Crowned Hearts Chapter Ten

By Blue Dragon

Lisa sat down at the edge of the water, and took a smooth shell in her hand. Crowned Hearts only a few hours away, the perfect opportunity for her to meet everyone.she couldn't think about that now. She slowly squeezed and the shell cracked. The she launched it the length of the blue sea. She never heard the splash.

All that she could do to contain her nervousness was to leap up and start a brisk walk. Then a jog. Then a skip, a gallop, a run, and soon an all out sprint kicking up a trail of sand.

"I have nothing left to do. I might as well go home and get ready" she looked forward to seeing her father just before she left. He had this strange ability to make her feel completely calm about anything and everything.

"Crowned Hearts, here I come!"

Tidus slicked back his hair and adjusted his tux.

"Damn you look sexy" he said to his reflection. He started pretending to hug and kiss his own reflection in the mirror in Sora's room.

"Tidus, why are you kissing my mirror?"

"Holy God!" He spun around.

"I didn't know you were there, heh. How much did you hear?"

"Enough to disturb me Tidus, enough to disturb."

There was an awkward silence.

"Move over, I wanna see how I look."

Tidus stepped to the right and let Sora show himself. He was transformed. His usually clumped and spiky Cloud Strife hair gave way to new calmer straighter Sion Barzhad hair. The tuxedo he wore was black on both the coat and his undershirt with one red and white rose. His eyes seemed to sparkle with anticipation. Selphie and Kairi were in the other room, but had earlier made outfits about how he had looked in it when they saw him before.

"How do I look?" he asked Tidus.

"Like ass"

".Very funny. But really. How do I look?"

"Well, you actually look cool, man"

"Thanks. You think Selphie and Kairi are finished in there?"

"They'd better be" Tidus sat on Sora's bed.

"Your mom will be back in forty-five minutes"

Sora took note of this realization.

"You're right. I'd better go check."

With that, Sora stood up from the bed and went to go check on the other two.

"Hey, wait up!" Tidus went after him.

Selphie and Kairi stood on the balcony, admiring the afternoon sky.

Kairi wore a dress of her signature pink with matching gloves, her hair tied up with a white ribbon.

"Sora! You're mother's coming home! Tell your beaver friends to hurry up!" Mr. Barzhad yelled.

"Why does he call us beavers?" asked Kairi looking up at the sky that was turning dark. Only one hour remained before Crowned Hearts. Wakka and Lulu were coming to meet them before they all set out together.

"Your ribbon makes a Mobius" Selphie noted.

"A Mobius?" asked Kairi.

"It curves and makes one side. Mobius one!"

"Dammit Selphie, that's the last time!" yelled Sora as he walked in.

"You're getting that from somewhere. Just stop it," he continued.

"I made it up! And this time I have proof! No birds are flying by, whatever that means" there was silence, and then an amazingly loud roar as and F-15 ACTIVE blazed overhead at a low altitude, circling once.

"This is SkyEye to the Barzhad residence for the communication to Selphie Tilmitt. If you take one more reference from Ace Combat 04, then we are confiscating all of your property and selling you into slavery. Ace Combat 04 and ISAF are both operated by NAMCO and will no longer tolerate your infringement" The craft flew off leaving the party stunned. Sora narrowed his eyes and looked at Selphie.

"I'm not the guy that would say I told you so."

"Thanks, Sora"

"I TOLD YOU SO!"

Riku walked into his house to find that his father had an employee, Aeris Gainsborough, at the table.

"Sephiroth. You look really handsome. Do you want to dance with me later.?"

"Uh, Riku and I have to check on something" He said, pulling Riku into the kitchen.

"I can't stand that Aeris! She's a co-worker that only wears pink, and keeps hitting on me. One of these days I'll just stab her through the stomach or something"

Riku had no comment; he only pondered how Aeris reminded him of Aerith.

"Sephy-chan?" Aeris came into the kitchen.

".Don't call me that."

"Sephy-chan, you look even better than before. Want to come back to my place and.?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm HAPPILY married to a beautiful wife with a fifteen year old son, who is present. So if you wouldn't mind?"

"But now one but us three would ever half to know, precious"

Rikku came out of her hiding place with a .45 in her hand aiming it dangerously close to Aeris' head.

"Hey, slut, get away from my husband or I'll blow your head off"

Aeris' eyes widened with fear and she ran out of the door crying.

"Rikku! You're perfect! Don't ever change!"

Riku's mother Rikku dropped her .45 and came close to her husband.

"Well, I'm just glad I have you all to myself"

"Oh my." Sephiroth muttered worriedly as he held his wife tighter.

"What is it sweetheart?"

"I feel.the ANIMAL!"

"Sephiroth! Not in front of our son!"

"He could use an early education, come on woman!"

"Uh, mom, dad, I'm just going to put on my tux and bolt" he said.

"Yeah yeah whatever" said Sephiroth. He swiped everything of the counter and placed Rikku on it. Then got on top and.

Riku ran off to his room, and decided to use the back entrance.

He didn't even look at himself, but he did retreat through the back door into the darkening sky.

"Oh you devil!" he heard.

".I'm scared," he said to himself.

He could already see the lights off in the distance. He saw Chuckis, Morgan, Jerris, and Jennifer already making their way to the school gym. He also encountered Lulu and Wakka but told them he had someone to meet.

Still about thirty minutes away from Crowned Hearts, Riku rested at the beach and didn't bother looking at himself. He probably looked like a mess anyhow. He only wanted to see Lisa. He actually doubted that he could keep a girl like that for long so he really wanted to enjoy the healing she had provided from a while of loneliness before he went back to it, so he really didn't care how he looked.

"Riku?" He looked up and saw a sight that almost made him fall back in awe.

Her beauty was mystifying, unlike anything.

Her hair was tied in the back so that two braids fell on either side of her shoulders and the rest fell nicely behind her. Her eyes seemed to sparkle blue rather than the usual hazel, giving volume to the dress of pure white that seemed untouched by the sand. She wore tow silver high-heels. The perfume she wore smelled like a white rose, a perfume strong enough to reach anyone but not so strong it was alcoholic.

The gloves climbed just past her elbows, and the dress was held by one strap that went behind her neck, the dress starting a few inches below he collarbone. At first, when he saw her wide, bright eyes he thought he looked more ugly than usual, but he found she was staring in complete awe and admiration.

If only he knew how good he looked Lisa thought to herself. Riku's unique tuxedo was a shade of ocean blue like the pants, the shoes a sleek black. His hair fell in away that they blended palely against the coat, as if partners to the silver rose in his breast pocket.

The shirt went in and outlined his abdomen, which was pretty well shaped, she noticed. He basically looked like a prince.

She hardly expected him to say:

"You look awesome"

She blushed furiously, not really thinking much of her looks.

Riku held out his hand. He had more confidence than ever now. With a girl like this, he couldn't NOT have confidence.

When she took his hand and smiled, he felt a tinge of electricity surge through. This would be a memorable night.