Behind Those Blue Eyes

By: Rika Yuki Hikari

Chapter 1: Arrival

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a/n: So this is my first re-written chapter of BTBE since this chapter used to only be a paragraph long and was written when my writing capabilities sorta bit the weenie. So, here's the first chapter of BTBE re-written and lengthier.

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"I'm finally here." Rika thought as she walked down the beach of the Destiny Islands, the warm beachy air combed through her platinum blue hair, it swept way past the middle of her back and past her thighs, all the way down to the middle of her calves.

"I'm finally with my brother..." She said in her head as she smiled taking a chain that was around her beck out of her shirt revealing a small white crystal with a strongly glowing light inside of it. She was walking barefoot on the beach feeling the grit of the sand work its way between her toes, feeling the spray of the ocean slightly mist across her face, and smelling the sweet yet salty smell of the air around the island.

"This is heaven." She said aloud as she closed her eyes breathing in the salty smell of the ocean air. She walked past a raft which was already pointed out to her by her brother Riku. She got the grand tour of the island from Riku and his friends Tidus, and Wakka, two of the many teens that played on the small island that was a little further out from the main island of the Destiny Islands.

"Rika!" She heard her brother call; she smiled as she heard his feet making the sand swirl around making crunching noises as he ran towards his sister. Rika turned to meet her brothers eyes as he ran after her

"What do you want now you pest?" she said while laughing at her brother. "He hasn't left me alone for more than five minutes ever since I've been here." she thought as Riku finally caught up with her.

"I wanted to make sure that you're getting around the island okay, I don't want you getting lost, or hurt, or anything." he started babbling on and on like an overprotective brother always would it made her smile but it was annoying at the exact same time. She clapped a hand over her brothers mouth talking over his muffled complaints and nags

"I am fine Riku, I'm a big girl, I can handle myself." and she let go of his mouth and he continued babbling on she just started walking away.

"Be careful okay?" he shouted at her as she walked away, Rika waved from behind her head to let him know that she heard him and she would stay out of trouble. Rika headed towards the door that led to the main beach of the small island that, she walked through the door and walked past the small shack made out of pieces of drift wood that probably washed up onto shore of the beach, the shack led up to a small bridge also made out of driftwood, it was a miracle how the bridge didn't collapse because there was no supports underneath it, the bridge led to a small island with a tree jutting out from the edge of it known as the paopu tree. She heard all about the legend from the one island girl named Selphie; she was also a friend of her brother and the others. The legend says that if you share the paopu with someone your destinies are intertwined for the rest of your lives. Rika knew better than to believe in children's tales such as the one of the paopu. Rika walked back across the driftwood bridge, towards a waterfall that was near a big tree.

"This island is so beautiful and serene." She thought to herself as she took in all the scenery of the area that she was in, but something caught her eye. There was a small opening in the corner of the tree across from the waterfall she decided to head over to the opening to check it out she pulled her hair back then got on her knees and crawled through the small hole. When she got through the opening she was hit with a burst of cool slightly damp and musty air, it definitely smelled like a cave, she traveled further into the cave through the winding entrance and then she arrived to an open area, this part of the cave was covered with chalk drawings; she could quickly tell which ones belonged to her brother.

"This must be the Secret Place that Riku talked about." She thought to herself as she looked at all the drawings, she vaguely remembered her brother mentioning about him sharing this place with two of his other friends that lived here on the islands their names were Sora and Kairi. Rika had yet to meet both of them but she was supposed to meet them both later on today. She walked up to the strange door that was at the center of the furthest wall of the cave she knocked on it and the sound seemed hollow which meant there had to be something on the other side that wasn't a cave wall, she tried pulling at the edges trying to pry it open but nothing worked, she looked at the strange door and just shrugged it off figuring maybe Riku, Kairi, and Sora had something to do with the door and she didn't want to be snooping into any of their personal business so she headed out of the cave. Rika crawled out of the Secret Place and had to shield her eyes from the blinding light of the island sun, only being able to see white for a moment she got dizzy and fell to the ground and hit her head.

Rika was awoken by the feeling of cool ocean water being sprinkled onto her forehead, her eyes fluttered open and she looked into a pair of crystal blue eyes as blue as the ocean that surrounded the islands. He had light brown hair that was spiky and sticking out all over the place.

"Hey, you're awake finally!" The boy said, by the looks of him he was the same age as her. "I was walking on the beach and I saw you by the waterfall passed out cold, are you okay?" He said questioning how she had collapsed. Rika slowly helped herself up laughing at herself for being so clumsy.

"Yeah, I'm fine I guess, I was in that cave and I came out and the light kind of made me dizzy and I guess I fell." She said as she ran her hands through her hair which now had ample traces of sand in it from being laid down on the beach, she could feel the wash of the ocean brushing across her feet it was unnaturally cool, but then she realized that the sky was darkening showing the beginnings of a storm but it looked as it was still going to take awhile for the storm to reach the island.

"Well, at least your alright, how did you just come here, I don't think I've ever seen you around the island." The boy questioned again. "It's a long, story, but my name is Rika" Rika answered, and the name rung a bell in the teen boys mind.

"Your name is so familiar… but I can't remember where from though." The boy thought to himself thinking of where he could've heard her name before.

"Oh, maybe you know my brother, Riku?" Rika mentioned to him.

"Yeah, that's it! Riku is one of my best friends. I've known him since forever, how come I've never seen you around?" He asked away again trying to find as much information on this strange girl who seemed to be his best friends sister. Now that he looked at her features more in detail she had the exact same platinum blue hair color as Riku, her figure was slightly curvy, unlike most of the girls on the Destiny Islands her face was also like his only softer around the edges where Riku's was sharp and defined. But the one thing that separated them was the color of their eyes; Rika's eyes were a minty green with flecks of azure and silver mixed right in, the perfect blend that seemed like sea foam on a sunny day.

"She is really pretty." Sora thought to himself until he realized Rika was answering.

"Well, I just actually came to the island today." She looked out to the ocean as she answered him.

"So you're from another world?" Sora asked. "I guess so, that's what you could call it I guess, I should probably be getting back to my brother." As soon as she talked about him he came running down the beach to Rika and Sora slightly winded, it looked as if he has ran from one side of the island to the other.

"I was looking all over for you Rika; I see you've met Sora." Riku said as he motioned to the spiky haired brunette.

"Oh, so you're the Sora that Riku talks about." She smiled, "Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't get to tell you my name earlier."

He laughed. "It's no problem." Rika smiled, "C'mon Rika we should get going, there's a storm coming and we don't want to be on this island when it happens, we should get home, you too Sora." Riku said seriously he grabbed Rika's arm and led her towards the docks, Sora hurried his pace to keep up with them.

When they got to the docks Riku untied the tether that held his row boat to the dock and nodded for Rika to get in. She steeped into the boat carefully trying not to tip it over. Sora untied the tether holding his boat to the dock also and hopped into the boat and began rowing waving goodbye to Riku and Rika. They both waved back smiling and Riku began rowing his boat in the opposite direction heading to their house which Riku kept alone, his mother died about 3 years after he had arrived at the island and he pretty much fended for himself the years that had been after that, usually spending most of his time training and making himself strong. As Sora rowed his boat he couldn't stop thinking about Rika and her beautiful eyes.

Rika closed her eyes as she felt the steady rocking of the boat; she listened to the sound of her brothers' oars and the water as he paddled through the ocean water to their house now. She thought of the boy who she woke up to and his name 'Sora' which meant sky and his eyes also reminded her of that, the clear blue sky that surrounded her old home.

Maybe that's why she felt so comfortable talking to him. "What are you dreaming about now?" Her brother said to her slightly laughing at her.

"It's been a long day, I'm tired brother." She smiled at him as she reached over the boat and splashed water onto his arm.

"I'm so glad to be here. I miss home, but it is so nice to see your face again." She looked out to the horizon where the sun was setting amongst the clouds of the coming storm.

"Same here, I've missed you a lot Rika." Riku said to her as he continued rowing to their house which was now coming into view. Soon they were tethering the rowboat back to the dock around his house which was on a small island. The house was small but it was enough for Riku and his mother when she was alive. Riku had transformed his mothers room into what he gave Rika for a room, all of her stuff was organized into the room from when she had arrived in the morning, she missed her other home but they had to make her leave, she needed to spread her wings.

Rika walked into the house and up to her room and laid on the bed thinking about her day and what was going to happen tomorrow. "Rika, I made dinner are you hungry?" She heard her brother call up to her.

"No, I'm okay Riku, I'm not really that hungry today." She replied to her brother.

"Well, if you get hungry I'll leave you a plate in the microwave so all you have to do is heat it up." He answered her and began making her a plate.

"Thank you." She called to him downstairs smiling at how independent her brother had become since her mothers death, she could never think of him cooking but whatever he had mad sure smelled good, but she just wasn't in the mood to eat right now and she was still kind of homesick. She had laid down on the bed and closed her eyes; she didn't realize how drowsy she was until she closed her eyes. Soon the fatigue had gotten the best of her and she fell asleep listening to the rumbles of the coming storm.

Sora, tethered his boat to the dock at his house and walked inside, his parents had already gone to bed he heated up his dinner that they had left for him on the table which was still warm he didn't have the energy to walk to the microwave to make it hot again, he ate quickly and headed to his room. As soon as he hit the bed the thought about Rika and her eyes again,

"Wow, I would've never thought of Riku having a sister, I wonder why he never mentioned her before." Soon he abandoned his thoughts and he fell asleep.

Riku headed upstairs to go to bed he checked in on his twin, Rika was strewn across the mattress.

"She sure doesn't sleep like a lady." He thought to himself and smiled; he walked over to Rika and gently put her head on the pillow and covered her up with a quilt that belonged to their mother.

"Sweet dreams sis." He said and with that he headed to bed.

So this is my first re-written chapter of BTBE and it is very much so better than the one paragraph I used to have there. I can't believe the detail I lacked to put into my story when I was in Middle School. Thank god for writing classes! Well please read and review everyone I really hoped you liked it, and I will hopefully have the rest of these re-written in better quality like this first chapter in the others. J.

xoxo,

Rika Yuki Hikari