PG-13
Well, all people need stress relief sometimes. After all, life is full of trouble. Some people read books, take baths, nap, or a multitude of other things. It’s just…you really doubt this is what most people would do.
~*~
Akkina - Because Ria-chan was stressed the other day, with all the work she had. I thought about and realized: no doubt there’s a lot of people feeling over-worked. So I dedicate my one-shot to everyone who needs a little escape from their day.
Disclaimer - I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts, or anything else in this story, nor am I making any profit from it. It is purely for entertainment purposes.
You groaned, letting your head drop onto your desk and whimpering softly. All around you were stacks of books and other things-to-do, though you were beginning to worry that they would never really get done. Hand tensing on your pen, you shot a glare to your books and growled.
“Honestly! Haven’t they ever hear of ‘time off?’” you fumed, stabbing the pencil in the air a few times. “And with all these tests coming up” ---you jabbed the pen in the general direction of your assignment notebook--- “and two projects due in less than a week, that they barely gave as any time to do” ---the pen struck the half-done assignments in front of you--- “and a million other effin’ things no one gives a shit about!”
Letting another scream erupt from your throat, your head fell back into your arms and you just listened to the silence. All the world was…too much. You were going to have an mental break-down, you were sure, but a nagging voice in your head told you that you needed to get it all done. Cursing the voice vehemently, you picked up your pen again and put it to the paper.
‘And we can hereby assume that the fallacy of the statement is---’
You stopped, turning to glare at the book again. It stubbornly withheld the answer from you, even as you read it like…well, an open book. Maybe if you could calm yourself down enough, you would be able to think more clearly, but you doubted that it was possible at this point.
Though planning to push the thought from your mind, it came back again and again.
“Oooh, what’s the point?” You pulled out another book and started reading it, but it felt almost like a foreign language. “I can’t focus,” you yelled. Slamming the book shut and discarding it sloppily on the floor, you leaned back in your chair and fought the urge to rip hair out.
You put your hands on you lap and closed your eyes. “Take deep breaths and calm down,” you coached, “and then start again.”
And you would have too, had a sound from behind your closed door not distracted you. It was muffled by the thick wood that was between you and the disturbance. Puzzled, you craned your neck around to see what it was that was distracting you now. You did not need a distraction.
Then there was a knock on the door. One knock, pause, three knocks, pause, two knocks.
“Can I come in?” It was a squeak more than real words; you recognized it instantly. Demyx.
He really had perfect timing, you thought. “What?” the aggravated tone wasn’t nearly as angry as you were feeling, but you hoped it got the point across.
Silly you.
The door creaked open softly and the Nobody crept in, looking more timid than he usually did around you. Well, at least he had learned not to just appear in your room, finally. Last time he did that, things didn’t…go over particularly well. He seemed to remember this incident vividly as he approached you with seemingly unnecessary caution. ‘Seemingly’ meaning that normally, it wouldn’t be necessary. You liked Demyx, and the two of you got along well.
You had met when you were out on a walk (oh, the days before school work!) and he was using powers that you shouldn’t even know about. After begging you not to tell anyone and resorting to much bribery, a pseudo-friendship was struck and you started to spend time talking. You grew increasingly fond of Demyx---more so than you cared to admit---and he visited whenever he wasn’t…busy. You didn’t exactly know the details of what he did, and he refused to tell, but it didn’t seem too important.
“Go the freak away,” you snarled, pointing your oh-so-very dangerous pen at him.
He blinked, not catching the obvious threat of the pen of pointy-ness, and pouted. “Why? I just wanted to see what you were doing…”
“Well, I’m obviously working, and I need to concentrate.” You were careful not to start swearing at the boy outright, but felt a rising urge to do so. Why you were worried about hurting his supposed ‘feelings,’ you didn’t know; he just seemed like the kind of guy that could get his feelings hurt without even having a heart (yes, you at least knew that much). “And if I don’t get it done now, I’ll never get it done and---”
He peered over your shoulder, no longer listening to a word you said.
“Uh…can I help you?” Sarcasm laced your tone, but to no surprise, he didn’t catch.
At least, not at first. “No, I’m…hey! You don’t have to be mean!”
“Yes, I do. We women reserve the right to being an overly emotional bitch at least one week outta every month.” You doubted he understood the ‘once a month,’ comment, but he seemed to get the gist of it and pulled away.
You were honestly a bit sad to lose that warmth, but that was not the biggest problem you had at the moment. More important than that was getting all your work done, and getting it done well. No offense to Demyx, but you doubted the work you were doing was really his cup of tea.
Before you could so much as put a pen to paper, however, Demyx was hovering over your shoulder again, very curious by what exactly you were doing. It was tempting to bite or scratch him or something, just to get him away. His being there was too distracting.
You cleared you throat, and his gaze flickered to you quizzically. “Listen, Dem, I really need to get this work done. It’s very important. If I don’t get it done, I’m dead.” You had been hoping, somewhere in your mind, that he would have a spastic reaction to the statement, but no, Demyx just had to go and dash all your hopes and dreams.
“You will not,” he retorted. He looked at the paper. “That’s not life-or-death stuff right there, you know.”
“Okay, fine, my future is dead if I don’t. You just don’t get how this world works, Dem.”
He stepped back and looked around the room. “So…how long have you been at this?”
You glared at your paper, praying he would sense the poison daggers anyway. “Well, not including these interruptions, a few hours…three, I guess.”
“Have you taken any breaks?”
You found you couldn’t fight just one eye-roll. “I don’t have time for that.”
“You’re right, you are going to die.” Then he was silent for the longest time, before he said in a proud voice, “I have an idea!”
You couldn’t even get out the first syllable of, “What?” when he hauled you out of your seat and started pulling you out the door, saying your room was too cramped. You were going to ask, again, just what he was doing, but he wouldn’t listen to you. With a very pleased grin, he summoned a portal.
“Oh, you’re kidding…”
What followed was an exercise in futility. ‘Futility’ referring to the attempts you made to talk Demyx into taking you home. Sadly, the boy could be quite stubborn when he wanted to, and would have none of your protests. Each time you tried, he only shrugged it off with some explanation about vacations and other nonsense, and would simply not let you get a word in edgewise.
The fact that you were getting even more stressed? Completely ignored.
He took you to several different worlds, none of which you could recall by name, no matter how hard you tried. You had to agree, after seeing some of them, that it was amazing. This seemed to be what Demyx was trying to accomplish, and you would be loathe to actually go along with his plan.
“What do you think, (Name)?” He sounded very pleased with himself as he threw his arms out, as if to be some sort of bizarre presentation to the world. “Isn’t it nice?”
You, despite being in full agreement with him, scowled. “Take me home.”
“Will you stop asking that?”
“I will if you take me home,” you said, careful to clearly enunciate ‘home.’ He understood, and sighed at you, running a hand through his hair. This only encouraged you to repeat yourself. “Take me home, Demyx.”
Demyx pouted and took hold of your hand, dragging you off in some unknown direction. Well, unknown to you. You sincerely hoped that Demyx had a better idea of where he was going.
….probably not.
“Demyx, what is that?”
He cocked his head to one side cutely, surprised that you didn’t already know. “An item.”
You snorted at the explanation. “I can see that,” you replied in a haggard tone. Damn vague Nobody. The sign on the building said ‘Items’ in bright neon letters. He didn‘t need to say the obvious. “What is it?”
“A ring,” he answered easily. You were about to hit him for that when he went on, “It’s for strength. If you wear it, you get stronger. They’re for battle, mostly.” He presented a few others (you noted it was mostly jewelry; you would have to ask about that later…). “There’s also ones for speed and accuracy, too; they’re a lotta different types.”
“Do they have any for scientific abilities? That’d be great for tests.” You were joking. Why were you joking? You were supposed to be making it clear how unhappy you were about the whole situation. Damn Demyx and his infectious happiness. So, to feel assured that it was some temporary insanity and not you enjoying yourself that caused it, you glared at him again.
“No, they don’t.” He eyed you carefully, now on full-alert at the glare. He had seen mood-swings before; he knew it was dangerous ground he was treading on. “Why don’t I show you something else?” he offered hurriedly and began to usher you away from the stand and to the town.
It was an odd little town, but different enough from your own home that you were curious. While Demyx went to procure something called ‘sea-salt ice cream,’ you looked around at the place.
Odd buildings of various sizes and colors filled the place, most simply and unmarked: homes. Still…it was so peaceful. Not at all like where you lived. People were always rushing around for things; students were practically going up the walls trying to get enough caffeine to carry them through the day, about to go crazy from work and stress.
This world was nice. The people were nice. It was such a pleasant change from your reality, you found yourself standing there, in the middle of the street with your eyes closed blissfully.
Peaceful.
“(Name)?” Demyx’s voice broke through your thoughts. “Hello?”
You opened your eyes curiously, and he looked at you, face bemused as he waved a blue-ish popsicle under your nose. Taking it slowly, you sniffed the foreign thing and stared at it for a long moment.
“You eat it,” he interrupted, already busy with his own. “So, feeling better? I haven’t seen you so relaxed in a long time.”
Blinking, you shook your head. Whatever spell had been cast over you was now broken, and you felt anxious again; your work was still sitting, undone. How could you possible think to relax?
Demyx gave a melodramatic moan, hanging his head. You watched him out of the corner of your eye; mostly, you were focused on drinking in the sights of the town. While part of you wanted to go home, another part wanted to find that lethargic magic again and just enjoy being with him. The more homework-loyal (you stifled a laugh at the terminology) part squashed the silliness down and you went back to trying to come up with ways to get home.
But he spoke up again. “Isn’t it good? They’re actually popular in a few of the different---” he lowered his voice secretively “---worlds.”
He was right, too. The ice cream was very good, but still not good enough to find the magic. You were a little disappointed by this, and it must have shown. Demyx looked at you, thoughtfully, before saying, “Let’s find something else to do!”
With a broad grin, he grabbed your free hand and began to drag you off --- again --- to do who-knows-what.
Most of the pastimes he brought were done only briefly; he always stopped when he noticed he had lost your attention, and tried to come up with other, more effective ways to get your mind off the schoolwork.
After a while, he slumped down on the steps near the main town square and made some sort of muffled noise into his gloved hands. Looking up at you, he sighed. He had been doing it a lot, thanks to you, but he had a mission and he was going to get it done. “I’m at a loss for what to do, here, (Name),” the boy grumbled, kicking a small, harmless pebble. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to---”
He looked at you sharply. “Don’t say that! No, I said want. What do you want to do? Not need, not anything like that. If you wanted to work, you wouldn’t have been so stressed in the first place!”
You were startled by the question itself. That, and not to mention the tone Demyx was using. He never used that tone with you! Not even that one time, when you bit his finger and called him some very rude things… Shaking that thought away, you looked at him, hoping his face would give you some idea if how to answer.
Nothing came.
“I don’t know,” you admitted slowly. “I don’t know what I want.”
It was a strange thing to say. Weren’t people supposed to know what they wanted? …A good, stable life…a career…a home…an education…What was it? You hadn’t really thought that deeply on the subject. You had just gone along with what they told you to, working hard and very, very lost. You had never felt so lost.
Demyx didn’t seem at all surprised by your answer, and he stood, more quiet than you had ever seen him. He looked around, and you did likewise.
The evening sky met your eyes. The day was almost over.
Then, suddenly, Demyx tugged your sleeve to bring your attention back to him. “I have an idea,” he said. “I thought of one last place. Wanna come with me?”
“Yes,” you answered automatically. You doubted you could work now.
“Then come with me.” He was sounding excited, now. It seeped into his voice, and, in turn, into you. He led you off to a secluded area, summoning another portal of darkness.
It was beautiful, if the word did it justice. The ground was covered in a thick, rich green grass and many, many flowers. More flowers than you had ever seen in your entire life. A small river flowed out, sparkling gleefully, into an endless expanse of ocean, water a shimmering crystalline.
The trees were colorful, too; colors unheard of for trees. Red, silver, purple, blue, gold…countless colors.
It was still, save for the ocean’s soothing thrum in your ears.
You turned to Demyx, wide-eyed in shock and delight. “It’s…amazing,” you breathed, awe-struck. “Where are we?”
“I don’t really know,” he laughed, “But I found it on accident one time. I come here when I need to relax or think.”
You could only nod. ‘I can see why.’
The boy seemed pleased with your reaction to the place, and motioned for you to follow him. You did so, still taking in the sights and not really caring where your feet were taking you.
Where he decided to take you was a more dense part of the forest, where the river began, a small waterfall pouring into it continuously. You sat down gracelessly, eyes riveted on it.
Demyx took a seat next to you, calling forth his sitar. He plucked out a little, sweet tune and you felt your body relax. Before you, the water began to swirl and dance. As the tune grew more and more complex, so did the dance. You were mesmerized by it, riveted in your place by the water’s magnificent display. It was beautiful…the whole place was so beautiful. Enchanting. Heart-wrenchingly amazing.
The tune slowed, as did the water, until at the last, long note, it sank back down; it was sad, watching it happen. You wished it could have gone on forever.
Slowly, you turned to Demyx. It was hard to withhold a gasp; he looked stunning, too. You would normally dismiss such a thought as delusional, but it was true. You weren’t sure if it was just being in this place magnified it, or if you were just so oblivious, but it was true. Either way, it was true.
He looked back at you, eyes pleasantly warm. Demyx always had a kind, warm expression on; you just never really noticed.
“I’ve…been thinking,” you whispered at last. You had his attention, and some new magic had working its way into your system. You couldn’t stop yourself if you wanted to. “I know what I want.” ‘I want you to kiss me.’
Your better senses told you that you were being absurd---insane, even. However, those same senses thought you should be working right now. To hell with sense!
So you did; you leaned forward slowly and he didn’t stop you. It was a relief seeing that he didn’t look at all uncertain. He hovered near you, a hairbreadth from your lips, as if to savor the moment.
And he kissed you. The emotion you felt… you weren’t sure how to describe it. It wasn’t simply love---but you felt need. A strong, aching need that made you want to cry.
He pulled back, looking at you with uncharacteristic seriousness. “What does…it feel like?”
You weren’t sure how to answer, so instead asked him the same. At first, he scowled at you; you knew he didn’t have a heart. Then he paused, shaking his head. He remembered what it was like to have a heart. And it was dull, but it there was still something there, buzzing in his mind. The same thing that pulsed wildly through your own body.
Love? Lust?
“Need,” you said at last. “I…need you. That’s what I want.”
He…needed his heart. Wanted it, wanted to feel it the way you did. He could see it on your face.
Pausing, he smiled at you. His normal, dorky smile, but bigger than you had ever seen. This time, though, it didn’t break the spell, didn’t lessen the feelings in the slightest. “Wanna come with me?”
And you didn’t hesitate, not once thinking of the pile of homework.
“Yes.”
Akkina - *gasp* Romance…I did…romance. Non-implied romance. @_@ Gah!
Ku’shin - Oh, wow, you must be so proud. No, wait, you really are. -_- Aren’t we a bundle of talent.
Akkina - Yeah. Pretty much. And my explanation for the romance: he may not have a heart, per say, but he has something. It’s just not as strong, so it’s not the same. Yeah, that’s kinda how I look at it. Besides, those guys sure emote a lot, considering they don’t have hearts. Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah……. We just won’t dwell in that.
Ria - Actual romance! From Akkina! Yay! ^_^
Akkina - Heh. And longer than I thought it would be! I was expecting it to be, like, half as long. Maybe 1,000-1,500 words. I was surprised that I managed to drag it out so much.
Ku’shin - Yeah. You’re amazing. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
Akkina - And on a completely random note, I want a +5 ring of Algebra skill or something. I wish the made those…I’d go out and buy a whole bunch of them and… *insane laughter*
Ku’shin - Please review. Thanks for reading. Can I go now?
Akkina - No. Bye-bye, everyone! *waves erratically*
