There were only two things of interest in the room. Over in the back corner, against a plain piece of loose-leaf paper was one of those pens scratching violently as it hurried to copy down as many notes as conceivably possible in the duration of the class. It wasn't just any pen, it was one of those. Those pens that were never happy with one color, so they had to settle with around five or so. All nicely lined up in a circular pattern along the top edge with a small button shown off in some fanciful way to let the user choose which bedazzling shade of red or green he or she wanted to decorate the information in. However, it paled in comparison.

More importantly, in front of him, was the long time friend – more than a friend, who rested in an anxious boredom against his hand, drool pooling in his palm and trickling down the edge to trace reflective lines along the natural ravines formed between his muscles and bones. Sora. In many regards, it was a perfect representation of him. To some, he might not be as captivating as the pen with all its allure and complexities, but for Riku one of the true features that drew him to Sora instead of the writing rainbow was the younger boy's simplicity. Of course, there were many things Riku could name that put Sora on an unreachable plateau, but most were best seen in person than described in thought. Even memories have a hard time capturing who or what Sora is or was.

It had been some time since the two had been reunited, dark and light putting aside their differences. Even longer since the two had been separated by a door, figuratively and literally. And even longer still, since they had battled on the beach with sticks and bare feet. Most of it could be rewound and played over and over again in Riku's mind, a much better way to pass the arduous wait for a chance to speak with Sora again than drooling in his hand with the weight of his eyelids overcoming his desire to stop them from closing. Or maybe not, the bell dismissing class (and school), had shocked Riku back into reality with an ear-piercing wail. Eager not to miss what it had done to Sora, he shattered the haze covering his vision and locked his gaze on the boy sitting a few inches away. Having already expected an entertaining display, Riku donned a grin as he began his observations. He was not disappointed.

The last thing Sora could remember was something about the "e-man" something proclamation. He had been trying to figure out how to write it down in his notes and dug his chin angrily in his hand. Then, out of nowhere, the school bell scared the bajeezus out of him. Did he finish the word? No, it didn't look that way.

Sora fumbled around, talking to himself as per usual, "What's going o- hey! Gah! My face is wet!" He began scrubbing at his cheek feverishly, as if wiping some sort of slime that didn't belong. He was interrupted by a quiet, yet powerful laugh from behind him. Riku! He was happy to hear Riku laugh again. Sora imagined it had been a long time since Riku had done such things, at least until Sora had found him again and brought him home. But wait – this is no time to laugh! "Hey! This isn't funny, Riku!" Sora's brow furrowed, taking the volume of Riku's enjoyment up a few notches.

"You're a mess, Sora. Hurry up, I want to get out of here!"

This flustered Sora a bit more. Drool was one of the hardest things to clean off, in Sora's opinion. No matter how much you dried it, it still felt wet and embarrassing. Being rushed wasn't 

something he wanted. At the same time, he knew that the sooner he got out, the sooner him and Riku could head back to the island for the rest of the day. The feeling is one he remembered dozing off to, and it quickly overwhelmed his frustration.

"Me, too!" Sora yelled, jumping to his feet and knocking his notebook and pencils on the floor in a loud barrage of clattering and rustling. "Guh!"

Riku shook his head in amusement, "Sora…"

The walk back was long – in a good way. It had begun in a silent exchange of smiles and blinks as they padded down the dirt path to the dock. Riku had been dribbling a small rock in front of him for a short time before it broke out into a desperate soccer match between him and Sora. The younger had managed to sneak it away, rather than having the older let him take it like he used to. Riku was content not to try and retrieve it, if he even could anymore, and instead would trot just behind Sora as he ran ahead tripping over his own feet in his battle between keeping the stone tumbling and yelling over his shoulder about his success.

The sun was just about to tumble over the edge now, and it checkered Sora with both patches of visionless shadow and areas where it seemed as though the bright colors of his clothes were visibly burning off and spreading into the air. It was something Riku had grown accustomed to when they were both younger. He wouldn't have been surprised if Sora and the Sun had become buddies right from the get-go. The two would rise in the morning, stretch and shake off their sleep. Then, as Sora was deciding what to wear for the day, the Sun would pleasantly remind him that it didn't matter, because he could just as easily make anything look good on the boy. Then, they'd spend the day together, Sora nurturing the Sun's desire for innocence, and Sora's skin growing with the calm intensity of a star.

After Sora had nearly fallen face-first into the gravel by stumbling over the stone he had just stolen, he let his attention wander away from it and back to Riku. Rather than drop back to walk along side him, Sora kept a playful distance just out of Riku's reach, acting like the whimsical leader even though Sora clearly understood that, of the two, Riku was surely the guide. It wouldn't be long before it was late, now. Sora had a quiet yearn for the sky to get dark and the moon to rise. Riku was surely unique in the sense of hair color. It's crystalline, stalactitic demeanor left a very cool, numbing feeling that sometimes sent shivers down Sora's spine when he looked at it too closely. Sora felt Riku was much more a night person, as most would probably imagine. When the moon came up and acted like the Sun's messenger of light, reflecting it back down to the world from a far-off distance, it seemed to pay a great deal of attention to Riku, especially Riku's mane. Sora smiled inwardly, thinking of how someone could easily be frightened if they stumbled upon Riku in the middle of the night, but Sora never felt any fear when the two were together at that time of the day. No, Riku was definitely different than the critters that crawl around in the dark. He was more like a guardian, patrolling to make sure everything was safe, and simply adapting to use his environment. If Sora stumbled upon Riku in the middle of the night, he doubted he could feel any happier and secure…



"Sora, the dock is that way," Riku's speech had cut through the essential silence that accompanied their journey from the start. When Sora turned back to reevaluate what it was that he just heard, he was given gentle hints by his friend; a head bob here, a elbow jab there.

Sora did his best not to blush, realizing he completely walked past the turn they needed to take while he was thinking about Riku. In an attempt to mask it, or at least keep Riku from noticing, he ran, limbs flailing out wildly, down the correct road. "Then we better step it up to make up for lost time, right!?"

Not missing a beat, Riku's body shifted from a lazy bounding to a streamlined sprint in less time than it takes for a loose eyebrow to fall from above the eye to the tip of the cheek bone. It didn't take long for him to close the distance between him and Sora. This triggered the competitive nature of the two, and Sora pushed himself even harder, making sure that he would maintain his lead. It was a very back-and-forth battle, and in the end, there wasn't a clear victor as the two came to a screeching halt as perfect as two humans could ever possibly be with one another, just before the last wood plank of the pier, both coming treacherously close to tumbling head-over-heels into the water.

Sora let himself drop into an exhausted, collapsed heap on his back, trying to draw in as much oxygen as the planet was willing to provide him. When he was conscious enough to refocus his vision, he saw Riku standing over him, cutting a sharp line between the Sun's beams. Riku bore another smile, this time without a laugh, and extended his hand to help Sora up.