For you people who didn't understand:
Ashita: Tomorrow
Yuri: Lily
Copyrights: All characters belong to Square-Enix and Disney with the exception of Shanks – damn, just gave it away. Anyhoo, the plot is mine.
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 72: Future and a Lily
" How long have you lived in the Bell Tower?" Riku asked, feeling the breeze of the open-air floor wrap around him.
" Years. It hasn't been too long since our parents left, though," Ashita said, staring out at the sunset.
" We lost count," Yuri informed. " We don't know…just been too busy…"
The wind tousled with her dark curls and she brushed back her hair with her fingers.
" At least our job's done," Sally remarked, walking slowly towards the door that opened up on the stairs. " Are you going to come back or stay here?"
Riku thought for a moment. " I'll stick with these guys. What about King Mickey and Aozora?"
" Aozora's still in recovery," Sally answered. " King Mickey's going to stay until he gets better; then he's going to the headquarters of the Order of the Hearts and Souls. I'm going to be with Cid and the others. If you need me, you'll know where to find me."
Riku nodded. " Alright."
Sally began to slowly walk down the stairs, closing the door behind her carefully.
Ashita and Yuri listened to her footsteps until they faded away. Then they turned to Riku, who was enjoying the breeze. Ashita watched him with a rather irritated look on his face. Yuri, seeing Riku's smile and Ashita's frown, began to laugh.
" What's so funny?" they both demanded of her at the same time.
" You two…are so ridiculous!" Yuri giggled, tears forming in her eyes. " I mean, that episode down on the bottom floor…and you two right now – I'm sorry but I just had to laugh!"
Riku cocked his head in Ashita's direction, who was giving him a rather confused look. Somehow the same look seemed to pass between them: she's lost it, all right.
" Riku?" Ashita began to realize just what the blindfold on his face meant. " Are you really blind?"
" Well…" Riku mused, stepping out into the narrow. " In a sense I am. My eyes are extremely sensitive to light. But I can see clearly in total darkness."
" Oh…" Ashita looked at Yuri.
" You know, we do have some special glasses," she spoke up, taking the cue from the blond teenager. " They're streamlined and very protective. Ashita here kept running into walls when he had them on. In full daylight."
" Yuri!" Ashita exclaimed, turning red with embarrassment. " You didn't have to add that!"
" Can I see them?" Riku asked curiously. He really did want to be able to see again. And not just in total darkness. There are few worlds were no light exists and Twilight Town wasn't one of them.
"See them?"
Riku twitched. " Same thing."
Ashita smirked, but left the room to find them.
" You're not used to it, are you?" Yuri asked quietly, staring at the loose ends of the blindfold. " Being this blind?"
" It takes a while but you get used to it," Riku answered in a low voice. He could feel the setting sun on his face and wondered at how it looked like. " As for me, I use my darkness to see."
" Darkness?"
" Yuri, long ago I gave myself to the darkness to save someone I cared for…it was something I should have never done." Pain, regret, and shame wrought through his voice and Yuri felt sympathy. So there was much that he did and had gone through. " In the end…it blinded me. I journeyed with King Mickey through the darkness to the doors of Kingdom Hearts. By then, my eyes had become intolerant to any light and King Mickey lent me a piece of cloth to blind my eyes and protect them. The darkness within me…sees for me. It's like a radar; it sends me back images, not all of them clear."
" Can you see me?" Yuri asked curiously, twirling one of her curls with her right index finger.
" Um…" Riku played with his darkness, willing it to see her. " I don't see much but an outline – you're playing with your hair."
Yuri stared at him. " And you're staring at me like I'm the creature from the black lagoon.'
That last part was sarcastic. Yuri laughed. " So you can see!"
" Well, not in color," Riku admitted. " The last time I saw any color was on the way here. I had the guys keep the gummi ship in total darkness so I can see how space looked like. It was…beautiful."
And I saw Sora in the most freakish gummi ship ever.
" How sad," Yuri sighed, looking at the sunset. " You can see but not in color. How much you must miss the colors of a sunset…I never get tired of the sky in Twilight Town; it's always the color of the twilit sky."
" I imagine its beautiful," Riku agreed with a sigh. " If only I could see…"
" Can you get better?" Yuri asked curiously. " Can you fix your eyes?"
Riku was silent for a moment. " I…I don't know. Some seem to think it's…permanent. I'm hoping it's not but every day…the darkness is still there, just as strong as before. Hope…I wish I could see color again…but I'm losing hope daily…"
He sighed, letting go of his shield, and weariness bloomed on his face. He was tired, dead tired, and rather depressed. Colors were a dream to him, a dream of happier days, bygone days.
" If Sora finds this…Paradise," Yuri ventured to mention. " then won't you be able to see again?"
Riku turned to her. " Paradise?"
She nodded. " Yes, when Sora opens the door and Paradise comes, you can heal your eyes and see again. At least that's what I heard. If we get to Paradise first, all our dreams, hopes, and wishes come true."
" What are your dreams?" Riku asked suddenly. " What are your wishes?"
Taken back, Yuri stammered, " Um…I-I'm not s-sure…never really thought o-of that…"
" There's nothing to be ashamed of, really," Riku said, carefully sitting down at the edge of the railing-less balcony. He let his feet hang and leaned back, propping his arms up to keep himself from falling flat on his back. " There's really no reason to be ashamed of what you dream."
" Well…" Yuri said hesitantly, carefully setting herself down next to him, " I wish that Aozora will find out where he came from. I wish Ashita could be more cheerful nowadays. I wish Yuna will find Tidus. I wish Sora can find the Door of Light in the first place…and I wish you can see color again."
She was lucky Riku couldn't see color at that moment, though, as she blushed. She looked at the tall teenager nervously, wondering what he'll say.
" You…" he said slowly, " haven't saved anything for yourself."
" Well…I would wish that my parents would come back but…I don't think they are."
" Why?"
" They've been gone long enough…and I don't think they would forget their daughter. Me, the niece of Ansem, ha!"
Her laugh was bitter. " My uncle used to be so wonderful…I wish I knew what had happened to him."
" Sometimes I wonder the same thing," Riku agreed, though he knew where a part of that man lived. In his memories. A man fully defeated by the drive that gave the Universe the Heartless
" What's taking Ashita so long?" Yuri wondered, turning a bit to eye where Ashita had gone off to.
" I'm not worried about that right now," Riku said. " Right now, I could care less if he's found the glasses or not."
" Oh?"
" Yeah," he grinned, " 'cuz if Paradise was true, then someone just wished for me to see again. That's enough for me."
" What if it's not true?"
The black-clad young man shrugged. " Tough. That's life. You win some, you lose some. It's only a matter of what you win and what you lose."
" What did you win and lose?"
" I lost…my home…my friends, my vision," Riku said carefully, with a deliberate slow pace. " But…I have new friends, more power, and a place where I can live right now. Here…with you two."
" We've only just met-"
" But it feels like home. And that's all I care about now."
He was smiling with a rare happiness. She knew it wasn't easy for him to do so. She couldn't help but smile, too.
" Welcome home, Riku."
""
" If you're going to move in with us," Ashita began as the three of them walked down one of many streets in Twilight Town, " you'll need to know some rules."
" You're joking…"
" No, I'm not."
" But Ashita, we never had any rules."
" …shut up."
Riku began to laugh. Ashita looked a bit put off.
" But if you say so…" Yuri continued, rolling her eyes.
" Well, firstly, I get first dibs on the bunk bed!"
" You actually care about where you sleep?"
" Hey, a warrior needs his rest."
" A warrior should be able to sleep anywhere, Ashita. And you need a lot of work if you want to call yourself a 'warrior'. You seem more like a gangbanger to me."
" I'm not in a gang!"
" Suit yourself."
Grumbling, Ashita continued. " Munny is an issue we all have to discuss. If you earn munny, half of it goes into our savings. Whatever you have left you use for whatever you want. As for the savings, all three of us have to talk about whether or not it's appropriate to use the munny for whatever purpose any of us needs it."
" I'm blind; can't I bypass that rule?"
" No can do."
Yuri giggled. " You know, he does have a point-"
" Are you two trying to conspire against me? Is this a coup here?"
" We never voted you leader in the first place."
Ashita was silent for a minute. " Well…it doesn't matter! Rules are still rules! Also, we only have one bathroom. Yuri gets first dibs, no matter what."
" Hey, I follow the rule 'Ladies first'. I should know."
" You called me a 'lady'. I'm a guy; I've got my faculties-"
" Ashita, don't go there, please."
" Sorry."
Turning pink, Yuri giggled again. Ashita ran a hand through his spiky hair. What's wrong with Yuri? Ever since Riku popped up on the scene, she's always laughing or something…
" Someone's a bit tipsy today," Riku remarked, obviously following Ashita's train of thought.
" You don't know the meaning of tipsy until you've seen His Majesty drunk," Ashita muttered.
" King Mickey drunk? Are you serious?"
" You have no idea. He-"
" Ashita, for the sake of the King, please don't go there."
" Alright, I won't. Well, next rule is…the weapons we have locked in the tower's mine. Off-limits to everyone else."
" Well, I don't like fighting anyways," Yuri remarked, pushing her hair behind her left ear as a breeze blew. Faintly, Riku smelt the scent of flowers from a tropical island…
" I have my own weapons. I don't need your guns."
" I don't see any weapons besides that weird sword of yours-"
Riku held out his right hand, palm up. A black and purple ball hovered above the pulsing burn on his palm, glowing in its own dark light. Ashita and Yuri stared.
" Remind me never to mess around with you, ever," Yuri whispered, entranced by the power.
" You're never going to make me mad. It's the other guy I'm more worried about…"
" I get your point, Riku," Ashita muttered back, unnerved by the mysterious teenager's display of power. " Um…when the Bell Tower strikes eleven, you'd better be back here. We set the door to lock itself at eleven every night. You can leave when the locks undo themselves at six."
" What time do you get up?"
" I get up at five. This lazy bum gets up at seven," Yuri remarked. " A lot of times I leave around six thirty and buy some groceries. You should see him in the mornings. Always whining for food. If I don't get the groceries early enough, I'm stuck with one very grumpy blond."
" Not true!" Ashita shot back hotly, his face turning red. " And I'm not stupid!"
" She said 'blond', not 'stupid'. But we get the point. What did you do in the past to come to that sort of conclusion?"
Yuri laughed again. The other teenager bristled. " You're really reaching me, Riku. You really are."
" Thanks. Got any more rules?"
He was surprised when Yuri answered. " Don't ever talk to Shanks."
" Who?"
When Ashita spoke, his tone was suddenly dark and serious. All anger had vanished, replaced by urgency and a taste of fear. " He's some drunk homeless idiot who's willing to kill for his drinks. Lately though he hasn't been seen in the streets. That's kind of odd of him; my guess is he's getting money but from who and for what reason nobody knows."
" Is he dangerous?"
Yuri looked at Ashita, who nodded. " He almost beat Ashita into a bloody pulp. Some dispute outside a bar and Shanks was at it. It was…horrible…"
She shivered and Riku placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. " I should imagine."
" He's just lucky Aozora appeared right there and then," she continued, the pain of the memories laced in her voice. " Me and Orion – you heard of him already – couldn't do much of anything…only I think Orion could've. But before Shanks could kill him…Aozora appeared with a wind shield around him and the two most beautiful Keyblades I've ever seen. You used one of them to close Kingdom Hearts."
" The Oblivion…" Riku said thoughtfully. " And Aeroga."
" Well, Aozora saved my ass for sure," Ashita said. " We didn't see Shanks again for a long while. Probably the last time any of us really saw him was when he and Orion ganged up on Sora and nearly killed him."
" What!"
He turned on the two of them, shocked and outraged. " He what?"
" He and Orion tried to kill Sora but the rest of us…we stopped him. It took Aozora a lot just to heal him, though. Yuna found poison in the knife that Orion was using."
" They cut him!"
" He got hit on the neck and the arm. A Heartless gored his side. Aozora nearly killed himself trying to heal him."
" Oh my god…" Riku ran his hand through his silver hair.
" You…have no idea…"
The three of them froze. " What was that?" Riku demanded.
" The stuff that happens when you walk down an empty street during the twilight hour…" Ashita drifted off.
" Naughty little children…outside so late…don't they know how dangerous it is…to go alone?"
" There's three of us. And we're not children!" Yuri exclaimed
" Who are you?" Riku demanded.
" Ah, I remember, we never met, have we?" His voice was smirking. It was a scratchy voice, grainy and tired, but very sinister-sounding.
" What do you want with us?" Ashita snapped angrily. The voice was so familiar…
" Well, gee, I wonder…is it to finish killing you off? Or…play with that girl a bit before gutting her? Or…earning my keep by assassinating a very important little boy amongst you?"
Yuri turned white. Riku stepped in front of her, his darkness pinpointing the voice. " Don't touch her!"
Ashita shakily pulled out a knife from the sheath attached to his belt. He slowly joined Riku. " You-you want to finish me off? I-I'll show you."
" You stutter…the fear is there…this will be interesting…"
Darkness exploded. And Yuri screamed.
Shanks bounded out from where Riku's darkness found him, in a narrow alley a few feet from where they were. He had a huge dagger in his right hand and looked ready to plunge it into Ashita. Despite his quick movement, the felt-tip hat on his head refused to fly away and reveal his dirty hair.
" You little bastard! I oughta stick you!"
Ashita tumbled back, managing to stop the dagger from slitting his throat by quickly bringing up his knife as well. Metal screeched against metal and Ashita's knife slid away.
" First thing's first, boy," Shanks grinned and held him by the neck, pulling back his arm to carve out his heart.
A hand grabbed him by his jacket and tossed him aside. " Shanks, get your hands off of him!"
Riku held out his hand and Ashita pulled himself back onto his feet. While the blond stumbled forward towards his knife, Riku turned back, his right hand bristling with pulses of dark energy. His darkness searched madly for this brilliantly fast drunkard and didn't like what he saw-
Yuri screamed as Shanks approached her. She stepped backwards awkwardly, not sure of where to run. To his right was his dagger, behind her was a brick wall, and her left was partially blocked by a dull green dumpster. She was muffling her cries with her fist, as tears of fear flooded her eyes and fell down her face.
" A pretty lass, as ol' Sparrow used to say," Shanks grinned darkly, eyeing her delicate form. " Pity he turned his back on the old ways long ago…"
Who the hell's Sparrow? Riku was sure he heard that name before. But first thing's first. Clouds of darkness flooded his mind, pulsing in tandem with his racing heart, as he stormed forward.
" Stay away from me, you freak!" Yuri yelled at him, slapping away a nearing hand.
" Feisty," Shanks grinned. He was close enough for her to smell the years of dirt and garbage. She could even smell the stale alcohol in his breath. Unfortunately, she was now against a wall, his knife and the dumpster cutting off all means of escape.
Well, I can always kick him in the nuts-
He grabbed her right forearm and she beat back with her left fist. But he brought out his dagger and held it against her neck. She stared down at the polished surface, feeling her heart beating madly in her ears. Was that flecks of blood on that blade?
" Don't you move, Riku!" Shanks spat, knowing the blond teenager was nearly upon him. " Unless you want your pretty girl to die right here, right now."
Bristling, Riku nevertheless had to ask. " How the hell do you know my name?"
" Oh, it involves those who know the guardian of memories…" Shanks flashed a grin filled with yellow, crooked teeth. Luckily his large dirty blond moustache covered most of it. " What you'll do for a lot of munny…and what you can do with a lot of munny…"
Riku could sense the disgust rising from this man. " You are not going near her."
" Says who?"
Unfortunately, Riku could sense where his free hand was headed for. North and east.
" Sick bastard!" Riku hissed. Clenching his fist, he jerked his right hand back.
Shanks felt a force take hold of his right arm and jerk it backwards with such force he knew was enough to dislocate any shoulder. In fact, it was enough for him to be basically shoved backwards. He fell over, his dislocated shoulder smashing to the floor first.
He never screamed but he cussed. Angrily.
" Fucking bastard, you dislocated my shoulder, you sonofabitch!" Shanks shouted, trying to get back on his feet. His hand let go of his great dagger and he propped himself up. Riku gave him a look of disgust, then he kicked Shanks. Hard.
If Shanks had any thought of sleeping with anyone, those dreams were most likely dashed for good.
The silver-headed teenager rushed to Yuri, who was bent over in crippling fear. She shivered, crying but too shocked to make any sound.
" Yuri? Yuri, it's okay," Riku whispered, kneeling down and touching her left shoulder. She looked up, first with wild fear, then with relief. " It's okay, I'm here, nothing's going to happen to you."
" Riku," she whispered, and he hugged her. He held her tightly, as she wept into his left shoulder, soaking his trench coat with hot tears. " Riku…I'm so scared."
" It's okay," he whispered into her right ear, embracing her. " It's alright. You have nothing to fear anymore."
" Don't leave me, Riku. Please don't leave me…"
Her words echoed in his dark-lit mind.
" I'm not going anywhere, Yuri. I promise."
He lifted his head and turned to see Ashita staring down at a cringing and crippled Shanks, his knife in his hand. The teenager seemed to be thinking about something but wasn't quite sure what to do.
" Don't kill him."
Both Ashita and Shanks stared at him, Ashita with shock and Shanks with astonishment and uncertain relief.
Yuri stopped crying long enough to ask, " Why?"
" I don't feel any pity for him," Riku began to explain, " but he can go right on ahead and tell his employer that there's some new dogs in town and they don't like to be messed around with. You got that, you sick sonofabitch? Tell the guy that his hitman's out of business…for good."
Ashita quickly understood. Riku will cripple you for life but he'll spare you death. It's only a matter of whether or not that's a good thing, as it seemed his methods of crippling seemed so painful death was almost a reward.
" What are you waiting for?" Ashita snapped. He kicked at Shank's side and was rewarded with the sound of a stick snapped in half. " Get going! Git!"
Shanks, shocked at Riku's verdict as he was, still had enough senses around him to get himself up and stagger off. Ashita still thought the guy was lucky to get away with a dislocated right shoulder, cracked ribs, and crushed nuts; he should've just gutted the man…or worse…except Riku got to him first.
" That has better be the last time we see him!" he muttered under his breath, slowly walking up to where Riku was gently lifting Yuri to her feet. Her knees knocked together; the ordeal had taken an obvious toll on her ability to focus at all.
" Come on," he said quietly. " We'd best be heading back."
The three of them – two helping a third – slowly made their way back to the Bell Tower, which never looked so welcoming before.
''
" I wonder who he works for…" Riku muttered, draining his glass of water. The three of them were sitting in Yuri's bedroom and she was sitting in her bed, quite lost in her thoughts. She continued to play with her cream-colored blanket as she stared off into space.
" If I knew, I'd go and meet that guy head-on…" Ashita smashed his right fist into his left hand. He was sitting on a wooden stool in the room next to a small round table topped with a slender cerulean vase. A single plum blossom seemed to bloom out of its serpentine neck.
Riku shook his head. " Not a good idea. Obviously the employer knew his potential. Who'd ever expect a drunken misfit to attack anyone with the skills he's got? That was a born assassin. Either that…or he learned somewhere…"
Sparrow…where have I heard that name before?
" Well, I hope he never comes back," Ashita said, standing up and pacing. " I've set the Bell Tower's security system on overdrive. I programmed it to recognize only the people we know."
" Do you guys own this tower or something?" Riku asked curiously, realizing that these two basically had the run of the mill. " I mean, isn't it a public building?"
" It was rundown and closed when we first found a way in," Yuri whispered, still staring off into space. " Ashita, Orion, and I…we spent months fixing it. In the middle of it all, Aozora came along. Then he left and we met your friend and his two buddies. After a while, Orion started slacking and disappearing for long hours. We…we finished renovating the Bell Tower and bought the rights to it with our savings."
" We nearly went broke," Ashita smirked. " Orion's income from his odd jobs disappeared and we barely had enough to buy this place."
" Then…when the four of them came back…something happened," Yuri murmured. " Orion was found with Shanks and the Heartless…and then Sora and Aozora split. We haven't seen either of them since…and it's been a while since Shanks appeared just about anywhere…"
She shivered and Riku, who was sitting at the end of her bed, placed a hand on hers. She relaxed and looked away, turning her hand and grasping his gloved one.
" He was out to do more than kill me," Riku said quietly. " He wants revenge…and he's been waiting to dish it out."
Ashita stopped walking and thought for a moment. " I guess you're right…I guess Yuri and I are lucky you were here with us. Who knows what…I wouldn't even be standing here if it weren't for you. Thanks, Riku."
" So…dibs on the munny?"
" No."
Shaking his head, Ashita left the room. Riku heard him muttering, " Hopeless git."
The teenager smiled faintly. Then he turned to Yuri and his darkness formed the likeness of her face. She was smiling, too.
This darkness surprises me every single day…" Hey, you okay?"
She nodded, her dark wavy hair shifting as she sighed. " Yes, I'm fine."
" Don't worry, Yuri. He's not going to come back. I'll make sure of it."
" It's not that I'm worried about right now, actually…"
She bowed her head, her expression changing quickly. " It's the night I'm worried about…"
" Nightmares?"
" Yes…I still have them, even though I should've outgrown them."
" Hey, I still have nightmares, too," Riku replied softly, shifting his seat so he could sit closer to her. " If you have nightmares, then it shows you are brave. For only the brave dream of their fears."
" Really?'
" Fear is part of reality. You don't belong…if there's nothing to fear. And you can't have courage if you don't have fear first. Fear leads to courage. You were strong back there, when you tried to defy him."
" But I failed. I couldn't fight. You had to help," she said miserably. " Sometimes I just imagine everything going wrong. What if you weren't there fast enough? He could've gutted Ashita…probably turn on you…and where would I be?"
" But you had the will to turn him back," Riku noted. " And besides, nobody's gonna beat me. There's only one person who could and I'm proud of it."
" Who?"
" Sora. I beat him up into becoming the best. We dueled all the time…back home – Destiny Islands. I always beat him…until I was fifteen and he was fourteen. Then he started beating the crap out of me. The first time he did, I felt so proud…"
Yuri smiled sadly. " You must miss him."
He leaned towards her. " I do…but he'll be alright. It's you I'm worried about right now. He isn't exactly dead…"
" You said you won't leave me, remember?"
" So I did," he smiled rather weakly. " So I did…and I…"
They were almost touching noses…
"…don't plan to…"
His lips brushed against hers. She raised her right hand and touched his face. He kissed her again, this time deeply, his sentence finished in his mind.
…anytime soon. I promise.
Author's Endnote: Had to edit this, the idiot I am. Please write nice long reviews and ask every question that's on your mind, please! I will love to answer them on my livejournal account. It's only a matter of how well I answer…
Chapter 73…
" I want to talk to you."
" I don't love her!"
" Just….go away."
…When the Love Falls