Disclamer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
Warning: Yaoi. Boyxboy, so please leave if you don't approve.
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On rereading the last chapter, I found a few typos. Please ignore those. xD
Sorry for scaring anyone in the events of the previous chapter. xD (Cough Maia cough. :3) And yes, I did read Absolute Boyfriend before writing that scene, Chigai. I guess I stuck that in before I realized what I was doing.
The numbers simply refer to their names… I think I read someone else using it somewhere, and went with it. This is when you're using the numbers 1-26 for letters A-Z. So A would be 1, B would be 2, etc.
So if anyone feels like working it out when more numbers show up, they'll get a sort of preview before anyone else.
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Perfect Person
-Chapter Two-
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"No no. Go for the black one!" Yuffie cheered, throwing the black and silver-designed shirt at the silver-haired teen. It was a well-aimed throw, fluttering and settling on the adolescent's shoulder.
Riku nodded, and turned back to the dressing rooms, looking determined. (He would make everyone happy, damnit!) The gray shirt he had on clung onto the eager, slim body. His hair was disheveled from pulling shirts on and off.
The boutique's lights shined down on them heavily. It was a hot, hot light that annoyed the hell out of the shoppers. But the store had the latest garments in the city, so no one would complain about anything that could shut the place down.
Sora checked his wallet. With the rate they were going at, he would have to ask his supervisor for a raise.
A hefty, oversized raise. His wages were low enough as it was.
Curse Yuffie and her shopping knowledge! And her high standards.
They, thankfully, walked out of the store not twenty minutes later. Unthankfully, they were also weighed down with four large bags, the infamous Papou Logo printed on the sides.
The bags had to be tied closed to keep the insides from spilling out. And who was left to carry them? Sora, of course.
There was no one else.
Yuffie wouldn't let someone who had just discovered the world bother themselves with dragging packages around, and she herself certainly wouldn't.
…But when Yuffie went to the bathroom to go 'freshen' up, Riku separated a bag from Sora's grasp. He refused to let him have it back, smiling in that blameless way Sora couldn't understand.
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"Strife?"
Sora was puzzled. What was Cloud of all people doing in a common gathering place like this?
"Sora. How are you?" Cloud greeted, delaying. His blue eyes flashed peculiarly. Sora wasn't sure if it was the light or if that was the way his friend's eyes had always been.
"What are you doing here?" Sora's voice fell a few fractions lower. The walls had ears, after all. "What happened to your mission?"
"Completed." Cloud said easily. "I've been given some time off to spend with friends and family. You know, breather timeslots."
"Lucky you." Sora murmured.
"Why?" inquired Cloud. His head tilted in a curious fashion. "Did you get a new job?" He carefully phrased his sentences. To those overhearing the conversation, it would sound completely ordinary.
"Ah. I picked up a new task a little before this morning." Sora cocked a thumb toward the teen standings a few feet away from them, avidly chatting with Yuffie who was enthusiastically pointing at a store window. It displayed tags and chains made of from the finest artists.
Sora recoiled at the sight. Poor wallet…
"…So you've joined that conspiracy? And you called me lucky. Bastard." Cloud chuckled, his laugh sounding like teasing to Sora's ears.
"Why's that, Strife?" He honestly couldn't see why babysitting someone old enough to be in their work was even necessary.
"Exactly what I said, Sora."
He was stopped from asking more when a yell reached his tuned ears.
"Soraaa!" Yuffie shouted in that approving, optimist way she had perfected. Her voice demanded attention and Sora was turning before he realized he was being called.
"Yes?" What was… "…Is that an earring?"
Sora's query, of course, came from said ring sitting docile in Riku's ear. He blinked slowly, absentmindedly wondering if his employer would mind his creation being marked.
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"What next?" Yuffie asked cheerily. Her comment wasn't a question, more like she was thinking out loud. Her stylish finger tapped the bottom of her chin briefly, contemplating.
Sora sighed. It was one of displeasure and disbelief. "Why don't we take Riku home?" He mentally hit himself. That sentence had come out wrong.
"To the place he'll be staying." He amended.
"The place you'll be staying, too." Yuffie altered. She nodded at the idea; the thought of getting Riku settled satisfying her.
Motherly instincts, it seemed. All girls had them. Even big bad gang leaders couldn't kick a kitten and feel good about it.
They could pretend, but they couldn't help the guilt that frothed afterward.
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"I'll do whatever you ask of me." Blatant, defying eyes were looking in the other direction.
"And why is that?" Hands idly tapped a pattern onto the armrest. He was interested in hearing the answer.
"…Because I want to know I can. And I won't be known as simply a failure."
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Getting to Sora's property took a while.
Between struggling out of the mall (they had walked past a hair salon known for extravagant styles, and thus created a bothersome, infuriating interview) and finding Sora's car (did everyone have a black sedan these days?) and losing Cloud…
It was more trouble than it was worth.
Granted, Sora wasn't too worried about Cloud. He was one of their top…agents, give or take a few candidates. It's not as if he would get himself into any trouble he couldn't get out of.
Sora was more worried about letting Yuffie have free run of his house.
She had insisted to make sure that Riku would be living properly. Honestly, did she think that Sora would make him sleep on the floor and clean up after him?
Even he wasn't that cruel.
But he didn't prevent anything. Because as soon as he sat heavily onto his nice, worn-in sofa, his eyes closed and didn't open again for several hours.
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Riku blinked, fingers poking at Sora's cheek in a questioning way. He tilted his head at Yuffie, inquiring what he should do.
"Oh, let him sleep. He's had a long day…and he's always overworked! I'll get him some covers, the poor guy. "
And with that, Yuffie left the room in search of a linen closet she knew was just waiting to be uncluttered. Surely Sora had some means of survival in there, right?
Riku's hands brushed Sora's cheek, smiling as a lock of floppy hair succumbed to gravity and fell. The teen stood up, heading to where he assumed was the kitchen.
He was pleasantly surprised at the stock of food he found. At least his caretaker wasn't starving himself.
Whistling favorably, a tune that he had never heard of, Riku pulled up his sleeves and brandished a knife that many people would have been scared to touch.
Yuffie came back to a half-made meal, after piling a cocoon of blankets over Sora's form and puffing a well-stuffed pillow under his head. She exclaimed at the food and promptly sat down, claiming loudly that if Sora's sensitive nose wouldn't wake him up to enjoy this food then she would.
Riku beamed.
He had taken a confident liking to the hyperactive ninja. But he did hope that his concierge would wake up soon.
He wanted to impress him, after all. To make all his dreams come true.
And above all, to ensure his happiness before he had to leave.
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That night, Sora dreamed of an unseen floor, littered with photographs done in black and white. The edges flaked and yellowed with age.
A faint gleam of blue tinted the clothes of one of the individuals.
And he visualized his overseer tearing those same photos to ribbons.
Heat filled his vision. They SHOULD have been preserved, should have…but he wasn't…
He wasn't supposed to care.
It was a test, and he had failed. He always had.
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"Good morning."
Sora awoke to Riku's voice hovering over his bed. His eyes drifted to the juvenile, vaguely noticing that he had changed into some of his new clothing. A green-lined black, sleeveless shirt sheltered his top while simple coal jeans held at his waist.
The brown-haired self wasn't quite awake at the moment. He responded sleepily – he really had to train himself to awaken without delay one of these days.
"So, you can do anything I ask of?"
Eyes shined in indistinct half-moon circles as Riku nodded. But his expression departed with the next few words.
"So can you fly?" Sora regretted his words the instant they touched his lips. Never accept anxiety. Don't regret.
Riku looked sad. A sound almost like a sigh breathed from his lips.
"I'm sorry."
Regret isn't a necessity. It's a flaw, a weakness that one could do without.
"I can't defy gravity for you."
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-End Chapter Two-
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To be continued!
Gah, sorry for the unevenness of this chapter. . Seemed to me as if I just jumped around everywhere, trying to get things in. I had a whole outline written out, but I winded up not following half of it because I wanted those details to show up in later chapters.
Anyway, thoughts and comments? Leave them in a review, because those make me happy.
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