"Ow! Riku that hurt!" Sora groaned. He tried to pull away but Riku held fast.

"I'm almost there. Stop being a baby." The older boy retorted.

Sora bit his lip and tried to stay still. This was the second time it had happened but this one hurt more than the last. He was fed up with it really yet it couldn't be helped.

Riku let out a triumphant grunt as he released Sora's foot from his now outgrown shoe. "Geez Sora, your feet are getting huge. You've already outgrown three pairs. It's ridiculous." He said bluntly, tossing aside the shoe onto the ground beside himself.

"I know." Sora said with a sigh and began to rub his sore feet. Ever since he had turned 16 he'd begun to have a few physical changes, his feet being one of them. He had to cut his hair every week – and that was just to keep it shoulder-length – he was almost Riku's height who was 6'1" and he had gotten larger in… other places as well. It was getting a little frustrating.

"We can go out and get you a new pair tomorrow before we head off to the island. For now though, you're going shoeless." Riku stated. He grabbed his bag and put Sora's shoes in it. "You okay with that?"

"Yeah, I've always got socks."

It was the last few days of summer and with Kairi gone for a while the two of them had actually had a chance to really catch up. Sora, however, had felt something… change within him over that time. He just couldn't quite catch it yet.

"Sora?"

The younger boy blinked and turned his head. Riku was staring at him with an amused expression. "What?"

"You coming or what? I can't wait here all day for you decide what color the sky is." Riku said with a small chuckle. Sora's had been staring up at the twilight sky for a full minute apparently very deep in thought.

"Oh, yeah." Sora answered wistfully. Without thinking, he took Riku's outstretched hand and allowed himself to be stirred home. He didn't realize how warm the older boy's hand around his own until they were standing outside his own house. Sora blushed. With one quick movement he pulled away his hand. "I-I'll see you tomorrow Riku."

"I'll be waiting outside the school." Riku said with a smile. "Be sure to get some money too."

"Mm-hmm. Okay, see ya." Sora then slipped inside his house and let out his long held in breath. His mom greeted him from the living room and the smell of dinner wafted into his nostrils. It was meatloaf.

"Did you and Riku have fun today?" His mom asked as they ate at the small round kitchen table.

"Yeah, I need some new shoes though so we're going to get some new ones tomorrow." He answered, a piece of meatloaf hanging from his bottom lip as he spoke. This was his third plate of food since he got home. His mother teased about how he was just like his dad now, shoving food in his face almost every other hour. "Can I borrow some money?"

She giggled and tossed her strawberry blonde hair out of her face. "Sure honey. I have to go to work in the morning so the money will be on the table."

"Thanks… uh, can we have dessert?"

Sora lay awake in his boxer staring out the open window. The night sky glistened brightly with Mother Moon in the center. He still couldn't believe all that stuff about different worlds and the darkness come to life… was all a dream.

About a year ago, he had been hit by a car while walking home from school. He had been racing Riku and Kairi to the shopping center just a block or two away. None of them had checked to see if there were any cars and Sora was the only in the crosswalk at the time the car came. He went into a coma soon after. It lasted for a whole year. The first thing he saw when he awoke however was Riku sleeping in a hospital chair. He stayed by his bedside whenever he could, his loyalty to his friend too strong to resist.

"I wonder what you were thinking… Riku…" Sora trailed off as his eyelids drooped and he was overtaken by sleep.

"Sora! Wake up you lazy bum!" Riku yelled up into Sora's window. No one had answered the door so he tried the window instead… which wasn't working. "Damn it Sora…"

Without thinking, Riku began to scale the rigged brick wall up to Sora's bedroom. It was surprisingly easy once he got the hang of it. He reached the window in only a minute. "What the hell…?" Sora was sprawled out on the full sized bed, drooling horribly. Riku couldn't help but laugh.

The laughter turned into hysteria, leading to Riku falling off the window ledge and into Sora's lap. Both boys toppled over onto the dirty floor. Riku hit the floor with a loud thud as Sora – landing on his chest – knocked the wind right out of him. He struggled to remain conscious.

Sora wrinkled his nose in mild pain. He had been rudely awakened by a large figure landing on his groin but when he felt something beneath him move… Sora jumped and ended up straddling his best friend on the ground. "Riku! Riku wake up!" The older boy was drifting between imagination and reality. "God I killed him!"

"Nnh…" Riku tried to roll over onto his side to escape Sora's loud voice, taking Sora with him. "That hurt Sora…" He mumbled drily as he lay comfortably on the younger boy's frail chest. A shiver trailed down the brunette's spine feeling Riku's breath in his ear.

"Get off me Riku!" Sora struggled underneath the older boy's weight but all attempts failed. Using the very last ounce of his strength, he wriggled out from under Riku's body. Sora found himself gasping for air. It seemed that he had held his breath throughout most of it. Without thinking, Sora kicked Riku awake.

Riku grunted in great pain as soon as he felt the swift kick to his stomach. He heard the sound of footsteps trailing away. "Sora…?" But he was already gone.