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Fuzzy Love - Complete	By : ColdSilence Category: Kingdom Hearts > Slash/Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 10245 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Author: Cold Silence

E-Mail: writer.coldsilence@gmail.com

Pairings: Riku + Kairi + Sora, Sora x BHK. (BHK = Blonde Headed Kid from KH II)

Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Het, Furs. OOC Roxas due to the fandom personality he was given before information on his character was released with KH2.

Special Note: This fic has relationships with things that have tails. Also, this story was started before Roxas's name was revealed, hence why he is named differently in this fic. Don't worry though, this actually fits well with what I have planned for him in the end.

Disclaimer: All characters from Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II is property of Tetsuya Nomura. God bless him.~

Fuzzy Love

-Chapter Twelve-

Ambulances and squad cars went screeching towards Sora's house. By now, every neighbor within a five-mile radius was either standing on their porch or walking over to see what was going on. The police had to shoo away onlookers while the scene continued to erupt in chaos. Sora's mom was screaming, Riku was still trying to tear Sephiroth a new one, Kairi was crying, and men in black uniforms were loading Roxas onto one of the SUVs.

Although Sephiroth flashed important looking documents at the officers, he was still arrested and sent to the police station for shooting a tranquilizer dart at a minor. The cops then inspected Roxas's naked, tailed body, and were unable to discern if he was an actual human or some freak of nature. In the end, they decided on the latter since Sephiroth had the paperwork to prove that he was here specifically to retrieve the catboy.

Everyone could only watch as the black SUVs drove away with Roxas, one after the other as if the cars were part of a funeral procession. Cloud smacked one of the vehicles' windows as they passed by out of frustration.

From the safety of a royal poinciana tree, Axel and Larxene observed the fate of their missing Jumi.

"Are you going to play hero and save him from the humans?" Inquired Larxene.

"No," answered Axel tersely. "Let him experience how they betrayed him."

"Do you honestly believe that this will send him running back into your paws? Dyne has mated with that human boy. His heart is forever lost."

"The mating doesn't count if his other is not one of our kind. At best, their bond is one sided. It was doomed to failure from the start."

"Even so, the Spiral Claws will not accept a cat that has mated outside of our clan. They will demand that you leave him in the desert to die."

"He mated with a human, it doesn't count!" Axel began to bare his teeth in warning.

"It will count when all the kitlings begin to question the ritual of the Estrus! It is impossible to hide the smell of someone who has been bonded. They will know that it wasn't you. Not only will you incite mutiny among all the young cats, but you will lose the respect of your clan. Axel, you must leave Dyne for dead and let us return home!"

Larxene's breath hitched when Axel suddenly reached over and fisted her throat. She was effortlessly pulled off her branch and dangled in midair by the powerful grasp around her neck.

"Know your place Jumi. I am Rajah of your clan. And I get everything that I want," Axel hissed. He then brutally threw Larxene to the ground.

It was only by the courtesy of Larxene's reflexes that she was able to upright herself and land safely. She delicately reached up to touch the gouges that Axel left on her throat with his fingers and silently cursed the fact that this insane cat was now king of their clan. His obsession with Dyne was going to destroy everything that the Spiral Claws have worked to build.

Unfortunately, Larxene was powerless to do anything about it. She had given an Estrus to Axel and therefore feared losing herself by disobeying him. As she stood up with head bowed, a breeze detached several red flowers from the royal poinciana. They fell around her like a rain of blood.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

Sora was rushed to the hospital for an emergency detoxification. Thankfully, the dosage of tranquilizer he received was not fatal, but it was enough to make him comatose for a few hours. Medication to counteract the sedative's effects was fed into his veins, and he was put under observation until he woke up.

When Sora finally began to come around, he spent a good amount of time in confusion and ataxia. He vaguely registered when friends and family came to check on him and could not understand what was going on. Most of the time, he wondered why he was in bed without Roxas sleeping on his chest.

Eventually, the confusion cleared and Sora regained motor control of his limbs. With the return of his memories came rising panic over the fact that everything he feared had just come true. Roxas's secret was out; there was nothing left to say or do to hide the reality anymore.

Still, when a policeman came by to take his testimony, Sora clung to his half-truths because they had come to feel unnaturally right. He looked the officer in the eye, and bluntly told him, "The guy with the long white hair came to my house and stole my cat."

Officer Leon raised one slender brow at Sora. "Your cat?"

"Yes."

"And this same man was the one that shot you with a tranquilizer dart?"

"Yeah, I was trying to protect my cat and he shot me. Look, you've got to arrest that guy before he hurts my cat. He could be doing anything to him right now."

"We have already taken him into custody." Leon finished writing in his notebook and then looked up at Sora. "Is there anything else that you want to go on record?"

"What about my cat? Aren't the police going to bring him back to me?"

"That's an issue for animal control. I have already spoken to your mother about contacting them." Upon seeing the sad look on Sora's face, Leon added, "Sorry, that's all we can do."

Afterwards, Leon left Sora's hospital room. The officer had been there on the scene when they inspected Roxas's body, so he was beyond disturbed by the boy's testimony. How could anyone call that thing their cat?

When Leon reached the lobby, Cloud stood up from where he had been sitting with an expectant look. The officer took one look at the blonde man and then shook his head slowly. "That was the strangest statement I've ever taken."

"What did he say?" Asked Cloud.

"He said that the thing Jenova picked up is his cat."

Cloud looked away and pursed his lips to prevent himself from saying anything unsavory in front of a police officer. When he managed to collect himself, he said, "The kid was pumped full of telazol, of course the things he says aren't going to make any sense. You should strike his statement from the record and then take a new one when his doctor says that he's in his right mind. The real story here is that Sora has been hiding a feral child in his home for weeks. The Jenova Project got wind of it and illegally confiscated the child without a permit."

"Actually, they do have a permit. It was issued overnight. Their attorney also issued a statement saying that the animal they confiscated is carrying a deadly disease."

A deadly disease? Cloud laughed dryly. It was just like the people at Jenova to issue such a blatant lie. "I suppose they also have a good excuse for shooting a tranquilizer dart through an innocent kid's shoulder."

"Professor Strife, I just took a statement from a boy that said that the thing we saw in the van is his pet. If he was spouting that nonsense when he was tranquilized then I can see why Sephiroth chose to put him down. He's either in hysterics or just plain crazy."

Cloud roughly shoved his hair back from his face. He wished he could have been in that room to tape Sora's mouth shut before he convinced everyone that he needed psychotherapy.

Leon watched Cloud stew in his own anger for a few moments before adding, "I don't expect that they'll keep Sephiroth in custody for very long. Jenova is well paid. He'll probably post bail within the hour."

"I'm not surprised," muttered Cloud. "It wouldn't be the first time they did something like this."

"If there are any changes, I'll let you know." Leon proceeded to walk away.

Cloud waited until Leon left the hospital before he went to Sora's room. Upon arriving, he found the boy sitting up and staring at his hands miserably. Wordlessly, the man grabbed a stray seat beside Sora's bed, turned it so that it faced the boy and sat on top of it. Sora seemed to be ignoring him, because he didn't acknowledge Cloud's presence at all.

Despite Sora's silence, Cloud spoke anyway. "Your mom is talking to the doctors now. They think you'll be fine to go home within the hour." He paused to let Sora say anything, and when no response came he continued, "When were you going to tell us?"

Sora continued to stare at his hands for a while, but eventually he answered. "Never. You would never understand."

Cloud folded his arms across his chest and looked to the ceiling. Then, he leveled his gaze at Sora and said evenly, "You were sleeping with it."

Sora stiffened. The fact that Cloud knew sent a cold chill down his spine. Shame made him duck his head and close his eyes tight against the tears.

The thought that Sora was having sex with Roxas occurred to Cloud when he saw the cat transform into a boy. Now it finally made sense as to why Nessa suspected that there was someone new in the house that they couldn't find. It also explained the mysterious fiascoes that happened before Cloud moved in, and not to mention why the man sometimes heard an extra voice in Sora's room when he came to knock on the boy's bedroom door. However, Cloud's suspicion wasn't confirmed until now, when he saw the look of guilt and shame on Sora's face.

There were many ways he could have approached this situation. As an adult, he could have reprimanded Sora for doing something so irresponsible and thoughtless. As a scientist, he could have told the boy that what he did went beyond what was intended for human nature and therefore was deviant and wrong. As Nessa's boyfriend, he could have told Sora that his actions were breaking his mother's heart and hurting their family.

In the end, Cloud decided that he was going to speak as Cloud, because that was what Sora needed if they were going to get past this. "I'm not here to judge you. There isn't a single adult that doesn't have a skeleton in their own closet." Granted, they weren't as big as Sora's, but Cloud knew that there were worse things out there. "I want to help you Sora, but I can't if you don't let me in."

Sora shook his head as he wiped tears from his eyes. "You would never believe me," he whispered.

"You won't know that until you try me."

This was stupid. Sora didn't think that Cloud would believe him in a million years. A part of him kept saying that this was just another act to fool him, and to prove it, he gave Cloud exactly what he wanted: the truth. "You want to know who he is? Fine. Roxas is an alien. He came from outer space. He comes from a whole world of cat people just like him. That's the truth, happy now?" Choke on it Cloud!

Surprisingly, Cloud continued to give Sora a serious look instead of immediately discounting what he said. His next statement shocked Sora. "He came during the meteor shower."

"..Yes." Sora stared at Cloud with wide eyes. "Yes he did! He crashed �"

"On the third island from the mainland. The one that's uninhabited," finished Cloud. While Sora gaped at him, he leaned back on his seat. "I was surveying the meteor shower that night. My instruments picked up the crash landing. I have it all on tape."

"Why didn't you tell anybody!" Sora couldn't believe it. Cloud knew that there were aliens on Destiny Islands all along and he didn't say a word!

"Are you crazy? The last thing I need is to be labeled as a quack scientist. I would lose all my funding. Besides, when I checked out the island the next day, I didn't find a single trace of the ship."

"That's because Roxas can make his spaceship go to pieces and shrink. I found him on that island the same night that it happened. I thought he was just a cat back then." As much as Sora hated to admit it, it felt tremendously good to be able to tell the full and complete truth to Cloud. A weight that he didn't know was there was lifted off his chest. "But then he turned into a boy and I just didn't know what to do. He started going to my school, he met all my friends, and we became really close." Sora trailed off after that since he doubted that Cloud wanted to hear the sordid details of his sexual relationship with Roxas.

Cloud shook his head and grinned in the way people do when they acknowledge that the world is a lot more insane than they previously realized. "I can't believe it was living with us all this time. I thought it was out there when it was really under our roof. Fucking my girlfriend's son." Forget Sora, Cloud was the one who was going to be needing psychotherapy after this.

Sora's bottom lip tucked outwards in an angry pout. "Don't talk about him like that! He has feelings. He had a family too." The boy continued with a scowl, "But all that isn't important right now. He wasn't supposed to come here. He landed on Destiny Islands to get away from dangerous people from his world. But they found him anyway, and now they're here, and if they don't get him back by tomorrow night then something awful is going to happen."

Cloud frowned. An alien invasion was a scenario that haunted the man for many nights after witnessing Roxas's spacecraft crash on Destiny Islands. "It's not going to be easy to get Dyne away from Jenova."

"Roxas." At Cloud's questioning look, Sora explained, "That's his name, Roxas. He wanted me to give him a new one."

The alien's true name was such a minor detail at this point that Cloud didn't really put a lot of thought into it. "Whatever his name is, what we have to do is get our story straight. I am going to call my lawyers and negotiate Dyne's � Roxas's � whoever he is � I'll find a way to get him out as fast as I can. If anybody talks to you, especially your mom, you tell them that you found a homeless kid wandering in the woods and were nice enough to take him in."

"You want me to lie to my mom?"

"Is it anything new?" Cloud gave Sora a stern look, but the expression melted a few moments later. "Why don't we make a promise not to lie to each other? I know that you don't like me, but we can at least be honest."

Sora supposed that Cloud would have to be incredibly stupid not to realize that he didn't exactly like the man. However, the boy came to realize in the past few days that it wasn't anything personal against Cloud; his family was simply a territory that he wasn't willing to share.

In answer to Cloud's proposition, Sora nodded lightly and answered "okay." Then Cloud turned to leave, but before he could go too far, the boy called him back. "Hey Cloud." When the man paused to hear what he had to say, Sora smiled. "I can't wait to meet my little brother."

Now it was Cloud's turn to look guilty. However, when he saw the genuine smile on Sora's face, he couldn't help but give a small one of his own. They promised to be honest to each other, and that was a good start. Now, Cloud was going to go on and repay the debt he made for irrevocably changing Sora's life by helping to save Roxas's.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

Sora was discharged from the hospital that same night. When he arrived home, it was to find that the activity around his house never stopped. Nosey neighbors kept coming by until Nessa started slamming the front door in their faces. Congregations of lawyers and researchers arrived in platoons of cars that cluttered the driveway. They took over the living room to discuss their action plan against the Jenova Project and covered every table in papers and cell phones and laptops.

Sora was not allowed to see or talk to his friends since his mother chose to ground him for an indefinite amount of time. The boy wasn't told what he was specifically being punished for, although he was sure that secretly keeping a shapeshifting cat in the house played a big role in the decision. Nessa was having a hard time swallowing everything that she had seen and heard that day, but despite her denial she still grounded Sora because while he was indoors she knew that he was safe from whatever was out there.

Unfortunately, being punished wasn't going to keep Sora from making his own plans. Around two in the morning, he rolled out of bed and got dressed as quickly and quietly as possible. By now, Cloud and his lawyers had left the house to begin their negotiations with Jenova, and his mother was in her room trying to sleep. If there was a time to commence a rescue attempt for Roxas, it was now.

Since what Sora was planning involved a lot of sneaking around, he threw on a black hoodie and shorts. Then he filled two red bags with flashlights, batteries, waterproof capsule wallets, his cell phone and a pocketknife. After the bags were lashed to his sides, he opened the window to his room and leapt to the grass outside. Then he ran across his lawn towards the thicket of palm trees across the road to his house.

Just as Sora reached the safety of the shadows, a familiar voice went "Pssst." The boy stopped jogging and turned toward the source of the whisper. "Riku?"

Riku stepped out of the darkness of palm fronds, and moonlight immediately illuminated his silver hair and white jacket. "I knew you were going to try to play hero."

"So you were spying on me until I came out?"

"Mmhmm." Riku was utterly shameless in his admission. "You shouldn't have dressed all in black, you'll only draw attention to yourself. People will think you're committing a burglary."

"People won't think anything if they don't see me. Besides, if you dress in white then everyone will see you and you won't be able to sneak in anywhere." Sora turned a critical eye at the clothing that Riku was wearing. His denim pants could probably blend into the darkness, but the yellow collar and white material of his coat were dead giveaways.

To rebuke Sora's criticism, Riku lowered his white coat to his elbows to reveal the sleeveless black tank top that he was wearing underneath it. "Stealth mode." Then he pulled the coat back to his shoulders. "Inconspicuous mode. Any questions?"

Sora hated it when Riku one-upped him like that. "Where are they keeping Roxas?"

"You mean Dyne?"

"His new name is Roxas."

"I'm not even going to ask." Riku scanned the area to make sure that no one had spotted them or was listening in, and then he continued. "They didn't go far. They set up a campsite on the north part of the island. They have all the roads sealed off and put up a barb wire fence. I know a way in though."

Impressive. Obviously, Riku had kept himself busy while his best friend was hospitalized and grounded. Sora was starting to feel a lot more optimistic now that he had the other boy's support in saving Roxas. "You did all that while I was gone?"

A grim smirk tugged at a corner of Riku's mouth. "I figured, if I'm not there for my best friend when he needs me, then I'm just asking for someone to take him away from me." Riku could tell that what he said confused Sora, but there was no time to explain what he meant. "Come on. If we're going to do this, we have to move out now."

"Right." We're coming Roxas.

It turned out that Riku wasn't the only one who had been waiting up for Sora. Kairi was in contact with them at all times via the chirruping option of their cell phones. She was already waiting at the north side of the island with Roxas's spaceship and her family's speedboat. The plan was for the boys to sneak into the Jenova Project's campsite, rescue Roxas, and then make it to the shoreline so that they could get away on the speedboat and use one of the smaller islands as a launch site for the spaceship.

Their biggest problem was actually getting into the campsite. Not only was it surrounded by barbed wire, but it was also located on a high mountain that was covered with lush rainforest. The beach, a wooded area and a residential district flanked the east, west and south sides of the mountain respectively. To its north was a steep drop into ocean water. It was a popular tourist attraction due its hiking trails, the spectacular view it had of the island, its exotic flora and animals, and the gushing rivers that formed spectacular waterfalls.

Luckily, the boys had one major advantage: they knew the mountain very well. When they were younger, Sora's father used to take them on hiking trips all the time. There wasn't a single waterfall or pool of water that they hadn't fully explored or swam in. After approaching the mountain from the beach located on the east, they began ascending it via the hiking trails that they knew like the back of their hands.

They continued to travel along the trails for about half an hour. Then Riku veered off the path and began picking through the mossy rocks and trees towards the sound of rushing water. Sora instantly recognized the area, and his heart began to pound as he quietly followed his best friend. Eventually, they emerged from the dense underbrush and found themselves facing a pool of water that was fed by a waterfall.

Sora only came to this place once in his lifetime. In that one visit, he didn't swim or explore the falls, instead he came to stare at the water until the view swallowed his heart and left him empty.

"Remember?" Riku asked.

A fine mist was rising from the river, enveloping the boys as if it were the start of a dream.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

Sora remembered the last promise that his father ever made to him.

His dad had said that Sora and Riku were getting too old for the games that they usually played, so he promised that the next one would be the one that made them men. However, the new game wasn't finished yet, and they weren't allowed to see it until it was done. So the man ruffled Sora's hair and told him to wait a little while for the best adventure of his life, and then he left the house to prepare it.

Sora was so excited. He could barely contain himself as he watched his father walk away in the noontime sun. He waited the whole day for him to come back. And he waited the next day. And he waited the next day.

On the fourth day, a policeman knocked on the door. With his hat in his hands, he told Sora's mother that they found her husband's body on the mountain. Nessa and Sora didn't believe it. It was impossible that someone they considered to be strong and resourceful could now be dead. That day, Nessa left with the police officer to identify the body, and Sora rushed up the mountain to see the place his father presumably died.

He found nothing there but a waterfall surrounded by police tape. It looked like a peaceful place for family picnics and a good swim. How could anyone die there? Why would his dad come to this place? If there was an adventure to be found there, was it really worth losing a life over?

Sora never figured out what it was that his dad had been working on, although he thought about it all the time. He spent his days half-expecting his father to walk through the front door and say that he was sorry for making him wait so long. When he was in bed, he silently listened for the bedroom door to open and his dad to creep in to kiss him goodnight. Sometimes, he had vivid dreams that the man was waiting for him there under the falls, and he would wake up frightened and crying.

If it weren't for Riku, Sora would have never gone to the viewing or the funeral. He refused to go, and none of the adults had the heart to make the boy change his mind. They were grateful when Riku took it upon himself to wrestled Sora all the way to the church, and turned a blind eye to the fiasco they made when they walked down the aisle.

They made it halfway to the coffin when Sora simply went limp with tears. An awful reality was waiting for him inside the casket and he covered his face and turned away from it. However, Riku wouldn't let him hide. He brought Sora to where his father laid in peace and made him face it.

Look at him! Look at him Sora!

You have to say goodbye.

You'll regret it forever if you don't.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

"I came here to find out why it happened."

Riku's words nearly stopped Sora's heart. He looked up at his best friend with soulful eyes. "Did you find anything?"

Riku nodded. Instead of saying what he had found, he took off his jacket and gave his cell phone to Sora. Then he wordlessly dived into the pool of water, leaving his best friend to wait at the river's edge with bated breath. When he finally resurfaced a few minutes later, Sora was so relieved that he fell to his knees.

Upon returning to the riverbanks, Riku held up what appeared to be the frayed end of a long rope. Perplexed, Sora gingerly took it from him.

"If you dive underwater and follow this, it takes you to a cave behind the falls," Riku explained. "If we get inside the cave, we can follow it out to where they're keeping Roxas. They have no idea that we can sneak in that way."

"The game," Sora murmured. The one that was supposed to turn them into men. His dad had finished it after all.

"Yeah." Riku gazed at Sora with bittersweet memory. "To make it behind the falls."

In the dead of night, the waterfall and natural pool were pitch black except for the places where moonlight touched. The water was deeper than fifteen feet and there wasn't a single rock or tree to hang onto once anyone made it close to the falls. They would have to swim completely under their own power and have the stamina to fight the powerful rapids in order to make it past them. Now Sora understood how something that looked so beautiful and benign in daylight could be deadly enough to kill.

"I'll go first. I'll be waiting for you on the other side." With that, Riku swam close to the rapids and dived beneath the churning water. Moments later, Sora could feel him tugging on the well-worn rope as he fought the gushing current to make it behind the falls. It felt as if an eternity had passed before the rope stopped twitching, which indicated that Riku made it to the caves.

Alone, Sora stared straight at the falls. He didn't dare to look directly in the black water, because he feared that his father's cold, bloated hand would reach up from the depths and drown him like it had several times in his nightmares. In the end, the game his dad created for fun and good memories turned out to be a deadly trap that would kill him if he was not ready to do this.

However, Sora had to do it if he wanted to get Roxas back. That thought fueled him as he placed their cell phones and flashlight batteries into the waterproof capsule wallets. The flashlights themselves were triple wrapped in plastic bags that he found stuck in the bushes and stuffed into his red bags. Then he stood at the edge of the water and took a deep breath.

If you're out there, please help me.

The first plunge into the frigid water prickled his skin and immediately alerted his senses. Sora resurfaced to swim as close as possible to the point where the force of the rapids did not let him come any closer to the falls. The river around him was frothing and roaring in his ears like an angered monster; it took all his energy just to remain afloat and fight the currents pushing at his body.

Sora prepared himself mentally and physically for what he was about to do, and then he inhaled his last breath of air and dived. The rush of the falls was even more powerful underwater; he could hear pebbles rattling against the bedrock like a thousand-man march. He swam so deep that moonlight could not pierce his depth and water pressure threatened to burst his eardrums. When he felt the harsh material of the rope brush up against his cheek, he quickly wrapped his hands around it and clung for dear life.

Sora.

His heart dropped. Sora opened his eyes despite the sting of the water, and looked ahead and above. The moonlight moved like a living thing with the currents, creating silvery shapes that twisted and beckoned with ghostly fingers.

Maybe what he saw was just his imagination, but suddenly Sora didn't feel so alone anymore. With renewed vigor, he put one hand in front of the other along the rope and kicked his legs to go forwards. The closer he came to the punchbowl, the more the falls pounded the air out of him and pushed him deeper towards the bedrock.

Suddenly, a vision of how his father died flashed in his mind with alarming clarity. He could see his dad testing the newly installed rope by using it to pull himself past the powerful rapids. His father made it as far as beneath the falls before his lungs started itching for air. He figured that it was safer to come up and breathe rather than continue with a diminished supply of air, so he let go of the rope and kicked his way to the surface, only to have the waterfall push him down again.

It was a losing battle against the currents. Even when he managed to break the surface, the water was so turbulent that he couldn't get a gulp of air without inhaling water. Eventually, he became so panicked that he couldn't tell left from right or up from down, and he drowned with the guilt that he never showed his son the right way to beat the rapids.

I understand now. Going backwards is where you always went wrong.

Sora was not going to make the same mistake. Despite how his lungs burned, he didn't stop pulling himself along the rope. Hand over hand, he continued on as air bubbles slipped past his lips and currents made him drag against the bedrock. Then, like a miracle after a stormy day, the water around him calmed.

Sora let go of the rope and spiraled towards the surface as fast as he could. The first taste of fresh air after holding his breath for so long was heavenly. He made it. He was in the caves. "That was AWESOME!" He cried at the top of his lungs, before dissolving into noisy pants for air. Yet, despite his respiratory distress, Sora smiled and sometimes laughed as he swam towards the outcropping of rocks where Riku was waiting for him. "He-he did this for us!"

The only source of light within the caves was streaks of moonlight that pierced openings along the rocky ceiling. Stalactites hung to the ground like bowed unicorn heads, and water dripped to the damp floor in soft ker plops. The pool that Sora was swimming in was so calm that bioluminescent microbes made it glow red with every disturbance.

Riku knelt down to help the shivering, breathless Sora gain his footing on the slippery rock, but when he saw his friend's sticky lashes and happy smile, instead he leaned close and sealed their lips. Sora's panting abruptly stopped, as well as the rapid beating of his heart. In one small kiss, the last vestiges of innocent friendship took flight and never returned.

How long? Sora wondered as his eyelids began to grow heavy with affection. How deep? When Riku pulled away with a gentle murmur, Sora uttered "Riku" in hushed wonderment.

A light smile curved Riku's mouth, and then he leaned forwards and skirted the edges of Sora's cheeks with gentle brushes of his lips until he was close enough to whisper in his ear, "When this is over, let's find out if I can make you as hard as he can."

Sora's eyes snapped open with bewilderment. Apparently, Cloud wasn't the only one who knew about his sexual relationship with Roxas. He opened his mouth to explain himself, to say sorry for hurting Riku's feelings, to plead that he had no idea that what he was doing affected his best friend, but a finger to his lips kept the words from being said.

"Don't say anything." When Riku was sure that Sora would stay silent, he took his hand away from his friend's mouth and finally helped him out of the water. "Let's just go."

They had to press on. Sora returned Riku's cell phone to him and loaded up their flashlights with batteries. All too soon, they were well on their way to breaking into the Jenova Project's campsite.

Riku. Sora secretly watched his best friend's profile as they strode through the caves. When did you fall in love with me?

Somehow, Sora already knew the answer.

Since forever.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

The campsite of the Jenova Project was located on a piece of land that had been stripped of foliage due to years of overuse. Normally people used the area to stay on the mountain overnight, but today the parking lot and the camping grounds were cordoned off with hastily erected barbed wire fencing and checkpoints. It had been converted into a temporary quarantine for Roxas, who could not be immediately transported out of Destiny Islands due to being labeled as having a deadly disease. Once it was confirmed that he was not contagious then he would be airlifted to a more secure research facility.

Cloud was working long into the night with his lawyers to negotiate Roxas's release into Mako's custody. For hours, parties from both research teams sat at a picnic table and haggled over whom had the rights to the catboy. As their arguments went on into the late hours of the night, Cloud could see that the possibility of setting Roxas free was very slim. Too many powerful people were interested in dissecting the catboy and finding out all of his secrets.

If what Sora said was true, then there was approximately twenty-four hours left before "something awful" happened, whatever that would be. Cloud's eyes strayed towards Sephiroth, who looked rather bored with the proceedings as he picked at his fingernails with a pocketknife. None of them have any idea what they've gotten themselves into.

A movement at the corner of Cloud's eyes caught his attention. He peered in the direction of the lake that usually served as a bathing area for campers. To his surprise, two figures were emerging from a shadowy hole in the ground, and he instantly recognized to whom those heads of platinum and brunette belonged to. He couldn't believe that those boys had the balls to come all the way out here and actually find a way past the checkpoints.

"What are you staring at Cloud?"

Cloud's attention returned to Sephiroth, who was fixing a steely glare of suspicion at him. "A crook."

Before Sephiroth rose to that bait, he looked over his shoulder to peer in the direction of the river. Luckily, Riku and Sora had safely hid behind trash receptacles before they were spotted. The man then returned his attention to Cloud and raised one silver brow. "I am as much a crook as you are a deserter."

"Don't you start that conversation with me," Cloud seethed. "I thought the Jenova Project was a legitimate organization until I found out that it was well funded by the Shinra hotel chain. That's when I realized that you don't really destroy natural habitats in the name of science, you just wipe out the local wildlife so that there's nothing to preserve, and then Shinra can swoop in and buy all the land it wants for yet another five star hotel chain."

"You look into things too deeply."

Behind Sephiroth, Cloud could spy Sora and Riku stealthily sneaking towards the tent where Roxas was being kept. They were a pair of smart kids to be able to figure out right away which tent belonged to the alien. Then again, there was only one tent in the entire campground that had its own noisy generator and two guards standing at its entrance.

When Cloud saw the boys duck behind the tent, he shifted his gaze to the table to avoid drawing attention to them. He was beginning to guess what their plan was. That's not going to work. Roxas was hooked up to an electrocardiogram, if they didn't know how to deactivate it correctly then they would undoubtably draw attention to themselves. Unfortunately, there was no way to warn them in time, and when Sephiroth found out that there are intruders on site then he would use undue force to subdue them. Cloud had seen it happen a dozen times before in his employment with the Jenova Project.

The tent that Roxas was in shivered behind the two guards. Alarmed, Cloud began talking loudly to distract everyone's attention from what was really going on. "Why don't we quit the small talk and get to the facts. The protocol for collecting feral children doesn't apply to Dyne. I have several witnesses, including myself, that will testify that he has been going to school and living in a home like any other regular child. He's civilized and keeping him against his will is a violation of his rights."

"Since when do we give civilian rights to extra terrestrial beings?" Countered Sephiroth smoothly.

What. Cloud stared at Sephiroth. How did he know the truth of Roxas's origins? Who told him? Did they interrogate Roxas already? This was bad. Incredibly bad. If the catboy didn't get out now, he was never going to see the outside of a research lab ever again. "You're crazy!" Shouted Cloud. At the very least, this outburst caused the commotion he was hoping for. Everyone at the table was now talking over one another and was too engrossed in the discussion to notice the break in occurring under their noses.

Meanwhile, Sora finished using his pocketknife to cut two parallel lines spaced wide enough apart to accommodate a person into the back of the tent. When he was done, he was able to flip up the canvas as if it were a square trap door. Luckily, the guards at the front of the tent were too busy paying attention to the argument at the picnic table to see what was going on behind them.

It was just as well, because Sora's attention zeroed in on what was in the middle of the tent. There was Roxas, lying flat on his back inside of a cage with narrow bars. An IV line pinched into his forearm fed sedatives into his blood to keep him unconscious, and several electrodes were attached to his chest to monitor his heartbeat. The electrocardiogram was beeping every few seconds to indicate a normal sinus rhythm.

Riku peeked into the tent to assess the situation as well, and then he crept inside on hands and knees behind Sora. Upon reaching the cage, he powered down the prismatic missiles as low as they could possibly go and began burning through the metal surrounding Roxas as if he had a small welding torch. One by one, he cut through the very top and bottom of the bars while Sora held on to their middles so that they wouldn't clatter to the floor once they were detached. They worked quickly and quietly, hearts beating fast with the thought of being found out.

Once there was a big enough space to carry Roxas through, Sora ripped the IV from his pet's arm and did the same for the electrodes attached to his chest. This action turned out to be a huge mistake. The IV machine began to beep that that there was an error, and the electrocardiogram rang shrilly as it registered a flatline. Everyone's eyes widened to oh shit proportions, and then Sora hastily grabbed Roxas's limp body and made a break for it with Riku.

The guards at the front of the tent immediately turned around and saw the boys escaping to the back of the tent. "Halt!" They shouted as they began to give chase. The commotion caught the attention of everyone at the picnic tables, and Sephiroth immediately stood up like a bloodhound that caught a scent.

Just then, a burst of red light ripped through the tent and caused it to collapse over the two guards that were inside. This bewildered the lawyers and scientists at the picnic tables, who were already on edge due to recent discussions about aliens and madness. People went into panic and threw themselves to the ground as if there were gunshots being fired.

The only one who didn't react was Sephiroth, who coolly reached beneath his black vest and retrieved a semi-automatic pistol. He checked the chambers with alarming familiarity and then removed the safety.

Cloud's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw what the other man was doing. "What are you doing? They're just kids!"

Sephiroth turned a hard glare at Cloud. What his fellow scientist just said gave away that he knew there was someone coming after the captured catboy. "Secure the perimeter," Sephiroth ordered his men, "and check the lake," he added with a special look for Cloud. "The alien is armed and dangerous, use force to subdue him." He then trotted off to search for the intruders.

The two guards that had gotten trapped beneath the collapsed tent managed to worm their way out. They claimed that they last saw the alien escaping with two boys through a hole that was in the back of the canvas. This sent a flurry of uniformed men to check the barbed wire fence for any openings that the intruders might have cut themselves in order to enter the campsite.

Cloud was the only person who wasn't searching or cowering beneath a table. Instead, he walked to the fallen tent because he wanted to figure what exactly was the source of the red light he had seen. He picked a section of the canvas off the ground and searched its surface until he spotted what appeared to be a perfectly round, two-inch hole surrounded by scorch marks. Perplexed, he peered through it, and was shocked to see Sora, Riku and Roxas on the other side. Apparently, they had hid themselves back inside the tent after it had fallen down.

"Squeal, and you'll be zapped," warned Riku in a low growl. He was holding the arm with the wristband up at Cloud's face. Beside him, Sora was looking up at his mother's boyfriend with an expression of pleading. Roxas was in his arms, and the catboy was too sedated to so much as twitch an ear.

Cloud looked around to make sure that no one was peering in his direction. Then he reached into his pocket, retrieved his car keys and tossed them through the hole in the tent. "They have guns. Get out now."

The boys were shocked, both at the fact that there were guns and that Cloud was helping them. Riku scooped up the keys and nodded mutely. Cloud returned the nod and let go of the tent's canvas. Then he walked in a direction opposite of where the parking lot was and began yelling at the top of his lungs, "Over there! They're behind the trashcans!"

Several uniformed men abandoned their search efforts to help secure the trashcans. This gave Riku and Sora the break that they needed. They quickly scurried out from beneath the tent and ran as fast and low to the ground as they could towards the parking lot. Thankfully, Cloud's jeep was unique enough to be picked out right away. Riku climbed into the driver's seat and Sora took the passenger side with Roxas. The catboy was stuffed into the leg space beneath the dashboard for protection.

Only one person didn't buy Cloud's claim that he spotted the intruders, and instead of helping to secure the trashcans Sephiroth went in the opposite direction: the parking lot. He was scanning the area with narrowed eyes when suddenly a jeep roared to life and flashed its high beams at him. Immediately, he pointed his gun into the glaring light and fired off two rounds.

Despite the shattering of the windshield, the jeep continued to roll over the gravel of the parking lot. Sephiroth leapt out of the way seconds before he was run over by the fast moving vehicle. The guards at the checkpoint likewise had to throw themselves to the side to avoid being crushed by the car as it burst through the barricades with ease.

"After them!" Yelled Sephiroth.

Once they made it onto the paved road that circled the mountain, Riku and Sora lifted their heads from beneath the dashboard. They were both shaken from having bullets fired at them. "Are you ok?" Asked Riku tersely. His eyes never left the black asphalt in front of them. If he took any of the curves too fast, then they would end up falling down the cliffside. Needless to say, this was a really bad time to learn how to drive for the first time.

"I'm fine!" Sora brushed shards of glass off himself and Roxas's hair. "What are we gonna do? This is the only road down the mountain."

Their plans had been foiled when the uniformed men began searching the lake; they were originally going to escape back through the caves. Riku pursed his lips as he considered the options. "The woods. We'll lose them there. We just need to get to the bottom of the mountain."

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. With a loud tssew, a tranquilizer dart hit the dashboard and startled them. In the rearview mirrors, they could see black SUVs closing in with speed. There were men leaning out of their windows with tranquilizer guns.

"That stupid cat has got us into so much trouble," growled Riku. "Sora, you're going to have to drive. Get on my lap." The boy continued to control the car while Sora climbed over the seats and ducked under Riku's arms to sit on his legs. "Hands on the wheel." When Sora obeyed, Riku carefully took his own hands away to test if his friend could handle steering. They didn't crash, which was a good sign. "Now put your feet on mine. Right foot is drive, left foot is break. Got it?"

Sora ducked involuntarily when another tranquilizer dart went whizzing by their heads. His palms were sweating with the adrenaline rush. "Got it!"

"Don't worry about going fast, just keep us from falling off the mountain." Riku then lifted Sora's hips so that he could climb out from under him. The car decelerated when he took his foot off the gas pedal.

"What are you doing? Riku!" There was a note of panic in Sora's voice as he was resettled onto the seat.

"Don't worry, just drive!" As soon as Riku gave the order, the car lurched when Sora floored the accelerator. Riku tumbled onto the backseat, but thankfully didn't end up as road kill thanks to his friend's inexperienced driving. He quickly scrambled onto his knees, squinted past the silver hair that was whipping over his face like a rattlesnake, and aimed his palm at the cars behind them. A warning shot was fired with the prismatic missiles.

"Are you crazy?!"

Another tranquilizer dart whizzed between the seats and lodged inside the radio, causing it to explode into sparks. Sora was so startled that he momentarily lost control of the jeep and began swerving.

"Sora!" Riku tumbled to the floor of the backseat as he lost his balance for the second time. Their car fishtailed and came dangerously close to falling off the cliff. In his panic, Sora overcorrected the trajectory of the jeep and made it hug the shoulder of the road. The left wheels bit into gravel instead of asphalt, and overhanging branches started beating the side of the car. Riku had to stay tucked between the seats to avoid having his head taken off by the foilage. "What are you doing!"

"Look!"

It was hard to look with all the tree branches trying to tear his head off, but when Riku managed to peer to the right of the car he could see the problem: one of the black SUVs was riding beside them and boxing them in. The rear passenger window of the Jenova issued car rolled down, revealing Sephiroth. He pointed a gun at Sora's head. "The game is over. Stop the vehicle, now."

Riku's blood froze in his veins. His first thought was to fire at Sephiroth before he shot Sora, but there was no guarantee that he would hit the man first before he squeezed the trigger. "Do as he says Sora. We're done."

Sora gritted his teeth. He wasn't ready to give up yet. "Fine!" The boy then SLAMMED his feet on the breaks. Their jeep left skid marks on the road as they came to a bone grinding halt. Sephiroth's SUV shot ahead of them by several kilometers before its driver had the presence of mind to stop their car. The other vehicles that were chasing them from behind had to stop more quickly, causing a box car effect that left nearly every single one of them damaged. The sound of screeching tires and the crunch of metal echoing through the mountainside was chilling.

Sora was momentarily stunned from being slammed against the steering wheel. Someone's car wouldn't stop honking, and it took him a while to realize that it was the jeep. When he leaned away from the wheel, the noise finally stopped. "R-Riku?" He asked shakily.

A low grunt came from the backseat. Riku literally had to peel himself off the floor so that he could lean between the space of the front driver and passenger seat. "You are never driving again."

Just then, a soft moan came from Roxas's direction. Both of his cat ears were tilted off to the back, indicating his intense displeasure at the current situation.

"He's waking up!" Sora said happily.

"I guess almost having your brains spattered would wake anybody up," Riku said dryly. Then he took a look around, and noticed that they were in the only car aside from Sephiroth's that didn't get rear-ended. "This is our chance, let's go!"

"Right!" Sora floored the gas, and the jeep leapt to life again. This time, they could not be pursued by the cars behind them because they were too damaged from the accident to drive anymore. As they roared down the road and passed Sephiroth's SUV, Riku fired at their car hood and made their engine go up in flames. Sephiroth and his men immediately abandoned their vehicle moments before it exploded.

Sora couldn't believe it when the other cars began to grow small in the distance and then completely disappeared around the next bend. They did it. They rescued Roxas! "We're home free!" He shouted gleefully.

Unfortunately, an ominous sound announced that the celebration was premature. In the distance, they could see a helicopter closing in on the mountain, and wherever there was a helicopter, there were sure to be cops. The chopper was heading towards the scene of the accident they had just left behind, but it wouldn't be too long before they spotted the jeep and shined their high powered spotlight on them.

With a grim expression, Riku reached over and turned off the high beams of the jeep. "Stop the car. Slow," he added quickly. The last thing they needed was to be catapulted out of the car thanks to Sora's jackrabbit stops. Once the vehicle wasn't moving anymore, Riku hopped out of the jeep, opened the passenger door and scooped Roxas from the floor. The catboy was quickly handed off to Sora. "We have to make a break for it on foot. Keep going down the north side of the mountain."

Sora gathered Roxas's body to himself with a frown. Riku made it sound as if he wasn't going to escape with him. "Aren't you coming?"

"I'll be right behind you. First, I'm going to blow up the car to make it look like we were in an accident."

"Cloud is going to be so mad."

"He's not the only one who's going to be mad. Heh." Riku lowered his head. The ramifications of what they just did were now hitting him. Even if they succeeded in getting Roxas off the planet, they were going to have to face questions from the police, their families, their classmates, maybe even the government. Who knew how this was going to affect their lives, or especially in Riku's case, his chances of getting a scholarship for college.

Sora looked at the somber expression on his Riku's face and felt bad. Maybe if he had never kept so many secrets from his best friend in the first place, none of this would have happened. "I'm sorry I got us into all this trouble."

"Don't be. You love him right?" Riku's gaze trailed down to Roxas, then back up to Sora's face. "Look, to protect our families, we have to protect.. Roxas." Riku stumbled over the new name. "And I made you promise that if you got in trouble, then I have to help. We're in this together to the end."

Sora gazed at Riku for a long moment, and then said in a quiet voice, "You're my best friend, Riku."

"Don't forget it," Riku answered softly.

Sora nodded in silent promise to never forget, and then he dashed into the rainforest with his burden. Riku likewise dived into the trees, but his intention was to find a safe spot away from the explosion. Once he was sure that his friend was too far ahead to be hurt from the blast, he would torch the jeep.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

Sora wasn't sure how far he got before he heard the distant sound of an explosion. Overhead, he could hear the roar of a second helicopter joining the first that was already hovering near the mountain. The noise was so loud that he couldn't hear the nearby sound of a gushing waterfall.

Sora wanted to wait for Riku to catch up to him, so he gently placed Roxas on the ground to give his arms a rest. He was pleased to find that his pet now had his eyes open and was able to give him a dazed stare. With a sad smile, the boy began brushing layers of the catboy's choppy hair away from his forehead. "You know what I regret? That my mom and Cloud didn't get to know the real you. Now they won't believe me when I tell them that you were worth all this."

"I believe."

Sora jerked towards the source of the voice and found himself facing Axel. The alien was standing a few feet away and looked utterly menacing in the darkness. His green eyes were glowing like unholy jewels.

"That's why I will be taking Dyne off your hands now."

"You're one of them," Sora breathed. Immediately, he hooked one of Roxas's arms over his neck helped the catboy get to his feet so that they could start backing away from Axel. "You said we had until tomorrow night!"

"I changed my mind. I want my Jumi now." Axel advanced towards Sora, every step fanning his black cloak like an elegant black dress. "You think I don't know what he's planning? As soon as he gets on his ship, he'll try to escape again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I'll fucking kill you!" Axel extended his arms, and in a flash of black lightning and white light, two weapons appeared in his hands.

Sora had never seen anything like them. They resembled chakrams that he might have purchased to add to his weapons collection, but they were rimmed with spokes and colored in white and red instead of the pure chrome of metal. His stomach sank to the ground; all he had to protect himself against them was a pocketknife. "Why can't you just leave him alone? He just wants to be happy."

"Because," a crooked grin curled over Axel's mouth. "I've wanted to sink my cock in him ever since he was a kitten. Call me crazy," he drew back an arm and then snapped it forward to hurl a chakram at Sora. "But I think I'm in LOVE!"

Sora leapt aside with Roxas to avoid getting hit by the weapon and managed to escape with a grazed forearm instead of a decapitated head. Unfortunately, his shoe slipped on a patch of moss and he stumbled several feet down the steep hillside with his burden until they landed in a shallow river.

The current was moving very quickly because they were at the precipice of a waterfall. Sora scrambled to grab Roxas and pull his head out of the river before he drowned or floated away. Although the water was only as high as their knees, the poor catboy was so frightened that he threw his arms around Sora's neck and climbed onto his back. "Meow!" He called loudly.

"It's okay, Roxas, I got you!" Sora shakily began to climb to his feet despite the added weight, but ducked quickly when the same chakram that nearly took his head off earlier went whizzing by.

The weapon returned to Axel, who was descending the hillside with all the grace of a Katinan. He stopped just at the edge of the river and didn't dare to go further than that point, because he also feared the water. "His true name is Dyne. He belongs with his own people."

"No," murmured Roxas weakly. His muscles were now responding enough to allow him to curl his tail around Sora's waist. "I gave my first Estrus to Sora. I am Roxas."

"You're living in a dream world if you think any human or cat will accept this," Axel spat with a hiss. "Wake up and smell the catnip Dyne. Humans don't bond like we do. They love you briefly and then it ends. You'll be nothing more than a fond memory they compare to every lover they meet, until they find someone convenient enough to do their income tax with."

"Even if that's true," Sora said as continued to back away, "it doesn't matter. Because you don't live long anyway. Right Roxas?"

In silent understanding, Roxas tightened the hold that he had over Sora's waist and neck.

"So don't hold your breath," Sora finished, before filling his lungs with air and falling backwards over the falls.

"DYNE!" Axel extended a hand as if that would stop them, but it was too late. Sora and Roxas vanished into a black pit of roiling water located fifteen feet below the falls.

To be concluded.
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