Author's Note: ... I swear, I'll get to those chaptered fics evantually. :D;; But I'm on a Kairiku high, and so far every fic I've read made me burst into tears. So... yeah! I wrote this. And it sucks. I wanted to make it longer, but than my writing muse went "LOL NO U" on me. DX Oh, well.
"We need to take care of her."
Riku's face was serious, watching Kairi and Selphie attempting to pick paopu fruit. He turned to Sora who nodded in agreement, trying to look solemn.
"It won't be easy," the silver-haired boy continued, waving a wooden sword in the air. "We'll have to fight all kinds of monsters. And if we don't keep an eye on her at all times, a mean witch might take her away—" Sora gasped "—so we gotta do our best, got it?"
Sora nodded again, eagerly holding onto his own sword. Riku opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it when the sound of footsteps and laughter approached them. He shot Sora a looked that said don't say anything and turned to face the girls.
"Whatcha up to?" Kairi asked, smoothing out a crease in her dress, smiling like always.
Shrugging, Riku dropped his sword. "Nothing. Just talking about guy stuff."
"We're going to protect Kairi!" Sora blurted out, his face turning pink a second later. "From the witches."
Groaning, Riku stepped on the other boy's foot. Why'd he had to tell them? Tell her? She'd probably think that they're silly and childish for believing in something is ridiculous as witches; Kairi would probably tell them to worry more about important stuff like the first grade. Reluctantly, Riku waited for her to criticize, but it was Selphie who spoke first.
"Sora, you wimp," she giggled. "You can't even beat up Tidus. Riku's the one that's going to take care of Kairi, right?"
Blinking, Riku peered at Kairi; she was grinning at him. Smiling back, he answered. "Right."
We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff.
The raft was almost complete. Riku had made sure that ever little detail was as close to perfect as possible. After all, it was their last chance to escape, and nothing could go wrong. If it did, then they'd never leave the islands.
Kairi sat on top of the raft, working on something that she insisted was absolutely necessary for their journey. Noticing her friend, she patted the space to her right. Riku sat down.
"Can you believe that we're going to be leaving soon?" she said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I've never been away from home before."
Riku frowned, shaking his head. Over the years, Kairi kept on forgetting that she wasn't born on the islands, that she came from somewhere far, far away. Somewhere different; somewhere possibly more exciting. "But you're away from home now."
Laughing nervously, Kairi stood up. "I guess so. Hey, what if we run into a witch? You're still going to take care of me, right?"
"There's no such thing," Riku rolled his eyes, staring at her feet. "We're going to another world, not a fairy tale, Kairi."
"Oh." Her face fell for a moment, but her features quickly brightened up again with a smile. "I better go see if Sora found all of the supplies yet. See you later." She waved, then paused as if waiting for Riku to say something else. When he didn't, she ran off.
You know, Riku has changed.
The group walked along the beach after school, chatting animately. Tidus was complaining about how Sora and Riku were getting better grades than him, even though they were both away for over a year. Riku's attention, however, was focused on Sora and Kairi holding hands. It made his stomach squirm slightly at the sight, something that he wasn't proud of.
"Hey," Selphie looked at the couple. "Remember when we were little? And how you were worried that a witch was going to snatch Kairi? Since Sora isn't as wimpy now, he'd beat her up."
Five pair of eyes watched Sora as he thought of how to answer to that. The silver-haired teen felt a knot form inside of him, and the longer it took for the brunette to answer, the more it tugged at his heart. Finally, Sora kissed Kairi on the cheek. "Of course! I'm always going to take care of Kairi, right, Riku?"
Taking a deep breath, Riku glanced at Kairi; she was grinning at him. Forcing a smile on his face, he answered. "Right."
Take care of her.
It's funny how he wished he never said the words that he meant the most.