The Night Within My Eyes
Description: A sequel to Kingdom Hearts II. When a Gummi Ship crashes into Disney Castle, King Mickey calls on Sora and Riku to help a previously unknown world rid itself of some very familiar Heartless. Eventual pairing: RikuxOC, plus some SoraxKairi because they're cute. Rated T because I can't see myself ever writing K.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. But you knew that already.
A/N: Question: why did no one tell me I had spelled Gummi wrong? C'mon, people, you should be tearing me to shreds for something like that. :) Just kidding. Anyway, I went back to the old chapters and fixed it.
And now for Step 2: Boy kicks girl's ass. ... Wait a minute. That's not a proper step. ...
Six
Riku walked through the castle courtyard by himself. He, Sora, and Kairi had retreated from the audience chamber once Yuko and the King had begun to fight over whether or not she was well enough to return to Luca. They had decided to wait in the library, but then Sora and Kairi had started arguing over the prospect of Kairi going with them. So Riku had wandered into the hall to find Donald and Goofy bickering over ... well, he wasn't entirely sure. He had passed by them too quickly to determine the cause, trying to find some spot in the castle that was free from angry voices.
The garden thankfully offered him that peace. He had only been disturbed once, and that had been when he had had to freeze a foot in midair to stop himself from stepping on Chip and Dale as they sprinted by on some mission or other. The otherwise constant quiet left him time alone with his thoughts.
Another adventure had begun, and this time he got to start it as a part of Sora's team. He found that almost as exciting as the adventure itself. He had wasted too much time fighting against Sora or standing along the edges of his friend's battles, throwing bits of help whenever he could. To fight standing next to Sora, like they had done against Xemnas, was something Riku had not expected to do again, and this new opportunity filled him with something close to battle-lust. He wanted to get started, the sooner the better.
Of course at this point, that depended mostly on Yuko and whether the King would allow her to leave in her still-injured condition. Riku leaned his back against one of the walls to the Gummi hangar and thought about their new ally. He wondered how good she was with the Keyblade she had. Having one didn't necessary mean you knew how to use it. However, she did seem to have some fighting experience. She carried herself like a soldier, and, although she hadn't explained what a SeeD was, he assumed it was some sort of military group.
Surprisingly enough, Yuko's experience with the Keyblade or lack thereof was not what worried Riku the most about her. It was her attitude. She had been decidedly hostile towards both him and Sora. Granted, when they had shown her they weren't just useless nitwits with overinflated egos, she had softened -- a bit. But Riku still doubted she would take well to Sora's leadership. If not for the mention of a captain, he would have guessed she had never followed anyone at all. She seemed far too independent and self-isolated. He smiled to himself. Now who did that remind him of?
As he stood and replayed memories in his head of some of his own actions, the door from the hallway flew open with a bang. Riku raised one eyebrow when Yuko stomped through into the courtyard. Did the girl ever open a door without trying to knock it off its hinges? He watched in silence as she approached, muttering things to herself like "insufferable" and "idiot mouse." Although he wanted to defend his good friend, Riku decided that it would not be the best of ideas at the present moment.
Since she had not yet noticed him, he cleared his throat slightly to announce his presence. She stopped trudging through the grass and lifted her head. When she spotted him against the wall, she stared at him angrily for a moment with her unnerving eyes before snarling, "I suppose you agree with him that I'm not fit to go, don't you?"
"I haven't the foggiest idea whether you are or you aren't," Riku replied levelly. Slowly, an idea came to him, and he realized he could answer both her question and one of his own at the same time. He stood up from the wall and reduced the distance between them. "I know how to find out though." He stopped about six feet in front of her and said, "Hit me."
She blinked, confused. "What?"
He flicked out his hand, and Way to the Dawn appeared in a flash of light. "I said, hit me."
At the sight of his Keyblade, understanding dawned in Yuko's face, and she produced her own blade with a sly smile. She immediately attacked Riku, as he had requested. He kept on the defensive, noting the strength and skill of her attacks and watching to see if her condition produced any dizziness. He concluded quickly that she was not that good although her balance and stamina seemed to be okay.
After a moment, she complained, "You're just defending. Attack already!"
He replied without thinking, "You don't want me to attack you."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Riku wished he could take them back. That was completely the wrong thing to say to someone like her. He watched her eyes narrow into dark, dangerous slits. "Excuse me?" she hissed.
"Look, I --"
Before he could explain anything, Yuko jumped back several feet and flung her Keyblade at him. He quickly rolled out of the way, feeling the rush of air pass inches from his skin. Now that move had been impressive, if a bit desperate.
He looked up at her from his crouched position on the ground. She stared back at him defiantly, daring him to back up his boast. Shrugging, he got to his feet.
"Okay, if you're sure you want me to."
The flash of her blade returning to her hand answered his question. He shrugged again and attacked her. Not knowing how much injury she could take, he made sure he used the flat of his blade instead of the edge whenever it came into contact with her body. After only a few minutes, he had smacked her like this over two dozen times. Finally, she stepped away from him, her body language admitting her defeat.
"Blast," she muttered, looking away, although a smile crept into her face. Surprisingly, she seemed to be in a better mood than when she had first entered the garden. She looked back at him and admitted, "You're good."
He smiled back. "Thanks." He released Way to the Dawn which promptly vanished again. "By the way," he asked, "what kind of weapon did you use before you had the Keyblade?"
"Throwing knives, mostly."
Well, that explained why that move was so much better than the others. And why she was not as skilled in the closer combat. "You have some natural talent," he told her, "but you definitely need more experience, and you'd probably benefit from some advice on technique."
She snorted good-naturedly. "And you'd be willing to provide that, o great and powerful Keyblade master?"
She had obviously meant the title as a joke, but it struck a chord in Riku. He answered almost automatically, "I'm not the master. Sora is."
Yuko cocked her head at him, not understanding. "What?"
Already regretting his words, he waved a hand, trying to brush it off. "Nevermind. It's nothing really."
"No, now you've got me interested," she said, turning to face him head-on. The hand that did not hold the key rested on her hip. "What makes bright and shiny Hero-boy a master?"
Riku did his best to swallow his grin at the remark that fit Sora far too well. Once he was satisfied he had succeeded, he answered, "Well, basically Sora is the master because the Keyblades say he is. That and the fact that he can use them all where normal wielders like you and me and the King have just the one we were given."
"The King can use a Keyblade?" Yuko blinked in surprise.
"Yeah, he has a Kingdom Key. Mine used to be called Soul Eater, but I changed its name to Way to the Dawn. The key Sora showed you before is called Ultima Weapon. He uses that one a lot since it's strong and nicely balanced, but he has a bunch and uses whichever best fits the situation. Some are lighter and faster, some heavier and stronger, you know. And then there's Oathkeeper which Kairi gave to him."
Riku suddenly realized how much he had been talking. He didn't think he had said this many words together at a stretch since the time he and Sora would sit on the beach together in the days before Kairi came. Since then, he had grown increasingly uncomfortable with long conversations, and they weren't usually necessary what with Sora around to talk a blue streak for the both of them. But with Yuko, the words came out easily, and while it seemed rather strange, it didn't feel wrong.
Coming out of his thoughts, he noticed her examining the blade she still held in her hand. The conversation they had been having returned to him. "Have you named yours yet?" he asked her.
She looked briefly at him before dropping her eyes back down. "Am I supposed to?"
"If you want."
She stood in silence for a few moments; then, quietly, she began to laugh. The usually joyful noise sounded hollow and empty as it came from her lips. Listening to it, Riku felt something inside him twist in pain.
Yuko lifted the blade high into the air and moved it back and forth so the sun glinted off the metal. "Devalin would probably call it Reborn Hope or Bringer of Salvation." She lowered it again and gazed at it sadly. "But I think I'll call it Never-ending Curse."
Riku had briefly wondered who Devalin was, but her final words hit him hard and claimed all his attention. She had switched moods again, this time to one dark and sorrowful. He watched her face carefully. Why would she consider the Keyblade a curse? Hadn't it saved her life?
"Why would you call it that?" he asked her.
"Because that's what it is," she replied simply. "I mean, I can't get rid of it, can I?" To emphasize the point, she hurled it with all her strength across the courtyard. It had barely finished bouncing before it disappeared and, as expected, returned to her hand. She turned away from it, a pained expression on her face. "And now that I have it, everyone expects so much from me. I don't want to be a symbol or a Leader of Light or whatever. I just …" She sat down in the grass and laid the blade down next to her. Sighing, she drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. "I just want to be Yuko again. A normal SeeD with a normal life. Just like everyone else."
Riku just stood there, not certain what to say or do. To want a life free of adventures, to yearn for something ordinary, to be content to stay there on that boring little island, that was something he didn't understand. Finally, after a long silence, he walked over and sat next to her. He still had no idea what to say, but he thought perhaps he could offer some comfort with his presence. She seemed so vulnerable right now, so unlike the strong, fiery person who had thrown open that door.
Yuko rested her head on her knees and turned it so it faced him. Softly she asked, "I can't ever have that back, can I?"
"I … don't know."
"Well," she sighed, shifting her head so her chin rested on one knee, "at this point all I want to do is free my worlds from those monsters. Then … we'll just have to see."
A/N: My characters went and hijacked the dialogue again. They do that a lot. Bugs the heck out of me because then information I wanted to present gets left out. But on the other hand, they talk about what they want to talk about which makes for a smoother flow. Which is why I always let them win.
Hey, if you're one of the people who have fav'd this story but not reviewed or anything, drop me a line, 'k? I prefer to say hello and thank you in person. I'm not scary or anything, I swear. Well, except for the fact that I'm a mom in her thirties who plays games and writes fan fics ... maybe I am scary ... but go ahead and say hi anyway.