Yo, K-D here with an important message:
Happy Birthday, Amatus! This story's dedicated to you. ^-^ You'll probably see why in a minute, if you haven't guessed already...
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Stranger Like Me
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Haruki couldn't stop staring at the stranger who'd walked into his favorite ice-cream store in Twilight Town while he'd been eating a sea-salt ice-cream he'd bought with his allowance. There was something just eerie about him. Something strangely familiar.
The moment he glanced in Haruki's direction, it hit him—the moment that their identical eyes met.
The man could be Haruki's brother.
No, scratch that. He could be Haruki's freaking twin if only he weren't so much older. Haruki almost dropped his ice-cream—the stranger's eyes widened and he stepped closer, as though he'd be equally sad to see the boy's ice-cream fall and be wasted on the floor.
Haruki caught himself, though, and pouted—defiantly sticking the ice-cream back in his mouth and folding his arms over his chest to look tougher. He wasn't going to let this guy look tougher than him.
The man chuckled, then walked over to sit across the table from Haruki. "Hey, kid. You alright? You almost lost your ice-cream a second ago..."
Amusement tinged with some sadness danced in the man's eyes. Haruki was drawn into them—much as people always said they were drawn into his. He glanced away quickly, frowning.
"I'm fine," he snapped. "And don't call me kid. I'm almost thirteen, I'll have you know. And I'm already a—"
Haruki lets that sentence trail off, the unspoken words hanging heavily in the air. Crap, I almost forgot that I'm not supposed to talk about that...
The man freezes for a second, then smiled knowingly and leans in. "You wouldn't happen to be a potential Keyblade wielder, would ya?"
It was Haruki's turn to freeze for a second before a proud grin ate half his face. "Nope," he laughed. The man looked confused until Haruki winked and whispered, "I already am one."
The look of surprise that crossed the man's face was priceless. And yet more priceless was the frown of what looked like jealousy that replaced it a moment later. The man leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, mumbling to himself. "How's that fair? I didn't get mine until I was sixteen..."
Haruki perked up when he heard that. "Wait, you're a Keyblade wielder?" The man nodded, and Haruki frowned. "Why haven't I ever seen you at the Academy?"
"What academy?" The man asked.
Haruki's eyes widened with a sudden thought. "Wait... You're not self-taught, are you?"
Haruki's parents and all the other wielders around their age like Uncle Sora and Uncle Roxas were self-taught. It's something Haruki could respect in a person—heck, he knew how hard training was when someone was there to guide him. He couldn't imagine learning everything on his own.
The man didn't exactly speak up, though—his eyes had gone all distant. Haruki knew that look. His parents got it a lot when they were thinking about things that had happened to them a long time ago.
They didn't talk much about the past, either.
Haruki was okay with that. He grinned at the stranger again, and to his delight the stranger perked up once more and grinned back.
It was just a bit disconcerting to see that expression mirrored back at him. And suddenly, Haruki thought of something he hadn't yet asked this man. "Hey, mister... What's your name?"
The man finished off his ice-cream and stood up before answering. "It's Haruki," he said with a smile.
Haruki was glad that he'd finished his own ice-cream a while ago, or he really would have dropped it that time. He couldn't make himself say anything this time—no smart comebacks, no confused questions. He just sat there, staring up at the other Haruki completely silent.
And as any of Haruki's friends could let you know, it took an awful lot to leave the boy completely speechless.
The man who called himself Haruki chuckled a little at Haruki's expression and reached over to mess up his hair with a grin. "Look at you—you're a pretty funny kid, you know that? Make me kind of wish I had a brother or sister to mess with." The man laughed at that.
Haruki finally snapped out of his silence. "You don't have any siblings? That's kinda sad... I mean, my big sister's really annoying sometimes... But she's there for me when I need someone, and I wouldn't trade that for the world." Haruki smiled. "No—for all the worlds out there."
The man stuck his hands into his pockets and looked up toward the sky. "Yeah, I bet you wouldn't. It's great that you've got someone who can be there for you like that."
"Do you have someone looking out for you, Haruki?" Haruki asked. It felt funny to say his name like that—to use it for another person. Especially since that other person looked so much like him.
The man smiled to himself kinda like Haruki's dad did a lot, and nodded. "Yeah. I do—I might not have any siblings, but my parents would give all the worlds to protect me if they could. I know they would..." He frowned a bit, and Haruki could see a hint of annoyance in his eyes.
"'Course, if only they hadn't been so protective of me, maybe I could've gotten my Keyblade a lot sooner, too..." he mumbled. Haruki couldn't help but smirk at that.
As the man started walking out the door, Haruki turned and waved. "It was nice meeting you, Haruki."
"Nice meeting you, too, kid," Haruki laughed. Then he stopped and turned around as well. "Never asked you your name, either."
Haruki chuckled and grinned at him. "You shouldn't have to ask me that, mister. You already know it. It's the same name your parents gave you, after all."
The other Haruki froze again—Haruki decided he liked making this guy freeze up, it was funny—and stared at him for a minute before shaking it off with a smile.
"I... I see. Actually, that explains a lot..." He laughed a little to himself. "Okay. It was nice meeting you, uh... Haruki."
As the man walked off, Haruki's sharp ears picked up his mumblings for a bit longer. "Wow. Man, that was weird... Who'd have thought I'd meet some random kid with the same name? Especially a kid that looked so freaking much like me..."
The wind all-but drowned out the sound of his laughter, but the last thing Haruki heard made him smile again, one more time.
"That'll be an interesting story to tell Mom and Dad someday..."
As strange as it was, Haruki had a feeling he knew exactly what their faces would look like when their son told them about this encounter.
After all, Haruki thought he knew exactly who they were.
"That guy could've been me from another universe..." Haruki laughed. "Whoa, talk about awesome..."
He'd like to tell his parents about it someday, too.
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Author: \(^w^)/ Gotta say, I've been wanting to write this story for a long loooong time. I mean, technically I've had all the information I needed to get a handle on the "other" Haruki since chapter five of "The New Future's Face..." But inspiration is funny sometimes.
Sometimes, it takes a while for the exact words to form themselves in a coherent manner.
Well, this story finally tackled me like a rabid plot bunny and wouldn't let me get away with putting it off any longer. I just kinda got this image of that frozen-in-the-headlights look on Haruki's face and decided that I had to write a story where that happened. Lol.
And in case any readers were confused, let me explain a crucial point. The Haruki this story follows is my character, who I thought up a long time ago back when the thought of a potential relationship between Riku and Xion first hit me. A while after that, I started reading "One Hundred Suns" by Amatus, which mentions their future child in a few of the drabbles: a kid who looks identical to the one I'd imagined.
When I decided to start writing my stories, I'd already come to love the name Amatus picked out for that kid: Haruki. It fits the kid I'd imagined as well. So, I asked Amatus if she'd mind me using the name as well - and she actually thought it'd be awesome.
This story was basically destined to happen since that moment. Why? Because if there are two nearly identical kids wandering around separate versions of the future KH universe... They've got to meet. Somehow.
tl;dr version: The "kid" Haruki is from my universe, the "stranger" actually belongs to Amatus. ;)
Hope you liked your present, friend!~