Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Akirame Norwen ❯ Rivalry renewed ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I once was on a heavy medication that made me believe that I owned all of Squaresoft. However, my dosage was changed and I have now come to the realization that my thinking was incorrect.

CHAPTER 5:

RIVALRY RENEWED

By the time we arrived, the bleeding in my shoulder had stopped, and the pain had subsided, but came back in a piercing throb when I tried to move it. Riku was beginning to regain his alertness. Two nurses, a man and a woman in blue uniforms and rubber playtex gloves, rushed out of a door followed by Squall, who carried a large black bag. The nurses quickly led us back into a typical hospital/clinic room and made Irvine leave.

Squall set the black bag down on a table and made us sit down on two separate stretcher-like chair thingies like they have in clinics. One of the male nurses, an well-built African-American bearing a name tag that said Barret opened the bag and began to rummage through it, muttering something under his breath. Meanwhile, his partner, a woman with somewhat Asiatic features named Selphie, had Riku sit up and began to help him take his shirt off. I suddenly caught myself staring at him for a short, seemingly perverted moment, my eyes never leaving his face. I snapped out of it when Squall hit me in the back of my head. "I just seeing if he was okay…" I mumbled under my breath, my face turning red.

Squall gave me a look that could have been a smirk as he took a curtain hanging from a rail on the ceiling and pulled it around for a partition. "Whatever. I need to cut part of your shirt off so I can clean your wound." He said, taking a pair of scissors out of the black bag.

I nodded and tried to hold still when he slipped the cold, metal clippers up my sleeve. He quickly hacked off the sleeve and part of the back, revealing my whole shoulder, but gratefully leaving the rest of me covered. I stared for a moment at the dried blood crusting the rest of my shirt. I was caught off guard and gasped in pain as the alcohol in the gauze pad Squall was using to clean my wound. Riku must have heard me, and I could hear Selphie protesting as he tried to move to see me. "Akira! Are you okay?" He asked with a panicked tone of voice.

"The alcohol stings really bad." I said with a clenched voice.

"Tell me about it. It'll hurt worse one they start scraping off the scabs. OW!"

I quickly sympathized as Squall took a strange looking spatula and began to quickly scrape off the blood that had caked all over my skin. "Why are you doing th-IS!" I asked, my voice rising when another scab was broken off. I could feel one of the deep holes in my shoulder break open and bleed.

"Your wounds are contaminated by germs and sweat that have been mixed in with the dried blood." Squall uncaringly said, breaking off the last giant scab and placing a large gauze cloth over my exposed skin as he pulled the curtain back.

Barret finally pulled out two separate bottles from the black bag, one holding a clear liquid that had sparkling, beautiful bubbles of light swirling in a pattern inside, the other held what looked like the liquid form of light, the bottle slightly glowing. I looked over at Riku, whose entire torso (or upper body, whatever you wanna call it) was wrapped in gauze. I stifled a small shriek when I saw that the gauze was already spotted all over with deep red. Riku saw my stare and gave me a small reassuring smile that was twisted with pain. "Now these," Barret began, distracting me, "are healing potions. This one," he said, holding up the one full of sparkling liquid, "is a regular potion for the girl's shoulder, and this one," he continued, displaying the bottle full of light, "is a mega-potion for the boy's wounds."

Barret handed us the appropriate bottles. I twisted the cap off of the bottle I was given and looked at Barret for instructions. "What, you've never used a healing potion before? Amateurs. You drink it, but only a sip." He told us.

I shrugged with some agony and poured a small amount of the liquid into my mouth and swallowed, surprised by how quickly it worked, cooling my whole body down with what felt like a cool breeze. The holes in my shoulder began to tingle with a tickling sensation, like thousands of tiny little bubbles rushing to the surface of my skin. The whole experience took only seconds. Squall then removed the gauze from my shirt and examined my shoulder, and then replaced the dirty bandages for some reason far beyond my comprehension. Probably out of sheer stupidity, but hey, I had to do it so it could play into the next scene! "Completely healed. Keep the potion. You'll probably need it for later use. And also, here's a Garden uniform to compensate for clothes you're wearing now. I'll show you the way to the showers. He told me, handing me a plastic bag that contained clothing.

I was joined by Riku, who also still had gauze bandages wrapped around him which he tried to cover with a jacket Selphie quickly handed to him. We were lead down the long, brightly lit hallway and left in a large shower room filled with separate small shower rooms, each holding racks of towels, shampoos and soaps. I reached over my shoulder and tried desperately to remove the disgusting, grimy gauze pad from my shoulder, only able to remove part of the tape holding it down. "AUGH!!! GET OFF ALREADY!" I aggrivatedly shouted, on the brink of tears as I stretched my arm around and tried to grab the tape that was just beyond my reach.

"Do you want help with that?" Riku asked, his bandages already off.

I couldn't help, and I know that you wouldn't either, but stare for a moment at him, how the jacket he wore was hanging open, as he was about to take it off and head into a shower when I had starting screaming. I slapped myself mentally and actually looked at his face. I really don't think he noticed…despite that evil, wicked smirk, the smirk of death that twisted his face and made his eyes shimmer with an evil fire! "Oh…um… I think I can get it." I said, stretching my arms around and making pathetic attempts to reach the bandage.

"Here, let me get that for you." He politely said, walking over to me and began to gently, and slowly, remove the tape.

"Darn it, just rip it off! I'm not getting any cleaner here!" I barked at him, not comfortable in the sensuality of the situation in the lest.

"Whatever you say." He said, grabbing the tape and wrenching it off, making a loud ripping sound and pulling out nearly every last hair that existed in that region of my back.

I really, really tried hard not to scream. I thanked him in a high pitched voice and quickly made for one of the shower rooms. "Now for a cold shower." I muttered under my breath.

I quickly undressed, showered, shampooed, soaped, dried and redressed myself within a matter of minutes, grateful for the light scent of strawberries and peaches that replaced the stench of sweat.

The uniform was most comfortable, consisting of tight but comfy black jeans, a white short-sleeved T shirt and a black leather vest that had zipped up to the neck that made a collar around my lower neck. I put on my graciously cleaned hiking boots and suddenly noticed I was missing my weapons. I wondered where they could have gone. Trying to shrug it off I finally walked out and saw that Riku was still waiting for me next to the exit door. He approached me and gave me a smile. "We have to hurry and catch up with the other guys." He told me.

Hey, at least he didn't hit on me like I know all of you readers were expecting! See, Riku can be spontaneous at times! Anyhow, we walked out of the room in silence and were led out of the building by Squall. I looked at his face and saw the usual cold expression. I couldn't tell if he was burrowing his eyebrows and slightly scowling because he was mad about the training program, worried or disgusted with us, or if he was thinking at all. I looked over at Riku and saw that his head was dropped and he was staring at the carpet as we walked along. I couldn't believe what we had just been through in only…I stole a peek at my watch. In only two hours. And we had only been away from home for a day, and had already had enough adventure for a week! What was with this place?!

We ended up back at the training building where our friends were being "forced to train against our will" as they put it when they greeted as after they finished.

"No, we were greatly worried, but the SeeDs made us work out! We really, really, really wanted to see you guys, But they wouldn't let us!" Jerdania said, standing close to Irvine.

"Well, the training session is over anyhow. So, now what?" Sora said, slinging his blood-free shield over his shoulder.

We all looked at Riku, and then to the SeeDs. "Well, I was hoping ya'll could stay for four more days, just `till the end of the week, ya know? Then I could have everything arranged and I could set off with ya'll." Irvine said, mostly to Jerdania.

Heck, if I had gotten my way we would have left right then and there. Jerdania could stay with Irvine for all I cared right then. She wasn't even in our original group!

"Well, despite the fact that we can all visibly see Akira tensing up, and I know this will just get her really ticked off but…we did have a deal." Riku sighed.

Well, he was right about the ticked off part! After what I had just been through, I had a lot better things I could do with my time than go back in and repeat the process. "So, were are my weapons?" I asked.

I suddenly spied them in Sora's hands. He quickly withdrew them from my sight. "Woah, I don't think we need to communicate our feelings that strongly, do we?" He nervously laughed.

"Oh, geez, I'm not going to kill anyone, Sora!" I told him, trying to grab my weapons from him.

He relaxed a little and forked over my crossbow and quiver. I hastily loaded an arrow and aimed it at Irvine. "I'm just going to mutilate him!" I evilly cackled, fingering the trigger.

Everyone screamed as Irvine ducked and someone tackled me from behind, knocking the weapon out of my hand. "Effective communication is overrated!" I shouted, struggling to get free as I felt something being tightly strapped around my legs.

"What are you doing?!" I shouted as someone pulled my hands around behind my back and tightly secured them with a belt.

"I think you need a little time out to cool down. Akira, I know we just had a really bad experience in there, but we need to train so we can strengthen up! It's not like I want to be tackled and left for dead by a 4-year-old." Riku explained as he secured the buckle.

"Yeah, right. Like anyone in Riku's physical condition could be left for dead by a 4-year-old. That's giving him way too much credit. A 2-year-old was much more realistic." I sarcastically commented, earning a slap in the back off the head.

Riku picked me up off of the ground and slung me over his shoulder. "Where are you taking me?" I asked him.

"I don't know, we haven't decided yet. Should we toss her over a waterfall or hide her in the woods?" He asked.

"Ha ha, very funny." I said.

"I vote waterfall." Kairi said, earning my most deadly look. "You can't hurt me, you're still tied up." She told me.

This was really touching. Being forced to stay in a place I already loathed, getting tied up, insulted and stripped of power! These people were truly friends I would treasure for a lifetime. Especially Riku. Oh, one day I had to get back. But how? I needed a plan. I suddenly felt Jerdania lift my head up. "It that a roll of-" my words were cut off by the loud ripping noise and the large piece of duct tape that was tightly placed over my mouth. I began to angrily growl and try to MMM! MMM! Out their death.

I was interrupted when Riku bounced me on his shoulder. The others began to chuckle but were interrupted when a young SeeD cadet came running up to us. "Mr. Leonheart?" the young male asked, quickly eyeing me.

I tried to communicate the situation to him by desperately MMMing, and got bounced on Riku's shoulder again. "Speak, cadet." Squall said.

"We've finished assessing the situation in the training center. You were the first ones of the day in there. Someone must have come in earlier, probably during the night or yesterday and hacked the system." He became slightly distracted when I kept trying to get his attention.

"Very good, Cadet Erik. Is there anything more?"

"No, sir. Um, Instructor Squall, what's up with the girl?"

"Oh, her? Prisoner of war. You want her?" I was surprised to discover Squall's hidden sense of humor.

"I can really have her?" Oh god, no.

The group looked at Riku. I turned to look at his face and pleaded with my eyes, trying to manipulate his sensitivity, and then looked at the others, desperately shaking my head. Riku bounced me again. "Wait a minute, who are we at war with?" The cadet asked. I silently thanked heaven for the kid's hidden intelligence.

"Dollet." Squall simply said.

"Wow. I thought that war had already ended." Never mind.

"A new one started." Liar.

"Really. So, how old is she? I could use a new training partner. All of my friends went home for the week." Oh joy. I could hardly wait for target practice.

"You're how old? 16, 17?"

"16, sir."

"Yep, she's your age."

"All right. So, can I have her?"

The group looked to Riku again. "Well, Riku, you're her guardian, what do you think?" Squall said.

"Hmm." Oh no. That meant he was thinking. "Sure, you can have her. Just don't try to hurt her or anything. If you do, you'll immediately be charged with personal assault and will be transferred." He cleverly explained, putting me down so I could stand.

The cadet carefully bent down and scooped me up so that he was ultimately cradling me in his arms. "I'll take good care of her, sir. Bye the way, sir, out of curiosity, what's her name?"

Riku smirked as he looked at me. "Keera."

I moaned and began to make crying sounds as the cadet excitedly carried me off in the direction of the training center. He then stopped at the entrance and looked around before quickly running around back, where he gently set me on the ground and removed the duct tape. "Oh great, now what?" I asked.

The cadet looked around and crouched down in front of me, signaling me to be quiet. "Shh. You need to stay quiet. I'm going to release you so you can escape." He explained, now removing my leather bonds.

"That's very heartfelt of you, but I'm not a prisoner of war, and Riku isn't even a student here!" I told him, now rubbing my sore wrists.

"But then why did they have you all tied up like that?"

"A joke gone too far." I told him, now standing up and clenching my fists.

"Woah, Keera, you're not going to kill him, are you?" the cadet asked, concern showing in his face.

"Nah, it's too soon for that. And by the way, my name's Akirame. Keera's the name he uses to tease me, and it's something he'll regret one day."

"Are you two like, rivals or something?"

"For the moment being, yeah."

"Oooh. Rivalry. Sound's like something I'd like to get into. I haven't had a decent time here since my friends left." The cadet said, surprising me.

I looked over to see a mischievous grin on the blonde's face. "We could get in trouble for it." I told him.

"Are you kidding me? I am the master of this stuff! I have never been caught, not even once."

My odds were starting to sound pretty good, now. "Hmm…" I was still not quite sure.

"Come on, I'll even help you think of something."

"Oh, what the heck. You just got to promise me that it'll be able to stop after this. I really don't want to hurt him, I mean, Riku and I have always been friends, but we've always sort of been rivals too. I don't want another seven day war with him. It got brutal." I grimaced as I though of the image of me falling into a bed full of shaving cream and six people trying to pry a starfish off of his back wasn't pretty.

"Okay then, we'll just go for short and sweet. I've already got a great idea. If we're successful, I'll take you out for a sundae between friends, my treat." He said, leaning forward and holding out his hand.

I smiled as I firmly shook it. "You gotta deal there. Now let's hear your plan."