Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Dirge ❯ Bullet wound ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Title: Dirge

Pairing: CloudXRiku!

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I don’t won KH, Square Enix does.

Warnings: Yaoi in later chapters, and violence, and bad language, lots of language.

Music: AFI- Death of Seasons

Prompt: Sin

“P-Pregnant?!?!?” Riku couldn’t help but stammer in disbelief. Kairi looked to be only 14, for her to be pregnant would be scandalous at best. “How??”

Sora gave him a strange look by cocking his head to the side. “What? Don’t tell me you’ve never had the birds and the bees speech. Cuz I’m not going to explain it.”

Riku shook his head in exasperation. “No what I mean is, who’s the father?”

Both Kairi and Sora blushed at this query and looked away. “Um Riku…Did I tell you why Kairi lives all the way down here? She uh….works in the House.”

“Oh…” Riku blushed with embarrassment and tried to look away. Kairi’s baby’s father could be anyone willing to come to the House. Which would be a lot of people. No wonder Sora was so desperate to get her inside the city. He wanted her in a better life, he loved her.

A small pang of some foreign feeling slipped into Riku’s consciousness. He tried to assign a label to it, tried to make sense of it, but for some reason he couldn’t put a finger on it. Was it remorse? Guilt? Perhaps it was sympathy. Whatever it was, it began to flood into Riku’s being like a wildfire, and it only grew stronger when he chanced a look in Sora and Kairi’s direction.

The silence was the only thing that alerted Sora to the sound of footsteps at all. Before either him or Riku could move a boy in his late teens, with sandy blonde hair came from nowhere and slammed his fist into Sora’s jaw, sending him sliding across the ground. Riku had his sword out in an instant, the cool smoothly-worn leather comforting in his grip. The weight was not like anything he was used to, but he adjusted quickly as he rushed the boy.

The blonde boy swerved at the last moment, dodging Riku’s jab and sending him off balance. The silver-haired teen just barely rolled away before the other boy’s foot came down hard where Riku’s head had been a second earlier. If that blow had connected, it probably would have killed Riku.

Dimly Riku heard Kairi yelling something, but he ignored her to concentrate on the boy above him who was straddling him and pinning him to the ground. The boy’s strong hands had effectively pinned down Riku’s sword arm, and he pinched until the Riku was forced to release his weapon.

“Sora,” the sandy-haired boy said with contempt. “What the hell are you doing in my territory? And who’s this boy? I’ve never seen him before. He’s kind of cute, he might do for the House.”

“Shut the hell up Tidus and let him go. He’s under Cloud’s protection!” Riku saw Sora stand out of the corner of his eyes. From what he could see, there were several other boy’s surrounding him, preventing him from any further action.

“Cloud’s protection eh? He looks like he might need it. He’s pathetic! He doesn’t even have hardly any muscles. He looks like a House boy!”

Anger coursed through Riku’s veins. “Are you calling me a whore?” Riku growled

The sandy-haired kid, Tidus, as Sora had called him, looked back down at the motionless youth below him. “That’s exactly what I’m calling you. What did you have to do? Sleep with Cloud to get into the gang? I wouldn’t doubt it. Everyone over there is just a bunch of fags.”

Not just anger, but pure rage was flowing thickly through Riku’s veins now. Adrenaline was released into the teen’s body and he pushed back against Tidus’s grip. Slowly he sat up, pushing Tidus back from him. Within a matter of seconds Riku had managed to maneuver out from under Tidus and pick up his sword.

“What the fuck???” Tidus jumped back and examined Riku closely. “Guess you’re not just a pretty boy.”

“Riku run! Get out of here!” Sora was still surrounded by the other cronies. One of whom had Sora’s keyblade weapon in his hand.

Riku ignored his brunette friend and positioned his sword in front of him as he had seen Roxas and Sora pose during their training. It was awkward, their weapons were obviously different both in weight and structure, so Riku adjusted it so it was more comfortable.

Tidus laughed. “Are you going to fight me? Don’t be stupid kid, you don’t even know how to use that sword of yours!” The sandy-haired teen reached for the hilt of the sword attached to his pants. “You fight me, and I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“Bring it on asshole. No one attacks my friends.”

A sudden flash of wonder rushed through Riku’s mind at his words. Since when had he considered Sora or any of the other’s his friends? They were the ones that had hurt him, had killed his father. They were the reason the was stuck on the outside, stuck in hell.

But then again, they didn’t deserve being out here. Just like Tidus didn’t. A blink of compassion mixed with the other already jumbled emotions, and Riku found himself faltering.

Tidus took his hesitation as an opportunity to strike. In a flash his blade was out and he was rushing Riku. Riku tried to block, and just barely managed to withstand the blow. Tidus didn’t even look phased, but that single blow had tired Riku out. His moves were sluggish, where Tidus’s were fast and powerful. He darted in and out, like a wolf slowly hamstringing it’s target. Soon Riku’s clothes were starting to smear with blood.

“Riku! Get out of here! Don’t worry about me!” Sora’s voice was high pitched, as if he were truly worried. It filled Riku with despair as the definite knowledge that he could not win slowly seeped into his mind.

“Yeah pretty-boy! Go back to your master! Get out of here! Scram!” Each of Tidus’s taunts were followed by a quick, strength-draining strike. Riku’s despair and anger increased, rising in him like a phoenix. His muscles burned, his body burned, and his soul receded, letting the fury of his burning despair and pain flood through him and fill him entirely.

The strength of despair, the madness of a cornered, wounded animal grasped Riku’s heart, the same despair that had grasped every other person on the Outside, the despair that was in Cloud, in Sora, in Kairi, and even in the boy attacking him. It filled his mind with the only thing he had to focus on at the moment, the will to survive.

Despite the pain, despite the fire, Riku lashed out instead of trying to block Tidus’s attack. It caught Tidus off guard and the sandy-haired boy tripped in an attempt to block the incoming blow. Riku slashed him up the arm, the hot blood within spilling across the ground.

Tidus stared at his open wound with a mix of shock and anger. “Y-you hit me.” he stammered.

Riku was breathing hard, he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t really think. All he could concentrate on was the target in front of him, the source of his pain, the enemy. He dashed forward and was knocked back with a block by Tidus. The boy countered with a slash of his own that Riku just barely managed to dodge. The blade slipped into his shirt and sliced the fabric cleanly, making the whole right side of the garment fall off. Several gasps came from Sora’s area, and Riku dimly heard one of the cronies say: “Sir, look, his arm!”

Riku glanced down at his own arm. There, just under his bicep, was the tattoo that marked him a citizen. The clean, unaltered barcode he had had since birth. The thing that anyone outside would kill for. It marked him an “Innie” an outsider among outsiders.

“You’re an Innie.” Tidus said, half-mockingly and half-angrily. “What the hell are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be inside? Eating steak and watching T.V.? Go back to your comfortable life.”

Riku’s eyes shimmered with seething hate as he stared at his enemy. “Don’t you think I would if I could? Don’t you think I’d get myself out of this hellhole as soon as possible without a second glance if I could? I don’t want to be out here. It’s the fucking outsiders’ fault that I’m even out here. They attacked my father’s ship, left me stranded without family, friends, or identification. I’m stuck out here the same as any of you assholes.”

A gasp from Sora made Riku shut his mouth. He hadn’t meant to say such hurtful things, but the anger that had welled up inside him had come bursting forth without constraint. He couldn’t have stopped the remarks if he had tried.

Riku shook his head to clear the sentimental thoughts and rushed Tidus again. He wasn’t going to lose this battle. He needed to win, to prove to someone, even if only himself, that he could take care of himself, that he wasn’t worthless. He needed a route for his anger, and Tidus was as good as any.

Tidus blocked and pranced away neatly. “What the hell are you still fighting for? You just as much called your friend trash. So why not just walk away?” Tidus had to stop to block yet another blow as Riku came at him again. They went on like that, Riku attacking and Tidus blocking and yelling snide remarks for several minutes. It was a desperate, ugly battle. Both sides had many cuts all over their bodies. Finally, Riku managed to maneuver Tidus close to the wall where the sandy-haired boy tripped over the jar Kairi had been washing with. Riku took the advantage and pushed the older boy against the wall, sword to his throat.

Several of the cronies started to rush forward, but Sora yelled at them. “Make a wrong move and Riku will kill him!”

Everyone froze. Riku and Tidus were breathing hard from their fight, and Riku’s hand was shaking. The cool black steel of Riku’s sword was covered in blood, making the thinner parts shine with the brilliance of a ruby.

“I’ll kill you.” Riku stated as he pressed the blade a little closer to Tidus’s throat. The sandy-haired teen tried to move, but Riku had him pinned fairly well.

“Kill me and your friend is dead.” Tidus growled back. He tried to act defiant, but Riku could hear the hint of fear in his voice, saw it shining in his eyes.

The clink of metal and a squawk from Kairi made Riku hesitate. Slowly ha moved back from the wall, making sure to keep Tidus at the end of his blade. “Get out of here.” Riku growled. “All of you. Get the hell out of here and don’t bother us.”

Tidus paused a moment, then moved away from Riku, he waved at his mean and soon all of them were walking down the alley.

Riku hobbled over toward Sora. He was stiff, all his muscles ached and he was positive that he’d lost more blood than was healthy. Just as he was about to sit down on the ground, he heard a call from behind him.

All three kids looked up to see Tidus holding a gun and pointing it in their direction. The bang of gunfire, much like the backfire of a car, rang across the couple yards reached their ears shortly followed by Sora’s cry of pain. Anxiously Riku crawled over to Sora and pulled off his shirt. A blossom of blood was forming around a small hole just between the shoulder and the collar bone.

“Sora!” Riku yelled. Hurriedly he tried to staunch the wound, using parts of his torn shirt to try and stop the bleeding. Kairi hovered behind him, worry in both her voice and movements.

“Will he be ok?!? Sora! Sora listen to me!!”

“Shut up and get me some water!” Riku growled at her. He ripped off the remainder of his shirt and tried to tie off the wound, like he had seen Leon do to Cloud, but it was at an awkward angle and Riku couldn’t get the fabric to cooperate.

Kairi came back over with some water. Riku didn’t ask where she had gotten it, the jar she had had full of water had been knocked over in the fight, but he accepted it gladly and dipped a strip of cloth in it. Sora was beginning to go into shock. He was sweating and mumbling under his breath, even shaking some. Riku laid the wet cloth on his forehead and ordered Kairi to hold it down and wet it if it became dry. Meanwhile Riku tried anxiously to stop the bleeding.

The wound was bleeding a lot, partially because of the strange spot where he had been hit. Riku was beginning to worry that he would die. “I need to get him back to Cloud’s place.” Riku said to Kairi. “Do you know anyone, I mean, Anyone, who can help us?”

Kairi nodded and ran off. While she was gone Riku began to slowly clean the spot around the wound with the water. The hole was starting to close, making Riku glad that the bleeding was stopping, but also worried about getting the bullet out. If the wound closed Sora might have to live with the hunk of metal for the rest of his life, it could even possibly give him lead poisoning.

Kairi came back with a disgruntled man in his late 20’s. The man looked from Riku to Sora and shook hi head. “Damn, kid, you two sure look beat up.”

“Help.” Riku panted. His vision was starting to blur as his own wounds began to affect him. “I can’t carry him…” Riku managed.

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” The man replied. “Move back, you did a good job.”

Riku started to scoot away, but the effort made him collapse. Within moments he was out cold.