----x. Renegade Hearts
Chapter 2: More Questions

The young woman sighed, and gently touched the bloody thigh of the silver-haired youth before her. That'll need fixing. Riku, he called himself. Where is he from? I thought only Sora had a Keyblade… but this one looks different. Hell, it even has a different aura around it! Yuffie's wandering gaze came to rest on the unconscious Riku's weapon, where he had dropped it as they had finally staggered into her small house. Ever inquisitive, she picked it up for a better look.

Feels different, too… frowning, the ninja ran her fingers over the hilt. Her fingers brushed against something on the underside. Curious, she flipped it over, and her breath caught.

It was the symbol of the Heartless – but slightly different. Where both curls that made the heart were usually the one colour, one was grey and one was white. The grey was very dark, almost black, in stark contrast to the blazing white tendril on the left hand side.

She examined the rest of the wrought iron Keyblade carefully, but found no more symbols of any sort on the four-foot length. Why does he have one? Leon – I mean, Cloud would have received word if there was a new Keyblade Master… maybe he's an impostor. But why would he choose to impersonate the one person on the hit list of every evil being in all the known worlds? This is crazy… too many questions.

The lithe little fighter stood and stretched lazily, the mysterious youth's Keyblade dangling from her right fist. Mid-yawn, she stared at it clenched there in her hand, and a small idea formed in her mind.

Hefting the blade so she had a better grip on the fancy hilt, she swung it experimentally. She silently cursed as it barely missed a small lamp. I need a bigger house.

She moved into the center of the tiny room, and begun again, dealing out a series of blows and slashes to invisible enemies on all sides. Hmmmm… I'm a bit rusty on all these moves… maybe I should start practicing again. Squal – Cloud wouldn't be too happy to see all that teaching go to waste…

Her weapon whistled down towards the back of an unsuspecting "Shadow Heartless" on the floor. Just as it was about to make contact with the rug, an arm grabbed at her bicep and she spun to face her new adversary, Keyblade at the ready.

"Ah… you're awake!" she stuttered, looking at the pale and – frustrated? Why is he frustrated? – face of the youth she had helped earlier. She glanced nervously at the weapon in her hand, and let her – his – weapon lower to her side as her eyes moved back to Riku, and suddenly realized that he was standing. Her eyes flew to his leg with its makeshift bandage and narrowed. "Nuh-uh," she said firmly, shaking out of his grasp and reaching for his own arm. She frowned as he shrugged uncomfortably away from her, wincing slightly as the wounds on his back caught on the fine cotton shirt she'd put on him (still the same leather pants, though – she hadn't been game to change them). "See? You're still in pain. Aerith knows way more about healing than I do, but even I know that a guy who's just had his back and thigh carved up by probably infected claws needs rest and his wounds cleaned."

Words seemed to roll off him like water, as though he was still wearing the heavy oiled black leather coat. "It can heal without help," he said indifferently. "I've been through pain before. Physical pain is nothing compared to emotional or spiritual suffering."

This time the little ninja flinched. "Emo bitch. I know all about that." She informed him icily in a cracking voice. "You think I don't know? Then why am I alone? Why would I just be wandering by myself in a Heartless-infected District? Why–" her voice rose steadily in pitch and volume "–why am I even in a Hell-hole like Traverse? You've probably heard all about this place. Everyone who comes here knows. Only those who have no where – no one – to go to come here. It's because they have nothing left. Most of the people in this town would be glad to be taken by the Heartless!"

Riku made a small noise, and Yuffie glared at him as though daring him to continue. "Got something to say?" She demanded.

"No. Not at all. Um, please continue."

She went on.

"When I and my friends first came here, we came to help. Help. We slew Heartless by the hundreds each week, and used the munny we got form their bodies to provide food for the townspeople. That was all Leon's idea. They thanked us for it. We were their heroes- all the kids wanted to grow up like Leon, and become as kind as Aerith. But now Aerith is back in Hollow Bastion, Cloud wasn't even around when we first started this hopeless war against the Heartless so the townsfolk hardly trust him – would you trust a guy with a black wing who's always covering his face with a cloak if you hadn't known him since you were a kid? – and Leon's gone. There's only me left. And I can't do it. It's driving me crazy, knowing there's all this stuff that needs to be done to make everyone happy and realizing that I can't do it on my own. So if you're just here to become a burden to everyone else, you should just haul that pretty – I mean, sorry – little ass of yours back home to your friends." Suddenly thinking she had said too much, Yuffie sized the youth standing – a little lopsided, really – before her. Viciously she poked him in the thigh. With a cry, he crumpled to the ground.

"And he's down! Hmph. What I thought. You shouldn't be standing on that leg yet," Yuffie observed rather maliciously, looking down at the Keyblade wielder. She lifted him with a bit (a lot) of effort on her part and dumped him on the couch he'd been laying on while unconscious, ignoring his groans of pain. He deserves it all, for making me say all that, she thought with a tiny glimmer of black, dark, coffee-coloured humour as she straightened his leg out on the couch. "No, are you going to let me look at it?"

A shake of the head turned into a desperate nod as Yuffie absent-mindedly prodded the ripped flesh again.

"Good. And your back. Can I check it too?"

Another quick nod of confirmation.

"I knew you'd see things from my way of thinking!" the little ninja treated the injured youth to a sunny smile as she hauled herself off the arm of the couch and bounced into the kitchen to call Cloud and collect a basin of warm water. Riku could hear her humming away to "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen.

Yah… What is with her mood swings? I don't think I can handle this…yep. I should be able to… but this is kinda different to fighting thousands of Heartless. This looks to me like I'll end up fighting one tiny hyperactive girl with issues and ninja skills… oh, Lordie me. She's coming back. Riku scrunched his eyes tight shut and tried to pretend he was dozing as the girl skipped back into the room with a basin of water that splashed everywhere.

"Wake up, Riku…"

He was not to know that that singsong tone of voice boded ill for many, and if he had known, he could not have guessed that he was not one of the precious few excluded from the torture that followed the tone.

Dammit. She isn't just going to let me sleep…

He faked a drowsy awakening, blinking several times at the cheerful little face above him. "What?" he asked sleepily.

"I know you weren't asleep. I poked you too hard for you to go back to sleep that quickly. It still hurts, right?" she drummed her fingers on his leg, beaming.

Evil. I think she's evil… "Okay. You win. Just clean my back and thigh quickly, and then leave me alone."

"You got it!" She grinned at him momentarily, then frowned and blew a part of her fringe out of the way. "Although, you've forgotten one thing."

"…What?" He asked suspiciously, dreading the answer.

"In order to clean your thigh," the girl pointed out, eyes gleaming with some unidentifiable emotion – stark, raving lunacy and amusement, he suspected personally – "you are going to have to strip."

Riku's already pasty face blanched completely free of all colour, then made an impressive comeback with some of the darkest red Yuffie had ever witnessed on someone's skin.

"Oh, God help me." He moaned, fingers spasming.

"Sorry, God's busy." The girl replied sweetly. "I'm here instead. Deal, you angsty emo bitch."

Thus, Riku swallowed his pride and a great deal of fear, and wriggled out of those lovely skintight leather pants, and rolled over onto his stomach. Beneath a blanket, of course. But also underneath Yuffie's prying gaze.

The ninja's eyes glittered with satisfaction. "Good." And, wringing the Cloth of Impending Doom of most of its moisture, set to work.

He hadn't counted on her incessant chattering. "So, what's the story behind your Keyblade? I heard only Sora has a Keyblade…" she asked him at one stage.

"It's called the Neutral Keyblade. Not good or evil," Riku managed to gasp out – why did it have to hurt so much? He could feel the hot water burning into the gashes on his back, and no matter what he'd said about physical pain before, it hurt.

The busy ninja paused for a moment over his back, frowning. "Neutral? You mean, like, not good, not bad type thing?"

Riku sneezed before answering. "Yep." I swear I just said that.

"Oh. Well. Cool…" she resumed her work, and felt Riku flinch as the cloth dipped into the deep wounds on his back again. I knew it. Now he's gonna be sick as well as injured… why me? 'Cause I'm nice, and a sucker for hot guys. Dammit.

Riku fainted when she poked his leg a third time, to check whether he was till awake.

Yuffie sighed. "Dammit," she muttered to herself, and continued her work.

Chicken-boy Riku. That's all I have to say. I prefer the edited and revised and whatnot version, myself. Hope y'all do too. For Annie! (headdesking.) I swear, this Riku-boy makes my heart go all funny. It does flipflops. Like pancakes.

------Tally xD