¤ Tainted Games ¤
A Story By Shift Hyde
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II, its characters, or locations. They are sadly not my property, but that of Disney and Square Enix, respectively.
Warning - Rated M: Invoking themes of violence, possibly mild cursing, and shounen-ai/yaoi.
Summary: The story begins in the Destiny Islands. It's been a year since Riku and Sora's return to the islands. Having aged they are 17 and 16, respectively. Changes? -- No letter sent to them by the king, and peace is a steady thing amongst the islands. But a confused Riku battles inner demons when a close friend blossoms in his heart as something more.
Any questions?
CHAPTER 1
Unsettling Distractions Holding My Attraction
"That really... didn't tickle."
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The sun was setting over the sea, as it did every day on the islands. After so many adventures, Riku could appreciate the sight. Tinted lips curled in approval as the wind rustled his silver mane, his nostrals taking in the salt-scented air as it tickled his smooth, pale skin.
The scene was almost picturesque. Except... there was no Sora.
A sigh escaped him, blown away with the breeze. Too bad his issues weren't so easily dismissed. They would always be there. Unless he told Sora--
"No. That would be stupid, among other things," he told himself out loud. No sense in ruining a perfect friendship, right?
'Ha.' Perfect. Kind of like the relationships where one person avoided the other because he couldn't face him, and when he did get away from him the other was still there because his mind couldn't erase those taunting images.
"Dammit..."
The afternoon had left him quickly enough, or so Sora thought as he reluctantly tore his gaze away from the orange and pink hues adorning the sky. He would walk down to the beach once more that day, hoping to find some type of entertainment before calling it a day. True, he had longed for his peaceful days back home for so long, but now that they'd come back again he found himself irritably bored. Having nothing to worry about might have had something to do with it.
Feelings of dullness were blown away, though, at the sight of a familiar figure in the distance. Immediately, Sora's features brightened with the prospect of having someone to keep himself busy with or bestly put : someone to annoy.
With a feral grin that laced a mischievous golden glow into the dark blue of his eyes, Sora lightly jogged towards the sitting and unexpected Riku. Maybe, with enough luck, he could finally catch the silver-haired boy off-guard. Smirking he jumped up meaning to tackle the boy if he didn't move away.
Riku continued to stare into the depths of the sea, imagining how Sora would look within the water, imagining how golden droplets would roll off his young, toned body and how his smile would defeat the light of the sun. The image of him rising out of the water, crawling across the sand in a feline manner plagued his mind...
So indulged was his imagination that he failed to realize the creaking borads on the dock warning him of the tangible Sora's approach. He had barely turned his head to investigate the halted noise when the world suddenly went very dark, and his head creaked against the wood.
A yelp of pain and a groan were the first signs of his definite consciousness. The second was the weight on top on him. To his horror, and perhaps to Sora's amusement, he was pinned under the object of his fantasies.
"Wha..? Sora..." he groaned, gritting his teeth.
He wasn't displeased with his presence... Just the fact that Riku was... on bottom.
"That really... didn't tickle."
Sandy-brown tresses obscured Sora's vision a little. His hair had unhinged the moment he established contact with Riku, whom to his great surprise and delight, hadn't moved quite fast enough. Knees bent at either side of Riku, Sora straddled him in place showing no sign of planning to move soon or to let him escape his grasp.
His grin remained set upon his face, like it was imprinted into concrete. He couldn't believe he had caught the other off-guard. Sure, it had been kind of a sneaky move, but he wasn't about to let that stray little fact put a damper on what he saw as a great accomplishment.
"Hey, Riku." Ignoring the older boy's voiced protest of pain. Sora's voice was filled of amused cheer. Still the air he kept around him was informal like this was a normal everyday greeting.
"Hey yourself," pouted the silver haired teen uncharacteristically.
He rarely showed any emotion except smugness or competitive glee unless Sora was around to hinder his emotional control. When Sora was around, he found himself unable to ignore the upturn of his lips, or the occasional chuckle that he would reward from time to time.
Except now. Gazing into those dazzling blue eyes, he could have died if he didn't remember to breathe. The way the sun highlighted the other's Cinnamon spikes he claimed to be his hair, how his skin seemed so warm, so welcoming to the touch, and how angelic his boyish face seemed.
Blood seemed to be rushing to too many places for his own comfort.
"Where did you come from anyways? I didn't even hear you. Did you fall from the sky, AGAIN?" he taunted, trying any method to get that adorable boy off of him, or under him... No. Not yet at least.
Sora blinked and turned his head towards the sky as if seriously questioning the other boy's suggestion. As soon as he shifted his gaze a hint of anger went through the depths of his eyes, Riku's taunting obviously affecting his easily angered temperament.
"No," He said flatly, giving him a wary narrowed-eyed looked that seemed out of place upon his childish face. Flicking a sharp finger from his left hand against Riku's forehead, he continued "It's just your reflexes are going bad in your old age."
Contently, he passed his right leg over Riku, over to the other side. Shifting he sat on the wooden dock. His feet dangled over the edge of dock,a small smile was tugging at the corners of his lips, which he tried to keep in check from grinning like a maniac.
Yep. This was easily turning into a more entertaining evening than he had planned.
Bothering Riku had become second nature. Being around him brought an easy, comfortable feeling to Sora, one he treasured dearly amongst his other friends. And annoying him? Well, that just an added benefit.
Old? Riku's brow physically twitched at the comment. A single year separated the two, and the little brunette was calling him old? Free of the added weight, thankfully enough, he eased himself up on his elbows, but that was it. There was no real need or desire to move any further than that.
"Maybe. It could be the fact that it takes someone with the ability to focus for more than five seconds to be able to appreciate life's natural beauty." Or those in it, he smoothed over in silence. Normally, he might tackle Sora, maybe even give him a good "tap" on the shoulder. But... well, Riku doubted he could take much more physical contact without doing something reeeeeally dumb.
The younger boy was always a gift to have around, whether it was because his personality was so startlingly unique amongst the droll angst of most teens, or whether it was his young appearance that inspired a sort of inner child to appear in Riku at times... Little things like his smile, laugh, innocent gestures, or hyperactive actions had slowly begun to eat away at Riku's vision as him being "just a friend" and had made it bud into what the older boy could have called a "love".
Not brotherly love. Brothers didn't envision each other making out in desolate moonlit area, or scrubbing each other's backs under a massaging waterfall. Somehow, the chain of events following the downfall of Organization XIII had led Riku's mind to explore other faces of he and the brunette's relationship. They could have spent eternity in complete darkness together, and Riku would have been fine with that. Instead, they had been rescued by the Door of Light and Riku had felt something become rather heavy inside of him.
A year had gone, and it seemed the longer he was around Sora every day, the stronger the feeling got. And the stronger that feeling got, the more he thought. The more he thought, the heavier the thing inside of him became until he couldn't take it any more and would force himself home, away from the other.
There it was again. The weight.
"What are you doing out here so late? I would think you wold be home waiting for dinner," mused the silver haired teen absently.
'Did he just say I was "unable to focus"? "Appreciate life's natural beauty"? Pshh... Yeah, right.'
A scowl crossed the ginger-haired boy's features when Riku's words died out. Sora's faced became momentarily screwed up by an unusual frown. He opened his mouth to snip something back at Riku but closed it back shut before it was even half-opened. He thought better of his presumedly rash actions. It seemed like the white haired boy at his side always knew which buttons to press to shut him up.
Going back and forth with Riku would get him nowhere. Besides, Riku's patience was prone to falter before Sora's, and he didn't want to test the only real source of entertainment he had at the presently. If he were to drive him away, he would surely die out of boredom before being able to track down anyone else.
Testingly, Sora drew up his legs from the edge of the dock and cradled them to him. Sitting was being called indian-style, he recalled the dock around him being bigger or perhaps it was because he was smaller back then. Even though a year had passed since their return to the islands, he didn't get used to living a peaceful existence again and he couldn't help but to think what would have happened to them if they had been submerged in that darkness forever. The thought troubled him still. Luckily things turned out differently.
He hadn't noticed he'd been forcing down on his lower lip until Riku spoke up again. Thoughts were driven away by his questioning. Quickly releasing his hold on his lower lip he blinked curiously at the query. A subdued undertone to it seemed to imply Sora's presence wasn't as welcomed as he thought it would be. Of course, he ignored that stray little fact.
"Nnh-nh. They, eh... I, um... left," 'More like I was kicked out...' But being kicked out of his own house was embarrassing enough without Riku knowing all about it.
"Dinner's not 'till later." He mumbled almost incoherently as he dropped his voice to a whisper.
Riku arched one of his finely trimmed silver brows. The two had known each other for an unaccountable amount of time. He would have to be blind and, or ignorant not to notice when something was wrong with his "best friend". One, he hesitated. Two, he had lowered his tone to a near whisper--everyone who was acquainted with Sora knew he didn't whisper if he didn't need to.
"You left?" he repeated in a mock tone, raising himself to a full sitting position, one leg hanging off the dock, the other bent to his chest, wrist resting listlessly over it. It was his "mother hen stance" as some liked to say.
"Right," he sighed, rolling his eyes in a full circle before resting on the brunette in a hard gaze. "Either you somehow managed to miss supper in the first place, or you pissed someone off."
Both of those were hard to believe. Riku, being his best friend, had been invited to dinner more times than he bothered to keep track of. Sora's mother never cooked at different times because from what Riku could understand she was on a very tight schedule to keep the house in one piece. With Sora living there, Riku could see why she spazzed sometimes.
"And don't lie, either. I can tell."
"You can tell?" Sora hadn't meant to voice his thoughts but they surfaced with plain surprise on his face. He was visibly avoiding Riku's gaze by focusing on some random spot in the spread of water in front of them.
True, Riku knew him the longest out of all his friends, and thus it meant he probably had a better view into the boy's psyche. Still, the knowledge disturbed him. Having someone so easily read him felt too close, too intimate. He gave the smallest of movements to the side, away from Riku before coming to stand.
Arms crossed tightly against his chest, Sora's expression remained neutral while he wrestled with telling Riku the events of that afternoon. He moved forward on the dock, his the tip-toes of his shoes hanging over the edge. Not being one to overly share personal information, Sora chose a somewhat half-way answer.Without revealing the whole truth, but free of lies. After all, it was fair, and he hoped it would suffice.
"Let's just say I managed to get on someone's nerves." He stated with a practiced smile not willing to get any further into the subject.
It would not suffice, this is what Riku's expression clearly stated and what he would make a point in letting Sora know. Why bother nagging personal information out of the poor boy? Well, for one it all didn't quite seem all so personal. Riku could respect when someone didn't want another person to know something; after all, he had his share of secrets he would probably never admit to. Some things though were needed to be shared.
"You manage to do that everyday to more than one person," he deadpanned a little colder than he intended. He really didn't mind the brunette's antics so much any more; he was like a little brother to Riku. Or more...
"Sora," he started hardly, sea-green eyes searched for twin blue, but they were hidden. "You can tell me you know. It's not like I'm going to carry whatever you might want to say over your head, or like I'm not going to brag about it, or whatever." And he wouldn't.
It would be between the two of them. Their little secret, so to speak, no matter what it was.
'Great,' thought Riku with an outward frown. 'Now I'm talking like Kairi, or something.' He hoped Sora wouldn't take anything he said weirdly.
"Just don't want it to eat at you. When things bugs you, you start acting weird," Riku teased just a little, offering what he hoped was signs of normality.
'I... I just... I... Ugh.'
"...It's nothing. I'll be fine." Sora managed to drawl out after an unconsciously prolonged silence came between them. As he did his face tilted to the side, where he was able to look over his shoulder at Riku. Blue orbs focused on the pale boy behind him, a practiced grin plastered all over his face as if to assure the state he proclaimed to be in. The smiled he offered Riku was not insincere but it lacked his normal cheerfulness behind it. He hoped it wasn't too easy to pick up on the difference.
His head spun a little, it ached too much whenever he stayed focused on the words that had been exchanged a few minutes ago. Sora had never left his home with such a pang of unsettlement. He was lucky though, for his fights with his parents were always few and far in-between, but still it hurt. It might have been fairly stupid to others but he had every intention to make things at home better. And even though sharing his inner qualms with Riku was an enticing option, he couldn't possibly.
Having retreated his gaze from the silver-haired boy, a sly grin of determination glinted in his eyes. He hadn't moved from his spot, were his stood with the front of his shoes just over the edge of the dock. But now he swayed back and forth on the spot, almost dangling of the side. A tint of his normal cheer came back as he looked at the beautiful beach stretched before him. Without looking back at Riku he extended his challenge.
"Riku," Sora's voice had recovered its general tone by now. "Dare you to see who'll swim out the farthest."
His tanned fingers gripped the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head. The same shirt fell to his feet without a sound, leaving his sun tanned chest and back bared. Looking back at Riku with an inviting smile, he didn't wait until the other boy answered him. Instead, he looked away from him and unto the sea before him. Taking a step back, Sora leaped up and jumped off the dock. A splash ripped through the air a second later as the brunette landed in the water beneath him.
The invitation had been set it. It was up to Riku to follow thru.
To Be Continued.
Be kind. Please unwind.