The Question

...

"Mom, Dad... You've told us so many stories... but never about the first time you met. Why's that?"

"Yeah, tell us! Tell us!"

Riku and Xion have been dreading this question for years. They've put it off by telling other stories—their children have been raised on stories of the other worlds. Hikari and Haruki have even beento some of those other worlds themselves—they don't even realize how lucky they are to be able to do so at their age. To have friends out there, beyond the stars.

The reason they've never told their children the story of their meeting is because it is tied to so many others, so many questions that will be hard to answer.

Because it was not one of those "love at first sight" kind of stories, because their story is much more complicated than that.

"Well?" Hikari asked.

Xion sighed and shared a glance with Riku, who clenched his hands together until his knuckles turned as white as his hair and frowned before meeting his daughter's eyes.

"Alright. You two win. We'll tell you... But you have to promise not to freak out about it."

Haruki laughed, the happiness shining in his aquamarine eyes where they peeked out from under his short, raven locks. "Freak out? Dad, what're you talking about? It can't be that bad..."

Riku shared one last glance with his wife, who was wearing the same knowing smirk he was.

Oh, yes. It could be.

Xion took over for Riku at that point, trying to find a good place to begin.

"Try not to take this the wrong way, kids... But your father and I didn't always love each other... The first time we met, in fact, we were ready to destroy each other at any cost..."

…

A sigh in the dark, the whistle of the wind. Xion clutched the hood of her cloak, keeping it over her face. She wasn't sure what this enemy she'd been sent to take out would see when he saw her face, but she didn't want to take that risk. It should just be a quick mission, right? But she was the rookie of the Organization, the puppet at the end of their strings. Did they really care if she came back or not?

Xion swallowed, bracing herself and taking steady steps as she crossed the courtyard of Beast's Castle as silently as she could, her footsteps echoing quietly off the cobblestones.

When she got to the bridge, he was waiting.

Riku knew the Organization was bound to send someone after him. He'd stolen one of their cloaks, after all. Wore it to taunt them just as much as he wore it to mask his scent. He hated the Organization, hated what they'd done to his best friends. Hated what they were doing to him.

He heard the footsteps creeping up behind him. Slowly, so slowly. When they grew near enough, Riku spun around, sword held high. Ready to fight.

He only hesitated for a moment when he saw the figure that had approached him—she was so small and weak looking, she couldn't really be the one they'd sent to take him out... could she?

In that moment of hesitation, she drew her Keyblade and rushed at him, and it was all he could do to pull himself together.

A Keyblade? She had one? What the heck! Even Riku didn't have one, his heart wasn't strong enough. Who was this person, anyway? There was something about her that made Riku sick to his stomach. Something... familiar, though he'd never met her before.

Xion ran at him again, and Riku finally got fed up with her. He dodged, slammed her hard in the back and flung her off balance. Her Keyblade went flying through the night to land upright in the ground several yards from where they faced each other. She was sprawled on the ground, face down and unmoving. Riku released his sword, which vanished in a cloud of darkness, and walked over to her

slowly, his boots tapping along the stone of the bridge as he approached her.

He bent over her body, pulled back her hood even as he lifted up one side of his blindfold to see her clearly—

And gasped in shock, backing away from her.

"Your face! Who are you really? And why do you have a Keyblade?"

Her face... Her face... It made no sense! She looked like Kairi, one of his best friends—only her hair was black as the night where Kairi's was red. And her eyes... Riku shuddered. Her eyes... They were blue as the sky. Like Sora's—Riku's other best friend, the one who was stuck in a state of sleep thanks to the meddling of the Organization.

Why did she look like his friends? Who was she?

Xion picked herself up cautiously, anger creeping into her voice as she answered the imposter. "Tell me first why you are dressed as one of us!"

Riku clenched his hands into fists, turning away from her as he walked over to her Keyblade where it had landed... Answering her when she couldn't see his face.

"To make sure my best friend sleeps in peace..." He muttered. As he picked up her weapon and looked it over, anger crept into his heart. "I don't know who you're supposed to be... But you can't fight fire with sparks."

There was no way she could possibly be a Keybearer. No way. It had to be a trick.

She looked like his friends, too! What kind of fool did the Organization take him for?

"This Keyblade, it's a sham—worthless." He spoke that last word with venom in his voice, flinging the fake little thing back at the girl who still sat there in total shock.

Xion finally found her voice, shouting at him with equal fury. "You're the real sham!"

Riku stops in his tracks for a moment, her words cutting deeper than she realizes. When he speaks again, his voice is pained and full of resentment.

"Fair enough... I guess you could say that I am the biggest nobody of them all..."

He walks away then, leaving her alone on the bridge. She cries out, but Riku tries to block out the sound of her voice as he vanishes into the darkness of the night.

…

Their children are silent as Riku and Xion finish the story. It is Haruki who breaks the silence.

"But... Why were you fighting each other? Why did it bother you that Mom looked like your friends?"

Hikari frowned, too, nodding in agreement with her little brother. "Yeah! And how long did it take you to realize you loved each other?"

"Why was Dad wearing a blindfold?"

"..."

"Sorry, kids, it's bedtime. We'll tell you another story another time, okay?"

"Aw, but Mom..."

"Come on, Dad—tell us!"

"No, not today. Sorry, son."

...Clearly, there was a lot more story yet to be told. After all, their meeting was only the beginning of something much greater.

…

Fin~

...

Author: Written for a "Next Gen Kids" contest on deviantArt.^^ I decided to post it here as well! Riku and Xion answered one question, but now they've got a thousand more to go...

And yes, I gave their son the same name Amatus did-but his life story is my own creation, and completely different from the story Amatus is working on (even though I love her stories too.^^)

Without further adieu, enjoy~ ^^