A/N: Don't own them (yet). I got the inspiration from English Literature class, a few months ago, but never got the time to turn that idea into a one-shot. This one shot takes place one day before the start of KH1, and it contains some BBS spoilers that have a lot to do with Riku, Sora, Aqua and Terra, so don't say I didn't warn you. I wanted to write something Riku-centric, because he's still my favorite character, after all these years (and he's so cute in BBS, and Sora, too!). This was supposed to be only 1083 words, but things got a bit out of hand. Enjoy reading! ;)

Special thanks: Aqua StormXIV, who beta readed this.

~ He kicked away the sand in front of his feet, while the man said at exactly the same moment, "Must be hard, huh, stuck in one place." ~

Utopia. Riku hated the word with a passion. It was a name for an ideal community or society possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was invented a long time ago, for a book describing a fictional island that nobody had ever heard of, because nobody ever really paid attention in English class, thinking that taking a nap was a better thing to do, much to Miss Trepe's dismay.

Riku did pay attention at class, though, because Riku was smart. He got the highest notes at school, without even trying to do his best for anything. Nobody could beat him at anything, no matter if it was some kind of sports, or a frustratingly hard pop quiz.

He just seemed to know everything. He was perfect (and drop-dead gorgeous. At school, the guy even had a fanclub, consisting of many rabbid fangirls who would want to give his life for him, but that was beside the point). All the boys envied him for his skills and all the girls wanted to be his girlfriend so badly.

The fact that Riku was pretty smart for his age - although nobody ever called him a nerd - meant that he knew that on the other side of this oh so perfect story, there was a dystopia, which was, in literature, an often futuristic society that had degraded into a repressive and controlled state, though under the guise of being a utopia.

A dystopia was, thus, regarded as a sort of negative utopia and was often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. An individual had no rights in a dystopia, and a dystopia couldn't exist without a utopia. Riku knew that all too well. Not because he had read it in a book, but because he had experienced it.

Yes, one would think that a smart, handsome, popular and athletic boy like Riku would be the happiest guy that walked around in Destiny Islands. Well, then it would be quite a shocker for you to know that he wasn't.

How could he be happy when every frickin' single day was the same as the previous one? How could anyone be happy then? His young heart ached for something different, a change of life style. He wanted to travel, to see new places and meet new people, go on a real adventure, hunting on real monsters and not just the wind that made strange noices in a pretty dark cave. He wanted to smell something else than just the salt and the fish you could smell at the beach. He wished to hear something else rather than the dull noice of the dangerous sea in the background, along with the seagulls, because this was making him crazy. He needed to see something else than just the sun, or a storm once in ten years. He wanted to taste snow. He would kill for having another reason to live than just school or because he was born to live life. He needed to be free and feel alive. He wanted freedom and he knew that he wouldn't get it as long as he stayed here.

Riku was sure that many people would think he was overreacting to call Destiny Islands a dystopia, not because this place wasn't a repressive and controlled state, or because it didn't have any authoritarian or totalitarian form of government, - as far as this place had a government - but because they all thought that it was a paradise, with the blue sees and blue skies, as far as the eyes reached. It was a great place, where the sun always shone and the white sand managed to slow down your movements in a rather funny way. This was an utopia, nothing less nor more.

Well, maybe Riku didn't like this "utopia" and the strong abundance of the color blue at all. Maybe he even hated sunshine. Maybe he was sick of all that sand in his shoes, and the ocean that reflected the sunshine in such a terribly annoying way, that it almost blinded you and left you with a major headache afterwards.

"Utopia, my ass," Riku muttered irritably to nobody in particular, as he watched the beautiful sunset, sitting on the big paoputree that grew toward the sea, - okay, was it just him, or did even this tree seem to want to get out of this damned place? - as he did every day.

It felt like the wind took away his words, playing with them only for a moment and then throwing them into the deapest depths of the sea, just to taunt him. Normally, Sora and Kairi, his two best friends would accompany him, but he was all alone this time, being in one of those moods again where he thought too much of everything. He was a thinker, had always been, but his thinking had increased lately.

Oh, how he loathed Destiny Islands and those who acted like this was the best place to be. How could they be so sure of that, if they had never been somewhere else before? Why was it that everyone he knew seemed to be too dumb to think straight? What was wrong with this place?

He'd always wanted to get out of here, eversince he had met the two people that carried a giant key around and protected the worlds. Yes, he believed that there was more than this group of islands, where else had those people come from?

Besides, Kairi was the living prove. She was washed ashore on the coast, not many days after he had met the man with the cobalt eyes and brown hair, and the woman with the blue hair and matching eyes. He still remembered the day he saw them, like it all happened yesterday.

~ Flashback of ten years ago, Destiny Islands. ~

It was a wonderful and warm evening. Sora's father had brought his son and his best friend, Riku, to the smallest island of the Destiny Islands by boat, so they could play there. He would pick them up again before the sun had set completely. That meant that they had the whole island for themselves today, since nobody lived here.

As always, the two children managed to come up with doing something extremely interesting that wouldn't bore them that easily. So far, they had built sand castles that had been washed away by the blue sea, swam a bit in said sea, collected shells in different colors and shapes, climbed into the highest trees to get those funny-looking coconuts down, and now it was time for an exciting race. This had been Riku's idea.

"Hey, slow down! Would you just wait for me?" Sora cried, while running after the five year old Riku and trying to keep up, but failing.

His words cut like a sharp knife through the still air. Riku couldn't even hear the calming sound of the sea for a moment. They almost ran into a brown-haired man who stood on the bridge, but they didn't pay further attention to him, because they both wanted to win this race.

Besides, it was the man's own fault, because he was standing there at own risk. Didn't he know how dangerous it was if he fell from the bridge? One could even break their neck, Sora's mother told them that all the time.

"Giving up already? Come on, Sora," Riku shouted to his best friend.

Even then it had been a habit of Riku to get the best out of his four year old friend, for one had to be strong enough to survive the many unknown adventures you would run into, in the wilds of the island.

"That's enough, I can't run anymore!" Sora protested against his wishes, although he continued to run like a madman until he had reached the great crooked tree that seemed to bow for the sea like a person would bow for the king or queen.

Of course, Riku had reached it first. Once there, they both climbed on the thick trunk and looked out over the beautiful island surrounded by the sparkling sea, looking like a mezmerizing blue blanket. A very wet blanket, though.

Riku glanced back as unobtrusive as possible and noticed to his amazement that the man still stood there and looked at them. That was strange. He was pretty sure that he had never seen this man on the main island before, and he knew every citizen of the Destiny Islands, since he had lived here all his life.

That was the main reason why rumors always spread like wildfire among the inhabitants. Everyone knew everyone here and they also knew about each other's most embarrassing secrets in no time. There was little to do about that, though. One would get used to it soon enough.

Riku looked out to the sea, where the yellow-orange colored sky was reflected into the water, which made the blue of the water mix with those two colors. This was indeed an exception to what their teachers taught them in kindergarten; that if you mixed blue and yellow, the new color you obtained always would be green. The sea was clearly an exception. Riku told himself not to forget that, so he could tell his teacher about it tomorrow.

At this point, it almost seemed like he could hear the wind whispering, "Light... Was I guided here in order to meet that boy?"

He knew that he had imagined that, because the wind couldn't talk in real life, only in books. From behind him, he heard the echo of fading footsteps. The man had walked away, probably because he had better things to do than staring at him and Sora.

Sora also suddenly turned around and shouted, standing up, "Oh! Ahoy! We're over here!"

Riku looked at him and followed his gaze to see to whom he was waving so enthusiastically. Could it be that man again?

Sora punched Riku's elbow, before he could finish that last thought, and Riku looked quizzically at his best friend.

"Riku, race ya. First one to the boat gets to be captain!"

And with a grunt, he was off, before Riku could even tell him that he wasn't really in the mood for another race, no matter how promising the word "captain" sounded. Sora always seemed to be so full of energy. Riku was pretty much used to it now, but sometimes it still marveled him. Riku himself seemed to be the more calm and collected one, as far as a toddler could be that.

"C'mon!" He said, laughing and not even bothering to stop running, or to look if Riku really was following him or not. "You call that running?"

Riku just shook his head and got up, taking his time in doing so. Sora would wait for him anyway, and winning all the time wasn't much fun. He calmly walked back over the bridge, noticing how nice the weather was, just like every other day, but when every day was the same, you soon got used to it and it was no longer special.

He wondered what it would be like if it would snow. How many inch would they get if it really would snow here? Would everything really be covered by a white, cold blanket- even the sea and the beach and the treetops?

Riku himself had never seen snow before in his life. The only reason he knew about it was because he had read it in a book. His mother had just taught him how to read, so the book world was quite new to him, and he loved it. Sora didn't quite understand what was so fun about books; according to him playing outside in the sun was much more fun, and that was why he thought that Sora was a strange kid.

Watching Sora, he noticed that he started walking slower when he saw the mysterious man that now was staring intently at the far horizon, as if he wanted to know the secret behind it. Sora didn't approach him, though; he continued running again, probably remembering that he still had an important race to win. Riku looked at the man, too, and at that moment they happened to make eye contact.

"Huh? Hey," the young boy spoke, his voice sounding neutral. "Did you come from the outside world?"

This clearly surprised the man. Riku could see that, because his cobalt colored eyes - well, sometimes in the sunlight it looked like it was a bit orange, too - had widened slightly. That, and the fact that his head had jerked back a bit, as if he was shocked by the question itself.

"Huh? Why would you say that?"

As if the unusual way of clothing didn't say enough already.

"Because nobody lives out here, and I know you're not from the main island," he replied.

"Smart kid."

Riku smiled. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had called him smart, or very wise for his age; his mother said that often enough to him, too, when she would find out that he knew something that a toddler his age couldn't possibly know yet.

"So how about you? What are you doing here?"

Riku obviously hadn't expected that question.

He looked at Sora, who had put his hands behind his head, and had obviously won the race, as he said, "Oh, my friend's dad took us out on the boat. This is where we like to play, but they won't let us row out here by ourselves, not till we get older."

The man still didn't come any closer, and Riku saw no reason to walk to the man, so he just stayed on that same spot, too.

He kicked away the sand in front of his feet, while the man said at exactly the same moment, "Must be hard, huh, stuck in one place."

Riku cocked his head. The man had a point there. Suddenly, Riku was reminded of the great legend of Destiny Islands. His mother had told him about it often enough as a bedtime story, so he knew the entire story from his head now.

He walked slowly toward the clean and clear water, as he spoke, "I heard once there was a kid who left for good."

He stopped at a safe distance from the sea, so that his feet wouldn't get wet because of the salty water. Riku was pretty sure that his mom would get very mad at him if that happened. He turned slowly to face the mysterious man, and smiled.

The stranger looked at him in a rather strange way, squeezing his eyes slightly and grunting in surprise, while his eyes became slightly larger again, as though he was terrified of him. Suddenly, something else popped in Riku's mind, something he really wanted to know.

"So how did you get here, anyway?"

There was a short silence between them, as the man thought deeply. Riku waited curiously for his response.

"Is there some reason you're interested in the outside world?"

He had a strong feeling that the man hadn't ignored his question by accident. The answer to that question probably had to remain a secret, because that would prevent that curious boys suddenly went missing, or something.

Riku didn't look at him, but chose to gaze up at the horizon, as he replied, "Yeah. I wanna be strong one day. Like that kid who left. He went to the outside world- I bet he's really strong now. I know it's out there somewhere- the strength that I need."

"Strength for what?" asked the stranger warily.

The boy could feel how the man tried not to sound too curious, but that emotion still seeped through his voice. That was only human. Riku had no idea what made him tell all this to a complete stranger. He had never even told Sora about his thoughts.

He was probably just curious, because he had never met anyone from the outside world. He had a strange feeling about this man, though. Like he was very important, but what he did was a secret for ordinary people. This was a special day, he could feel it, even though it didn't seem any different from other days.

Riku turned back toward him and smiled again, as he answered, "To protect the things that matter. You know, like my friends."

The man closed his mouth, which had opened automatically after hearing those wise words coming from a little boy like him. For a moment, Riku wondered if he had given a stupid answer. Then the stranger nodded once and Riku knew that he understood everything, and that he hadn't found it a stupid answer at all. By the looks of it, it had even set him thinking. He wasn't entirely sure if it was the light - or lack thereof - but the man seemed to wear the tiniest hint of a smile on his face.

"Outside this tiny world is a much bigger one," the man spoke.

He finally started walking toward the little boy - Riku thought it was a miracle that he didn't trip over the hem of his pants - and put his hand in front of him. Suddenly, small squared of the whitest warm light surrounded his hand. The light had shades of yellow and purple and blue here and there. A high sound accompanied the light. The man didn't seem to be impressed at all, as if this had happened to him more than once, so Riku decided to just stand there and see what would happen next.

Once the light dots were gone, Riku saw that a huge key had appeared in his hand. The first thing he wondered, was what kind of door was so large that it needed such a huge and probably heavy key. Was it the door to the outside world?

The man sat on one knee in front of Riku, so he was on eyelevel with him. Riku blinked at the sudden closeness of the man and the fact that he held the gigantic key in his hand this close to his face, but he just stayed in the same spot, almost like he was frozen.

"In your hand, take this key."

Riku curiously looked at the key. It seemed to be made out of slate, or bronze, or something alike, with a dark bluish handle.

"So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking... its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend- no ocean will contain you then."

Riku sternly looked up at the man.

"No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."

The infant looked at the key again and his hand reached slowly and a bit hesitantly to the handle. He clasped his fingers firmly around it. It was cool to the touch. He wasn't sure whether his imagination was fooling him again or not, but it felt as if a new wave of unprecendented strength flowed throughout his entire body, coming from the point at which his hand had made contact with the big key.

This new strength mingled with his blood and felt a bit like the warm feeling he got when he ate too much chocolate in the evening, after playing with Sora on this island for the whole day. No, this was even better. It was a great feeling, one that no word could describe.

"Riku!"

Said Riku turned and looked over his shoulder, dropping the handle when he heard Sora's voice. The man looked at the source of the sound, too. Sora stood a little further away from them, waving at Riku like crazy.

"C'mon, hurry it up!"

Riku smiled and waved back. From behind him he could hear the high-pitched noise again that probably indicated that the key had disappeared.

"You've gotta keep this a secret, okay? Otherwise, all the magic will wear off."

Riku stopped waving, dropping his hand, and turned to fully face the man. The key was gone indeed, dissolved into the air. He nodded once and the man chuckled, while ruffling Riku's hair. Riku couldn't help, but laugh, too. Then, the toddler turned and ran to Sora, meeting him half-way, because Sora had run to him in the meantime.

"Hey, what was that all about?" Sora asked as soon as he had stopped running, still panting slightly.

His best friend put his hands behind his head and acted nonchalant.

"Aw, you know."

He looked at Sora from the corner of his eyes. Knowing Sora, he would certainly ask him to tell every trivial detail. As always, Riku was right.

"Know what? Why won't you tell me?" he asked indignantly, while stomping his feet in the sun-bleached sand. "Who was that guy- somebody you know?"

"Maybe," he answered very mysteriously.

He couldn't resist teasing his best friend. Riku walked away, toward the boat, while Sora followed him, staying closely behind him.

"Aw, there you go again! Just tell me."

"I really can't. I've gotta keep it a secret," Riku explained solemnly, as he climbed the wooden stairs.

"Not with me you don't! I'm like the best secret-keeper in the world!"

Riku crossed his arms and looked at the boy, skeptically. He knew Sora long enough not to buy that.

"Nice try."

He began to walk away from him, but Sora followed him, not planning to let him get away before he got a proper answer out of him. Little did he know that he wouldn't succeed today.

"Aww. Riku!" Sora whined.

Riku forgot at that time about the man and began to run.

"Round number two of the race starts. First one who reaches the other side of the shore, is the winner!" Riku announced, looking over his shoulder, only to see that Sora wasn't running too far behind him.

"Cheater!" Sora cried, as he quickened his pace.

Riku had now built a small lead, but Sora wasn't too far behind him, so he quickened his pace.

"Wait up!" Sora squealed.

From his constant panting, Riku could tell that he was very tired by now.

"Come on, Sora! You're falling behind!"

That one sentence made Sora quicken his pace, too, despite the fact that he felt like he could collapse every moment. It was needless to say that Riku was the winner, again, though it was a very close one this time.

Riku punched his fist in the air to express his joy. He wasn't really the arrogant type. Sora let out a disappointed cry and put his hands on his knees, until his breathing became more normal again. Riku placed his hands on his sides and waited patiently to what he would say, although he knew what was to come, since it was pretty much the same every day.

"One more time! This time I won't lose!" Sora said, pleading with clenched fists.

Riku was about to say "no" to him when he caught something from the corner of his aquamarine eyes and looked up.

"Huh?"

Sora studied his face for a moment, wondering what had happened to his best friend, and then looked up, too.

"Hmm?"

A woman approached them, walking on the wooden bridge above them. She was the most beautiful woman Riku had ever seen. Her blue hair, that matched her cerulean eyes oh so perfectly was even more striking. He had never seen anyone with blue hair before.

She stopped walking and looked down at them. They looked curiously back at her. Riku noticed that she had a rather peculiar way of clothing, like the man with the key and the huge pants-thing. So that had to mean that this woman also was from the outside world. Maybe she even knew that man. Maybe they were best friends, like Sora and him, but they had lost each other. Riku hoped he would never lose Sora.

The young woman smiled at them and bent down on her knees. With an elegance that nobody on the islands would be able to immitate, she jumped down from the high bridge and came to a stop just in front of them, landing on one knee.

"Waah!"

Sora let out a startled cry and shrank back, but when he saw that he had overreacted a bit, he scratched the back of his head and laughed rather sheepishly. The young woman smiled sweetly and turned her gaze back to Riku, who felt her eyes resting on his face. He turned his head to her to look at her.

She looked at him in a strange way, and her eyes shone brightly. Then she turned her gaze back to Sora and looked at him in the same way. She laughed again, and Riku and Sora exchanged puzzled glances, wondering what was so funny that they couldn't see. Had they missed the punch line somewhere?

"Mmm?" they said simultaneously.

"I'm sure at least one of these boys could..." she whispered, more to herself than to the boys. Then she spoke to them with a louder voice, "Hey, could you tell me your names?"

"I'm Sora!"

Sora had put his right hand in the air, like he sometimes did in class, when he wanted to tell the teacher something. In Riku's opinion, he had cried that out a bit too fast. He wondered why the woman wanted to know their names. Why would she care? She didn't look like a villain, - the ones that were discribed in books; ugly, old witches that had a black cat as a pet - so maybe it couldn't hurt. She turned to Riku.

"And you are?" she asked in a very sweet voice.

Riku waited with answering for a second, but then he cried, "Riku!"

The young woman then muttered something incohorently Riku couldn't quite understand.

He thought he heard something about a "Keyblade" and a "Terra."

"Mmm," said the two boys, looking at each other.

"Do you like Riku, Sora?"

"Of course! Riku's my best friend!" Sora cried enthusiastic, using his hands to emphasize his words even more.

Riku glanced at him. It was at moments like this that he wanted to give Sora a big, bonecrushing hug, no matter how not cool that was. He quickly put that thought out of his head.

The woman smiled and said to Sora, "I see. Then, if Riku ever loses his way and starts to lean toward the darkness, you have to stay by his side like you are now, and help him out, okay? After all, it's something only you can do, Sora."

Riku wondered what exactly she meant by that. Did she know something about them that they didn't know? And why did all those people from the outside world speak in riddles? Was it their usual way of talking?

The woman laughed and ruffled their hair affectionately, like an older sister would do that with his two younger siblings. Riku liked this feeling and for a short moment he felt kind of sad that he was an only child.

The two boys laughed too. They both found the woman very nice and beautiful. She looked at both of them for a short while, but then Sora told her they really had to go, because his dad was probably waiting for them. The woman told them goodbye and wished them good luck with everything. She watched them go as they walked to the boat to go home. This was a day that neither of them would soon forget.

~ End of the flashback. ~

At least Riku hadn't forgotten anything that had occured ten years ago, but he wasn't completely sure if Sora could still remember it. Up to this day he hadn't told anyone about the existence of the man and what the guy had said to him, for that was what he had solemnly promised him.

He had managed to persuade Sora not to tell anyone anything about the woman with the blue hair. They had both promised each other to keep it a secret. Even Kairi knew nothing about it, he was pretty sure of that, even though Sora spent more time with her than with Riku himself lately. Here, he felt a small twinge of jealousy deep inside of him, but ignored it, as he continued to think about how things went these days.

That was yet another thing he had noticed; girls, women in general, were dangerous, because eventually, they could change men, more from the inside than from the outside. They seemed to mold them as though they were made out of soft clay or dough, until they felt that the boys had gotten the correct form. Then, they would push him in that direction, until they were used to it and did it by themselves automatically. Sometimes there were only minor changes, like what happened to Sora, but Riku knew that if he wouldn't change things soon, it would be too late for both him and Sora.

Maybe he had already changed a lot without even knowing it, now that he also had to deal with Kairi on daily routine. It was less than Sora did, but still, he was sure that every little bit had an effect on him. For example, he could never be really angry at Kairi, whilst he had too often trouble with restraining his temper when it was about Sora. Sora sometimes seemed to ask for it, but Kairi... that was a totally different story. She had something that made him act like a total sap toward her, even if he tried not to.

Maybe he should even start to wonder if it was a good idea to bring Kairi with them on their journey. Both Sora and Kairi were interested to see more of the world, just like him. At least that meant that he wouldn't have to build that raft all alone. However, that didn't mean that their contributions were that spectacular, but at least it was better than no help at all.

And perhaps they would meet the stranger he had met many years ago, or the kid that left this place a long time ago, or the pretty woman with blue hair. That was, if they were still alive after all these long years. Fortunately, Kairi didn't involve Selphie with this. That would've ruined al the fun, for she was just too girly. Thanks heavens Kairi was more tomboyish.

Meanwhile, the sun had almost completely set. It seemed to be immersed in the water that now had obtained a bright red color, as if the sun had burnt the water. He decided to go home before his mother would set off a search party for him.

Mothers... living with them was almost impossible, but you couldn't survive without them, either. Of course he loved his mother dearly, but sometimes - read: almost always - she could exaggerate so much that it wasn't funny anymore.

Riku got up from his place and headed for his boat so he could row back home. He'd better sleep early, because tomorrow he had to be fit and in top shape to continue working on the raft.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Hope you liked this. Well, read it, review it (please), like it, alert it and favorite it, you know the drill. :) By the way, did you notice that in the cutscene Aqua thinks Riku is like Terra and then looks longer at Riku in the end (after she looks at Sora)? Isn't that a hint that she might like Terra?