Respect Me Not

Warnings: There still are mistakes in grammar, I think. Also Shounen-ai, which means malexmale love. NOT FOR KAIRI FANS! (or Naminé) Also, there might be some drug using, self-destructive activities and maybe some character deaths… Crossovers from Final Fantasy VII and VIII…

Pairings: SoraxRiku, one-sided SoraxAxel and RikuxKairi, WakkaxTidus, CloudxLeon, AerithxCid and maybe some more…

Disclaimer: Still I own nothing. Hmph.

Reviews:

Thank you all once again. Sorry I didn't feel like writing for a while. Had some problems with the people close to me.

Chapter 22, Snowfall

Riku sat on a chair next to Sora, his hand gently on top of the younger one's, as a black dressed man stepped into the room, while taking his hat off. He had blonde hair, and a strict look plastered on his face, as he solemnly greeted Sora and Riku.

"Good… hmm… morning." The man said, after looking at his wristwatch. Indeed, the clock was already around 7 p.m., "I'm Rufus Shinra. I'm a police officer, and you probably already know why I am here for."

Sora nodded his head and looked down at his lap. Riku looked at Rufus, who gave him glances, which gestured him to leave the room, "You want me to leave?"

"Yes." The police officer replied coldly. Riku rolled his aqua-colored eyes, before smiling to Sora one last time, before leaving the room.

Rufus sat to the chair, where Riku had just sat few seconds ago. He pulled out a notepad from his pocket, as well as pen, and started to write some things down. Sora lifted his eyebrow at the blonde man, who suddenly stopped all of his movements, "What are you waiting for? Start from the beginning."

Sora blinked his eyes, "Uhh… well… I guess I was…"

"No guessing. Tell the facts, and tell the riddles later."

The brunette frowned. This man sure was rude. "I was standing in front of this very same hospital, then a car came out of no where, and someone pulled me into it. I was dragged to some place and then…" Sora frowned, as the memory brought back the pain to his arm, "…They stabbed knives on my arms."

Rufus lifted his eyebrow, and looked like he started to get interested, "Show me."

Sora bit his lip, while he pulled up his sleeve, showing the police officer his bandaged arms. Rufus snorted, and untied one of the bandaged. He frowned deeply as he saw the deep cutting marks around Sora's arms.

"Hmm… I could swear I've seen something like this before…" The police said, and quickly retied the bandage, and wrote something to his small notepad, "Interesting… really interesting…"

Sora let out an unbelieving sigh, as he leaned his back on the bed, trying to take as comfortable position as possible.

"Go on, go on, I'm all ears." Rufus said, his eyes never leaving his notes.

"Well then… the other man said something to me. He said that… he didn't want to do anything he was forced to do. Then the other one came and…" Sora explained, but suddenly Rufus cut his speech.

"So there were only two men, who abducted you?"

"Yes." Sora nodded his head and continued his story, "…So, then the other one came and… he said something about Lance, and then…"

"Lance? Lance? The Lance?" Rufus said, and stood up, causing the chair collapse on the floor. His eyes had a weird glimmer, as he scratched few last notes to his notepad, before turning around, "Thank you Sora. I think we're done for now. I'll contact you later, and I promise that we will catch the ones who did this to you."

Sora frowned as the police officer left the room, slamming the door open and close. The brunette shook his head, while lying down on the bed.

He thought that he would feel scared and be in shock after all that happened to him. But, he wasn't. He didn't know whether he should be relieved or not. Maybe the shock would come after a while…?

Sora shook his head. He didn't want to think about the things that happened to him. Even if he wasn't scared, remembering the pain as the knives pierced his skin, still made him feel like throwing up. And the smell of blood… A violent group of shivers ran down Sora's spine as he tried to push those memories aside.

"Sora?"

Sora opened his eyes, which he didn't even remember he had closed, and saw Riku standing next to him, a worried look on his face, "Are you okay?"

The younger one blinked and then smiled widely, "Yeah!" he replied happily, and a carefree smile came to Riku's lips too. The silver-haired man leaned down and gave a quick peck to Sora's lips, before straightening his back.

"I'm gonna go get something to eat. You want anything?"

"Nah…" Sora shook his head, and closed his eyes slowly, "I guess I'll just take a small nap… I'm tired…"

Riku chuckled, and stroked Sora's cheek, as the brunette fell asleep in mere seconds, "Good night… silly…" he said, before leaving the room and opening the door a little bit faster than he thought, causing the people behind it fall on their backs on the floor.

Riku lifted his eyebrow, as he saw Zexion, Irvine, Kairi and Naminé, currently lying on the floor, "…Don't tell me you were spying on me again…"

"What do you mean 'again'…?" Zexion said innocently, smiling widely.

"You really think I didn't notice you were spying on us before? When Sora woke up…" Riku said tiredly, as he walked past the people, who were still lying on the floor. The silver-haired man had hard time trying to fight back the laugh that nearly escaped his lips.

"I told you, you were all being way too obvious!" Kairi snorted, as she slapped back of Irvine's head, which caused his cowboy hat fall on the white floor.

The said man grunted, while picking up his hat, "'ey I wasn't involved in this."

Riku chuckled, as he stopped walking and turned to look over his shoulder. He was already few meters ahead the other ones, but his voice echoed clearly in the empty corridor, "You guys coming with me, or are you planning to sit there for the rest of your lives?"

Kairi, Naminé, Irvine and Zexion looked at the silver-haired man, before glancing at each other. Suddenly they all jumped on their feet and dashed to Riku. Zexion messed the younger silver-haired man's hair and laughed, "Let's go."

Riku smiled and nodded his head. He had this weird feeling, like everything was going to be okay.

Maybe finally after all what he and Sora had gone through, they could be together. A smile came to his lips, as a warm sensation filled his lungs. It'd all be alright. They'd find a way to save Cloud… Riku hoped that somehow Cloud would survive. Miracles happen.

It'd all be alright. Sooner or later.

A car braked in front of a small house. Tseng jumped out of it, leaving his partner-in-crime in it to wait for him. With quick and long paces he made his way to the house's front door and pulled out keys from his pocket.

Fast and quietly he stepped into the small apartment, searching for the light switch with his hand. After a while he found it, and cold light filled the small hall. Tseng didn't even bother to take off his shoes, as he walked farther into the house.

"T-Tseng?" A blonde woman stood up from the couch, a scared look on her face, "Didn't I tell you not to come here when you phoned me!"

"Elena, listen, I-…"

"I told you not to come back here ever again!" Elena cried, as she took stumbling steps backwards, nearly overturning a coffee table in the middle of the floor.

Tseng looked at Elena, before letting out a loud sigh. He pulled out a small pack from his pocket and threw it to the woman, as sad expression swept over his features. He knew that this would happen.

"What's this?" The blonde woman asked, as she eyed the package, afraid of opening it.

"It's a gift…" Tseng replied dully, trying to smile, but only managed to grin wearily, "Hug Joshua for me, will you? I guess you won't be seeing me around then…"

Elena remained quiet, as she looked after Tseng's back. Tears came to the corners of her eyes, as she saw the front door slam open and men dressed in black barge in, surrounding the black-haired man.

Tseng looked at Elena, as the men pointed his forehead with their weapons, forcing him against the wall, his hands lifted in the air.

"You… betrayed me…" Tseng said to the blonde woman, who was now crying.

Elena shook her head violently, as the tears kept flowing down from her eyes. "I d-didn't mean this to happen! I didn't want… any of this… I'm so s-sorry!" she cried as she fell on the floor, sobbing loudly.

Tseng frowned, and felt something sting in his heart. Despite the guns, which surrounded him, he ran to the blonde woman and hugged her. And only if the embrace lasted for mere seconds, before the black dressed man tore Tseng away from Elena.

"I love you." Tseng said, before he was dragged out of the door.

Elena reached her hand out in the air, like she'd be reaching out for Tseng, who was already outside, being pushed into a black police car. She was still sitting on the floor, and the tears continued to fall down.

She heard baby's crying coming from behind a closed door, but she didn't care. As she realized what she had done, she shut her eyes tightly, just hoping that she could turn back the time.

Sometimes the paths we choose to follow seems like right, but in the end they're nothing but full of mistakes.

Finally Elena stood up and walked to the direction of baby's crying. She opened a door and entered a small bedroom, where was a young boy, lying in a cradle. She lifted up her son, and hugged him, "Don't worry Joshua, s'okay…"

The blonde woman looked out of a window, and saw a police car driving away, "We'll be okay…" she whispered while she pulled out Tseng's gift from her pocket. With shaky hands she unwrapped the band and gasped as she saw a neat pile of banknotes. She frowned sadly and sniffed loudly, hugging her young son again.

"Tseng…"

2 Months Later

Lights. Camera. Action.

Riku stepped in front of a yelling crowd, flashing his most perfect smile to the cheering audience. He picked up the microphone, as the rest of Melancholic Requiem (A/N: which is the name of Riku's band, just in case you didn't remember) appeared behind Riku and walked next to their instruments.

Riku looked at the noisy crowd, while lifting the microphone in front of his mouth, "Okay, thank you all for coming here tonight. The next song I wrote for all of my friends. After all what we've gone through… and the things we faced, we've done it together. But mostly this' for –you-. And if you happen to be the one who I'm talking about, I have something to say to you…" Riku inhaled a deep breath, as the whole audience quietened down, "… I LOVE YOU!"

Riku grinned widely, as he knew that Sora was somewhere in the audience, blushing madly. The crowd started to cheer again, anxious for Riku to start singing.

The silver-haired man turned around to look at his friends. He nodded his head and Wakka started to hack his drums, accompanied by Cloud who started to stroke his synthesizers.

(A/N:The song is Alter Bridge's Metalingus. I do not own.)

"I've been defeated and brought down
Dropped to my knees when hope ran out
The time has come to change my ways"

Riku lifted his balled fist into the air, large smirk on his lips. The flashing lights surrounded him, and few drops of sweat rolled down his temple.

He knew that Sora was watching him, and the smirk grew even wider. He could hear some rapid fangirls' scream, which echoed through the audience, as he realized that he was smirking rather sexily.

"On this day I see clearly everything has come to life
A bitter place and a broken dream
And we'll leave it all, leave it all behind"

Sora felt a small blush still lingering on his cheeks. Riku looked so glamorous and perfect, as he moved on the stage, his silvery hair glimmering in the millions of bright lights. The rest of the band looked good too. Everyone seemed to do their best to make this concert worth of their time.

The brunette smiled as he looked at Tidus, who was next to him. He was smiling too.

The blonde boy realized that Sora was looking at him and turned his head towards him. Sora tilted his head slightly to his left and lifted his hand into the air. Tidus frowned, a smile never leaving his lips, as he followed Sora's example. They both started to bump their hands into the air, while the song continued.

"I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back
I'll fight to remain:"

The audience screamed in joy, as Riku removed his sweaty shirt and threw it to the cheering people in front of him.

Irvine grinned widely and nodded his head happily. Looks like Riku finally realized that he had been right about him being sexy without his shirt. Too bad the silver-haired man still had his tank-top shirt on.

"On this day I see clearly everything has come to life
A bitter place and a broken dream
And we'll leave it all, leave it all behind"

"On this day it's so real to me
Everything has come to life
Another chance to chase a dream
Another chance to feel
Chance to feel alive"

Riku turned around and looked at his bandmates. Yuffie lifted her thumb up and winked, while her sister, Tifa, just smiled and nodded her head. Wakka was too busy with his drums to even notice that Riku was watching him. Leon just pushed his sunglasses closer his eyes, before getting ready to play his guitar again. Cloud glanced at Leon, his hands resting on top of his keyboards.

The silver-haired man turned around again, grabbing his microphone once again.

"Fear will kill me, all I could be
Lift these sorrows
Let me breathe, could you set me free
Could you set me free"

"On this day I see clearly everything has come to life
A bitter place and a broken dream
And we'll leave it all behind
On this day its so real to me
Everything has come to life
Another chance to chase a dream
Another chance to feel
Chance to feel alive"

Everyone clapped hands, and the large hall was filled with applauses. Riku bowed deeply, followed by the rest of the band, before they all disappeared behind a large curtain, to the backstage.

In the audience, Sora looked at Tidus and smiled widely, "Wow, that was really great, wasn't it?"

"Hell yeah!" Tidus said, jumping up and down, "They're the best! Riku sang really well today!… Well, okay he always sings well, but today it was beyond amazing!"

Sora laughed, as they were forced to exit the hall, as the whole audience started to move towards the doors. Tidus grabbed Sora's arm and pulled him away from the other people, and they stood in a corner, where there were no people.

"I think we should wait for Selphie, Kairi and Naminé." The blonde man said, as he tried to search for the three girls with his sight.

Sora looked down at his shoes, while leaning his back on the wall, "I think I gotta go soon… My mom's waiting for me…" he sighed and shook his head tiredly, "…After what happened two months ago, she still won't let me walk alone after 6 p.m… It's rather annoying…"

Tidus looked at his friend, while scratching back of his head, "Well, I kinda understand why… If I was your mom, I would do exactly the same probably. Or, I'll just hire a babysitter to keep an eye on you 24/7."

Sora groaned and slapped Tidus' forearm playfully, "Thank God you're not my mom..."

Tidus chuckled and messed with Sora's hair, before slapping the back of the brunette's head, "Heyy, don't say stuff like that, or I'll-…"

"Tiddy, TIDDYYY!"

Tidus turned his head towards the voice and saw Selphie making her way violently through the crowd, Kairi and Naminé walking right behind her. After a while they managed to fight their way to Sora and Tidus.

"Hiii, Sora!" Kairi walked to Sora and hugged him. In only two months they had become pretty good friends. So maybe after all the incidents that happened weren't so bad at all. He had found so many new friends through these events.

The hug lasted only for few seconds, since it was only friendly and greeting hug. Kairi placed her hands on Sora's shoulders and smiled happily, "Riku was great today, wasn't he?"

"Yeah!" Sora nodded his head, "But I gotta go now… Mom's waiting for me…"

Kairi let go off Sora's shoulders and patted his head, "I see, take care. Are you going too Tidus? Since you live with Sora and Aerith now?"

Tidus gave last glance to the stage, before nodding his head wearily, "Yeah I guess… I was kinda hoping to see Wakka, but I guess we don't have time for that. Let's go Sora." He said, before walking towards the exit doors.

Sora waved to the three women, before running after his friend, out of the doors, into the cold night. It was already winter, and the snow was covering the streets of Tokyo. They didn't have school now either, and the Christmas was only few days ahead.

Tidus looked at the cars in front of them, but none of them belonged to Aerith. He sighed and slumped his shoulders, "Looks like she isn't here yet."

"Yeah." Sora replied.

They stood there in silence, while small snowflakes started to fall down from the sky. Sora hugged himself for warmth, as the cold wind blew harshly against his face. He pulled up his collar, to give even some kind of protection against the coldness.

Tidus sighed loudly and his head slowly bowed down. Sora looked at him, his eyes filled with concern, "Something wrong Tidus?"

"Nothing…" the blonde male sighed again, "…It's just… I haven't seen my dad in two months… He hasn't even called, or anything. And Aerith told me that he doesn't even talk about me. I guess he really hates me."

"Tidus…" Sora said, frowning sadly. He didn't know what to say, in order to make Tidus feel better. He reached his hand out, and touched the blonde's shoulder, "…I-I think that everything will be alright. And I don't think that Cid really hates you."

Tidus gritted his teeth and looked down on the snowy pavement. Then he looked at Sora, feeling something burn in the back of his eyes, "How can you be so sure?"

The brunette frowned, and awkwardly hugged the taller man. Tidus blinked few times, before smiling and hugging Sora back, "Thanks Sora…" he said quietly, "…You're… like a brother to me… and sometimes it feels like you're the only one who really cares about me… so thanks."

Sora looked up at Tidus and smiled sweetly, "I know you'd do exactly the same."

A car drove next to the two men, and Sora let go off Tidus. He recognized that the car belonged to his mother, who lifted her eyebrow at them. The blonde man chuckled, before opening the door and jumping in, followed by Sora.

"Heya mom." Sora said, while closing the door right behind his back.

Aerith smiled sweetly, as she looked over her shoulder at Tidus and Sora, "How was the concert?"

"It was awesome!" Tidus said, before Sora could even open his mouth, "They were sooooo cool! Right, Sora?"

"Yeah!" Sora nodded his head.

The brown-haired woman laughed, before starting to drive again. Tidus grinned and looked at Sora, who chuckled, before closing his sky-blue eyes.

It was weird how even the most unimportant moments can make someone feel so happy. Just like this one… Sora didn't know why, but only if Aerith and Tidus were sitting in the same car with him, laughing happily, made him feel happy.

The only thing that was missing now, was Riku…

Riku walked through a corridor, wiping the sweat from his face with white towel, as the rest of his band followed him. Suddenly Irvine jumped out of one of the rooms and ran to Riku. He inhaled a deep breath, before he started speaking.

"I tried to stop them but…" the man with cowboy hat said, as he looked over his shoulder, "…but they insisted to interview y'all…"

Riku lifted his eyebrow, and rested his hands on his hips, "Well I guess we could give them a short interview…?"

Irvine let out a frustrated sigh and seemed like he'd want to bang his head on the nearest wall," Riku, you don't underst-…"

"Hello my loves!" A blonde woman walked out of the room, where Irvine had just came. She had a long pink coat, and held a big notebook, which had bright pink cover. Her smile was way too sweet to be nice, "I heard you saying a word 'interview'!"

Yuffie snorted and folded her arms, "Who do you think you are?"

"Ah, that's pretty rude…" The woman said, while showing a lock of her blonde hair away from her eyes, "I'm LeBlanc. The main reporter of the most famous gossip magazine in the earth!"

"You're the reporter of magazine, which is named after you?" Cloud asked lifting his eyebrow slightly, "The infamous magazine 'LeBlanc'?"

"Tsk tsk." LeBlanc waved her finger in the air, "You've got that one wrong, my love. Millions of people all around the world read the LeBlanc. Even if people say that they aren't interested in gossips, there's no one who could ever resist really yummy-yummy article about the celebrities private lives."

Leon and Cloud exchanged glares, while Riku just folded his arms, "We don't want an interview to your shitty magazine. Sorry." The silver-haired man said, while walking past the reporter, while the rest of the band followed him.

"Oh, didn't I mention that Sephiroth himself told me that you could give me an interview…?" LeBlanc smiled, while examining her long, pink nails.

Irvine rolled his eyes, "Fine, they'll give ya a short interview."

"Hey!" Riku turned around and looked at his band's manager, "You can't decide something like that for us!"

"If it's Sephiroth who promised her that damn interview, then there's nothin' I could do." Irvine explained, while shaking his head in defeat. The whole band groaned, as they had no choice, but to follow the blonde woman to one of the rooms, where they all sat down on a comfortable couch.

LeBlanc smiled, while opening her notepad.

"I hope this won't take too long." Tifa mumbled, as she shoved her hands into her jeans' pockets.

Riku chuckled, as he tried to find a comfortable sitting position on the windowsill. His gaze wandered outside, and he saw two familiar figures standing in the middle of snowfall. He saw Sora reaching out towards Tidus, before hugging the blonde man. Riku frowned and blinked his eyes. They were both hugging each other now…

The silver-haired man shook his head. He was just being a paranoid again… Tidus and Sora were really good friends, there was no need to get all worked up for nothing.

"Okay, so…" LeBlanc started, "Your first album will be released tomorrow, since the day after tomorrow is Christmas?"

"Yeah." Yuffie replied.

"Do you have anything to say about your CD?"

"Well, only thing I have to say is that, we're all gone through a lot of mess and such, so our songs tell mostly about them." Cloud said, while leaning his back on the couch. LeBlanc nodded her head happily, while scratching something on her notebook.

"So… this question is for Riku." LeBlanc said, while turning her head towards the silver-haired man, "What inspired you, or why did you found this band, my love?"

Riku still couldn't tear his eyes from the two hugging men, but replied anyways, "It has always been my dream… Ever since I was a child, I loved singing. But other than that, there's no reason really."

LeBlanc kept nodding her head rapidly, as she wrote Riku's speech down.

"And I think that…" Tifa said, while looking at Riku, "You did this to keep your friends close, and so they wouldn't forget each other, right?"

"Yeah, now that you mentioned it…" Riku said and finally looked away from Sora and Tidus, "I founded this band for my friends, in order to keep them close to me. The people close to me mean everything to me."

Tifa smiled to Riku. A weird glimmer came to LeBlanc's eyes, as she watched the two of them. She smiled, before opening her mouth again, "So, any of you have any love-relationships between your bandmates?"

Cloud blushed slightly, as he felt Leon's staring in the back of his head. He didn't know whether he should admit or not… But before he even had a chance to say anything, Leon started to speak, "Yes."

"Ohh… that's really interesting. Do you wanna tell me about it, loves?"

Everyone exchanged glares, before shaking their heads.

"It's none of ya business." Wakka said, while folding his arms over his chest.

"Ah, of course. Well then…" LeBlanc said, the smile never leaving her lips. She took another blank page and started writing again, "…Hmm… So, you told me earlier that there has been some mess you've gone through. What happened?"

Now Irvine stepped out of a corner and had an angry look on his face, "'kay, so let's make one thing clear- we don't want you to write any shit about this band to your magazine. No private life stuff, ya?"

"What kind of magazine would the LeBlanc be, if there was no gossips?" LeBlanc said, while standing up, "But I think this' enough for now. We'll see later though, I promise my loves!" she snickered, while walking through a door, and slamming it close behind her back.

"What was that all about?" Cloud asked, while glancing his bandmates, "That woman is insane."

Riku nodded his head, and looked back out of the window, but Sora and Tidus were already gone, "I hope we don't have to read some nonsense about us tomorrow…"

Irvine shrugged and chuckled, "Hey, that what it's like to be a celebrity."

CC: Wohoo… Finally it's ready. And yay+300 reviews, thank you all. Sorry I haven't replied to the reviews lately.

Sora: We give candies to everyone who reviews. :D

Riku: What candies? You mean those what you're eating now?

Sora: Ehh… :looks at the empty bag of candies: Oopsie…