me! You never loved me to begin with! I'm so abused!!!
NieA. *sigh* ... Yes, the Prince is abused. Whatever. Later people.
