Special thanks to DanceInLightening for beta-reading this for me. :)
Riku had, all his life, been an open-minded and curious boy. At the age of five he'd starting thinking strongly about the idea of destiny, excited and hopeful about learning what his place would be in the world. When his school started social studies in third grade, he eagerly began to immerse himself in the idea of other lands and cultures different from his own. In middle school he went through the typical conformist-conspiracy phase, afterwards pondering for months on the nature of human personality, how everyone had their own interests and paths despite sharing the same basic anatomical structure. His curiosity led him to confidence as he noticed that the other children rarely appeared interested in his tendencies to question everything. They seemed content to accept life and ignore the questions or, more often, assume they already had the answers. In the back of his mind and at the front of his ego, Riku grew to believe this made him inherently superior in some way.
"What do you think my destiny is?" Riku had asked his older brother years ago, but received a shrug in response.
"I can't say. You'll find out someday, I'm sure."
Young Riku had pondered this for a moment and then asked another question: "What if I grow up and it turns out I'm not anything important?" But his brother assured him he had the makings for doing something worthwhile, and Riku knew he wouldn't lie to him.
It was these self-contemplative thoughts and memories that occupied his mind as Riku lay upon the smooth, river-side rocks with his friends one cool summer's night. His light hair pressed against his neck as he stared up at the waxing moon above him. To Riku, the moon had always been a symbol of fate, power, and especially adventure. Day or night it seemed to call to him anytime he looked up, promising dreams that could one day be his own if he had the strength to capture them. The moon was the sign of tomorrow, a signal of the future to come, and Riku was ready for it.
An obnoxious yawn to Riku's left broke him away from his self-reflecting, and he almost chuckled at how his friend's simple action clashed with Riku's own ruminative state. Sora, the bearer of the yawn, never questioned anything unless it affected him or his friends directly and even then went with whatever answer seemed easiest to deal with. The way Sora saw it, enjoying life was more important than understanding it, and although Riku hated to admit it he often found himself envying that happy nature Sora had. Both of their parents had been lifelong friends; they said Riku had actually been there the day Sora was born. The two grew up together, and despite Riku being a grade higher and Sora's friendly nature naturally pulling him into nearly every clique in school over the years they'd been best friends for as long as either could remember.
Only one person could rival this bond. Kairi, who was sitting on Sora's other side and gazing into the moon's reflection in the water, had been friends with the both of them for years. She was in Sora's grade, and had moved into their hometown from a much bigger city when they both started kindergarten. Naturally, she'd been nervous about starting school and the move, but Sora's eager smile drew her in as it later would so many others and they became fast friends. It took longer for Riku to connect with her, but they became close once he did, and as they grew up together Riku began to notice that Kairi actually shared Riku's curious and questioning nature. She either didn't show it much or wasn't as serious about it, and was definitely more partial to issues of the past—a stark difference to Riku's constant seeking of the future—but he could still notice the subtle signs of interest hidden beneath her jokes.
Sora yawned again and Riku pushed himself up and chuckled at his friend. "Sleepy already, Sora? The sun's barely set."
His talking broke Kairi out of her trance with the water and she giggled, which caused Sora to glower a little though Riku knew he wasn't angry, just embarrassed.
"I'm not tired," Sora claimed. "I just need something to do. You guys are being boring tonight."
"Our swords are over there if you feel like getting your ass whupped again," Riku offered, gesturing to the play wooden weapons a few feet away that the two boys often spared with.
"Yeah, no thanks," Sora grumbled. He rubbed the bruise that had taken up residency on his shoulder that afternoon and Kairi giggled again. Riku smiled at the way she brought her hand to her mouth and her short-cropped red hair wavered back and forth. It gave him a sense of pride knowing he had basically been the cause of that laughter.
Kairi punched Sora playfully on the shoulder. "Maybe if you'd spend less days lazing about you'd win once in a while," she teased.
Sora sat up quickly when she mentioned him being lazy, as if it would prove otherwise. "Gimme a break, Kairi," he argued, "I've beaten him before."
Riku scoffed. "Sora, I could count your victories on one hand. And I bet that hand would have less bruises on it than yours."
Sora fell back to the ground with the back of his head cushioned by his hands, causing his thick spikes of hair to bounce a little. "Come on," he moaned, though his grin revealed his enjoyment. "You two are relentless tonight."
Riku smiled at him, then noticed Kairi had looked away towards the water again. She had a certain playful gleam in her eye—the sort a person got when they came up with a fun idea. "Kairi?" he prompted, in a tone that told her he knew she had something to say.
Her head moved to face him slightly as a smile widened on her face, but she didn't break eye contact with the ripples on the water just yet. "Well since Sora's bored," she started, "and it did just get dark out . . ." She broke her gaze to look at the two boys with that wide smile and declared, "Wanna look for a ghost?"
Sora sat up again. "A ghost?" he asked, sounding curious and perhaps a bit concerned.
"Scared, Sora?" Riku challenged, raising his eyebrows at him and holding back a smirk.
"No," Sora retorted, and then said to Kairi, "but I'm not really sure how we would start." He shook his head. "I don't think I even believe in ghosts."
"Good," Kairi said. She stood up and then winked at Sora. "Then when we find them, it'll be easier for me and Riku to get away."
Sora gave a short chuckle, but cut it short when he realized what Kairi was saying. "Right," he resigned.
"So," Riku said, standing up and side-stepping Sora to reach Kairi's side, "any idea where to start?"
"You believe in ghosts, Riku?" Sora gaped up at him. Riku only shrugged. He hadn't spent a lot of time looking into the idea of the supernatural before, but he figured it was ignorant to assume they were the only intelligent life on this planet. It was just as ignorant to believe they'd find one on a whim tonight, but Riku was content to play along for Kairi's sake.
Sora must have understood the gesture, because he grinned and stood up to join them. "Okay, why not? Sounds like fun."
Kairi grinned. "Well then," she pointed at the tree line across the river, "Selphie told me this afternoon about a serial killer who went through these woods sixty years ago and murdered a bunch of campers. Bet we can find a bunch of ghosts there." She flashed a grin and then ran across the river, which was shallow enough to cross thanks to the heat of the summer sun the past few months. Despite earlier skepticism, Sora chased after her with a genuinely eager look on his face—he'd always found it easy to fall into the mood of those around him. Riku shook his head, certain that Selphie had stolen the story from every B movie horror plot ever, but still followed his friends into the woods across the river.
As Riku anticipated, their search didn't find them anything remotely supernatural. The closest they got was about ten minutes in when Sora started to get bored again and decided to try to sneak up behind Riku and Kairi and scare them. It didn't work of course—you don't wear shoes as big as Sora's and get to be stealthy.
After a while of trying to trick themselves into being scared—"Did you hear that?" anytime the wind picked up, or, "What if we get lost?" even though they'd explored here often enough to navigate their way easily even in the dark—the three finally settled beneath a fallen tree and told ghost stories instead.
Their own urban legends weren't necessarily any better than Selphie's had been though—just dramatizations of rumors they'd heard or tall tales from their childhood Halloween nights. Haunted mansions, peaceful animals turning suddenly vicious, a demon exorcism, deranged murders described in details law enforcement would never let become public—the usual. Of course they each claimed their story was "said to be true," and Riku actually told one account of a missing persons case that he was pretty sure had some facts behind it, but there was way too much humor going on for any of them to take any story seriously—and most of them were getting ridiculous anyway.
They goofed around and enjoyed each others' creativity, sometimes even jumping in and adding details to their friends' stories (further detriment to the credibility, but they were past the point where that mattered) until they all agreed it was time to head back.
"With all these ghosts around, I bet our parents are worried sick," Sora joked.
"Yeah," Kairi sighed. "Too bad we didn't meet any though. I'd like to talk to someone from a previous life." She wore a light smile, but her tone was contemplative enough that Riku became a bit guilty about not having taken her idea seriously. Surely this silly ghost nonsense was just a whim and didn't mean that much to her . . . right?
Riku mulled his thoughts around that night in bed before he slept. It's true there were plenty of unexplained phenomena in the world, and he supposed it wasn't terribly impossible some of them were occult related. Thousands of people—perhaps millions—have sworn to have had contact with the supernatural, especially the afterlife. Riku knew many were just scammers or people seeking attention, but . . . with numbers that high it was unfair to assume that of everyone, wasn't it?
Riku was sure Kairi's sudden interest in the subject was nothing more than a fad, perhaps brought on by some horror film or something; she probably wouldn't even care in a week or two. Girls were fickle like that, right? Regardless though, she would still find it impressive if Riku were able to show her something supernatural. And with the new school year approaching in just a few days, it would be nice to share a special connection of some sort with her. Unlike Sora, who was going to have three classes with Kairi, Riku didn't have any and he worried they might grow apart. True, they'd been more separated last year, since Sora and Kairi were each in middle school still, but high school was different. Kairi might even get a job or start dating—and then he might not get many chances to see her after school either. That would be infuriating.
Well, unless Kairi was dating him.
That wouldn't happen though. Riku had kept an eye out for any signs she felt for him that way. There weren't any.
Before Riku fell asleep, he resolved to research the occult the next day. He would sort through what people perceived as real and what experts had proven hoax. And then, when Riku was certain he'd found something legitimate, he planned to perform his own ritual.
Riku was going to summon a ghost.
Well . . . there's some exposition. XP It's been a while since I've really written something lengthy, but hopefully it doesn't show and a few people enjoy this fic. :)
I find Sora and Riku surprisingly difficult to write in KH1 characterization. :/ Ah well though, I'll get the hang of it. XP
- Star-Shaped-χ