Riku found himself tapping his fingers on the banister running alongside the stairs restlessly. This new body was different, very different, from his own. He was taller, which made everything else seem just a little bit smaller then before. He often found himself fumbling with elongated fingers.

He was slowly getting used to it, though that didn't take away his shame.

He knew King Mickey had approached him from behind before he had even turned to look. Self-consciously, he pulled up his hood.

"… It's not really so bad y'know." The King said comfortingly. "You did what you had to, they can't possibly blame you for it."

"Will you keep it a secret anyways? Just until I'm ready?" He asked, not looking directly at the diminutive mouse King. He didn't wait long for an answer.

"Of course Riku. You're going to have to tell them sometime though." Mickey cautioned. Riku sighed.

"Not if I can find a way to change back before I see them again." Riku said, determination ringing in the deep baritones of Ansem's voice.

Mickey shook his head. The chances were against it. Riku would be lucky of he got his body back at all, let alone before he had to meet his friends again.

But then again, the whole lot of them did tend to have an insane amount of luck. The mere fact that none of them had died yet attested to it.

Riku looked down at the mouse king, who was staring at him with a confused 'there's something not quite right here, but I can't quite put my finger on it' look. Riku cocked an eyebrow at his friend, even knowing the King couldn't see it from beneath the cowl of his hood. Mickey walked up to Riku, stopping a few inches from him and took a handful of material from Riku's cloak into his hand.

"Where'd you get the new outfit?"

Riku blinked, processed the question, thought, and processed the question again. It took him a moment to understand what Mickey meant, and when he finally realized, he gave the King a slightly stunned look (still hidden beneath his hood), King Mickey waited patiently for an answer.

"I… Don't know." His Organization-themed cloak, which fit quite snugly over his old body, couldn't possibly have gone over the one he was in now. He'd never even realized that small detail, as he'd been kind of preoccupied when it had happened. After a moment or two of pondering this, he came to the only conclusion possible.

"It… Came with the body, I guess." His tone was slightly uncertain, and he offered a confused shrug to Mickey. Mickey nodded and smiled, as though this all made sense to him. They stood in silence for a moment or two, before Riku broke it.

"So, was there any reason for you to be here, or are you just here to bug me?" Riku teased Mickey, and Mickey gave a mock-scowl in return.

"Not really. Just making sure you weren't off to do something else really stupid." Mickey retaliated smoothly. Riku cursed his newfound tallness. He couldn't casually cuff the small king across the ears for that.

"Actually, Diz sent me. Wanted you to come see something." Riku was at attention immediately. Diz didn't send out invitations to anything for nothing.

"Oh?" He asked. "What's up?"

"How'm I supposed to know? I'm just the messenger!" Mickey grinned again, and began to walk from the room. Riku followed.

"Yeah right. You know. You're just not telling me."

"Darn right."

I'll say it right here and now. I'm playing this by ear. If something doesn't quite fit right with something that actually happened, tell me. My knowledge includes Kingdom Hearts I and II only. And the CoM manga. And a LITTLE bit of what I've read on the Internet. But that's it.

I like Riku and Mickey. I was actually going to add in more internal ranting from Riku about how he was an idiot and stuff (angst!), but I didn't feel like it. Besides, he beats himself up enough over it anyways. Why do it to him more?

That, and my funnies skills are severely lacking, and thus, need practise.