A/N: I know sora and riku visited the island long before they were 10 and also that technically Kairi should be with them by now, but just roll with it.

As a general rule, no one under the age of ten was allowed to go to the island across the channel from Destiny Island's mainland. When Riku turned ten his uncle gave him his own rowboat so that he could row out to that island all on his own for the very first time. He had been asking his uncle for one since age six because Sora had wanted to visit the island since age five. That's not to say that Riku didn't also want to visit the island. He and Sora both had the same propensity for adventure but of the two of them Riku was the more likely to actually take action and pursue that adventure. Sora tended to move too quickly from one exciting idea to the next and as a resut he didn't following through with any of them more often than not.

The night of Riku's tenth birthday he ended up climbing the baby palm tree outside of a nine-year-old Sora's bedroom to help him escape out his window undetected by his watchful mother downstairs. Sora was still in his pajamas when he clambered over his window sill, one leg hanging down feeling for the top of the palm tree beneath him.

Riku peeked over the edge of the window as Sora descended the tree before him. "I think your mom is going to notice when she sees a coconut on your pillow instead of a human head, Sora." Riku said and shimmied after Sora.

"Nah," Sora said. When he was halfway down the tree he leapt to the ground and landed with a thud on his feet, then fell on his butt seconds after.

Riku laughed at him. "Have you ever looked in a mirror? You're not bald."

Sora shot Riku an expression that was probably supposed to be threatening but Riku could never distinguish it from a pout. "What's that got to do with anything? Of course I'm not bald!" Sora said and ruffled his hair in some kind of declarative gesture.

"Never mind, let's just hurry and get to shore before she finds it." Riku said. He reached the ground just as Sora finished dusting off his now grass stained behind.

"Don't worry," Sora said. "I pulled the covers over it, she'll never know the difference."

At night the ocean blew a cool wind up the shorelines of Destiny Islands. Sometimes if you got close enough to the water it carried ocean spray into the air and that night Riku felt it sprinkle across his cheek and dampen his hair as he and Sora dragged his new boat across the beach.

"It's heavy!" Sora huffed, his feet kicking up sand as he pushed uselessly at the stern of the boat. "Why wasn't it at the dock?"

"Because," Riku said tugging the bow and looking longingly behind him at the rising tide just feet away. "Uncle Joe only finished it yesterday. Just be glad we didn't have to drag it all the way from his garage."

Sora groaned loudly at the mere thought and gave the stern a running push. It surged forward and Riku had to leap away to keep from being impaled by the bow. "Hey, watch it!"

Riku's protest was met only with laughter as Sora chased after the boat that was slowly being pulled out by the gentle tides. After taking a moment to recover his wounded pride, and to brush the sand off his shirt, Riku chased after him and swiftly leapt over the side of the boat before Sora could clamber over the back.

"Slow." Riku said, grinning as he unwrapped the ores from their cloth.

Sora fell into the boat with a thunk and it bobbed slightly in the water. "No fair, you cheated!"

Riku laughed, "How?" he asked. "By being taller and having longer legs?"

"One day I'm going to be so much taller than you you'll have to climb a palm tree just to look me in the face!" Sora said, pointing a small, blistered finger at Riku.

This made Riku laugh so hard he nearly poked himself in the eye trying to push the boat into deeper water with one of the ores.

The short journey to the island was littered with a lot of laughing and shoving. There were several points at which Riku was sure they were going to tip the boat, and by the time they finally docked it at the old, rickety pier they were both so wet from an impromptu splash war they might as well have just swam over.

"Whoa, look at that tree house!" Sora said, and Riku lifted his gaze from the knot he was tying around a post on the pier.

"Is it a tree house?"

Sora shrugged and then said, "Bet you I can climb to the top!"

"Bet you I can climb to the top first." Riku tightened the knot (he was mostly sure he had tied it right…) and then grinned and stood up. Sora's eyes narrowed and then he took off running down the pier.

In the end Sora got to the balcony of the tree house first, but only because he pushed Riku off the ramp and into a mound of shrubbery half way up and Riku had had to start the climb all over. They carried on this way, exploring the island through races and dares until Sora laid his sights upon the plateau island just off shore and then threw a fit when neither of them were tall enough to reach the roof of the shack barring their path from it. That is until Riku distracted him with a round of stick fighting that led into the water, turned into another splash war, and carried them nearly around the other side of the plateau where Sora promptly yelled "Riku look!" so loudly Riku was sure had woken up everyone on the main island.

With a nervous glance across the channel to make sure that no lights had suddenly turned on behind the blackened windows of the village's houses, Riku turned to follow Sora who was swimming toward a divot in the plateau.

By the time Riku swam close enough to see the ladder Sora was already at the top of it, and by the time Riku reached the top of it, Sora was already climbing the curved tree that reached over the edge of the plateau. "Wouldn't this tree make a great diving spot?" He said, crouching over it to peer at the water.

Riku followed his gaze from the edge of the plateau and just stared at the ocean's rippling surface, mirroring the stars like a second sky. It almost seemed like he could jump right through the water and straight into another world. "Yeah," he said, and then swallowed. He didn't realize Sora was moving again until the other leapt from the curve of the tree with a large yellow star shaped fruit in his hand.

"What's that?" Riku asked, turning away from the water.

"It was growing from the leaves on the tree. I think it's a fruit," Sora said and then bit into one of the tips before Riku could yell at him to stop.

Of course that didn't keep Riku from yelling because he did, and he ran over to Sora and snatched the fruit from his hands before he could eat any more. "Spit it out! What are you doing? It could be poisonous, idiot! You can't just eat everything you lay eyes on, Sora!"

Sora did the opposite of spitting it out and instead swallowed it.

"Oh my god!" Riku shoved him with one hand towards the bridge. "We have to go back, we have to take you to Nana."

Sora laughed at him and said, "Its fine, Riku, it tastes good!"

"That doesn't mean it's good for you!" Riku cursed under his breath and pushed Sora a little harder.

The pushing was met with a loud gasp and Sora said, "I'm telling Nana you swore!"

"You can't tell Nana if you're dead, Sora!" Riku shoved him again. "Move it! Hurry!"

For all of his extra height and his strength Riku could not get Sora to move. The boy stood as immobile as a one ton bolder at the edge of the bridge. "Come on, Riku, it's no big deal! If there was anything that bad on this island wouldn't your uncle have warned you about it?"

This caused Riku to pause in his desperate attempts to move Sora who instantly took his chance to grab at the star shaped fruit in Riku's hand. Riku barely jumped back in time to keep it away from him. "Hey!" he said and held up a finger. "I'm on to you!"

Sora laughed. "Just try it, it's good I swear!" He put his hands on his hips and smiled widely as though looking happier than any living thing on the Islands would somehow sway Riku. "Plus, I feel fine. If it was poisonous wouldn't I feel sick?"

"Not necessarily," Riku muttered and glanced down at the fruit in his hands. He looked back up at Sora who was still smiling and then frowned at him.

"It's good, it tastes like a pineapple if pineapple actually tasted like apple."

Riku stared at him. "So it tastes like apple." He said.

"No, it tastes like pineapple… apple."

"Right," Riku rolled his eyes.

Then Sora got a strange look on his face and said, "I dare you to eat it."

Riku's head shot up to looked at Sora and his hand tightened around the fruit. He felt its juices trickle down his fingers. "That's stupid."

"Are you chicken?" Sora said and leaned forward.

"No!" Riku yelled a little bit too fast.

"Then eat it." Sora said, that sinister little smile still spread wide across his face.

Riku glanced between him and the fruit about five more times before he finally took a deep breath, stuffed a corner in his mouth and bit down. While he chewed he never took his eyes off of Sora's, silently challenging him to call Riku a chicken one more time. Predictably, Sora did no such thing and instead he giggled and said, "See? It's good isn't?"

Riku's gaze shifted to the partially eaten fruit in his hand. He swallowed and said, "It's not bad."

Sora scoffed. "Whatever, you like it."

"It's fine." Riku said.

"Sure." Then Sora grinned and grabbed Riku's wrist. "Let's go see what's inside that shack over there," he said and dragged Riku away with a strength that Riku felt explained why he hadn't been able to push Sora earlier.

The fruit fell from his hand and onto the ground when Riku sprinted forward and said, "Last one there has to row home!"

Sora made a noise of agitated protest and then sped forward, matching Riku's pace.

While Sora was weirdly stronger than Riku, it didn't make up for the fact that Riku simply had much longer legs. Despite Riku winning the race, by the time they actually decided to leave the island Sora was all but sleep walking and Riku really didn't want to chance him passing out half way to shore and accidentally whacking Riku in the face with an ore, so Riku ended up rowing them home anyway. It turned out that Sora did fall asleep about half way there and Riku had to hold him upright to keep him from falling overboard. Riku had no idea how Sora managed to climb back up the tree outside his window in that state but he did and as soon as he heard the telltale thunk of Sora falling safely onto his bed beyond the window Riku turned around and sprinted toward Nana's house.

Sometimes Riku wished that he didn't have so many cousins if only because that way after his parents had left, his uncle could have taken him in instead of Nana. Mostly Riku wished this while Nana had her incense burning (which was all the time). It would be one thing if they smelled good, and Riku knew that good smelling incense existed because once Sora's mom had bought some, but Nana's incense always smelled like one of three things: muddy cat fur, mildewed tree bark, or fermenting cabbage. The fermenting cabbage was the worst of them all and Nana tended to save it for when she had appointments at which time she would burn up to four sticks. The stink lingered for days and Riku wasn't ashamed to admit that a lot of his sleepovers at Sora's house coincidentally overlapped with the days Nana had her appointments scheduled.

Tonight as Riku vaulted through his still open bedroom window on the first floor he knew that Nana had been burning the tree bark incent. It was more tolerable than cat fur or cabbage and Riku sent a silent prayer up to the stars in gratitude as he kicked the covers off his bed, the constant heat of Nana's house making them too hot to sleep under.

By morning the drifting smog of mildewed tree bark had lifted and Riku woke to the sizzle of fish popping and snapping on the griddle, its pleasant, salty smell replacing any lingering smoke. Nana had two fillets waiting on the table both drowning in butter when Riku finally reached the kitchen.

"Tuna again, Nana?" he said, sliding into his chair, and then hopping to get it to scoot forward.

"Riku!" Nana turned from the stove. Strands of her silver hair slipped from her bun as she gestured at Riku aggressively with a spatula. "Tuna is good for you!"

Riku groaned picked up his fork. "No its not, it's just cheap."

Nana shrugged and turned back to her own fillets. "It's cheap and good for you."

Riku groaned again, this time around a mouthful of fish and said, "You burned it, Nana!"

"Don't be so dramatic, Riku." She turned around and Riku heard the click of a burner being turned off as she slid the griddle off the stove and toward her waiting plate on the table. "I'll burn you if you're late for school again because you're too busy whining about some thing or another!"

Riku grimaced and shoveled a forkful of burned fish into his mouth.

They were waiting for Riku's uncle to pick him up for school when Riku said, "Nana what is that star shaped fruit on the Island across the channel?"

Nana was organizing her deck of cards when he asked. She always went through them before a game of solitaire. Riku was pretty sure that was considered cheating, but Nana always insisted it wasn't. "You mean the paopu fruit?" She said.

"Uh, I guess." He said and re-adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag. "It's not poisonous is it?"

"Hmm…" Nana leaned back in her chair and pretended to inspect her cards. Riku knew she was just stalling for effect, he had seen her do it a thousand times with customers. "Well, I guess you could say it's poisonous in a way."

Riku made a strangled noise and sat up in his chair, "Nana!" He yelled and slammed his hands on the table. "Sora and I ate one! We aren't going to die are we?"

Nana looked at him over the edge of her cards and then closed her eyes and expelled a long breath. "Oh dear," she said.

"Nana, are we going to die or not?"

"This isn't going to be easy to hear, Riku." She said and put down her cards.

"No." Riku said and his hands came up to grab the hair around his temples.

"I'm afraid…" Nana took a deep breath. "You and Sora are bonded for life, Riku."

A quiet squeak came out of Riku and his hands fell from his head.

"The star tree has powerful magic in its roots, and the paopu fruit that grows from its branches is said to bind whoever share it for a life time. You and Sora will probably have to get married, Riku." Nana hummed and said, "How cute," and picked up her cards at the same time Riku began sinking out of his chair.

"No," he said as the edge of the table rose up above him. "Worse than death."

Seconds later the doorbell rang and Nana scooted out of her chair and said, "That'll be Uncle Joe with your cousins." She walked around the table and Riku heard the door opening and an exchange of pleasantries. Then Nana yelled, "Riku get out from under the table! Honestly, everything has to be a crisis with you."

Riku crawled between two chairs and stood up to face Nana and Uncle Joe who had one of Riku's younger cousins (honestly he didn't know which one there were too many to keep track) wrapped around his neck like a snake. "Nana I don't want to marry Sora." He said. "He never does his chores and once I found a rotting a peach under his bed, Nana I can't live like that!"

Uncle Joe had the audacity to laugh and Riku glared at him. "What's this about now?"

"Riku and Sora shared a paopu fruit," Nana said.

"Oh, when's the wedding?" Uncle Joe asked and then laughed again.

Nana also laughed and Riku expelled a rage filled cry and ran past Uncle Joe and out the door screaming, "I'll never marry him!" Then he spun around and pointed at Nana and his Uncle and declared with as much conviction as a ten year old is capable of mustering, "I'll die alone if I have to!" This only made Uncle Joe and Nana laugh harder and so Riku yelled "I'm going to school!" in a last ditch attempt to make them stop and then started running down the dirt path to the school house.

He caught up with Sora about half way there with Uncle Joe trailing lazily behind them. Riku had to keep pushing Sora ahead to make sure that he and Uncle Joe did not come in close enough contact with each other for Uncle Joe to tell Sora about the paopu fruit.

"Listen Sora," Riku said. "You've got to start being more responsible."

"What?" Sora said, casting Riku a look out of the corner of his eye. "No way!"

"Yes! Did you even brush your hair today?" Riku asked.

Sora looked up at his spikey bangs. "No, it's too hard to brush it. It kind of just clumps together how it wants."

"When was the last time you washed it?" Riku asked, staring intently at Sora's sunny smile.

Sora shrugged and made a noncommittal noise.

"What! Sora wash your hair!"

"I do sometimes," Sora said defensively.

Riku stopped walking and Sora looked back at him with a raised eye brow. "Wait," Riku said. "Race you to the school house?"

"Yeah!" Sora said and smiled too widely.

"If I win," Riku said. "You have to wash your hair."

"What?" The smile fell into a frown.

"And clean your room."

"What! No way!" Sora's entire body slumped. "Why are you acting like a mom, Riku?"

Behind them Uncle Joe was fast approaching and Riku franticly thought to come up with an excuse. "Because!" Riku blurted and fought to keep his face from feeling hot. "If we ever got married, I don't think I could live with you. I don't want to exist in a house with rotting fruit under all the beds!"

Sora pouted and Riku's face felt a little bit warmer despite his best efforts. "Come on. That was just once…" Then Sora straightened his shoulders and put his hands on his hips. "Plus, why would we ever get married? You're acting weird Riku." This accusation initiated a bout of speculative squinting from Sora.

"I'm not acting weird." Riku said. "I'm just saying."

"Weird." Sora said.

"Hey boys, why the hold up?" Uncle Joe's baritone voice rang in the air above them.

"Do you want to race or not!" Riku said, maybe a little louder than necessary.

"Fine!" Sora said. "But if I win, you have to eat the peach under my bed."

"It's still there?" Riku yelled, hands in the air, but Sora was already running. Riku already knew he was going to lose.