AN/ heheh... this was fun to write...

Replicas + food =(typically) confusion

but I think this made sense... idk...

anyways, the chapter title was suggested by Magik! thanks so much sis!

Chapter 65: Managing that Temper

Thanks to Riku, the amount of Heartless went down quickly, and they were done quicker than they normally were. It was still late in the day though. Aerith had already shown Namine and Riku where their rooms for the night were. Currently, Cid was in the kitchen, working on his soup, Aerith was rummaging around in the cupboards, and everyone else was sitting at the table.

"What do you guys want to go with the soup?" Aerith called. "We've got… bread, and-"

"Do you really need something to go with my soup?" Cid asked. "I put practically everything in it, anyways."

"Bread goes with everything, though!" Aerith argued.

Cid sighed. "Whatever," he muttered, and held out his hand. "That reminds me, though, I need some bread."

Aerith laughed and handed him one of the bread rolls. He took it and started tearing it to shreds, throwing it into the pot with the rest of the soup. Aerith shook her head and started arranging the rolls in the bread basket.

"Thanks for your help today, Riku," Leon said, as Aerith walked over to the table. He took the basket from her, grabbed a roll, and passed the basket on.

"No problem," Riku replied, as he grabbed a roll and handed the basket to Yuffie.

"That reminds me," Yuffie said, as she skipped the roll and passed the basket on. "Where did you hurt your arm? I was going to ask you earlier, but then I got annoyed at you."

Cloud rolled his eyes, took a roll, and set the basket down on the table.

"Marluxia Replica," Riku explained simply. "He had a scythe and was aiming for my head. I'm not entirely sure how he managed to miss and get my arm instead, but…" He shrugged and took a bite of the roll. After a moment of chewing, he took another bite.

"Hot soup, coming through!" Cid shouted, as he headed over to the table, steaming pot of soup in his hands. He set the pot down at the center of the table and sat down in his chair. Aerith came over with a stack of bowls and started dishing out soup to everyone.

Riku experimentally tried a spoonful of the soup. After a second he simply raised the bowl to his mouth and drank the rest of the soup. He then held his bowl out to Aerith for a refill. She hadn't even sat down yet. She did not seem to care, though, and refilled his bowl anyways. As he set his bowl back down, Namine elbowed him in the gut.

"I know," he whispered. He ate this bowl of soup with his spoon.

It wasn't long before Namine had finished her bowl, though. Noticing this, Riku took her bowl and started to dish her up some more soup. He didn't get far though, before he paused. "May I?" he asked.

"Of course," Aerith laughed.

Riku nodded and finished filling Namine's bowl, then handed it back to her.

"You said something about a Marluxia Replica-" Leon began.

"And mentioned that you've been fighting a lot of Replicas for the past while," Yuffie added, as she refilled her own bowl of soup.

"So what exactly have you been up to?" Leon finished.

Riku grabbed another roll. "Do you know Saix?" he asked, and took a bite. No one responded, so he quickly finished chewing and continued. "Well, he's part of Organization 13, and is in charge of the Replica Program-"

"And he hates Replicas," Namine added.

Riku nodded. "So, a good portion of the Replicas have rebelled, and I'm sort leading the Rebellion, even though I have no idea why I'm in charge…" he shrugged and started scraping the soup out of the bottom of his bowl. "We still have something Saix needs, though, which is access to the Main Computer. The Main Computer remains in Castle Oblivion."

Riku paused a second to eat his last spoonful of soup, and then started refilling his bowl. "So nearly every day Saix has been sending a group of Replicas that will try and get the Main Computer from us," he continued. "And me and a lot of other Replicas on our side have to fight them off."

"And what have you been doing?" Aerith asked Namine.

"Nothing, really," she replied, taking the soup ladle from Riku so she could refill her own bowl. "I stay out of the way when they're fighting, and the rest of the time… well… there's not a lot to do. I draw a lot." She shrugged, and started eating her soup, though at a much slower pace than she had been eating before.

Silence passed, filled with only the typical noises of everyone eating. Riku quickly finished his fourth bowl of soup. Yuffie just started her third. Namine was slowly eating her third. Everyone else started getting seconds.

"Goodness," Aerith laughed, as Riku started scraping the soup out of his bowl with a roll. "You look like you haven't eaten in months."

"I haven't," Riku replied around a mouthful of said roll.

Namine quickly swallowed her food so she could explain. "We're Replicas, we don't technically need to eat," she said. "Doesn't mean we can't eat, though." She shrugged. "It's complicated…"

"I forgot how much I enjoyed eating," Riku said, taking another bite of the roll.

"Well, you can eat as much as you like," Aerith assured them.

"They need to save something for the rest of us!" Yuffie protested.

"Yeah," Cid agreed. "'Cuz I ain't making any more!"

Riku stopped, in the middle of starting to fill his fifth bowl. "Sorry," he muttered. "This will be my last bowl, then…" He quickly finished filling it, and then started eating it very slowly.

"So beside Saix, has anything else exciting happened?" Aerith asked.

Riku shook his head. "Nothing exciting," he muttered.

"There is-" Namine began, and then shook her head. "Well, those aren't exciting. Just annoying."

"Very," Riku agreed.

They lapsed into silence again, as neither Namine nor Riku bothered to explain what they were talking about. After a moment, Leon worked up the courage to ask.

"What?"

"Meltdowns," Riku whispered.

"Huh?" Yuffie demanded.

"Memory meltdowns," Namine clarified.

Cloud nodded in understanding. Aerith grimaced. Yuffie continued to look confused, much to Leon's dismay. Cid scratched his chin, curious.

"But they shouldn't happen often enough to be annoyin'," he said after a moment. "Tha's jus-"

"Not normal…" Cloud finished.

"Of course they're not normal," Riku said, voice rising slightly with anger. "If they were normal-"

"Stop," Namine whispered, grabbing his hand. "There's no need to get angry. Let me explain."

Riku swallowed, and then nodded. Namine smiled and let go of his hand so he could continue eating.

"No, they're not normal," she said. "They happen too frequently to be normal, and I'm pretty sure normal ones don't hurt nearly as much. Plus, none of the memories I see during a meltdown are even mine, they're Riku's."

"Why?" Aerith asked.

"We don't know," Namine replied, and then paused. "Wait… were you asking why the memories are Riku's, or why the meltdowns happen so frequently?"

Aerith frowned, not entirely sure. "Both…" she said slowly.

"Well, the memories are Riku's 'cause I'm created from data that was collected from his memories," Namine explained. She stirred her soup thoughtfully, made a face, and then handed the bowl to Riku. He took it, not saying a word, and started eating it.

"And you don't know what causes the meltdowns, do you?" Cloud asked.

"If we knew, we would have stopped them already," Riku muttered tersely.

"Maybe there's jus' something wrong with her data," Cid suggested, taking a drink of his coffee. "If the data was damaged, or unstable-"

"You mean defective," Yuffie interrupted.

"No, I mean unstable!" Cid argued. "There is a difference between-"

"Not really," Yuffie muttered, rolling her eyes.

Cid frowned. "Now wait a minute!" he shouted. "You aren't still goin' on about-"

"Guys, stop," Cloud said firmly.

The room slowly went silent. All eyes shifted to Riku, who was staring at his soup, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. He was shaking slightly.

I will not draw my blade, he told himself.

I will not draw my blade.

I will not draw my blade!

I CANNOT just draw my blade and let my anger get the best of me! We're guests here, I can't just attack one of them…

But-

It's only Yuffie…

"Riku?" Aerith asked.

No! It doesn't matter WHO it is! he told himself. I can't let my anger-

I can't-

"Riku," Namine whispered. "I'm sure she didn't-"

"I'm done!" Riku said suddenly, dropping his spoon. He didn't seem to care that it bounced out of his bowl and clattered to the table. He stood up, chair scraping against the floor. "I'm- I'm not doing this," he continued, voice shaking as he tried to remain calm. He turned and headed up the stairs, not looking at anyone.

"Riku!" Namine called after him. He didn't even turn around.

She groaned.

"Now look what you did," she muttered under her breath.

"What?" Yuffie replied, looking completely clueless. "Did I- what did I say!"

Namine turned to her, eyes serious, but not an entire glare. "You said the d-word," she said simply.

"D-word?" Yuffie asked, looking even more confused.

"Defective," Leon whispered. "Right?"

Namine nodded.

Yuffie's eyes widened in shock. "Oh my gosh!" she gasped. "I didn't realize- I didn't mean it like-"

Namine shook her head, stopping her. "No, it's fine, really. Umm..." She sighed and then turned to Cid. "The soup was wonderful, by the way," she told him. "Thank you. I'm going to go… make sure he's- that he doesn't do anything stupid." She stood up and headed up the stairs, too.