A/N: Holy wow… I actually managed to get the next chapter out in, like, a month (ish)! Thank you to all those who been reading and reviewing, your comments are always much appreciated! xD
Hmm… for this chapter… there are a LOT of different, multiple POVs, and it's very important to note that everything is happening at the same time – which will explain any sudden scene changes in between and such. Just giving out fair warning so you guys don't get confused, a'ight? Cool. :-P
Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's long, but a lot happens. Happy readings!
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING.
LiD: Rise and Crescendo
Chapter Fourteen: Bashed
Running his fingers through his already awesome hair, Tidus smirked at his reflection. Hell yeah, that was one sexy beast looking back at him. Rawr.
What chick would be able to keep her eyes off him, with his dashing smile, gorgeous eyes and perfect abs (nicely shown off through his cute aqua button-up)? Damn, tonight's bash was gonna be spectacular. Turning around, Tidus peeked around the room to make sure no one was around. Then, carefully, Tidus checked to make sure his pants didn't make his ass look too big.
Nope. The pockets made them look nice and tight and cute. Nice cheeks, man, Tidus complimented himself. He gave his buttocks a nice little flex to work them out – relax, flex, relax, flex, aw yeah –
"Dude! What are you doing?"
Tidus whirled around, squealing, hands covering his ass. Sora had just stepped into the room, and looked torn between laughing and cringing. Tidus crossed his muscular arms over his ripped chest (if he did say so himself) and scoffed indignantly, "Just making sure the goods are all in working order, man. I'm still playing the field tonight."
Sora rolled his eyes, running one hand through his chocolate spikes. Collapsing on Riku's bed, Sora said, "Whatever man, I'm ready to go and so is Kai. Hurry up."
Tidus frowned as he sorted through his bags for a good sweater. It had to match, but not match too much that made him look like a pansy; it had to look like he put effort in, but not too much effort in … like dressing was naturally easy to him, thus, it was no effort in this – something Sora said rung a bell, and Tidus asked, "Wait, what's with the R-meister? And Nami-mami?"
Sora gave him a funny look, "Nami-mami? That's a little weird, man – "
"No way! Haven't you ever heard those exotic lovers? It's always, 'papi, hold me' and 'mami, I want you' … you know! C'mon!" Tidus exclaimed, finding the perfect coat. Navy blue with aqua and gold stripes running a diamond along the coat – nice and light, but warm enough that he could hand to a damsel in distress …
"Sure thing, T-dog, but they don't want to come. Naminé came back and is moping in her room about her sketchbook, apparently she left it at a café she went to, and Riku is mulking over … well, you know."
Tidus flashed Sora a grin through the full length mirror in front of him, and Sora furrowed his brow. "Where'd that mirror come from, anyways – our room doesn't have a full-length one …"
"Duh, Sora, look," Tidus sighed, and proceeded to fold the mirror away into thirds, then pulled out a leather covering that could have passed for a classy day planner. Tucking the mirror away, Tidus turned around and gave Sora a million-watt smile. "Always prepared for the worst of times, buddy. What would you do without me?"
Sora smirked. "Well, the amount of time you spend getting dressed … you definitely make me and Riku feel more manly, that's for – ow!" Sora rubbed his stomach where the packed-away mirror had hit him, and pouted. "Jerk."
"Dickwad," Tidus grumbled, as he pulled out a bottle of hairspray. Expertly holding his comb to flare out the edges of his hair, he managed the comb and bottle combination with ninja-like expertise. After he was finished, he checked his hair in the hotel-provided dresser mirror, and sighed lovingly. He really was hawt. Like, the word needed to be respelled for him, he was that fantastic.
Spinning around, Tidus glared at Sora, who looked as though he was trying not to laugh. "Hmph," Tidus breathed as he walked out, slamming his bedroom door behind him. Some guys were so immature. Stepping into the main room (Sora followed, now outright howling with laughter), Tidus spotted Kairi.
Kairi was dressed in a white denim skirt that went halfway down her thighs, with a dressy pink spaghetti-strap shirt. Upon seeing the two, she squealed and raced towards them. Linking one of her arms with one each of theirs, just before they left, Kairi called out, "You guys sure you don't want to come?" No answer. "Nam? Rik?"
"No thanks, sis," from Naminé – from Riku, on the balcony with his guitar, nothing. All was well, then! Tidus opened the door, and the three slipped out into the hall, and made their way down to the beach, where the opening ceremonies would begin. It wasn't a requirement that the whole band be there; it was really just a chance to party with other bands and let the head honchos talk.
Tidus was going for the ladies; Kairi, for scouting out competing bands (and dancing, come on); and Sora, for befriending fellow musicians (big surprise). Riku, being an anti-social, agoraphobic freak, remained safe and sound in the hotel, and Naminé, feeling weepy over a few doodles, stayed behind too. Psssht, losers.
LiD
The crowd was starting to get frantic, and people were pressing against one another to see the stage. The sky was dark, and the beach was lit with numerous lamps, light-chains and people's glow sticks. And lighters. Olette took a deep breath before walking past a particularly dead group that were puffing on smokes – she tried not to gag. The last time she'd been consistently around that smell was when she had been going out with Roxas, in fact, it only smelled right near him. When they'd hung out together … she hadn't minded nearly as much. In fact, she was pretty sure she was willing to get used to the smell again if it meant spending more time with the blond bombshell.
She was wearing jean quarter-lengths, folded at the bottom, with a t-shirt tied in a knot at her side and flip-flops. She was no musician, no band mate or even a groupie, for that matter, but no one particularly cared. The more people that came to this Opening Bash, the more publicity, and that could only be a good thing.
Finally, her attention was brought to the stage when someone stepped up to the microphone.
"Ladies and gentleman, and, well, everyone in between!" Olette smiled slightly, watching the man speak. "We've been waiting forever for this moment … we've been shopping, partying and rocking out while waiting for the games to begin! Am I right, or am I right?" the man roared into the crowd. The crowd cheered in response, howling and whooping. "Well," the man began, and there was a sharp feedback into the crowd. No one seemed to care, but Olette winced slightly. "I'm here to tell you it's on – you all know what I mean. The judges are ready, your tournament schedules have been made and are being handed out …" the man continued to give out details that the bands probably cared about.
Olette, however, bored with the small stuff, began flitting through the crowd. Maybe some of her local friends would be nearby, or maybe, just maybe, she'd run into Roxas again …
She must have been walking around for a good ten or fifteen minutes, because the crowd suddenly exploded around her. There was an enormous amount of infectious cheering, and a glance towards the now empty stage told her the party was on. Some well-known bands like Blue Day, Schizophrenia! At the Ballroom and even Three Windows Down cycled through, playing. She wasn't a big fan of any of those, but hey, the music got the crowd going. Dancing, laughing, cheering, drinking, smoking, even puking … Olette only just dodged one particularly amazing projectile.
After moving through, Olette found that a wet bar had been set up on one side of the beach. The territory was significantly rowdier, containing mostly the druggies, the drinkers and the more outrageous dancers.
"Hey, pretty babe, wanna dance?" a hand on her arm accompanied the request.
Olette ignored the jerk and yanked her arm away from him – some people, honestly. Glancing around, she saw nothing of particular interest when she spotted it – him. He was taking a drag on his cigarette, a glass in hand. Olette, while a little wary of the group he was with, started fighting through the crowd towards him.
LiD
Naminé was slightly heart-broken, to say the least.
She'd spent the past several hours in her room; having moped, cried a little, drank the coffee that Kairi had brought her, moped some more, then wished that she could leave the room. Goodness, was she ever exhausted. The bash was starting, and they'd all tried coaxing her into coming ("It'll be good for you, Nami!" Kairi had ventured enthusiastically.) Yeah, right, Naminé thought. She'd refused, and even
though everyone was probably thinking she was being over dramatic, there was no way she was going to go out and party – that just wasn't her way of "letting loose" (as Tidus had put it). If anything, events like that just stressed her out to no end.
Not having her sketchbook to escape into didn't help either. She'd passed the time idly, and when she looked out her small window now, she could see the strobe lights from the Bash. Inherently loud screaming and cheering came from the streets, and Naminé nearly winced when she heard the heavy bass of the bands pound the air.
She noticed that night had fallen, with a few wisps of the sun's rays remaining over the horizon. Kairi and them must have left by now – thank goodness, because she was getting sick of being cooped up in her room…
… Well… she could've left sooner… but she didn't really want to face him. Sure, she was being immature, but why should she give in? Kairi would be proud of that one for sure. Okay, so maybe Naminé had some things that she should apologize for… after all, accusations were thrown and caught from both parties…
Naminé sighed. She never imagined that she'd have to deal with all of this on top of her other mess. Wasn't this supposed to be a vacation for her? A kind of getaway? Of course not, she realized. As clichéd as it sounded, she could not run away from her problems.
Stop it, Naminé scolded herself. Rubbing her face, she finally decided to take leave of the room. Grabbing her waterbottle to refill, she set out into the quiet hallway, and towards the kitchenette –
– only to stop dead in her tracks. Apparently the hallway wasn't so quiet after all.
She could hear music playing from the sitting room area. The tune sounded very familiar, chiming like the waking bells of dawn in her memory. Where…? Naminé carefully tip-toed towards the room, and her heart drummed against her chest as she got closer to the sound… recognizing it as…
… an acoustic guitar.
And singing. Or rather, humming, since it was so quiet, and barely audible.
Naminé blinked twice. There was only person who could be doing that – unless, of course, some mad idiot managed to break into their hotel room, and randomly started to play in the middle of their room, to which Naminé would have to call security – after beating the idiot with some sort of bat or something of course, and then –
"Naminé?"
She froze. Like a chocobo caught in headlights.
She didn't realize that she'd walked into the sitting area unawares. Her face quickly flushed with colour when it dawned on her. Hiding her eyes through her bangs, she could see in her peripheral that the guitarist/vocalist was sitting atop the backrest of the couch, instrument poised on his lap. His headphones were in, plugged into the guitar, and a computer had been set-up.
Tides of embarassment quickly washed over her previous anger. Oh no…
"Rik – I-I'm so-sorry. I didn't mean-mean to interrupt – " She saw that Riku was removing his headphones, and quick as a flash, she turned on her heel.
"Naminé, wait."
Unsure of what to do, she halted. Rubbing her shoulder, she turned back around, and caught aqua eyes staring intently back at her.
Fiddling with the strings of his guitar, Riku swept his gaze around the room, before deciding to settle them on the instrument in his hands.
"Didn't want to go join the party, huh?" Naminé bit her lip. What did he…? Slightly confused – and dazed – she rubbed her arm awkwardly. A retort had been at the tip of her tongue, but her nerves tied it, and she answered with a quiet,
"N-no." She looked up to see that his gaze was once more upon her. Her neck prickled, and she fought down another wave of blush. Ugh, wasn't she supposed to be mad at him, or something? But from his quiet, and rather gentle, tone, it didn't seem like he was. When Naminé didn't say more, he nodded his head lightly, before going back to strumming his guitar.
Um, did she miss something?
Silence passed between them, and Naminé continued to scratch her arm absent-mindedly. Notes continued to fill the air, raiding her senses, and it was all she could do from biting her lip off. But it was in that instance that lightning struck Naminé, and the memory of the song exploded behind her eyes. Wonder filling her expression, she exclaimed,
"Oh! You can play Hades' Fifth Sonata?" Riku's fingers froze over the fingerboard, and he eyed her quizzically.
"Yeah, it's the only few songs that I know of," he explained, shifting his eyes for a fleeting moment, "but I prefer to play it in D major."
Naminé was stunned, to say the least. She didn't think Riku would know any classical pieces! Uncertainly, she asked, "Really? You know who he is?"
Riku laughed. "Yeah, why not? It helps to pick up classical pieces, you know. Adds a bit of… challenge to the routine." He shrugged. "This one's not too hard, though. Why are you – ?"
Instead of answering Naminé swiftly turned around, and began searching the room. "What are…?" he began to ask, but Naminé found it – her flute case. Quickly, she pulled it out, and began putting the pieces together. She couldn't believe it – she just couldn't believe that Riku would know this song.
Placing the delicate, silver pipe to her lips, Naminé began to blow. Automatically, her fingers moved over the holes as she had taught herself to, a song that had taken her weeks to learn. The notes came easily now, dancing with the delicate feet of an experienced artist. The smooth brass as her stage, Naminé had performed this song too many an audience. Beginning with a high tenor, the song gracefully dipped into a deep baritone sound, reverbrating through the pipe, sending tingles down her fingers. Never had she come to love something so much.
New sounds suddenly entered, and Naminé started, momentarily forgetting that she was playing. To her surprise – and immense pleasure – the platinum-blond teenager was accompanying her with his guitar. Riku. He must have heard that she'd briefly stopped playing, because he glanced up through his fringe, as he still played, and flashed her a smile at her surprised expression. She couldn't help but smile back, and replaced the flute against her lips.
LiD
What exactly was going on, Roxas wasn't sure. His head was spinning, his blood was pounding, but frigging hell, at least he wasn't thinking. From the moment he had left the hotel room to when he finally got to the bar (a wet one, thankfully), those damn thoughts wouldn't leave him the hell alone.
Everything, from the churning cauldron of thoughts about Naminé and Olette, mostly confused, kinda guilty; the deep net of anxiety Larxene and Sora had pushed him into; the strangling rope that Axel had thrown around him, that was everywhere – his hair, his skin, his lips, his tongue …
… No, no, no! Not that train of thoughts! What the hell was Axel's problem, anyways? Just, like, outta nowhere, plants one on him, like… ew! No! Roxas did not do that kind of stuff … where had that come from, anyways? Why the hell was Axel all over Roxas anyways? Unless … unless … argh!
That train wreck of thought was what got him here, on a whole plane of reality. Damn, somewhere between the shit he'd gotten off of Xiggy, the booze that he'd easily gotten from the bar (the bartender was like seventy, or something, all Roxas had to do was gruff up his voice and the alcohol was pouring) and the cigarette, Roxas was feeling more than a little lost. Mind, he had already reacted quickly to the weed, and the alcohol was pushing him to new lengths while providing a strangely familiar footing.
So he was feeling rather dizzy when someone tapped his shoulder and asked, "Roxas?"
Roxas turned around slowly (not a good idea, the world was already spinning) – and saw a brunette nearby. His vision was blurring in and out between total Gaussian blurs and normal perception. Not to mention the distortions of sound (was that music? Or a machine?), colour and size … what the hell. Honestly.
Steadying himself by putting one hand on the brunette's shoulder, he tottered a bit and then leaned in to study her face. "Olette?" he asked, and he thought he saw the girl nod. Damn, she was pretty – that might have been because she was the only thing he could see right now, being so close and all. Hang on, crap, too close for social comfort or something, right? Roxas attempted to back away, and only teetered and collapsed against a palm tree, sloshing some of his drink around.
"Roxas? Roxas … you okay?" Olette asked distantly, coming in towards him. Roxas focused on the wobbly ground (dammit, stay friggin' still), and when he felt somewhat steady, he slowly raised his head and looked at her. Jeez, it'd been so long since they'd been together. And she was so pretty and smart and so nice … isn't this how they met, back at school, or something? At a party, she'd rubbed his back while he puked his guts out into a toilet bowl … damn. The details weren't coming to mind …
"Right, Roxas, that's right," Olette replied, rubbing his head kindly. Huh? Wait … with a groan, he realized that he had been saying all of his thoughts out loud. Feeling stupidly embarrassed, Roxas took another sip of his cocktail – ow. The sudden flood to his system required a few drags on his cigarette to relax his shaking hands. Dammit, he needed the high to kick in already, not the crappy launch time. Roxas sank to sit on the beach, leaning against the palm tree. Olette hunkered down beside him.
"Roxas," she began tentatively, audios and visuals swimming in and out of focus. What had Roxas mixed into his drink, again? "Roxas, honey, I think you need to slow down. You're a little bit in over your head, huh? You need to lie down – "
Roxas cut in with a bark of laughter, losing all previous trains of thought. Taking a long drag on the almost torched cigarette, Roxas sighed in contentment. Smirking slightly, he asked Olette, "Yeah? Wanna lie with me?"
"What?"
Roxas frowned. He had thought he had enunciated okay – he wasn't that wasted, not yet. Opening his mouth, he was about to repeat it when Olette cut in, "Oookaaay, Roxas, seriously, you need to relax – "
"Relax? Man, Olette, I had, like, the shittiest day ever, I – " Roxas hiccupped here, and groaned. Slumping forwards, he felt Olette rub circles gently on his back. He wasn't sure why, but the image of falling into an icy cold pond was suddenly thrown over him, and Roxas sat upright again. Olette, alarmed, asked,
"Roxas?" His name seemed to be her new favourite word; not that Roxas minded. It sounded nice and sweet and rolled off her tongue with a fluidness that Roxas knew his drunk tongue couldn't manage right now. He felt her grip his shoulder, and he wobbled slightly, gathering his thoughts to speak, when she said again, "Rox?"
Something triggered in Roxas' head – crap, no, no nicknames right now. No buddy-buddy behaviour, buddies, band, Axel, oh shit … Roxas bit back a moan at the horrible ghost train that was running through his head. He could hear the chug-a-lug-lug clear as a bell, and honestly, it needed to go, he needed a detour…
A new thought occurred, silencing all the others. Lifting his head to meet Olette's worried gaze, Roxas sipped his drink, then croaked, "Olette, I think I'm dying here."
"You are not dying, you're just feeling crappy. Relax."
"No, you don't understand – since, like, a few days ago, or something; when me and you were like …"
"Hanging out?" she supplied anxiously. Roxas could tell he had her attention now, and she leaned in closer to decipher his slightly slurred speech.
"Yeah," his voice was husky and his words broken. "Yeah, just … everything's been so weird since then, I can't stop thinking about …" Oh hell, oh frigging hell, now he was in for it. He wasn't exactly lying, but he was on a roll, gonna do something stupid and now he couldn't stop …
He flipped his cigarette butt to the ground, and brought that (somewhat trembling) hand to her waist. He felt Olette tense at his touch – it had been a while, now, hadn't it? Olette was saying something, but Roxas could listen to her and his thoughts at the same time.
Meeting her anxious expression with his own (unreadable? wobbly? stony? love struck? What the hell was his body doing, anyways?), Roxas slid the hand up to cup her face. Pulling her forwards ("Roxas, I don't think – "), Roxas captured her lips as best he could in his current state of mind. Olette tensed for a bit, in fact, she bit down gently on his lower lip, but Roxas tugged her closer with his one hand.
She relaxed for a moment, and Roxas managed to somehow find control of his tongue, and he was about to press forwards, his hand slid back to her hip, and – "Roxas?" she had pulled back gently, one of her hands caressing his face gently. "Roxas, look, you're totally wasted, you know that, right? Rox, you listening?"
Roxas groaned slightly, sagging against the tree. Dammit, he had been so close, he could have – she just had to – "Yeah, yeah, I know," Roxas gasped, struggling to stand up again. When he staggered, Olette moved to wrap her arms around him and steady him, but he pushed her away. Bitch. Okay, somewhere in his mind, he realized he was being unfair, but screw that. Maybe he didn't feel like being fair – life sure as hell wasn't being fair with him.
"Roxas, I don't care what you think, okay?" Olette began, the hurt obvious in her voice. "You can't – look, whatever's wrong, maybe you should just figure it out and do something about it for a change, huh?" She sounded angry – ah, crap. He hadn't called her a bitch out loud, had he? Crap, did he? He attempted to run through his short-term memory, but even that wasn't currently functioning.
"You always do this to yourself, babe," she whispered, leaning into him for a moment, arms around his chest. She rested her head against his chest, and for a minute, Roxas could hear his heart hammering away – was that the booze? The weed? Any-friggin'-thing else? Oh, please, let it be something else … "Remember? I can't … I'm not dealing with it anymore, okay? You need to …." She choked on her words for a minute; Roxas wanted to tell her to hurry up, he was losing focus, fast. " … do what you want. Just …"
Whatever she said, though, Roxas didn't hear. A sudden, vile urge was upon him, and he wrenched himself free so that he could hurl it up – ew, ew, man …
The vomit had stung his throat, the acid had burned his stomach and eyes, he lumbered backwards, dropping his drink, and groaned again. His whole body was churning, everything was hurting … Olette was standing in front of him, and for a minute, the whole image of her wobbled and shook – but she was standing still. So freaking still. And her eyes – Roxas didn't have to be sober to understand that look. That terrible, crushing, look, so downcast, so pitying, so …
"Nice, man! Dude! This guy totally puked, and it went, like, six feet!"
"Awesome!"
"Yo, somebody, get him another drink! Try it again, buddy, c'mon!"
"Friggin' spectacular, shoulda seen it …"
Roxas turned his head briefly when another, bigger, glass was pushed into his hand. It was filled to the brim with a thick amber liquid, a lemon hung onto the rim for dear life and all Roxas had to do was reach into his pocket to make the drink extra potent … wait, wasn't he supposed to take care of something else? Wasn't he, like, avoiding something?
He glanced around, and there was no one but the laughing, cheering crowd around him. Shaking it off, Roxas stumbled into the middle of the crowd, washing down the taste of puke in his mouth with the bittersweet, pungent cocktail scorching his throat as it moved.
LiD
When they ended their session – Riku finishing up the harmony on his guitar, Naminé stood in silence. Riku only quirked a brow, and naturally, colour brushed her cheeks, so she averted her eyes. Thoughts raced through her head, and finally, grasping one, she said in a rush,
"Um… th-that was the song I had to play for my final exam. At the end of the year. That's when finals were." Stupid. Colour continued to etch her face. She looked up to see that Riku's gaze had never wavered.
"How'd you do?" Okay, so he ignored the idiot babbling. Following through, Naminé shrugged, toying with the flute in her hands.
"Good, I guess. I'd practised for weeks – I'd really wanted to make – " Naminé stopped, her words dying in her throat. Of course it would come back to this. She'd set herself up, and she winced at the realization.
"What?" Riku prompted, his aqua eyes searching. "Wanted to make what?"
Naminé licked her lips, hesitating. She could feel the quiet tension in the air, the stilled waiting, and she knew, just knew then, that if she chose not to answer, they would go back to where they were several hours ago. Realizing she couldn't miss the opportunity, her pulse quickened, and she breathed out,
"I'd wanted to make Ansem proud." She couldn't meet his eyes. Quickly as she could, she placed the pieces of her beloved flute back into its case, moving away from the couch (of which she had not noticed that she'd shifted towards), and headed towards the kitchenette – she really needed that glass of water now. She'd only taken a step, when he called out,
"Wait." A glance behind told her that the older teen was stepping off the couch, placing the guitar carefully on the table. Naminé continued heading into the kitchenette, and hearing his footsteps, he was quick to follow. She immediately pulled open the nearest cupboard from the sink, reaching up with effort to grab a glass from the shelf, when Riku beat her to it. Clueing in, he went to fill the glass from the filtered tap.
"You didn't have to do that," Naminé argued uselessly, as he handed her the glass. She knew what he was doing though, and she felt the small weight in her stomach. She sipped her glass, carefully, her eyes wandering, while Riku leaned against the counter, his hands resting behind him. A few minutes of silence passed between, Naminé wondering what she should say, when he solved the problem for her.
"So… who was this Ansem guy, really? He has to do with this competition, doesn't he? He – "
"He was the Headmaster of the Academy."
"Oh." Riku blinked, and then added, "Was?"
Naminé sighed, placing her now empty glass into the sink. She glanced over at him, and replied, "Yes, was. He – he was the one who gave me my flute. He helped me pick my second major."
"Ah." Naminé was walking out of the kitchenette now, and Riku followed. "So…?"
Her voice quiet, she answered stiffly, "Headmaster Ansem… passed away in early June." Her heart fell heavy as she swayed over the topic. It really didn't seem like this was ever going to go away. She found a spot on the floor near the sofas and sat down, drawing her legs up to her chest. It'd be pointless to go to her room now…
Sitting down beside her, he let one leg stretch out, while the other curled beneath it. He was staring at the coffee table when something flickered across Riku's face – realization, perhaps – because in the next moment, he was saying, "He never heard your final exam, did he?"
Naminé flinched, and she had to look away. Her breathing was shallower than before, and her eyes were getting sore. Haven't I been through this enough? Sadly, she shook her head, her feathered blonde hair swaying across her face.
"Naminé…" A hand had enclosed over one of hers, and she took in the warmth of it. Her eyes were itchy and tired, but she fought the tears. She would not break down here, not in front of him… she couldn't…
"He was a good person, really. A great person, in fact. He – he was always looking out for us, and he always seemed to know what was going on… he always smiled… he had so many wrinkles from smiling so much…" Naminé's voice grew wistful, but it, too, was starting to get dry. "He… it's just been a hard loss. He passed away… " – here, her voice wavered – "a few weeks before the breakup…" Naminé sighed. Reliving this was just… "hard. The last month of school was too much."
She felt his thumb rub circles over the back of her hand, and she couldn't help but look at him. She was surprised though, to see that he wasn't looking at her, but at something in front of him, his gaze lost on the wall. It was a moment before he blinked, and said quietly,
"You know, Naminé… I know what it feels like. To lose someone, I mean." She searched his face carefully, squinting her eyes, when he turned to catch her gaze, casting his own subdued aquamarine eyes on her. Hesitantly, supposing who it may be, she asked,
"Your mom?" He sighed, rubbing his face with his other hand, before nodding,
"Yeah. My mom."
LiD
Reaching into the giant cooler, Sora dug around for a bottle of water. He had been dancing with Kairi for a good hour or so, slipping between slow songs and upbeat songs. Most of them he could handle, but then
Kairi wanted to bust out some of the swing moves that they'd learned (from last summer, Kairi had forced him to take the course with her) and Sora had nearly thrown out his back.
Slumping into one of the scattered lawn chairs, Sora watched Kairi continue partying with a few friends she'd made. Dammit, women were just naturally more flexible or something – Kairi hadn't nearly strained every muscle in her body doing a twist-esque move.
She was dancing still, pretty as ever, with the three other girls they'd met at the café – Yuna, Rikku and Paine (Sora just couldn't remember which one was which). Tidus was no where in sight, which was too bad – Sora was pretty sure the blond would have been keen to flirt with any of the three. They were sweet enough (except for Paine, who, honestly, scared Sora a little) and definitely pretty – but ah well, Tidus' loss. He had popped off to go grab drinks, and had yet to return. Probably distracted by the first hottie he saw, honestly.
Kairi glanced in his direction, and shot him a broad smile, beckoning him to come. Sora shook his head and shrugged, rolling his shoulders. He motioned that he was going to walk around – Kairi pouted a bit, but eventually just shrugged back and waved. Sora sighed – thank goodness. If she had demanded that he dance some more, he would have broken his leg or something on purpose.
Getting up, Sora began to weave his way through the crowds of people. Mostly people were singing along drunkenly to the bands, dancing, smoking or just plain drinking. Ducking in between the shadier crowds, Sora shook his head to himself. He himself didn't drink – not that he had a problem with other people doing it around him. He knew that once Tidus returned, he, Kai and probably the other three would indulge in a bit of alcohol – not enough to get shit-faced, but enough to 'loosen up'.
On the other hand, neither Riku nor Sora had ever really touched alcohol; okay, Sora had a little when his mom pulled out the wine for fancy occasions, but Riku totally abstained. Then again, with his mom going out like she had … it would seem pretty insensitive if Riku did drink – Sora still remembered the expression on his friend's face at the graveyard, the day of her funeral. When Riku had growled in frustration, later, seething over alcohol and stupid, reckless drunks, and sworn to never touch the bloody stuff, Sora had agreed too. Partly because, he supposed, he still admired Riku enough to take his word on anything really, and partly because Sora himself had known Riku's mother rather well …
Grimacing slightly, Sora tried not to wander too much in the negative past. What was done was done – sighing, Sora stepped around a couple that was going way overboard with the whole PDA thing. Wait … where am I going, again? Frowning slightly, Sora turned around. Okay: beach, his hotel was visible from here, Kai had been down, closer to the stage … he was pretty much on the other side of the beach, at this point.
LiD
"It was like any other day."
They could hear the sounds of traffic below them, horns blaring at the road blockages. The sky had turned a montage of starlit indigo and murky purple, fading with the long-gone sun. The two had decided to step outside on to the small porch, curtains trailing after them as they had left the door open.
Riku stood, guarded, as he leaned against the railing with his elbows. Naminé, however, had chosen to sit in one of the small wicker chairs, her hands folded neatly in her lap.
"I'd come home from school… just like any other day… it was me and Sor in my house – just like any other day… dad was out, like expected…" Riku sighed. "Yup… nothing seemed out of the ordinary…"
"What's to eat?" Sora asked, yanking open Riku's fridge after throwing his bag half-haphazardly across the room. The silver-haired boy shrugged a shoulder, settling his own bag down in a corner.
"Ice cream?" he suggested, eyeing the stupid way Sora had thrown his bag.
Sora's eyes lit up. "Sweet!" he cried, dragging a chair up to the fridge, being too short to reach the freezer. "Ice cream, ice cream, we all scream for ice cream!"
Sora turned and grinned. Riku only rolled his eyes.
"No one would've guessed," Naminé said quietly. Riku nodded in reply, his gaze, unblinking, sweeping over the city lights. Memories etched into the air around him, and the world fell silent before him. He clenched his jaw – he knew that the small blonde was watching him carefully, not that he particularly cared – and fiddled with the paper bunched up in his hand. Lyrics he'd disposed of, and was now shredding absent-mindedly. He didn't care that the little fragments he tore off floated towards the ground, like snowflakes, and littered the ground.
"It was so many years ago, Naminé, but it feels like, like yesterday, or something. I was only ten, then." He took a deep breath, never letting his gaze waver. "That day hadn't really been huge… it was pouring though…"
Riku glanced up at the sky through his window, and saw the grey clouds settling in over the mainlands. Eyeing them warily, he said,
"Hey Sor –"
"Dude! Pay attention – you're getting creamed!" The kid cried, and Riku realized he'd stopped in mid-play, his controller hanging uselessly in his hands. Hitting the pause button just as Sora had managed to pull off a sequence of moves – "Hey!" – he tried again,
"Sora, don't you think you should go home? It looks like it's going to rain."
"Huh?" Sora glanced over, and sure enough, the first few pellets hit the window. "Aww man! Just as I was about to kick your butt!"
"…The rain… it was awful, and I remember being mad afterwards since I couldn't go out and play or something. I mean, what kid liked rainy days, huh? And then…"
He rubbed his face then, and he heard Naminé shift. He was relieved when she didn't do anything else.
"… My dad called home, that day, from work," his voice continued, "He… I think he said something about not being able to come home in time for supper, and he was supposed to bring some groceries home for dinner that night." His voice had a hard edge to it, a sharp inclination now.
"He always did that, you know? Last minute, rush-rush kind of stuff – just drove my mom crazy. I mean" – here, Riku raked his fingers through his hair – "don't get me wrong, they loved each other and all, but it was such an annoying habit… anyways, I dunno. My mom had to get in the car during this awful weather, and she left to go pick up what ever it was…"
Drawers opened and cupboards slammed shut as his mom busied through the kitchen, a phone resting between her ear and her shoulder.
"Of course, of course, just come home on time, all right?" A laugh. "All right, see you then." Her slender frame hurried past him then, towards the stand beside the TV, and she grabbed her purse. Digging through it, she said gently,
"Riku, honey, I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"
"This again? Can't dad pick it up on his way home?" His mother laughed, and his own aqua eyes sparkled back at him.
"Sure short-stuff, if you want dinner an hour late." Riku's stomach growled then. She laughed again. "I think someone's tumbly is getting rather rumbly, hm?"
Riku only rolled his eyes, and his mother winked, soft brown strands falling into her eyes. She began heading towards the door, swinging the bag over her shoulder. "Gosh, look at that rain." A sigh. "Okay, kiddo, I'm out." With that, she leaned over and planted one on his forehead.
"Ew, mom!" Riku furiously rubbed at his forehead, and she only ruffled his hair one last time, before hearing her footsteps echo through the hallway, and the door slam shut behind her…
There was a hand on his shoulder.
"… I think, I think… I was home alone, since my mom had been in such a rush, and, and, hours had passed, I swear. Hours. I think I was asleep or something, because apparently the phone had been ringing, and I didn't hear it –"
Riku swallowed, and the hand moved to tighten around his bicep. He could feel the rain all over again, the wind, the cold, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Somewhere, he heard a door slam…
"Riku! Riku, are you there?"
"Over there, mum!"
Stirring, he felt someone wrap their arms around him tightly –
"… and the next thing I know, we're whipping out the door. Sora's mom put me in the back, and Sora was beside me, his hair and face and clothes soaking wet, and his eyes were so wide. Shit, I woke up really fast then – no one's ever carried me since I was really, really little – and…"
Riku opened his eyes. "And then we were there. The white – it hurt my eyes – everything hurt my eyes. I – I just remember being in the waiting room, and my dad, my dad, saw me, saw each other, and I knew something was wrong. He tried talking to me, about how my mom –" Riku choked a bit, but he kept going, "– but I don't think I was really listening – I didn't really hear a word. The doctor came out and talked to my dad…"
He could feel someone's arms around his neck, holding him tightly from behind. Sora had a grasp on one of his hands, and his eyes were looking everywhere at once, his voice kept pounding at his mom – "What's going on? Why are we here?"
The doctor came out, minutes later, and everyone looked over –
"I'm sorry."
Sora's mom buried her face in his neck, and cried. Sora, seeing his mom, cried too. But he wasn't really sure why.
Riku did nothing. He didn't understand at all.
"Riku…"
"They said she'd been hit by a bunch of kids in a pick-up truck. The driver had been totally wasted, he – he went racing through a red light in an intersection, the same one my mom...
"They collided. Died on impact. The driver – on the other side … they said he was okay, but … you know, the way they hit her car, one of his friends died too … everything was just – so much – it was so hard to handle, so much death … there was nothing the doctors could do…nothing at all. She was gone." The pieces of paper had long since left his hand.
He felt something soft brush his shoulder. Finally tearing his eyes away from the cityscape before him, he glimpsed down to see that Naminé was lightly resting her forehead against his arm, the strands of her blonde hair tickling his skin.
"I'm sorry."
Riku shook his head, and let out a humourless laugh. "Don't be. It – it happened years ago, right? I mean –"
"Riku."
He sighed. "I know." Naminé pulled back her head then. They could hear the bash in the distance now. Riku wasn't sure what time it was, but judging by the sky, it looked like it was nearing midnight – maybe past.
"You miss her."
A wry smile. "You miss Ansem, don't you?"
"All the time."
"It's just… I never got to see her. I never got see her come home," he said.
"I'm sure she sees you everyday, though," Naminé said, so quietly that Riku had to turn to hear her. She looked up at him with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"You know, it's nice that Sora's family could be with you." Riku tilted his head, and let loose a shrug.
"Isn't he always? Our moms were best friends after all… I was kinda mad then that I was the last to know. Not that it was anyone's fault" – but my own, he thought bitterly – "but yeah. The funny thing is… it was Sora who tried to stop me from going into that room. That ticked me off too – why did he get to see her before I did? I don't think he understood at the time, either though… he just knew there were a lot of sad faces at the time…"
"He was worried about you."
"I know."
More silence.
"You know, Naminé…" She turned to look up at him through her fringe. He heaved a sigh, and shifted his feet a bit – he wasn't at all great with comforting, but – "They say that time heals all wounds. The pain… you feel from Ansem's death… will fade eventually. Numb out, actually, but still."
"Maybe, but you're never really the same again, are you?" At this, Riku shrugged, but then shook his head.
"I guess not."
LiD
"So, how long have you guys been together?"
The girls were sitting at a table that Paine had managed to find – or snatch, rather, as Kairi recalled the way the girl had just thrown herself in one of the chairs, and given the other occupants an ice cold glare that told them to leave if they valued their lives. Exhausted from all the dancing, they'd decided to refuel with some drinks and snacks that Rikku had brought back. Well ... all Rikku had brought back was sugar ("It's energy!" she argued hotly with a disgruntled Paine, as Yuna had giggled behind her hand), so all-in-all, Kairi was experiencing quite the sugar high.
Remembering Yuna's question, Kairi answered with the straw still in her mouth, "Two and a half years." Well... Kairi noted, two years, seven months and eight days, actually, but who was counting, really?
Rikku exploded. "Ohmigosh, that is soooo cute! I wish I had a boyfriend!" she pouted. Paine rolled her crimson-brown eyes, and nearly snorted.
"You have. Several, in fact." Kairi raised her eyebrows in slight surprise, and Paine added, "Her problem isn't getting boyfriends, it's keeping them. I think each one's lasted two weeks, max."
"That's not true!" the blonde wailed, slamming her hands on the table. The Schmittles went scattering at this, and some fell to the ground. "Nuu! The candy!" Rikku ducked beneath the table. Paine only sighed, and shook her head. Yuna, who had been sitting quietly, brought a finger to her lips as she thought aloud:
"Well, I think there was this one guy that managed to last three and a half weeks... and he seemed pretty decent too..."
"So what's with all the dumping?" Kairi asked, as she popped some candy corn into her mouth. She figured it was Rikku who was ending the relationships – if one could even call it that – and not the other way around. Rikku's attention span was like that of a goldfish's – maybe even shorter.
The perky girl reappeared with a handful of the candy, and she popped them into her mouth.
"Eww! Rikku!"
The girl shrugged, like eating dirt-covered Q & Q's – or Schmittles, or whatever they were – was the most natural thing in the world. "What?"
Dismayed, the platinum-blonde-haired girl stood up. "I'm getting a beer. And real food. Anyone want anything?"
A worried look crossed over Yuna's face. "But Paine, you're underaged, they won't –" The other teen cut her off with an indifferent shrug.
"I'll find a way." And with that, she left. Whoa... was this girl ever headstrong, Kairi thought. And Sora called her that. Pfft.
Thinking of her boyfriend, she suddenly wondered where he was. He said he was going to go for a walk – apparently Kairi's dancing had beaten him up – and that he'd be back soon. But soon never came. Maybe she should go look for him? Or she could call him... but even she doubted that he would hear his cell in this... how would Naminé put it... unruly crowd? Yeah, that sounded about right. People were dancing all around them; the "dance floor", or the rather large space on the beach, had gotten to be a bit tight, so people were now pouring between tables, shouting and screaming to the music. Lights were flashing from everywhere, and fireworks went up every once in a while, that Kairi was surprised she hadn't lost her hearing two hours ago. Or maybe she had, and she was just reading lips...
Okay, back to Sora... the more Kairi thought about it, the more she was deciding to go looking for him. What if he ate something stupid again? Or got into another dick-headed fight? Or...
"Is something wrong?" Kairi turned her gaze to the mismatched ones of her companion. Kairi recalled that being the first she noticed about the girl – the fact that Yuna's eyes were two different colours: one green and the other blue. When Kairi and Sora had asked her about them, she explained that she was of mixed heritage. Kairi didn't know something like that could happen (genetically speaking) – and neither could Sora, of course, since he'd launched a gazillion questions at the poor girl about her background. People never stopped to fascinate him, Kairi thought with a small smile. Something she'd always loved about him.
Quickly pulling herself back to the present, Kairi stumbled out a reply, "Um, yeah... I think I'm going to go look for Sora. He hasn't come back yet..."
Rikku peeped out, "Aw, he looks like a cool guy, I'm sure he can handle himself! No need to worry!" Yuna nodded.
Kairi hesitated. "Yeah... but he tends to get into trouble a lot, and I'm getting kind of worried..." She shook her head. "I'm going to go look for him."
"Do you want us to come with you?" Kairi smiled.
"Nah, I'll be okay, thanks." Paine, who'd just returned with a tray, nodded at Kairi.
"Well, take something to eat, then. I grabbed more than enough." Kairi reached over and grabbed a couple of chocobo-wings on a napkin.
"Thanks." Paine nodded, and Kairi headed into the crowd. Now – where should she start looking...?
LiD
"So you really think you're gonna be a rockstar?" one of the girls giggled as she stroked a bicep.
Tidus couldn't suppress a grinned as he flexed the said bicep. Check out the guns, ladies. "Of course, baby. I'm gonna make it big – I'll be rich and famous and awesome, and what kind of awesome guy is awesome without awesome babes?" He would wow them with his wit and charm too, no doubt.
More giggling broke out around him, and Tidus felt like a man. Hell yeah. Pssht ... what the hell else did he need? A constant supply of fresh drinks, babes hanging off his arms, and his words, and the lovin' just kept coming. Ah, this was heaven. Hmm ... they would go dancing by the water later, so that Tidus could "lose" his boxers ... hehehe ...
"So tell us, Ti-Ti," a gorgeous blonde with streaks in her hair and a fire-red bikini top spoke up, "where, like, is this awesome multi-million munny mansion that you live in? How many spas does it have, again? 'cause I love my massages." She was breathing hotly into his ear, stroking his face, and another girl with a rather tight swimsuit was resting in the crook of his arm, her arm draped over his stomach. Before he knew it, she was coyly undoing the buttons of his shirt, exposing his rock-hard chest, and she ran her hand across it. Man, Tidus loved being neck-ed.
"Mmm..." She licked her lips (and a little bit of drool dripped from her mouth, but Tidus pretended not to notice 'cause he was a gentleman), and Tidus grinned. Day-mn, was this ever a good night! And he didn't even break a sweat (not that sweat was a bad thing, no way, sweat was manly)! The girls were just lapping him up, and the drummer himself was thrilled with the attention he was getting. He looked around the table and saw some sour expressions on the other girls, but Tidus managed to blow kisses at them over the other girls' heads. Don't worry, he wanted to say. You'll get your turn – there's more than enough of me to go around –
Uh oh.
His eyes caught the familiar glint of a certain head in the distance with a certain sheen to it. A fiery red sheen.
Kairi.
Crap; what was she doing there? She would ruin everything! Ti-Ti woulda cried, except that was totally not manly. He spotted her standing on her tip toes, trying to gett a look around – what or who she was looking for, he wasn't sure; Sora perhaps? – but the idea of getting caught like this sucked balls.
Kairi had a... ah... hard-core, temperamental, feminist streak to her... ranting on about... er... objectifying women (he wasn't objectifying them! He was... flattering them! Yeah, that was it!) ... and she could very well crash his party tonight. She had a tendency to do those kinds of things to him. She never really did like him, the first time they met. Charming as he was, if he did so himself, Kairi never bought it. In fact, she'd given him his first black eye (he'd cried to his mommy, but he never told her that). From a girl, anyways.
And so he usually steered clear of her at times like this.
Okay, so he figured he'd just ignore her for now. Maybe she wouldn't see him. (Fat chance, he thought to himself). After all, the night had been going just fine. Lady Luck was probably sitting by his side, too.
A moment later, Kairi disappeared. And he breathed a sigh of relief. Now back to the girls...
LiD
Elbowing her way through, and trying to avoid getting groped – the perverts – she navigated her way to the other side. Biting into her food as she did so, she kept her eyes wandering – spiky, chocolate-coloured hair... hmm... where could he be?
It was when she avoided being stepped on and threw the idiot a glare when something else caught her eyes.
Spiky, blond hair. Or rather, not so much spiky, but the effort was made by the dumbass earlier this evening... and she could see that it was having some sort of effect, since Tidus was lounging around a table with four or five different girls hanging on to his every word, that lech –
Wait a second. Maybe he'll have seen Sora! Or maybe Sora's lurking around somewhere near him... yes, Kairi thought quickly to herself, that seemed highly likely and reasonable, and now if only she could –
"Hey there, red."
LiD
Crap. Wow. He had definitely entered the 'rowdier' part of the crowd – and a quick glance found a flickering neon sign – Beach Bar. So … Tidus had to come all the way over here, then? Sora would have looked around for the blond, except that he was too busy watching his feet – clearly, people had difficulty deciding when they'd had too much. Ewww… vomit puddles. Gross.
"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CH – YIHAAA!'
Sora's attention was sharply brought to a crowd of people standing closer to the shore. Beer bottles, cigarette stubs, vomit puddles, spilled drinks and half eaten food was scattered on the beach surrounding the group, and Sora had to wrinkle his nose a bit. It wasn't very flattering to the landscape at all, really.
The crowd shifted, and Sora rolled his eyes. Totally stupid – whoever was in the middle chugging was going to end up in the ER tomorrow, getting their stomach pumped, honestly.
"Yeah! C'mon, man, one more!"
"Naw, dude, I can't," a voice laughed, and Sora whipped back around. That voice, hang on …
"Go for it, dude, go man!"
"Yeah!"
"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"
Sora weaved his way into the crowd – that voice … he was sure. This was stupid. He was now pressed in between bodies, trying to peek into the center, he was over-reacting, jeez.
"Yo, one more! I can take it!"
No, shit, that was it. That had to be. But it couldn't, holy crap, don't let it be …
… what – the – hell.
LiD
Kairi froze, before furrowing her brows. The voice sounded awfully familiar. Kind of low, and arrogant, and very much like –
"What are you doing out here alone?" the voice stepped, and she felt a tug on her hair. She whipped around – swear words already forming on her tongue – and flashed her eyes upon him.
Ah yes. An asshole. That's who that voice reminded her of. How on earth could she have forgotten?
Bloody stupid Seifer.
Kairi's face scrunched up in distaste, and she scowled at him. "Get lost."
"I think you already are, sweetheart." They were in the middle of a crowd, some space around them, but not enough to keep Kairi from getting knocked into him every minute. She had a half a mind to shout out at the idiots to get lost too. She had no problem with shoving.
But she didn't want to start anything – not yet. So she balled up her used napkin, and threw at him instead. Seifer waved it off with his hand, and gave her the once-over.
"That the best you got?" Holy crap, he was kidding, right? Was he still holding this stupid grudge? Kairi spewed out,
"I didn't know your ego was this pathetic. It couldn't have broken more easily? You're so lame, if only –"
He grabbed her roughly, cutting her short. "Hey! No one talks to me like that! I – "
"Let go!" Kairi tore herself away with a small grunt, and she knocked backwards into the crowd. Naturally, they shoved back, and Kairi resisted falling forwards.
Seifer smirked, and briefly, Kairi wondered if his idiot friends were around. She knew she was relatively safe in a public place, and could land a kick to his knees if she needed to, but still she was wary. She'd be going up against a guy with a grudge – damn their egos – and nobody ever said Kairi was graceful.
"How about you and me finish what we started, huh?" Kairi nearly pulled her hair out.
"You idiot!" she screeched. "Can't you let this go?!"
"No." He grabbed her upper arm then, and she resisted, but she knew it wasn't enough. In a split second, he'd pulled her close, a breadth space between their faces, and he said in a low voice, "Seifer doesn't like losing."
His grip had tightened, and he was hurting her – she could feel him twisting her arm. Furious, she fisted her hand, and wound it up to strike him, when –
"Hey!"
"Leave her alone, you big bully!"
SMACK.
Kairi's fist slackened after she felt the release of the tension in her other arm. She didn't even have to hit him, but down he went anyways.
"Ow, son of a –!" Seifer shot up straight, clutching the right side his head, his lamewad toque lying sideways on his head. "What the fu –!"
Both he and Kairi turned to face the newcomers, though Kairi had already guessed. And she was right – the trio of females stood behind Seifer; Yuna with her arms crossed, Rikku with her hands on her hips, and Paine, cracking the knuckles of one hand.
No need to guess who laid that punch to the head.
LiD
"Roxas?" Sora croaked out, squeezing through to stand close to the center. He could see his cousin clear as day, standing in the middle. Well, attempting to stand, it looked like. He was staggering, barely staying up, drink in hand and a lot of it sloshed on his chest. Holy … what was he wearing? Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it was just so, not-Roxas, Sora was gawking. Just a plain undershirt with a simple blue zip up, baggy navy jeans … what? Roxas?
But still, the clothing would have been a lot easier to explain if it wasn't for his behaviour – in one hand, Roxas was clutching a glass of pungent alcohol, with a fag clasped between two of his fingers. Well, the butt of one – obviously, Roxas had been smoking it for a while. But, Roxas, smoking? How … oh, please, let this be a bad time for me, let this be Roxas giving into peer-pressure for this first time … there was a terrible, numbing shock in Sora's body.
What Roxas was doing was, quite frankly, totally vulgar.
But even that, it wasn't – Sora had no idea. Sora hadn't seen it coming, this – this was not Roxas … right? Sora would know, Roxas talked to Sora, he … oh, come on …
"Rox?" Sora called out, louder this time. Trying to bite back an incredibly drowning sense of ignorance, naivety and all around disappointment, Sora waited for the wasted teenager to reply. Roxas spun around (after having downed the glass in hand) to the cheering of the crowd, only to have someone come forward with another glass, ready.
"Sora!" Roxas called out, enunciation awful. He gave a goofy grin and held up his glass. "Dude! You've been missing out! This is, like, my, like …"
"Ninth," a girl offered, casting Roxas doe eyes. Roxas staggered over, oblivious to the concern sprawled on his cousin's face, and swung an arm around Sora. He waved the glass in front of Sora,
"Want some?" he asked. Sora shook his head numbly – nine? Sora wondered how many vomit puddles were from his cousin. Roxas, incredibly tipsy, nearly stumbled forwards when he laughed. "Naw, man, this stuff is weak, anyways. Yo, shit, check this out."
Roxas handed the glass to Sora, and to his cousin's horror, Roxas reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small baggie. Sora had no idea what in particular was in it – but anything that was moist, yellow-ish white and clumped together like that could not be legal. Roxas proceeded to open the small bag, take out a pinch – the crowd was egging him on – and dump it in his glass.
Sora was so deeply appalled and alarmed; his entire sense of reaction had been stalled. He watched the powder move to the drink; he watched it settle on the surface, like some dirty form of snow; he watched Roxas swirl the tall glass around, the bits disappearing; he watched Roxas lift the glass –
"No!" Sora exclaimed, snatching the glass from him. "You dumbass! Are you trying to kill yourself?!"
"Yo, Sor, chill-uh!" Roxas replied, pulling a ridiculous face. "You're just mad jealous, man, whatev – "
"You're coming with me, now!" Sora hissed, and with that, he over turned the drink (the crowd howled in pain like a pack of animals), and Sora began dragging his cousin away. Totally – disgusting – totally – friggin' – scary – what – the – frig' – was – Roxas – thinking!?
LiD
Seifer had a grip on Kairi's arm, and the redhead was fighting back, but he was much stronger. Anger flashed before Tidus' eyes when Seifer pulled her close, and whispered something to her. Tidus shot up from his chair, and watched as Kairi made a tight fist – yeah, that's right, break his nose, Kai! – but –
Something else hit the guy from behind. Tidus left his table behind, the girls whimpering at his sudden leaving – but then again, a man had to have his buddies' backs, right? And when you were in the same band as someone, they were definitley your buddy.
That, and Sora would kick Tidus in the nuts if Kairi got hurt while he was around to just let it happen.
He could hear her scream, "You jerk, who do you think you are?!" from a distance, and Tidus quickened his pace.
Shoving his way into the crowd, the blond elbowed several people out of the way. He could hear the bastard's voice call out to his friends – "Thrash 'em!"
Oh no he didn't. As soon as he broke through, he growled,
"What the eff is going on here?" They all turned to look to look at him, and Tidus nearly stood stunned at who the others were.
The three girls from before. Especially the one with the pretty eyes. She looked back at him with curiosity, but Kairi's growl brought his attention back.
"Don't worry, Tidus. We were just gonna bust this guy's ass and – "
Tidus scoffed at this. "Without me?" Shaking out his blond hair, the drummer took a step beside the fiesty redhead. Kairi looked around him for a moment, disappointed at something, before turning back around.
Seifer waved his hand then, and Tidus' muscles tightened. He could see the girls behind do the same – it looks as if those babes were keen to fight as well – something that kind of surprised Tidus. Well, the brunette did anyways.
Seifer declared in a bored tone, "Let's go. We'll finish this later."
Say what? Tidus opened his mouth to protest – this dumbass started the fight, and –
"What? Stepping back?" Kairi blurted out. She had her fists clenched, and she looked ready to pummel the guy. Hell, Tidus smelled blood too. Just as fast, Kairi let out a sneer, "Huh. Who's the chicken wuss now?"
Tidus smirked in triumph. Thatta girl...
Seifer bared his teeth, before his lips were wrapped in a smug smile. "Don't think I'd get away with hitting a whole bunch of girls," he sneered, pointedly looking at Tidus.
Something shook violently inside him. Did that son of a bitch just call him a girl? "I'll show you a girl, you mo–" He took a step forward, but Kairi's arm flew out in restraint.
"See ya 'round soon, losers." With that, much to Tidus' dismay, Seifer and gang submerged back into the crowd. Tidus huffed.
"Just when the fun was getting started." Kairi pointedly rolled her eyes at him.
LiD
Winded down from the long talk, they'd both stood in silence. With Naminé's attention drawn away, Riku studied her for a moment, memories still clouding his vision, before slowly fading away. A sudden thought emerged; he lifted an eyebrow, his face a mask of perplexion, and it rolled off his tongue before he could really stop it. "You're not really this quiet, are you?"
He saw the blonde start, and he knew he'd caught her off guard. "W-what do you mean?" Again, the indifferent shrug. He could feel a small smirk tug at his mouth, but he restrained. The change of topic felt nice – even if it was at her expense.
"I mean… is it because of all this… everything that's happened, that you're so closed up?"
Naminé actually floundered. Pink tinged her cheeks, and she said almost hotly, "I could say the same for you!" Riku didn't laugh, but a huge grin had plastered across his face at her sudden defensiveness – this girl was just too easy to tease. Why he was teasing her, he didn't really know. Although… he wouldn't call it teasing per sae, as a part of him was genuinely interested in what she had to say, but making her blush was funny all the same.
She did have a point though. Great, and he was babbling to himself.
Keeping the topic light, he chose to respond to her remark by saying, "Well, I guess it's because we've been in the same boat."
"Floating in a river of angst, huh?" she said, sarcastically. "The sorrow, the drama – oh yeah, Riku, real funny."
"I wasn't trying to be funny!" he protested, though mirth laced his words. Naminé huffed – she actually huffed – and blew her blonde strands around her face. And he fought the sudden urge to reach out and brush them away.
Naminé averted her deep blue eyes, then. Hm. Contemplating, he tried to coax her back by asking quietly,
"Well, is that why?"
"Why what?"
"Naminé…" he nearly scolded. She sighed, and threw her gaze back at him, her eyes searching around his face.
"What do you want me to say?" Riku shrugged – again – and he could tell that the girl was getting slightly agitated. Well, he just told her his life story! Shouldn't he get something back for it? Smiling loosely, he shook his head, and said,
"Anything. Anything at all."
It was then that he noticed that Naminé hadn't let go of his arm. In fact, she was winding through it absent-mindedly, so their forearms were touching. And she had no idea that she was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, the slight tingle creeping forwards. He hurriedly fought it down.
Naminé sighed. "No, no… I guess… I wasn't always this… subdued. I'm president of my visual arts team, so I guess that counts for something, right?" She looked up at him, and he held her gaze. "I ran a lot of the arts shows… but when we heard about Ansem's health… that just kind of stopped. Well, we all tried, I mean, but even the community knew there would be some cancelled productions."
"But you kept going?" Naminé nodded, her face reflecting the soft glare of the moon.
"Yeah…we kept going. Didn't want to let him down, you know?" She let loose a small, humourless laugh. "And besides, we had to, you know, we do have a reputation to hold up, and – what?"
He wasn't really sure, but for some reason, he was holding her gaze quietly. Unlike him, a blush was working rather furiously up her face, turning it almost red. When he didn't answer, she began to back away, confusion written all over her face. Her eyebrows wrought, she began to ask,
"Is something wr – oh!" And like touching a heated stove, she backed away with a sharp jolt. To his dismay, she'd realized that their arms had been intertwined, and before he could even think of anything to say, she was reeling off the apologies,
"I'm so sorry! I – I didn't mean to – I mean, it was from before – I mean, you know – I – I just forgot! Oh dear…" She placed her hands to her cheeks, and Riku couldn't help but gawk. She actually started pacing! Like, like she'd been caught doing something wrong, and was going through the scenarios of how to best explain to her mother of what she'd really been doing, or something –
"Naminé." She didn't hear him. She'd completely averted her eyes, and the next thing he knew, she skittered through the balcony door. Oh hell – hang on a sec –
"Naminé!" he called, following after her. She stopped suddenly, and he had to brace himself against the doorjamb from slamming into her.
LiD
"Are you okay?" Yuna asked softly. She'd hopped forwards, her long pigtail swinging around her, as she gestured towards the redhead. Tidus couldn't help eyeing her – it just blew Tidus' mind... just how did she get them to be two different colours? Contacts? But who would do that? She would, he figured...
Kairi nodded in response. "Yeah. How'd you guys know where I was?"
Paine's answer was quick. "We saw Seifer following you. It was moments after you left." Rikku perked up, waving her arms in the air,
"Yeah, that jerk!" Yuna added thoughtfully,
"Yeah... but we weren't really sure if he was following you, or if it was a coincidence. But we figured we should follow too, just in case."
"Ah." Kairi turned to Tidus, and quirked a brow. Right away, Tidus could feel a small heat spread around his neck. "And you...?"
"I... uh... saw you a moment too late," he admitted sheepishly. He recalled how he'd tried to pointedly ignore her. "The girls were... kind of... um... distracting?" Kairi gave him a dull look. Tidus noticed that the other girls were watching too, and for some reason, it bothered him that the brunette had to listen to his excuses... He quickly threw his hands up in defense. "Hey! I came, didn't I?"
"You haven't seen Sora by any chance, have you?" Tidus stopped in mid-thought at the sudden question, and he scratched his head.
"No... not really... oh wait! I might have seen him... that is if it was him, if ya know what I mean, and..." Kairi motioned for him to continue, and Tidus thought hard. He had seen a head of spiky hair, but then it seemed half the crowd had spiky hair... he shrugged his shoulders and made a guess. "There was this huge ruckus earlier, and I think Sor might've... gone to... uh... check it out."
Oh crap. He just realized what he'd said.
Kairi nearly paled. "Oh no. Really?" She bit her lip.
"Oh come on... it can't be that bad, Kai, I'm sure. I don't think he's hurt." Tidus gave a small laugh. "Heh, he ain't that stupid..."
But they exchanged slightly worried glances. Sora... had a tendency to involve himself into any and every dispute, thinking that he could always find a solution.
But it didn't always work out that way, they all knew from experience.
"Well, let's go find him, huh?" Tidus nodded. He could have gone back to the table with his lady friends, but he felt obligated to stick to Kairi's side this time. That idiot could come back at any time.
"You guys want any help?" Yuna asked. She'd been listening to the conversation intently, and she too, looked a bit concerned.
Tidus wanted to say yes immediately – he'd love to get to know this girl better –
"Yeah, sure, all right. You helped us before, maybe you can do it again," Kairi answered. Yuna's smile was bright, and she clapped her hands.
"All right, let's start looking! Ready girls?" Rikku bounced and ran forwards to grab Kairi's hand, and Paine looked indifferent, but she followed anyways.
Yuna strode up between Tidus and Rikku. The blond drummer turned to look at her then, and said, rubbing his head sheepishly,
"Hey, thanks for helping out Kai. I didn't think I was going to get there in time, and I just –"
Yuna didn't look at him, at first, but her eyes twinkled. "No problem. We girls gotta stick together. We knew we should have went with her... besides, I think you were rather busy at that other table."
Tidus almost spluttered. She had noticed? For some reason or another, excuses were building up in his mind, but before he could say anything, Kairi interjected lightly,
"Hey, yeah, Tidus... you're free to go back to that table... I've got the other girls with me now."
"B-but... I figured you'd want..." If he said a male protector, he'd have his jaw broken not once, but four times. "It's not like I'm... what's the word...?" He snapped his fngers, "Oh, uh, undermining your, uh, ability to handle yourself. I... just figured you'd want some more... company? It's important to find Sora, after all."
"Hm. Right."
LiD
Riku followed Naminé into the living room, raising an eyebrow when she said, "I'm sorry." Say what? "I'm sorry. I – I'm sorry for earlier too." Huh? "You know from, hours ago? I didn't mean to blow up at you, or anything – "
"Pfft. You're kidding, right? I'm the one who should be apologizing for that one, and even so, I figured we were like, even at this point?"
"What do you mean?"
Riku rolled his eyes in exasperation, but not unkindly. Naminé stood there, meekly, rubbing her arm awkwardly, as she leaned against the back of one of the couches. Riku moved towards her, with his hands shoved in his pockets, contemplation written all over his face.
"Bygones are bygones, right? You didn't have to apologize for that, Naminé." He tilted his head, and her blush deepened. Something went afloat in his stomach, and he almost laughed. That was all it took? He should tilt his head more often.
LiD
Sora had dragged Roxas to the paved roads farther up, and even at this time of night, Sora was able to flag down a cab. Roxas groaned audibly – "Dude, oh man, Sora, I'm gonna be – " – there was a terrible retching noise, and woohoo, yet another vomit puddle at the side of the road. Sora groaned, and Roxas giggled, clinging to his chocolate-haired cousin. With a light shove, Roxas climbed into the taxi, Sora following.
LiD
"Why do you keep doing that, anyways?" Naminé searched around him, before answering with a confused,
"Doing what?" Leaning his head forwards so her gaze was forced to meet his, he furrowed his brows in amusement. She seemed to lean in the other direction, but he only followed the movement.
LiD
Soon enough, Sora paid the taxi driver their stupid fare and stumbled out of with his stupid freaking cousin. Stupid freaking parties, and drunkards, and teenagers. Ugh! Sora's mind was reeling with answers to questions that Roxas was useless for – all the blond was going on about was how awesome it was that he could hold so much friggin' liquor, or how some chick had totally promised to bang him if had gotten to fifteen drinks, or …
LiD
"Apologizing," Riku said quietly. Naminé only stared, and he only quirked a brow in return. When she didn't answer, he moved closer still, resting his hands on the couch behind her, very nearly brushing her hips. She nearly jumped, and began mumbling something incoherently, when Riku pressed his forehead against hers. He made sure not to lose her gaze, and stumped, Naminé finally lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug.
She swallowed. "Sorry?"
LiD
Sora dragged his cousin through the hotel foyer, into the elevator, and eventually down the hallway. The stupid blond weighed a lot, and stumbling around while he was drunk wasn't helping. Not to mention his attention span was that of a gold-fishes – Sora sighed wearily. They were going to have a very long talk tomorrow morning … Sora tried not to cringe at hearing whatever Roxas had to say. Innocent until proven guilty, innocent until proven …
LiD
A small smile graced his lips, and Riku moved to cup her face.
"Don't," he breathed, and this time, she really did shiver because he'd moved his lips precariously close to hers, and he made sure she felt every letter. He tipped his head and –
LiD
Approaching their door, Sora fumbled with his wallet and found his key card. Clicking it in, he swung open the hotel door.
LiD
SLAM!
"Eep!"
"What the fu –!"
Riku tore himself away, a heated flush tearing through his veins, as Naminé launched backwards and away from the couch, nearly falling to the floor; both gawking and spluttering at the door in time to see someone ramming into the room.
Or rather a pair of someones. Riku was the first to his feet; his embarrassment quickly morphed and escalated into rage.
"What the hell?"
Sora had come in, dragging a young man with him. The young man – the teen, more like – was wearing a navy zip-up and jeans, had tufts of blond hair fluttering from underneath his drawn up hood – Riku could see from his peripheral that Naminé had covered her mouth with her hands – but his attention was on the two in front of him.
There was no mistaking who this dumbass was.
Sora looked angrier than Riku had ever seen him. Sora, catching the sight of them, looked between the two, and said, voice drowning in frustration, "I can't believe this! He – he – "
"Say no more, Sor," Riku growled, cracking his knuckles and taking massive steps towards him. "I'll have his neck snapped and body dismembered in two seconds, just – "
"No!" Sora puffed, as he heaved, and shoved the stupid kid onto the couch near Naminé. Her eyes were bewildered.
"But – !"
"In the morning," Sora gritted out. In the morning?! Couldn't he just chuck the body over the balcony now? Oh, the immense pleasure he would get…
Riku stared down at the dumbass with distaste, and saw this blond hair was sticking to his forehead with sweat, face flushed, and eyes already closed. He reeked of puke, alcohol, smoke, and who knew what else… disgusted, Riku bared his teeth.
Damn, that boy better know how to run in the morning. Better damn well indeed.
A/N: Hm… they never do get along, do they? Lol – if anyone's interested, I'd recommend checking out Perfect Christmas, and you don't have to review that one. It sets up background information with regards to Roxas and Riku – I would've added it to this fic, but there was no where to place it. That is, if you're interested, heh.
Other than that, review please!