Stranger Than Fiction
Chapter Fifteen:
I Ninja
Author's Note:
Well… This chapter was created, originally, as a little bit of fun before I got too into the angsty plot line of the rest of the fic. I hadn't intended there to be the Selphie ice cream cake section, previously. But, yet again, this is the crazy girl being what she is…
Leon sends his love.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor any of the characters.
"The writer's have finished the script," Riku announced during their lunch break. The whole gang grinned at each other, as Riku handed out the scripts.
They idly flicked through, pausing to read their own lines and laugh at some of the comments made. Leon in particular, liked his own lines relating to Sora…
"I've been having these weird thoughts lately…" Sora read aloud the first line of the script. He grinned at Riku suggestively. "Hm… How true…"
Riku didn't quite know what the hell Sora was going on about, so he just grinned back, unsure.
"Wow, I sound like a real bitch…" Kairi commented. A few people looked at each other, hiding their sniggers. It was Sora who looked the most worried.
"What's wrong?" Riku asked. The brunet turned his concerned blue eyes upwards, then back at the script.
"I've never even been in a school play… What if I screw up? I have more lines than anyone else and..." Sora sighed, flicking to the next page of script. Riku felt a smile creep onto his features.
"Sora, you'll be fine. Besides, the character is you after all. All you have to do is get in the right frame of mind!" Riku flicked through the script to one of his lines.
"Like this scene for instance… If you'd heard Kairi talking about leaving without me, how would you have sounded?" He asked. Sora looked down at his lines.
"Like this Sora, I guess…" He replied. Riku nodded.
"There's going to be a recording session tonight for myself, Sora, Leon, Kairi and Yuffie. We'll be doing the Traverse Town scenes and the few that we can do from the Destiny Islands. Seph says we can use his office as a chill out zone…" Riku waited for the nods of confirmation. No one seemed to have anything better to do that night…
"This is going to be so cool!" Yuffie squealed as the bell went and they all trudged inside to classes.
The day seemed to pass incredibly slowly. Sora glanced at the clock, it was five minutes until the end of the day and it seemed as though the clock was going backwards.
He was going to talk to Riku tonight, about his feelings for him. He would do it when they were resting for a second in Sephiroth's office, when it was quiet…
"Hand in your work to be marked please," Kikuta's aged voice commanded. Sora looked down at his own piece of paper, only half filled with useless waffle about something or other. He tried to avoid taking it to the front, but as Cloud went passed, he picked Sora's up too.
Sighing, Sora knew he would be in trouble next lesson. The problem was, he couldn't stop thinking about the script. In this story… he would abandon Riku and search solely for Kairi, because she was a girl… It was so wrong…
He would meet Riku in Traverse Town and ignore him, to hang around with his new friends. The real Sora wouldn't do that, the real Sora would have latched onto Riku and never let him go…
This animated Sora was a little bit of a prat really…
Knowing that there was no way that he could change the scripting to benefit his own hidden agendas, Sora simply brooded, wondering how on earth he could choke out those lines to Kairi when his head was full of Riku filled fluff.
He heard the bell ring and got up, slinging his bag over his shoulder and darting out of the classroom. He stood outside Riku's classroom, hopping from foot to foot with excitement. When the silver haired boy appeared, Sora latched onto his arm, pulling on it.
"Hold your horses Sora!" Riku laughed. "You gotta wait for Seph and Aerith to pick us up yet!" He pulled his arm out of Sora's vice-grip easily. Sora pouted and slowed his pace down.
Along the corridor, Kairi and Cloud caught up. They waited for a while outside Yuffie's classroom, where the teacher was telling her off for pulling some immature prank. Sora was almost bouncing off the walls by the time they got to the cars and Riku had to put his hands on Sora's shoulders to stop the brunet bouncing up and down.
"Sora, for god's sake, calm down! You're acting like a hyperactive child!" Riku scolded playfully. Sora pouted.
"I am a hyperactive child!" He retorted. Riku chuckled and shook his head. Leon joined them waiting, although he mainly talked to Cloud.
It was obvious to everyone there that the two were unashamedly flirting. Sora stopped bouncing up and down long enough to notice. His head cocked to one side and he grinned, before returning, if possible with more exuberance, to driving Riku steadily further up the wall.
"Sora! Knock-it-off!" Riku said, his voice low. Sora looked at Riku from under his eyelashes.
"But Riku! I'm excited!" He dragged the syllables on Riku's name. He purposefully made himself look as cute as possible. Puss-in-Boots from Shrek 2 had nothing on his puppy dog eyes…
"That's cheating…" Riku mumbled, his expression softening immediately. A few people actually 'aww'ed at that. Sora grinned, knowing he'd won.
"I'm too cute, you can't stop me!" He practically sang. Suddenly he felt his feet leave the floor, and found himself staring straight at Riku's back.
"Put me down!" Sora wriggled, but Riku's grip on his was like iron. He had Sora in a proper fireman's lift, and wasn't going to let go. Sora pounded on his back, dutifully. Riku just chuckled.
"Is that supposed to hurt?" Riku asked. Sora hesitantly lifted the back of Riku's shirt. Of course, this made Riku suspicious, but soon the silver haired boy was glaring at Sora, who was trying to tickle him.
"Sora, there's only one place I'm ticklish, and you're not going anywhere near there…" Riku warned. Sora hung limply on his shoulder.
"Aw, why not?" He demanded. This at least, got a reaction. Kairi raised her eyebrows, Yuffie snickered and Leon and Cloud actually drew their attention from each other long enough to take in the fact that Sora was on Riku's shoulder.
"Sora!" Riku's voice sounded shocked. He put Sora on the ground, and the brunet danced away quickly.
"Knew I could get you some way!" Sora stuck his tongue out. It was at that point that two convertibles pulled into the car park. Sora, who had been standing at the edge of the pavement, nearly fell into Sephiroth's car as it pulled up behind him.
"Careful, we don't want our leading man in hospital," Sephiroth joked light-heartedly. Sora giggled but Riku gave him what could only be described as a death glare.
"Don't, he's hyper enough as it is, without you fuelling it," He warned. Sephiroth raised his eyebrows but said nothing, opening the door for Sora, and allowing Yuffie, Kairi, Leon and Cloud into the car. Riku smirked and pulled Sora over to the pink convertible that was Aerith's.
"What is it with you and pink?" Riku asked as he got into the back seats with Sora. She chuckled as she pulled out behind Sephiroth.
"It's pretty…" She protested. Riku rolled his eyes, but Sora was admiring the car, with large eyes.
"Whoa, expensive…" He remarked. Aerith looked at them in her rear-view mirror.
"Not half as expensive as your car, Sora. That thing is lethal looking…" Aerith commented, chuckling slightly. Riku frowned, looking at Sora with puzzled eyes. Sora wasn't old enough to drive…
"Yeah, well… It was bought as a present…" Sora said quietly. Riku blinked at him.
"You have a car?" He asked disbelievingly. Sora chuckled.
"Of course I do, but I don't use it that often because no matter how much my dad bribes police officers, I still get it on my record…" The brunet was so matter-of-fact about it all.
A rich, powerful, old-fashioned family… Hikka…
"Hm… You're uncle's a nice man Sora," Aerith said kindly. Sora chuckled.
"Rough as hell though," He replied. Aerith chuckled.
"That he is. He calls you 'runt'. It's kinda sweet," She giggled. Sora blushed and looked away from Riku's eyes.
"He has many choice expressions. He's probably the only one in my family who I actually like besides Selphie…" Sora said quietly. Before Riku could question Sora about this last comment, they had pulled up next to Sephiroth at a set of traffic lights.
Sephiroth revved his engine, looking at Aerith playfully. She smiled and did the same. Riku hastily put his seat belt on, noting that nearly everyone else was doing the same.
The lights turned from red to green and the cars immediately sped away. Riku laughed when Aerith pulled into the studio car park before Sephiroth. They were getting out of the car when Sephiroth pulled up, looking sheepish.
"I got done for speeding when I took that shortcut…" He mumbled. Riku laughed and helped Sora out of the car. Cloud and Leon clambered out of the back, Yuffie getting out muttering under her breath about being part of a 'boy' smelling sandwich. No one paid much attention.
"Okay kids, you're badges. Without these you won't be able to enter the premises. Keep those safe, if some psycho gets hold of them, that's probably the end of half the actors in the state," Aerith said lightly. Riku hung the little chain with the plastic card around his neck, pulling it under his shirt.
"Ready? Let's go!" Aerith almost skipped away.
"No, no, no!" The director snapped. Sora sighed, running his hands through his hair. He'd never had so much demand on the way he spoke before. He had tried to make that line sound right so many times but each time…
"Again!" The little man ordered. Sora rubbed his eyes, flashing Sephiroth a quick smile. The older man nodded his head, leaning over the mixing desk that was used to record Sora's voice.
Pulling the headphones on, Sora waited for the okay sign.
"You're the one that's chan-" Sora stopped, sighing. Instead he slammed the script shut, thinking of the sketch he'd seen of himself and Kairi. The director looked about to blow a fuse.
"You're the one that's changed Kairi…" ::Friendship, warmth, a slight chuckle::
"Finally!" The director's voice came through Sora's earphones. Sora sighed, running his hands through his hair. This wasn't as fun as he'd thought it would be. It was damned hard work…
"Okay Sora, now we're going to put you all together for this conversation on page three. Do you want a break first?" Sephiroth asked. Sora nodded meekly, pulling off the headphones and stumbling out of the room.
He shot the director his best death glare, which made the little man laugh.
"You'll hate me a lot more by the end of this picture," He promised. Sora groaned and sat on a couch where the others were waiting. A few of them looked apprehensive, Cloud especially.
"Sorry I'm late, damn traffic held me up. Seph, how're you doin'?" A gruff voice called. Sephiroth turned and smiled.
"Cid you old dog, how are you?" He shook Cid's hand firmly. Sora looked up to see his uncle, and through the shock, he laughed, jumping up and embracing his uncle.
"Whoa! Oh god, it's the little runt kid. How are you boy?" Cid's voice held a little more concern than usual.
"What are you doing here?" Sora demanded, smiling up at him. Cid shrugged.
"I gotta call saying I was going to be in a movie. Like hell I was goin' to pass up on that chance!" Cid turned to Sephiroth, who was grinning quite evilly.
"Well, I'm not sure we'll get that done today… There have been a few hiccups…" Sephiroth looked at Sora. Cid followed the gaze and guffawed.
"You have this goon in it? No wonder…" He ruffled Sora's hair and then pushed the boy away, Sora sat down, a grin plastered on his face, feeling slightly more energetic.
"Have you talked to George about-" Cid began, looking at Sora through the corner of his eye. Sephiroth nodded sharply, and that was the end of that conversation. Sora briefly wondered what they were talking about, but Riku tapped him on the shoulder.
"Let's get this scene out of the way…" He suggested. Sora nodded, standing up.
"Oh, for the love of Jesus Christ!" The director yelled. Sora winced and stared at the script blankly. Kairi forced her fit of giggles away. It had been too much for her, just the seriousness of the other two boys…
"Sorry," She apologised, and took a deep breath.
"Again, from the top," The man called. Sora waited for Kairi to begin.
"Say we do get to another world, what would you do there?" ::Humour, curiosity, naïvety::
"I… haven't really thought about it…" ::Regret, tinged with uncertainty::
Sora tried to ignore Yuffie, who had her nose pushed up against the glass, Cid's face above hers, doing the same thing. Eventually, he couldn't help it any longer and he began to laugh uncontrollably.
"Yuffie!" He whined as a stream of obscenities was hurled at him. Sephiroth raised his eyebrows and looked over at the offending pair. He lead them out by the ear, leaving Sora to do his scene.
"What take is it now? Eleven or twelve?" Kairi asked. Riku shrugged, so far, he was the only one of them who hadn't made a mistake.
"Again!" The director yelled and they ran through it one more time.
Kairi walked out, leaving Sora and Riku alone in the recording booth.
"The paopu scene. Begin!" Riku had actually bothered to learn the director's name, unlike everyone else. He was an Irish man, named Patrick Daire.
"Sora!" Riku called. He saw the boy's expressions. Riku realised Sora was trying a new tactic, to actually act out the scene. He was having trouble getting his voice tones right, but now his words were flowing easier.
"A paopu fruit?"
"You wanted one, didn't you?"
"Huh?"
"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. C'mon, I know you want to try it!" With me…
"What're you-"
"Hahahahaha…"
Riku looked over at Sora who was looking surprisingly cheerful. The director also looked fairly pleased.
"Again, but Riku… Put a little bit more cheerfulness into your laughter… You're teasing Sora, you actually like to do it," The director told him. Riku grinned evilly.
"Hell, don't I know it…"
"So tired…" Sora mumbled as he fell through the doorway. Cid was beside him, holding his shoulder. Selphie was sat on the stairs looking miserable. Sora saw his dad and his mother arguing, screaming at each other from across the hall.
"Go up to your rooms kids. Preferable together," Cid instructed. Sora did as he was told, letting Selphie into his room. He told her all about recording and how tiring it was.
When everything was quiet, half an hour later, Selphie left leaving Sora alone. As he fell asleep he thought just one thing. I forgot to tell Riku…
Riku didn't wake up until midday, and, seeing as it was a Saturday, he figured there wasn't much point in going out or doing anything. He sat down at his computer, checking his inbox.
"Junk, junk junk… E-mail from Yuffie… Junk, junk… Cloud?" Riku left that box unchecked and deleted all the others. He opened Cloud's e-mail, seeing a picture open on the screen. It was of him and Sora, sat in the recording studio with Kairi.
Sora had just messed up and they were all chuckling. Outside, the director was jumping up and down clawing at his face. Outside, Leon, Yuffie and Cid were stood to one side so Cloud could get the picture.
It was really… sweet…
Hey Riku, just thought you'd appreciate the photo. Had to send this to you from the library, seeing as I don't have a computer and am a pauper… L I'll see you at school. From Cloud.
"Cute," Leon remarked. Riku jumped, then smiled.
"Uh-huh…" He replied. Leon sighed, sitting down on Riku's bed.
"It's only a matter of time before Cloud and I get together, but how about you and Sora?" He asked. Riku frowned.
"There is no me and Sora," He replied. Leon raised his eyebrows.
"You don't like him anymore?" He asked. Riku signed into MSN, hoping that someone would be online. Anyone would be alright…
"It's not that… He's getting married… He's got a lot of problems and he doesn't trust me enough to tell me… He's so… so unlike me that he would never understand me. It's better if I just hide my feelings from him…" Riku explained. Leon's eyes watched him as he checked his contact list.
There were a lot of people Riku would never have wanted to speak to again. People from New York, annoying people who'd got hold of his e-mail address, Yuffie. But there was Sora and Kairi…
"And what if he's thinking something similar, huh? What happens then? Are you happy not knowing, Riku?" Leon asked. Riku ignored him, IM Sora to get him to talk.
♪Hello it's me, I'm not at home if you'd like to reach me then leave me alone♪ says:
Hey Riku!
Ace Of ♠ says:
Hey. How are you?
♪Hello it's me, I'm not at home if you'd like to reach me then leave me alone♪ says:
Tired… U?
Ace Of ♠ says:
Tired too. Did you get that picture off Cloud?
♪Hello it's me, I'm not at home if you'd like to reach me then leave me alone♪ says:
Uh-huh, can I set it as the convo background?
Ace Of ♠ says:
Yeah…
Ace Of ♠ says:
Cool… You want to do something later?
♪Hello it's me, I'm not at home if you'd like to reach me then leave me alone♪ says:
Sorry, I gotta help Selphie with her martial arts. Buh-bye!!!
♪Hello it's me, I'm not at home if you'd like to reach me then leave me alone♪ has signed out.
"Riku have you listened to a word I've said?" Leon demanded. Riku looked over his shoulder.
"Pardon?"
"What?" Sora asked. Selphie shrugged.
"C'mon Sora! Just stand there and get hit!" She protested. Sora rolled his eyes and tensed his stomach muscles. He wondered why Selphie couldn't hit her punch bag…
"Oof! Not so hard Selph!" He protested. She smiled.
"Well defend yourself then!" She replied. Sora thought back at their conversation so far. Hadn't Selphie just told him to stand still and get-
"Whoa," Sora stepped back to avoid a kick. Selphie's face was set in determination, as she relentlessly attacked.
Sora blocked as well as he could, but Selphie had obviously adapted her fighting style from the traditional, as she always ended up landing a blow.
Sora was beginning to sweat, as he felt his back press up against the wall. Selphie landed a back fist into his temple and he felt it all go dark…
Selphie was dancing around the dojo in a purple gi, giggling and leaping. Sora rubbed his head and tilted it to one side.
"I Ninja…" She announced proudly. Sora frowned and wondered why he couldn't move. He looked down, realising that his clothes had been sewn to the carpet. When had that happened?
He forced and struggled, and Selphie and the dojo melted away. What was happening? Sora felt panic rise up inside him.
"I Ninja!" He heard Selphie triumphant giggle. He opened his eyes, not remembering when he closed them, in bed.
He looked around, it was his room, and Selphie was sat there, dressed in that ridiculous sundress again… His eyes drifted around his room, and finally came to rest on the end of his bed.
"Riku?" He muttered. The silver haired boy smiled.
"It's nice of you to wake up, sleepy-head…" The boy virtually purred. Sora blinked as Riku moved up the bed. Selphie got up and left the room without a word.
Without another word, Riku pushed his lips against Sora's, his hand slipping down the waistband of Sora's jeans.
"Ri-ku…" He gasped. The boy pulled away, frowning. Suddenly his features morphed into… Kairi?
"Riku? Who's Riku? Are you daydreaming again Sora?" Kairi demanded. Sora panicked, as Kairi tried to kiss him. He rolled off the bed and began to run through the corridors of his house. He opened the door and there was his father.
But his father was grinning evilly. He raised his fist but Sora was already falling…
"Sora!" Selphie squeaked as the boy sat up, his breathing rapid. She decided not to mention what had happened to the boy during that little… dream… She'd let him work that out himself…
Sora blushed and stood up.
"I better…" He began. Selphie nodded. Sora padded his way to his bedroom, grabbing some clothes and disappearing into the bathroom. Selphie bit her lip.
"Sora? I think you and Riku would make a better couple that you and Kairi…" She said quietly through the door. She could almost feel Sora's embarrassment but she continued anyhow.
"You and Riku are right together. So right it's wrong that someone should come between you, someone like that bitch anyhow… Grrr… I'd like to karate chop her some time!" Selphie growled. Sora stepped out of the bathroom, and Selphie realised he'd managed to shower in the time it had taken for her to work up the courage to talk to Sora about his love life…
"Thanks Selphie. I'll tell him how I feel tomorrow…" Sora hugged her tightly. Selphie giggled.
"You should have heard yourself in your sleep Sora… RiKu…" She teased. Sora grabbed at her, but she danced away.
"I Ninja! You not catch Ninja Selphie!" She called. Sora laughed and lunged at her again. He caught her this time.
"No telling anyone about that Selphie!" He threatened. She smiled.
"It is a Ninja promise!" She nodded. Sora rolled his eyes and let her go. She saluted him, and skipped away.
"She is such a freak…" Sora said lovingly as Selphie walked away…
Ending Notes:
Hm… Not quite so much emphasis on 'I Ninja' but… Oh well, tell me what you think. Thank you for being patient, it will be rewarded, I promise you!