Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Lion and Blade ❯ Chapter 5
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: whymihere 
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Hentai / Fantasy / Romance / Shounen | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.19.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 225 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Hentai / Fantasy / Romance / Shounen | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.19.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 225 | Status: Completed
Chapter 5
“Great everybody has a new weapon but us,” growled Sora as he floated up to a tree to see the others test out their new weapons. Looking to Leon he asked, “Why is it that it seems we’re the last to always find stuff out or have it happen to us? First it was our me waking up after that year long sleep, then it was you and your memories, then Rikku and Kairi, and now all of this crap.” Punching the tree Sora rubbed his aching fist and shook it as he cursed for the tree being as old and as tough as it was.
Smirking, Leon pulled a flask from his hip and took a swig of it before handing it to Sora. Given a questioning look, the older fighter told him, “It’s a weak rum I got from that pirate. It’s not that bad and it’d take about ten bottles of this stuff to even get you drunk. And besides,” he added with a small grunt and stretch, “we’re going back to see your mom soon and frankly, I need booze just to handle her.” Watching Sora laugh at the remark, Leon saw watched him sniff the bottle before taking a small swig and start coughing. Grabbing it back he muttered, “Wimp,” to himself before capping it and clipping it to his belt.
Watching Riku and Cloud test out their new blades on each other. Sora laid his back against the tree and stared at his friends fight, as Leon jumped down to check in with Rinoa. Feeling a bit left out, the teen dropped from the tree and was ready to go when Mickey shouted for him and Leon. Curious as to what was happening, Sora walked over to see Yen-sid holding a key chain and Merlin holding a gold gunblade. Approaching the old wizard, Sora took the chain and asked, “So, this is supposed to turn the Keyblade into a weapon strong enough to kill those things?”
Chuckling, the wizened man rubbed his beard with a laugh before telling the skeptical youngster, “OF course my dear boy. It’s like all your other keyblades. You clip this to that wrist band you always wear, rather than the Kingdom Key, and focus to make it appear.” Seeing Sora’s disbelief and Leon’s enthusiasm, Yen-Sid told Sora, “Try it out for yourself if you do not believe me. But be careful as we have yet to make replacements should these not hold up under the pressures of combat.”
Clipping the chain to his wrist, Sora focused his thoughts to first summon the Fenrir blade that he had used in his last battle, and then focused on his other blade. In a sudden flash a thin sword appeared in his hand with a gauntlet replacing the opened fingered gloves that he was used to using. Taking a notice of the sword, he thought it looked a bit like a rapier except for the serated edges that made it look a bit like a saw. The handle was a fine silver with a griffin head on the end and wings on the handles, while the mouth of the griffin held a small two sided knife in it.
Smirking, Sora took it over to a tree, jumped, and swung it downwards through the branch that he had ended up facing. Landing it took a moment for the effect to take place and soon the limb fell with dead thud. “Cool,” he exclaimed before walking over to a rock and pusing the tip in gently. It didn’t slide in like he thought, but after a moment of concentrating on the rock the blade slid through it effortlessly and out the other side. Focusing again the blade and gauntlet disappeared and Sora thanked the magicians for creating the weapon.
“It was our pleasure boys,” remarked Merlin happily. Scratching his head the old man said, “Now they will not cut through magically protected objects like doors or chests, but when in battle with your new enemies, the blades will automatically adjust to the situation and give you a fighting chance against them. As Master Yen-Sid told you that these are the first ones made and may not hold up too well under difficult combat. Should that happen, we are currently manufacturing stronger versions and hope to improve on them so that they will not break.” Putting their weapons away, the group bowed and thanked their friends for helping them with their new missions.
Chuckling, Mickey said to them, “Now, now there’s no need for that. We must always be ready to protective those we love and as of right now we are not finding any activity from the enemy, so feel free to go home and rest or stay here in the castle until you’re needed.” The king was prepared to join his friends in a meal, when one of the broom servants came to him holding a letter. Thanking the animate object, the mouse opened the envelope and said, “I on the other hand must go and talk to King Triton. Supposedly he is having problem with the highway to the castle and would like some help on that. Cloud and Tifa, would you be so kind as to accompany me?”
Both asked, rather rudely why they were the ones who had to go while the others go to rest. Smiling, Mickey told them, “Because Triton seems to like you two more than the others, which if means that by bringing the two of you he’ll be more willing to allow us to repair it the way we need to, rather than the way he wants.” Hearing the reluctance in their agreements, Mickey frowned telling them, “Do this for me and you shall not be required to do any missions for a week, and I will pay for any accessories and armor you may find useful to your future battles.”
Hearing the prospect of free items, Yuffie piped in saying that she’ll go as if the other two wouldn’t. Riku made mention that if Cloud was too much of a coward he’d be willing to go as well. That however evaporated any thought of foregoing the mission and said that he was willing to go. Dispatching his Way to the Dawn, Riku said that his work was done and shouted to Sora, “Hey! You gonna pack or what?! We have to find a ship to take us home!” Walking back into the castle, Riku separated from Kairi and went to his own room that was next to Sora’s. Inside he grabbed what little clothes he had brought with him, tossed them into a rucksack, and went to see what Sora was up to.
As he left his room, he was knocked down by Stitch who was chasing Sora begging him not to go. Sliding into his room, Sora locked it and told stitch that he could come with him. Not believing his friend the little blue monster began asking things in alien before saying in English, “But, Sora not see Stitch and Lilo much. And we get sad, very sad.” Scratching at the door the little alien waited for an answer when Riku patted him on the head saying that Sora would visit him after their next mission. Purring the alien asked, “Riku promise, Stitch?”
Nodding Riku told the blue ball of fur, “I’ll make him visit. If he doesn’t, I got a new weapon to test out on him.” The little alien clapped happily at the prospect of destruction before climbing onto the walls and out of the palace. Knocking Riku said, “Open up, Sora. If not I’m slicing the door down.” Knowing that Sora wouldn’t open, Riku pulled on the knob to find it open. Peeking in he saw Sora packing his bag without noticing what he was putting in there. Reaching into the bag, Riku nearly had his hand sliced off by Sora summoning his new sword. Stopping his movements, Riku let Sora regain control over himself before asking, “All right why were you running from Stitch, and why do you have these?”
Peering at his friends hand, Sora’s eyes bulged out at the sight of a small amount of a certain type of prophylactic. Grabbing them, Sora stuffed them into the bag saying, “Mom bought them for me. Apparently she thinks I’m dating Olette back in Twilight Town. I tried to tell her that I wasn’t, but she won’t listen and bought me a few boxes of these. Want one?” Asking the question, Sora laughed at Riku’s sudden dropping of the small box telling him, “I said I’m cool with you two dating so just take them. I’m not going to be using them anytime soon.”
Shrugging, Riku put them into his bag just as a dreadlock bearing man walked into the room asking, “I see you two gents have established where your respective belongings are to carried in. Might I ask what the appropriate hour of our depature will be so that I may advise the crew on when they should prepare to set sail?” Taking notice of his sudden appearance scaring the two teens slightly, Jack removed his hats and bowed saying, “My apologies mates, I did not realize that you were not expecting me, yet I thought a minor distraction from the business of pirating so that I may rejuvenate myself into retreating back into my chosen profession.
Tying his bag up, Sora raised an eyebrow asking, “Okay, and you decided that coming to a royal palace filled with treasure would be the ideal spot to get away from the temptations of pirating?” Jack, who had begun picking his teeth once Sora started talking asked for the teen to repeat himself. Scoffing, he muttered, “Never mind, I’ll be on the ship when in case you guys need me. Dock five as usual right Jack?” The pirate captain told him that it was in fact dock thirty-five this time around. Moaning at the length the trip would take, Sora exited his room with Riku and made their way to the basements. The both got onto the moving walkway that lead to the ships.
IT wasn’t as long a trip as Sora made it out to be, but after seventeen turns and small climbs Riku was getting as annoyed as Sora until Chip and Dale asked what ship they needed to be on. Pressing one of the buttons that ran the intercom system Riku asked, “Take us to Jack Sparrows ship guys before Sora has an aneurism.” Blocking a punch from his best friend, Riku smirked and threw a punch of his own, to have it stopped by Sora. Snickering Riku tried to start a fight, but Gibbs yelled down at them to hurry on board.
Breaking out of each others grips, the boys walked into the hull of the space ship that Jack and his crew had “borrowed,” from the royal fleet. Seeing the other ten people of the crew, Sora and Riku greeted Gibbs and asked where they would be sleeping. Checking a roster, Gibbs said, “Aye, you two will each be given a room next to Jacks, but you’ll be sharing with that lad Leon and the girl Kairi. Which according to Jack means that if ye don’t mind Sora, this being a long trip mind, that you’ll have to share a bed with your friend.”
Both Riku and Gibbs started to smirk at Sora’s discomfort, but knew that if worst came to worst, one of them would be in the brig with the rest of the crew. Rubbing his temples, Sora raised his hands saying, “You know what, it’s fine. As long as we can alternate who has the bed each night I’m fine sleeping on the floor. How long is it going to take us anyway Gibbs?” Seeing the man smirk, Sora took his charter and groaned loudly saying, “Three weeks? This is a brand new ship! How the hell can it take us three weeks to get from here to Destiny Islands?”
Snatching back his charter the older pirate growled, “Because boy! We recently got into battle and half our ships power was lost. So, we’re getting basic repairs while we’re docked just to make sure the crew survives. And if you know anything about this devil machinery you and your friend can help fix it if it ain’t too much trouble for you?” Seeing them both snort, Gibbs grabbed his leather flask saying, “Judging by those looks you two know something about fixing these things and while on a pirate ship everyone works, including guests.” Looking to Riku he added, “And it’s a good thing your lass is coming along because without her it’ll take twice as long for us to get back. I hear she’s a right fine navigator, almost as good as Jack if it were to be done while out on the open sea.”
“What about me is almost as good as Captain Jack, Mr. Gibbs?” Asked Kairi who had appeared at the hull with Leon right behind her. Repeating what he’d said about her navigation skills. Grinning broadly, Kairi scratched her head saying, “Well that’s what you get from learning how to pilot a ship from Tifa. Just make sure you strap in should I take over driving duties.” Riku and Sora began to laugh at how bad they thought Kairi’s driving really was, but stopped when they heard the loud cracking of knuckles and the small whoosh of her keyblade being summoned. Tapping both of them on the shoulders she asked a bit too nicely, “What is so funny about my driving you two?”
Shaking their heads and saying that they had work to do, Riku and Sora ran off in any direction in hopes of finding the engine room. Lucky for them everything was clearly marked and they found the engine room that was occupied by the old pirate with the parrot. Tapping him on the shoulder as he absent mindedly tried to fix the engine. Telling them that they would take over for him, the boys jumped down and joined the broomsticks who were doing the repairs to the engine. Seeing where they were going wrong, Riku took over fixing the power supplies as Sora went about fixing the gears that controlled the power output. Looking down at Riku who had just repairing a broken coupling, Sora shouted down, “Okay check to see where the short is, because it looks like they’ve fried a few circuits in the main thrust drive.”
Grabbing a pair of work gloves and applying a few clamps, Riku isolated the short on his end and repaired some of the wiring while Sora fixed the short in the thrust drive by using a replacement Gummi drive. Returning power to that section of wiring, they heard a smooth whirring that signaled that one of the hundreds of repairs needed was successful. Working slowly to make sure they were doing the job right, they’d managed to fix at least three problems that would result in the ship at least being able to make a return trip to the castle for final repairs. Shutting one of the grates. Sora wiped his head and fell back from his perch in the engine room and hit his head on some a part of the engine before using his “Glide,” ability to stop his fall.
Rubbing his head he asked, “What are they doing out there?” But just as Riku answered the engines turned on and the teens and their tools were knocked to the floor as the ship took off from the castle. Groaning they climbed to their feet and shakily walked to the ladder after replacing the tools that they were using. Making their way to the bridge, Sora and Riku checked the large series of clocks to find that they had been down in the engine room for nearly five hours.
Walking through the ship, they found a sign that read, “Mess hall,” and entered to find it a bit cleaner than they thought with plenty of food for everyone to eat. Jack was sitting at the head of a large table sipping from a bottle of rum with Leon and laughing it up. Seeing a few empty bottles, well rather a couple dozen, floating around the drunken heads of the crew; the friends figured out what was going on, but decided to sit down and have a nice meal anyway. It was decent with the pig, potatoes, corn, carrots, grapes, and other fruits and vegetables filling the table, yet as Sora was stuck next to Leon he had to endure the fighter’s drunken humor.
Eaten carefully from his plate, Sora ducked a few of Leon’s flailing arms before taking the bottle saying, “Okay, Leon you’ve had enough of this stuff. Now if you don’t mind I want a drink. How strong is it?” Slurring an answer that a led Sora to believe it wasn’t very strong, he put it to his lips and began chugging deeply. After a few gulps, Sora started to cough and handed it to Riku and Kairi saying, “It’s not to bad and a few drinks won’t kill us. So long as we don’t end up like the rest of them.”
It was a bad idea on their part, they normally did not give into any sort of pressure, unless it was a dare. Normally booze wasn’t involved, but after what they had been through lately, the group decided to indulge in some of the fermented barley the pirates provided. It was a bit warm, sweet, smooth, but a little tough to swallow the first few times around. However, after a bit of singing, the group left the passed out pirates and began to stumble toward their rooms singing a rendition, “Yo, ho, ho, ho a pirates life for me,” that would have sounded better coming out of a drunken whale’s blowhole.
Stopping outside Sora and Leon’s room, the quartet noticed that they had a couple of empty bottles and decided to play a bit of a game. Realizing what they were suggesting, Leon began to take over as the responsible adult figure saying, “No, no, no. It’s bad enough I allowed the three of you to get drunk. But, this right here is going over the line, especially since we all may try to get the bottle to point at Kairi and I’m close to puking and getting stabbed doesn’t sound like that much of a fun time either. So you two,” he gestured to Kairi and Riku’s room, “off to bed before I kick you in there.” When they said good night, Leon fumbled with the door handle and stumbled into the room without even turning on the lights forcing him to trip over one of the bags that had been knocked out of it’s corners.
Turning on the lights as he laughed, Sora shakily made his way to the bed and took off his shoes and laid his head on the pillow just as Leon somehow appeared dressed in his pajamas. Falling on the bed, Leon mumbled something which had Sora asking, “Why are you asking if I have a spare bottle? Do you have to go to the bathroom?” Leon muttered something about needing some water, but Sora had the idea of making him sit up and said, “We’ll spin it to see who gets the water.”
Getting up from the bed, Leon took the bottle and threw it away muttering, “I don’t want any water.” Rocking back and forth for a minute, Leon leaned in and mumbled something before putting his lips on to Sora’s. Unaware of what he was really doing, Leon didn’t even take notice that Sora was returning the kiss. Pushing his younger companion back, Leon removed his lips from the teens and began to go lower before stopping at Sora’s neck breathing heavily asking, “What did we just do?”
Staring at the ceiling, Sora rubbed his eyes muttering, “I think we just made out.” Both laughed lightly and laid back on the bed both gazing at the now dimmed neon lights. Feeling a little less dizzy, Sora looked at Leon and asked, “I believe we can just chalk this up to the booze?” Leon said that it was all done behind closed doors and wasn’t really that big of a problem since they could have done worse while drunk. Shaking his head to clear some thoughts that had just emerged, Sora asked, “Well we’re drunk, so if we go to bed, we’ll probably forget.”
His explanation did not matter since Leon had fallen asleep. Laughing, Sora took a few of the pillows, and a blanket to sleep on the floor. It was actually quite comfortable given the material of the ship and he fell asleep quickly. Next morning though he was paying for it and woke up feeling like his head had been slammed between two ships. Sitting up slowly, he tried to focus on the “Cure,” spell, yet his headache stopped him from maintaining the focus and he soon lost it. Falling back onto his pillows Sora immediately got up and ran into the bathroom to throw up. Amidst his wretches of physical ailment. Sora failed to notice Leon standing at the sink brushing his teeth looking like he hadn’t had anything to drink the night before.
Raising his hand, Leon focused a bit of energy to create the, “Cure,” spell. Laying his hand on Sora’s head, he focused on his friend and sent the energy into the brain of his friend. After a moment of minor glowing, he kept his hand there before balling it into a fist and smacking him saying roughly, “We got a lot of work to do today and we’re already having people complaining about us not helping. Kairi and Riku are already at their stations. I’ll be alternating between helping the three of you, but I’ll bring you and Riku lunch later.” Walking out and putting on the tee-shirt that he had sitting on the back of the toilet before Sora mistook it for a towel.
Feeling many times better, Sora showered, got dressed, and left for the engine room to see Riku already at work fixing up the poor patch job on near the base of one of th circuit breakers. Walking over to his best friend, Sora took a few tools from the tool box and climbed a ladder to see another repair job that was in need of reinforcement. Checking his tools, Sora began work on the patch until he reached a spot that required a welding device. He would have used the fire spell, but that always proved too hot even when kept at an incredibly low power. Sliding down he pulled a torch off a rack, along with a mask and igniter, climbed back up and began melding the new gummy piece to the ship. It took a careful hand, but finally he did it and gave a huge sigh of relief at not screwing up and risking the lives of everybody on board. Feeling his stomach churn, he climbed down to find Riku already enjoying a bit of food. Seeing a small basket of fruits and other snacks on the ground, Sora sat down and asked who brought the food down.
“It was Kairi. She took a break to bring us a snack.” Replied Riku through a mouth half filled with bread. Giving one to Sora, Riku pulled a muffin out saying, “You didn’t get breakfast so eat a bit or else you’ll pass out. And drink the water that was brought as well.” Seeing his friend dig into the food and drink happily, Riku swallowed his last bit of food before taking some water for himself. As he watched the less than dignified mastication of food that his friend displayed, he noticed a small red mark on Sora’s twitching neck. Leaning in he noticed it looked familiar and asked, “Sora, did anything happen last night after you went into your room?”
Swallowing a bit of muffin, Sora gulped down a bit more water and caught his breath before asking, “What do you mean did anything happen? We went in, Leon passed out on the bed and I slept on the floor only to wake up with a sore neck and a hang over which is enough for me to not drink ever again.” He’d kept his face straight the whole time he spoke to Riku so as the more than attentive teen did not inquire any further. Sora could see that his best friend accepted his answer as reasonable and decided to get back to fixing a few of the patches, in order to let him finish eating.
The questioning forced a loss in appetite for Sora and he thought that if he and Riku worked together they could get a bit more of the serious work done faster than working separately. Grabbing his torch and tools, he found Riku working on some wiring and tossed him an extra pair of gloves telling him, “I got zapped a bit last night, so put those on if you don’t want to smell a bit like burnt leather.” Dropping to the ground, Sora began fixing the wiring and telling Riku, “Get the patch fixed up while I do this. Shouldn’t take too long if we stay in the same area. Just make sure you fix the hole right, I don’t want to have the wind sucked out of me.”
Putting on a mask, Riku fixed some of the metal plating that he was using as a patch in the gummi system, while Sora replaced the dead wiring. When it was done, the platinum haired warrior grabbed a set of couplings and began screwing them into where the wires were connected asking, “Are you usually this crabby in the morning lately? Or do you still have a hangover because I had Kairi heal me up in no time this morning.” Looking at Sora’s disgruntled face he laughed out, “You couldn’t even heal yourself and threw up? Jeez and I thought I was pathetic. At least I was able to keep my food down until I was healed.”
“Who said it was a contest?” Inquired Sora rather angrily. Putting his gloves back on, Sora began working on a few of the other things that needed fixing. He stabilized power out puts, made sure all of the engines were working correctly. After a bit, Leon came down with a few large trays of food and set it down on the floor. Noticing the three trays, Sora gave his friend a look, but thought better to not ask about it and dug into the tray that Leon said was for him. Through mouthfuls of chicken and rice he asked, “Why did you decide to eat with us? Didn’t Jack and them need your help up in the bridge?”
Swallowing his own bit of chicken, Leon shrugged and sipped at his water saying quietly, “Too noisy. Instead I thought I’d help you guys with repairs since I’ve been dealing with Gummi’s a lot longer than you.” Feeling the rage burn from them as if he were being insulting, Leon set his water down and reached for Riku’s wiring job and said, “You screwed up on two of the connections, this one,” he pointed casually to a gray before moving to a blue, “are to not be plugged in or else a warp jump will blow out the engine.” Setting it down he said, “Remember not all wires require connection. Some are there as precautions. If we need the extra power we’ll risk it, but until then don’t mess with the wiring as I got word that most of it is pretty well set up.”
Snorting, both teens ate their food with no reply to Leon’s critcism. They couldn’t retort since they were fairly certain that he was correct at least with their recent wiring job. Which for the most part was false since Leon only had two small errors to correct.. Sora had crossed a couple of wires near a converter, and Riku’s patch job had one minor flaw, but other than that Leon helped them and guided them until the bell for the days work was done. Marking off his check list, the former SeeD member smirked telling them that the engines would be well on their way to being almost fully functional in a couple days, which would put them on weapons detail.
Glad the days work was over, Sora returned to the room for a long hot shower. He hadn’t had one in a few days and with his recent bout of sickness most likely smelt like a rotten batch of eggs after working on engines. Stripping down, he let the water warm and went to brushing his teeth when he heard the entrance to the room. Shouting out that he was using the bathroom, Sora spat out the last of his toothpaste before climbing under the warm water. Washing his hair out he gave a loud sigh of relief and reached for the shampoo. Piling a small amount into his hand, Sora reached up and began to rub it in.
Enjoying the feeling of the bubbles in his hair, he was so entranced by it that he did not notice an extra body in their until he felt some strong hands lathering his hair with soap. Jumping out of the shower and summoning one of his blades he wiped the soap from his eyes to notice Leon standing in the shower with a pair of shorts on. Panting the surprised teen shouted, “What the hell are you doing?! I’m using the shower so what are you doing bugging me?!” He got no answer but another smirk. Powering up a spell he growled, “Tell me what you’re doing or I’ll blast a new hole in the ship.”
“I told Kairi I’d hurry you up because she was making dinner. So I decided to be a bit of a friend and help ya bathe. Is that wrong?” Replied the scarred but muscular man. Pointing at the sword he also told the teen, “Looks like one of your last stitches popped. Get in here and clean it out so I can heal it before Aeris finds out.” Seeing the apprehension in his friends eyes, Leon stepped out of the shower and picked up a pair of swim trunks and threw them at the teen. “If you’re shy put these on.”
Looking at them, Sora slid them on and climbed back into the shower amidst a few drops of blood. Standing under the jet he hissed and covered the wound. Hearing Leon click his tongue and remove the offending limb, a sudden warmth spread through Sora’s body as the wound healed completely. Looking down he had to smile at how cool he thought the scar looked. Neat and tidy at the top and a bit of kilter toward the bottom. About to thank Leon he felt the warm lips of his friend push him back into the wall. Too shocked to move he just remained there and let the kiss happen until Leon backed away.
Staring into Sora’s eyes, Leon kept a straight face saying, “Did you happen to find a letter at some point while you were in the castle?” Sora gave him a quizzical look until asked, “It had something to do with the dreams of a person coming true. Did you read it at all?”
Remembering that letter, Sora nodded saying, “Yes I read it. But, are you saying that you wrote that to me? Why? I mean you have Rinoa and all of them so what the hell are you kissing me for? To get her mad at you, or to find something exciting with life? I thought you of all people weren’t about excitement or adventure but doing the job right?”
Giving the teen a small laugh, Leon patted his head telling him, “You’re right in thinking that Sora. And it is true for the most part, but how come I’m not allowed to have any sort of fun or adventure while getting the job done.” Sighing he sat down saying, “Yes it was my duty and job at one point to only worry about the job, but I do have some sort of emotion in me. And everyone tried to force it out of me when I didn’t want it to. I was fighting everyday, I chose to ignore feelings to survive and now I’m not anymore.” Holding back a scoff he then added, “I guess you could say I’ve been wanting to be a little bit like you and the others. And along the way after meeting you I guess...”
He knew what Leon was getting to. Sora had been lonely for a while as well, but Leon had been alone for most of his life. He and his friends were separated and forgot most of their childhoods and now he wanted something like family again and to make memories for himself. Walking out of the shower and shutting it off, Sora shook with a slight chill before asking quietly, “So, I guess you kind of got a crush on me at some point?” Watching the seasoned warrior close his eyes, Sora knew it to be true. Laughing a bit he then added, “Why not just tell me instead of act weird like this? It would have been a lot easier. My only worry though is that if you like me in that manner, what about Rinoa. I thought she was in love with you?”
Groaning, Leon covered his eyes telling him, “She did and she didn’t. She thought she loved me romantically, but it was more like an attachment after our time together. We agreed right before we left to at least care for each other. But, the relationship factor has been deleted. No more worrying, forced dates, nothing. Just a friendship.” Staring at his current love interest, Leon asked quietly, “You do realize that while you were drunk you kept laughing and telling me to stop kissing you? I wasn’t though,” he added quickly, “just to clarify, but my question is what do you think of our little predicament now?”
Contemplating what had occurred, Sora sat down on the ground and thought for a good half hour. Neither moved or talked during the whole time. Finally Sora opened his mouth to say, “I guess I do care about you in the way you do me. But let’s go slow, and respect each other. No shower sneaking, no drunken escapades. And only one person in the bed at night, I don’t want anything stabbing me when I wake up. Also make sure I’m prepared for a kiss, because you’re sneakiness, while exciting is a bit uncomfortable. Are the terms acceptable Mr. Leonhert?”
Leon said nothing, he just sat across from the teen and asked a simple question. Sora gave an apprehensive yes, to which Leon placed a small kiss to the lips that Sora shyly returned. It was nice, comforting, and most important to Sora, expected. Breaking away slowly, Leon gave a laugh saying that it felt good before Sora sneezed heavily into his face. Wiping away the spit, Leon mentioned something about clothes and they went into the room to get some fresh clothes on before heading out to a very late dinner, with a very angry Kairi waiting for them.
“Great everybody has a new weapon but us,” growled Sora as he floated up to a tree to see the others test out their new weapons. Looking to Leon he asked, “Why is it that it seems we’re the last to always find stuff out or have it happen to us? First it was our me waking up after that year long sleep, then it was you and your memories, then Rikku and Kairi, and now all of this crap.” Punching the tree Sora rubbed his aching fist and shook it as he cursed for the tree being as old and as tough as it was.
Smirking, Leon pulled a flask from his hip and took a swig of it before handing it to Sora. Given a questioning look, the older fighter told him, “It’s a weak rum I got from that pirate. It’s not that bad and it’d take about ten bottles of this stuff to even get you drunk. And besides,” he added with a small grunt and stretch, “we’re going back to see your mom soon and frankly, I need booze just to handle her.” Watching Sora laugh at the remark, Leon saw watched him sniff the bottle before taking a small swig and start coughing. Grabbing it back he muttered, “Wimp,” to himself before capping it and clipping it to his belt.
Watching Riku and Cloud test out their new blades on each other. Sora laid his back against the tree and stared at his friends fight, as Leon jumped down to check in with Rinoa. Feeling a bit left out, the teen dropped from the tree and was ready to go when Mickey shouted for him and Leon. Curious as to what was happening, Sora walked over to see Yen-sid holding a key chain and Merlin holding a gold gunblade. Approaching the old wizard, Sora took the chain and asked, “So, this is supposed to turn the Keyblade into a weapon strong enough to kill those things?”
Chuckling, the wizened man rubbed his beard with a laugh before telling the skeptical youngster, “OF course my dear boy. It’s like all your other keyblades. You clip this to that wrist band you always wear, rather than the Kingdom Key, and focus to make it appear.” Seeing Sora’s disbelief and Leon’s enthusiasm, Yen-Sid told Sora, “Try it out for yourself if you do not believe me. But be careful as we have yet to make replacements should these not hold up under the pressures of combat.”
Clipping the chain to his wrist, Sora focused his thoughts to first summon the Fenrir blade that he had used in his last battle, and then focused on his other blade. In a sudden flash a thin sword appeared in his hand with a gauntlet replacing the opened fingered gloves that he was used to using. Taking a notice of the sword, he thought it looked a bit like a rapier except for the serated edges that made it look a bit like a saw. The handle was a fine silver with a griffin head on the end and wings on the handles, while the mouth of the griffin held a small two sided knife in it.
Smirking, Sora took it over to a tree, jumped, and swung it downwards through the branch that he had ended up facing. Landing it took a moment for the effect to take place and soon the limb fell with dead thud. “Cool,” he exclaimed before walking over to a rock and pusing the tip in gently. It didn’t slide in like he thought, but after a moment of concentrating on the rock the blade slid through it effortlessly and out the other side. Focusing again the blade and gauntlet disappeared and Sora thanked the magicians for creating the weapon.
“It was our pleasure boys,” remarked Merlin happily. Scratching his head the old man said, “Now they will not cut through magically protected objects like doors or chests, but when in battle with your new enemies, the blades will automatically adjust to the situation and give you a fighting chance against them. As Master Yen-Sid told you that these are the first ones made and may not hold up too well under difficult combat. Should that happen, we are currently manufacturing stronger versions and hope to improve on them so that they will not break.” Putting their weapons away, the group bowed and thanked their friends for helping them with their new missions.
Chuckling, Mickey said to them, “Now, now there’s no need for that. We must always be ready to protective those we love and as of right now we are not finding any activity from the enemy, so feel free to go home and rest or stay here in the castle until you’re needed.” The king was prepared to join his friends in a meal, when one of the broom servants came to him holding a letter. Thanking the animate object, the mouse opened the envelope and said, “I on the other hand must go and talk to King Triton. Supposedly he is having problem with the highway to the castle and would like some help on that. Cloud and Tifa, would you be so kind as to accompany me?”
Both asked, rather rudely why they were the ones who had to go while the others go to rest. Smiling, Mickey told them, “Because Triton seems to like you two more than the others, which if means that by bringing the two of you he’ll be more willing to allow us to repair it the way we need to, rather than the way he wants.” Hearing the reluctance in their agreements, Mickey frowned telling them, “Do this for me and you shall not be required to do any missions for a week, and I will pay for any accessories and armor you may find useful to your future battles.”
Hearing the prospect of free items, Yuffie piped in saying that she’ll go as if the other two wouldn’t. Riku made mention that if Cloud was too much of a coward he’d be willing to go as well. That however evaporated any thought of foregoing the mission and said that he was willing to go. Dispatching his Way to the Dawn, Riku said that his work was done and shouted to Sora, “Hey! You gonna pack or what?! We have to find a ship to take us home!” Walking back into the castle, Riku separated from Kairi and went to his own room that was next to Sora’s. Inside he grabbed what little clothes he had brought with him, tossed them into a rucksack, and went to see what Sora was up to.
As he left his room, he was knocked down by Stitch who was chasing Sora begging him not to go. Sliding into his room, Sora locked it and told stitch that he could come with him. Not believing his friend the little blue monster began asking things in alien before saying in English, “But, Sora not see Stitch and Lilo much. And we get sad, very sad.” Scratching at the door the little alien waited for an answer when Riku patted him on the head saying that Sora would visit him after their next mission. Purring the alien asked, “Riku promise, Stitch?”
Nodding Riku told the blue ball of fur, “I’ll make him visit. If he doesn’t, I got a new weapon to test out on him.” The little alien clapped happily at the prospect of destruction before climbing onto the walls and out of the palace. Knocking Riku said, “Open up, Sora. If not I’m slicing the door down.” Knowing that Sora wouldn’t open, Riku pulled on the knob to find it open. Peeking in he saw Sora packing his bag without noticing what he was putting in there. Reaching into the bag, Riku nearly had his hand sliced off by Sora summoning his new sword. Stopping his movements, Riku let Sora regain control over himself before asking, “All right why were you running from Stitch, and why do you have these?”
Peering at his friends hand, Sora’s eyes bulged out at the sight of a small amount of a certain type of prophylactic. Grabbing them, Sora stuffed them into the bag saying, “Mom bought them for me. Apparently she thinks I’m dating Olette back in Twilight Town. I tried to tell her that I wasn’t, but she won’t listen and bought me a few boxes of these. Want one?” Asking the question, Sora laughed at Riku’s sudden dropping of the small box telling him, “I said I’m cool with you two dating so just take them. I’m not going to be using them anytime soon.”
Shrugging, Riku put them into his bag just as a dreadlock bearing man walked into the room asking, “I see you two gents have established where your respective belongings are to carried in. Might I ask what the appropriate hour of our depature will be so that I may advise the crew on when they should prepare to set sail?” Taking notice of his sudden appearance scaring the two teens slightly, Jack removed his hats and bowed saying, “My apologies mates, I did not realize that you were not expecting me, yet I thought a minor distraction from the business of pirating so that I may rejuvenate myself into retreating back into my chosen profession.
Tying his bag up, Sora raised an eyebrow asking, “Okay, and you decided that coming to a royal palace filled with treasure would be the ideal spot to get away from the temptations of pirating?” Jack, who had begun picking his teeth once Sora started talking asked for the teen to repeat himself. Scoffing, he muttered, “Never mind, I’ll be on the ship when in case you guys need me. Dock five as usual right Jack?” The pirate captain told him that it was in fact dock thirty-five this time around. Moaning at the length the trip would take, Sora exited his room with Riku and made their way to the basements. The both got onto the moving walkway that lead to the ships.
IT wasn’t as long a trip as Sora made it out to be, but after seventeen turns and small climbs Riku was getting as annoyed as Sora until Chip and Dale asked what ship they needed to be on. Pressing one of the buttons that ran the intercom system Riku asked, “Take us to Jack Sparrows ship guys before Sora has an aneurism.” Blocking a punch from his best friend, Riku smirked and threw a punch of his own, to have it stopped by Sora. Snickering Riku tried to start a fight, but Gibbs yelled down at them to hurry on board.
Breaking out of each others grips, the boys walked into the hull of the space ship that Jack and his crew had “borrowed,” from the royal fleet. Seeing the other ten people of the crew, Sora and Riku greeted Gibbs and asked where they would be sleeping. Checking a roster, Gibbs said, “Aye, you two will each be given a room next to Jacks, but you’ll be sharing with that lad Leon and the girl Kairi. Which according to Jack means that if ye don’t mind Sora, this being a long trip mind, that you’ll have to share a bed with your friend.”
Both Riku and Gibbs started to smirk at Sora’s discomfort, but knew that if worst came to worst, one of them would be in the brig with the rest of the crew. Rubbing his temples, Sora raised his hands saying, “You know what, it’s fine. As long as we can alternate who has the bed each night I’m fine sleeping on the floor. How long is it going to take us anyway Gibbs?” Seeing the man smirk, Sora took his charter and groaned loudly saying, “Three weeks? This is a brand new ship! How the hell can it take us three weeks to get from here to Destiny Islands?”
Snatching back his charter the older pirate growled, “Because boy! We recently got into battle and half our ships power was lost. So, we’re getting basic repairs while we’re docked just to make sure the crew survives. And if you know anything about this devil machinery you and your friend can help fix it if it ain’t too much trouble for you?” Seeing them both snort, Gibbs grabbed his leather flask saying, “Judging by those looks you two know something about fixing these things and while on a pirate ship everyone works, including guests.” Looking to Riku he added, “And it’s a good thing your lass is coming along because without her it’ll take twice as long for us to get back. I hear she’s a right fine navigator, almost as good as Jack if it were to be done while out on the open sea.”
“What about me is almost as good as Captain Jack, Mr. Gibbs?” Asked Kairi who had appeared at the hull with Leon right behind her. Repeating what he’d said about her navigation skills. Grinning broadly, Kairi scratched her head saying, “Well that’s what you get from learning how to pilot a ship from Tifa. Just make sure you strap in should I take over driving duties.” Riku and Sora began to laugh at how bad they thought Kairi’s driving really was, but stopped when they heard the loud cracking of knuckles and the small whoosh of her keyblade being summoned. Tapping both of them on the shoulders she asked a bit too nicely, “What is so funny about my driving you two?”
Shaking their heads and saying that they had work to do, Riku and Sora ran off in any direction in hopes of finding the engine room. Lucky for them everything was clearly marked and they found the engine room that was occupied by the old pirate with the parrot. Tapping him on the shoulder as he absent mindedly tried to fix the engine. Telling them that they would take over for him, the boys jumped down and joined the broomsticks who were doing the repairs to the engine. Seeing where they were going wrong, Riku took over fixing the power supplies as Sora went about fixing the gears that controlled the power output. Looking down at Riku who had just repairing a broken coupling, Sora shouted down, “Okay check to see where the short is, because it looks like they’ve fried a few circuits in the main thrust drive.”
Grabbing a pair of work gloves and applying a few clamps, Riku isolated the short on his end and repaired some of the wiring while Sora fixed the short in the thrust drive by using a replacement Gummi drive. Returning power to that section of wiring, they heard a smooth whirring that signaled that one of the hundreds of repairs needed was successful. Working slowly to make sure they were doing the job right, they’d managed to fix at least three problems that would result in the ship at least being able to make a return trip to the castle for final repairs. Shutting one of the grates. Sora wiped his head and fell back from his perch in the engine room and hit his head on some a part of the engine before using his “Glide,” ability to stop his fall.
Rubbing his head he asked, “What are they doing out there?” But just as Riku answered the engines turned on and the teens and their tools were knocked to the floor as the ship took off from the castle. Groaning they climbed to their feet and shakily walked to the ladder after replacing the tools that they were using. Making their way to the bridge, Sora and Riku checked the large series of clocks to find that they had been down in the engine room for nearly five hours.
Walking through the ship, they found a sign that read, “Mess hall,” and entered to find it a bit cleaner than they thought with plenty of food for everyone to eat. Jack was sitting at the head of a large table sipping from a bottle of rum with Leon and laughing it up. Seeing a few empty bottles, well rather a couple dozen, floating around the drunken heads of the crew; the friends figured out what was going on, but decided to sit down and have a nice meal anyway. It was decent with the pig, potatoes, corn, carrots, grapes, and other fruits and vegetables filling the table, yet as Sora was stuck next to Leon he had to endure the fighter’s drunken humor.
Eaten carefully from his plate, Sora ducked a few of Leon’s flailing arms before taking the bottle saying, “Okay, Leon you’ve had enough of this stuff. Now if you don’t mind I want a drink. How strong is it?” Slurring an answer that a led Sora to believe it wasn’t very strong, he put it to his lips and began chugging deeply. After a few gulps, Sora started to cough and handed it to Riku and Kairi saying, “It’s not to bad and a few drinks won’t kill us. So long as we don’t end up like the rest of them.”
It was a bad idea on their part, they normally did not give into any sort of pressure, unless it was a dare. Normally booze wasn’t involved, but after what they had been through lately, the group decided to indulge in some of the fermented barley the pirates provided. It was a bit warm, sweet, smooth, but a little tough to swallow the first few times around. However, after a bit of singing, the group left the passed out pirates and began to stumble toward their rooms singing a rendition, “Yo, ho, ho, ho a pirates life for me,” that would have sounded better coming out of a drunken whale’s blowhole.
Stopping outside Sora and Leon’s room, the quartet noticed that they had a couple of empty bottles and decided to play a bit of a game. Realizing what they were suggesting, Leon began to take over as the responsible adult figure saying, “No, no, no. It’s bad enough I allowed the three of you to get drunk. But, this right here is going over the line, especially since we all may try to get the bottle to point at Kairi and I’m close to puking and getting stabbed doesn’t sound like that much of a fun time either. So you two,” he gestured to Kairi and Riku’s room, “off to bed before I kick you in there.” When they said good night, Leon fumbled with the door handle and stumbled into the room without even turning on the lights forcing him to trip over one of the bags that had been knocked out of it’s corners.
Turning on the lights as he laughed, Sora shakily made his way to the bed and took off his shoes and laid his head on the pillow just as Leon somehow appeared dressed in his pajamas. Falling on the bed, Leon mumbled something which had Sora asking, “Why are you asking if I have a spare bottle? Do you have to go to the bathroom?” Leon muttered something about needing some water, but Sora had the idea of making him sit up and said, “We’ll spin it to see who gets the water.”
Getting up from the bed, Leon took the bottle and threw it away muttering, “I don’t want any water.” Rocking back and forth for a minute, Leon leaned in and mumbled something before putting his lips on to Sora’s. Unaware of what he was really doing, Leon didn’t even take notice that Sora was returning the kiss. Pushing his younger companion back, Leon removed his lips from the teens and began to go lower before stopping at Sora’s neck breathing heavily asking, “What did we just do?”
Staring at the ceiling, Sora rubbed his eyes muttering, “I think we just made out.” Both laughed lightly and laid back on the bed both gazing at the now dimmed neon lights. Feeling a little less dizzy, Sora looked at Leon and asked, “I believe we can just chalk this up to the booze?” Leon said that it was all done behind closed doors and wasn’t really that big of a problem since they could have done worse while drunk. Shaking his head to clear some thoughts that had just emerged, Sora asked, “Well we’re drunk, so if we go to bed, we’ll probably forget.”
His explanation did not matter since Leon had fallen asleep. Laughing, Sora took a few of the pillows, and a blanket to sleep on the floor. It was actually quite comfortable given the material of the ship and he fell asleep quickly. Next morning though he was paying for it and woke up feeling like his head had been slammed between two ships. Sitting up slowly, he tried to focus on the “Cure,” spell, yet his headache stopped him from maintaining the focus and he soon lost it. Falling back onto his pillows Sora immediately got up and ran into the bathroom to throw up. Amidst his wretches of physical ailment. Sora failed to notice Leon standing at the sink brushing his teeth looking like he hadn’t had anything to drink the night before.
Raising his hand, Leon focused a bit of energy to create the, “Cure,” spell. Laying his hand on Sora’s head, he focused on his friend and sent the energy into the brain of his friend. After a moment of minor glowing, he kept his hand there before balling it into a fist and smacking him saying roughly, “We got a lot of work to do today and we’re already having people complaining about us not helping. Kairi and Riku are already at their stations. I’ll be alternating between helping the three of you, but I’ll bring you and Riku lunch later.” Walking out and putting on the tee-shirt that he had sitting on the back of the toilet before Sora mistook it for a towel.
Feeling many times better, Sora showered, got dressed, and left for the engine room to see Riku already at work fixing up the poor patch job on near the base of one of th circuit breakers. Walking over to his best friend, Sora took a few tools from the tool box and climbed a ladder to see another repair job that was in need of reinforcement. Checking his tools, Sora began work on the patch until he reached a spot that required a welding device. He would have used the fire spell, but that always proved too hot even when kept at an incredibly low power. Sliding down he pulled a torch off a rack, along with a mask and igniter, climbed back up and began melding the new gummy piece to the ship. It took a careful hand, but finally he did it and gave a huge sigh of relief at not screwing up and risking the lives of everybody on board. Feeling his stomach churn, he climbed down to find Riku already enjoying a bit of food. Seeing a small basket of fruits and other snacks on the ground, Sora sat down and asked who brought the food down.
“It was Kairi. She took a break to bring us a snack.” Replied Riku through a mouth half filled with bread. Giving one to Sora, Riku pulled a muffin out saying, “You didn’t get breakfast so eat a bit or else you’ll pass out. And drink the water that was brought as well.” Seeing his friend dig into the food and drink happily, Riku swallowed his last bit of food before taking some water for himself. As he watched the less than dignified mastication of food that his friend displayed, he noticed a small red mark on Sora’s twitching neck. Leaning in he noticed it looked familiar and asked, “Sora, did anything happen last night after you went into your room?”
Swallowing a bit of muffin, Sora gulped down a bit more water and caught his breath before asking, “What do you mean did anything happen? We went in, Leon passed out on the bed and I slept on the floor only to wake up with a sore neck and a hang over which is enough for me to not drink ever again.” He’d kept his face straight the whole time he spoke to Riku so as the more than attentive teen did not inquire any further. Sora could see that his best friend accepted his answer as reasonable and decided to get back to fixing a few of the patches, in order to let him finish eating.
The questioning forced a loss in appetite for Sora and he thought that if he and Riku worked together they could get a bit more of the serious work done faster than working separately. Grabbing his torch and tools, he found Riku working on some wiring and tossed him an extra pair of gloves telling him, “I got zapped a bit last night, so put those on if you don’t want to smell a bit like burnt leather.” Dropping to the ground, Sora began fixing the wiring and telling Riku, “Get the patch fixed up while I do this. Shouldn’t take too long if we stay in the same area. Just make sure you fix the hole right, I don’t want to have the wind sucked out of me.”
Putting on a mask, Riku fixed some of the metal plating that he was using as a patch in the gummi system, while Sora replaced the dead wiring. When it was done, the platinum haired warrior grabbed a set of couplings and began screwing them into where the wires were connected asking, “Are you usually this crabby in the morning lately? Or do you still have a hangover because I had Kairi heal me up in no time this morning.” Looking at Sora’s disgruntled face he laughed out, “You couldn’t even heal yourself and threw up? Jeez and I thought I was pathetic. At least I was able to keep my food down until I was healed.”
“Who said it was a contest?” Inquired Sora rather angrily. Putting his gloves back on, Sora began working on a few of the other things that needed fixing. He stabilized power out puts, made sure all of the engines were working correctly. After a bit, Leon came down with a few large trays of food and set it down on the floor. Noticing the three trays, Sora gave his friend a look, but thought better to not ask about it and dug into the tray that Leon said was for him. Through mouthfuls of chicken and rice he asked, “Why did you decide to eat with us? Didn’t Jack and them need your help up in the bridge?”
Swallowing his own bit of chicken, Leon shrugged and sipped at his water saying quietly, “Too noisy. Instead I thought I’d help you guys with repairs since I’ve been dealing with Gummi’s a lot longer than you.” Feeling the rage burn from them as if he were being insulting, Leon set his water down and reached for Riku’s wiring job and said, “You screwed up on two of the connections, this one,” he pointed casually to a gray before moving to a blue, “are to not be plugged in or else a warp jump will blow out the engine.” Setting it down he said, “Remember not all wires require connection. Some are there as precautions. If we need the extra power we’ll risk it, but until then don’t mess with the wiring as I got word that most of it is pretty well set up.”
Snorting, both teens ate their food with no reply to Leon’s critcism. They couldn’t retort since they were fairly certain that he was correct at least with their recent wiring job. Which for the most part was false since Leon only had two small errors to correct.. Sora had crossed a couple of wires near a converter, and Riku’s patch job had one minor flaw, but other than that Leon helped them and guided them until the bell for the days work was done. Marking off his check list, the former SeeD member smirked telling them that the engines would be well on their way to being almost fully functional in a couple days, which would put them on weapons detail.
Glad the days work was over, Sora returned to the room for a long hot shower. He hadn’t had one in a few days and with his recent bout of sickness most likely smelt like a rotten batch of eggs after working on engines. Stripping down, he let the water warm and went to brushing his teeth when he heard the entrance to the room. Shouting out that he was using the bathroom, Sora spat out the last of his toothpaste before climbing under the warm water. Washing his hair out he gave a loud sigh of relief and reached for the shampoo. Piling a small amount into his hand, Sora reached up and began to rub it in.
Enjoying the feeling of the bubbles in his hair, he was so entranced by it that he did not notice an extra body in their until he felt some strong hands lathering his hair with soap. Jumping out of the shower and summoning one of his blades he wiped the soap from his eyes to notice Leon standing in the shower with a pair of shorts on. Panting the surprised teen shouted, “What the hell are you doing?! I’m using the shower so what are you doing bugging me?!” He got no answer but another smirk. Powering up a spell he growled, “Tell me what you’re doing or I’ll blast a new hole in the ship.”
“I told Kairi I’d hurry you up because she was making dinner. So I decided to be a bit of a friend and help ya bathe. Is that wrong?” Replied the scarred but muscular man. Pointing at the sword he also told the teen, “Looks like one of your last stitches popped. Get in here and clean it out so I can heal it before Aeris finds out.” Seeing the apprehension in his friends eyes, Leon stepped out of the shower and picked up a pair of swim trunks and threw them at the teen. “If you’re shy put these on.”
Looking at them, Sora slid them on and climbed back into the shower amidst a few drops of blood. Standing under the jet he hissed and covered the wound. Hearing Leon click his tongue and remove the offending limb, a sudden warmth spread through Sora’s body as the wound healed completely. Looking down he had to smile at how cool he thought the scar looked. Neat and tidy at the top and a bit of kilter toward the bottom. About to thank Leon he felt the warm lips of his friend push him back into the wall. Too shocked to move he just remained there and let the kiss happen until Leon backed away.
Staring into Sora’s eyes, Leon kept a straight face saying, “Did you happen to find a letter at some point while you were in the castle?” Sora gave him a quizzical look until asked, “It had something to do with the dreams of a person coming true. Did you read it at all?”
Remembering that letter, Sora nodded saying, “Yes I read it. But, are you saying that you wrote that to me? Why? I mean you have Rinoa and all of them so what the hell are you kissing me for? To get her mad at you, or to find something exciting with life? I thought you of all people weren’t about excitement or adventure but doing the job right?”
Giving the teen a small laugh, Leon patted his head telling him, “You’re right in thinking that Sora. And it is true for the most part, but how come I’m not allowed to have any sort of fun or adventure while getting the job done.” Sighing he sat down saying, “Yes it was my duty and job at one point to only worry about the job, but I do have some sort of emotion in me. And everyone tried to force it out of me when I didn’t want it to. I was fighting everyday, I chose to ignore feelings to survive and now I’m not anymore.” Holding back a scoff he then added, “I guess you could say I’ve been wanting to be a little bit like you and the others. And along the way after meeting you I guess...”
He knew what Leon was getting to. Sora had been lonely for a while as well, but Leon had been alone for most of his life. He and his friends were separated and forgot most of their childhoods and now he wanted something like family again and to make memories for himself. Walking out of the shower and shutting it off, Sora shook with a slight chill before asking quietly, “So, I guess you kind of got a crush on me at some point?” Watching the seasoned warrior close his eyes, Sora knew it to be true. Laughing a bit he then added, “Why not just tell me instead of act weird like this? It would have been a lot easier. My only worry though is that if you like me in that manner, what about Rinoa. I thought she was in love with you?”
Groaning, Leon covered his eyes telling him, “She did and she didn’t. She thought she loved me romantically, but it was more like an attachment after our time together. We agreed right before we left to at least care for each other. But, the relationship factor has been deleted. No more worrying, forced dates, nothing. Just a friendship.” Staring at his current love interest, Leon asked quietly, “You do realize that while you were drunk you kept laughing and telling me to stop kissing you? I wasn’t though,” he added quickly, “just to clarify, but my question is what do you think of our little predicament now?”
Contemplating what had occurred, Sora sat down on the ground and thought for a good half hour. Neither moved or talked during the whole time. Finally Sora opened his mouth to say, “I guess I do care about you in the way you do me. But let’s go slow, and respect each other. No shower sneaking, no drunken escapades. And only one person in the bed at night, I don’t want anything stabbing me when I wake up. Also make sure I’m prepared for a kiss, because you’re sneakiness, while exciting is a bit uncomfortable. Are the terms acceptable Mr. Leonhert?”
Leon said nothing, he just sat across from the teen and asked a simple question. Sora gave an apprehensive yes, to which Leon placed a small kiss to the lips that Sora shyly returned. It was nice, comforting, and most important to Sora, expected. Breaking away slowly, Leon gave a laugh saying that it felt good before Sora sneezed heavily into his face. Wiping away the spit, Leon mentioned something about clothes and they went into the room to get some fresh clothes on before heading out to a very late dinner, with a very angry Kairi waiting for them.