Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Kingdom Hearts franchise nor the settings or characters named in this fiction.

Warning: Takes place after KH-II, therefore, a few mentions of events (AKA: possible spoilers).

The Ice Cream Chronicles: Sweet Sea-Salt
By Crystal Delphina

Although he was hesitant to actually admit it, it was nice to be basking in sunlight. After days, weeks, months, and what felt like multiple years that he had been willingly shackled in darkness, it was nice to be blinded by sunlight. To feel it warming his skin instead of the continual cold he had been forced to endure in darkness. To have it reflect off of the water in a multitude of sparkles. To finally have light touching every essence of his body and being; that - that was wonderful.

It was nice to be – home. It had been much too long.

Riku reclined on the beach leaning back on his arms, watching the water come in its lulling waves towards the shore and then recede back out to the ocean's depth. Shoes had been forgotten after they had been casually thrown behind him somewhere along with his vest, allowing his toes to have freedom and be buried deep in warm sand and the shirt loose enough to allow humid breezes to occasionally make the fabric flutter. He gave a rather small appreciative smile of his surroundings.

This was heaven.

The small island that had been his playground only a few short years ago, had transformed into his temple of sun worship where he partook in ritualistic sunbathing nearly everyday. It was a small and simplistic act that provided calm to the young man.

Nothing had changed on the island. Despite everything, everything he had gone through - everything they had gone through, nothing had changed.

He closed his eyes with a gentle smile and allowed his arms to give out from under him, resulting in him collapsing to the ground with a small "umpf." Sand mixed with silver shaggy locks, while the occasional rare wave came up to lap at the soles of his feet, as he spread his limbs out to partake in the optimum afternoon nap.

That had been the plan at least, until a shadow moved across him, blocking out the light that he could still partially sense behind closed lids. And when the shadow did not pass, as would be expected with a flying seagull or perhaps a drifting cloud, he was forced to examine what exactly was blocking his much sought after sunshine.

Slowly cracking an eye open to avoid any immediate blinding, a figure gradually came into focus. And when he allowed both eyes to open, said figure was currently standing over him, watching him, with laughter apparent in his eyes and an ice cream being casually consumed by his tongue.

"Sora?"

"Hello sleeping beauty, I thought I should come provide you an afternoon sweet," Sora stated, a large grin plastered on his face as he watched his friend's confused expression take form.

"A sweet?"

Riku hoisted himself back up into his earlier reclining position, gazing at Sora as he continued to dutifully lick his ice cream, avoiding potential melting drops from coming into contact with the fingers holding the stick.

"A sweet," And with that, Sora's other hand came from behind his back, holding a blue ice cream bar identical to his own, and holding it towards Riku. "About a week ago I started begging the ice cream shop owner to try making Sea-Salt ice cream and gave her the general recipe. She finally came out with it today, so I thought we should be the first customers," he explained, his smile growing slightly. Slowly, Riku's hand reached up to accept the gift, although still mildly surprised at Sora's apparent appearance from thin air. He hadn't heard a boat dock…much less seen one out on the waters ten minutes before when he was looking. And for that matter…

"Sora, how'd you manage to get ice cream here without it melting? And where's your boat?"

The flash of a wicked smile, a hand going to his hip, and a roll of his eyes was then quickly followed by:

"Give me some credit Riku. I am the freaking Keyblade Master after all, aren't I? I can defeat a flood of a thousand Heartless, jump between worlds that aren't meant to be connected, vanquish evil villains, Heartless, and renegade Nobodies, and close Doors to utter chaos, destruction and general darkness . You don't think I can cast a simple blizzard spell on ice cream and glide over water to get here?"

A moment of silence ensued as they both stared at each other, Sora's eyes reflecting barely constrained smugness and laughter while Riku's mouth hung open slightly. And in unison, they both began laughing, Riku giving a deep chuckle as he shook his head in bemusement at his friend's newfound sharp tongue.

"Ah, of course, silly me. I should have known that it was such a simple answer." Riku managed to say after his laughs died down, giving a swat with his hand at the boy beside him who dodged neatly out of the way.

"Here, hold this."

Riku took the other ice cream bar from Sora, who then began the process of removing his shoes and socks, placing them beside Riku's discarded articles. He then spun back around, took the ice cream bar back from Riku, and began wading out into the water without a word to his companion. Riku only continued to sit on the beach, watching his friend a few feet away who gazed off towards the horizon, ice cream bar hanging out of his mouth, obviously lost in his own thoughts.

"Your ice cream is melting Riku."

Sora never turned around to actually examine Riku and the state of his ice cream when he choose to break the silence between the two comrades. However, Riku glanced down to see that indeed the condition of his forgotten ice cream was one of rapid liquefaction. Blue sticky streams slid down the stick and onto his hand. There was a moment's pause before Riku took action.

Sitting straight up, and then using his free hand to support him in standing, he walked to the water's edge and then into the ocean to stand beside his friend, sand falling from the crevices of his clothing and from his hair the whole journey. As soon as he stood beside Sora, he began the careful task of licking the sweet substance from his fingers, and taking preventive measures by beginning to actually eat the ice cream. All the while, Sora continued his methodic licking and gazing off into the distance, with only one sidelong glance at the silver haired older boy beside him.

When the melting flood seemed to be contained sufficiently for the moment, Riku ran a hand through his hair, attempting to brush out some more sand. He heaved a sigh, attempting to extinguish the lull in conversation.

He's so quiet today, Riku mused, peeking out of the corner of his eye at the slightly shorter young man beside him, whose ice cream was nearly devoured. It wasn't the ice cream that kept Sora quiet and preoccupied however, and it was this thought that caused the realization that – he's been quieter since returning.

It had been a slow process, which was why Riku had allowed it to go undetected for so long, but it was a process nonetheless that had happened. Although Sora would smile, upon seeing his old friends and participating in the group activities, the genuine laughs and smiles became rarer. Although he was glad to be home, time spent with his parents and in his house was exchanged instead for rowing out to the island and sitting on the paopu tree by himself. He gazed out the window while at school, most likely daydreaming, instead of being as attentive and studious as he had been before the time of worldly adventures.

And when it came to Kairi and Riku… The three hung out nearly every other day during the first few weeks, catching up on what had transpired on the islands since its resurrection, reliving childhood memories, laughing and trying to make up for the time spent apart – and the memories that had been forgotten. However, despite constant prodding and questioning from Kairi and Sora, Riku shared very few details about his time apart from them and then shut his mouth tightly when the issue was pushed. And although Sora was rather free with the details of his escapades and friends from other worlds, despite Kairi's best efforts, she couldn't fully grasp the pain he had endured in addition to the thrills of the voyage. It was during those rare times when Sora dwelled on the negative that he would turn to Riku for understanding.

The sad truth of the matter was that Kairi hadn't been there; not through all of it at least. And it was this truth that resulted in distancing between the three friends after all of the conversation topics had been discussed and memories to laugh about dwindled. And although the realization and change in the dynamic between the three friends had down little to phase Riku, Sora had become distant and quiet.

"You've changed," Riku stated flatly looking out of the corner of his eye at Sora, seeking some type of reaction, something to cause Sora to tear his gaze away from the unchanging horizon.

No such luck.

"We both have," Sora replied dully, unfazed by Riku's observation.

"But home hasn't," Riku stated, gazing pointedly at the island across from where they stood, where their small town stood peacefully. Where Kairi was most likely hanging out with Selphie and Tidus. Or where she was practicing soccer with their high school team. Or where she was working on homework in her room. The important point however, was where she wasn't located. And that was with them, a definitive change in routine. Sightings of the trio around town and the island had declined by drastic rates in comparison to when they were all fourteen.

"No… it certainly hasn't…" Sora whispered, more to himself than to Riku.

Sora was shook from speculating figures found in clouds however, when a firm grip latched onto his shoulder, forcing him to look towards the hand's owner.

"What's wrong Sora?" Riku gazed deeply into Sora's eyes, trying to force the youth into sharing his thoughts. He was determined to discover as to why Sora's jovial mood just fifteen minutes earlier had changed so rapidly. And why his generally talkative nature that Riku had always remembered had greatly diminished over the past month since their return.

Sora only managed to uphold his end of the staring contest for a few seconds before he finally averted his gaze, looking instead at the ice cream melting in Riku's other hand.

"Nothing," was the mumbled reply, causing aquamarine eyes to narrow into dangerous slits.

"Liar," Riku hissed, tightening his grip on Sora's shoulder ever so slightly.

"Riku, your ice cream is –"

"Forget about the stupid ice cream Sora, and tell me what's wrong," Riku snapped, frustrated with Sora's avoidance and obsession with ice cream.

Riku became painfully aware of the resulting silence, only broken by the waves crashing on the beach, the palm trees rustling, the waterfall off to the right somewhere, and the seagulls calling to each other overhead.

Finally, Sora's gaze shifted from the ice cream bar that was dripping into the ocean to meet Riku's, and Riku watched in fascination as the look hardened in defiance and Sora's lips shifted into a subtle frown. It surprised Riku so greatly to actually have his friend frowning at him, that he released his shoulder, and with a grunt, turned back towards the vast sea. Frowning himself, he took a quick bite out of the ice cream without thinking, and then winced in pain from the cold.

"Gah," Riku gave a frustrated sigh after removing the ice cream from his mouth and ran a hand through his hair again in agitation, resulting in more sand falling out. "Fine, if you don't want to tell your best friend what's eating you, that's your busi-"

"I don't love Kairi."

Riku would have choked on his ice cream if it had actually been in his mouth at that moment. Instead, he opted for sputtering and turning towards Sora in surprise. That certainly had not been the answer he was expecting.

"Um," a moment's pause to collect his thoughts and try to reappear calm, "what?"

"You heard me," Sora said blankly, his gaze still hard and penetrating Riku. "I don't love Kairi."

"And, when precisely did your feelings change for the fair Kairi?" Riku drawled, trying to reestablish his cool confidant persona.

They locked gazes for the umpteenth time that day, before Sora dropped his own, and mumbled with brows furrowed, " I don't know."

Sighing, Riku moved closer to his friend, which allowed him to swing an arm around the other teenager's shoulders and give it a tight squeeze of assurance.

"Don't worry Sora, I'm sure you guys will be back to your old selves soon. You guys just need time to readjust being around each other again. A lot's happened and a lot's changed."

"No, that's not it; it won't change," Sora said quietly, turning his head to look up at Riku. And without a fathomable reason that Riku could come up with, his breath hitched in his throat and his heartbeat tripled in speed.

Riku managed to utter a breathy "Why?" despite his disturbing physiological responses to the curious look he found within Sora's eyes that he didn't recognize.

"I … thought …," Sora began, slowly, carefully picking his words and moving his mouth to form them with precision, his tongue gently touching his teeth to create the sounds needed to –

Riku shook himself mentally from the close examination and fascination of Sora's pronunciation abilities, disturbed as to why he was paying that much attention to his friend's mouth.

"I thought," he restated. "All those times when I saw all of my friends in the other worlds being reunited with the ones they loved, that that was what I wanted to experience with Kairi. That when I saw her again, that we could be happy and in love, just like all of those couples. That that moment and feeling was what I was working for, what I was fighting to achieve, to be able to come back home, with you beside me, and see her."

"And all this time I was under the impression that finding me was your top priority," Riku joked, giving a small chuckle and moving his hand to ruffle Sora's hair.

"That's the problem now. You were." And suddenly Riku's hand froze amongst Sora's tresses and all signs of mirth disappeared from his face.

Heart rate: 600. It should be noted that Riku's resting heart rate was 64.

"What?" he managed to say despite the dryness in his mouth.

"You were my top priority Riku. Everything else paled in comparison to finding you. Even defeating Xemnas would have been pointless if it wouldn't result in having you return. Kairi only became an objective when Axel kidnapped her."

If the look in Sora's eyes had been intense before, the only way to describe it now was…Fierce; fierce and dead serious.

"But…Sora…"

"I cried when I saw you Riku. Not Kairi. I cried when I saw you."

Although the number of times this had actually happened was rare, Riku's brain was actually on overload, as he rapidly tried to find reason within the madness he was currently facing. He moved his eyes to look over the top of Sora's head, that his hand was still atop, and towards town again, his voice taking a far away tone.

"That's only because you hadn't seen me in over a year Sora. I would have cried too if I weren't…"

"You?" Sora said with the faint trace of a smile.

"Yea," he replied, his gaze shifting back to look at Sora. The breath in his lungs that he had been unconsciously holding left him in an ever so slight whooshing noise, as a new look was in Sora's eyes.

"What're you trying to say Sora?" he murmured, barely registering that he was lowering his head towards the younger man.

"You know what I'm trying to say Riku." Sora's eyes flashed, with a barely bridled emotion that caused Riku's breath to hitch again. Riku took the form of his best friend in, who was the very embodiment of calm, cool, and collected at the moment, gazing steadily at Riku, not trembling in the slightest despite their close quarters, and replying evenly – the complete opposite as to how Riku felt he himself must appear.

"Say what you mean to say."

"I don't love Kairi."

Riku closed his eyes and heard palm leaves rustling together…

"I love you."

And then a wave crash.

He vaguely managed to register through the haze his mind created, that there were lips pressed against his own, that his hand was suddenly gripping silky strands of hair, and that there was a slightly roughened hand against the back of his neck, and that his heart rate was–

Well that couldn't even have been measured if you tried.

"Sora…" he murmured against soft lips, not able to recognize his own voice that had somehow managed to acquire a hoarse quality to it.

"I only wanted to see you again Riku. To be reunited with you, and have that moment be ours."

Riku moved the few millimeters required to seal their lips again in a gentle kiss, smiling against the young man's lips, unable to fully explain as to why exactly he was this happy. He relished however the feeling of it all; Sora's thumb rubbing the base of his neck in slow circles, his own hand pulling the back of Sora's head closer, the warm water moving around their legs, the sun warming his back and arms, the sweet and salty residue of the ice cream bar on Sora's lips.

They finally pulled apart, and Sora gave him a genuine smile and grin, as a wicked look quickly formed in his eyes.

"You owe me four munny Riku."

This caused the older teen to sputter slightly, the intoxication of emotions finally freeing their grip on his senses some.

"What?"

"Your ice cream bar," Sora said matter of factly, pointing at the stick that Riku still held in his left hand, all that remained of the forgotten treat. "You hardly ate it, so you're going to need to pay me back."

"I ate some," Riku replied, scowling as Sora only began to laugh.

"You only took three bites and thirteen licks. I counted."

"Why Sora, I had no idea you were so fascinated with my eating habits. Or was it my mouth you just couldn't help but look at?" Riku quirked an eyebrow up in amusement, and smirked at the shorter young man. Sora's expression remained unchanged by Riku's implications.

"Just hand over the money Riku."

"But I can think of much better ways to repay you," Riku leaned down to murmur huskily into Sora's ear, slowly turning his head to leave a gentle kiss on Sora's jaw.

"Kisses don't pay for a new skateboard."

"Just go kill a few lurking monsters or something. You can make four munny quickly I'm sure." Riku gave a huff and rolled his eyes, and then attempted to kiss Sora on the lips, however Sora turned his head quickly at the last second, resulting in a kiss on the cheek.

"Stop being a cheap ass and give me my munny."

"Fine, I'll give you your munny. Now shut up."

And with that, Riku dropped the ice cream stick in the water to allow him to wrap his arm around Sora's back and pull him closer, forcing him into a kiss. They slowly broke away after a few moments, Riku pleased with himself for quieting Sora's attempts at financial harassment. That was the case at least, until –

"Riku! Your hand was sticky from the ice cream and now it's all over my shirt!"

The end? I'm considering making this story into a series. Readers know the drill: reviews quicker updates. If I choose to continue, that is.