Hello all! Still working on next chapter for Road to Dawn, but wanted to post something new, and came up with this! Takes place shortly after Riku must start wearing his blindfold. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Riku or Kingdom Hearts.

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"Again!" Melody said loudly, a wooden sword held firmly in front of her. Riku returned to his starting stance, his own wooden sword raised. After a few seconds he lunged again, aiming for Melody's head. She blocked and pushed against him. "You were too low. Try again." Riku took a few breaths as he readied himself again. Once more, he lunged at her head and again, he was blocked. Even he could tell he was off on that one, he felt her block hitting his sword at the odd angle and bouncing back. He growled in anger and returned to his stance immediately. Three seconds later he lunged again, but his sword hit her block and slid awkwardly past her head.

"Damnit!" Riku said and backed off, falling to the ground. He rested an elbow on his knee and tossed his sword to the side in frustration. Melody frowned, but didn't move any closer. She raised her sword and faced him.

"C'mon. Again." She said. But he didn't move. "Riku, again."

"Shut up." He grumbled and rubbed his head. His hand ran over the cloth wrapped around his head and paused. He blinked several times and sighed. There was nothing. Through the dark fabric covering his eyes he could just barely make out shapes, he still wasn't used to it though. He was better at finding outlines of moving things now, thanks to the skills he had begun developing while in Castle Oblivion, but details of people and objects still eluded him. He lowered his hand and sighed.

Melody watched him with wary hazel eyes before lowering her sword and walking up to him. She knelt, patting his head twice in an attempt at comfort. "Riku. This isn't an easy thing to pick up. You're doing really good-"

"No, I'm not. It's been a week and I still can't hit you properly. There's no way I can go into a real fight like this." He said and slammed his fist into the dirt.

"You'll get it, I promise. Once you get past this, everything else will come. You'll hardly even notice you can't use your eyes!" Melody replied encouragingly. Riku looked up at the source of her voice, remembering he wouldn't be able to see her anyway and frowned. "You're really smart, Riku. I'm kinda envious."

Riku scoffed. "Not really. There's not much actually special about me."

"No, really. I'm serious. You pick up things so quickly, it's amazing sometimes." Melody smiled sadly and folded her legs under her, eyes falling to her lap. "I can't really do much. I mess up a lot. Like with magic, you've seen me using it. I've been practicing way longer than you and I'm still pretty awful at it. You try just as hard as I do, and you can succeed." She smiled and blushed, even though she knew he couldn't see. She was embarrassed, admitting how bad she was at things. "Which is why I know you'll get this. We just have to practice a bit more. Ok?"

There was a long silence and Melody briefly wondered if he'd listened at all to her little speech. She felt her eye twitch a few times in anger at the thought. But then a hand suddenly rested itself on her lowered head, breaking her from her thoughts. It was strong, but held a subtle warmth, reminding her so much of its owner.

"So, just a little more, right?" Riku asked and grabbed his wooden sword again. Melody smiled and looked up, watching him stand and brush some dirt from his pants. She stood as well and turned to go back to her spot. Riku grabbed her wrist before she was able to take a step and leaned down, next to her face.

"You're pretty amazing too. Don't sell yourself short." He said softly. He dropped her hand, stepping back and swinging his sword around once, finding his stance once more. Melody's face reddened several shades as she robotically moved back to her position and raised her own sword. She wasn't sure she could be more embarrassed, but… A soft smile played out over her lips as she called for him to attack. Coming from Riku, she liked it. Her heart was pounding wildly as she pushed him back and called him to attack again, her eyes sparkling with affection and glee.

Too bad Riku didn't see it.

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Hope this wasn't too bad, not sure how to improve it at the moment.

I hope to have the next chapter of Road to Dawn up by the end of the weekend. Keep an eye out for it! :D