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.

Fifteen

Thunk. … Thunk. … Thunk thunk …

The little knives vibrated slightly in the wood for several seconds after making impact. Viewed all together, they had formed a very neat triangle. A final knife embedded itself directly in the center of the shape as a finishing touch. Standing several feet away from the target, Yuko examined her work for a moment and then walked forward to pull them all out again.

She had woken up rather early and had headed straight for the weapons lockers. Once she had kicked open the cabinet of throwing weapons, she had set up the targets and started training. She had quickly grown tired of hitting the bullseye and was now creating geometrical figures and simple pictures with the knives instead. A spectator would have told her she certainly didn't need this much practice, but Yuko also wanted to use the time to think and to figure out how to fix the mess she had made of her life.

She was royally pissed at herself for breaking down in front of Riku the previous night. Not because it was a sign of weakness, since she knew neither boy would have considered it that. And also not because she would never hear the end of it. If it had been Sora she had cried to, he would have checked on her several times a day to make sure she was all right, but Riku understood her enough not to speak of it unless she brought it up first. So that was not what worried her.

The problem was how good it had felt when Riku had held her. At first she hadn't noticed; she had been too upset and had been crying too hard. But when the fit had passed, she had slowly grown aware of how comfortable and soothing it felt to be there in his arms. To feel his hand gently smoothing her hair and his breath passing over the top of her head. To lie there with the bridge of her nose resting perfectly against the curve of his neck, as if one had been made for the other, and listening to his strong heartbeat and his steady breathing. She had felt so warm and completely safe from all of her nightmares.

Thunk. It hadn't been anything special. It was just biology. Thunk. Body heat and respiration. Anyone could have made her feel like that. Thunk thunk. It had nothing to do with Riku himself.

She had been trying to convince herself of that all morning. The fact that she had dreamed about him had not helped. It had started as a fairly normal dream. She and Riku and Sora and Kairi were all at a blitzball game in Luca. She happily munched on some snacks while Kairi gazed at the game with wide-eyed wonder, Sora jumped up and down and cheered like a lunatic, and Riku watched with interest but without any comments. But then, the sphere had malfunctioned in some way so that whenever the players scored a goal, water would shoot out and drench them. After several goals and subsequent showers, she opened her mouth to suggest they move to a different spot, but before she could speak, the dream changed in that illogical way that dreams often do. They were in her old bedroom on Balamb where she had grown up, Sora and Kairi were gone, and they were still soaked. And then …

Stop it, stop it, stop it! Thunkthunkthunk. She didn't need her hormones making her life any more complicated right now. She was a soldier - thunk - in the middle of a war - thunk - not some stupid - thunk - pathetic - thunk - nymphomaniac - thunkthunk - !

Fists on her hips, she glared at the pentagon on the target board. These feelings were nothing but a crush. They would fade with time. Just a strong affection for a good-looking boy who was kind and cared about her and who didn't sometimes drive her nuts with cheerfulness the way Sora did. If she ignored it, the desire would go away and leave her with just the friendship again. And then everyone would be happy.

Wouldn't they? She shook her head firmly and started yanking the knives back out for another round. Of course they would. The only way that arrangement would upset anyone was if Riku … She froze as the thought hit her. What were Riku's feelings regarding her? Was it even possible that he returned her affection?

Now I sound like a giggly schoolgirl. Um, Sora, does Riku, like, um, you know, liiike me? She snorted in disgust and resumed the retrieval of the knives. What a ridiculous question. Of course he didn't. She was a dark, depressed mess with an unstable temper and serious trust issues. Some days it boggled her mind how anyone could even stand to be around her.

And besides - thunk - last night he thought she was in love with Vincent. Thunk. And the way he said it, it was as if he wanted to help her realize it - thunk - because if it were the case, then the realization would take away some of her sorrow. Thunk thunk. What kind of person would willingly point the one he loved to a love with someone else just for the sake of her happiness? No one is that self sacrificing.

Riku is.

"Aargh!" Thunk thunk thunkthunkthunkthunk …

"Why am I suddenly reminded of water balloons?"

Yuko turned her head to see Vincent leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. His eyes, still a disturbing burgundy, examined the target on the far wall. He smiled faintly. "That's a rather impressive spiral you made."

"Thank you." She turned to face him completely, all thoughts and worries of Riku fading away. Awkwardly, she fiddled with the knives she still held in her hands. She hadn't expected to see him ever again. Not after the things he had said yesterday. When she had told Riku about their conversation, she had watered it down substantially, keeping the most painful parts to herself. "Are you here to say goodbye?"

He lowered his chin and fixed his eyes on the floor. The fingers on the gauntlet twitched slightly as if in nervousness. "No," he finally replied. "Your friend found me this morning before I could leave. He convinced me to stay. At least for a little while."

"Sora did?" she asked. Relieved happiness began to bubble up within her. She half-wanted to go find the boy and hug him silly.

"No," Vincent answered to her surprise. "The other one."

"Riku?" She blinked. "Riku convinced you?"

A small smile appeared on his face. Yuko noted absently that it was so cold, as if all the warmth within him had been wicked away. "He told me I didn't have to worry about losing control around you. He said if I did, he'd knock me senseless until I recovered."

Yuko could not resist a short laugh. "That sounds like something he'd say."

Vincent nodded briefly and then lifted his eyes again, this time seeking out hers. The sight of them sent a little shiver through her, but she ignored it. This must be what everyone else went through when they looked at me; I can bear this for him.

"He also said," Vincent continued, "that if I left, it would break your heart. But that you would never tell me so." He paused and gazed at her with sadness and a hint of confusion. "You never told me that when Devalin told you of my capture, you blamed yourself for it."

"There never seemed to be a good time to bring it up."

He smiled wryly. "I can think of a dozen times when you should have brought it up."

She pivoted on her heel and began throwing again. "Yeah, well, we both said some things we shouldn't have and didn't say some things we should have."

"I agree," he said in a low voice that stilled her hands, "and I apologize." Before she could reply, he continued, "Yesterday when you weren't insisting I go back to the President, you only talked about my presence in terms of what I could add to your fighting power. But if that's all you want me for, then I see no reason to remain here." He paused, and in the silence, she turned her head to him and saw the question in his face before he spoke it. "Yuko, do you want me to stay?"

She took a slow, calming breath before answering, "Of course I do. You're my old, dear friend, and I thought I had lost you. I'm sorry I didn't say it yesterday. I was … trying to be strong, for the both of us. But yes, I want you to stay with me."

"Even though I've … changed?"

She smiled kindly at him. "Of course. You're still Vincent."

He lifted the gauntlet and inspected it. In a soft voice, he said, "I'm not so sure."

"Why not?" she asked with a laugh that jolted him out of his self-pity. "When I was the one with those fears, you were always quick to reassure me that I was still me. Now that the question pertains to you, why should the answer be any different?"

"Hmph." He recrossed his arms and leaned his head back against the doorframe. "That's twice in the past two days you've used my own words against me. In the future, I'll have to be more careful in what I say."

Yuko placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head at him, pretending to be insulted. She had seen the smirk he had attempted to hide. "Used them against you?" she teased. "More like used them to save you. Some thanks I get for it, too." She sighed dramatically.

Vincent's shoulders shook slightly in quiet laughter. After a moment, he commented, "Guess we haven't changed after all. You still annoy me to no end."

"And you're still as uptight as ever," she added happily. She walked over to him and took him by the elbow. "Now, if you're going to come with us, you're going to need some practice. Let's go see if we can find some Heartless to drill some holes in. I want to see how a book-learned gunman fights."

He smiled down at her and nodded. "All right, but I'll need some decent ammo."

She pulled at him until he turned in the proper direction. "That cabinet over there. Just knock it open." After he had moved away to do so, she walked back to the targets to retrieve the rest of her knives. The sound of the cabinet smashing made her grin. She took a moment to glance back at Vincent, carefully sifting through the bullets that he had found. Looking at him, she could not suppress the feeling of joy that sparkled in her, as if her heart danced within her chest.

Thank you, Riku. Thank you so very, very much.