Illumination

Hey everybody, so heres my first Fic Illumination.

[][][]Summary- Riku is a depressed individual who finds hope and more when a new girl comes to town. [][][]

Disclaimer: I am not in ownership of the Kingdom Hearts 1 or 2 franchise.

I made some edits to the original story so I am replacing the chapters with updated ones.

1

Riku took another deep breath of the cold mountain air as he returned from one more day of school. He envisioned the air traveling down into his lungs and wished he could watch the oxygen permeate his veins and bloodstream. Wearing only a brown turtleneck and shorts, Riku felt completely underdressed for the temperature. His friend, Sam, walked beside him, oblivious to the temperature because of his thick coat.

Attempting common conversation, Pence ventured, "So... Riku, what's agoin' on?"Pence jostled and waited patiently for a reply from Riku.

"Nothing. Well, I overheard that we have the possibility of a substitute in English tomorrow." Neither of the two was avidly interested in scholastics, but to avoid extended silences they talked about whatever was available. Nothing was off limits, but they didn't take full advantage of the opportunity.

"Awesome! We had one like two days ago!" Pence shook his head in confusion and confessed, "I think the teacher is up to something."

"Possibly," Riku said calmly and stared into the bluish sky. Much to Pence's dismay he wasn't in the mood for jokes.

Riku's house was closer to the school, about a quarter mile away, but for certain reasons it was usually best for the two to do their homework at Pence's place.

Conversation dwindled then started again then repeated the cycle. After a minute of complete silence they laughed or at least Pence was laughing. Riku was always more reserved than Pence or anyone in Twilight Town Town for that matter and hardly spoke a word unless provoked. But Pence made up for Riku's absence of speech by being as lively and as talkative as any slightly overweight highschooler could be.

"Here we are." Pence walked over to the obvious hide-a-key and unlocked the door to the two- story duplex. He peeked inside then pulled his finger to his mouth indicating to be quiet, not that it was a problem for Riku.

"Dad's asleep," Pence mouthed as he motioned to go around back. Riku walked around and was followed by an exaggerated stealth master Pence with the key. In the doorknob, the key chinked and clicked to signify the unlocking of the door, and they snuck inside. The TV was on and was playing 'Sex and the City' which proved that Mr. Otari had been asleep for a while. Riku noticed the empty bottles of Guinness strewn across the floor, and he snickered at Pence's father's current state. A few years before, the Otari family had invested in a good stock choice with Apple Computers and Mr. Otari didn't have to work a real job after that.

The quiet pair tip-toed upstairs and into Pence's room past Pence's brother's room and a spazzy cat. They opened Pence's door and revealed a completely trashed room. No one was surprised though, it was always like that. There were dirty clothes on the TV and an upside-down slice of pizza on the carpet. Riku didn't want to know what was in the closet. Pence jumped down onto his bed and turned on the television which made Riku feel right at home. Riku got out his English homework and began scribbling down drabble.

"I tell ya', I am sick of all of all of Roxas and Hayner's bull. What did I ever do to them?"Pence asked.

"I don't know," Riku replied in a deep and melancholy tone.

"Yeah, really, but that is not reason enough to torment me for my entire life."

"True." Riku finished his English vocabulary sentences and started on his math problems.

"They should just leave us alone."

"Just ignore them," Riku finally answered.

"It's not that easy. They just sort of show up when you don't want them to. I think they're actually a collection of Supervillains. What we know is only their aliases," Pence finished mysteriously. Riku chuckled slightly and stared into space.

A lengthy pause ensued, filled with thoughtful dual daydreaming of a better world. Then it stopped just as quickly as it started, and they both got back to their homework.

I'm hungry. Riku thought and cleared his throat.

"Can I get a snack?" Riku asked.

"Yeah sure. We've got chips and uhh, a lot of other food. You know where to find it."

"Thanks," Riku said and walked downstairs. 'Sex and the City' had finished, and now the sleeping Mr. Otari was watching 'Top Ten Summer Fashions' and was completely unaware of Riku's presence. He mumbled something in Japanese in his sleep. Riku walked not all that carefully down into the kitchen to pick up a box of Poptarts and a drink. As he was pouring himself a cup of orange juice he saw, in a mirror, the reflection of a beautiful girl walking down the street, and he couldn't help but stare.

Her dark hair caught in the brisk wind, and she brushed it out of her eyes with the back of her hand. She wore a light blue and light red striped scarf around her skinny neck and a pair of black jeans hugging her lean legs. He could only infer what she looked like in more summery clothes.

She is eye-candy to the extreme. Whoa! While stargazing Riku entirely forgot about the orange juice which managed to spill all over the counter. He picked up a ring of paper towels and wiped up the mess. When he had cleaned up completely, he looked up and out the window, but strangely the girl was gone. He felt a tinge of sadness as if he had lost something forever and missed her absence already. He hadn't even seen her face.

Mr. Otari grumbled and shifted on the couch. Not wanting to disturb him, Riku jogged carefully with the snack and drink back upstairs. There Pence was lying on his bed reading his sister's "Teen Vogue" magazine.

"Come on man, what are you doing?" Riku joked and threw the magazine on the floor.

"What! I'm doing... reconnaissance," He mumbled in response.

"Yeah. Sure."

"Seriously! I'm finding out the things that girls look for in guys. See, it says here to 'make sure he cares about you and will never judge you.' Cool with me," Pence explained. Riku nodded his head in agreement and absently stared at the TV screen.

"Seeya man." Pence waved goodbye to a departing Riku who returned the gesture. He walked slowly through the yard onto the sidewalk and began his trek home. As he stepped on a crumpled leaf he began to worry about his mother. She was prone to sporadic instances of depression; at the blink of an eye she could change moods. Hopefully when he arrived home she would be in one of her more passive moods and not throw anything at him out of distress.

A biker flew by, and Riku deftly removed himself from his path. He had a strange urge to tackle the bike rider off his bike and onto the grass. Certain people just irked him. And Riku hated bikes. He hated all fast things. Why waste all that speed and energy just to get to some meaningless destination quicker? Running was fine, but bikes and skateboards were too loud for Riku's tastes. Besides, there was a much higher possibility of injury involved. Taking things slow and enjoying every last detail was the way Riku thought he lived. It was ironic seeing how he wasn't at all attentative to everything but his own thoughts much of the time.

He reached his house within five minutes and was happy to see his mom cooking dinner on the stove. It smelled like pork chops.

"What's for dinner?" he asked in greeting and to make sure that it was in fact his favorite dish on the stove.

"Pork chops."

"I'll help make a salad."

"Okay, I think I bought some lettuce yesterday. It's in the fridge," she said and pointed with a spatula.

Riku opened the door to the refrigerator and was astonished at how empty it was. There were a few apples, a half carton of milk and some lettuce.

I'm happy I went to Pence's. Would've starved here. The sound and smell of the sizzling meat brought the thought to his mind.

"I thought you were supposed to go to the grocery store today."

"Sorry, I was... busy." It was then that Riku noticed the water stains on her sweater and her somewhat red eyes.

"Mom, you have to see a doctor about this."

"Oh hush, I'm fine. Tell you what. Right after you go to school tomorrow I'm gonna go and get 30 dollars worth of groceries, okay?" she asked with as much of a smile as she could stand.

"Alright, then you go up to that Laundromat down the road and talk about that empty job slot they have."

"Deal."

That night Riku slept soundly and didn't worry about a thing. He didn't have the best life, but that was okay, and he could deal with that. He usually never dreamt of anything, but that night the girl in the scarf crept into his mind.

He was chasing her through a mazelike mansion, and from the angle he was running from he could never see her face. She was only walking but Riku was always far behind her. Then finally he grabbed hold of her arm and turned her around to at last see her face.

The alarm clock buzzed. 6:30.

Shit. This always happens. I think dreams time themselves to do that. Riku kicked off his blankets after this moment of thought and turned off the annoying buzzer. He cursed bizarre combinations of swear words in his mind and walked over to the bathroom for a shower. In his early morning daze he stepped in before the cascading water warmed up and got pummeled with what felt like icicles.

"SHIT!" He exclaimed loudly jumping around naked in the shower and wildly turning the faucet away from him. He hardly enjoyed his morning routine.

Thanks for reading. Please review!

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