Broken Promises

By Queen of Curses

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts and its oh-so-lovable characters.

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Chapter 1 - The Past

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Section 1

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It was the usual warm and sunny day on Destiny Islands. Sora and Riku were walking along the beach, talking of the usual stuff they talk about.

"I finally beat Tidus today!" The 6-year-old brunette exclaimed.

"Good job, Sora! But you'll still never beat me. I'm the best!" The silver-haired 7-year-old bragged.

"Is that a challenge?" Sora inquired, eyes glowing with excitement for a battle.

"Does it look like it?" Riku said, picking up a stick from the sand. Sora followed suit.

Soon, both were engaged in a playful battle. Sora was doing pretty well, and had already knocked down half of Riku's HP. Meanwhile Riku had that trademark grin plastered onto his face the whole time.

When, Sora thought he had won, with Riku on the ground, he came closer to Riku to announce his victory. But when he came within range, Riku countered by springing himself off the ground with a kick and landing on top of Sora.

"I win." Riku simply said, looking down at the boy beneath him.

"Awww . . . . . . there's always a next time, right? Then, I'm sure I'll win!"

"Dream on!" Riku said, getting off of his best friend and brushing sand off of his pants. Sora outstretched a hand and Riku took it and helped him up.

Soon, they found themselves walking towards their Secret Place. It's been a sort of routine every afternoon to go there just to hang out and talk. When, they got their, Sora asked a very random question.

"Riku, are you my friend?"

"Of course I am, Sora."

"Good." And the brunette went over to hug Riku.

"Why do you ask?" Riku asked, hugging his friend back.

"I don't want to lose you. We never know . . . in the future, we might not be friends anymore."

"Don't think that way, Sora! Remember, I'll always be here for you, I'll protect you, and I will *never* intentionally hurt you, unless we're having our play fights."

"Promise?" Sora asked, looking up a few inches to meet eyes of sea green, and hugging tighter.

"Promise." Riku said. "And Sora, would you also promise me something?"

"What?"

"Can you promise to never replace me in your life? That I'll always have that special place in your heart?"

"Yeah, I promise." Sora confirmed, smiling. Then, he felt a new presence on his right wrist. There, he found a bead bracelet, with the beads made of sea green stones, matching Riku's eyes. "Riku? This is your special bracelet. I can't take it."

"Go ahead take it. I insist."

"Umm . . . okay." Sora said, examining the bracelet, and then lifting his eyes to look at his friend. "And Riku?"

"Hmm?"

"What does 'insist' mean?"

"Forget about it, Sora. You'll know when we're older."

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Section 2

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It was the usual warm and sunny day on Destiny Islands. A 14-year-old Sora was out looking for a challenge, with Kairi tagging along behind him. Riku was just out, sitting on his paopu tree, thinking.

But what Riku was actually doing was watching Sora and Kairi without looking obvious. He was known to just stare off into space, into his own little world, so maybe everyone else in this little prison of an island would think he was doing just that.

Little prison of an island . . . . . yes, that was what the Destiny Islands were. No place to go from here, no way of leaving, yes, it was just a prison to 15-year-old Riku.

As he was watching Sora just defeat Wakka, he found himself thinking back into the past. That was because Kairi was congratulating Sora. Sora looked like he was perfectly happy with her and needed no one else.

'I've been replaced.' The silver-haired boy thought to himself, scowling at the thought. He was beginning to hate Kairi more and more, the closer she got to Sora. He jerked his head away from his so-called 'friend' and looked out into the sea.

'I wish I could just get away from here. Anything's better than being in a place where you get ignored by the one person you care about, besides your family.' He thought.

"RIKU!!!" A childish voice behind him yelled.

'Sora.' Riku thought. And sure enough, it was Sora who was calling out his name. Riku was about to start smiling and act all friendly, but he knew that Kairi was with Sora.

"I just beat Wakka!" The hyperactive teen exclaimed.

Riku just stayed silent.

"Umm . . . Riku? Are you all right?" A feminine voice that could only Kairi's asked.

Riku snickered. 'Yeah, like she cares.' Riku turned around slowly to meet Sora's eyes of sky blue staring at him. Riku felt the urge to smile, but couldn't, not when Kairi was still around. No, he'd never be *truly* happy until Kairi was gone.

"Congratulations, Sora." He finally said, as calmly and as coolly as he could, despite the anger for the bitch that stood next to him.

"Thanks!" Sora said, raising his right arm to give a thumbs up. Riku noticed that the bracelet he gave him was not there. He felt so . . . rejected.

"But I don't think you'll be able to beat me." Riku said, putting his trademark 'Riku' grin. These were one of the few moments that he had every single drop of Sora's attention, and he wasn't going to ruin the moment.

Both teenagers picked up a stick from the ground and started fighting. After a few seconds, Sora was on the ground, defeated. And Riku was standing above him, feeling superior because he took no damage. He was just too fast for Sora to land a hit.

"I win." Riku simply said, looking down at Sora.

"Awww . . . . . . there's always a next time, right? Then, I'm sure I'll win!"

"Dream on!" Riku said. Sora outstretched his hand to Kairi, and she helped him up.

That was when Riku couldn't handle it anymore. Sora didn't need him. This was the very first time Sora didn't outstretch his hand for him to help him up. Instead, he asked help from *her* who could barely even help him up off the ground.

'I've been replaced.' He thought, and stormed away angrily, knowing the two that he'd left behind didn't even notice his sudden disappearance.

As Kairi praised Sora to no end, being all flirty all the while, the brunette knew there was something wrong with his friend. He shook it off, but promised to find out what was wrong later.

That night, Riku's mom asked him to cook dinner while she was out with her girlfriends to just talk about what mothers talk about. Riku was in actuality, a very good cook. He could cut up all the vegetables needed for the recipe in less than a minute.

Today was different. Riku took his time cutting up the vegetables. All that time, he was looking at the sharp edge of the knife he was holding.

Curious, Riku took the knife in his right hand tightly and ran the very tip along his wrist lightly. The result was a thin red line that stood out on his pale skin.

When Riku realized that he liked the stinging sensation and the sight of the crimson liquid of life, he added more cuts and slits to his wrist with the knife. Just as he was about to add the 13th cut, he passed out on the floor of his home.

When he came to, he found himself looking into blue eyes.

"Sora?" Riku asked, weakly smiling.

"Yeah, it's me."

"What happened?"

"I found you on the floor of your home with a pool of blood around you. I think you might have had an accident with the knife. It might have slipped from your hand." Sora said quietly.

Riku looked away, remembering his attempt at suicide. He knew Sora was just playing dumb. Sora *knew* that Riku was bleeding purposely. Besides, *everyone* knew that Riku had the best grip when it comes to knives and cutting.

Riku looked at his surroundings. From what it looked like, he was in his own room and laying down on his bed as Sora was sitting on it. He also looked at his arms. They were all bandaged up. Just like he was reading his mind, Sora answered any questions that Riku had in his head.

"Wakka, Tidus, and I carried you up here. Selphie bandaged up your arms, being the nurse-in-training she is. Kairi . . . well, she just looked on as the rest of us helped you." Sora explained.

'Figures. She doesn't care. Bitch.' Riku thought, still noticing the missing bracelet from Sora's right wrist.

Sora continued with his explanation. "I asked them all to leave me alone with you."

At this comment, Riku lifted his eyes to meet Sora's, which weren't their usual bright color of sky blue, but the color of the ocean during a storm.

Sora suddenly got up off the bed and headed for the door of Riku's room and paused there.

"By the way, your mother isn't here yet."

And with that Sora left. 'Probably off to be with Kairi.' Riku thought sadly.

"I've been replaced." He whispered.