The sunlight reflecting off of the bright white sand in the training arena was beginning to give Riku a headache. Either that, or perhaps it had something to do with the amount of yelling he had been doing today. Rubbing his fingers across his forehead, he heaved a sigh. "Lea, for the last time, this is not one of your chakrams. You have got to stop throwing it."
"Aw, come on, I've seen you and Sora throw your Keyblades before," Lea argued, stooping to retrieve his wooden training sword from the sand.
Riku tossed his hand into the air in exasperation. "Yes, that's true. But that's a much more...advanced move. It'll be a while before we get that far." A very long while, he thought to himself, if today's lesson was any indication. "And Kairi, you're still treating it more like a tennis racket than a sword. Less wrist, and less defensive swinging. You need to go on the offense more."
Nodding, Kairi chewed on her bottom lip, brows furrowed. "More offense. Okay." She lifted her sword up next to her face and pointed it at Lea, ready to go again.
Riku shook his head and waved her off. "That's enough sparring for now."
"Break time?" Lea asked excitedly.
"Lap time," Riku countered. "Give me ten. Then we'll talk breaks."
Groaning loudly, Lea slumped over as if he might collapse and dropped his sword back onto the ground. Kairi tossed hers neatly into the barrel where they were normally kept and jogged off, grabbing Lea's arm as she passed and dragging him with her.
"Come on, lazy bum," she teased. "It's just ten laps. You'll survive."
Riku crossed to a bench in the shade of a couple of palm trees and sat, watching as Lea reluctantly broke into a run and followed Kairi onto the track that encircled the arena. He grabbed his water bottle from underneath the bench, then sighed again before twisting off the cap and taking a few gulps.
When he had become a Keyblade Master, it had seemed so surreal. He really wasn't sure at the time if he actually deserved it, and days like this made him question it all over again. Sure, he had jumped at the chance to help with Kairi and Lea's training, but it had been a lot harder than he had ever imagined. Sometimes he wondered whether he was really qualified to be their teacher.
"Riku!"
Sora's cheerful voice broke through Riku's thoughts, and he turned to see his friend topping the hill with a wave and crossing the arena. Giving a nod of greeting, Riku moved down the bench to make room for Sora to sit.
"How's training going?" Sora asked, his eyes following the two students as they passed by.
Riku snorted slightly. "Let's just say today has been...challenging." He shook a lock of silver hair off his forehead. "If a Heartless army attacked right now, I don't think either of them would last very long."
"Well, then let's be thankful that there are no Heartless armies around," Sora laughed. "But seriously, you should give them more credit. Yourself, too, for that matter. We all have off days, but I've seen what they can do. They've come a long way since you first started with them. You're doing a great job."
How did Sora always seem to be able to read his mind? Somehow he could come up with just the right thing to say to make Riku feel better every time. He was right, of course. They had come a long way. Kairi was really the perfect pupil, always trying her hardest, asking all the right questions, and listening to everything Riku said. She had her struggles, of course, but was overall a quick learner, especially when it came to magic. Lea was, of course, the harder to deal with of the two, but he had been learning plenty, too, and acing everything that Riku threw at him, even if it took a few tries. His main problem, besides his attitude, was that he had a slightly different idea of how long and how often the training should be, and loved to make that known to everyone.
"Thanks," Riku said after a moment. "You're right. They'll get there eventually."
"So when are you gonna let them start using their actual Keyblades to spar?" Sora asked, nodding towards the wooden sword on the ground.
"When I'm sure they won't kill each other," Riku replied flatly, remembering their flailing sparring match moments earlier. "Which could be a while."
Sora laughed. "You know, you and I haven't sparred in like...forever." He reached out his hand suddenly and summoned Kingdom Key, making Riku jump slightly.
"Oh, no." Riku waved his hands in disagreement. "Don't even think about it."
"Come on, it'll be fun!" Sora prodded, jumping up to face Riku and taking his two-handed battle stance.
"Nuh-uh." Shaking his head vehemently, Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "Not gonna happen." He was in the middle of a training session, after all. Now was not the time for goofing off.
"You're just afraid I'm gonna beat you, Master Riku," Sora challenged, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Riku raised an eyebrow and glared at his friend's grinning face. The gauntlet had been thrown, and he knew that he had to pick it up, otherwise he'd never hear the end of it. The look on Sora's face said that he knew, too. Still, maybe he could at least catch him off guard at the start.
In one swift movement, Riku leaped to his feet while summoning Way to the Dawn and swinging it up to meet Sora's Keyblade. Surprise registered in Sora's eyes, but he still managed to block the attack with ease. His smile widened as he backed into the arena, keeping his eye on Riku.
"Alright, Master Riku," he said playfully. "Let's show these students what a real sparring match looks like."
Jumping forward, Riku swung his Keyblade rapidly, with Sora matching him stroke for stroke. Their metal blades clashed noisily on first one side, then the other, up in front of their faces then down by their knees, in such swift succession that they were almost just a blur. Out of the corner of his eye, Riku could see Lea and Kairi slow to a stop and heard them begin to cheer – though he couldn't tell whether the cheers were for Sora or himself. He had a feeling that Kairi would be rooting for them both equally, out of loyalty, while Lea would be hoping to see his teacher fail so that he could have a good laugh at Riku's expense.
Even more determined now, Riku lifted his Keyblade and thrust it into the air above his head, letting loose a whirlwind that sent Sora flying backwards across the arena. He landed on his back in the soft sand, but had his Keyblade up in an instant, ready to block Riku's next attack.
"You wanna play with magic, huh?" Sora smirked as he struggled back to his feet in between swings. "Then here, take this!" He pointed his Keyblade at Riku's feet and shot a blast of ice, which Riku narrowly dodged by leaping backwards. The blasts kept coming, though, and after a few near-misses he was forced to tap into his darkness to roll speedily away to the other side of the arena. When he reappeared, he could see Sora's eyes still trying to catch up to him. That split-second opportunity was all he needed to cast his own Blizzard spell, effectively freezing Sora's feet to the ground.
"Hey!" Sora complained. "Using darkness to win, that's no fair!"
Riku strolled triumphantly over toward his friend and knocked him playfully on the head. "You're just mad because you can't do it." The sound of applause caught his attention, and he turned to see Kairi and Lea approaching.
"Very impressive," said Lea, giving Riku a slap on the back. "Guess there's a reason you're in charge, huh?"
"You both did great," Kairi put in. "I can't wait until I can use magic like that."
"Yeah, when do we get to learn that wind thing you did?" Lea asked.
"After you master the basic spells I'm teaching you now," Riku answered, dismissing his Keyblade. "There will be plenty of time for the other stuff later."
Kairi glanced down at Sora's still-frozen feet, a slight look of concern on her face. "So, um...when does that go away?"
Sora laughed. "Should be right about...now!" Sure enough, at that moment the ice melted with a splash. He shook the water away and gave Riku's shoulder a shove. "Thanks a lot, now I've got to go home and change shoes."
"Hey, you were trying to do the same thing to me," Riku replied. "Now, I believe you two have a few more laps to finish." He pointed toward the track.
Now Kairi and Lea both groaned. "Fine," Kairi said as Riku waved them off. "But this time no distracting us!"
"We should do that more often," Sora commented, walking back to the bench and taking a seat.
Riku followed him. "Why, do you enjoy losing?"
"No!" Sora shot back. "And next time I won't!" He paused, watching the other two run again. "What I meant was, it keeps me in shape. You never know when we're gonna need to fight again for real."
"Normal life getting to you already?" Riku teased.
Sora laughed. "Some days I'm bored out of my mind, to tell you the truth! But no, I'm glad life is normal again. It may not last, but I think we've earned a little peace and quiet, don't you?"
Sighing, Riku let his mind flit back over the last couple of years, full of adventure, disaster, and heartache. "Yeah," he agreed. "I sure hope so."
