Sora-Riku Drabbles
by KC

Disclaimer: I don't own Disney or Square Enix. Damn.
Summary: Most of these were created from prompts given to me by my readers.
Note: I don't cling to the 100 word drabble rule. I once had a thousand word drabble. I'm an English major. We forgot how to count a long time ago.
Pairings: Sora/Riku

A - angst, Sora/Riku

Though they try to hide their mistrust, Riku sees it in their eyes sometimes. When they don't turn away fast enough, when they look down at the sand and laugh nervously, when the open faces close and drift away if he comes near, he feels like the darkness never left him, but he can't slash their whispers and stares with his sword. Hardly anyone comes to the island anymore, so he takes it as his refuge, watching the endless tides. Even when Sora comes to him, whiling away the hours with him practicing their swordmanship, Riku keenly feels the difference between them, the keyblade master who chose light and the keyblade master who chose darkness. But at night, when they lay down together on the sand and count the stars they've visited, he can close his eyes and clothe himself in Sora's light.

C - comb, Sora/Riku

Sunlight and water glisten in Riku's hair, slowly tamed back into their normal long spikes as he lounges in Sora's lap. Watching the sunset like this became a ritual soon after their return, a sanctuary of light for one who had fallen into darkness. Gold waves wash around them as the tide moves out, and he trails his hand in the water. The comb falls into the sand. Sora's arms wind around him, holding him close as he nuzzles his hair. With a sigh, Riku closes his eyes and lets him do what he wants. In the dark or the light, all he wants is a shore, a horizon, and his keyblade master.

R -- running, Sora/Riku

They still race across the island to touch the star, but their competition looks a lot different from two years ago. They start from the same spot surrounded by huge green leaves and pink flowers, but now they easily clear the rickety wooden bridge that they used to have to leapfrog across. Sora runs right up the small tower, but he doesn't swing across, preferring to highjump and glide over the palm trees. It's a little faster than Riku's choice of running along the cliffside, but Riku gets back those seconds by using a technique he usually saves for sword fighting, flying straight across the ground while Sora catches up behind him. By the time they reach the sandbar, they're neck and neck. By the time they reach the tiny island where Riku likes to watch the ocean, it's anyone's race. And when they collapse in the sand beside each other and watch the sun set, it doesn't matter who won.

X -- xenophobia, Sora/Riku

Denizons of the darkness stole millions of hearts and caused chaos throughout the worlds. As the keyblade master of darkness, Riku knew people would never trust him. He could accept that. But pretending to not notice the distrustful stares that followed him whenever he joined Sora visiting the king, ignoring the whispers that stopped every time he turned around, to keep his sarcastic mouth shut so that Sora wouldn't know--almost unacceptable. Almost. For a boy who kept company with fallen kings and witches, who thought nothing of being rude to emperors, holding his tongue sometimes felt like he was being smothered.

But if Sora knew, he would try to make things better, try to make everyone understand that Riku wasn't like that, and Riku knew where that would lead, with people mistrustring the keyblade master of light and with Sora angry and frustrated. And he hated seeing Sora unhappy.

So when they visited, Riku excused himself to the king's library, or to Ansem's old library if they were in Hollow Bastion, plucked a book from the shelf and found a spot to read. Sora knew where to find him. And if it rained while he waited, turning the king's garden a soft dark green, people spotting him sitting under the downpour would figure that he liked the lack of light and the cool water coming down his hair and face, never realizing that it was Sora's warm hands when he found him, Sora tugging him under a dry overhanging hedge into his lap to wait out the storm that he truly loved.

Z -- zipper, Sora/Riku

Even though it's all he wears, Riku hasn't touched the zipper of his black shirt in months. Every night in bed, Sora draws it down and slips the shirt from his shoulders, sometimes slowly, savoring every inch, sometimes so impatiently that he almost tears it. But always as if he's unwrapping a present he never expected to have.

And every morning, when Riku's too worn out to do much besides lean into Sora's hands and mumble half-hearted complaints that the keyblade master of darkness shouldn't have to wake up so early, Sora slips the shirt back over his arms and zips it up to his throat. Both of them know that for the rest of the day, it may as well be secured with a lock, preventing anyone else even a glimpse, let alone a touch, delights reserved solely for his keyblade master of light.

Sweet Satisfaction

Ten times! Ten times Sora had tried to hit enough pots in the handful of seconds that Jiminy wanted. He delivered letters to the same people dozens of times, sung songs over and over until he hit his cues just right, and even risked life and limb at Cerberus' jaws to satisfy Jiminy's curiosity.

"I wonder if you could get over a thousand points in that tournament, Sora."

"I wonder if you could finish that in less than fourteen seconds, Sora."

"I wonder if you could defeat thirty heartless during the light cycle race, Sora."

His shoulders ached, his legs were sore, his hand cramped painfully around the keyblade handle, and for what? Another mouse-shaped notch in Jiminy's journal? He groaned and silently pleaded with Donald and Goofy, asking them with his eyes for help, to convince the cricket to lower the bar, make it easier, or even just humanly possible, but as usual Goofy just held Donald back from doing something violent to Jiminy while assuring Sora that "I'm sure you can do it if you believe in yourself."

With a sigh, he looked over at the cricket, who rested on Goofy's shoulder. "Jiminy, can't we just skip this? I want to find Riku and stop Oranization 13 already."

"I know you miss your friends, Sora," Jiminy said. "But this is important, too. Why, just think of how you'd feel if you just up and quit. You're not a quitter, are you, Sora?"

Maybe it was how Jiminy slipped into his patronizing "conscience" voice. Maybe it was the unhealthy amounts of honey the cricket wanted him to get for Pooh. Maybe it was the endless rehearsals of Finny Fun. Whatever the reason, he didn't even know his keyblade had moved until he heard a squish, heard Goofy's gasp, and blinked in surprise at the little tophat flying through the air before it floated back down and landed at Donald's feet.

"Oh no! Jiminy!" Goofy cried.

"I--I didn't mean..." Sora said.

"Great, no more delays," Donald said, picking up the tiny journal and pen. "Now let's go find the king and stop these heartless."

Fighting in the Sand

He'd turned to the darkness. Embraced it, even. All of Sora's joking and assurances couldn't stop the whispers behind his back whenever Riku showed his face in public. He didn't know how any of them knew, but they did. At least, they suspected. Perhaps something had changed about him, some outward manifestation of his inner darkness. He no longer belonged to darkness, but he carried plenty of it within him.

He spent most of his time on the island, secluded from the others. The only respite came during Sora's frequent visits, joining him as they stared at the water, cajoling him into practice fights. Pulling off his favorite moves and tricks felt a little silly with wooden swords instead of keyblades, and Sora never failed to make him smile and laugh a little.

Until one day Riku slipped backward, Sora stumbled forward, and they landed on the sand, Riku pinned with wide eyes under his friend's body, their faces inches from each other. And then Sora tilted his head and smiled. When he kissed him, Riku couldn't help it. He threw his arms around him and held him close, as if afraid he'd melt away like the sunset.

Dark and Stormy Nights

Stormy nights frightened him. The wind and rain reminded Riku of when he'd let resentment consume him. Though he accepted his prowess with darkness, those memories threatened to drown him.

Sometimes Sora woke up and held him, and Riku remembered all the pain he'd caused in the beginning. He'd never understood why Sora had never given up on him. Sora's presence both shamed and comforted him like a burning flame and at night, when the wind howled and thunder roared over them, he fought to believe Sora's whispers that his dark little heart belonged to his Keyblade Master of light.