'Of Booty and Honor'
-Phase Two: Trysts-
Chapter Seven
Footsteps tread nearly silently through the long, stone corridors; a female's footsteps.
A short girl with jet black hair and barely anything on to cover her toned body walked cautiously down the hall of the team's base camp near the Ichijoji Stronghold. Teams had set up different encampments to keep the perimeter clear of trespassers. The team the prancing girl belonged to was Team West, or the team that guarded the western wall of the Stronghold.
The girl padded almost silently through the stone hallways, and finally was able to stop in front of an ordinary looking door. Without any consent or at least knocking first, she barged in, yelling in Japanese, "Sora!"
Said brunet boy jumped from his position on the window sill at the sound of the female's voice ringing in his ears. She began yelling again in Japanese as the male ran a hand through his thick, brown hair.
"What is the matter with you!? For three days you've been in the God-forsaken room of yours; the others thought you were dead!"
Another yawn, and no reply; the boy only looked again out the window.
The girl took Sora by the collar of his night shirt and gently shook him, "There is something wrong, and you're going to tell me what it is, RIGHT NOW!"
Sora groaned in discomfort, and released himself from the girl's grasp. "Nothing is the matter, Yuffie, go and tell the others I am fine."
Yuffie sighed, crossing her arms, and sitting down on the boy's uncomfortable bed with a sigh, "We worry about you a lot, Sora."
Sora again did not reply, his eyes downcast at the window. After a heavy sigh, he looked down at the girl, "Y-you're my best friend, right Yuffie?"
Yuffie looked up at the boy still sitting on the window sill, "Of course, why do you ask?"
"I could tell you anything without worrying that you might not be able to keep a secret, right Yuffie?"
"Yes..."
Sora looked down at the floor for a moment before getting off the window sill and grabbing the younger girl into a loving embrace.
"Yuffie...I've fallen in love..."
-T-
An awkward and most painful silence fell over the two. Yuffie had merely gotten out of the hug, looked at him worriedly, and shuffled out of the room completely. Sora and the other one's of the clan knew better than to do something like fall in love. It was apart of their pact, their code. Human emotions such as love was not meant to be in their religious duties. it just wasn't right.
The two now sat dangerously far away from one another in the meeting hall where the others had entered an sat down. Usually the two were situated the closest and were always caught talking or making fun of how one of the others were talking. But now Sora sat with his knees scrunched up to his chest and Yuffie sat with her favorite hat tipped over her eye just enough so she could not see the older boy.
One of the elders walked in, the oldest in Team West to be exact, and was known as the Leader. He had been put through a great deal, and everyone was aware of it and all talking ceased when he entered the cold, stone room.
He glanced first upon Yuffie, who looked neither phased nor really pay attention to the situation. She sat with her legs crossed, one arm propping her chin and the other sat patiently in her lap. Then he looked at Sora, the poor boy still sitting with his knees close to him and it was almost obvious the younger boy was trying to hold back tears.
He spoke when more of them arrived. No one spoke to each other, nor to the youngest of the group, concerned or not. They knew better than to speak out of turn when in the presence of Master Auron.
He talked about Cloud, and how he was sent into the forest to take care of the four intruders. They had not received word if he was successful or not. He also spoke of how to deal with the four if Cloud was not successful, and to use aggression for crossing the line into Furano regardless of their warning.
Sora couldn't bare the site of Riku being slaughtered by the other ruthless members of his team. He was ruthless and fearless once upon a time, but being cold and heartless was something the boy could never maintain or fully comprehend.
After a short sigh during something Master Auron was talking about, he began drifting in and out of consciousness. He was then tapped on the shoulder by another member of his group and instantly jolted up, not even bothering to look back at the owner of the offending finger; he was all too aware of who it was and it scared him nearly shitless.
Vincent.
He sighed slowly and began listening to Master Auron for what seemed like ages before he recommended one more meeting for the elders to attend to later today for missions on how to deal with the four pirates who penetrated the borderline.
Sora walked dazedly down the hallway back to his dormitory, yawning gently into his hand.
"You were falling asleep again."
Normally, this made Sora jump slightly, but he knew that Master Vincent was one to sneak up on him if he knew he was falling asleep during a meeting.
Sora turned gracefully on his heel, and leaned forward respectively, "Forgive me, Master Vincent."
The red-eyed man only crossed his arms and looked down at the brunet boy.
"The rest of us are worried about you, Sora."
"But nothing is the matter, Master Vincent."
The elder man chuckled slightly, and patted the boy's shoulder.
"You were never one to truly let out your feelings, Sora. A true ninja way. I'm proud to call you my pupil."
Sora smiled up at the older man before he walked away. He turned back on his way toward his room.
-T-
It was only a few hours after the meeting, but the brunet boy was still sitting at the same place near the window. Riku ran through his head endlessly and it was beginning to drive him mad. He had to see him again...but how? All the new missions were granted to the elders, and the youngers were supposed to stay indoors. For reasons, Sora didn't even know.
He sighed deeply, placing his head on his knees and closing his eyes gently.
The sounds of someone talking made him perk up and jolt up toward his door. He leaned up against it and listened carefully.
"Nothing? Nothing at all?"
The voice was gruff, familiar. Must have been Master Auron.
Then whoever he was talking to coughed slightly, "N-No, Master Auron, nothing at all...I could not find them in the forest. They must've already been taken care of."
The other voice sounded familiar as well. Cloud?
Master Auron huffed, "It seems as though I have underestimated the intelligence of a pirate. But you have a new assignment, Cloud."
"Yes sir?"
"Join the Massacre-party tonight at midnight. You and the others are going on the hunt for those thieves and showing not once ounce of mercy, do you understand me?"
Cloud paused, "Y-yessir."
Then there were fading footsteps...then nothing. Sora sighed, getting up off the floor and trudging over to the bed. Another few minutes went by as the boy tried to go to sleep before hearing the footsteps again. Sora sat up from his bed, hearing pattering footsteps turn down his hallway and gently knock on his door.
"Sora."
Sora got up quietly before another knock came to his door. he turned the handle slowly and opened it only a crack before being completely pushed aside as the door flew open and quickly closed behind the tall blond man entering his room.
"...Cloud?"
Sora over looked the tired man from tip to toes, noticing the large jacket he held that made it look like he had gained extra weight...
"...Have you gotten fatter?"
Cloud scoffed, "No!"
He sat down on the younger boy's bed and unzipped the jacket and out tumbled a smaller looking boy with brown hair. He shook his head and looked up at both of them and then stared at Cloud.
"You brought HIM to my room!?"
Cloud shushed him, "I had to, they were going to kill him!"
"So? He's one of them, you shouldn't care."
Sora leaned against the cold wall and crossed his arms.
The youngest boy shifted closer to the blond and kept his eyes downcast. Cloud wrapped an arm over his shoulders and sighed, "I know I shouldn't care...But just look at him, Sora, he wouldn't do anything to hurt-"
"Don't say that, he's a ruthless, thieving pirate! It's not like you can just keep the kid as a pet or something, Cloud! And we're going to get in so much trouble if they find out!"
"Don't you think I know that? Just look at him, Sora, I couldn't just let them kill him."
Sora glanced down at the kid grabbing his dagger and grabbed the younger boy with his other hand, bringing the dull edge of the knife against his throat.
Then, he stopped what he was doing.
"Does he speak English?"
"Uh-huh."
"So, you little thieving, disgusting, filthy, little brat, how did you brainwash Cloud into trusting the likes of you?"
The boy only blinked, and looked down at the calm and quiet Cloud.
"He likes you."
-Deadline-
A/N: I only have this to say: BECK IS A GENIUS.
I was FINALLY able to download Loser, and I swear, I went CRAZY with the cheese-wiz after that...okay, not really, but it's just fun to say...
"GO CRAZY WITH THE CHEESE-WIZ, YOU FOO'S." X3