sea shells

rikette

The beach was always where he had found her. There was never any confusion as to when she would return or leave as it became a daily thing to find her there and at some times, he would just stand and watch her. Every day she came to the beach. It was confusing at first, all she did was just sit on the sand and graze her hands upon the surface, ignoring the waves that crashed and attempted to reach her shoes. Wearing her school uniform, he supposed that she only did this after school.

At moments he would walk by just to see if she was still there; she was. The only time she seemed to leave was when her mother called her home and at that time, he would leave too. Then the next day would come and he would see her again.

He would just stand in the background, hands in his pockets as his green eyes solidly focused upon her. He just wasn't content watching anymore. The sand was slightly kicked up as he moved closer to her, slightly annoyed with his curiosity as he wanted to know; to know what made her stay for hours on end just sitting and touching the sand.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and she would lift her eyes to him in surprise of his company. "I have watched you for days and all you do is just sit in the same spot and look at the sand, what is here for you?"

At first, she blinked at his question and then smiled a bit. Lifting her cupped hands for him to see a pile of dimly colored and mostly broken set of sea shells.

"I come here to collect sea shells," She told him, "I do it to keep the memory of each day alive."

At that moment, it all c l i c k e d.

"Would you like to join me?" She asked him and sets aside her shells to find another and held it out to him. All she was doing was holding each day's memory with a bunch of shells. It didn't hold much sense but she was just a kid and if she wanted to keep all her memories with sea shells then let her; he couldn't care less. So he sat beside her on the sand and took her half broken shell into his hand and she gave that small little smile once more.

"Sure." He told her. She would search the sand until her small hands were filled in another pile of shells and looking to him, she waited.

"Pick one." She told him, holding out the shells. At first he only looked to her but did as he was told and the rest of the shells were set back at the sand's surface. He didn't quite understand it but he watched as she held the shell up in one hand and smiled widely at it.

"Then this is it," She said happily, he was still confused.

"Then this is today's memory."

He would always find it silly; the ways she could hold a memory of twenty four hours in a single shell. The memory however ended when her mother's voice called and she would stand and dust her school uniform off of any sand. She then turned to him and smiled as she held out her hand and at the palm laid the shell.

"You can keep it." She told him. He took it and held it to the bleeding sun like she had done earlier, reading the cracks and color that dimmed upon it. With a small wave she had given him a goodbye and asked if he would be at the beach the next day. If not to watch her then to join her; he supposed. That certainly made her cute smile grow. Just like the daily routine, once she left then so did he.

The shell stuck to the side of his pocket, keeping the memory still as he walked with his hands in his pockets as he always did, feeling the smooth surface of the shell with his fingertips. Once he reached the beach, she was there. She had seen him, her face instantly brightened as she waved to him.

"Riku!" She called and he would walk toward her and sit beside her like he did yesterday and search for shells until they found a perfect one and it was time for her to part once again as well as himself. Another shell added to his pocket.

Then the next day, he would find her and they would do it all over again.

-&& x.x &&-

(A/N: Well this is my first rikette fic since I wanted to try and write one for quite a while. I hope it turned out well.)