Author: Andromiel
Rating: Rsh
Warnings: Yaoi, AU, mentions of drug and suicide.
Type: Yaoi, AU, Comedy, drama, romance.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from any Final Fantasy game or Kingdom Hearts.
Author notes:
1. Thank you to all who have taken the time to review.
2. While I would like to reply personally to each of you, I am afraid I might go overboard and the whole thing would be longer than the chapter itself. So again, simply thank you.
3. I'm afraid I will have to eventually re-write about 25% of the fic when it has been finished. Due to actually –forgetting- things I planned for the story, and just over all bad planning, some loose ends probably won't quite fit. It'll just be best if I flow with it until it's done.
4. Yes, it's late. I'm sorry. I think the odd few that read my things on a regular basis know I tend to drag everything out.
5. Many thanks to my beta readers.
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In contrast to popular belief, Sora was not a simpleton.
Jerking back just barely saved him from a nicely broken nose. It however did not excuse him of the sensation of a flailing elbow smashing his nose in.
Ringing pain blossomed in his face and he fell over the side, landing tastelessly on the carpet.
"Mf!"
"What the hell are you doing?" Riku snarled, shoulder twitching at the ghostly memory of lips. He peered over the edge of the bed, planning to deliberately smack Sora if he so much as breathed wrong. His attacker sniffled.
"Wh-? What in god's name is your problem?" He glared, too frustrated to do anything else. Those shiny blue eyes were –not- going to make him feel guilty.
"Paaaaiiinn." The younger boy replied, muffled. Sora blinked away the reactionary tears and flipped to his feet with ease.
"Man, you hit hard." He pulled his hand away then he inspected it for traces of blood. He shrugged off the ache at finding none. If there was no blood, it simply couldn't be too bad.
"Come on! School."
"Sora?"
"Mn?"
"You're not human."
Sora paused at the doorway of Riku's room, nose still smarting.
"Eh? Of course not, what took you so long? I'm your guardian angel."
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Riku threw a pillow at the closed door. Tragically, it did nothing to satisfy him.
"Angel' my ass. More like a fucking maniac." Dropping back tiredly against his covers, Riku released a long breath and draped his arm over his eyes. That boy just got weirder and more irritating by the day. Giving up didn't seem to be a part of his mentality at all. If he had not been suffering for it, Riku might have actually had some respect for that. It took determination-or perhaps just stupidity-to not call it quits.
However, the important issue was that he –was- tormented by it.
"Fuck."
Unconsciously, he rubbed his left shoulder, the burning itch refusing to go away. It felt more like someone had pressed wild electricity instead of flesh against his skin. Riku froze and snatched his hand away with a suppressed urge to groan.
'First things first,' Riku rationalized, keeping his guilty hand pinned from further mischief. Except nothing much came to mind but a faintly panicked thought. 'He's gay?'
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"He tricked me." Sora blinked, and vowed to spend a good hour showering Riku's car with silly string the first chance he got. Said automobile vanished as it turned around the corner of the school and roared to illegal speeds.
Note to self; do not trust Riku in the mornings. Particularly when you've finally managed to get him to come to school, and he offers to drop you off first while finding a parking spot.
"I can't believe he –tricked- me." He swore under his breath, trying not to give in to the twitch developing at his right eye.
Oh, well –fine-.
First period's end bell rang as he pivoted and made a beeline for his locker, trying to brush off the twinge of hurt. Riku was not going to best him. Not now, not ever. Maybe he was taking it as a game of survival, but-
"Wow. What truck managed to run you over?"
"What?" Sora started, and swiveled his gaze to find himself (much to his resignation) nearly eye level with Selphie. The cheery girl was giving him a decidedly odd look.
"Should I start with the expression, or the stylish Rudolph nose?"
"What?" Sora blinked dully before touching his nose. Ah. That was what she meant.
"Oh, this. Ow. Nothing, just an encounter with a wild elbow." He waved it off with his other hand, using the first to access damage.
Perhaps Riku had hit him harder than he thought, the skin felt tender and feverishly hot.
"It's swollen dear. It is supposed to hurt. Come on, I'll take you to the nurse!" Selphie smiled sympathetically, patting his shoulder while simultaneously dragging him.
"So. Now that we have the physical taken care of, what's up?"
"What about math? That's our next period you know."
"Eh, we'll get Rinoa to give us her notes. Wait, no, on a more sane revaluation of what I just said, we'll get Quisty's notes instead."
"Fair enough," Sora conceded, ducking his head to avoid eye contact with other people. He didn't feel like talking with too many individuals at the moment.
"Uh… Selphie? You realize that nurse's office is on the other side of campus?" He ventured, realizing she was leading him out to the gazebo.
"You don't really want to go see Dr. Kadowski, do you?" The small girl arched an eyebrow at him.
Sora smiled thinly.
"I just kind of wish I could go home. And sleep. Because you know, no one gets enough sleep these days. It's unhealthy."
"I agree. Which is why I envy those overly spoilt little Pre-Ks. I mean naps every afternoon? Lucky bastards." Selphie pushed him down on a bench and flopped down next to him, sighing.
"Riku seemed nice enough yesterday."
"I think I've learned not to trust what Riku says or acts like. I'm half convinced he has MPD." Sora retorted, dropping his head back into the table. "Two days, and he has me this rattled. This is not normal."
"Mn. But you didn't really think it would be easy did you?"
"I didn't know –what- to expect!" Sora burst out furiously. "I'm not a goddamn expert, I'm just a normal high school kid. How am I supposed to change Riku? I don't want to change anyone against their will, and Riku's definitely against me existing, period."
Selphie stared at him, not bothering to blink. She looked a little thoughtful. "It's not often that you get upset." She began. "Not that you don't have an absolute reason to. Do you like Riku?"
"I suppose so. He's nice enough when he's not acting like the world is out to get him." Sora closed his eyes. "It's only been… what? Two, three days? Every time I think we might be getting somewhere… I turn around and he's decided I'm the scourge of the universe. A threat. And that's the thing! I don't fucking blame him! I-… I just don't know what to do. Stupid. Cliché. But I really just don't."
"Mkay, let's see if I got this sorted out," Selphie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "You want to help Riku, and you feel compromised since you agreed to this 'deal' already. However, you do not know HOW to accomplish the goal, and to make things worse, you are opposed to doing this, period. The reason being that you are against forcing Riku to be something that he isn't, and does not want to be. Riku doesn't make it easy by being a total jackass one second, okay the next. Am I off?"
"It's something like that."
"That seems odd. That Riku changes like that."
"That's what I'm saying." Sora's eyes opened, staring up at the ceiling. "That's why. Because he's faking it. All of this, the bitterness towards everything surrounding him here. It's all an act. I don't know why he's doing it, but it's on purpose. He was having fun yesterday. He was having fun the day before that. But every time I let him spend time by himself, boom. All the progress is rewound and he's stubborn on keeping me away."
"Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you then. Good luck," Selphie grinned cheerfully, clapping him on the back. "You're not going to leave Riku."
"Of course not."
"Hang in there Sora. I'm sure you can do it. Whatever it is." She shrugged and stood up, taking a moment to stretch. "Maaaaaan, I wish I were home sleeping. Anyway, I'm going to sneak into class. You coming?"
"Nah. I might as well wait until third period," Sora smiled wryly, waving her away. "I'll talk to you at lunch. Don't tell any of this to Tidus."
"My lips are sealed!" Waving good-bye, Selphie snatched up her backpack from the floor and bounced down the steps, scurrying across the open field as if trying to avoid attracting attention. Sora snickered and sat forward, letting his arms cushion his head.
'That was unexpected,' He reflected. 'I'd thought about all this at one point or another, but it'd never just jumped at me all together.' He traced the scars on the wood lightly with the pads of his fingers, careful of splinters. Accepting the invitation to join the GIFT program had been a mistake in itself. GIFT itself was fundamentally wrong. Striving to change those that didn't want to be changed wasn't right.
So he wasn't going to do it because of GIFT. He wasn't going to do it because he compromised himself, or it was expected. He wasn't going to do it because Riku's father was counting on it, or the guidance counselor.
He was going to do it because for a brief moment in that small parlor, he'd caught a glimpse of the Riku that stood alone behind the dungeon he'd built.
-------"…Nice nose."
"Oh, I know, don't you like it?" Sora's voice fairly oozed false cheer, getting tired of being at the end of the 'nose' comments. "Newest sty-" He broke off, startled, finding that Leon was staring at him with a faintly bemused look.
"Oh, sorry." Sora grinned. "I'm just really frustrated with everyone pointing this out to me. I mean, it's my nose. I KNOW it's swollen."
Leon nodded, and handed him a piece of paper silently.
"What's this?"
"An outline of the notes we took last week."
"Oh?" Sora skimmed through the page, then wide eyed began reading thoroughly.
"These are notes? I'd call them essays."
The older teen shrugged, crossing his arms.
"More than half of those are yours."
"Funny, I don't even remember some of them," Sora shook his head and stuffed the paper into his backpack. "Oh, that reminds me-you have my new cell phone number, right?"
"Yes… your sister… was kind enough to tell me."
"She's in love with you. Really." Sora nodded somberly. "I'm sorry, I know it comes as a shock to you, with us being as close as siblings-"
Leon blinked. A corner of his lips twitched slightly.
"You are bizarre."
"That's a first. I've been called weird, psycho, maniac, crazy, idiot and other such pleasantries, but I gotta admit that's a new one. Could just be lack of other people's vocabulary, but nonetheless, congratulations!"
Sora was beginning to learn Leon's three main modes. 'Arms crossed', 'vaguely irritated stare' and 'raised eyebrow'. Not very diverse for a person, but perfect for a model.
"Say, have you ever thought about going into fashion? Just a thought."
Vaguely irritated stare.
"What?"
"Mwuahaha, you'd be perfect you know. Just glare at the camera. And at people. In fact, you do that already. Let me get my camera and we'll get rich off your grumpy look." Sora babbled, aware that time was ticking down to when he'd have to go home. He also had no ride, seeing as his had taken off.
"Uh, Le-"
"Sora, you haven't seen Zell around, have you?"
Startled at the arm that was suddenly draped around his shoulders, Sora tilted his head back and looked up at Irvine.
"Mn? No… not at all today, actually. Maybe he's playing hooky."
"Hooky. Right. Bastard, skipping out on our bet," Irvine sighed heavily, shaking his head. "What tragedy, the cowardly villain-"
"If the villain was cowardly, this would probably be more of a comedy," Sora injected helpfully.
"Right, but comedy just doesn't have the same melodrama, you know?"
"You've never read Cyrano, have you?"
"Nope, got bored as hell and left the class. Made Nida help me bull my way through a report," Irvine winked. "Anyway, Riku isn't here today. You got a ride?"
"Actually-" Sora began slowly, flicking a gaze towards Leon… except Leon wasn't there.
"… I guess not."
"Something the matter?"
"Nah. But if you'd give me a ride, I'd really appreciate it."
"How could I resist those baby blue eyes?" Irvine patted Sora's head, making the other boy snort.
"Oh, come on, height does not equal age," He protested, sticking out his tongue.
"But you –are- younger than me!" Irvine pointed out evilly, squeezing Sora's cheeks, not the facial ones.
Sora barely batted an eyelash.
"Pedophile."
"N' proud of it."
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"Would asking how you're doing earn me a glare, a grin, a lie, or an honest answer?"
"How about a question in reply?" Sora countered helpfully, tossing the car door shut.
Irvine tilted his head back, offering a wry grin of his own.
"Alright then, I won't ask."
"Good decision. I'll see you tomorrow," Sora wiggled his fingers in a farewell gesture and stood back as the car pulled out of the driveway. He couldn't help but smile a little fondly. The playboy at least knew when to not dig into sensitive subjects.
Sora approached the entrance, and found himself stupefied by one single fact that he'd overlooked.
Nobody had given him keys to the house.
"Oh, hell no," He experimentally tried to turn the knob, hoping against rationality that someone had left it open. No dice. Next, he tried knocking on the door. Then waited. A minute trickled by slowly before he knocked again and gave up. Obviously, there was no one home. Not even the servants. Or maybe they were just too far away from the entrance to hear.
Either way, he was stuck outside.
"Effing yay," Letting his backpack slide off his shoulder and plop to the ground, Sora joined it. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at it, fiddling with the antenna. It made him think of Leon, which in turn… well, made him think of Leon more. Like Riku, Leon wasn't a bad guy. Too quiet and removed for the likes of the general high school crowd, but he had his moments of fun. A dry, intelligent sort of fun. He just didn't act like the general high school population, period.
'He just doesn't help either,' Sora pondered, dumping his head back against the wood. 'I can't figure out if he really doesn't care, or what…'
He worried his lower lip, finding that his mind was utterly blank on the issue of Leon. He shook his head and thumped his fist gently against his thigh. 'Focus. Leon equals writing partner, not project be-noisy-and-make-sociable'.' Sora snorted at his own mentality and stood up. This was the first time he'd gotten a chance to study the outside of the Jakunen mansion, he might as well take the opportunity presented.
Whoever was in charge of keeping the flowers, grass and trees well tended was obviously a professional with a gifted green thumb. Even as the leaves were beginning to wrinkle and turn yellow as winter approached, there was a sense of it all being perfectly organized and healthy. His father would have loved to visit the grounds and gush over all the odd looking specimens. Out of wary experience in dealing with extraordinary plants, Sora simply studied the delicate blooms, finding it odd that they were still going strong so late in the year. Eventually he passed by them and found himself on the Northern side, where sculptures were now proudly displayed.
Fantasy seemed to be the running motif as Sora spied a marble faerie peering at him from behind a tree. An elf warrior made of granite sat on a half formed trunk of wood with young children crowding around. All of the pieces looked battered but well tended. He ran his hand gingerly over the chilled stone and wondered why they weren't inside where they wouldn't take the brunt of nature.
Going through that left him at the very back of the house, where he perked up at the sight of a lovely, cheery guest house painted in a crème shade with white window sills. It was set quite a bit apart from the house, and he looked at it enviously. Why didn't Riku move in there? It was like practically living on your own.
Following a naturally curious instinct, he tried the door and found it open. 'Too bad the main entrance isn't,' He thought wryly, stepping into the darkness and scrambling to find a switch on the wall. He failed at finding one, but his fingers brushed against a small knob. Warily, he pushed it in and turned slowly. A crisscrossing array of lights fixated on the ceiling slowly hummed to life, dim at first, then flourishing brightly.
At first, Sora was so startled that he froze, unable do anything but stare. Then he realized that the people in the room were not really people at all, but just statues. Dozens of them stacked closely together, one after another. He breathed a sigh of heavy relief. For a brief instant, he'd been under the notion he'd somehow stumbled into some sort of meeting.
'Yeah, right. Like a drug lord meeting at the back of Riku's house,' Sora snorted derisively and passed by a giggling mermaid. He nearly tripped over her tail, not having noticed how it curved on the floor for support. After a wobbly moment, Sora stepped back, eyeing it with annoyance. 'Note to self; remember that thing is there.'
It was obviously a storage for garden decorations, even though he didn't see anything –but- statues. It was also remarkably clean and well kept, as flawless as the main house. Not a spot of dirty anywhere that he could see.
It was also totally devoid of normal things as well. No paintings, tables or sofas. There was a kitchen to the side, and a door directly across from him, but he doubted there was anything in them either, save for more statues.
'Why in god's name are there so many…?' Wondering about just how many there really were, Sora began counting under his breath, starting with the left side. Dragons, dogs, cats, trees, there was a carved figure of each. They were done in a thin, wistful style with the careful, tender hand of an artist. Sora had no idea how old the works were, but they seemed in relatively good condition; better cared for than the ones outside.
"Twelve…. Fourteen…. Sixteen… Oh, hell." Tossing in the towel, Sora waved it off. The point was that there were a lot. Riku's father seemed to like a stately, old-fashioned Victorian style, so the fantasy and whimsical running theme was puzzling.
'It's probably just stuff left over from whoever owned the house previously,' He realized, turning back. This time he was mindful of the protruding mermaid tail, giving her a jaunty salute as he left.
The sun was beginning to go down, kissing the horizon line, and tossing a wave of warm colors across area. Sora shielded his eyes, stopping to watch the beginning of nightfall.
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Plink, plink, plink.
Kairi very calmly stared at the sink.
Pink, plink, plink.
It refused to shut the hell off.
Deliberately, she wrapped her hand around the chilly metal knob and turned it hard. It gave just a little under her determination and the endless 'plink, plink' ceased.
With it, she released a long breath, rubbing the bridge of her nose. There was nothing more frustrating and mindless than the continuous sound of drops of water splashing.
She turned away and stuck her hands into her pockets. Now her throat itched from thirst. It was solved when she got a chilly cola out of the fridge and sat down.
Kairi stroked the cold surface, fingernails clicking against the thin metal. The clock on the wall announced the time and fell quiet, plunging the room into a deathly silence.
Her forehead hit the flattop with a fleshy thump.
"I am –not- missing that goof."
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End chapter