Chapter 82: Born to Fight

There was a knock on the door. Riku glanced up. Aerith stood there, holding a plain white shirt in her hands. "Here," she said after a moment. "Put this on."

Riku frowned, very skeptical. "Why…?" he asked slowly.

"I'm going to wash your shirt," Aerith replied simply. "It's covered in blood, after all. And since you're just sitting here…"

Riku rolled his eyes. He pulled his shirt off and then tossed it to Aerith. She caught it and tossed him the other shirt. He caught it and put it on. He made a face. It was big, which wasn't much of a problem, but it also felt funny.

"Will that be okay?" Aerith asked. "If that shirt doesn't work, I can go ask Leon for a different—"

"It's fine," Riku interrupted. "I'm not going to be wearing it for long. So whatever."

Aerith regarded him with a curious expression. "Are you sure?" she asked slowly.

He nodded, regretting what he'd said a little bit. That'd been rude, hadn't it?

"Alright," she muttered.

"Aeeriiith!" Yuffie shouted from downstairs. "We've got Heartless! And Cid's refusing to stop working to help us!"

"No I ain't!" Cid replied, his voice equally as loud. "Aerith, don't listen to her!"

Aerith closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm coming!" she called down the stairs. She turned back to Riku, who had jumped to his feet on the word Heartless.

"Sit back down!" she commanded. "You're injured!"

"But—" he began.

She shook her head, firmly, and then headed off. Now, whether this was because she didn't want to give Riku the chance to argue, or if it was because Yuffie and Cid had started yelling again was unclear, though it was probably the latter.

Slowly, Riku sat down. This time, though, he sat on the floor with his back against the bed. He glanced down at his hands. His right hand was sparking with dark energy, as if trying to summon his blade. He quickly canceled it out, and then started fingering the bandages.

I- I want to fight… he thought slowly. But- I- I'm not quite sure why. I mean, I know I'm useful in battle, and I'm really strong, too, but… you would think that I would enjoy not having to fight.

But… I ENJOY fighting.

He closed his eyes, hands slowly clenching into his fists. Well, his left hand did, his right hand tried, but the bandages prevented it from doing so (which was probably why they were there in the first place).

Sure, it can be annoying at times…

But I really do enjoy fighting.

The thrill of dodging attack after attack from your enemy, the excitement when THEY can't avoid you, that look on their face when they realize their no match for you, the adrenaline, the battle taunts and the insults, the feeling you get after battle when your hand cramps up because you've been clutching the hilt of your blade so tightly—

I love it.

But…

I was built to, wasn't I?

I was built to fight.

That's who I am. The obstacle. The person they put in someone else's way just to delay that someone—

He opened his eyes rather quickly. Namine had made a noise. He turned around to look at her, and found that she was perfectly fine. There was a small grimace on her face, but other than that she seemed to be sleeping in relative peace.

He sighed.

Just because I was built to fight doesn't mean anything, he told himself, firmly.

Sure, I love fighting…

But I've grown to love other things, too.

He turned back around and got comfortable again. After a second he frowned and tugged at the edges of the shirt he was wearing.

Right… the problem really IS just that it's too big, he sighed. I'm not used to anything that doesn't fit perfectly. My shirt was pretty tight fitting, and my pants—

He paused and glanced down at his pants. He stared for a moment. He couldn't come up with anything to say about his pants.

Something else occurred to him then: something Sora had said a while about his dark suit…

He flashed into dark mode and then glanced down. Of course, the fact hadn't changed at all, it still had something that relatively resembled a skirt. He fingered it, and made a face. After a moment he let go of the thing that might have been a skirt and flashed out of dark mode.

"Real Thing," he muttered. "You had one odd taste in clothing."

He glanced down at his hands again, or rather, at his left hand. He was still wearing the glove. He stared at it for a second, and then pulled it off. What was the point of wearing just one? Besides, he was starting to think he really didn't like wearing gloves, anyway.

That's it, he decided. I'm going to go and find myself some new clothes. I really don't like what I'm wearing right now, and NOT just because the Real Thing wore it. I just don't like it.

But…

He made another face.

When am I supposed to go do that?

I can't go now, even if Hollow Bastion HAS a clothing shop. For starters, there's Heartless outside, and Aerith would yell at me. That, and I'm not just going to leave Namine here.

Well… some other time, I guess.

xxx

"Whatcha doin'?" Joseph laughed, plopping down on the couch next to 19. 19 quickly shut the rather large three-ring binder he was glancing through before Joseph could get any ideas about it. He was, however, not fast enough. Joseph slid his hand in between the pages before he managed to get it shut all the way.

"Careful!" 19 warned.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Joseph asked, smiling that sly smile of his. "It looked important."

"Just some research," 19 said, hoping to deter Joseph. If Joseph thought it wasn't interesting, he'd leave it alone. Besides, it was, technically, research. Research that he probably shouldn't be conducting in the Main Room, though.

He'd have to be more careful about this in the future.

"Why'd you close it so quick, then?" Joseph accused, still grinning. "If it's just research then there shouldn't be a problem with me looking at it!"

19 sighed.

He forgot Joseph was this smart sometimes.

Before he could come up with a better argument, Joseph snatched the binder away from him, managing to keep his hand between the pages the entire time.

"Joseph!" 19 gasped. "Give that back!"

"Why?"

"Joseph! I mean it! You can't look!"

Joseph just grinned. "Gimme a good reason why I can't, and I won't," he laughed.

19 grimaced and bit his lip. Joseph wasn't going to understand, not without explaining, anyway. And the amount of explanation it would take to make Joseph understand would be saying too much. He groaned and rubbed his head. Joseph's grin widened.

"You don't have a good reason, do you?" he asked.

"I'm pretty sure telling you that it's a bad idea doesn't count…" 19 muttered. "So, no. I don't have a good reason for you."

Joseph started to open the binder—

"Joseph!" 29 called. "Leave 19 alone!"

Joseph made a face, but after a moment sighed and closed the binder again. He handed it back to 19. 19 took it, silently thanking 29.

He really would need to be more careful about this binder...

"Go to Twilight Town or something," 29 told Joseph firmly. "19's in the middle of research."

"I know that," Joseph muttered as he rose to his feet, sounding a bit annoyed. He glanced back at 19, disappointment and annoyance clearly etched on his face. Then he sighed and smiled. "Sorry," he said. "I- I should've left you alone. It was a bit mean of me to do that..."

"No harm done," 19 assured him.

"Good," Joseph grinned and then formed a dark corridor and stepped through.

"Sorry about him," 29 sighed, walking over to 19. "I tried to tell him to leave you alone. But, well, you see how well that worked."

"It's fine," 19 assured him. "He's just curious."

29 rolled his eyes.

"Too curious," he muttered, walking away.

19 sighed and opened the binder again.

Now… when are we…?