Like A Dolphin

Your Hair

:

Kingdom Hearts and its characters are not mine.

-:-

Summary: Sora left Twilight Town six years ago; college bound. He returns with a new girlfriend on his arm, old memories swarming in his head, and aspirations to make a life for himself in the newspaper business, thanks to an old family friend. But unfortunately for Sora, and Kairi, his life gets hectic when he returns to an ex-boyfriend and...a son?

Pairings in this chapter: SoRi, SoKai, mentioned PenceOlette

-:-

Sora was not happy. He should have been. In fact, he had been, just a few hours ago. This was until he stepped foot on the train, of course. It was a nice enough train, really...from the outside, anyway. In reality, the compartment was cramped, loud, and full of inconsiderate single parents like the rude lady sitting behind him who couldn't even quiet her kid down. He had half a mind to turn around and say something, but a gentle pressure on his arm quieted his thoughts. Kairi was clinging to him and gazing out of the window excitedly. Sora remembered that she rarely ever got a chance to travel.

'Get your act together,' he chastised, forcing his annoyance away. He was going home. This was good, right? Right.

Up until recently, Sora hadn't even thought of returning to his home town. Twilight Town had been a memory that he rarely ever thought of. His old friends stopped talking to him when he went off to college, and so he made new ones. And his parents were the ones that did the visiting, since they sometimes enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Radiant Garden.

It was weird reminding himself that he no longer lived there. He'd lost his last job, and had nearly given up hope on finding another when, out of the blue; an old family friend contacted him with a great idea and one position short of starting his own newspaper business.

The rest was history.

So, here he was, riding on a cramped train with an excited girlfriend on his arm, and old memories swarming in his head. He couldn't lie and say he hadn't missed it. Most of his life was spent in Twilight Town, and though he had made new memories and had new experiences in Radiant Garden, he couldn't help but smile at the thought of seeing his old house, school, and friends.

Riku...

Sora wondered how he was doing. He hadn't heard from the guy in years, after all. There was a chance he had moved away. Maybe he had even gotten married...?

"I'll always love you, Sora..."

Shaking his head, Sora forced the memory away. Riku was his past. Kairi was his future. People change, he reminded himself. It was silly for him to think that he and Riku could have lasted forever. First loves never work out, anyway.

"You promise?"

"I promise you, Sora. Forever and ever."

He smiled pleasantly over at the redheaded girl beside him when the train came to a stop, and leaned over to give her a small kiss, as if to remind him that she was there. Kairi. Not Riku.

"We're here."

The doors opened, and Sora stepped through onto the platform, Kairi on one arm and luggage in the other. He couldn't help but notice the single mother struggling behind him with her child and baggage, and for a short moment he was tempted to go back and offer his assistance, when Kairi grabbed his attention.

So, together, they made their way from the train station, leaving the struggling lady to her own devices.

.. + ..

"Thanks a ton, Roxas..." The blond paused in pointing out the boy's new worktable; in the dark room of the small shop he'd purchased to house his new project. He blinked too-blue eyes, slightly taken off guard by the sudden exclamation, before allowing a small smile to grace his features.

"Hey, don't mention it. I should be thanking you. After all, you were the last component needed to get The Clock Tower up and rolling."

Sora nodded a bit to himself, sliding once-tan fingers, pale after spending so many years away from the beach, across his new bench, his eyes gazing around the small room.

Kairi was probably at their apartment, unpacking the boxes that had been waiting for them when they arrived. She'd told him she was going to call her new boss, and he wondered if she'd done so yet. Sora wasn't sure exactly how much this job with Roxas was going to bring in, and he was hoping that Kairi's boss could get her settled into her new office soon. He was loath to admit it, but it was mostly the munny Kairi brought in, being a psychologist and all, that kept the roof over their head and the food on the table. Photographers only made so much munny, after all.

At Roxas' "I don't know where we'd be without you", Sora rolled his eyes and laughed, poking his blond friend's chest accusingly.

"You're the brains behind the whole thing! And besides, you have Pence, don't you?" Pence was the guy that had gotten him into photography. He'd always had a camera on hand in high school, and he'd been the one in charge of taking the photographs for their old school newspaper. Sora had been the backup.

"Nah," Roxas shook his head, gravity-defying blond spikes barely moving atop his head despite the action. "Pence moved away a while ago. He and Olette got married and decided to venture out into the unknown together. He sends me a picture every once in a while. Apparently Olette is expecting."

Before Sora could respond, Roxas was opening his mouth again. "Want to go and get a coffee? We can talk about the years we missed and pick up some lunch at the same time." At Sora's hesitant glance at his pocket, which no doubt housed his dwindling munny pouch, Roxas smiled. "My treat." Two simple words and Sora was leading the way, grinning and urging Roxas to quicken his pace.

'Some things never change, do they?' Roxas wondered silently to himself, following behind the brunet, who seemed to be enjoying himself already, despite all the years that had gone and past.

.. - ..

"What about Hayner?" Sora found himself asking an hour or so later, laughing into the soft drink Roxas had purchased for him after a particularly amusing story about their old geometry teacher whose teaching career had met an untimely end after an incident involving a paintball gun, the end of a school year, and some rather rowdy boys who had picked their last fight.

"Hayner..." Roxas paused, gaze shifting uncomfortably from Sora's face, to his drink, to the window at his left. "Hayner and I don't talk much anymore." To say Sora was surprised was an understatement. His blue eyes widened, searching out Roxas'. When the blond refused to meet his gaze, he leaned forward; one hand resting gently on the other boy's fidgeting fingers.

"What? Why? What happened? You two were best friends; practically inseparable!"

"Just like you and Riku?" Roxas snapped, his eyes locking on Sora's, a hint of anger behind the previously hesitant gaze.

The blow hit him hard.

A stricken look took over Sora's face, and he averted his gaze to his drink just as Roxas sighed and shook his head. "Listen," the blond started, sounding uncomfortable but regretful, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"No..." Sora replied, twirling around the straw idly. "No. You're right. I won't pry. Things change."

Roxas bit his lip, but eased out the creases of worry in his forehead when Sora picked up his head and grinned over at him. They lapsed into silence then, though it was broken a few minutes later when Roxas flipped his phone shut after checking on the time. "Hey, I have to go and pick up my son. Why don't you come along? I mean, you don't have to. But it would be nice if you could meet him, and judging by how long you've been gone, you'll need a guide to show you around the town again."

Sora opened his mouth, but then closed it when realization dawned on him. "Wait. You have a son?" He suddenly realized that they hadn't even bothered talking about themselves. "Wow! Congratulations! I guess that must mean you're married, right?"

Roxas shook his head as he picked up his stuff and placed a small sum of munny on the counter for their meal. "No, actually, I'm in the process of a divorce." He laughed at the panicked look on Sora's face, and waved away the apology he had begun to stutter out. "It's okay. It was a mutual decision. We just...fell out of love, I guess."

After that, they left the small coffee shop and made their way across the Marketstreet, where they stepped onto the trolley that would take them to the train station.

"Where exactly are we going?" Sora asked as they stepped off and went over to the ticket counter. The woman behind the desk noticed Roxas, smiled, and waved him through, sending Sora a questioning look, eventually allowing him to pass free of charge when he stepped up close to his blond companion.

"Destiny Islands." Sora stopped dead.

"When we get older...let's move out to the Islands."

A laugh, "But, Riku, they're only a short train ride away! Wouldn't you rather move somewhere a bit farther out?"

"I know. But...they seem like home."

"Sora?" The brunet was shaken from his memory by a worried-looking Roxas, who he just now noticed was standing next to him and had a hand on his shoulder.

"Hm? Oh! Sorry. Spaced out a little," He laughed to cover up the brief flash of hurt, and rushed ahead of the other boy with a call of "come on! We're going to miss our train!" before being promptly put in his place by Roxas, when he realized he had no idea what train they were waiting for.

.. + ..

The sun was setting when they made their way onto the platform. Everything looked so much...smaller than Sora remembered it. Gazing around at the single bench and the severe lack of people lounging around the tram areas, he was forcefully reminded that he no longer lived anywhere near the city. Though he could't really be very surprised by the change, considering they were on an island cluster. Roxas took off down the street and Sora followed, looking around at the houses he'd half-forgotten and wondering how such an area could look so perfect and align.

He led Sora to a small house that looked like all the others in its row; lawn neatly trimmed, with a single round window on the top floor and most likely basement-less because anyone with a basement that close to the water didn't normally brag come hurricane time. At first glance, nothing made this house special. But then Sora noticed that the address numbers had been replaced, and was that a skateboard at the door? Roxas knelt before the board and picked it up, patting the head of a collared black kitten as it conveniently walked by, as if it'd been waiting for the blond all along. Perhaps it was, Sora thought as it sat by the door, gazing over at Roxas with patient yellow eyes.

After rapping a few times on the door, Roxas stood back and gazed over at Sora with caution in his eye. Just as Sora opened his mouth to ask him what was up, the door opened just enough for a single blue-green eye to timidly peek out, gazing around until locking on Roxas. The door then opened farther, and Sora was surprised to see that their doorman was a young boy that looked to be seven, at best. With a heart-shaped face outlined in chocolate brown hair, Sora would call him cute. Kairi would probably smother the poor boy, and perhaps make some comment about how he could be the boy's father, what with the similar hair color.

"Are you here to take Kio away?" the boy's voice was small and hesitant, perhaps even a little disappointed. Instead of scooping him up, like Sora was tempted to do, Roxas smiled and nodded.

"You two have school tomorrow, don't you?" The little boy nodded dejectedly, and seemed like he was about to turn around and perhaps get this 'Kio', when his gazed locked on Sora.

"Who're you?" Curiosity seemed to have gotten the best of the shy boy, and Sora grinned at how bold he'd become.

"My name's Sora. What's yours?"

"Iruukka!' Another voice whined, and a second boy joined them at the door. This one was slightly shorter, but had a large grin on his face and mischief in his blue eyes that the other lacked. When he saw Roxas, his face fell.

"Daad? Do I have to go already?" he sounded so disappointed, but Roxas refused to give in. It took Sora a moment, as Roxas went on about how he'd have a chance to come and play another day, to realize that this was probably Kio. He really did resemble Roxas, if only in coloring. His hair, though blond, was much too straight to have been inherited from his friend.

While Sora was spacing out, a large hand grabbed the door and opened it up the rest of the way. The owner was laughing, and it took Sora a second to realize he (because there was no way that voice belonged to a woman) had greeted Roxas and asked what was up. It didn't, however, take him a second to realize that before he'd even finished, the words had died on the man's tongue.

So he looked up from the two kids he'd been staring at to find out why.

The man in the doorway took his breath, and his heart, away with a single shocked glance.

"...Riku?"

.. - ..

Roxas told him Riku hadn't been ready. They were sitting together on the tram, Kio on Roxas' lap, and Sora's eyes stubbornly forced towards the window. Roxas looked very much like he wanted to talk, but Kio kept him silent, at least towards Sora. The little blond boy made enough noise for the three of them, chattering on about his day, and what Iruka said, and, Sora noticed with a wince, what Riku did. Roxas smiled and added little commentary on occasion, ruffling his hair and telling him he needed to be less stressful for Riku. Kio quickly nodded and announced he would be good, but it was obvious by the glint in his eye that he had another stress-inducing activity planned up for his next visit.

As they walked back towards the town, Sora told Roxas he was going to go back to his apartment, but a heavy hand and a firm shake of Roxas' head forced him to accompany the two blonds' back to their house first. The distance was short, and soon Roxas was sliding the key into his front door, pushing it open for Kio, who ran inside with a gleeful "mommy, I'm back!"

Roxas closed the door behind his son, and then turned to look at Sora.

"Come walk with me," he said, already heading back towards the street. With a sigh, Sora followed. He remained silent, and so did Roxas. For a time, they merely walked together, neither speaking, though both thinking. After a little while however, Roxas broke the stifling silence.

"He didn't know you were here." Sora hadn't thought so. The shocked look in his ex's eye had been enough evidence of that. "I didn't tell him I hired you, and he has no idea you moved back." Sora nodded, just a little awkwardly.

"He didn't look happy to see me," the brunet said, recalling Riku's reaction. He'd closed the door in their faces.

"Did you expect him to?" Roxas sounded just a little bitter, but Sora couldn't blame him. He hadn't expected Riku to welcome him into his home with bright smiles, but being rejected like that hurt.

"No..."

"Good." Roxas shoved his hands in his pockets, and sighed. "He still hasn't moved on, you know." Sora looked over at him with surprised blue eyes, his mouth open slightly. It'd been six years, and Riku still wasn't over him?

"But...he had a kid! That...that was Riku's son, wasn't it? They had the same eyes."

"That is Riku's son, yes. Iruka is almost six. He's a sweetie." Sora stopped walking, a hard look in his eye. Roxas stopped a few paces later, sighing and glancing back over at his friend.

"If Riku has a son that old, he must have met someone else a long time ago, right?" But Roxas shook his head, a little sadly.

"No, Sora. Riku hasn't been with anyone since you left."

But that didn't make sense! How would Riku have a son if he'd been pining over Sora since he left? He must have at least gotten a girlfriend. Maybe even a boyfriend! But the look in Roxas' eye stopped the annoyed words that had found their way to his tongue. In fact, the look in Roxas' eye had his own widening significantly.

"No." Sora shook his head, stricken. "Keep your mouth closed, Roxas. Don't tell me that."

Roxas looked at Sora sadly, and shook his head.

"He's yours."

.. + ..

It was with a heavy hand that Sora closed the door to his apartment. He glanced around at the boxes strewn around the room, and sighed, noticing Kairi's absence. In her place, there was a bright pink sticky note on the fridge. He trudged over to it, and read the neat note before opening the cooler and gazing around inside. Kairi had been shopping.

-

Going out to talk to my boss. I went grocery shopping, and unpacked some of the boxes while you were out. I expect dinner to be waiting when I get home!

-- xo Kairi

-

Another sigh forced its way past his lips as he sat himself down on one of the kitchen chairs the movers had brought up, leaning his head against the matching table. He still remembered buying the set with Kairi. She'd been so excited.

"What kind of table do you want, when we move in together?"

His eyes widened, and he groaned, slipping fingers through his hair and pulling harshly. He'd been thinking about Kairi, not Riku.

"Hah! Riku, you're so weird. What does that matter?"

"Well, a table says a lot about a person. I was thinking if we bought one together, it would say something about us."

He'd given that away long ago and yet here he was, trying to think of Kairi, but only getting images and pictures of the silver-haired boy he'd forced himself not to think about for years. But seeing him again was filling his head, and he couldn't help but think of the way he used to smile, and the tender look that would fill his eyes whenever they would meet his. Why had he given that up, again?

Oh, yeah. He'd gone off to college. But was that an excuse? Roxas certainly hadn't thought so, and he'd told Sora all about it just a little while ago.

"Do you not realize how much he sacrificed for you, Sora? Do you not fucking realize that he could have gone anywhere he wanted, but he still picked Twilight University? Did you ever wonder why that was, Sora?"

Sora had wondered. He'd pulled Riku aside after his graduation, and asked him why he had settled for a school like Twilight University. But Riku had just smiled, and pulled Sora close, and whispered in his ear that he was fine there, so long as Sora visited him every weekend. And so Sora had agreed, and had dropped the issue. Until, of course, he was the one throwing his cap in the air and announcing to the whole school he'd finally decided on attending a school in Radiant Garden. The school was called Hollow Bastion; he remembered announcing happily to his friends and family as they celebrated finally getting out of high school. Riku had been oddly silent, but when Sora turned to him with happy eyes, he'd forced a smile and embraced the smaller boy.

"He was so fucking in love with you, Sora, that he turned down all the other schools, just so he could be close to you."

He pressed his head in his arms, shoulders stiff as he hunched over the table. Riku had really given up so much for him hadn't he? But what had Sora given up in return?

"Iruka is your son, and you didn't even fucking know…"

Tears welled up in Sora's eyes, but no matter how much he tried to force them back, he couldn't. He still remembered his last night with Riku. They'd rented a hotel, to get away from nosy parents and roommates, and Sora had pressed Riku to the mattress and told him how much he loved him as they made love. Riku had been crying the entire time, and once they were finished, Sora remembered that Riku had refused to let him go until they were asleep. In the morning, Sora had left to catch his train, leaving Riku with a scrawled note that he'd call once he got situated into his dorm.

Of course, that had been six years ago.

Sora had called Riku; quite a lot, at first. Almost everyday they were on the phone together, laughing about something, or murmuring out vows to always love the other. Riku had even talked about moving out there. He'd even told Sora he was going to apply for Hollow Bastion, but for some reason, after that, calls got awkward. And eventually, they called each other less and less, and Riku's application never was submitted. Sora had wondered why, at first, but then he met Kairi, and he all but forgot his promise to stay with Riku forever.

Did that make him a bad person? If not, then having a son he didn't know about certainly did. But then, why hadn't Riku told him about Iruka? Why hadn't Riku called him up breathless with laughter about how they'd gotten pregnant? Then Riku could have submitted in his application and they could have gone to college together, and Sora could have been Iruka's father for the last six years. They could have made it work. Sora was sure they could have. But then why?

They'd broken up before Sora left for university. Distance had been the factor, even though Riku had told him they could make it work. When Riku talked about coming to Sora's school, they'd both been ecstatic. Neither had really wanted to break up in the first place, and if Riku went to school with him, they wouldn't have to. But when things got awkward, Sora had met Kairi. In fact, he'd probably told Riku about her. But what if all those silent pauses on Riku's end had been about Iruka? That had been it, hadn't it?

"I'm so sorry," Sora cried into his hands. He wished he could take everything back. But what about Kairi? Despite his mistake with Riku, he still loved her. And it wasn't as if he could change what he'd done.

"I've decided to apply for Hollow Bastion."

"Ah! Really? What made you change your mind?"

"Things aren't working out here anymore. And besides, don't you want me to go there?" Riku had laughed, but it was strained.

"'Course I do, silly! Fill it out quickly! I think I'm wasting away over here without you."

"Go away." But the memories refused to leave. And by the time Kairi came home from her interview, pouting at the lack of dinner and ready to scold her boyfriend for being lazy, Sora was asleep on the table; face buried in his arms and dried tears clinging to his lashes.