A/N: Meeeeeeh. You guys prolly hate me now, right?
Been waaaaaaaaay too long, and I kinda left you on a cliffhanger. Well, hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint the few fans I have left.
Good news is, I finally have my own computer and internet connection, so I should be able to update my fics more often.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Chapter 10
Roxas bolted down the hallway, passing the shocked and scared faces of gathered students. He had heard his twin's scream and had felt a tightening feeling in his chest that told him something was wrong. He quickly turned the corner and skidded to a halt, heart freezing at the sight of his brother.
Sora sat leaning against the wall right outside the washroom door, teachers rushing past him to assess the bloody scene within. He had his hands bunched tightly in his hair, rocking back and forth and sobbing loudly. Roxas quickly rushed forward and dropped to his knees in front of his twin. He gathered the brunette in his arms a clutched him tightly to his chest, all the while wondering at the blood all over Sora's clothes and what had put him into such a state.
"Shhhh, Sora. It's okay, you're okay."
"Jesus, Roxas, what the Hell happened?"
He looked up to see Cloud, Leon, Reno, and Axel all standing over him. He saw how Cloud's eyes widened at the sight of blood, and could only shake his head helplessly.
"G-god. Blood…so much b-blood…"
Startled, they all looked down at the shaking brunette in Roxas's arms.
"I heard c-coughing and g-g-gagging, and when…I went to check…" A choked sob left his lips. "There was so much blood! E-everywhere! And he was t-trying to tell me something. Something about Sai'x and some g-guy named Quinn."
The three older teens went rigid at the sound of their quiet friend's name. It was Axel that broke the silence. "What…what did he say about him? Is he in trouble?!"
Sora shook his head weakly. "No. He said that he was…that he was a traitor. His face when he said it…it was so sad."
All of the color drained from Cloud's face. All of the times that Cloud had talked to Quinn and Derrick, needing someway to vent his frustrations, and the silent teen was turning around and telling everything to Sai'x? Suddenly thinking of Quinn's loving caused an entirely new feeling of dread to form in his stomach.
"This guy in there…did you happen to see his eyes?" He heard the red-haired brothers suck in their breath, no doubt having the same suspicions.
"Yeah. They were really odd too. One was blue, and the other one was brown. In fact, I think he was a friend of yours…"
Genesis and Albel were on their way to investigate one of Sai'x's old haunts when they got the call. As soon as he heard that the incident had occurred at the school and that the blue-haired teen was rumoured to be involved, he jerked the car violently around and drove as fast as possible. That bastard was going to pay!
Flashes of light…
Snippets of sound…
Everything seemed to flow by him in a faint haze. He heard two…no, three voices crying out his name, two of them sounding nearly identical. He heard frantic whispering and panicked crying. Several adult voices cursing as he was moved onto a gurney.
He witnessed it all as if from a great distance, feeling weightless and oddly numb.
Above all the noise and flashes of colors, he saw a pair of icy blue eyes, and heard a quiet voice whisper.
"I'm sorry…forgive me…"
Sai'x threw his coat over the back of the old chair and flopped casually onto the worn cushions. A large grin spread easily over his face.
"I'd say that takes care of that little problem quite nicely, don't you think?" He began to laugh, satisfied with the day's events. Not only had he managed to silence that pesky Derrick, but he had been able to inflict another painful emotional blow to Cloud and his little group of friends. And the look on the kid's face when he found out that his lover was only using him?
Priceless.
Speaking of Quinn, the black haired teen hadn't spoken a word since they had left Derrick to suffer and choke in his own blood. Not that that was all that unusual. He barely spoke more that two words to anyone unless he really needed to get his point across. His face was impassive as ever, but his shoulders were rigid. If he didn't know better, Sai'x would think that he actually cared for the odd-eyed idiot. But that was impossible. Quinn loved no one.
"Sai'x, bro. Maybe we should cool off for a bit, ya know? I mean, we are already in pretty deep…" His eyes snapped to Xigbar, the speaker. Then he scanned the others assembled. Lexaeus looked uncomfortable as well, while Xaldin seemed excited, and Zexion seemed merely bored.
"Ah, but don't you want to get back at Strife and his little 'Turk' buddies? Always taking over our turf and getting in our way. And now, to top it all off, we've lost four of our members to them." It didn't seem to occur to him that all four of those members were related to either Cloud or Reno from the Turks.
"Yeah, but… I mean, if we get caught, we're screwed, right?"
"Who said anything about us being caught? Are you going to turn us in? If you even try it, they'll find your corpse in the street with all evidence pointing towards you." Xigbar gulped and sat down on one of the many overturned milk crates littering the floor, a resigned expression on his face. "The same goes for any of you that try to betray me. Now, I want all of you to listen closely. I think I know how we can really hit them hard…"
Axel didn't know how much more of this he could take. First Shei getting hurt, then finding out about the horrors that Marl and Demyx had been put through. And now Derrick, one of the few people that understood how hard home life was for them, was currently in surgery. They had lost him twice on the way to the hospital, or so Sephiroth had told him, and even if his wounds were successfully treated, there was a high chance that he would never wake up again. Finding out that Quinn had betrayed them, no, had been tricking them all from the start, was the icing on the cake.
He looked around the waiting room, seeing Reno's haggard face staring back at him from where his head rested against Rufus's shoulder. Cloud sat hunched over, his face in his hands. Leon sat next to him with his hand resting on his shaking shoulders. Noah was still sobbing into Duo's chest, the brunette trying his hardest to comfort her.
Jesus. I can't imagine how horrible it was for him to have the one he loved turn on him like that. To find out he was only using him like this.
He turned to look at his own lover, whose head was resting on his shoulder. Sora's head was in his lap, and the younger twin had cried himself to sleep. Roxas ran his fingers lightly through his hair, his own tears still falling with the occasional sniffle.
The red-head felt someone's fingers lightly brush his other shoulder, and he turned to find his other triplet sitting next to him, Muraki on his other side. Thankfully, Shei's blindness hadn't been nearly as bad as they had thought. His vision had started to clear, and even though he could still only make out vague shapes, the doctor was hopeful that it would continue to improve, though not completely. There would always be some damage, he said.
"I see that I'm no longer the only person he's put in here, huh?" Shei's smile was weak, and Axel knew he must be tired as hell, but he was glad to have him by his side. He reached over to gently grip his brother's hand, careful not to touch the IV that was still sticking out of it. "No, but we'll do whatever we have to to make sure that Derrick is the last one."
"I know. But are you sure it's okay for you guys to be here? I'm sure Dad's not gonna be too happy that you guys are out so late."
Axel snorted. "As if I care what that fucker thinks. We really need to find a way to get out of that shithole."
"Axel, you know there isn't anywhere else we could go." This time it was Reno who spoke, and Axel noted that the others were now watching them. All of them knew that something in the Tarshil house wasn't quite right, but no one was offering any explanations, and the others were all worried.
"Actually, I might have a solution to that, if you would permit me." Now everyone turned to look at Dr. Muraki, who until then had been silent. Noticing everyone's attention on him, he coolly met Axel's gaze. "You could come to live with me."
The Tarshil brothers stared at him in shock, and even Noah was staring at him wide-eyed. Axel was the first to shake out of his stupor. "The old man would never allow that."
"Trust me, blackmail can be a most effective weapon. If I could 'convince' him to turn over all guardianship rights to me, would you accept my offer? It stands for all four of you."
Tears filled Axel's eyes at the gesture, and when he looked at his brothers he could see moisture in their eyes as well. "But how are you ever going to get him to do that?"
"Believe me. I have my ways."
Reno pressed his hands against his tired eyes. All of the recent events were catching up to him, and the tiny flicker of hope that Muraki had stirred in him had been the last straw. He was currently sitting on Rufus's bed in the Shinra's large house, and he wanted to be thinking of anything other than the past few days' events. They had learned that Derrick was alive, but it was doubtful if he would survive the night, and they had been told to head home. He couldn't bring himself to step foot in his father's house, the site of so much misery, so he had accepted Rufus's offer to stay the night at his place.
The blond sat down gently on the bed next to him. "Reno, if you need to talk about this, I am right here." He began to rub his hand in slow circles on the red-head's back in a calming motion.
Reno let out a bark of harsh laughter. "The last thing I want to do is talk about any of this." He raised his head to meet the other teen's eyes. "I want to forget. Just for now, I want to forget it all." He leaned forward and captured the stunned blonde's lips with his own.
After the initial shock, Rufus began to return the kiss with fervor, trying to express all of the want and need and countless other emotions in that one kiss. When he ran his tongue along Reno's lower lip, he was pleased at how easily the other teen granted him access.
As his tongue explored Reno's mouth, he pushed the red-head gently back on the bed, running his hands up Reno's shirt for a little exploration of their own. Reno groaned when his fingers found one of his nipples, and Rufus smirked into the kiss as he rolled the sensitive nub between his fingers. As he teased the sensitive flesh, he moved from Reno's mouth the point where his neck met his shoulder. The red-head's moans were louder now, and he had obviously found a sensitive spot. He could feel the Turk's hardening arousal pressing up against him and he ran the palm of his other hand down his torso to run lightly against the growing bulge.
"Ah, God!" Reno was panting harshly as Rufus applied more pressure to his pulsing cock. The blond detached his mouth from Reno's skin long enough to remove both of their shirts before running his tongue over the Turk's other nipple and pinching it between his teeth. Reno's back arched off the bed with a loud cry.
Rufus let out a small groan of his own as his partner's cries were starting to have an affect on his own body. His pants were becoming uncomfortably tight and he ground his hips lightly against Reno's thigh to alleviate some of the pressure. Reno gasped as he felt the obvious sign of the blonde's arousal and his groin tightened at the thought of what was going to happen. Long, thin fingers made their way into his pants, under the waistline of his boxers, and gripped his erection in a gently but firm grip. The red-head's hips bucked as Rufus gave a few experimental strokes.
"G-god…Rufus! Please!"
"Please what?" The blond was leaning over him now, a smirk on his face as he continued to lazily stroke him. "What would you like me to do to you, Reno?"
"P-please…ah! Please, fuck me! I…ahhhhnnn, Rufus, please just hurry and… fuck me!"
"Of course, all you had to do was ask." Still smirking, the blond released Reno's erection and rolled the red-head onto his stomach. Slowly, teasingly, he pulled Reno's pants down, then off, and threw them into the same forgotten corner as their shirts. "Raise your hips for me."
"What are you – ah!" Reno cried out as he felt Rufus's tongue at his entrance, running small circles around the puckered ring of flesh before slowly pressing inward. He couldn't stop the sounds escaping him as his partner pleasured him in such an unexpected way. Cloud had never done this, would have gotten angry at the mere mention of it.
Seeing that his partner was close, Rufus reluctantly withdrew and removed the rest of his clothing. Then he stretched to retrieve a small bottle of lubricant from the drawer next to his bed. He shivered, partially from the feeling of coating his cock with the cold liquid, but mostly in anticipation of finally being inside the one he had wanted with all of his being since he had first laid eyes on the red-head years ago. Moving slowly, he pressed the head of his cock against Reno's entrance, pausing for a moment when he finally breached that tight ring of muscle before preceding to push himself the rest of the way in.
Reno gasp and moaned as he felt Rufus penetrating him, gritting his teeth against the pain he felt. When the blond was fully sheathed, he stopped, allowing him to adjust to the feeling of being filled. It wasn't long before Reno was pushing back against him, all but begging for him to go on. Rufus obliged gladly, and though he started out slowly, he was soon pounding into him at a punishing pace that he didn't mind in the slightest,
He held himself up with his elbows as long as he could, but soon his arms could no longer hold up under Rufus's hard thrusts, and he found himself pressed into the mattress. Suddenly, the blond withdrew. Before he could protest, however, he suddenly found himself on his back once again with the blond pushing one of his knees hard against his chest. Then he had entered him again in one fluid movement, hitting that spot inside of him that had him seeing spots and sending a pleasurable thrill straight to his aching member.
Rufus could feel himself nearing the edge, and judging by the look on Reno's face and the beautiful cries he was emitting, the red-head was close as well. He reached between their sweating bodies and began to pump his partner's erection in time with his thrusts, finding it already dripping and wet. All it took was a few firm strokes and Reno came, crying out as his semen spurted over his lover's hand and his stomach.
A few more thrusts and Rufus found his own release, spending himself deep within his lover's body. His arms trembled as his body spasmed, then he collapsed on top of his lover, completely spent.
Reno panted harshly as his body reeled from the effects of his orgasm. His skin was slicked with sweat and as he ran his hand up his lover's back he could feel he was the same. His hand continued upward until his fingers twined in the short blond hair and he pulled his lover's face up for a deep kiss. When they finally broke apart, Rufus drew the blanket up around them, shifting until he lay with Reno in his arms.
Reno smiled, truly at peace for the first time in a long while, and for the first time in months he slept soundly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Chapter 10 End
A/N: Whew. Huzzah! New chapter, and it took me only, what, two years? *laughs sheepishly* Hey! At least I gave you a slice of lemon, ne?