Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Soul Calibur - Series Fan Fiction / Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Physical Darkness ❯ Sorority of Vengeance ( Chapter 5 )

The next morning, Alphonse lonely woke up in the room of light. Other than his bed, there were no details of his room to be seen. Out of nowhere, a distant area of the room became a door, and Riku entered the room through it. “You're awake, I see…” he energetically greeted the Alchemist to the morning. He snapped his fingers to fade the light away. “The room I put you in is a sanctuary,” he explained, picking up and bringing in some plastic bags that he had left just outside of the door in which he came, being the door to Alphonse' bedroom, “It has the ability to protect against the Heartless. When inside the sanctuary, the Heartless cannot harm the outside world, and vice versa. When I woke up—way earlier that you did, I might add—I went to make ourselves some breakfast, hoping that you wouldn't mind.” Riku set the bags on the ovular, glass coffee table in the corner to the left of the room's entrance. “When I went to look around your kitchen, I found barely any food. I felt generous toward you enough to go out and buy some food for you.”

 

“Thank you, Riku…” Alphonse sighed, feeling pathetic.

 

Riku then asked, “You've been living in near poverty since you've settled here, haven't you, Alphonse?”

 

After hesitation, Alphonse nodded his head. “I've finally found a job, though,” he mentioned, scooting to the edge of the bed and coming up to a stand. He walked up to Riku and took his hand. “Come on,” he urged, “I'll introduce you to the guys there.”

 

Riku found it incredible that Alphonse was treating the previous night's rape incident so lightly. Perhaps he didn't want to think about his attackers. Still, the invitations were a bit much, especially after a single night of acquaintance. Sure, he spent the night at Alphonse', but he only stayed as a shoulder for the Alchemist to cry on. “Alphonse, we only met yesterday,” he reminded with care of words, “Don't you think that you're being hasty about introdu—?”

 

“—I'm comfortable with you, Riku.” The interruption took Riku by surprise, but not as greatly as what was said did. “Last night, you saved me from those guys AND the Heartless creatures, then spent the night here to comfort me. Nobody has ever gone that far for me. My feeling of ease whenever I'm around you is the best gratitude that I can offer right now. That, and… this, if it means anything to you.” Alphonse leaned into Riku and sweetly pecked his cheek. Riku put a hand to his kissed cheek and smiled warmly at the older man, who was smiling back, though shyly.

 

“Yeah…” he said softly, nodding his head with only half of his effort, “That means a lot.” Locked onto Alphonse' eyes, Riku backed up to the open door, leaning against it semi-lazily. “I'll go once you get dressed, `kay?” he prompted, casting a flirtatious head pitch at the still boxer-briefs-clad man.

 

Alphonse laughed boyishly and said, “I'd better do it before my bare chest tempts you.”

 

“THAT'S what I'm sayin',” Riku laughed as he backed out of the room, enjoying the sound of Alphonse' laughter. I've never thought like this before, but I guess that it's not a bad way of thinking. His mind gradually conjured more questions of self-identity, but Riku decided to cast those questions aside. For some unusual reason, the happiness of the 3/4-naked man before him was more important than his own sexual satisfaction. “I'll wait for you in the lobby,” he told the dressing man while walking down the apartment hallway, approaching the exit. As he was leaving, he looked to his left, where, on top of the left Surround Sound speaker, the card keys were left. He looked back up the empty hallway, then swiped one of the cards as he left the apartment.

 

Exiting the elevator in the lobby, Riku was robbed of his attention by a familiar blonde outside of the building. She was chugging a one-liter bottle of Coca-Cola, which he didn't know was her sixth since earlier, well before midnight. That Namine''s gonna get a lot of cavities, he believed. As he walked outside, he saw Namine' throw her hands up and scream, “Tr`es bien!” (A/N: The “`” symbol is supposed to be above the “e,” but this website… y'know. It's the same with Namine''s name. It's not wrong with two apostrophes; one is supposed to be an accent mark over the “e,” but, again, it's the website that won't allow it.)

 

“Actually,” Riku corrected as he walked out to the girl, “you WOULD say, `C'est belle,' French for `It's beautiful.' `Tr`es bien' is French for `Very well,' which isn't the way you would acknowledge the beauty of something.”

 

Namine' blinked at the man. “Heeey! You're that guy who was with Alphonse last night,” she bluntly mentioned, pointing at Riku, “Who ARE you?”

 

Riku laughed sexily, giving Namine' goosebumps. “Yes, it was pretty rude of Alphonse and myself not to have us introduce ourselves to each other. My name is Riku, and you're Namine'.”

 

“The Street Artist! `Tis I!” When Namine' bowed, her butt had almost knocked her easel over. (Talk about “Miss New Booty.”) Luckily, Riku flashed behind her and caught the canvas, avoiding the still-wet paint. Namine' brought the easel upright, laughing and feeling stupid.

 

“Wow!” Riku gasped.

 

“Yeah, that was close,” Namine' sighed, plopping her ass back onto the stool.

 

“No, not that!” Riku was captivated by the realistic image that was painted on the canvas. He turned to view the buildings behind him. They looked exactly like the buildings on the canvas. The dawn in the painting was incredible. It was as if Namine''s every brushstroke brought life into the work, turning it into an amazingly third-dimensional scene, one that came close to persuading Riku that he could step right into it. Thankfully on both of their parts, the scale was too small for the picture to fully persuade him. “Namine', this painting is excellent!” the Adonis exclaimed, “Although it's a simple scene, this is very much worthy of going up in my museum!”

 

Namine' blushed and shy-acted, pushing her finger-linked hands behind her downward. “I… yeah…” she responded, turning side-to-side. She froze. “Wait, `my museum!?' You mean to say that YOU have your OWN museum?!?”

 

Riku laughed [as he's apparently USED to doing] and replied, “That's right. It's pretty sweet to live in luxury, but, well, there are always those things that fortune, intelligence, and reputation can't attract.”

 

“True love?”

 

Riku's smile weakened a bit. “'T's right,” he said lowly, “You've got a good head on your shoulders, Namine'.” He set the painting of Twilight Avenue back onto the young lady's easel, then flashed her a business card out of his dress shirt pocket. (Expect that he changed his clothes before leaving Alphonse in the Sanctuary, people. JEEZ!) “Here's the address to the main building of my company. It's not too far from here.” He picked up the paintbrush from the sidewalk and gently took the artist's hand. Namine' watched the man's doings, unsure how or why she knew not to react. Riku swirled the paintbrush in the black paint on the palette. He scraped the bristles along the edge of the palette before skillfully painting his fancy signature onto Namine''s arm.

 

“What's this for?” Namine' asked, surprisingly not angry with the man—whom she hardly knew—for painting on her PURPOSELY.

 

“Riku explained, “If you accept my offer of hanging your painting in my museum, you'll need clearance once you arrive at that address. There are guards just outside. Sign the painting and take it there WITHOUT SMEARING MY SIGNATURE. Show your arm to the guards and they'll escort you to the submission desk. That's where you fill out the paperwork for your submitted art. When you're done, feel free to take a look around the museum.”

 

“Got it.” Without any wait, Namine' signed the painting and dashed up the street, leaving a “Be back soon!” sign on her easel for any passing people who would consider having her paint their caricature. (A/N: I should've stated that she paints caricatures as sort of a job, though she doesn't fully rely on it. Sorry!)

 

“Namine', one more thing!” The eager artist halted and hopped on one foot, turning around. Riku dropped his head in thought, but brought it back up shortly after a mid-weighing sigh. “Not that I'm interested in you or anything [since I AM purely gay], but I'd… like to know if you're single.”

 

Namine' hesitated from being asked such a question from a gay guy—even though he denied interest in her—but eventually came to say, “I am.”

 

Riku nodded without paying too much to it to stop, what with him in brief thought. He walked up to Namine' and rested a hand on her corresponding shoulder, mumbling, “If you ever find your true love, don't EVER let it slip out of your grasp, lest you end up doing the things that I've been doing, and don't ask what they were.”

 

Just then, Alphonse emerged from the apartment building. “Sorry to keep you, Riku. The elevator was jammed; I had to take the stairs.”

 

“Oh, no, it's alright,” Riku excused, “I've just been speaking with Namine'. Here. Look at the finished painting of the street's sunrise.” Alphonse gave the same reaction as Riku did. “I offered to hang it in my museum.”

 

Alphonse turned to Riku with astonishment in his eyes. “You own a MUSEUM—!?!”

 

“Here. Let's talk and walk, okay?” Riku suggested impatiently while hooking onto Alphonse and pulling him down the street, “I'll explain on the way.”

 

“O… kay.”

 

“Namine'! Remember what I told you!” The last thing that he saw as he turned his head back to forward was Namine''s nod, then heard her sneakers rapidly beat the cement sidewalk.

 

~~~

 

Riku explained the whole `museum' thing during his following Alphonse down Betwixt and Between Boulevards. In the surely unknown Alley to Between, near Fragment Crossing, a group of varied-age gay couples were just getting into some action that made Riku cock an eyebrow of intrigue.

 

“Aw, damn! Alphonse is here!” the cyber-looking teenager in blue armor complained, “We can't make out in front of him.”

 

“Hold on, RockMan,” the blue-armored teen's adorable, almost identical human lover neutralized, “That guy who's with `im… Could he be HIS!?”

 

“Hi. I'm Riku,” Riku openly introduced himself after hearing talk of him, “I'm not really Alphonse' man YET, but we're getting there.” He winked at the Alchemist to his left, making him blush a little.

 

“Nice!” the spiky-haired human boy exclaimed, “Welcome to the Masqueraiders' hideout, `The Veil.'” The boy turned to his boyfriend on his right, though still faced Riku and Alphonse. “I'm Ran Hikari,” he introduced, “and this is my Net Navi and boyfriend, RockMan.” (A/N: “RockMan” was the original name of MegaMan, BEFORE his move to America. “Ran” is Lan's real name. By the way, RockMan exists because of the CopyBot, explained in MegaMan: Battle Network 6: Falzar/MaegaMan: Battle Network 6:Gregar. GET THE GAMES! THEIR TIIIIIIGHT! …Carry on!)

 

“It's nice to meet you,” Riku politely responded, “Now, after living here for four years and not knowing about this `Masqueraiders' group, I must ask, `What exactly IS this group?'.”

 

“The Masqueraiders,” a blond man wielding a HUGE, knife-shaped sword answered, “My name is Cloud Strife. Codename: Arasoi Kumo. We, the Masqueraiders, are a group of gay seducers. We seduce ANY man with knowledge of the Heartless—avoiding sex using the best of our cunning—while extracting as much Heartless-related information from them as possible without leading them onto us. The heartless in this city have some connection with a human, of that much we know. I'm telling you this because I've seen you fight Heartless before.” Cloud looked up at all of the sky that he could see, searching hard. “In fact…” he added, narrowing his eyes with a suspicion-raising thought evidently running though his head, “…my boyfriend Rein was supposed to be back a-half-an-hour ago… If he's havin' too much fun, I swear I'll—”

 

“—Calm, Cloud. You KNOW that Rein loves you,” a teenager with slicked back, blond hair, and clad in khaki-camouflage pants and sleeveless t-shirt, reminded the swordsman. The boy sat atop the lap of a slightly older boy in a dark blue, midriff zipper-shirt, white overcoat, sweatpants, and black knit hat, which Riku expected would give the kid hat-hair once he took it off. (LEAVE IT ALONE! If you know who he is, then know that IT IS A KNIT HAT!) “Right, Seifer?” the boy asked, nipping at his boyfriend's neck.

 

“Yeah, Cloud, Hayner's right,” the boyfriend, Seifer, agreed, “Rein'd never do ANYthing with ANYone else. We were talkin' about it yesterday, when we were walkin' across Naught's Skyway to Memory's Skyscraper. He told me and Hayner that he knew it'd hurt you if he ever cheated on you, and that he had not interest in anyone else anyway.”

 

“Yeah,” Hayner confirmed, “He also said a lot of personal stuff about you.”

 

“SPILL!”

 

“Uh… You SURE?” Hayner asked.

 

“I don't care WHAT you share in front of everyone. SPILL!”

 

“Well… He said you have `a heart-melting voice and satisfying size,'” Riku's and Alphonse' eyes widened to the “satisfying size” part, while Cloud simply smirked. RockMan and Ran were used to such information being shared so openly. Sensing no upcoming surprise in the conversation, they hopped onto the red couch in the corner of the alley (…as clean as it was…) and hurriedly began making out, stripping their other of his armor—section by section—until he was left bare-chested while still wearing his spandex leggings.

 

“`Voice' and `smile,' huh…?” Cloud studied the words carefully to get a better idea of his boyfriend's level of love intensity for him.

 

“Oh, yeah! He told us about your sex,” Seifer brashly mentioned.

 

“That's kinda personal for someone to share,” Riku finally spoke out.

 

“It's okay, Riku,” Alphonse came to explain, placing a settling hand on Riku's shoulder, “The Masqueraiders are a privacy-insured group of gays. You can talk about ANYthing and feel safe here.” Cloud nodded at the teenagers as a signal for furtherance into his lover's mind and heart.

 

“His face blew UP when he mentioned your, uh… `lips and hips performances,'” Seifer exposed.

 

“Heh… So he likes my oral… I'm glad…” Cloud expressed with a little wider of a smirk on his face, “I pressured—almost coerced—him into being the receiver when we last had sex. He told me that he didn't like “being done from behind,” but I constantly insisted that he accept me. I'd never thought that he'd enjoy it.” He paused when a different thought came to his awareness. “I guess that I was being callous of his feelings, then,” he murmured, feeling slightly sorry after running through everything again, “Anyway, what else did he say?”

 

Seifer turned away and snickered—with admiration—to his memory of the previous day, when Rein shared his essay's count of romantic words, each revolving around a single Cloud from The Heavens. (Awww, you LIKE that, huh?) “He told us that… since you did the anal with him, he's been fantasizing about, in his words, `…being in the shower when he walks in, slowly pushes into me, and brings me into a close embrace.'”

 

Cloud's smirk further stretched. As he nodded, he declared, “Rein and I are getting wet, once he gets back.” Light, four-person laughter followed the blond swordsman' oath of fantasy fulfillment.

 

“See?” Hayner pointed out, “It's JUST like how Seifer and I said it was: Rein loves you too much to go out and cheat on you—”

 

“—nor to even find pleasure in being fucked by just ANY man.”

 

“He HAS to be YOU, Cloud.” All [except for RockMan's and Ran's] heads turned to behind Riku and Alphonse, where the Raijin-sounding voice was cast. (A/N: Raijin's from Kingdom Hearts 2 and—I THINK—a Final Fantasy game. Here, I'm referring to Raijin from Kingdom Hearts 2. If you haven't played the game, GET IT! It's a GOOD game, so don't listen to whatever those bitches whom you call “friends” tell you.) A young man at almost Cloud's height stood at the corner of Alley to Between. His arms were crossed as he leaned against a wall of the long-abandoned Station of Serenity. In color, his eyes matched Cloud's. Cloud was internally excited to see the boy whose long, metallic-cobalt hair coated most of his body whenever he faced away from a breeze. That long, smooth, and flowing hair, including the eye-veiling bangs, was one of the properties that made Cloud claim the young man, who, by the way, was clad like Tifa, but minus the dress and plus tight, ALMOST illegally-short, black shorts. He looked almost identical to Squall, and minus the facial scar. “I'm disappointed in you for thinking that I'd fuck another man, Cloud!”

 

“R-Rein!” Cloud stumbled with his words. (SO unlike him… Ah well!) “How much… did you hear?”

 

“I've been here since I heard you guys laughing,” Rein answered, walking around Riku to right in from of him..

 

Good; he doesn't know that I learned of his fantasy. Cloud sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, I know,” he said calmly, walking up to wrap his arms around his beloved's waist and sexily exposed lower torso, “I was only blinded by impatience. Waiting for you was one of the most unendurable things ever.”

 

“Cloud, I'll always return to your `gonna-kill-someone' limit,” Rein promised, snaking his arms up to and onto his boyfriend's shoulders, “You forgot that I'm one of many Broadway actors, and that I MUST stay fit to be one—”

 

“—and THAT, you are to perfection…”

 

Rein laughed. “Thank you, Cloud. To the point, I can fight, should any man attempt to touch me. Without having sex with other men, my missions are harder to accomplish, but I will ALWAYS refuse another man's touch. You're my only, Arasoi, Kumo.”

 

Cloud leaned in closer and hugged Rein. “Aishiteru, Ame-kun …” he whispered into his lover's ear. (A/N: “Ame” is Rein's codename, but it also means “rain” in Japanese. “Rein” and “rain” were essentially meant to connect, but I didn't want the character's name spelled with the “a” because it looks stupid to see “Rain and Cloud.” The “Rain Cloud” idea was what I was going for, but not DIRECTLY with their names. I only wanted the sounds to work together. Continue…)

 

“Aishiteru, Kumo-sama,” Rein whispered back.

 

RockMan and Ran, who had just reached their orgasms, quickly redressed. “S-s-so! Wwwwha'jya learn from that 50-something-year-old?” RockMan asked, quivering as aftershock from the force of his orgasm. Cloud shivered to the thought of his berserk mode if Rein would've had sex with a man who was in his 50's.

 

Rein gave his report. “Well, the first thing that he said was that, at first glance, I looked like the girl whom he'd seen summon a few Heartless. One girl in this city looks like me: that's the only thing I could dig up.”

 

“Then, why'd it take you so long to get back here?” Cloud asked.

 

“I was trying to search the area where the man said that he saw the girl, but I couldn't find anything,” Rein explained.

 

Suddenly, an image of Rein and a double popped into Cloud's head. “Tifa!” Cloud turned to face the whole group and dramatically exclaimed, “There's this girl that I know named Tifa! She and Rein dress alike! It was last week when she pinned me to a wall up on Naught's Skyway, attempting to seduce ME. Before Rein came and stopped her, she told me about her cooperation with some `sorority.' Each girl in the group is vengeful towards a specific Masqueraider of their interest, but not all of us are targets to their lust.”

 

Ran scratched the back of his head with a confused look on his face. “So, basically, there are less girls in this other group, and each one is after our members, but only the ones of their interest?”

 

“That's what Tifa told me…” Cloud confirmed, though he shrugged, “It's safe to say that, with the information that we have now, this `sisterhood' is summoning the Heartless and using them to get their ways with us.”

 

Rein made two fists that trembled as they tightened from anger-forced muscles. “No matter WHAT they do…” he growled, throwing his arms around Cloud's neck and hugging him tightly. The others were deeply moved by Rein's high level of dedication for Cloud, considering such a display as uncommon in their era. “No matter WHAT happens…” he began to cry, concerning Cloud, “…they're NOT… …they're NEVER taking you away from me! I'll KILL Tifa if it's what it takes for the keeping of your love! You're all that's LEFT for me, Cloud! The Heartless took my world for GOOD! When I crash-landed on this world and went unconscious, YOU were the one who woke me up at the hospital! I WON'T STAND to see some girl tear us apart! I WON'T!”

 

“It's alright, Rein,” Cloud whispered warmly [for a change], bringing his handsome lover into his own embrace, “Tifa's in my past now.”

 

“Pasts can always come back to haunt you, Cloud,” Rein sobbed.

 

Cloud pulled away from Rein and kissed him. Rein's body flared up as the warm tongue entered his mouth and swept along and against his own. A fire coursed within his skin, and goosebumps shot up when his blond heartthrob moaned in the midst of the love trade. Cloud pulled his head back and gazed into Rein's radiant, sky-blue eyes in the moonlight. As he wiped a rolling tear from his boyfriend's cheek, he promised, “It won't haunt me, because I'm not afraid of ghosts.”