People always want you to do what's expected of you. They want you to end up the way you're supposed to. Because they like order. They like it when things turn out the way they expected them to.

But life's not like that.

It never goes the way we want.

Instead we can only go the way it dictates and hope for the best.

In my case, I think I got the best.

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His hair is so soft and pale.

-----

Maybe it wasn't what people wanted.

All I know is that is was what we wanted at the time.

Screw what everyone else wants I'm happy and nothing's going to take that from me. Whether it's Sora or anyone else.

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Her hair is so brilliant, it never fades. It's real.

-----

The waves crashing against the shore brought back so many memories. Some good. Some bad. Today the sound came across as cheerful and bubbly. It made a nice change from the stormy weather that had become so regular as of late.

Kairi looked up at the baby blue sky, it was lightly speckled with white puffs of cloud and there was the faintest breeze tickling her face.

She was wearing a white flowy dress that reached down to her knees and a wide white hat with a red ribbon tied around it. The ribbon accented her hair nicely, and her face was unusually free of make up. It just didn't seem right to wear fake colors on her face on a clean day like today.

"Enjoying the weather?" came a voice from behind.

Kairi spun around to see silver hair and an outfit comprised mostly of black.

"How can you wear black on a day like this?" she asked in disbelief at her friend's strange ability to put up with the heat.

Riku shrugged and smirked, "I dunno, it's not that bad. Besides I have an image to maintain."

"Sure," she said sarcastically as she poked him in the shoulder a few times just for fun, "Whatever you say Riku. By the way where's Sora?"

Riku frowns at the change in subject but tries to maintain a straight face, "I think he's off sparring with Tidus and Wakka."

"When will those two learn? They can't beat Sora," said Kairi.

"I don't know about that," insisted Riku, "those two are pretty good and Sora doesn't have Donald or Goofy with him anymore."

Kairi stops herself from retorting and stares at Riku for a bit. It was true what everyone else had said about him. He had changed a lot in the passed year or so he'd been gone.

"What are you doing out here then?" asked Kairi, "Shouldn't you be backing Sora up?"

"No way," Riku smirked, "if I join the fight won't be fair for Tidus and Wakka anymore. I think I should let them have a chance at winning."

Kairi folded her arms, "So you're saying you could beat Sora, Tidus AND Wakka? Three against one?"

"Of course," said Riku breezily.

"Mm-hm," said Kairi in mock thought.

"So, what are you doing out here?" asked Riku stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Enjoying the pleasant change in weather," she said simply, hands clasped behind her back. Riku walked up to her and made to put an arm around her waist but she skipped out of his grasp nimbly, smiling her sweet honest smile right back at him.

He blinked and looked genuinely surprised at first, but then shock was replaced by stubbornness.

"Alright," he growled playfully, "if that's the way you wanna play."

And with that he hurled forward and before she could put up any defense he had her slung over his shoulder.

"Riku!" she squealed and wriggled around.

"Kairi," said Riku cheerfully ignoring all the rather rude comments that were leaving her mouth, "you really shouldn't squirm like that. You might accidentally slip out of your dress and fall on the beach and then what would you do? Huh?"

Like clockwork Kairi's struggling stopped.

"So, O' Fearless One," she spat icily, "where are you taking me?"

"To your castle princess," he laughed. It was strange hearing him laugh, suddenly Kairi found herself realizing just how little he had laughed ever since his return to the Islands.

"You're in a chipper mood today," she said dryly.

"Mm, how can you tell?"

"You're smiling," she pointed out, losing her stinging tone, "you don't do that too often. So it has to be a good sign."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Are you calling me emo?" he asked shrewdly.

"Don't deny the truth," she teased.

"Okay just for that!" he cried as he dumped her onto the sandy ground.

"Ouch!" she shrilled, "Riku that was mean!"

"You asked for it," he shrugged nonchalantly reputting his hands in his pockets and strolling off.

Kairi grew silent and stared at the waves for a while. Images of the past floating through her mind.

There was a scene with a mini version of her, wearing a white dress similar to the one she was wearing now. The little her was building a sand castle, though it was hard to make out any clear structure. Shortly after she had finished her "masterpiece" a small boy with shortish silver locks had come running out of nowhere, trampling her sand castle in the process.

Between her wailing and his laughing Kairi saw the young boy's features switch from mirth to sympathy and it wasn't long until he was sitting himself down next to the distraught girl apologizing and promising to help her build another one. A better one.

He never could say no to me, though Kairi as the scene changed before her eyes, and he always looked after me and Sora.

Another scenario unfolded this one with a slightly older version of herself. She was surrounded by a crowd of older boys. Each one a year older than her, meaning they were in Riku's grade.

"Give it back!" shrieked little Kairi as one boy held her back pack decidedly out of her reach.

"Nu-uh," he taunted waving it around a little.

"Give it back. Now."

Little Kairi turned to see Little Riku standing a few feet from the group.

"Aw c'mon Riku," said the boy holding her bag, "we're just having some fun." Little Riku shot him his 'Riku glare' and the other boy wilted.

"Fine," he muttered shoving it into Little Kairi's hands grudgingly.

"You okay?" asked Little Riku as the scene faded once again.

Kairi watched more and more scenes unfold one by one. Looking at them all she wondered briefly why she had ever liked Sora more.

"Riku was too perfect," she realized. He was always there to protect her, he was tops in all his classes, he was strong and athletic, and he had a fang club in fourth grade for God's sakes.

That's why she'd liked Sora better; he was dorky and awkward but strangely sweet. Not at all like Riku had been.

But then… Why was she all of a sudden so obsessed with Riku? What had changed?

Sora had changed. And Riku too. Both of them were so different.

The realization of this statement shocked her. It was true, Sora had become almost sort of kinda like Riku had been way back when. He was a hero, a true proven hero, he always looked after his friends and he never said no to helping out anyone. Unlike Riku who would first take in the difficulty of a task before agreeing to it.

So while Sora had become a hero… Riku had become… Not like the old Sora that's for sure, Kairi almost snorted at the image of Riku wearing red baggy shorts and ridiculously oversized yellow shoes.

But he had become oddly withdrawn and ever so depressed.

Kairi found she liked this dark person strangely enough.

"Riku!" she called snapping out of her trance at last.

The older of the two was currently farther down the beach and Kairi sped up to reach him. Riku turned and blinked at her, "Something wrong?"

"Nope," said Kairi taking his hand and entwining their fingers, "everything's fine now. I'm glad you didn't completely leave me behind."

"O-okay," said Riku, taken aback by the fact that they were holding hands, "Want to go meet up with Sora now?"

"Hm," said Kairi, "no, it's fine. Let's just stay here. It's a nice day and besides, I'm getting sick of watching him beat everyone."

"Alright," said Riku after finally getting his hormones to slow down.

After a while of walking Riku plopped down on the sand, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Riku," said Kairi slowly.

"What?"

"There's something… I want to tell you," she said quietly.

"What is it?" he asked, tipping his head back to peer at her curiously.

"Well, it's about you and Sora- well mostly you!" she said quickly.

"What about me?" asked Riku.

"Well I- you're really- that is I-you- Sora-it's not- I sort of…"

"Yeeeees?"

"IthinkIreallylikeyou!" she blurted.

"W-Wha?" his expression was so blank.

"I-… I really like you… Riku," she whispered not taking her eyes off the ground, if she had she might've noticed the way Riku's expression softened. Or the way he was leaning closer to her. Or the way he gently lifted her face to meet his. In fact Kairi didn't notice anything until Riku had captured her lips with his.

Then everything went on high-alert. Suddenly she was quite aware of her surroundings. The way the breeze was gently blowing their hair so that it inter-locked. The way the waves seemed to slow down all of a sudden. Or the way Riku's eyelashes were so still. Even the little grains of sand sticking to their faces.

"Ri-Riku," she gasped after they had pulled away, "I-… You-…"

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She stared at him for a while and slowly a smile crept onto her face. Scooting closer she rested her head on his shoulder and she was proud to say, "Nope, nothing wrong at all."

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You're playing with his hair, fiddling with the silver strands of stardust… And somehow you know… Even if other people think you're both wrong…

…

You're right.

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Author's Note: …Bleah. Wow, I can't believe I wrote something for this pairing. Oh well… You totally deserve it Liz Hollow! You rock! Everyone give her a round of applauds cause this was written for her! Thank you to all who review!

And to Liz: Thanks so much for reviewing every single one of my non-yaoi stories! Thank you for always leaving the nicest longest reviews I could ask for! You are awesome.

Anyways, bye for now people! Cheers!

bliss