SoRiku: Rivalry
Sora's eyes snapped open. He jumped out of his full sized, blue bed and rushed to his closet door, throwing it open and grabbing several clothing items. Ripping off his night shirt he threw on a plain red t-shirt and tan shorts that ended just above the knee. He raced down the stairs after almost running over his slightly surprised parents in the hallway, and made for the kitchen to grab a banana, quickly get a bottle of water, and go. As he walked out the door he felt the sudden chill from the wind. It was October after all, but he didn't have time to go back and get his forgotten jacket.
After practically swallowing the banana and gulping down his water, he tossed both waste items into a near by trash bin and began to run towards the docks. He looked at the sky, noticing the gray blanket of clouds. It looked like there would be a light rain, or snow, or possibly nothing at all. It was a sad sky. The kind that made you want to stay locked away in your house all day. The intense rays of the sun couldn't shine down on Sora's face, or the road in front of him. This wasn't Sora's sky. His sky was the bright, vivid blue that matched the color of his eyes. His sky had lazy, puffy clouds that would take different, but familiar shapes and twist them into new ones. His sky was the one where if you stayed out too long the rays of sunlight would burn your skin. That was Sora's sky. However, his sky was intent on hiding behind the gray barrier of clouds that honestly, Sora wasn't very fond of.
He continued to run, his legs carrying him past familiar people and buildings. Soon the docks came into sight, as did the dull looking Sea. Fog hovered over the water, making the small island made for play almost disappear in the mass of white. At the docks sat Sora's boat, as did Riku's. The brunette smiled inwardly, his cerulean eyes beaming with the exciting thought of beating Riku to the island. However, just as the brunette thought for sure he would win, here came Riku. The silver hair bolted out of a near by ally. His legs were longer then Sora's, thus carrying his faster then the other. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the brunette close behind and quickly made his way to the docks and into his small boat. Just as he pushed the boat away from the dock had Sora practically leaped into his tiny boat and done the same.
The small boy seemed determined to Riku, and the silver hair seemed playful and cocky in the blue eyes of the brunette. The silver hair had strong arms, making up for his heavy weight. Sora had decently strong arms, easily pushing his light weight along. The two were evenly matched in speed, quickly paddling the small boat toward the foggy island. Soon, however, the silver hair found strength to pull ahead of Sora. The brunette cringed, paddling faster, panicking. They got closer to the tiny island, Sora's heart pumping. He was so close to finally beating Riku, and now it was being yanked away from him.
Riku was now well ahead and Sora had long lost hope. Riku was half the distance to the island that Sora was. Knowing that Riku would make fun of him for giving up now he kept paddling quickly, making up a bit of the distance, until Riku reached the island. After than, Sora slowed into a calm pace to catch up with his best friend. "Beat you again, Sora." Riku said helping the boy onto the dock. "Yea, I'll get you next time!" Sora replied easily hiding the disappointment that lingered. "Sure you will, right after you beat me to the paopu tree." Riku said. Both him and Sora got ready to run. "1,' Riku started. "2," replied Sora. "3," Riku recited the final number. "Go!" They chorused together as they broke out into a full out run. It seemed pretty even, and as usual they ran up the stairs of the little wooden shack simultaneously and down the wooden bridge to the miniature island with the odd paopu tree, making it yet another draw.
"Almost." Sora said. "I went easy on you." Riku replied, laughing a bit as he took his usual seat on the paopu tree. Sora followed suit, taking a seat next to the silver hair and leaning against the upward part of the tree. Both of them stared out toward the horizon. The gray/blue water only made it so far before it was hidden behind the fog. "Gloomy today." Riku stated, not taking his eyes off of the ocean. Sora nodded in reply, knowing Riku had seen it out of the corner of his eye. "Hey guys!" A familiar red-headed girl ran up to us. She looked a lot prettier with her hair longer. She had the same color of eyes as Sora, which were just as peppy and happy. "What's up?" She asked happily, her mood pretty much the opposite of the weather. "Nothing much." Sora said. "Beat Sora in a race again." Riku replied.
Sora leaned back against the tree again, watching as the water lazily lapped at the shore. Kairi sat in between Riku and the brunette. She slowly kicked her legs back and forth under the oddly shaped paopu tree. A small smile was on her face and she looked at peace that she was now with her two best friends. Her eyes were looking out towards the horizon just as the other two. "Do you think it will rain?" She said quietly. "Maybe. It's too early to say." Riku commented.
They ended up doing the normal around the island. Running around familiar territory, Kairi watching Riku kick Sora's butt in a sword fight, and swimming around in the dull water with their clothes on. Perfectly natural day. Wakka challenged Riku and, of course, Wakka suffered the same fate as Sora. Kairi talked with Selphie as the day wore on. A few hours later Selphie headed home, shortly followed by both Tidus and Wakka. That left the trio that was walking toward the small island at the end of the bridge.
Sora stopped, swearing he had felt a small drop of water land on his arm. There it was again on his head. "Did you feel that?" Riku asked, stopping as well. Kairi sighed. "I had a feeling it was going to rain." She said, watching as the ground scattered with small droplets of water. Soon the light sprinkling went to drizzling and finally the rain came in sheets. Kairi had already left by the time it was drizzling, and was probably home when it had gotten bad. Sora sat in the sand on the small island. The tree was blowing a bit in the wind and he didn't feel like loosing his balance and falling into the ocean that was starting to get a little violent. Riku decided to sit down next to him, his hair longer than normal now that it was forced flat against his head. Sora's hair two was flat, all of the spike gone for the moment. The two sat there, enjoying the feel of the cold rain against their skin.
Riku closed his eyes to shield them from the rain. Sora looked over to him as he lay down in the wet sand. Sora followed suit, laying so close that their arms were touching. After all, the brunette was starting to get cold and Riku was still rather warm. The silverette turned his head to look as Sora, who was now shivering slightly. Blue eyes were closed and he was slowly making his way into a ball to conserve heat. Sighing mentally, Riku stood and grabbed Sora's hand to pull him up as well. Sora stood, still shivering, and giving Riku a rather confused look. "Sora, you're going to get pneumonia if we don't get you somewhere warm." He said pulling the brunette down the bridge, through the hut (which surprisingly was about as cold as it was outside, if not colder) and towards the secret place. Inside there was dry except for the spot on the floor that was under the hole in the roof of the cave, a little like the hut which was leaking through the roof, and was warmer.
Riku led Sora over to the corner of the cave, behind a large bolder that shielded them from wind and spray coming from the top of the cave. There, Riku instructed Sora to take off his shirt. Sora followed instruction and Riku was taking heed of his own advice. Sora shook his head violently, trying to get some of the rain out of his hair. "Hey, cut it out!" Riku laughed, trying to block the water coming from Sora's wet hair. "Sorry." Sora replied, laughing a bit himself. He was still cold, but it was better than outside. He was still shivering when five minutes had passed after taking his shirt off. Riku, who took note of this, decided that Sora would probably freeze if he didn't do something. Slowly, the silver hair put his arm around Sora's shoulders and pulled the brunette into a soft hug.
Sora was surprised at first. Riku had never been so… gentle. "We should have left with Kairi, huh?" He said, stroking Sora's hair a bit. Raising an eyebrow, Sora asked, "Riku… what are you doing?" The one in question just laughed a bit. "You're freezing Sora, you have to get warmer somehow. We can't exactly leave until the ocean calms down and that probably wont happen until after the storm ends." It was true, and the brunette knew it. The rain was still coming in sheets, and from the looks of the sky it didn't seem like it would be getting better anytime soon. Sora decided to just curl up against Riku and steal all the warmth he could.
There was silence for a long time, not counting the rain pounding against the rock and the sound of soft breathing. "I always think I'm better than you…" Riku trailed off, pulling the brunette tighter to his chest. The boy was on the verge of sleep, but understood the words completely. "I'm always jealous of you, because I think you're better than me two. You get better grades than me in school, you always win in our races when it's not a tie, you always win when we beat each other up with those swords, and Kairi likes you more than she likes me." Sora replied sleepily. Riku frowned. "Now what makes you think Kairi likes me more that you?" He replied. "Because everyone likes you, Riku. I'm just there." Sora answered in a whisper that was extremely hard to hear over the rain. Somehow though, Riku had managed to hear every word. "Sora, you are not just 'there'." Riku said, a serious tone in his voice. "Yes I am." Sora mumbled, snuggling further into Riku's chest. He was still a little cold, and he was finding snuggling up to the silver hair to be extremely comforting. Pulling Sora away to look him in the eye Riku continued, "Sora, you are one of the most considerate, caring, adorable people I have ever met."
Sora looked at him for a moment, sinking that in. Wait… "I'm adorable?" He asked, turning cerulean eyes up to aquamarine ones. It was then that Riku realized he had made a very grave error on his behalf. "Uhhh… I mean like… as in girls think you're cute and stuff." He said lamely. Sora only grinned in return, cuddling up to Riku's side again. "You like me, don't you Riku?" The brunette asked, watching as the rain calmed in the slightest before getting worse than it was before. "Of course Sora, you're my best friend." Riku replied. "You know that's not what I meant." Sora said in return. There was silence yet again in the empty cave. They let their eyes wander over the old carvings in the rock before going back to their conversation. "Yea… I do Sora." Riku said, a small smile on his face.
Sora could have burst. The only time he had realized anything different was just then when Riku had called him adorable and all those other things. However, after he thought about it, there was a lot of time Riku had shown that he cared about Sora. God, did he feel oblivious or what? Even though this was a lot to take in all in one moment, and Sora was a bit shocked because all this time he thought his best friend was a straight as a metal pole, he realized that he felt a little something there two. It had always been there, but he had never really noticed it before it was opened right in front of his eyes. 'The best way to tell if you like someone is if you kiss them and you feel the sparks. I bet it's so wonderful, and so romantic.' He remembered Selphie ramble on one time about true love, and true loves first kiss. Could it be like that with him and Riku?
Blinking, Sora realized just what he had been thinking about. Kissing Riku. Looking up at the silver haired boy, Sora noticed his eyes were closed. 'I always thought they were such a pretty color… like a mixture of turquoise and sea-foam green…' The brunette thought. It was then that the eyes he had just referenced opened and looked straight into the deep blue ones. 'I feel like he can tell what I'm thinking.' Riku leaned forward a little, hesitated, and then moved a little further. Sora's eyes widened a fraction. 'He wouldn't…' Now his hand was up to cup Sora's cheek as he continued to close the gap of space. Sora couldn't move. 'Move! Come on Sora, you're not frozen, but…' All thoughts were drained from the brunettes head as Riku's lips brushed against his own.
Finally, Sora found the will to move, and leaned forward, applying pressure to the kiss. They stayed there for a moment, the kiss lasting a while. It felt like forever, but it also felt like it ended way too soon. "Riku…" Sora mumbled. "Yea Sora?" Riku asked and his arms snaked around the brunette's waist. "I love you." Sora replied as he snuggled back into his original spot. Riku smiled, laughing a little in response. "I love you two, Sora."
Both of them fell asleep like that, awaking in the morning to find that the cave was dry and the sun was shining once again. Heading out of the secret place they realized that almost all the clouds were gone. Except the puffy ones that would change shape, modeling into new ones every now and then. Sora smiled. "I love this kind of sky." He said. Riku smiled to. "I do two," Riku replied. "because it reminds me of you."
The End~~