Riku had the prettiest eyes that Sora had ever seen.

They were bright green, and sparkled like newly-polished emeralds. Sometimes, they were a deep jade, like the calm ocean, mysterious and brimming with such life. And on even rarer occasions, they blazed a darker green, with hints of red around the irises, and they burned through your soul as if the very sun was buried in them.

Sora had always wished that he would have eyes like Riku's.

He remembered times when it was only the both of them, just them two, Sora and Riku, the best of friends. Their friendship was kinda like diamonds; brilliant, beautiful… unbreakable.

Sora was seated by the shore, watching the waves rise and sink every now and then. It was their meeting place. He would hear Riku, calling out his name. Then he would smile and give him a look with those beautiful eyes of his. It was those days when Sora just loved to bask in Riku's attention. He treated it as an exceptional privilege whenever Riku would laugh, smile, or even talk. He would watch his eyes profoundly with deliberate attention, counting the different colors that swam through them. He found it quite stupid, albeit. He remembered a time when his best friend had called him weird for staring at his eyes for so long…

"What the heck Sora, stop staring at my eyes."

'But they're just so pretty, Riku.' The nine-year old Sora was about to say, but stopped himself from doing so.

"I'm not staring," he said instead.

'Then what are you doing now?"

"Well… I, er… I was simply… ob—observing! Yeah! Observing…"

"Observing?" Riku eyebrow rose jauntily. "Observing what, exactly?."

"Um…er… the rainbow… in your eyes…?"

Riku blinked. Sora mentally kicked himself for sounding so stupid. That wasn't manly… at all. But then Riku's body started to quiver, and a shaky, low rumble erupted from his mouth. It was then that he realized that his best friend was laughing.

"You're so weird, Sora," he said, mid-laugh. "That's why I like you."

Sora inwardly beamed. Riku was a generally introverted person, and he was lucky to be his friend, let alone make him laugh. Only he could do that. Sora. Riku's one and only, irreplaceable, best friend.

That is, until Kairi came.

Kairi wasn't a bad person. Oh no. She was really nice and pretty and all… Sora even had a crush on her at one point in his life. It was just that she was too… perfect.

Like Riku.

She was sweet, beautiful, and even had the guts to scold Riku too. All the kids were afraid of him, but Kairi…

And he thought only he could shout at him.

A pretty pointless thing to get jealous of, Sora had often told himself. But that didn't stop the hurt that he felt.

Especially when he saw Riku and Kairi together.

It was supposed to be their night out. He and Riku had planned to go together fishing on the other side of the island where the moonlight shone directly upon the shore. He had waited for 2 hours, two friggin hours, dammit! But Riku was nowhere in sight. So, he decided that maybe he was already there. Out of breath, he finally spotted his best friends trademark silver hair.

"RIk—!" he abruptly cut himself of.

He was standing, barefooted in the sand, and he was just so…

…stunningly, inhumanly beautiful.

With the moonlight illuminating his entire figure, he looked like a wingless angel.

And Sora never wanted anyone so much in his life as he did then.

Sora took three tentative steps toward him, and his whole body froze.

There, in the distance, were the familiar red strands of hair mingling silver ones. They flowed like silk around them, seemingly dancing with the wind. A pale hand caressed an even paler face. Warm sea-green eyes, burning with so much intensity, stared back at aqua-green. And all that Sora could think was that…

'Riku never looked at me like that before'.

A foreign feeling, cold and menacing, clawed at his heart and froze the very blood in his veins. His eyes blurred, and something warm slipped down his cheek. His lungs clenched, until he had to gasp for air to breathe.

'So painful…'

Riku's arm slipped around Kairi's waist like a snake, pulling her closer and closer…

'Why…?'

And then Riku smiled, warmer than anything he'd ever given to Sora. As their faces neared, Sora's world crumbled and shook at its foundations.

Before their lips met, the young boy fled, leaving his footprints on the tear-splattered sand behind as a sole reminder that he was ever there.

When they pulled away, Riku glanced at the spot where his best friend had previously had been standing. He spoke, his voice barely a whisper:

"I'm sorry…"

Far away, a boy's wails go unheard.