"Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that.I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand…"
Ansem Report 1
If there was one thing Riku disliked about staying in the Mysterious Tower, it was most definitely the lack of clocks. It made nights like this, when he couldn't succumb to the peace of sleep, seem so much longer than they actually were. In the dark, he could hardly tell if it had been a few minutes or several hours since he'd last closed his eyes. He supposed it didn't really matter, it didn't make a difference how long he waited before he made another attempt to go to sleep, it never happened.
He sat up with a quiet groan of annoyance and swung his feet around so they rested on the carpeted floor next to his bed. The young master headed towards his door, intent on taking a short walk before he made another attempt at sleep. He didn't really care where he went- out of his room, around the tower, or even outside- as long as he felt tired enough that he could slip easily into slumber afterwards. With that thought in his mind, he opened his door and began to wander the halls, passing the other doors without a second glance. If he hadn't been so lost in his daze, he may have noticed that the doors to one of those rooms had been open.
He continued his walk towards the exit, feeling no need to tiptoe down the stairs since it seemed that everyone besides him was asleep. He followed his path past the door to Yen Sid's study and towards the other set of stairs when an open door made him stop. The door to Yen Sid's study was open. For a moment, he figured it was a fluke. Yen Sid could have just left the door open. Still, something prompted him to take a closer look.
To Riku's surprise, the light in the room was on. He approached slowly, wondering who else was up at this hour. The obvious answer would have been Yen Sid- as Riku never actually saw the master sleep, but that would have been much to obvious. He supposed it could have been Donald and Goody. The two were always sharing funny stories with each other and the other residences of the tower. When Riku and Kairi were around, their stories were always about Sora. It was always fun to watch their spiky haired friend turn red in embarrassment and stutter trying to stop his travelling companions' story. Riku chuckled quietly at the though. At first, he'd been upset. The seeds of doubt Maleficent had sewn returned and Riku had wondered if Sora preferred his new friends over him and Kairi. But then he'd heard Kairi laugh at whatever ridiculous story was being told and realized there was no need to worry. He'd felt the need to share an embarrassing story of his own about Sora afterwards, but it had all been in good fun of course Kairi had joined in as well, adding her own memories to the story.
Hm. Kairi. Maybe she was the one who was awake.
That thought, as well as the sound of frantic page turning, brought him back to the task at hand and he stepped through the door as silently as he could. He found his final suspicion had been correct. Kairi sat in the room, her chair pulled up to the opposite side of the large desk that Yen Sid would usually sit. She seemed not to notice him, as her eyes stayed glued to the book as she flipped back and forth between two pages. Her lips were pursed and her eyebrows scrunched together- a look Riku had seen her wear many times when they were back in school.
It meant she was confused. Lost in the words the pages were providing. He supposed he should have known she'd been studying so late into the night, when no one was around to see her struggle with the information. She'd never been one to ask for help on the islands either. She was the mayor's daughter, and Riku supposed there was pressure on her to do well and look strong in front of others. Still, when she was confused on something in school, either he or Sora was confused as well, so she had someone to work it out alongside her until they'd figured it out together. But here, she had no one like that. Inside the book she was reading, there were pages upon pages of information on Heartless and Nobodies. Xehanort and Ansem the Wise. The Keyblade Was and Kingdom Hearts itself. It was information that he and Sora had memorized through their experience alone and Yen Sid had collected the information, allowing them to review it whenever they desired. Each topic were keys to the puzzle that they'd been trying to solve. But, for Kairi, it was different. In her eyes, these were Heartless and Nobodies she'd hardly- if ever- encountered before. These were names of people and worlds she couldn't put a face to. It was all confusing information to memorize, and Riku cursed himself for failing to notice she needed help beforehand.
"Kairi?" The girl jolted in her chair and slammed the book shut before turning around to face him. Shock was evident on her face for a moment before it turned into confusion.
"Riku?" Her hand grasped onto the long sleeve of her pink pajamas. Riku would have laughed at the paopu designs on them if it had been a calmer situation. After a brief moment of silence, she spoke up again.
"What are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He watched her, waiting for an explanation, but she just shrugged. He started to walk towards her, his eyes landing on the book.
"There's nothing wrong with studying, y'know?" He told her, leaning himself against the desk and crossing his arms.
"I know." Kairi's voice was quiet, and her own violet orbs were glued to the large text in front of her.
"And yet you won't open the book again until after I leave, right?" She winced as if his words struck her, but nodded.
"There's nothing wrong with studying." He repeated, "It's a lot of information. And it's hard to remember."
"Yet you and Sora can recite the information from the top of your head, no problem." Ah. There it was. A normal person would have listened to her words and assumed she was jealous. Bitter even. But, Riku knew her better than that. She was afraid. Afraid of asking questions that she was the only one who didn't know the answer. Afraid of looking silly. Stupid. Kairi took a deep breath, her eyes shurring.
"I'm sorry, I didn't-."
"I know." Her eyes opened and she looked up at him in surprise. After everything that had happened, after spending so much time apart, and after all this change, did he really still know her so well? Riku sighed, kneeling down so his head was slightly lower than hers where she sat in the chair.
"Kairi, Sora and I learned this stuff through force. We have experience-." He stopped, rethinking his words as Kairi's expression fell further and her stare moved from meeting his eyes to the book in front of her once again. He'd never really stopped to think about how staying on the island had affected her. Once she'd received her keyblade, he'd worked with her to catch up, and she was doing exceptionally well so Riku had figured they were all even. Now he could see that that wasn't the case. She'd been left behind, and that meant more than just missing out on the adventure. It meant she'd missed out on experiences, memories, and knowledge that he and Sora had gotten practically drilled into them within the past two years. Kairi, however, hadn't gotten that knowledge, so she was pushing herself to catch up in both the fighting aspect and the knowledge aspect of being a keyblade wielder. He could imagine how that made her feel. How much did she understand? How much didn't she understand? Was she confused whenever Yen Sid called them in to discuss their upcoming battles? From the way she'd been studying the book before, he was sure the answer was yes.
"You shouldn't be afraid to ask questions," He started quietly, "You could ask about anything that confuses you." Kairi shook her head.
"I didn't want to be a bother."
"It's no bother." He answered quickly, "I wouldn't mind explaining anything to you that you don't know, and I know for a fact that Sora would explain anything you asked him to." Kairi still didn't look convinced.
"Kairi, Sora and I had to learn this stuff too. We heard it over and over again, and we asked questions, that's why we know so much," He smiled slightly, "And you know Sora had to ask a lot of questions before it sunk in." Kairi let out a quiet laugh, and Riku silently congratulated himself for getting her to smile. He stood up, still facing her, and crossed his arms once again.
"So, any questions?" Kairi opened her mouth and started to speak, but a long yawn interrupted her, causing Riku to let out a quick yawn of his own. She rubbed one of her eyes with a fist as she shook her head and let out a giggle.
"Ask me again tomorrow."
"Okay," he nodded as she stood up, leaving the book on Yen Sid's desk. Riku ruffled her hair before leading her towards the door, "Now get to bed. Training starts bright and early and I'm not going easy on you just because you were up late." Kairi spun around to face him. Her usual smile had returned to her face, and she gave him a mock salute.
"Yes, sir!" With that, she dashed out of the room, and Riku shut his eyes and shook his head.
"Hey, Riku?" Cerulean orbs opened again to see that the redhead was poking her head back into the room, her wide eyes staring at her friend with mild anticipation.
"Yeah?" She smiled again, this one much softer than before.
"Thanks." Riku nodded, returning the smile.
"Don't mention it." Kairi waved at him, chirping a final farewell before she disappeared again to head to her own room.
"G'night!" Riku waited until her footsteps had faded and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants before he started back to his own room.
"Goodnight Kairi."