Sea Salts to Heal.
Disclaimer: Woooow, maaan. It's like, totally not mine, maaaan. Don't know how it got here, maaaan. I don't smoke or own anything like KH or FF or anything else that couldn't possibly belong to me that's in this fic, maaaan. Like…woooah.
A/N: WOW GUYS! It feels like its been three months….
WOW GUYS! It HAS been three months!
runs away from pitchforks Yeah, I know. But you have no idea what a happy feeling it was to be riding home on the bus today and actually having the muse to write. Whether it was writers block or the summer, it does not matter because I'm BACK!
First Order of Business: If any of the characters seem different from the last time I wrote? I blame Debeo Memoria, the RP site of ultimate coolness. You can check it out at Debeo Memoria's author page. But…Riku is gay and Cloud's bipolar, and Yuffie just stabbed Leon because she thought he was being controlled by Cloud who is being controlled by Sephiroth, so you can see how I had to settle myself back into the SSTH characters.
Second Order of Business: The relation going on between Squall and Yuffie kind of came from me watching Gravitation for three days straight. Or, mostly just the clingy Yuffie part. Shuichi, anyone?
Third Order of Business: Um…what was it again…woah…oh yeah! The music in the scene change brackets is I Knew I Love You Before I Met You by Savage Garden, and has nothing to do with the story. Its just the song in my favourite Gravitation AMV!
Fourth Order of Business: Riku, Sora and Bert: take deep breaths HAP HAP HAP, HAP HAP HAP HAP HAP HAPPY! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THIS IS YOUR SPECIAL DAY (Two days ago) HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THAT'S ALL WE HAVE TO SAY, HEY! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUUUUE (Riku in a speedo.) HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FROM ALL OF US TO YOU, HEY!
Wishing a very happy birthday to Annjirika, whoceleb-a-ra-t-o-to-ringtwo days ago, and who this chapter is, once again, dedicated to. There is a special surprise in here for you Ann, and your Yuriku should be coming along soon!
And, for the first time in three months, heeeere we go!
Sora stepped carefully into the shower, turning the knob until it was just a little more hot than he could stand and wincing as the spray washed over him. He turned to the small bathroom window looking out at the Second District, his arms resting against the tiny sill. The steam was rising fast around him and he wrenched the window open, breathing in the cool morning air and watching as the sky turned purple from black. Another day.
Another day…
(Maybe its intuition...)
"Hey, have you seen Aerith?"
Leon choked on a mouthful of hot coffee as a warm hand touched his shoulder blade, whirling around in his seat so see an amused and slightly fearful Yuffie looking back at him. She rubbed his back encouragingly as he spluttered, making tiny cooing noises she knew would annoy him, until finally he calmed enough to breath properly and glare fifteen years of life out of her. She smiled and took the seat opposite him.
"Mornin', kid." She drawled in her best Cid voice. "Got surmthin' special in yer coffee?"
Leon waved around his head as if swatting at a fly, refusing to take the bait. He breathed and sat in silence, glared at his coffee, looked around, shifted a bit and then said grudgingly, "Don't sneak up on me like that."
She giggled. "Yeah, yeah. I know you hate it. And I wasn't sneaking. This is a perfectly public area and I saw you from across the District and thought 'Well, ain't that interesting, its Squall at the Café and he's drinking coffee of all things. And it's not like he screams hostility or anything, so maybe I'll go over and engage him in friendly conversation—'"
"Its too early for this." Leon muttered, cupping his hands around the warmth of his mug and pushing his chair back. He stood, throwing a few pieces of munny on the table, and made to leave the Café. But he barely took two steps before Yuffie threw herself at him, clinging to his side.
"Nooo, Leeeooon!" She whined, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. "Stay, I want to spend time with you!"
Spend time with me? As if two months of nursing wasn't enough…Leon looked down at her, and she was oh so cutely nestled to him, hands running up and down his back, pleading brown eyes he knew would be his undoing…
"Oh, fine." He muttered, pushing her away just a little so he could breathe. He kept his hands on her waist and looked at her seriously. "But no talking."
"Promise! If you get me hot chocolate." She said happily, leaning up to kiss the stubble running along his chin. "I like holding you when you're standing up and not delirious."
And there it was. The verbal affirmation that maybe, possibly, despite all odds and his denial, they'd skipped just a little bit from barely friends to…lovers? He didn't know. He couldn't know, because he wasn't even sure he knew what it felt like anymore. His first love had always been pulling him from the darkness in his heart, filling him with affection and kind words that attempted but failed to keep him from going back. His second, a mass of confusion and hard feelings that forced him out of his shadows, made him feel too much to think of anything else. But this…with Yuffie…without the drama of Rinoa, the passion of Seifer, or any of the empty faces in the dark… Yuffie hadn't let him slip away for one second, and it was in that imprisonment that he'd clung to her, or they'd clung to each other. He didn't know. It had snuck past him when he hadn't been watching.
Nor, he realized as he lifted his arms and wrapped them around her tiny frame, did he particularly care.
"If this is going to continue," He said softly, tucking her head under his chin. "We have to get it straight that it will always be me holding you."
"Aww." She pulled back and pouted indignantly. "You always get to be the man…"
"Height rule." He said seriously, his lips twitching. "And, hello, I am a man?"
"Hah, so you say!" She replied, skipping back to her seat. "Never seen anything to prove it."
"Oh yeah?" He sat down in his own seat and raised an eyebrow, bringing the coffee to his lips. "You can buy your own hot chocolate then…"
Yuffie looked up at him, and he moulded his features into a solemn expression, shaking his head as she opened her mouth to plead.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"Sorry."
"Squuaaaall! I spent all of my munny on your birthday present!" She exclaimed, pounding her fists into the table.
"What? You did not."
"So what? Please!"
"No!"
"But I love you…"
Leon paused at this, giving his coffee a funny look as he pondered over how to react to such a statement, if she was serious, and what her loving him really had anything to do with him refusing her hot chocolate. Taking his silence as another refusal, Yuffie huffed and slouched into her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Fine! I'll sit here and stare, and I know I stare at you most of the time but this time it will be even more annoying than before because I'll twitch while doing it and I won't ever stop talking, even when you ask! No sir, I'll talk, chatter, babble, rant and go on and on and on and--"
Her tirade was halted immediately as Leon leaned across the table and brushed her cheek, his lips touching hers in a soft kiss. It was perfectly chaste, but Yuffie felt it tingle all through her body just the same, his mouth a deliriously warm weight on her bottom lip. Then he pulled back, and she was stupid and he was smiling, and the waitress brought a hot chocolate minutes later, smiling too, and Yuffie was perfectly content to stay quiet after that.
(Some things you just don't question...)
"Hey, have you seen Sora?"
Riku jumped a foot, and whirled around to face an unhappy looking Shuyin leaning against the doorframe. One might question what had caused normally stoic Shuyin to become angry. Riku wondered what the hell Shuyin was doing in his doorway. And also when Shuyin had learned to talk.
"Um…not since this morning." Riku said offhandedly, reaching behind the bedside table to pull out his sword. "Why?"
Shuyin's jaw visibly clenched, but Riku didn't notice, to busy twirling his sword around. The older teen could tell he was in a hurry from the way he kept leaning impatiently from foot to foot, but there was no way Shuyin was going to let him go so easy.
"You haven't been spending much time with him lately, have you?" He said coolly, straightening.
Riku blinked in surprise. Since when had Shuyin bothered to notice how much time they spent together?
"What? I just said I saw him this morning…"
The blond snorted. "You think--"
"They're waiting for me." Riku interrupted and darted to the back door before Shuyin could protest or even question who 'they' were. "I'll…um… talk to you later, okay?"
Shuyin's frown deepened.
(Like in your eyes, I see my future in an instant...)
"Hey, have you seen Shu--"
"Shh!" Cloud hissed at a bewildered Aerith, waving at her with a hand as he focused the lens on the tiny, black contraption in his hands. A closer inspection proved them to be binoculars, and he young brunette peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. Just in the distance was the apartment complex and startled, Aerith followed the direction of Cloud's head to see he was looking into someone's window.
She gasped and pulled the binoculars from his hand. "Cloud!"
"Hey!" He protested, trying to snatch them back. She held them just out of arm's reach, and he frowned at her. She frowned back. "Come on, Aer, it was just getting good!"
"You can't spy through people's windows!" She insisted, frowning back at him. "You can't!"
"Oh, come on, its Rikku and Gippal, its not like they do anything in private they don't already do in public!" He held out his hands and grinned. "Public break-ups, public make-ups, public attempted murders, public hand—"
"Oh, alright, I get the point!" She tossed him the binoculars, and sat down beside him with a huff. She still didn't think it was right for him to spy, but she couldn't very well argue with that. Those two were rather… immodest. "But isn't it kind of sad you don't have anything else to do with your time?"
"Traverse Town is just as dull as it was yesterday." He replied, grinning as he peered back into the binoculars. "What else should I be doing?"
"Oh…say, spending time with me?" She told him, crossing her arms as her eyebrows arched high. Cloud looked up from his spying and blinked over shocked, she was satisfied to see, into silence. Then he grinned and took hold of her wrist. Ignoring her squeal of protest he pulled her into his lap, kissing the side of her neck teasingly.
"Or," he murmured playfully, holding the binoculars out to her. "You could spend time with me and spy on Gippal and Rikku!"
"No, Cloud! I--" She fell silent as Cloud shoved the contraption in front of her eyes, and Rikku and Gippal's apartment came into clear view. "I…I…uh…wow. How do they do that?"
Cloud chuckled and slipped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Exactly what I was trying to figure out."
((A/N: I leave it to the choice and the imagination of the reader to decide what Rikku and Gippal were up to. ))
(And there it goes, I think I found my best friend...)
"Hey, have you seen Riku?"
Cid rubbed the back of his head, startled with the urgency in Tynan's voice. The young girl was panting, her voice high and her eyes bright with worry. What the heck was going on to get the kid so worked up? And had he seen Riku?
"Walked by with a coupl'a girls not ten minutes ago." He said finally, pleased that his mind was still kicking. "Heading to the Third District, I think. Said something about trainin' and--"
Tynan was out the door before the older man could even finish his sentence, sprinting across the District as fast as she could, legs straining painfully. She had only run this fast and desperately once in her life, and as she pulled open the door, she felt her hot stop.
Riku wasn't there.
"Riku!" She cried, squinting through the rain. "RIKU!"
(I know that it might sound more than a little crazy, but I believe...)
"Hey, have you seen this guy?" A tiny, gasping girl wiped sweat from her brow, flinging her sword to the side and poked her friend in the arm. Her tall companion grinned and swiped her own hair back, looking over their teacher with a mock suggestive eye.
"Have I seen him?" She repeated, propping her sword against the ground. "A better question would be why I haven't tied him down and molested him yet."
"You did molest me, Ann." Their teacher reminded her, with the air of someone who'd heard such things too many times. "And took pictures of me from behind…"
"Correction, I groped you. There's a difference." Ann insisted, pulling her jacket from around her waist and tossing it over her shoulders. "Besides, Bert here is the one who took the pictures."
"Ugh, I told you not to call me that in front of other people!" The younger girl cried, stomping her foot in a puddle. She grimaced and shook out her foot, glaring at her friend. "People are gonna think my name is…like…Bertick or something. Besides, the pictures were your idea and it was your camera…"
Riku laughed and pulled the tie from his hair, letting the rain rinse it of sweat. "Enough, ladies. You know I'm already spoken for."
It had been by chance he'd met these two girls, walking to the Items Shop to buy potions for Aerith. He'd just seen them out of the corner of his eye in time, backed up against the wall and fighting weakly against two muggers, both of whom were big and bulky. He'd fought the men off, and soon learned these girls were from a World where there was no fighting. He'd offered to teach them, happy to take a chance to relieve him of Traverse Town's usual boredom and angst, and they'd quickly become acquainted.
"Yeeeah." Ann grumbled, standing up fully and tucking her sword into her belt. As Riku's best girlfriends, obviously they would know all about the girl Riku had fallen for. "I just wish you'd hurry up and make a move, so the rest of us can stop hoping."
"Hey, I stopped hoping when he told me he sleeps in the same bed as that guy…" Bert commented, hurrying over to pick up her sword as the rain started to pick up. "Kooky or kinky? Hard to tell…"
Riku sighed and waved them off. "See you tomorrow, lovelies. Same time, same place."
"You know it, babe." Ann called from over her shoulder as the two girls ran into the District, arms covering their heads. "Hey, come less dressed tomorrow!"
Riku chuckled, and then grimaced up at the sky as thunder began to roll. He ran through the rain and ducked under the excess roof of the Shops, listening to the rain beating against the drainpipe. He grinned and slid down the wall, tucking in his legs as he watched the rainfall. Rainy season back home had always been his favourite, even if it kept their adventures inside.
His grin soon faded, and he rest his chin on his knees, memories haunting him and keeping him from enjoying the rain.
Sora…"Riku!" A voice called faintly from the District below, and he jumped to his feet. "RIKU!"
"Tynan?" He said to himself, stepping into the rain. He saw her standing near the fountain, looking around her desperately. She was completely drenched… "Hey, Tynan!"
Her head snapped in his direction, and he saw her gasp, running to the edge of the court and shouting up to him. "You have to come back to the Hotel! Its Sora!"
His heart jumped. "Sora? What happened?"
"We…we don't know! He's having a panic attack or something!" Her voice was laced with panic, and it broke over the last few words. "Riku, please! You have to come now!"
The distance to the Second District and the Hotel was the longest distance Riku had ever had to run. Everything seemed to be in slow motion; the rain, Tynan's hair whipping around her face as she ran ahead of him, the pounding in his heart.
Not now, not now, please…
(I knew I loved you before I met you...I think I dreamed you into life...)
When they reached the Hotel and finally Sora, something shattered in Riku's heart so violently that for a moment he couldn't breathe. It was a sight and a feeling he had hoped he would never experience again, one he hadn't had to experience in eight years. Their bed had been taken apart, pillows and blankets strewn around the room. A broken lamp lay shattered on the ground, and beside it a distraught Sora struggling against Shuyin's strong hold, arms and legs kicking. He was crying.
"Sora!" Yuffie was yelling from the bed, hands covering her mouth in horror. "Sora, stop it!"
Riku spoke quietly, keeping his eyes on Sora, and held up his hand. Leon sat on the bare mattress beside her and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. She quieted, biting her lip as she watched the silver haired teen approach his best friend slowly, hesitating occasionally as Sora's head turned his way. Finally, he bent down beside Shuyin and touched Sora's face.
"Sora." He said softly, keeping his hand in place as the young brunette struggled against his touch. "Sora? It's Riku."
"Riku!" He cried, kicking his legs out. "Letmegoletmegoletmego…"
Shuyin took his arms from around his waist and released him, stepping back. Everyone watched, startled, as Sora threw himself into his best friend's arms, tugging violently at the back of his shirt. Riku breathed slowly as he held Sora close, running a hand soothingly through his hair.
"Riku." Sora breathed, shaking his head. "Riku, they're trying to hurt me."
"They're not trying to hurt you." Riku told him gently, using his other hand to rub Sora's back. "They're your friends. I promise. Friends won't hurt you."
"You hurt me." Sora replied, and it was clear from his voice that he was no longer terrified, but angry. His hand reached up and gripped Riku's hair tightly, tugging it sharply. "You're my greatest friend and you hurt me."
"Friends don't hurt each other." Riku repeated, wincing as the hand in his hair tightened. "I promise."
"You promise, you promise." Sora mocked him, curling his free hand into a fist and pounding it roughly into Riku's chest. Riku groaned, and Sora hit him again, again and again. "You hurt me, you hurt me, you hurt me!" He burst into tears again and sobbed into Riku's chest, fist still beating weakly. Riku took the hand and held it tightly.
Sora looked up, eyes fully blue and filled with terrible pain. "Why…why wasn't I good enough for you?"
Riku met his eyes, and a tear dripped down his cheek. "You are."
"I wasn't before!"
"You were. You always were." Riku yanked him close again, holding him to his neck and crying into his hair. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…"
"But you broke your promise." Sora whispered weakly, tears dripping into the collar of Riku's shirt.
"I love you." Riku kissed the top of his head and held him closer. "I love you, I love you, and I'm never going anywhere again."
Sora tucked himself against Riku's chest and listened to his heart beat, the steady rhythm quieting his tears as the sound and Riku's warmth lulled him to sleep. "…you won't?"
Riku shook his head and Sora smiled in his last moment of consciousness. "Can we go home now?"
"Yeah." Riku murmured quietly, kissing his hair again. "Time to go home."
He knew Sora was asleep from the warm, level breathing on his neck and something eased within him. He tucked his arm under Sora's legs and picked him up, carrying him easily over to the bed and placing him on the bare mattress. He tugged the strewn blanket up to the sleeping boy's shoulders and then sat beside him, running a hand through his hair again.
After a few silent minutes he looked up and found six pairs of eyes on him, waiting for an explanation he wasn't sure he was ready to give.
(I knew I loved you before I met you, I have been waiting all my life...)
looks up and sees reader's eyes on author, waiting for an explanation she's not sure she's ready to give.
Looooooooooove you all! Please Review!