Summary/Info: This is War is somewhat of a sequel to Hero, however, each works as a stand-alone story. You don't have to read them in any particular order and you don't have to read both to understand the plot. Think of it like Chain of Memories or Birth by Sleep; Hero and This is War are taking place at the same time as each other. I will say that This is War has a more complete storyline and thicker plot, but Hero is darker and an AkuRoku story whereas this one is RiSo.
So, onto the real summary: Riku notices some odd goings-on in his hometown and there have been rumours that a war is on the rise. The lovers struggle to find footing for their relationship during times of secrecy, fighting and loss. Many people made and make mistakes that have and will leave wounds that may become infected and refuse to heal, or ones that will scar over with the help of a friendly hand.
Themes: There is some romance between Sora and Riku as well as some mention of Axel/Roxas. Friendship in times when it is needed for strength. Adventure in the discovery of who really is the hero of the story. Angst for young men failing to see the light peeking through their dark actions. Hurt/comfort in the loss of lovers, brothers, beauty and pride. And humour, sometimes dark, for a break in all that drama.
Inspirations: 30 Seconds to Mars' CD, This is War, was the album running through my head when I wrote this part. Also, my best friend who pestered me about what was happening to the Twilight Town characters during my writing of Hero was the main prompt for This is War. Thanks to my sister for being the first to read this.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and I fear I may do some damage to them, sorry Square Enix.
New Faces
He was going to be early that morning, but he didn't care all that much. Riku woke before the sun even winked at Twilight Town. He laughed a little as his feet touched the floor. The hardwood was cold despite it being summer's end as well as the first day back to school. He had brought this on himself.
As he went about doing his morning business and filing books and binders into his bag, he wondered if Sora had slept well that night. Again, Riku laughed as he imagined Sora sprawled on his bed at the farmhouse, boxers twisted and shirt rising higher than the sun was now. He probably slept like a log.
In the summer Riku had spent at least four nights a week sleeping in Sora's bed and instead of his boyfriend spreading his limbs haphazardly over the bed, he had been spreading them over Riku. It was more than a little annoying to have Sora's hand slap down on his mouth in the middle of the night, Riku thought as he slipped his shoes on and shrugged his backpack over his shoulder, but it was nice to wake up the next morning with Sora's fingers lightly pawing his nose. He had no idea it was possible to feel lonely when asleep.
The lane outside his house was so quiet he closed his front door as if there was someone sleeping just inside the house. The sun started to seep through the cracks of houses and he soon saw shadows move in the windows as the people of Twilight Town started to wake. Riku continued walking through the crisscrossing residential part of town.
He was the only one out and about at the moment, something he was thankful to the small town for. Riku had ventured to the larger cities surrounding the town and there people didn't look to the sun or moon for time, but to their clocks. Then again, Riku smiled to himself, how many times had he had to put his lips to Sora's ear in the summer and tell him to wake up because the sun had been shinning for hours?
"Here witchy, witchy, witch," a voice slurred while a couple others laughed.
Riku paused at the mouth of a side street to cautiously peer down it to see who had spoken. His mouth set in a firm line when he spotted three teenagers stumbling as much down the street as they were to the left and right. He guessed that if there had been a wind he would have smelt alcohol mixed with bad breath. Riku watched them laugh and trip, calling out obscenities while he tried to figure out why these guys were bumming around the walls of sleeping Twilight Town people. Riku didn't like the first day of school either, but he wasn't about to cure it with zero sleep and alcohol.
The teens didn't look familiar either, which was odd for a number of reasons. For one, Twilight Town's high school population was so low that there were only three teachers and classes were divided randomly with little regard to age. It was very unlikely for Riku to have never bumped into every student at least once. Although, Riku's eyes narrowed with puzzlement, it was hard to tell who they were with their backs to him and those ridiculous black caps and coats shrouding their bodies. It almost looked like they were in uniform, but he didn't know what organization they would belong to.
They continued down the street on their 'witch hunt', oblivious to Riku's presence. He was thinking about following them just to make sure they weren't actually going to burn anyone at the stake, when he heard running footsteps from behind.
"Riku!"
Riku backed away from the street and let his shoulders loosen. He hadn't even realized how tense he was until he looked away. He turned around and waited for Kairi to catch up to him.
She jogged to him with a smile on her face.
"I saw you pass by my window," she said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder to a small house a block away. She leaned her back up against the fence of the house they stood in front of and fanned herself with her hand as she said, "It took me a moment to find my shoes. You're up pretty early too. What's your reason?"
"I just couldn't sleep, I guess," he replied with a shrug while his eyes still lingered on the side street. He could hear their laughter vaguely, but it was becoming just another noise as people began rousing, opening windows or putting dogs out.
Riku turned his attention to Kairi who was now peering down the street, watching the teens meander down the way.
"And what's your excuse?" Riku asked.
"Me? I didn't have one until I saw you walk by," Kairi answered, tearing her eyes from the strangers. "I needed to talk to you before we met up with Sora. I was planning on catching you when you walked past my place. In some ways I guess I'm lucky those idiots were partying outside my window at six in the morning. I would have missed you otherwise."
Curiosity and dread coursed through Riku's mind at the thought of the drunken people gargling alcohol down while cajoling against the wall as Kairi tried to stuff pillows into her ears.
"They've been around here since six?" Riku asked and nodded down the now deserted street. Kairi responded with an eye roll and nod.
"Actually even earlier. I just couldn't get back to sleep after six," Kairi yawned and rubbed at her eyes, "They're not causing any real trouble so just let them be, Riku."
Riku grinned and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I never said I was going to do anything," Riku said mischievously and shared a smile with Kairi. "Anyway, you said you had something to tell me?"
"Mm hm," she nodded. Kairi perked up, bouncing on the balls of feet and looking at Riku with bright eyes. Proudly she announced, "I won't be walking with you, Sora and Roxas today, and I'll be late for class. So if you wouldn't mind telling Professor Diz that I'll be late? Just tell him I'm showing a new student around the school."
"Okay, as long as you promise to find Sora and I later on. You can bring the new kid too."
"Great!" Kairi said happily.
She pushed off the wall and into Riku's arms. She pulled away and backed up, headed down the street towards her house.
"Bye!" she called over her shoulder and waved. Riku waved back and turned around to continue walking.
For good measure, he checked the side street again, but there was only an old man settling down into a rocking chair on his porch at the end. The teens were gone, leaving only an empty bottle to roll in the slight summer breeze as the sun poured over the roofs and into the street.
Riku took a haphazard route through the town, literally doing a circle around a block, to reach the outskirts and wait under the old crab apple tree that he usually met the brothers at. He was still a little early, but knowing Sora he wouldn't have long to wait. Whether they were in preschool or high school, Sora was always eager to get to class early on the first day. Riku smirked as he sat beneath the rustling leaves of the tree. It was probably his fault Sora wanted to be there early on the first day. He and Riku were always competing with each other so anything vaguely related to ranking would put a determined gleam in Sora's eyes. Then again, Riku thought as he caught sight of the brothers who bolted for him as he stood up, maybe Sora was just happy to see everyone again.
"I'm gonna beat you so bad," Sora barked at his brother as the neared the tree at a dead-set pace.
Then again...Riku thought, shaking his head.
"Like hell, chicken legs. There's no way I'm doing the dishes tonight," Roxas snapped back.
Sora laughed as he tried to cut Roxas off, but ended up causing a collision and both cursed as they bounced ass over head to a dust clotted stop at Riku's feet.
It took Sora a moment to remember his body's natural order and flop over so at least he had a view of the sky instead of dirt. As his head started clearing, he could hear Roxas calling him a whole alphabet of names and see Riku staring down unsurprised at him.
Sora coughed and nearly choked on dirt as he asked Riku, "Who's doing the dishes tonight?"
Riku looked down at the boys who stared eagerly up at him. Sora was practically drooling for an answer while Roxas' expression continuously flipped from anxious to amused.
Riku raised his hand and pointed to Roxas, who had a moment of alarm that unhinged his mouth and opened his eyes. Riku smirked and said, "Roxas won. Sora, you're doing the dishes tonight."
Sora slapped a hand over his face and groaned while Roxas laughed and reached a hand up for Riku to pull him to his feet. Roxas leaned into the pull and got close enough to Riku to whisper into the other's ear.
"It was a tie wasn't it?"
Riku gave no reply except for a secretive grin that left Roxas shaking his head. He let go of Roxas' hand and both boys turned to look down at Sora who still lolled in the grass. Riku got down on his knees and knelt over Sora's head. He looked over his shoulder to see Roxas smiling softly with his arms crossed and hair swaying in the breeze.
He turned back to Sora and said teasingly, "You shouldn't have asked me to be the judge."
"Why not? You're supposed to show favouritism!" Sora chided playfully and refused to remove his hand from his eyes, even when Riku tried to pry it away.
"Because, dumbass," Riku said, pinching Sora's nose closed so he was forced to open his mouth. Riku's lips hovered over Sora's, close enough that they tickled with the light touch. Sora's lips quivered from a smile to a pucker, expecting Riku to kiss him any moment. Riku grinned mercilessly and said, "The one thing I love more than you is teasing you."
Riku stuck his finger in Sora's expectant mouth causing him to splutter and flap himself into a sitting position, while Roxas cackled in the background. Riku sealed Sora's rant of indignation with a chaste kiss.
"You should have known better," Riku laughed quietly into Sora's ear, "I'm not going to kiss you that deeply in front of your little brother."
Riku shifted to stand but Sora pulled him into the dirt.
"Fine, pretend to be mister proper but," Sora whispered into Riku's ear with a mimicking laugh, "don't think I'm letting this go"
"Who knew lovebirds nested on the ground," Roxas taunted as he started to walk towards town. Hayner, Pence and Olette would probably be kicking around the school by now, waiting for him and Sora.
Sora and Riku's eyes turned up at Roxas' comment, but they said nothing. It might have been the first day of school, but the sun didn't seem to get the memo. It shone just as bright and warm as it had all summer, making them envy the cats that often sunned themselves lazily on the porches of Twilight Town.
"I'm gonna go find the others," Roxas said, as he moved from the shade of the small tree and blinked in the sun. His lips quirked with mischievousness as he said, "See you later mom and dad."
Sora jerked, as if he was about to spring to his feet, causing Roxas to take off with his schoolbag bouncing off his shoulders and grass kicking up in his wake. Sora flopped against Riku and watched his brother run away.
"What? You're not going to chase after him for that?" Riku asked and shook his leg to bounce Sora. "Don't tell me that jog over here drained you. I know you have more stamina than that."
"Ha, ha yeah," Sora agreed. He pinched Riku's knee and running his hand up and down Riku's leg as he shrugged, "I'm not really offended considering I am the older brother and the one that keeps the house and farm running. Well, mostly running. Maybe limping is a better word ha, ha..."
Riku kissed the side of Sora's face, I hopes to press as much of his admiration into his boyfriend as he could. Roxas and Sora had some family money, and enough time in the summer to tend to the fields and animals that could earn them a little more then. Riku helped out as much as he could with the summer farm work and in the fall he took on the duties of tutor to Sora and Roxas when they left class early or came in late. It was a little frustrating for Riku when Axel came into the equation. Riku was an amazing student and excellent at math, yet the addition of Axel boggled him because sometimes that addition equalled only two helping hands instead of four.
Sora slapped a hand down on Riku's thigh as he got to his feet. After he dusted the dirt from his pants and gave up on the grass stains, he offered a hand to Riku.
"C'mon, mom, we've gotta get to class."
Riku paused with his hand reaching towards Sora's and gave Sora an exasperated look.
"Hey, you sentenced me to dishes. Besides, there are way worse things I could call you, mommy," Sora said. He laughed as he grabbed hold of Riku's arm and pulled him to his feet.
Riku snorted but slung his arm around his grinning boyfriend's shoulders all the same.
"And once again we join in this room to continue cultivating our skills and tending to our minds," Professor Diz said as he stood at the front of the classroom.
The room was stuffy, but not because stuff was actually packed into the room. The class was maybe a dozen students in its body and even less present in the combined intellectual presence. The small class boxed in a 30 by 40 foot crate with only three windows, no breeze and a sun hell bent on going out of summer with a blazing bang, felt deoxygenized and tired.
Riku could feel a droplet of sweat sliding down the side of his face and taunting the rest of his dry body. He rubbed at his temple and swept his bangs from his forehead. What he would do to be gone from this classroom and outside. Perhaps he should have joined the kids on the side street this morning. They certainly weren't dehydrated and probably could deal with the heat because they would feel only the sun's drowsy lull. A slight creak from the chair beside Riku suggested that Sora had let his eyes blink closed a second too long and had lost balance in his chair.
Sora peeked around and over his shoulder to see if anyone had seen and by Hayner's laugh, Olette's hand covering her mouth and Roxas smiling knowingly at his brother, the others had noticed. Pence was probably sympathetic to Sora's cause since he was resting his head on his desk and unresponsive to the snickers around him. Diz looked up at the noise and a smile settled on his lips as he closed his eyes briefly.
"Perhaps we ought not to start at the height of the stem, but rather return to the roots we set firmly in place those few months ago," Diz chuckled. He turned to the black board to pull an unlabelled map down before the dozy students.
Sora yawned and stretched as he turned to Riku who had a mocking look ready for the boy who had nodded off. Sora smiled sheepishly, but his mask of embarrassment was shattered by an even greater yawn. Riku rolled his eyes and shook his head, trying to ignore the stickiness of his hair clinging to his face. Sora crinkled his nose and fanned himself with his hand, mouthing the words 'so hot' and 'tired'.
"Why don't we have a reminder of the lay of the land, so to speak," Diz said as he secured the map and retrieved a pointing stick from the corner of the room.
Riku spied Sora playing with his pencil, twirling it, bouncing the nub of eraser off the edge of his desk, really just keeping some part of himself active so his brain couldn't slip off again. Riku tried concentrating on Diz instead of Sora, which was proving to be difficult since Diz was moving so little and talking too much in his slow and intellectual way. It was like nursery rhymes for geniuses, while Sora's subtle movements in the corner of his eye was like a single hair of his bangs weaving before his eye. It was completely unimportant yet the center of attention because it was moving and so close to him. The pencil became slightly more important when it bounced hard of its nub, rebounded off of Riku's shoulder and rolled to his feet. Sora bobbed his head down to reach just as Riku did and suddenly both were wide awake with the clunk of their dull heads colliding.
Sora groaned, while Riku pushed him away and said, "I've got it," as he retrieved the pencil.
"Very well then, what is the answer, Riku?" Diz asked.
"The...answer?" Riku asked, staring up at Diz with confused eyes and accidently dropping the pencil again. He vaguely acknowledged Sora falling out of his chair to nab the pencil before it rolled too far away. Sora's chair was shot backwards and ended up banging against Pence's desk, causing the boy's head to pop up.
"Yes, you said you've 'got it'," Diz asked with an amused smile.
Truth be told, Diz wasn't particularly upset by any of the class' antics. It was relentlessly hot and despite all his years of study, intellect and teaching, there was never a good solution for tackling Mother Nature's temper, be it heat wave or hail storm. Riku was also his prize student so his picking on the boy was one of the downsides to being well liked by his teacher. It provided a heightened amount of respect for Riku, as well as dancelike sort of challenge where he had to try his best to follow his teacher as timorously as possible while being prepared for the next step or twist. Riku wouldn't have it any other way.
Except for now as he sat dopey, sweaty and completely out of the loop from any important goings on in the classroom.
"The map," Pence yawned from the back corner, putting a hand over his mouth and almost obscuring the words to nonsense.
Those around Pence twisted in their seats to either stare in amazement at the boy who had been sleeping or they stared because they were tired and everyone else seemed to be staring at him. Sora sat up like a gopher, staring back at Pence with the most expressive amount of surprise.
Pence briefly acknowledged everybody's stares with an uncertain look of his own, staring the most at Sora and laughing a little, before turning to Riku and stage whispering, "He wants to know the names of the surrounding cities. The founding ones."
With a subtle nod of thanks, Riku lifted his gaze to the strip of land along a bay that Diz was pointing to and replied with only the slightest of hesitation as his brain reconnected to his mouth.
"That land, along the bay, is Port Aqua. It's one of the three founding cities. And the other two are Terra, the moor area of the map," Riku said pointing to a large expanse of open land.
The next he wasn't too sure about, and with Diz smiling and moving the pointer to another large area of the map, Riku really had to dig past the summer memories that covered his knowledge from last year. The third was hard to remember because...
Riku felt confidence unfurl in his chest as he shook his head at the area of the map Diz was pointing to before nodding to a tall hill at the heart of the map.
"The third founding city is hard to remember because it wasn't an actual city. Citadel Ven helped in the old wars to secure the land, though it really is just a fortress. After its fall it was vacated then taken over by nomads," Riku finished, allowing the remaining air he had to slip out in a relieved and satisfied sigh as he slumped in his chair.
Sora and Roxas shared mutual impressed looks while Olette smiled as she laid her head on the desk and Hayner and Pence just wilted in the heat. Seeing as Pence had helped him out, Riku would debate in favour that the boy was just drooping in the heat and not actually sleeping.
"Correct, Riku," Diz nodded and pointed to each spot on the map Riku had mentioned before turning to address the class. "Because of these three cities it is that we can exist here and now. In this term we will see where this history leads us. For example, Sora, it leads us...?"
"Uh, to the, uh...here and now?" Sora said uncertainly, his answer coming from his lips with all the finesse of a rusty hinge.
Diz laughed and Sora slumped onto his elbows, puffing out dry air onto his desk.
"You are not wrong, but I was hoping for a more specific answer," Diz said while giving Sora an amused look before surveying the class and nodding to Pence, who seemed to be among the living again.
"The founding cities founded Twilight Town," Pence said as he lowered his hand and indulged himself in a great yawn for the approving nod Diz gave him.
"Oh!" Sora said raising his head and twisting in his seat to stare at Pence. The students followed Sora's movements, turning heads to look from Pence to Diz as Sora spoke. "Oh yeah! Because of the original three cities, other smaller towns were created when people started branching out. Like Twilight Town or, or Hallow Bastion."
Diz had been smiling up until Sora mentioned the western town, Hallow Bastion. His face fell, turning his toothy grin to a bared teeth grimace. While Sora and Roxas high-fived over Sora's accomplishment and the other members of the class chuckled wearily, Diz tried to find words that would allow him to be professional by hiding his disdain, but still ring true with his conscious.
While Diz faltered, the door to the classroom opened slowly. The room was so stuffy that the fragile breeze that ushered in an equally fragile looking girl along with Kairi, immediately made heads turn to their saviours. The gentle looking girl's eyes widened and, though she was already three shades paler than was healthy, she was still able to blanche at the handful of students staring at her. Shyly she attempted a smile and waggled her fingers in a feeble attempt at a wave. Kairi smiled encouragingly and nodded in approval as she brushed elbows with the other girl and led her to the front of the class. The blonde, pale girl gave up on trying to smile and seemed to be concentrating more on keeping lips in a straight line as if holding back vomit.
"Hey, everyone!" Kairi said, her warm tone only a couple degrees cooler than the boiling room. She waved to the class while the other girl stood with her hands behind her back. Some of the students waved back to Kairi, Sora and Roxas creating the most body heat by waving back vigorously while others just blinked recognition.
Kairi turned around to face Diz and bow her head slightly as she apologized for being late.
"Riku made me aware of your reason for tardiness so you have nothing to be forgiven for," Diz said with a nod to Kairi. His gaze flickered to the new girl as he said, "And thanks to Riku and Kairi's advanced notice, I was able to be slightly prepared for the arrival of...?"
Kairi and the rest of the class turned to stare at the girl. Riku noticed her knees buckle slightly and he swore he heard her groan as she stepped forward to stand beside Kairi rather than behind her.
"Naminé," she said meekly. She patted her neck and cleared her throat as she said a little stronger and with a forced smile, "My name is Naminé."
Kairi bumped elbows with the girl and gave her a thumb up as the rest of the class welcomed her a little more enthusiastically than they had in participation of Diz's lecture. Kairi, noticing the blush on Naminé's cheeks as she stared down at her shaking knees, decided to take the reins of the introduction.
"Naminé is new to the school and the town. She moved her over the summer with her parents," Kairi informed the class. With a smile and an excited tremor to her voice she added, "She came all the way from Hallow Bastion. Isn't that cool?"
Sora, Pence, and Olette wowed and awed at Naminé's origins while Hayner nodded with a decisive 'cool' and Riku smiled and nodded. Diz, on the other hand, closed his eyes and willed that his professionalism would prevail.
Diz cleared his throat and said levelly, "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Naminé?"
Naminé turned startled eyes on Diz and shyly brushed a strand of fine blonde hair from her forehead. Kairi smiled and took a step to the side to provide the other girl with more room.
"Okay, well, I was born in Hallow Bastion and my parents decided to move to Twilight Town because there were better business prospects, and, um..."
"You say you moved her because of 'better business prospects'? How so do you mean?" Diz asked in the tone he reserved for grilling students on the minute facts of whatever lesson they happened to be learning.
Naminé flushed as though she actually was being roasted. Half the class could sympathize with her considering the heat of the room, but none could understand the stress of being stared at by a dozen new faces.
"Well, I suppose it's the clients..." Naminé began nervously with her gaze desperately willing her shoelaces to give her answers.
"I find this odd because Hallow Bastion has a higher population as well as a typically higher cost for produce and services," Diz continued with little regard for Naminé's gentle 'oh's and small nods at his deduction.
Riku felt antsy as soon as the questioning had begun, like there was something wriggling in his lower gut. By the fidgeting of Naminé at the front of the class, he wondered if she suffered the same only tenfold. Riku heard Roxas murmur something to which Olette seemed to agree with. Hayner replied with a slightly louder and sarcastic, "Yeah, I guess we don't have to initiate her after this awkward as hell grilling."
"What line of work do your parents deal in?" Diz continued after cramming a day's worth of information on the economy of Hallow Bastion into her head.
"T-they are apothecaries," Naminé replied, her cheeks blazing from the agitation of Diz's winding questions. She wound her hair so tightly with her fingers that Kairi expected curls and waves to be let loose when her fingers stopped.
Riku looked over to Sora who had actually been staring at him for the past minute, but even with the amount of time it took for Riku to clue in, Sora was still unable to form a proper question. His jaw worked soundlessly while he pointed to Naminé and Diz with a thoroughly confused expression. Riku understood but could do little more than shrug. Sora shook his head, his face saying 'well, that's not good enough' and he raised his hand. It was probably unneeded but when Sora wasn't acknowledged immediately he pushed his chair back and stood with his hand raised. Riku, being the closest to the epicentre that was Sora, looked around at the heads of his classmates staring at Sora with the fixation of fish staring at their reflections.
"Sora?" Diz asked, staring at the boy with mild surprise.
"I have a question," Sora said, extending his hand a little higher to accentuate the fact.
"I presumed as much," Diz said drily and nodded to Sora, "What is your question?"
Sora let his hand drop and turned to face Naminé. He wasn't sure if she was holding back tears or laughter as she gawked at Sora.
"I just wanted to know if Naminé likes ice cream."
There was a subtle wave of giggles behind Sora and Naminé seemed lost as to how she should feel. She danced on the spot for a moment, looking from Diz who just seemed flabbergasted, to Sora who stood seemingly serious in the sea of laughing students.
"I-I do like ice cream," she said at last.
People jumped in surprise when Roxas rocketed up from his seat, his hand also in the air. He didn't wait for Diz's permission to speak.
"Hey, Naminé! Do you like playing ball?"
"I'm not really sure," she responded, peeking around Sora to catch a glimpse of Roxas.
"Well, it's kind of hot for playing, anyway. What about swimming? The beach is only a train ride away."
"I do like going to the beach," she said as her fingers stopped winding her hair and a small, genuine smile coming on to her lips.
"And you likes sketching, right?" Kairi chimed in as she put a hand on Naminé's shoulder.
"Yes, and gardening so I have something beautiful to draw," she replied, the blush fading from her cheeks and her spine becoming straighter.
"We garden!" Roxas chimed in, clapping his brother on the back.
"We farm," Sora admonished and turned to face his brother with his hands mockingly on his hips.
"So? What's the difference?"
"Gardening sounds girly."
"Ha, yeah. You would know, mom."
"What? No! Riku's mom."
Diz cleared his throat as he stepped forward, silencing Sora and Roxas in their bickering as well as cause the rest of the class to lose the amused gleam to their eyes.
"Considering the type of conversation brought on by the temperature and the excitement," Diz let his eyes flicker to Naminé briefly, "of the addition of a new student, we will adjourn for today. Have a good afternoon."
Diz moved behind his desk so that the wave of students heading for the door didn't knock him about. Kairi side stepped closer to Naminé and whispered something in her ear as Sora and Roxas bounded up to her. Hayner, Pence, and Olette weren't far behind and Riku waited for the others to pass before he joined the circle around Naminé. There was an advantage to being tall, besides being able to touch the ceiling or reach the top of the blackboard. Riku peered over Hayner's shoulder to stare at Naminé.
Naminé shook her head and turned to Kairi.
"I'm sorry, Kairi, but I don't think I'll be able to remember all the names of your friends right now."
"It's okay," Hayner said, uncrossing his arms to gesture with his thumb at the surrounding people, "So long as you remember them when you're our friend. I'll refresh your memory on mine, I'm Hayner."
"I'm Pence," Pence yawned and blushed as he waved to her.
"Olette," Olette laughed and waved.
"And those two are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb," Hayner said while pointing over his shoulder to Sora and Roxas.
"You wanna go, Hayner?" Roxas teased and dropped into a crouch with a mock grimace on his face. Hayner copied Roxas' position as he jeered, "You might not want to. Axel and I sparred a lot over the summer."
Hayner straightened up with a disgusted frown pulling down his face and his features were scrunched at the nose.
"I really didn't want to know that, Rox," Hayner said stiffly as he looked away.
While Hayner and Roxas had their spat over whatever Roxas did and didn't do with Axel, Riku slipped around Hayner and stood next to Sora who had moved closer to Naminé.
"Hi, Naminé, I'm Riku," he said to her.
Naminé looked impressed by his height. From ten feet away and sitting in a desk, Riku had looked like any other student. Now that he stood a foot and maybe more taller than Naminé and with a greater expanse of chest than Hayner and Roxas combined, she couldn't help but feel a little shy around him more than the others. The sincere look in his eyes calmed her nerves though. Riku wasn't like those boys.
"Hello, Riku," she replied sweetly.
"Sora, why don't you see if your brother wants to stop picking fights in front of the professor and come for ice cream with us," Riku said, sharing a look with Sora and staring over at Roxas whose face was red with the heat and actual anger.
"Are you going to treat us all?" Sora asked, pressing his body close to Riku with a smile on his lips.
"Sure," Riku said, taking the bait and pecking Sora on the lips. He pulled away smirking as he said not an inch from Sora's face, "Except for you, of course. Mommy never treats daddy."
Riku spun Sora around and prodded him in the direction of his tempered brother.
Sora turned around and said with emphatic motions of his hands, "You're seriously not still peeved about that, are you?"
Riku just smirked and shrugged.
"Even after Roxas – you're joking, right?"
Riku shrugged again and motioned for Sora to turn around and confront his brother. After he witnessed Sora plant himself between Hayner and Roxas' verbal war, he turned to Kairi and Naminé who were having their own private conversation.
"Naminé," Riku said, drawing both girls' attention. He nodded to Kairi too as he said, "And Kairi too, why don't you come out with us? When the others' mouths are stuffed it's a lot easier to get to know them."
Kairi crossed her arms and moved her weight onto one leg as she gave him a canny grin. Naminé laughed politely and nodded happily.
"Naminé, I'll give you a tip to help you remember Riku's name," Kairi said, as Riku walked over to Sora and Roxas who were goofing off on the back black boards now, playing a dirty version of hangman. Riku was still in ear shot, but Kairi spoke louder just to make sure he heard. "Riku has the same number of letters and the same starting letter as the word 'rude'."
Riku glanced briefly over his shoulder, the corner of a smirk able to be seen.
"He'll respond to either word you memorize, too," Kairi laughed.
Author's Note: I do like leaving these notes so that you wonderful readers know that there is a person writing these stories (of course you know that) and it's not like reading a story in a magazine or a book in a library. I will answer questions and talk to you about what's going on or about updates. Also, if you catch something like grammatical errors that seem more than just a slip of the finger, then I can fix them early on if you tell me. I'm pretty good about updating, however, school is in again. As for a note on this chapter: I restarted this story at least three times and from different points. I wasn't sure if I should just jump into action or explain the characters' backgrounds. I like character development so I decided to start before any major drama happened and, what d'ya know, I ended up adding even more to what I thought would be a quick story.
