Disclamer: Kingdom Hearts and its boys belong to Disney, Square Enix, or both…
Rrrring. Rrrring.
"Hello, my life sucks."
"Sora?"
"Yeah?"
"What's wrong?"
"What makes you think something's wrong?"
There was a snort. "You hardly ever curse, and why else would you be quoting chick flicks?"
After a short pause, Sora responded with a moody "So?"
"Come on, I'm your best friend. I will find out eventually. Don't make me come over there."
A sigh traveled down the phone line, followed by the admission – "Mom invited someone to stay with us for the summer."
"That sounds cool. Who is it?"
"The son of a friend of hers from college."
"Do you know him?"
"No." Sora paused, considering. "The only other time we've met, he got annoyed by me talking and locked me in my play pen."
Irritated by the giggled response, the boy continued, "He's going to ruin summer!"
"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad!"
"Fine, you deal with him."
"Don't worry; I'll save you from your scary house guest." He could hear her grinning, but didn't mind so much after her reassurance. At least there would be one person on his side; his mother had invited the intruder in the first place, and his father would side with her. Her enthusiasm about having another teenage boy into his house made him feel betrayed. He was perfectly happy being the only child.
Sora finally tuned back into Kairi's long-winded explanations of how they would defend themselves from the outsider when she asked, "What do you think of Mission Summer Vacation?"
"More like Mission Impossible."
She laughed again, a happy, easy laugh that he had known all his life. "Sure," she agreed. "Mission Impossible it is."
They talked for a few more minutes before Kairi's mother called her for supper. Before hanging up, as an afterthought, she asked, "Oh, so what is this guy's name, anyway?"
"Riku."
TEN WEEKS
By Destiny Kitty
Sora sighed, staring out over the lawn. His idle fingers drummed against the rope of the hammock in which he was swinging. Music filtered across the lawn from inside the house. Waiting, he thought, and waiting. How late are they going to be?
His mother had told him she would be back by now. The flight had arrived almost two hours ago. That was plenty of time to pick up one passenger and drive home, right? The airport was only forty-five minutes away.
Sora rolled over and redirected his eyes to the sky, between the thick branches of the trees holding up his hammock. He hated to admit it, but he was a little jealous. It was the first time his mother hadn't been there to pick him up on the last day of school. They always celebrated the beginning of summer with a barbeque. It was one of their rituals to celebrate a special day, and this one was ruined.
If there was no point in being here anyway, why did I have to come home after school anyway? I could be with friends having fun. Instead, I'm sitting here alone waiting for her to bring that kid home with her.
A car drove by on the road down the hill, and Sora watched it upside-down for just long enough to decide that it wasn't his mother. A breeze blew in from the lake and carried with it the sounds of the neighbors playing volleyball.
It had been two weeks since he had told Kairi about the imminent invasion of his peaceful home. They had spent those last two weeks of school joking about their 'mission impossible' and sharing the story with other friends while planning summer events. She had pointed out that this 'Riku' kid might not be as bad as Sora remembered, since one incident that happened a dozen years ago was not much basis for an opinion, but Sora still could not bring himself to expect anything good, no matter what his mother or Kairi said.
Now school had finally ended and all he had to look forward to was finding out how much his summer vacation would be ruined.
Sora sighed again, hauling himself off the hammock. Almost dinnertime… I suppose I should get something ready.
There was no reason not to have a barbecue, in spite of an unwanted house guest. Sora dug hamburgers out of the freezer and lit the grill in the back yard, letting the flames build and steady themselves while he found a few other essentials.
The apprehension that he had not noticed building over the past hours and days eased as he followed familiar routines, preparing dinner for three. It was a simple solace: setting three places at the table, grilling burgers and throwing together a salad. His mother spent a lot of time with him in the kitchen, so it was a place he was very comfortable in and that calmed him, despite the growing dread that his mother's return symbolized.
So despite misgivings, Sora was almost ready to welcome the newcomer when he finally heard the automatic garage door open, signaling his mother's return. He set freshly grilled burgers on the kitchen table as the back door opened.
From the breezeway he heard his mother's voice say, "Please come in."
She turned the corner struggling with an armful of mail, keys, purse, and coffee cup. Dropping the pile on a desk, she turned to Sora and gave him a wavering smile that told him she was near the end of her rope. He recognized it as the same look she had given him after their last fight about the fact that she had invited another teenager into the house without asking him first.
The knuckles of her hands had been white as she finally asked, Please, Sora, just work with it.
But why does he have to come here? Sora had not been able to resist whining one last time.
It was something I could do for my friend. The boy is having a hard time right now.
And as the boy in question finally appeared, Sora thought that a hard time didn't cover it. This kid looked like all the stereotypes about what was wrong with cities, teenagers, and modern times in general, rolled into one.
Slightly off-balance, he leaned against a wall to take in the kitchen. Oversized camouflage pants and a black tee-shirt hung from his shoulders and hips, worn black sneakers mostly hidden by crumpled, frayed fabric. Black and silver jewelry flashed from different nooks and curves of his body – neck, fingers, wrists, ears, lip. Like a member of a gang, Sora thought in annoyance. The other boy twitched his head to the side and pale hair fell across one blue-green eye.
Who dyes their hair silver, anyway? What a freak.
Against the neighborhood, the house, and the relatively peaceful, routine way of life in Sora's family, Riku clashed vividly. Too vividly to ever be reconciled.
Sora decided, as the teens stared at each other, that the summer was doomed.
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Hi! So it's been a while since I posted anything… obviously… but I feel like writing. This is not an entirely new story, since I came up with the idea in June 2006, so we'll see how fast I can get through the story. (I really wish I had written it last year.) Plus it's mid-semester here and that will likely interfere with things… but if you want to see the story get going and continue, tell me and that will help. I also might start posting a couple other stories.
The chick flick Sora was quoting in the first lines was "She's the Man." Paul (Amanda Bynes friend who looks like Jude Law?) answers the phone like that.
Enjoy! I'll update as fast as I can with the second chapter.
