((This story takes place before the events of Kingdom Hearts 1. I hope you enjoy!))
(I do not own the characters or the Kingdom Hearts Franchise. I just am a fan writing about a game that I love.)
Chapter 1:
Sora woke up on the beach once again. He took a moment to take a deep breath of the sea breeze and feel the soft sand underneath his body, the warm sun beaming on his skin. Then he opened his eyes. The sky was the same blue it always was, the sun as bright and powerful as ever. He sat up and looked around the beach. There were a few more people around than there had been when he came in the early morning. He never could sleep at home, so he always came to the islet as early as possible to catch some rays and rest up for the long day ahead.
And as always, it was indeed a long day ahead. It was summer vacation after all. There was no way that he was going to waste a moment of it. He was going to spend it with Kairi and Riku. There was no question of that. They were his best friends after all. They had been with him through thick and thin, through all the worst. They never left his side even in the moments where he had given up all hope. He was prepared to spend the rest of his life with his best friends by his side. They had stuck together this long, what was another eternity. Right?
But it seemed that lately Riku had grown more distant than ever, as though he was searching for something that wasn't there, that something was missing. Sora had no clue what that might be, or if he was just being paranoid. However, if anyone should know Riku, it should be Sora. They had known each other since birth basically, and they had always been the best of friends. But now a rivalry seemed to be growing between them for Kairi's attention. At least, that's how it seemed to Sora. It made him afraid. He didn't want to lose Riku as a friend, and he felt as though Kairi was the only thing keeping him by his side. He didn't know what he would do without Riku.
Riku… Riku seemed to be all that Sora thought about these days. And he didn't quite understand it. He had always cared for his friend, even loved him like a brother. But this was… this was different. He had no idea how to explain it. And he never would try to explain it. He didn't like talking about personal things to anybody but Riku, and he couldn't exactly tell Riku about this. That would certainly be awkward and embarrassing. Sora didn't know what to do. He tried not to think about it too much, tried to put his mind on other things, but it all just jumped back to Riku, and how afraid he was to lose him. He wasn't ready for that to happen. He never would be.
Riku was sitting on the beach on the opposite side of the islet as Sora. He was lost in thought. This world was just too small. There was no room to breathe. He was sure that it was time to move on with is life, to go to better and brighter places. He just didn't know how. And he sure as hell wasn't going without Sora. And Kairi of course. He sighed. Once again, he had overlooked Kairi in his mind as on his list of priorities. Kairi was his friend too, and she deserved better than to be left here. But Riku just cared more about Sora. There. He'd said it. He cared about Kairi, but Sora was just so much more important to him than she was. Sora. That was all he seemed to care about. He was what kept him going, what kept him planning a way to get out of this god-forsaken island and to somewhere better rather than just giving up on the future.
He was afraid that he had been pushing Sora away. He hoped that Sora didn't feel that way, that he knew that Riku would always be his friend. But he was just not sure what to do. It seemed so much easier just to act like a rival than to try to face him every day and possibly letting his feelings slip. He didn't want to chase him away. Riku knew though: he loved Sora with all of his heart. He was prepared to do anything to protect him, even spend less time with him. He knew that Sora would just be confused if he told him about it. They had once said that they loved each other when they were young, but at that point, it was love as siblings had, and even then, when their parents heard them, they put a stop to it, saying that people might get the wrong idea. At the time, they didn't know what the wrong idea was, but they didn't want to chance people getting it. Now Riku knew that Sora might just take it as the same thing, or it might go completely over his head. He knew that Sora could be a bit dense, and he loved him for it, but it could be a little annoying at times.
Oh well, Riku thought. I'll just keep dealing with it. It wasn't like he thought there was any other choice. If anyone heard him share the feeling with Sora, they would definitely spread rumors about the two of them, and they'd eventually get back to Sora. As it was, rumors already ran wild in the hallways of the school. Most of them were completely off base though; they stated that both Riku and Sora had a thing for Kairi, and Riku most certainly did not. He wasn't so sure about Sora. He knew that if he did, he would gladly stand by them and let them be together. He knew that Kairi had a thing for Sora; that was no question. She had once let it slip, after hearing one of those rumors, as though saying sorry. And she did hurt Riku by that, just not in the way that she thought she would.
But he wasn't about to lose Sora over some silly 'feelings'. He was just going to keep it a secret; they were 'too young' for love anyway.