Chapter 67: Important?

Even though Riku was in the room literally in front of the stairs, Aerith took a detour to Leon's room, a couple doors down. Namine followed, not sure what else to do.

Leon looked up from his book as Aerith poked her head in, eyes narrowing a little bit.

"Hey. What's up…?" he asked, cautiously, like he knew something was wrong.

"Um…" Aerith hesitated a moment, and then. "Cloud left," she said, and that's all she said.

Leon raised his eyebrows. "Already? He didn't even say goodbye." Leon frowned at that, and then studied Aerith carefully. "Is—um." He paused, though, whatever he was going to ask, his eyes darting in Namine's direction.

Namine sighed. "I… really can handle this myself," she told Aerith again.

"No, no, it's…! Riku's hurt," Aerith said to Leon. "I was going to take a look and see if I could do anything for him…" She seemed to want to say something more, something which Namine couldn't quite decipher.

Leon seemed to understand, though. He set his book to the side and got to his feet.

"I'll come help," he said.

Namine didn't see what the point of that was, other than providing moral support—but maybe Aerith needed that. What Cloud had said definitely sounded like it had hurt, even though Namine didn't understand it all.

So the three of them made their way to Riku's room.

He was very surprised to see all of them when they walked in, straightening and eyeing Aerith and Leon.

"Uh," he said.

"Aerith thinks she can heal you," Namine explained.

"Oh…kay," Riku said. He squinted at Leon. "And what are you here for?" he asked.

"I'm here to help, if Aerith needs," Leon answered.

Riku squinted at him a moment more, then shrugged. Namine went over to sit next to him—on his right side, since it was his left arm that was hurt. Aerith sat down on the other side of Riku, holding out her hands.

"May I?" she asked.

Riku held his arm out towards her. Immediately after she touched it, he pulled it back ass if stung.

Namine, who was sitting close enough to Riku to feel how rigid he went, to hear his sharp intake of breath, peered nervously at him. What was that about? Aerith peered at him too, eyes wide with surprise.

"I- Sorry," she stammered. "Did that hurt? I was trying to be careful…"

"Wh?" Riku blinked a few times. "Oh…!" He made himself take a deep breath, and seemed to struggle with it. "Yeah. Yeah, a little bit," he answered. "Sorry."

"I- I should be the one apologizing," Aerith told him, with an uneasy laugh. "I should have been more careful."

This time, she didn't touch him, just let her fingers hover over the wound. A soft green glow bathed Riku's arm for a moment. When Aerith pulled her hands away, the wound had closed completely.

"There we go," she said with a soft sigh.

"Uh, thanks," Riku said.

"Mmhmm…" Aerith answered, getting to her feet again. She and Leon left the room.

Riku and Namine both watched them go.

"What was that about?" Riku asked, face scrunched up.

Namine shrugged. "I don't know, really? I think she and Cloud kind of got in a fight, just before he left…" she answered.

"What about?"

"I barely remember, Riku," Namine said, a little exasperated. It wasn't like she'd memorized everything they'd said. Sure, she still had the gist of it, but— "It's not like it's our business, anyway."

Riku sighed. "Well, you have a point there, I guess."

They sat there for a few moments, and then Namine reached for her bag she'd brought, digging her old sketchbook out of it. "Anyway, hey!" she said, brightly. "You wanna see all those pictures I never got to show you now?"

"Yeah, sure!" Riku agreed.

He had been looking forward to this, and it wasn't like there was anything else to do right now. So the two of them settled next to each other, and Namine started showing off her pictures. There was a story to go with a lot of the pictures, and they talked about a lot of other things too, going for hours and hours. After a while, Riku noticed something, and started laughing a little bit.

"Why are there so many pictures of me?" he asked, turning towards Namine, who ducked her head down.

"I, uh, missed you a lot, while you were gone," she whispered, cheeks incredibly red. "I- I couldn't stop thinking about you. I kept wondering about whether or not you were okay, and- and hoping that you would come back soon."

"Oh. I'm sorry…" he began.

"Don't be," Namine said before he could finish. "You had more important things to do."

Riku frowned, not liking the way that she had worded that at all. He didn't think that he had been thinking like that during that time, but he couldn't quite remember. All he knew was that now he wouldn't be too happy with himself if he had been thinking like that.

What could be more important than being with her? he wondered, and then paused, taken aback.

Where in the Worlds did THAT thought come from?

I mean, I know I like spending time with her.

A lot.

But… that doesn't mean it's the most IMPORTANT thing, does it?

Maybe there's another word…

"Important" surely isn't the right one—

There was a knock on the door.

Both of them looked up, surprised.

"Yeah?" Riku called, letting whoever it was know it was okay to open the door.

A little bit to his surprise, it was Yuffie who poked her head in, face scrunched up like she'd just woken up and wasn't even a little bit happy about it. She took one look at the two of them, and then glared harder.

"Geeze, you two aren't asleep either?" she said. "It's three in the morning, I don't get how anyone could be awake willingly right now."

"Uh…?" Namine said.

"Leon and Aerith have also been awake all night, like dummies," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "I swear, I'm the only one who actually appreciates sleep around here!" She sighed and shook her head, starting to leave. And then she caught herself, poking her head again. "Oh yeah, there's Heartless." And then she left for real, grumbling the whole way.

"Well, I guess I'll go help with that," Riku said, feeling a little bit disappointed.

"I'll stay here," Namine assured him.

So Riku headed down the stairs. Or, he started to. He stopped in the hallway, noticing Aerith and Leon standing outside the door to Leon's room. Leon was clutching Aerith by the arms.

"You can sit this one out, if you want," Leon whispered. Riku's enhanced hearing allowed him to hear it just fine, though. "We can handle it."

Aerith shook her head, though. "Leon, you know as well as I do that not being out there to help is only going to make me feel worse…" she answered, with a little laugh.

Leon considered her carefully for a moment, and then he sighed.

"Okay, if you're sure," he relented.

Riku quick turned away and headed down the stairs, so it wouldn't look like he'd been eavesdropping.

"Wish the Heartless could've waited just a few more hours," he found Yuffie grumbling, when he got down there. She was still squinty-eyed, apparently waiting for everyone else before she headed out.

"Well, you can go back to sleep if y'want," Cid told her.

Yuffie looked at him like she couldn't believe her luck. "Really?"

"Sure! If you don't mind wakin' up to them eaten' you alive," Cid responded cheerfully, grinning brightly.

Yuffie instantly turned murderous. "WOW RUDE."

Riku rolled his eyes. He decided there was no point in him waiting around in here for everyone else, so he headed outside to get started killing Heartless.