Disclaimer: El videojuego de Kingdom Hearts 2 no es mio.

Chapter 8- 2 days remaining

The Inked Heart was a relatively small shop in the middle of Hollow Bastion's Village district. It was called the Village district because all the buildings for four city blocks around looked like they belonged in a small village from the Renaissance. The Inked Heart resembled a cottage and had a wooden sign hanging above the door. The name of the shop was written in slashing, yet clear lettering over the backdrop of a flaming heart. He took a deep breath and made his way into the shop. A bell rang overhead and he almost felt as if he was a little kid, getting caught sneaking into the cookie jar.

"I'll be out in a second!" a voice called from somewhere in the back, separated from the front by a black curtain. Sora took a moment to look around. The place was pretty clean, a reclining chair in one corner with a straight-backed chair and a silver tray standing next to it. The walls were covered in pictures of tattoos. Some hand drawn, others photographs or ripped from magazines. Sora recognized one of them, a tattoo he knew that every member of The Organization had across the back of their shoulders, except Naminé, whose tattoo was on the small of her back. Roxas constantly teased her about having a 'tramp stamp'. It was simple, merely the band's name written in thick gothic letters. He knew, instinctively, that the person in the photograph was Riku. If the silver hair didn't give it away, the faint scar running between his shoulder blades did so quite well. So, Riku had been there before. No doubt this Xemnas did the very tattoo being displayed in his shop.

The curtain from the back was swept aside and the man from Sora's drawing was suddenly standing before him. For a moment, Sora was impressed with how well he'd managed to capture this man's image, before he looked into his face and locked eyes with him. He almost ran screaming from the shop. Those were the very same eyes that had haunted his nightmares for the past year. They were the eyes of Riku's killer. He hadn't recognized them in the drawing due to the lack of color, but now it was quite obvious.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Um…I want a tattoo," Sora blurted. Well that was a no brainer, wasn't it? He was in a tattoo parlor, after all. He hadn't originally intended to get a tattoo, but now it really seemed to be the only way to get his answers without seeming suspicious. Xemnas didn't seem to notice the stupidity of the statement.

"All right, what are you thinking you want?" Sora froze. He hadn't thought of that. Xemnas seemed to notice the problem and he nodded, pulling out a gigantic binder.

"Go ahead and look through this. I'll get everything ready."

Sora dropped into the reclining chair and started flipping through the book. He had to take this extremely seriously. After all, whatever he chose would be on his body forever. He'd flipped through almost twenty pages when he something finally caught his eye. It would need a minor adjustment, of course.

"I want that," he said, pointing it out and explaining how he wanted the picture changed.

"And where do you want it?" Thinking quickly, Sora tapped the inside of his left wrist. The same place Riku had scrawled his phone number the first time they'd met. Xemnas nodded and set to work on a piece of paper. Sora drummed his fingers nervously against the armrest of his chair and glanced around the shop again as the murderer worked.

"Okay, what do you think?" He showed Sora a sketch of the tattoo, exactly as the brunet had described it.

"It looks good." He took a fine-tipped Sharpie to Sora's wrist and began drawing the same picture in faint lines on his wrist.

"You ever had a tattoo before?" he asked.

"No," Sora answered truthfully. "But my husband has, I know the drill." Xemnas' eyes flicked up at the word 'husband' but he dutifully continued drawing. Was that the problem? Was he homophobic? Was that why he killed Riku? Sora almost let out a cry of pain as the needle pierced his skin. It hurt a lot more then he'd thought it was going to. He had a sudden new respect for Axel's pain tolerance level. The redhead had a sleeve of tattoos up each arm and across his whole back.

They sat in silence, but for the radio, as Xemnas worked on his wrist. How could Sora breach the subject? What was he supposed to do, ask more stupid questions? 'Hey, buddy. So tell me, are you planning on killing anyone anytime soon? The lead singer of The Organization, maybe?' Yeah. That would go over swimmingly.

"So…you're married, then?" Xemnas spoke up after nearly half an hour.

"Um…yeah," Sora answered. "For almost a year now."

"And you're gay?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" It probably wasn't a good idea to challenge a murderer with a super sharp needle to his wrist, but he couldn't eat his words.

Xemnas let out a deep chuckle. "No. It makes no difference to me, just as long as you have the money to pay for this."

After Sora assured him that he did have the money, they fell silent again. Sora was internally berating himself. Why hadn't he thought this through before showing up at the shop? Why had he been so impulsive? As Sora was paying for his newly finished tattoo, he was fighting back the urge to hit himself. He'd just wasted an opportunity because he'd been so damn hasty. He choked out a numb thank you and left the shop, hopping into Riku's Jeep, fighting the urge to cry. Dammit, he was no good at this investigation stuff! He started the car and headed back toward home.

Riku was in the pool when he got back to the house, and even thought Sora remotely felt like he didn't deserve to be near him because of his failure, he couldn't help but go into the backyard. He stripped off his shoes and socks and sat at the pool's edge, dangling his feet in the water. Riku swam over to him, resting his arms on the pool's edge next to Sora and looked up at him curiously.

"Where did you disappear to?" he asked. He had every right to ask, really, considering it was almost ten o' clock at night. It was his first time seeing Riku that day.

"Oh…um…I was getting a tattoo, actually." Riku laughed and smirked.

"You're kidding me! Did you really?" Sora showed him the bandage on the inside of his wrist, which caused Riku to laugh. "Wow, So. I didn't think you were the tattoo type." Sora shrugged. "It just seemed like a good idea," he lied.

"What did you get?"

"You'll just have to wait and see," Sora teased.

"Where did you get it done?" Riku asked. "You've gotta be sure these places are legit, So. You don't want to be catching diseases from the needles…"

"Especially because then you'd get 'em too, most likely," Sora teased. "I got it at this place called The Inked Heart…"

The smirk slipped off Riku's face and was almost immediately replace with a scowl. Sora was shocked at the change in attitude.

"What's wrong, Ri?" he asked.

"You shouldn't go there, Sora." It was a rare occasion when Riku actually called him Sora, and that usually meant he was being serious. "You should distance yourself from Xemnas Corazon as much as you can. He's not a good person to know, even casually." Maybe…maybe his efforts weren't for nothing. Maybe he would find out some important details from Riku himself.

"Why, Ri? What's so bad about him? He seemed all right…"

Riku shook his head and hoisted himself out of the pool. He walked inside and Sora followed in confusion. Once in the kitchen, Riku filled the teakettle and turned on the burner underneath it.

"It's not really a story I should tell you in the pool. It's a little more serious," he explained. "I'm gonna go get changed but I'll be down in a few minutes, and then I'll explain."

He left Sora sitting at the counter dumbfounded, watching the steady drip of water from the sink that Riku hadn't completely turned off. What had that been about?

Riku came back down the stairs five minutes later, his damp hair making a wet patch on the back of his shirt. He took a seat at the counter next to Sora and twisted on his barstool to look at the brunet.

"Xemnas Corazon…" Riku trailed off, shook his head and took a deep breath before continuing. "He's my cousin, actually." Sora had to fight to keep his face impassive. Riku's murderer was a member of his family? "The thing is…Xemnas has always been a little bit crazy and he had a…sort of fascination with me…"

Sora rolled his eyes, growing slightly irritated. "Stop beating around the bush, Riku."

"He convinced himself that he was in love with me and he stalked me and threw himself at me countless times," Riku bit out. "He was a few years older then me…one time when I was eight he tried to rape me…but Kadaj walked in and beat the shit out of him."

Sora was numb. Xemnas was completely insane. He'd tried to rape an eight year old? Who did that? How had Riku managed to get over something like that and lead a relatively normal life? He shuddered at the thought and took Riku's hand in his own. Riku squeezed it reassuringly and continued with his story.

"I had my first boyfriend in my freshman year of high school. Xemnas followed him home and threatened him and his family if he didn't leave me alone. When I went to HBU for college, he followed me to the city. It got so bad that I had to file for a restraining order. He'd stand in the courtyard outside my dorm at night and just stare at my window. Sometimes he would scream things about how I belonged to him or if he couldn't have me then no one could." Riku's eyes were distant and he unconsciously squeezed Sora's hand tighter and tighter. After a few moments, he seemed to come back to himself. He shook his head, sending wet wisps of hair flying.

"He's just not a good person, Sora. Promise me you'll stay away from him, okay?"

Sora nodded vehemently. "Yeah…of course. Of course I will."

The whistling of the kettle brought them back to the kitchen, making Sora jump a bit. Riku made them both a mug of tea and they moved to the living room. They didn't really speak, both lost in their own thoughts as they sipped their tea. Sora felt inexplicably closer to Riku then he had before, though he sort of wished he'd never discovered this part of Riku's life. The thought of it made him sick.

They sat there in silence long into the night.

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A/N: Yup. I'm just gonna say, I'm sixteen so I can't (legally) get a tattoo not to mention I have an incredibly low pain tolerance (I cry when I get shots) so I have no idea how the actual tattoo process takes place. Be easy on me, guys. Okay, so this chapter, I'm not totally satisfied with, but I guess I'll let you guys decide. 10 reviews!