Me: Look, just cause I'm writing a short one-shot about Sora and Riku being ducks does NOT mean I've lost my sanity!

Digi: o.o; (is disturbed)

Sora: QUACK!

Me: (sweatdrop) Just read as the rest as my saneness floats away from me.

A Lake

An ugly duckling, that's what he was. No, it's not that crappy, over-used fairy tail of the ugly duckling that turned into a swan later. No, this duck was by no means on his way to becoming a swan. He was the same as the rest of his species except for... a few unique qualities.

While his relatives were all noble mallards with fine plumage, his colors were all his own. It was black feathers specked with silver, especially around his head. Instead of brown eyes he had sea green, making him almost always look angry or pissed off. He had less of a waddle in his step, more of a fluid motion. Like he was floating, which was just what he was doing now.

This duck, more commonly known as Riku by the rest of the lake community, glided alone across the calm lake waters. Of course, whenever he was near the others cleared the way, not wanting to 'get mixed with that dangerous sort.' They looked down upon him, his oddly colored feathers and eyes, the cold look in his eyes... no one, not even the family who had long since shunned him away, had actually taken the chance to look anything about him. All their eyes could see was feather deep (skin deep).

Riku gave up many months ago on finding a friend; no one came within a five foot distance of him! He grew to like the quiet but the loneliness forever sagged at his heart. While one side of his brain screamed to enjoy the private sanctuary, the other side screamed "You know you hate it! Make a decent friend, why don't you!" Of course, he ignored this voice completely. No one liked him because of the aura he spread off, and nothing could be done to fix this. It was just the way things were, end of story.

Well, not the complete end. Riku heard a small splash and felt the water beneath him ripple slightly. Ignoring this, he continued on his way, intent on nothing more then getting back to his quiet little keep off the small side of the stream a small ways up. But the ripples beneath his form grew more and more until he could no longer ignore it. Using his feet to flip himself in the opposite direction, sea green eyes met those of baby blue.

He had seen this duck before, watching him from the marsh. He never gave him a second glance until now; he had soft, brown feathers that lined his entire body with a sleek look, and normally brown eyes were of blue this time. A crystal, beautiful blue.

Why was the duck, commonly known as Sora, staring at him like this? The adolescent mallard was curious about Riku whom he had been warned was an outsider, a loner, a hideous creature to stay away from. But up close, Sora could see the duck wasn't all that bad. In fact, he saw nothing about him that was ugly. In fact he looked... hot...

... so he decided to cool him off!

Dipping his tail feathers further below the water, Sora began to splash Riku thoroughly with lake water. The black duck squawked indignantly as he turned his head away to keep the raining drops from damaging his eyes. The brunette stopped, rolling around in the water laughing. Can a duck laugh? You decide. Riku glared at the nuisance as if to say, "Get lost!"

Sora quacked happily, almost as if they were...

Riku snorted through the holes of his beak and turned around to swim away. But he was too slow.

Sora quickly darted in front of Riku, eyes alight with mischief. He quacked, craning his neck out and splashing Riku lightly with water. It was a classic way to ask, "You wanna play?"

Riku-duck just snorted again and tried to swim around the hyper mass's left, but Sora couldn't have that. Sora blocked every exit Riku tried and eventually took to swimming in circles around him, quacking happily.

Riku sighed as he eyed the annoyance through narrowed eyes; he didn't have time for this! Well, actually he did. He had nowhere to go in a hurry, he had already eaten and nothing else was planned. But he refused to play with the other who appeared to be the same age as he. He had grown used to the idea of others hating him, and he liked it. But the other part of his mind, the one he loved to hate, was thanking the Gods that someone was not afraid. Somebody was looking beneath the plumage and not running away scared.

Sora swam in his little circles happily, enjoying the company even though it looked as if the slightly older male was really pissed off. But he didn't fool Sora; he could see beneath his grouchy manner. He just had to go a bit further and maybe, just maybe...

His train of thought was shattered was Riku spread out his black wings and flapped quickly, feet lifting up and out of the water. Sora felt small drops of water fall onto his head as Riku flew up and over his head, landing some ten yards away and away from Sora.

He opened his wings to follow but stopped as Riku hissed at him, which meant to back off. Sora's eyes saddened; no one has ever hissed at him before, he didn't get it. What did he do wrong? Sora let out a low, mournful call that Riku completely ignored. He was swimming away when he made a huge mistake, which he would soon look back on as a miracle; he looked back at Sora. And received a small shock.

He saw Sora with his neck bent low, beak hovering a mere inch from the water and his bright blue eyes darkening in sadness. Hell, it looked as if even his feathers were wilting. The little duck had barely been around him for five minutes, how could he be this sad? Riku felt a pang somewhere in his chest, something he'd never felt before. This feeling, whatever it was, made him go back.

Sora looked up sadly at Riku's approaching figure. His head drooped down again he began to swim away in an apologetic manner. But Riku opened his beak and clamped it down on a feather upon Sora's back.

Startled, Sora looked back with huge, innocent eyes. Riku let go of the feather and let out a low sound, something meant for a sort of apology. He hadn't meant to hurt the thing's feelings or anything. "Oh no..." a voice said in the back of his head, the one he usually listened to. "He's growing on you!" But for once in his life, this was the voice he ignored.

Sora tilted his head to the side for a brief moment in shock before his face lit up like fireworks. Riku-duck smirked as the smaller one went back to swimming in his little circles, quacking happily, almost like a chant. Sora stopped after a moment or two and grabbed Riku's wing between his beak.

Riku was confused as he was lead down a small stream. He blinked and saw a small little waterfall that poured another lake into this one. He watched as his companion let go and waddled up a few rocks He disappeared from view for a moment before Riku saw him again. He was in the larger lake and he flowed down with the water of the tiny waterfall.

Riku laughed as cute little Sora-duck dived into the water for a brief moment and popped up like a balloon, shaking the excess water from himself, promptly spraying Riku for the third time that day.

He felt a shove form behind him and turned around to see little Sora pushing him towards the waterfall. With a sigh and roll of his eyes, Riku complied and walked up the way Sora had. Copying what he was earlier, Riku slid down the waterfall in a rushing motion. He felt his stomach jolt before hitting the cool water, a rushing noise filling his ears. He popped up from beneath, shaking his head as Sora laughed.

They continued doing this for a while before staying in the upper lake, having contests, exploring the marsh and such.

"Maybe it's not so bad to have company," Riku thought as he watched his new friend pop up and down in the water in a little pattern, making him look absolutely adorable. Grinning, Riku tried the same thing.

Done

Digi: Those were some….odd ducks.

Me: Awwwww. See? Both yaoi fans and non-yaoi fans can enjoy that! (grins)

Readers: Ummm...

Me: (sighs) I know, I know, I lost my sanity.