first off, i am SO sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! but on the bright side, this chapter is over twice as long as usual and as for the content… well, hopefully it'll make up for it a little bit. oh, but this chapter is extremely centered on Riku and Sora, so sorry if you were looking for the other couples -.-;
Riku groaned, slowly coming to. His head was sore, his memory was too slow to drudge up what happened, and something heavy was on him. And something was tickling the back of his neck.
Without opening his eyes, he tried to remember and figure out just what was going on. Whatever he was lying on, it was comfortable. A blanket or fabric of some sort was thrown casually over him. But that thing he'd said was heavy felt like . . . almost . . .
. . . a person?
Finally deciding to open his eyes, Riku blinked rapidly at his realization. It was a person. A person with spiky brown hair and a familiar figure which was haphazardly strewn across him and the bed at that.
. . . A person who's hand was in his hair and brushing the back of his neck. Talk about an awkward position.
Sora? Wait, but what's he doing here! –No, what am I doing here? Why aren't I at home where I should b—oh . . . that's right, I forgot about my confession . . . Damn, that probably really wasn't the best way to break the news to them . . . Great, now I really don't wanna go home again—I just really don't want to know what they'll say . . .
Trying to shift his position without waking up the snoozing vampire, Riku stiffened when Sora stirred and unconsciously entangled his fingers deeper in the silver strands. However, his fingertips stroked the back of his neck in the process and caused Riku to choke out an involuntary (and rather loud) giggle.
When Sora's eyelids began twitching, Riku sighed and inwardly cursed his ticklishness. Blue eyes gazed over the world before them again as their owner's mind began to switch on. Riku, meanwhile, just sat still and waited for Sora to wake up completely.
"OH! Riku, you're awake!" Sora exclaimed, sitting up.
Nodding, Riku replied, "Yeah, sorry for waking you up . . ."
"It's ok!" Sora yipped much more cheerily than anyone should have after just being woken up. "I sleep too much anyway," he commented, dismissing the topic.
"Really? It's not a sleeping disorder or something, is it?" Riku wondered worriedly.
"Eh? No no! Nothing like that—it's just boring in here and I'm a little sick, so I sleep a lot," Sora explained, motioning with his hands in a variety of gestures.
Riku chuckled. "You talk with your hands a lot, don't you?"
Eyeing him curiously, Sora asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Er, well whenever you talk, you use your hands to help explain what you mean."
"Oh . . . I guess I do, don't I? Weird . . ." Sora contemplated, bringing his hand up to hold his chin.
Looking around, Riku finally bothered to notice just where he was exactly. Plain, cement white walls held little decoration on them save an old clock and . . . Well, that was it, really. The bed they were now sitting on was obviously intended for one, but they'd make do. A dresser stood dully next to the closet where a number of random objects resided including clothes, boots, books, and probably some dust bunnies. He assumed the desk next to the bed had been where Sora had written letters to him since a surprising quantity of crumpled up failures were scattered around the furniture and a lone pen lay forgotten atop several sheets of paper. Dim lighting from a lamp on the desk provided the light enabling him to see.
And there, across the stone cold floor on the opposite wall stood the door—locked and keeping them inside the room resembling a tomb with furniture.
"Yeah, this is my room. Boring—I know," Sora admitted glumly.
"I'm sure you can buy a few posters or something at the store if you want to," Riku suggested.
Sora shook his head. "Not really . . . we aren't given money. I'm told that only one vampire's been holding a steady job in case we need some anyway. They said he's a bartender during the nightshift, and I think his name's . . . Mickey? Something like that . . . And besides, what kind of posters would I get anyway? It's not as if I watch much TV or anything. We try not to get too involved in the human society."
"Oh . . ." Riku mumbled, defeated. "Um . . . maybe you could make something? There's gotta be someone artsy, right?"
"Um . . . There's Namine, but she's busy with some infirmary project—trying to make the rooms brighter or something? I haven't heard much about it lately, so I can't say for sure."
"Hm . . . Hey, Sora? Can I ask you a question?" Riku wondered vaguely, bringing a knee up to his chest.
"Go 'head," the brunet answered, leaning back so that he was lying horizontally on the bed belly-up.
"Hope it's not too personal, but . . . how long have you been a vampire?"
"Let's see . . . I think it's probably been . . . oh—almost thirty years, I think."
Riku blinked. "Really? Just thirty years?"
"What? Were you expecting me to say something drastic like five hundred seventy nine point two?"
Cheeks pinking a little out of embarrassment, the teen answered, "Yeah, kinda . . . I wouldn't have expected the 'point two' part, if that helps."
Sora laughed. "It does, a little. But just 'cause I'm a vampire doesn't mean I'm automatically gonna be super old. Gotta start sometime, you know."
"True," Riku agreed, nodding. "How do you become a vampire anyway? Do you really turn people when you bite them?"
Shaking his head, Sora responded, "No, only girls can turn humans into vampires, but that only happens when they drink all the human's blood."
"So do they not drink all the human's blood then?"
"Nope, they save it and give it to the queen so that she doesn't have to endanger herself by going out to feed. The girls have to hunt more people that way, but the result would probably be the same even if the queen did hunt on her own. Besides, this way the girls get their blood and we don't have too many new vampires to take care of."
"I see . . . um, would it be alright if I asked—"
"How I became a vampire?"
"Yeah—I mean, if it's a touchy subject, you don't have to tell me 'cause I was just curious, but you don't have to if you don't want to and I know it's none of my business and—" Riku rambled.
"Riku! It's ok, I don't mind that much," Sora assured.
"Really?" Riku sighed. "'Cause people make such a big deal over that stuff in movies and books and stuff . . ."
"Riku?"
"Yeah?"
"Is this a book or a movie or anything like that?"
"No . . ."
"Then don't worry about it," Sora said, smiling. "So, I suppose I should start from the beginning . . ."
"Generally, that's the best place to start," Riku agreed.
"Alright, so my life used to be something like this . . ."
-
"Leon! Aerith! I'm home!" Sora called as he shut the door behind him, smiling at the aroma of roast pork wafting through the air.
"I'm in the kitchen!" Aerith yelled back. "Leon's upstairs working on some paper, so don't bother him, alright?"
Sora nodded as he entered the kitchen—it was small, just like the rest of the house. But then again, with only three occupants, they didn't have need for a large home with a pool, an arcade and three ping pong tables downstairs.
That would've been absurd.
At the moment, Aerith was chopping a handful of carrots to be placed around the roast. Her brown hair was pulled back out of her face in a long braid tied together by a large bow. An apron was draped over her neck, the two strings wrapped around her waist and knotted in the back to cover her body clad in pink fabric.
"So how was school?" she asked casually as her younger sibling took a seat near the counter on a conveniently-placed stool.
Reaching for an apple, he replied, "It was ok—same as always."
"You and Kairi didn't get caught behind the bleachers again, did you?"
The boy nearly choked on his apple. "ONE time—and that was only because Peter was being an ass and thought it'd be funny to see the coach get ticked at me after the game!"
Aerith gave him a hard stare. "Sora, I thought you had better vocabulary than that."
"Er . . . uh, I meant "ass" as short for . . . um . . . 'hAS been threatened with cAStration,' you know? Um, get it?" he attempted, failing miserably.
His sister sighed. "Just watch your language from now on, alright? Swearing doesn't help you get anywhere in life except dealing with bad crowds, and you know I'll be severely disappointed in you if you end up hanging around with those people, right?"
"Yes, mom," Sora answered dutifully, biting a chunk of apple off the fruit.
"I'm not your mother, Sora, but I'll act like it if I need to. Will you get Leon? Supper's almost ready," she requested.
"Sure," Sora answered. Heading to the doorway, he shouted, "LEON! HEY, SUPPER'S READY!"
A thunderous rumble of footsteps later, Leon entered the kitchen and immediately began telling Sora off on how he had no reason to scream. Of course, Sora talked back by saying he had every reason to scream—he'd just returned from practice and was much too tired to walk up the stairs just to tell his brother that Aerith had finished cooking. Now, if it had been for something more important—say, he needed help with algebra—then he wouldn't have minded in the least bit.
With a small "ahem," Aerith gained both her brothers' attention and ordered Sora to clean the counter and for Leon to set it. Both obeyed without protest.
-
Sora picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey Sora! It's Yuffie! Can you put Aerith on?"
"Yeah, sure, just a sec." Holding the phone to his chest, he yelled into the vague direction where she was located, "AERITH! YUFFIE'S ON THE PHONE FOR YOU!"
She hurried into the room. "Goodness, Sora! You didn't need to yell—I was only in the living room!" she reprimanded.
Sora rolled his eyes as he handed her the phone, mumbling an apology.
"Hello?" Aerith said into the receiver as her brother walked into the room she had formerly been occupying. "SORA! Don't change the channel—I was watching something!"
"You can just change it back when you get off the phone then! Chances are you'll be leaving to hang out with Yuffie anyway!" he yelled back.
Sighing in defeat, she apologized to Yuffie for yelling with the phone that close to her mouth.
"It's ok, but so I was hanging out with Kairi, y'know? And—would you believe it—the girl has never been to that candy store on Fourth Street! So I thought that we should hang out tonight and take her over there. 'Cause you know, living without trying some of that sea-salt ice cream is just pathetic! So we should relieve her of that miserable existence tonight by—"
"It's just ice cream!" another voice cried on the other end of the line.
Aerith smiled. "But it's also the best ice cream there ever was. Besides, trying a new flavor of ice cream won't kill you, Kairi. And anyway, I need to talk to you about that incident behind the bleachers with you and Sora last week."
Yuffie gasped. "What's this? A romantic affair I don't know about? Someone, do tell!"
Rolling her eyes, Aerith replied, "Don't worry, Yuffie, I'll be over in a few minutes. You can wait that long, can't you?"
"I suppose, but why wait when I have Kairi to get all the juicy details from?"
An indignant squeak made its way through the phone as random bouts of shouting and general chaos began.
"Then again, I don't really want to hear any juicy details between my friend and my brother," she muttered under her breath. "Yuffie? I'm not sure if you can hear me, but I'll be over in a few minutes. And Kairi better still be alive when I get there. Bye."
Grabbing her coat and pulling on some shoes, Aerith said loudly, "Sora! I'm going over to hang out with Yuffie for a while. Make sure to get your homework done before I get back!"
"I knew you'd go to hang out with them!" Sora cried triumphantly.
"Yeah, yeah . . . You're still not psychic yet! See you later!" she said, shutting the door behind her as she exited the house. Yuffie's house was only a block away, and since she wasn't in sports (like a certain sibling), she knew the exercise couldn't hurt.
-
"So your sister hung out with your girlfriend and a girl named Yuffie a lot?" Riku checked.
Nodding, Sora replied, "Yeah—me and Kairi were juniors in high school at the time, and Aerith was a senior."
"What about Yuffie and Leon?"
"Yuffie was in the class before Aerith's, so she'd already graduated and hadn't gone to college yet—she was saving up money or something by working the late shift at some job. And Leon was a sophomore in college, but he hadn't left the house yet since the school was close and it was cheaper to live with us," Sora explained.
"I see . . . but what happened to your parents?"
"They worked overseas most of the time and were hardly ever home. That was why Aerith was always taking care of me and stuff."
"Um . . . How did you manage to tell your parents?"
"Tell them what? That I was bisexual? Well . . . truth was, I never really got the chance, and now . . . heh, I guess I never will . . ."
-
Clanging the locker door shut, Sora jumped at the startling revelation of finding Kairi in its place. Students rushed around them—eager to escape the building many referred to as "school."
Otherwise, the building was aptly referred to by a near-equal amount of people as "hell."
"Jeez, Kairi! Don't scare me like that!"
Kairi giggled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. Anyway, did you wanna hang out after practice today? I was thinking we could go out tonight, maybe . . ."
"I'm really sorry, Kairi, but I can't tonight—Aerith has to make up a test after school today and Leon has a class until seven—someone's gotta make supper," Sora excused himself apologetically.
"Well, could I come over and help you cook then?" she wondered hopefully.
Sora shook his head. "Aerith doesn't want me to be with you without any supervision unless I'm under the eyes of the public."
She blinked. "Translation, please."
"I can't hang out with anybody unless there are other people around besides us two. She's too worried something 'inappropriate' will happen," he answered, scratching the back of his head absently.
"What if we go out this evening when Leon and Aerith are home?" Kairi tried.
Again, Sora declined, "Can't—you know I've got a ton of algebra and English homework tonight."
"Could we study together then?"
"Kairi, you're in geometry—not algebra, and we're in separate English classes, too. That'd be pointless."
The girl pouted. "I just want to spend time with you, Sora!"
"I'm sorry, Kairi—I've just got other stuff going on in my life, too, you know! And—ack!" Sora yelped, glancing at his watch. "Practice starts in five minutes! Sorry, Kairi—gotta go!"
With that, the brunet sprinted down the empty hallway towards the locker room, leaving his girlfriend alone in the abandoned corridor.
-
"Hey, Aerith," Kairi greeted, seating herself next to her friend on the bench. Spring was in the air, and a cool breeze refreshed them in the sunny heat. Unwrapping her boxed lunch in her lap, Kairi peered in at what her mother had made for her that day. Sure, she could've eaten the school's "food," but she trusted her mother's cooking skills much more than the school's with good reason.
"Hello, Kairi," Aerith returned. "You brought your lunch today, too?" she asked, gesturing at the simple ham and cheese sandwich protruding from the now-open lunchbox.
"Yeah, did you?"
Aerith nodded. "But I ate most of it during study hall last period—I was hungry," she admitted, laughing it off.
"Didn't you eat breakfast?" Kairi inquired absently.
"No, Sora was being difficult this morning—I had to yell at him five different times before he woke up!" complained the senior.
Kairi smiled fondly, mentally agreeing that yes, Sora wasn't the easiest person to wake up in the morning. Then a pained expression made itself visible. She tried to erase it quickly, but it was too late—Aerith had caught it.
"What's wrong?" she asked gently.
Biting her lip, Kairi said, "Aerith . . . do you think maybe Sora doesn't like me anymore?"
At this, Aerith was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"Well, he hardly ever lets us hang out like a normal couple, and sometimes, when I try to talk to him about our relationship, he just brushes me off, and he hasn't so much as kissed me on the cheek since we got caught two weeks ago! And . . . I know we should be careful around school and stuff, but . . . I dunno, I just don't know what's going on between us . . ."
"Oh, Kairi, dear . . ." Aerith empathized, hugging the smaller girl comfortingly. "I'll talk to him and see what's going on, alright?"
Kairi squeezed the older gratefully, saying, "Thank you, Aerith, I really do appreciate it . . ."
-
"I'm home!"
"Sora, we need to talk," Aerith ordered as soon as he stepped in the door. Said boy looked at her confusedly. It wasn't often that she used that tone with him. The last time she had spoken to him like that was several months ago when he'd ended up staying much longer than intended at a friend's house, and—story short—never told her until he arrived home where she was waiting on the porch.
Needless to say, he was grounded for the rest of the month.
"Um, ok . . . what's up, Aerith?" he greeted nervously. Was he supposed to be home early for some reason that day? He couldn't think of anything . . .
The teen gulped. It wasn't an important somebody's birthday, was it? Or an anniversary of some kind? He was well-aware of how some girls marked their calendars for every little thing, but he didn't think his sister was one of them . . . Not one of the psychotic ones, anyway.
Walking into the living room and sitting down, she motioned for him to do the same. Cautiously, he slowly sank into the couch's tan cushions.
Then he rolled his eyes. It was just his sister . . .
So why did he feel like he was about to be placed on death row?
"Sora," she began. "Kairi told me you've been avoiding her."
Sora hesitated. "Not—not exactly . . . more 'trying to figure things out' than 'avoiding.'"
Aerith cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that? Did something happen? Do you not like her as much or something?"
"No—I still like her! . . . I'm just not sure if I like her 'that way' anymore . . ."
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, I always thought I liked her, so this year I finally got the courage to ask her to date me. And since she said 'yes,' I was excited, you know?" He continued at her nod of understanding. "But then things kinda just started feeling weird, but I told myself that I'd liked her for so long that it must just be nerves or something. But then this nagging feeling that I was wrong wouldn't go away, so I tried to shut it up by kissing her and . . . stuff."
His sister said solemnly, "It didn't go away though, did it?"
He shook his head furiously. "No! And—and I've been trying to tell myself that it's just nerves since I haven't been in a real relationship before, but—but when I was kissing her it felt so . . . weird—wrong, almost . . . Nothing clicked . . ." he confessed, his eyes beginning to water. "I don't want to hurt Kairi though—she's too good friends with me for me to want to, but . . . I'm scared I might lead her on or something, and that'd just make it worse."
"Oh, Sora—" Aerith broke off, not sure what to say. It was obvious things weren't going the way they should, but what could they do? Feelings weren't something to be altered by will alone, and Kairi would end up hurt in the end no matter what.
"What should I do, Aerith? What should I do?" he asked blindly, his eyes glued to the floor.
Gazing sorrowfully at her brother, she answered, "I'm not sure, Sora. But if Kairi's really not the one, you better break it off soon before someone gets hurt."
-
"So?"
"So what?"
"So did you break it off?" Riku prodded, poking his arm.
Sora glanced away. "Yeah, but . . . things kind of went downhill from there . . ."
-
"Sora! I'm sorry I made you wait—I had to check with the teacher on something and . . . Are you ok?" she asked abruptly.
Outside the school, leaning against the brick wall in the partly cloudy afternoon, Sora stood—his blue eyes glazed over distantly. Most of the student body had left by now; they'd gladly driven away in haste, eager to be free from droning lectures and incessant instructions on how to fill in the little bubbles on a multiple choice quiz. There was no sports practice of any kind today, for a faculty meeting had stolen the coaches away.
"Kairi, um . . . oh geez, how do I say this? Um . . ." Sora stumbled, pushing himself away from the wall to stand independently.
"Yeah?" the girl wondered.
"Well, um, it's just . . . I-I'm—I just . . ." he took a breath. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, well . . . I'm having problems seeing you as anything more than a friend, Kairi—I don't know why! Really! I've always liked you and I really did think I always would like you, but . . . I guessed my feelings changed without me noticing it. I'm really sorry."
Kairi brought her hand to her face to cover the hole her mouth was creating as her eyes widened.
"N-no no . . . Sora, what are you talking about? We can work this out! I know we can! I know we've been friends forever—being in a relationship will just take some time to get used to, you know? We—we can still be together, right? Right?! We've only been together a month!" she cried, trying her best to persuade the boy to stay with her.
"I know it's only been a month! That's why I thought we should break up now before we get too attached—it'll just get more painful further along the road!" Sora tried. "You think I'm happy about this either? I've been praying to God for the past week or so that maybe—just maybe—I was wrong! That we could just go on and be the perfect couple—like what happens in all those movies you watch! But things . . . things didn't turn out that way for me—or you, I suppose."
Kairi held back bitter tears, choking out, "Real life's never that easy, is it?"
Sora shook his head sadly. "No, but I wish to God it was, Kairi . . . I wish to God it was . . ."
The girl didn't answer. She just ran straight home and cried.
"Liar, Sora . . ." she mumbled incoherently between sobs in her pillow. "You never go to church—haven't since fifth grade. You liar . . . you never pray! Never . . ."
-
"I'm home!" Sora called, his daily announcement striking the gloomy atmosphere permeating the house.
"Oh, Sora! Sora—it's Yuffie, she—" Aerith cried, springing from the hallway and hugging him tightly. Overwhelmed, Sora latched onto her shoulders and looked worriedly over her hunched figure covering him to see Leon with his arms crossed further down the hallway. Leon looked worn out, and it only confirmed in Sora's mind that whatever happened—it was bad.
"Aerith, what's wrong?" he asked gently. "What happened to Yuffie?"
"S-she—it—Yuffie—" she slowly picked herself off her brother, but her hands remained on his shoulders. Gulping and wiping her eyes, she said, "Yuffie was jumped while walking home from her job, a-and one of the wounds proved f-fatal . . ."
Sora's eyes widened. "Y-you mean . . . sh-she's dead?" he checked, staring in disbelief. Of all people . . . Yuffie?
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Aerith, does—does Kairi know?"
His sister snatched a nearby Kleenex and dabbed her eyes. "I-I don't know. I'd think so, but I don't know."
-
"Kairi, please come down for supper, honey. I know this is hard, but you need to eat," a concerned motherly voice drifted through the door.
"I'm not hungry!" the teenage girl insisted.
A sigh passed her mother's lips. "Alright, just be sure to get something later, ok?" There was no answer. Releasing another sigh, the woman abandoned the girl's door.
Said girl squeezed the life out of her pillow as tears continued to dribble down her puffy cheeks. Everything was going wrong! Sora was still supposed to be her boyfriend, and Yuffie was still supposed to be alive—cheery and hyper as ever!
Why couldn't anything just go right for once? And why was it that when things went wrong, they did so in the most horrible ways?
Sniffing loudly, she jumped when a knock tapped on her window.
Turning to see the cause of the noise, she was shocked to find a blonde girl—whom she'd never seen before—outside her window. The same second story window with no trees or balconies or anything of the sort close enough to allow a normal person access to knocking on her window.
The strange girl tapped the window impatiently again.
"Hurry up and open up!" she ordered, her commanding voice carrying through the window.
"No! Why should I? For all I know, you could be a rapist or something!"
Rolling her eyes, the girl replied, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a girl, and I ain't no lesbian."
"Double negative! You are so a lesbian!" Kairi argued.
"I've got a great boyfriend at home, I'll have you know!" she snarled.
"For all I know, you could be lying—kidnapper!"
"Wait—first I'm a rapist and now I'm a kidnapper? Make up your mind, girl!"
"Look—just what do you want, anyway?" Kairi demanded.
"You knew a girl named Yuffie, right?"
Kairi froze. "Y-you knew Yuffie?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I need to talk to you about her will."
"Um . . . o-ok . . . just a sec," she agreed cautiously, getting up. Wiping her forearm over her cheeks, she stepped gingerly over the semi-messy floor of her room to the window. The stranger pulled herself over the sill, landing with an odd grace about her on the floor as Kairi slid the glass up. Now that she was inside and under the light of her ceiling light, Kairi could see that the girl was decked out in all black. A trench coat was draped over her shoulders and zipped up to the top while tall black boots covered her feet. Vibrant yellow hair sprung from her head like two antennae while the rest was combed back—ending at her shoulder blades, and bright eyes peered from her pale complexion.
"W-what's your name?" Kairi asked.
"Larxene, and you're Kairi, right?" At her nod, Larxene sighed, "Good, 'cause otherwise I'd be at the wrong house and that would be really annoying."
Sitting on the edge of her bed, Kairi questioned softly, "What um . . . what was in—in Y-Yuffie's w-will that I-I needed to see?"
Larxene stood and retrieved a folded piece of paper from her pocket, saying, "I won't read the whole thing—just the part that applies to you." At Kairi's nod, she unfolded it and began. "To Kairi, one of the awesomest girls around, I entrust with my clan. Things will need to be explained to her, but for better or for worse, I believe Kairi can lead them with a good heart and protect them from all enemies."
"Wait—what did she mean by 'clan'? Is that why you're really here?" inquired the teen.
"Yeah, 'cause you see, Yuffie was the leader of our clan. And she apparently wants you to lead us now. 'Course, it's really your decision in the end, so don't feel pressured, ok?"
"Sure, but um . . . exactly what kind of clan are we talking about?"
Larxene gave her an insane grin and replied in a way that gave the younger girl gooseflesh, "A vampire clan."
"S-so you're crazy about vampires? Treating vampirism like a religion or something—is that it?" the confused teenager inquired.
The older girl sighed and rolled her eyes. That moment had been so dramatic, and then the girl had to go and ruin it by saying something stupid. Figured.
"No, not quite . . . We are vampires. As in the real thing."
Kairi just blinked. "So you guys actually drink human blood? Isn't that something like cannibalism or something?"
Larxene put her hand to her forehead. It was going to be a long night if Kairi kept acting like this.
"No," she said, gritting her teeth. "First, cannibalism is when you eat one of the same species, and second, we. Are. Real. Vampires. How else do you think I was able to stay outside your window? It's rare to have that much balance, girl. And why do you think you never met Yuffie during the day? Coincidence?" she snorted. "I think not."
Thoughts swirled through Kairi's head as realizations fell into place. This was why Yuffie always claimed to be "blinded by the light." Why she stuck to the shadows. (She always said she was a ninja.) Why she was practically nocturnal. Why they never actually saw her eat a full meal. Why she never let them celebrate her birthday.
The teenage girl's eyes widened as everything lined up in a neat little row. It fit way too well for it to be merely coincidence!
"C-can I see your fangs?" she asked nervously. If anything was to force her to believe, she knew it'd be that.
"Sure, girly," Larxene said, smirking enough to let two canine teeth gleam visibly in the light.
Kairi stared, dumbfounded. So they did exist . . .
"So?"
"So what?" Kairi responded, confused.
"Will you be our queen?"
A few moments of silence passed; neither moved an inch as they waited for the other to break the silence.
In the end, it was Kairi that broke said silence.
"Could—could you come back tomorrow? This is kinda too big of a decision for me to decide in one night," Kairi asked, extremely unsure of how to go about the situation.
Larxene nodded. "Sure, but you better know by the end of the week. Otherwise, we'll find somebody else."
With that said, the vampire leaped out the window into the night, all signs of her presence gone except an open window and shaken up teenage girl.
Sighing, Kairi went over to shut the window before heading downstairs to the kitchen.
All of a sudden, food seemed like a really good idea.
-
It was the next night already. Kairi had planned on talking to Sora again to try to convince him, but he wasn't there. Neither was Aerith, actually. She could only assume that they stayed home to deal with the death of Yuffie. Come to think of it, that sounded like a good idea. Why did she even bother going if people were only going to ignore her or smother her?
However, these thoughts went out the window as a familiar knocking noised itself on the window. Rushing over to the window, Kairi slid it open and allowed Larxene to enter.
Standing up, the blonde girl asked, "Did you decide?"
Sora won't refuse me.
Yuffie wanted me to lead them.
I know I'll wonder for the rest of my life what would've happened if I say "No."
I'm sorry, Aerith.
Bring it on, Buffy.
She took a deep breath before answering, "Yes, I will be your leader."
Larxene's vampiric eyes sharpened as she looked over her soon-to-be queen. Just by looking at her, she couldn't tell if the girl would lead them well or not. But Yuffie wasn't a bad leader, so hopefully her successor would be able to take up the role naturally.
And, hopefully, she'd be able to defend herself from Heartless's attacks. That was her main concern. If Yuffie—ninja though she had been—couldn't protect herself, body guards would be needed for this princess.
Shaking her head, Larxene decided to save those thoughts for another time. Stepping forward, she bit the teenager and made her one of them.
-
Sora immediately stood up at the sound of the door bell. He'd just been relaxing by watching some mindless TV when he heard the familiar ringing from the front door. Leon was upstairs studying (again), and Aerith had gone on a date with her boyfriend, Zack, for comfort. Unlike his failed relationship with Kairi, Sora felt those two may've actually had something and hoped they'd pursue it. But, being her brother, he never mentioned those things to Aerith.
Pulling the door open, he was surprised to find Kairi on the other side.
"Hi, Sora," she greeted somewhat quietly.
He looked at her confusedly. "Hey, Kairi . . . Listen, um . . . not to be rude, but what are you doing here? It's pretty late. Did something happen that you couldn't tell me over the phone?"
"Kind of . . . Can I come in?" she asked. Nodding, the boy moved aside to give her room to pass by before shutting the door behind them.
"So um . . . What's going on?" the brunet questioned, sitting on the arm of the couch while she seated herself in a random nearby chair.
"Well, I . . . I still like you, Sora! A lot! I know you don't think you like me anymore, but it takes time for couples to be comfortable with each other that way anyway, right?"
Sora gave her a pained expression. "Kairi—"
"I know I must seem really desperate," she whispered, cutting him off. "I know that, but . . ."
"Kairi—" Sora started again.
She interrupted, "I won't give up without a fight, Sora. I love you."
Fists curled painfully at his sides. "Kairi, stop telling me this! Stop telling me these things! I feel bad for breaking up with you—I do! But if I had known dating you would've caused this many problems between us, I never would've! I love you, too, Kairi, but just as a friend . . . And I'm sorry it can't be more than that because things would've been so much easier if they were . . ."
"Sora, please! Let's just give it one more try—for Yuffie!"
"Don't bring Yuffie into this—she had nothing to do with us!"
"Are you kidding? She's part of the reason I'm here tonight!"
"What the heck do you mean by that?"
A mature voice interrupted their argument. "Hey, if you two are going to argue, will you do it outside? I'm trying to study—I've got an exam in the next few days already," Leon said, frustrated. Stepping by Kairi, he went past her to grab a soda from the refrigerator.
"Sora! You don't know, do you?"
"Know what?" he asked, honestly having no idea what she was talking about.
"Yuffie was a vampire!"
"What?" Sora just stared at her as if she'd gone crazy, and maybe—to him—she had.
"It's true! She was the leader of a clan and they came to me 'cause it was in her will for me to be her successor!"
Sora continued to stare unbelievingly. A ninja was one thing, but for Yuffie to have been an actual vampire? That just went beyond belief.
"Kairi, I'm sorry, but I can't believe that . . ."
"It's true! I swear!" she insisted.
"Didn't I tell you two to stop shouting?" Leon asked, stepping back into the room with his beverage. "Keep it up and you'll disturb the neighbors, too—not just me. And trust me, Mrs. Whiteberry next door is much scarier than I'll ever be when annoyed."
Suddenly, Kairi grabbed Leon's arm forcefully.
"I can prove it! If I bite him, he'll become one, too!" she warned.
"What the hell—you're insane, Kairi!" Sora yelled.
Leon grunted, "Kairi, I don't exactly know what you're talking about, but let go before I make you."
Kairi ignored both of their comments. "Do you want me to prove it, Sora? I can and will if need be!" she cried, her eyes flashing dangerously.
Sora gave Leon a look that said, "What now?"
"Kairi," he said, gritting his teeth. "I think it's safe to say you're unwelcome here right now. Please leave."
She shook her head. "I have to make Sora believe. Leon, I don't know you as well as the rest of your family, but I'm sorry that I have to do this."
Leon wrenched away as she brought his head down to her level, but he found himself unable to remove his arm completely from her grasp. It was as if she'd suddenly been working out for years and none of it physically showed. And considering Leon did work out regularly, it was entirely unexpected.
So unexpected, in fact, that as he went into shock, she brought her mouth close to his neck again.
The last thing Sora saw before her mouth enveloped a spot near his older brother's jugular were two fangs, winking at him.
"I-I don't believe this . . ." he muttered, taking a step back.
Leon gasped, eyes going wide before sliding shut as he lost consciousness from blood loss.
And as he slumped to the floor, Sora caught a glimpse of a pink orb floating away from his body.
Kairi didn't notice, for she was just finally releasing her fangs from his neck with a small "pop."
Sora spun around and ran out of the room. He felt like such a coward, but Kairi was a vampire and he couldn't believe he'd let her do that to his brother and what would his sister think and—AAAH!
"Not so fast, Sora," Kairi stated, small tears sliding around her nose and mixing with the blood still on her chin from Leon's body. Like lightning, she'd managed to catch up to him and had her cold hand wrapped harshly around his forearm. "I won't let you leave me like this—this thing! I can't go alone!"
As if in slow motion, Sora reached blindly behind him for something—anything on the table he could use. Fingers curling around the crown charm necklace Aerith had given him (though he hadn't done anything with it yet), he brought it up, but accidentally hit it against a vase which broke in the process.
Then Kairi bit him.
In the corner of his eye, he could see his palm had been cut from the glass. And in his bleeding hand, he noticed the charm necklace had snapped open. Was it a locket of some sort then . . .?
But his vision was getting fuzzy, and the last thing he saw was a pink orb slipping free from his chest and his hand reaching to capture it—the metal crown shutting around it as his human eyes closed for the last time.
-
"And . . . that's pretty much it. Aerith was still gone when we woke up, so in the end, we cleaned up the house, left a note, and left to live with Organization XIII," Sora concluded.
"What? You couldn't stay home?" Riku asked, surprised. He would've thought Sora would've settled everything at home instead of packing up and leaving just like that on a whim.
Sora shook his head. "Neither me or my brother wanted to tell her what really happened—especially dealing with Yuffie and Kairi."
"Oh . . ."
Sora glanced in a vague direction fondly. "We still watched over her for a while though. Zack was taking good care of her, and two months after we'd disappeared, she'd graduated. She moved to another town for college after that—moved in with Zack, I think."
"Did she ever contact the police?" Riku wondered.
"Yeah, but they never did much. Twilight Town is more of a city than a town, you know—kids go missing every day. Admittedly, me and my brother's disappearance was an odd circumstance, but run-away kids are nothing compared to the criminals the cops gotta chase down."
"Yeah, I guess . . ." Riku mumbled.
Sora abruptly sat straight up, eyes wide. "Riku? I just realized something."
"What?" he asked, blinking in surprise at the sudden movement.
"How'd you get here?"
Riku glanced away, eyes downcast. "Oh, that . . ."
The vampire poked him. "Yeah, that. 'Cause, well . . . you're a human, so you couldn't have come here alone—otherwise I'd be surprised you're even alive, much less in my room."
Sighing, the human answered slowly, "You know how you were wanting me to tell my parents my sexuality?"
"Yeah . . ."
"Well, I told them . . ."
"Great! How'd they react?"
"Um . . . I didn't really stick around long enough to find out."
"Oh . . . were they mad?"
"Honestly? I didn't even mean to tell them. I was fighting with my mom and it just . . . slipped out. I was so mad and stuff that I—I just left! And then I ran into these two guys—I assume they were vampires—dressed in all black and they told me they'd take me to you and I didn't want to face Roxas either at the time so I said yes and now—" he waved his arms around, gesturing at the walls, "—here I am."
He didn't get much of a chance to evaluate Sora's face to judge his reaction when he was tackled by said brunet.
Arms wrapped around his waist and face turned to the side on his chest, Sora cried, "I'm so sorry, Riku! I didn't mean to bog you down with my past while your life is so confusing right now! I'm sorry that they brought you here and I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Riku awkwardly placed his arms around the vampire's back, wracked with held-back sobs. "Y-you're sorry I came here?" he choked out. "I'm sorry, if I'd known I wasn't wanted I never would've—"
"It's not that!" Sora yelled into his torso. "It's just . . . hold on . . ." Moving back, he fumbled in his pocket for a moment before bringing a slip of paper out, holding it out for Riku to take it.
Riku read the note and stared at it, shocked.
Sora mumbled, face looking down. "Riku, I did want you here, just not under these circumstances, and I refuse to bite you but . . . what now?"
"Shit," Riku uttered.
so… did it make up for it at all? i really am sorry it took so long. hopefully, the next chapter won't take nearly as long
reviewers get a Tickle-Me Riku X3 i know i want one… -wink-