A/N:
XCX: Whohooo! Chap 4! I'm on a roll and my writer's block is a thing of the past! Go me! Thanks for the reviews everyone!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts 'cause if I did I'd make Riku and Sora the main pair! One way or another!
Chapter 4
Turning away from the light
Sora watched in a silver mirror as Riku struck the final blow to Selphie's battered and beaten body.
Even though the girl's true body was covered in darkness, he could see past the blanket of the shadows and see the girl in the center.
She was huddled in a small ball, her knees drawn to her chest, silent tears pouring down her face as she fell.
She was going to be sent to oblivion if Riku struck one more blow to her.
"Ansem! Bring Selphie here NOW!" Sora roared.
Jin looked stiff from the way the boy was ordering his master around, but Ansem was the opposite. He merely shrugged and waved a hand at Sora.
"Look back in the mirror." He replied plainly, and watched Sora with an amused expression.
Sora listened and turned around to watch the winds pick up. Selphie's tired body was lifted from the ground and she was lifted to the sky, and disappeared into the orb.
Riku and Kairi stayed on the island; holding onto the sturdy tree that was still firmly rooted to the ground.
Sora watched in envy as Riku held Kairi close. He wanted the wind to somehow tear them apart, but with Riku's strength, it was the last thing that was likely to happen.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Selphie's large body fell from the never-ending dark sky above and fell to the floor behind him with a loud crash.
"Selphie!" Sora rushed over, worry evident in his eyes for the small girl.
Her Heartless appearance faded as Sora neared and what was left was a crying girl with blood coming from various parts of her body.
"Selphie! Are you okay!" Sora pulled the girl into his lap and started to move the hair from her face, which was soaked with cold sweat.
"Sora..?" She asked weakly. She held a hand to her throat as if trying to see if the hoarse voice was really her's. She coughed a few times and huddled closer to Sora's warm body.
She started to cry harder. Warm tears fell down her cheeks and landed on Sora's legs. Her shoulders shook in pain as she cried harder, some of her blood mingling with the tears.
"Selphie... it's okay." He started to pulled her hair back from her face to inspect a deep gash in her forehead, while he rubbed her back with his other hand.
"I wanna go home..." She said, burying her face in Sora's legs. "I was so scared... I saw Riku attacking me... I tried to tell him to stop, but I couldn't talk!" She cried louder still.
"Shhh... It's okay Selphie..." Sora held onto her pulled her up so she was in his lap.
Selphie's head rocked back and forth in a tired manner. Sora never stopped whispering assurance to her that she was going to be okay, until she slowly nodded off in his arms, her head tucked under Sora's chin.
"Jin will show you a room where you can treat the girl." Ansem said. He rose from his own chair and walked off into the darkness, seemingly swallowing him.
"Where's he going?" Sora asked Jin when the man above him took the sleeping girl into his arms.
"Off to attend to other matters." Jin said simply. He turned on heel and walked off in the same matter, Sora following closely behind.
When they reached a large black door, Jin pushed in open and strode in placing the girl on a large canopy bed.
Sora took a minute to let his eyes roam over the pure elegance of the room.
Large spiraled black arches supported the ceiling that was painted in thorns and graceful silver roses.
The walls were a like smoke, so much so the Sora couldn't tell if it was smoke or just a painted effect.
The floor was a darkly tinted black marble that also looked like black smoke. It was cut is various shapes and sizes, but each fitted against the other like a puzzle perfectly put into place.
Furniture lined the room here and there, but each piece seemed to be handcrafted with the utmost care, like they had been meant for royalty.
There was black and silver couch; it's legs like steel black arches and the cushions were plush and silver.
A pure crystalline glass coffee table sitting in front of it with small glittering diamonds incased in the class.
And a large white bookcase resting against the wall next to it, lined with various books of colors, sizes, and width.
That's when Sora actually took a minute to look at the bed.
The bed itself was meant for gods.
It was long and wide, enough to fit the small pool on Destiny Islands, with black silk sheets pulled to the top, gold trimmings with hearts and other Celtic designs sewn on my skilled fingers, the pillows were satin and a underneath the first row was another with simple white, feather-soft, pillows below.
"Nice isn't it?" Jin cast over his shoulder, as he pulled the covers back and placed the resting girl on the sheets.
"Yeah..." Sora said idly, still admiring the art on the ceiling. After a while his neck started to ache and he had to stop staring up.
He walked over to the bedside and ran a hand through Selphie's locks of brown hair.
Jin started to pull Selphie's clothes off and Sora had to blush and look away. He knew it was necessary to clean the wounds, and to do that they had to remove the sleeping girl's clothes, but it was just embarrassing to undress one of his friends like this…
"There should be some first-aid supplies in the cabinet behind you, would you mind taking them out and bringing them here?" Jin said, never looking up from his task.
"S-sure." Sora stuttered. When he turned around he saw the simple black cabinet, and he was starting to wonder if everything here had some trace of black in it, pulling the wide doors open.
"The white box?" Sora asked.
"Yes, that's the one." Jin said as he finished removing the clothing, leaving nothing but Selphie in her underwear and bra. Sora silently wondered why the girl wore one in the first place. She had no chest, so he really didn't see the point in wearing one.
"Take out the bowl in there and fill it full of water." Jin order as he took a bottled liquid, a rag, a needle, and some string out.
Sora didn't say anything. He walked over to the cabinet where a sink was located underneath, and filled it to the brim with warm water.
Sora walked back to see Jin had removed his hood and was regarding him with emotionless eyes.
He had long green hair, which vaguely reminded Sora of darkened neon green you see on VCR's that was pulled into a tight, long braid that trailed down his back. His bangs covered half of his face, the other half covering his left eye. Jin's purple eye, that was visible, gleamed, even in the pale lighting of the room, and watched him closely.
His face was marked with a scar cutting into the left side of his face, mostly hidden by his long bangs. It was a darker shade than the real color of his creamy white skin and slightly faded, showing it wasn't too old, but not exactly new either.
But surprisingly, he didn't look a day over the age of eighteen, maybe younger.
"Some of the cuts are deep, so we'll need to stitch them shut." He said calmly.
Sora nodded and moved next to Jin, placing the bowl of warm water on the bedside table.
Jin poured the bottled liquid into the bowl and ripped the cloth in two, then four, and then eight. He dipped them all into now red liquid and let them soak for five seconds before handing the bowl to Sora after he took one of the clothes from the bowl.
"I'll start cleaning this wound on her face. You cover the other wounds with the cloths, and reapply them every thirty seconds. After five times, start cleaning the wounds one by one, okay?" Jin didn't wait for an answer. He set to work on cleaning the Selphie's face with gentle hands.
Sora looked down into the bowl and, one-by-one, placed them over Selphie's cuts.
Selphie occasionally twitched in her sleep, but she didn't wake. She sometimes squeezed her eyes shut in pain, but Sora came to her side and started talking to her softly.
After the chore of cleaning the wounds were done, Sora stood next to Jin, waiting for any order to help his friend.
"If you could hand me the needle and thread, it'd really help." Jin answered coolly, dabbing at the blood encrusted around the girl's forehead.
Sora nodded again and handed the utensils to Jin.
Jin threaded the needle in record time and started to sew the wound on Selphie's shoulder.
The thread pierced though Selphie's skin, like a warm knife through butter, and soon Jin was pulling it closer to the other end of the torn skin.
When the wound was closed, Jin snipped the thick thread with is teeth, and the extra thread disappeared from his hands and the thread in Selphie's skin disappeared. In its place was clean skin with no mark.
"How'd you do that?" Sora asked inspecting the skin, while Jin moved to the next wound, already threading the needle again.
"It's a special kind of thread made with a healing potion and a megalixar. It's just been molded together into the form of thread." He said. Again the needle pierced Selphie's skin, and again it left no mark when Jin finished.
"Where'd you learn to sew stitches?" Sora asked.
"I... don't know." Jin said. He paused in his task, but never looked at Sora.
"Then how do you do it?"
"I... don't know that either. All I know is that I am able to exceed in everything I do and that I am a servant of Lord Ansem." He replied. A dull look pass through his eyes, but it was gone the next second.
"Ansem-"
"Lord Ansem." Jin corrected.
"Lord Ansem." Sora repeated. "He said you're a Heartless. You don't look like one." Sora said, looking at the older boy with curiosity.
"Actually… It's only half-true," Jin said, sealing the third wound and threading the needle again for the next.
"Huh?"
"From what Lord Ansem tells me: I was a loyal servant to him. He started to study the Heartless and when he was out of subject to send down, I volunteered." He paused and cut the thread. He never looked up from his work and continued his story. "I went down and the Heartless acted differently around me than others. When they attacked me, my body absorbed them..." He stopped and set the needle down.
"And... in return I got this scar..." Jin raised a hand to his face and let his hands skim over the scar, his eyes partially glazed, like he was off in some old memory long forgotten. "And this eye."
"Your purple one?" Sora said.
"No." Jin shook his head. "That's my natural color." He seemed to pause and consider something, but he finally turned to look at Sora. "It's my right eye." With that he pulled his bangs away to reveal a golden eye. It was small and narrower than the other eye and it looked like it had been glazed over with some sort of clear of gel.
"Wow..." Sora tried his best not to gape, but the eye was absolutely amazing. Even Ansem didn't have eyes like his.
His seemed to have a rainbow of colors behind them, while still maintaining it's golden hue.
Unconsciously, Sora raised a hand and let it caress the side of Jin's cursed face. The man seemed to stiffen and freeze at the shorter boys touch, but then leaned into it, and closed both eyes, letting out a long sigh of content happiness.
"Sora?"
The two snapped back to reality like a rubber band, Selphie raised on her elbows, watching them.
"What are you doing?" She asked innocently. Then a wide grin passed her lips. "Are you two lovers now?" She asked slyly.
Jin didn't say anything and Sora stood there blushing, his hand still on Jin's face.
"N-no… we... just, um… I… he… and…" Sora stumbled for words, but his brain was currently working like putty.
"Here drink this." Jin said, handing her a cup of clear liquid that was suddenly located on the bedside table.
"I'm not thirsty!" Selphie complained highly.
"Yes... but we have to stitch up the rest of your wounds." He said coolly, his facial expression never wavering.
"Fine." Selphie took the cup and down the contents in one gulp. Even Jin was surprised.
The small girl's face started to look glazed with on-coming sleep and she swayed from side-to-side, like a drunken dog.
" 'Night." Selphie said, wrapping herself in the blankets around her. She snuggled closer to the pillow and in seconds she was asleep.
The rest of the stitching was done in silence and neither Sora or Jin was willing to break it in any manner.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Riku shook his head and looked over his surroundings. He was in a town of some sort and it was slightly new. He was used to an island, with a simple shop, houses, and a school (that had been shut down for lack of supplies) . Nothings like restaurants, or a large shops the town here had.
"Nnn... Riku..." The silver-haired teen turned around to see Kairi stirring from her peaceful sleep.
"Kairi? You okay?" He asked, leaning over to look her in the face.
"Fine." She flashed him a tired smile and pulled herself to her feet with Riku helping. "Where are we?" She asked looking around.
"I don't know..."
Riku and Kairi walked into the large square from the alleyway that had been sitting in and watched stranger bustle around, tending to various things at a time.
"I guess, we should look around..." Riku mumbled and started toward the door to his right.
"Welcome, how may I... oh... just some kids." A tall blond grumbled and returned back to a book he was holding in his hands.
"Excuse me, sir...?" Kairi said, shyly walking up to the man. "But where are we?" She said, kicking the ground nervously. She wasn't too comfortable around older men, and Riku could clearly see this.
"We just found ourselves here and..." Riku began, trying to express the situation clearly, though information was vague.
"Hold on, hold on. Both of you?" The man put his book on a shelf behind him and regarded the teens with a curious scowl. "No one's made it to Travers Town with someone else in a long time. Maybe they're weakening..." The man seemed to be talking to himself more that anyone else now.
"Huh?" Kairi tried to cut into the man, but he kept talking.
"I wonder how a pair of kids-"
"Come on, Kairi." Riku said. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the shop without the blond ever realizing they were gone. "Let's explore the rest of the town, maybe someone else can tell us why we're here."
The two rounded the corner and walked toward a cobble stone stairs.
"Do you think Sora's okay?" Kairi asked as Riku pushed two large wooden doors wide.
"I don't know... Maybe he's in town somewhere." Riku's lips pursed and his brows knitted. He highly doubted Sora would be in the town, but he was really hoping he'd be somewhere in the city.
OoOoOoOoOoO
"There, done." Sora said, looking at his handy work.
After he and Jin had finished cleaning and healing Selphie's wounds, they had sat down and entertained themselves by Sora redoing Jin's hair in different styles.
Jin didn't know why he had agreed, but the exchange they had shared earlier had somehow affected him in ways he did not know.
For years he had been with Lord Ansem as a servant, and not once after he had arrived was he told or asked anything about his past life.
He could communicate with the Heartless around him, but their vocabulary and attention span was shorter than one-forth of his long slender fingers, so he was usually used to the orders Ansem gave him a silence.
Jin's hair was currently in a tight bun on top of his head, and he had a feeling that if anyone was watching right now, they'd be laughing at his current look. The proud, and usually silent, Jin with his hair up, looking like a sixteen-year-old librarian. After he conjured up a mirror from one of the nearby walls, he agreed that he looked like a girl.
"Awww... come one it can't be THAT bad!" Sora whined as Jin pulled a hair-tie from his hair.
"Yes it is." Jin replied crossly. He quickly set to work putting his hair into the long braid it had been earlier. He paused halfway through, his fingers still clutching the hair tightly. "Where'd you learn to do hair?" He asked, restarting his braid because it wasn't tight enough.
"My mom said she always liked it when ran my fingers through her hair, when we watched the sunset every night. After a while, I decided to do something with her hair." Sora shrugged, walking over and laying down on the couch.
"..." Jin watched as the teens eyes started to droop, and slowly, he slipped into sleep.
Jin let out a tired sigh and conjured up a blanket. He delicately placed the soft sheet over the slumbering boy's body and watched him sleep on a chair next to the couch.
The boy had been through a lot.
When he had first told Sora not to interfere he felt like he was just doing another job for Ansem, but after a while of thinking this over, he felt sorry for the boy.
The night before he had spent the whole day watching him. Watching the emotions and pain the boy went through, with no one there to comfort him.
He saw the pained looks the boy had when he watched him watch Riku and Kairi, his supposed friends. How they were pretty much oblivious to the pain they caused the teen.
Jin felt a small stab of hate for the boy named Riku when he had turned away from Sora to retrieve the girl instead, and he was almost hoping that Riku would pull Sora out of the darkness back on the island.
Now that he thought about it, he, Jin had never had friends, or at least one's he could remember. When he slept, his mind was full of fuzzy faces, and fragments of memory.
Slowly, he too started to drift off as Sora's even breathing calmed his state of mind.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Jin blinked his eyes open, his eyes still clouded with much sleep.
"I see you're finally awake." Jin's heart gave a jumpstart when Ansem's voice snapped him awake, and when he placed a white-gloved hand on his shoulder Jin nearly jumped out of his skin.
Ansem had never touched him.
"Our guest is gone." He smiled, but didn't look at Jin.
"I'm sorry my Lord!" Jin shot up out of his chair and bowed before Ansem. "Allow me to find him and bring him back." Jin said, bowing lower.
"No."
"What?" Jin said, raising his head to look at his master.
"I want you to watch him, and see what he does. Even I'm surprised how he left and how he knew where Riku is." Ansem said, finally looking at Jin. His amber eyes watched Jin look at him in almost a fearful gaze. "Also... make sure things don't get out of hand. He seems to know more about the Heartless and the darkness than he's letting on."
End Chapter
XCX: Yay! I'm doing quite well! I've got more reviews and X-mas break is here! Now I can write more. Chances are I can post more chapters after this one in no time, but that'd be no fun. No fun at all. You guys have to review in order for me to post a chapter. And since I've only got a couple, I want at least 15 reviews more until I update. HA!
Jin: Man you're pretty mean. I mean teasing them with something like that.
XCX: Time is money, Jin mah boy!
Jin: Don't call me that.
XCX: Call ya what?
Jin: 'mah boy'
I'll call you whatever I darn as hell please! I own you!
Jin: Bitch.
... y'know... we can always have a Jin and Goofy pairing if I like...
Jin: Oo" Master.
XCX: That's more like it! Now then moving onto other matters... hold on... :shuffles papers: Wow... there are none! Yay! You guys rock! RR please!
Read on a live for the thrill of life! X3