Background: Same Kyrie and same universe as, in order, deep breath The Sins of Two Fathers, Retribution Nor Redemption, Descendants of the Mundane, and Fool's Journey. I suppose this story specifically came from Fool's Journey (and Make 'em Smile, and This Mess... but nevermind), in one sense... but really, it was spawned by a theoretical conversation by a friend one late, late night. (And I still hate you. grin) It's set a few months after Fool's Journey, by the way.
Possible WARNINGS: You better believe this will likely contain a lot of foul language, "possible" weird sexual situations, relationships that are generally considered not part of the mainstream, plenty of violence, and a hell of a lot of screwing with the heads of readers and characters alike. If you've read anything of mine before, you probably know what to expect. It's gonna get dirty in here. Also keep in mind that this was thought up and written well before Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, so... yeah.
Ties that Bind and Tear Apart
Chapter 4
By Orin Drake
The first matter to take
care of: acquiring some decent swords to spar with. Everything in
the miniature arena in the palace was kind of... well... cheap. Or
old. Or not fit to use, frankly. But Kyrie knew where to get
better weapons.
Cloud followed her down
familiar hallways until she met up with a blur in the shape of a human...
At least, that's what it seemed like.
"Hey, Kiros." She
managed to catch him on the way by. "Got some sparring swords?"
He raised an eyebrow as
he stopped. "Yes. But I doubt you want those."
She beamed at his unique
way of calling her out. "Well... whatever you have is fine."
The dark-skinned man took
a look at the two of them, standing there... and did what he could to hold
in a sigh. They were just looking to get themselves into trouble.
Not that that was any surprise. He then glanced behind himself, seeing
the two boys having found him--and following. He took advantage of
the situation, slipping away and back to his office.
"I knew it was coming to
this..." Rodger joked, having heard his wife's request, "But not quite
so soon."
She greeted him with a soft
smirk. "Just a little spar, love."
He knew better, of course.
She never had a "little spar", first off... but certainly never
with Cloud, before. She needed something... to search for something
more than she'd gotten with conversation...
"Can we watch?" John asked
with a great big shit-eating grin, crossing his arms and leaning back against
the wall to receive roughly what he knew to be the answer.
"You haven't earned the
right." She returned.
He pretended to pout as
Rodger grinned, responding. "We'll wait here. Don't get too
hurt."
"Love that lack of confidence."
She scoffed, giving them a wave before stalking Kiros to his office.
Cloud gave the boys a shrug
and followed after. Hell, he didn't know exactly what was going on...
but it couldn't be that bad. Hopefully. Anything to make the
day more interesting.
Technically, Kiros had his
own office. Most of the time, however, it was Laguna's office that
was considered his base of operations. And all the time Kyrie had
been wandering through the estate... she didn't think she ever saw Kiros'
office. It was incredibly nice. Well furnished, spotless without
being sterile. Smelled good, too.
Kiros himself was busy in
the corner, pulling open what looked to be an old, elaborately decorated
chest. Despite the sheer amount of odds and ends the chest contained,
he easily found what he was after.
Kyrie was quite amazed.
Two very beautiful, exquisitely hand-made swords of clear quality graced
the man's delicate-looking hands. He seemed the only one with any
right to hold them, actually. "Wow. These are beautiful."
He nodded, placing each
sword and their accompanying harnesses on the table. "I've had these
since the day I became a soldier, when I left home. They were bought
for me in celebration."
His tone wasn't exactly...
appreciative, though. She returned the favor on calling him out.
"And who would buy you swords in celebration of you going off to fight?"
"My father." His face
darkened all of a sudden. "He was an asshole."
There was a round of silence...
and then appreciative chuckles. Not like anyone Kyrie knew couldn't
relate to a point, after all.
Kiros let an appreciative
grin trace his features. "Feel free to treat them with all the delicate
essence of your usual tools, Kyrie."
She wasn't... entirely sure
if he'd meant that... "So I can beat the shit out of them, right?"
"Have at it, my dear."
He nodded.
On the way to the arena,
Cloud couldn't quite take it anymore. "So... is he, like... your
step-grandfather?"
That made both of them break
into laughter. She thought about it for a bit, though. "Technically,
I'm not sure if we're all supposed to know."
He found that... surprising.
"How do you mean?"
She shrugged. "There's
never been an announcement. Not that there needs to be, but... well.
It's not spoken of. At all. Not even Vincent reveals how many
times he's walked in on them. But I know he has."
The blonde found himself
unable to stop that widening grin. "And how's that?"
"Because when I tease him
about it, he doesn't say a word." She responded, trying not to be
as amused as she really was.
Another question was most
assuredly waiting... but it was forgotten as they'd reached the arena.
It was really more like an in-doors battle circle, but... it was still
pretty nice. Nothing like Garden's, of course... but having training
grounds in the Presidential Estate may have been a bad idea. Especially
since the People for Prevention of Cruelty to Monsters had started up.
Kyrie walked in first--almost
strutting. Hell, she felt cocky. She was also well aware that
half of battle was a mind game, anyway. Some stretching, some re-adjusting
of the harness that kept Kiros' sword on her back...
And Cloud simply couldn't
help but notice. She was just asking to be knocked down.
In the old days, he'd have done it--with malice. After time, after
knowing her... he would play just as easily. "You ready?"
A soft crack of her neck
later, she took a deep breath... and prepared herself. "Definitely."
He noted the seriousness
of her face... but the playful light in her eyes. She was getting
a little too good at that. "You sure?" he continued to tease.
That was when her eyes hid
behind practiced coldness. "Bring it on, Strife."
He didn't... entirely
want to... really. Not... completely, but... someone had to
take care of that sudden bout of over-cockiness. Not that it was
unhealthy... or even unusual for her... but she did need to know to be
more on her guard than she seemed.
She found herself very quickly
staring... upward. Without really knowing how she got into that position.
Come to think of it, her head and back hurt a little bit... and seemed
to be against something hard...
He quickly reached out for
her hand, trying not to make his grin... too obvious. No hard feelings,
after all. "First fall. It's over."
She stared up at him with
wide eyes--for a split second before her faculties kicked in again.
"Second fall. I meant second fall." She could
admit that she may have approached the whole thing a little bit too arrogantly...
just not out loud.
Cloud's Mako eyes glittered
as he smirked, hand still out for her. "I could seriously hurt you
next time."
She grinned. It was
a very, very slow, very quiet sort of expression... that sent equally slow
chills through whoever fell in its path. He was good, no doubt.
And he was stronger than she was, yeah... but how dirty did he fight, she
wondered... "Come and get it, Blondie." She winked--right before
kicking herself up from the ground and rolling backward.
Well, if that was
how she wanted to play... He had to admit, it was kind of exciting.
He hadn't had spirited competition for a long damn time. Not of the
friendly variety, anyway. He drew the sword and followed her.
Up until that point, her
sword had stayed on her back. Seeing as how his was suddenly in an
arc toward her chest, however--she darted backward, pulling the sword and
blocking expertly. Blow deflected, she skipped back a few more steps
and to the side, out of the way.
He was somewhat anticipating
the move, using his momentum to spin and try to make contact with her blade
again, but-- Damn. She was faster than he'd expected.
She was completely gone before he'd had the chance to force her to block,
resting on the other side of the arena.
Her speed was her saving
grace--for the first few minutes. She did everything she could to
dart, roll or otherwise move out of the way before she'd had to deflect
his blows. It would help to wear him down (and she very much hoped
he was out of practice), knowing by sheer comparison of muscle size that
he could hold out a hell of a lot longer. And not that he hit hard
when their swords did meet... but she also knew it was only a matter of
time before their adrenaline got the better of them, punching up those
muscles of his to their full extent.
Unfortunately, there was
coming a time when she was losing her speed just enough for the deflections
to come more often. Her arms were beginning to remind her with very
dull pains running up them as the blows came a little harder, a little
more forceful. She saw bright Mako eyes gleaming deviously as her
opponent suddenly swept upward with his blade harshly--and measured.
The way he'd angled himself
and the blow, she couldn't deflect it easily. The way her arms were
forced before her, she could dart neither left nor right unless she wanted
to risk quite the unpleasantly deep gash. She couldn't very well
dart backward, the way he had begun leaning against her... and damned if
she could hold up to that for long. So... she used her imagination.
Backing up a step, she threw her body underneath his, using his
momentum and angle to help shove her through his legs as she used her own
sword as a fulcrum to easily let her slide underneath and slightly away
from him on her back--not that she felt herself safe, kicking off the floor
and away immediately after.
"Not bad!" he laughed with
the sheer delight of a spirited opponent. "Better use your legs more
effectively next time, though."
"I'm not wearing a skirt
for you, Cloud." She joked, barely showing how out of breath she
felt. Damn.
He caught it--but didn't
indicate that he had. Always having something more up your sleeve
was important for battle, of course. "Wider stance, back a little
further." To illustrate, he brought his sword down heavily on hers
as she made to block.
She was rather forced to
take his advice seriously, or risk getting knocked backward. Not
the best way to end a sparring match. She managed, however, to think
quickly--pulling her sword to the side, she made the focal point of his
pressure fall around and past her body, allowing her to dart around him
in a circle. If he hadn't been so fast himself, she just may have
gotten a nice chunk cut out of him from behind.
Really, he was impressed...
but she was not practiced enough. He was quite glad that the swords
had a single edge to them; using his other hand near the end of the blade,
he made a very swift, very hard upward-thrust that she couldn't have done
anything more than blocked--and suffered for it.
Again she found herself
on her back, but that time she had her sword in both hands. Blocking
for her pride. Blocking for her life, in any other situation.
He was pressing... awfully hard, there...
"What was that?" he asked
smugly, hearing the hiss she tried to keep silent. "You surrender?"
Oh... dammit.
"I... do... not."
But they both knew it.
It was obvious that she was not winning, to put it all very blandly.
There was no way she could hold up under that kind of pressure. Her
arms quivered as he pressed down harder, measured force assuring him that
he wouldn't accidentally do... too much damage.
"Cloud..." she gasped, doing
her damnedest to hold up for just a few more seconds. "I'm sorry
about this..."
His eyes flew open.
Grip on the sword wavered. The steel toe of her boot had found the
inside of his knee--and was stroking it extremely lightly.
He was down even before the concept of ticklish truly hit
him. And she had disarmed him, switching their positions entirely.
Head at last cleared, he
stared up at her for a number of seconds. "That was extremely unfair,
you know."
"I know." She grinned,
planting her feet solidly to pull him back up. It wasn't that she
didn't know he'd planned on flipping her over and down; in fact, she was
ready for it. She just wasn't ready for the apparently split-second
decision on his part to roll on top of her so she couldn't get away
and dig directly for her ribs.
She made quite the interesting
series of sounds as she tried to get away. Dammit, how'd he know!
She wasn't so ticklish as to be rendered utterly helpless, but he was not
going to release her without proper payback.
"Is that really appropriate
in battle?" they heard distantly. Only Vincent could have pulled
off that sort of uninterested tone... while being extremely interested.
Cloud took a moment to answer;
he was busy trying to make his new adversary squirm even more. "Not
at all, no."
Kyrie took his pause as
a good sign to strike--with a quick breath, she managed to sit up fast
enough to knock the blonde backward, just able to make another grab for
the inside of his knee with her much-more-dexterous-than-boots fingers.
He actually squeaked at her touch, and it was far too enticing not to torture
the living shit out of him.
"He's been known to punch."
Vincent warned, slowly walking closer with an air of exasperated parent.
"And I've been known to
bite." She grinned over her shoulder, continuing her assault for
several more seconds.
"Cruel and unusual."
The raven-haired man simplified, staring down at a panting, broken Cloud
Strife. He tried not to show his thought process in his facial expression...
If only Sephiroth had known his true weakness...
"Can it," the blonde gasped,
reading the vicious thought in the man's eyes, "Vincent."
Somewhat fully satisfied,
Kyrie emerged from the mess unharmed... for the moment. "You gave
me no choice but to fight dirty."
"That's a lie." Cloud
semi-accused... just glad to be away from the tickling.
"It's really a matter of
perception." She threw back jokingly, helping him to stand.
Blue eyes met Vincent's
smirking red ones. "She's been around you far too much."
Well, that was true.
"You wish to take over? Be my guest."
"Humph." Was her response.
"Given away so easily."
Vincent only shrugged--earning
him a laugh from an old friend and a largely apparent middle finger from
the younger.
Her general attitude made
Cloud wonder, out loud. "Remember Reno?" he chuckled.
Vincent made a very
short sound in his throat as if he did indeed remember, but certainly didn't
want to. "Hard to forget."
Kyrie tried not to make
too much of a show out of staring between the two of them curiously...
but she could hardly help that. Their pasts were still shrouded in
dire mystery--even a bit from themselves.
"You'd have liked Reno."
Cloud teased, letting her in a little.
"He wouldn't have lasted
ten seconds with her." The raven-haired man chuckled quietly to himself.
He could picture it quite accurately, actually; Reno would have opened
his mouth and Kyrie would have killed him. The redhead just had that
affect on people.
She got the gist of it,
grinning a little. "Sounds like a winner."
"He was a little Turk shit."
Cloud commented sharply, then looked to Vincent to make sure he hadn't...
well, offended him or something.
The crimson-eyed man looked
back with a smirk. "That was well after the Turks started taking
in street trash."
"And you were some kind
of genteel gentleman, I suppose." Kyrie spoke up, amused.
Well, Cloud found it funny.
No one had ever really called Vincent out on that part of
his past.
"In comparison." The
former Turk simplified.
"Of coooourse." She
pretended to agree, the grin growing wider even as she leaned back in absolute,
cocky, glory. "You're a unique breed there, Valentine."
Whoah. Cloud hadn't
quite expected her to call him by his last name, there. It seemed
a little too... dangerous. Challenging in more than a simply friendly
way. Still funny as hell, though. He honestly couldn't have
stopped the giggles if he'd wanted to.
While neither of them were
really sure that they'd witnessed it, they'd have both sworn they'd
seen Vincent literally bite his tongue. He was capable of quite a
few destructive phrases... none of which he felt he ought to use at the
moment. And certainly not in front of anyone capable of surviving
to tell others.
Cloud seemed to sense the
the subject needed to be shifted, turning to his most recent sparring partner.
"You've got potential, though. If you'd fight fair."
"No fun in that."
She scoffed jokingly.
He gave her a measured glare...
but not the sort that lasted. She was cocky, alright... but she knew
her place, as well. That wasn't to say that she wouldn't push the
boundaries until they snapped, however. "If you're up for it, I wouldn't
mind training you."
"Good luck." Vincent
scoffed.
"Does positive reinforcement
completely escape you?" she gave him a grin and a sharp tongue--to which
she got the most subtle middle finger she'd ever received. Well.
Fine. She turned to Cloud, instead. "I can handle it.
I hope."
He nodded, pleased.
She really did have amazing potential... but he'd always known that.
Besides, he rather missed having someone to challenge him in terms of fighting.
He was quite certain, after some time, she'd be a natural.
Her eyes turned to Vincent,
that cocky grin still shining through. "Then you'll have to
teach me a thing or two."
"You should be more careful."
The man warned in all seriousness. "I fight less than cleanly, myself."
She just... grinned.
A lot.
Cloud rolled his eyes in
the most exaggerated way possible before running a hand through his hair
to "dress it up" a bit. Eh, the spikes were shot all to hell anyway.
"Well, I didn't lose."
"I think it's safe to say
you would have won." Kyrie admitted. Almost a pleasant surprise
if the wide eyes were any indication. "So I might have to learn some
more moves. In a skirt."
Wisely, all mouths were
kept shut at that. Anything spoken could have lead to... trouble.