Author's Notes: Ta-daa! Here it is. The trial.

Sorry Naru-Freak, like I said, the lemon just wouldn't have worked well with the elements I'm trying to create. Would have soaked the story in too many Hollywood Cliches by then. Trust me, though, I'll make up for it if you could just have some patience. I never said the lemon was totally gone, I just said that I dropped it. ...And now I've just moved it to another location in the story...

In any case. I'm glad people are still reading this story. I'm shaking with rage at a few things at the moment, but I won't give up. This story is my baby, and I swore to myself I would finish it. Besides, since the contest is still going, I can't back out now, or all that precious fanart I was given would be a waste!

Warning: We have entered a "shaky realism" zone. Everything you see from now on will either be inaccurate or as accurate as can be achieved. But I would expect that the inaccuracy will be more common...that makes me feel a little nervous about writing this.

I'm still not positive about how to split up the court days. I know I don't want to do all of this in one day. Dammit, TNT, where the hell did you put Special Victims Unit? Give me Special Victims Unit! (Which reminds me - to whomever gave me that link to the mock trials site, thanks a bunch, it really helped out for giving me a loose outline!)

Chapter 53

"Apprehensive Measures"

Court was at nine o'clock on Friday morning. Of course it meant that Riku and his witnesses would miss some school time; but, given what this was about, none of them minded at all. When Lulu called their houses and asked them to be her witnesses, Tidus, Sora and Roxas more than gladly obliged. Now, the three of them were there with Riku, all of them dressed as nicely as they could look and giving all the support they could for Riku during his time of need. Tifa had her hands on her son's shoulders, and if not that, she wasn't leaving his side, looking around the courtroom and glaring at Ansem when he walked in. She was dressed in a knee-length, dark-brown skirt and a white blouse under a brown jacket to match, earrings matching the outfit and make-up on her face. It was one of the few times Riku had ever seen his mother dressing up even this feminine.

Still, this wasn't what bothered him, but what did make him nervous was that he hadn't stopped hearing that Voice since he entered the courtroom. He bit his lip and had his head down, messing with the cuffs of his suit. He would do that, or look pleadingly at Sora for something, who was standing close by him as relaxed as can be.

"Riku, are you sure you're okay?" Sora tilted his head. "You're pale."

Riku swallowed hard and squeezed his own hand, wringing them nervously. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I just can't..."

...Can't stop hearing things.

Of course not! You know that what you're doing is ungrateful! He gave you a home when no one else would! This is how you repay that?

Riku grabbed his seat next to Lulu and sat down to stare at the tabletop and burn the Voice out of his head, but it still remained—chiding him in his ears and ringing off the walls of his skull. Sora tilted his head, frowning, and tugged on Lulu's sleeve.

"Ma'am?"

Lulu, with her hair up to show both her eyes and wearing a suit also, turned around. "Yes?"

"I think you should know..." Sora paused, and got Lulu to move away from Riku. "I think Riku's been having some problems. I mean, most of the time he's fine, but sometimes it's like...in his head..."

"What do you mean?" Asked Lulu.

"Well..." Sora's brow creased, and he glanced at his boyfriend worriedly. "He's had a few...relapses. I'm just saying, he might not be feeling real good."

"Don't worry about it," Lulu said. "I'll make sure Riku gives a good statement. There's little chance Ansem can try anything in here, and I could call for Recess if I have to."

"Okay," Sora nodded his head and sat down with Tidus and Roxas. Both leaned over to talk with him as Tifa took a seat also.

"So do you think we're gonna win?"

"Of course we'll win," Sora said to Tidus. "We have to. I mean, if we don't, Ansem will still be walking free in our neighborhood."

When the time finally came for the trial to begin, Riku's eyes were glazed and he was trying and failing to pay attention the best he could. He barely heard the policeman up front announcing the beginning of the trial.

"All rise! Court is now in session! Honorable Judge Auron Dracona residing."

Everyone rose up out of their seats as Auron sat down in his up front, rubbing at his bad eye and fixing the stack of papers in front of him. He waved a tired hand. "Sit down," he said gruffly. All obeyed. He sighed and squinted at the papers, and looked up.

"Miss Sykes, you are defending Riku Lockheart in this case."

"Yes, Your Honor."

"Your statement?" Auron crossed his hands in front of him. Lulu straightened her posture with her hands barely touching the table.

"Riku is a victim of rape, abuse and negligence, Your Honor. He suffered for four years at the hands of Ansem Atercor, the Defendant, who is with us today. I have several witnesses and evidence to present to the court."

Auron turned to Luxord. "And your statement, Mister Kramer?"

"My client is not guilty, Your Honor." Luxord argued. "He may be attracted to men far younger than him, but he has never forced Riku into anything. Riku is a high school teenager and is simply looking to cause trouble for my client. I have eyewitness accounts to prove that he is really a good man, albeit a bit strange for the average society."

Auron squinted and blinked, leaning back and then forward again. "Well then, let's get on with it. Miss Sykes, as the prosecutor in this criminal case, steps indicate you will present first. Would you please call your first witness?"

"Of course, Your Honor." Lulu had a calm look on her face, confident and strong. "I would like to call Tidus Heartilly to the stand."

"Wish me luck," Tidus whispered briefly before he got up and went to the witness stand. When he sat down, he was sworn into oath, and then Lulu began her questioning.

"Tidus, how long have you known the Plaintiff?"

Tidus shifted slightly. "Since he first moved in."

"And how long ago was that?" Lulu asked.

The blond paused for a moment. "Well, he lived with someone else in the same neighborhood about a month or two before Ansem. But he came back again under Ansem's care later. I guess his first guardian couldn't afford to take care of him."

"I see..." Lulu tilted her head, beginning to pace. "And when he was with this prior guardian, how did Riku seem to you?"

Tidus blinked. "How did he seem?"

"That's right."

"...Happy, I guess. He was a little quiet, but he wasn't acting out of the ordinary or anything. We got along great. I was the first friend he made."

Lulu turned on her heels to better face Tidus during her slow pacing. "And after that—after his foster home changed?"

Tidus frowned. "It wasn't immediate, but he did change. Still quiet as ever...just more prone to getting...angry."

"And did you suspect there was a reason to Riku's behavioral changes?"

The blond shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I knew there had to be something..."

"What did you believe the reason behind the changes was?"

Tidus paused, and glanced at Ansem, who leered at him. Tidus quickly turned back to Lulu. "I thought he might have been having problems at home, and I knew he didn't get along with Ansem very well. I understood that, because I'm a foster child, too, so I kinda knew how he felt. So I just tried to give Riku support. I just didn't immediately consider abuse."

Lulu hit a mental wince at the final sentence, but said nothing. All in all, it had been a good questioning. What was going to be difficult was to avoid leading her own witnesses. Cross-examining would give her breathing room for that.

"Thank you, Tidus." She nodded politely to him and went back to sit beside Riku. As she did, she took a moment to look him over and noticed he was still staring at the table. That concerned her. Maybe Sora was right, she thought. This might be harder if Riku freezes up at the stand.

Luxord was starting his cross-examination. "Exactly how well did you know the Plaintiff?"

"Pretty well."

"Well enough to determine if he was lying, or acting out in defiance?"

Lulu stood up. "Objection!"

"Sustained." Auron squinted his bad eye and then left it be.

"I knew Riku to the point where I could tell if something was wrong with him, if that's what you mean."

"But did you ever think that perhaps the Plaintiff was simply moody, as all teenagers tend to be?"

"...No."

Luxord crossed his arms behind his back. "Why not?"

"Because he didn't get unpredictable until after Ansem adopted him."

Luxord turned his head. " 'Unpredictable'?"

"He would often wear these weird outfits to school and he became hard to approach. Riku would lash out frequently." Tidus shrugged as he explained, "He got violent, and a lot of the kids grew scared of him."

Luxord paused to think for a moment, and then closed in towards the witness stand, looking straight into Tidus' eyes. "You said you suspected Riku was having problems at home. Can you specify what you believed those problems to be?"

It was the blond's turn to stop and consider, not sure of how to answer. Creasing his brow, Tidus licked his lips and answered, "I thought it might have been because he'd been switched to a new foster home. Still, when he moved in the first time, he just seemed like he was glad to get away and live in a real house."

Luxord drew back. "No further questions."

"Very well." Auron peered at Tidus. "You can get down now, son. Miss Sykes, would you please call your next witness?"

Lulu nodded curtly and glanced towards her witnesses. "I'd like to call Roxas Jurgen to testify."

Roxas took his turn up at the witness stand. Riku was still switching between staring at the table and staring at Ansem, and started to rub his forehead a little. He straightened up when he caught Auron glancing at him suspiciously, and pressed against the back of his chair with his hands folded. But his eyes were still clearly unfocused and dazed. Sora watched the whole time, and was frowning with worry. He didn't know if Riku could even testify today. He was looking really jittery.

"And did you ever notice anything out of the ordinary about Riku?"

"He was always out of the ordinary." Roxas replied. "He rarely ever wore short sleeves. Even in the summer, you could usually find him wearing long-sleeve shirts and jeans."

"Did you ever wonder if there was a reason for Riku's behavior?"

"Lots of times, yeah. But like Tidus said, he was tough to talk to. We didn't start to really think about it until this one time—after Riku went ballistic on Tidus in the schoolyard. Our English teacher had to pin him to the bus to keep him from giving Tidus a black eye."

"You thought this was especially strange of him?"

Roxas nodded his head. "Yeah! I mean, before then, Riku might have threatened people, and sure he threw punches, but Tidus was always the guy he would hang all over and act mutually friendly with."

Lulu nodded her head, still pacing slightly. She approached the stand and folded her hands in front of her lap. "You and Tidus entered Ansem's house at one point, didn't you?"

"Yes." Roxas nodded his head. "We were hoping we could get some proof that Ansem was abusing Riku."

"Did you find it?"

Roxas shrugged. "Me and Tidus didn't, but I'm guessing Sora must have, because his pictures took over the news the next day."

"What pictures?" Lulu asked.

"Of Ansem's basement. Of all the stuff that was down there."

"What sort of things?"

"...From what I saw, there were a lot of whips and knives and stuff. Kinky bondage—S&M sex. You know what I mean, right?"

"Yes," Lulu replied. "Thank you, Roxas. No further questions."

Luxord jumped at the chance so fast that Roxas almost felt like he was being eaten. "You entered Ansem's house?" He demanded.

"Yes."

"Without permission, isn't that right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Meaning that you trespassed on Ansem's personal property?"

Roxas nodded, but he had a wicked grin on his face when he did. "Yep."

Luxord narrowed his eyes. "Do you know that it is wrong to trespass on someone's personal property?"

"Sure I do. We both knew. But anything for a friend, right?"

"Did you ever think to call the authorities?"

"Of course, after we got booted out. But the phones were all dead. I guess there must have been a downed power line or something."

"What about before that?"

"Like I said, we didn't think about it, and we just tried to support Riku because we knew he was going through something rough."

Luxord peered at Roxas sideways. "You knew, or you thought that there was something wrong with Riku?"

"Knew. He was short-tempered, violent, plus we sometimes saw some strange cuts on his chest and stomach. During one school term when he actually made the effort to show up for gym, in the locker room he would change before everyone else. Me and Tidus went in once and we saw a lot of bruises and cuts all over his stomach."

Luxord looked appalled. "If this was as serious as you believed it to be, why didn't you act any sooner?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow, and looked at Riku, then at Luxord again. "Because Riku would have eaten us alive if we did. We let intimidation get the best of us. That was a bad choice."

Lulu was biting her nail in her seat before putting her hands down on the table, so as not to do that again. This wasn't looking good. Some evidence was in her favor, but not all of it. She smelled a Hung Jury. Thankfully, it was still early on in the case—if she could prove Sora had some good eyewitness accounts and Riku wasn't too shaken by the time he testified, the case woul have a major swing in their favor. So Lulu clasped her hands and prayed silently that her plan was going to work.

It had to, or else she wouldn't be able to live it down knowing that a child rapist had been set free on her accounts to fail in proving him guilty.

Author's Notes: ...Do you see why I'm so worried about writing this?