Ok, that's it. I got bored of searching, so I'm taking this into my own hand because there are virtually NO KxR stories out there. I hope this persuades some other people to write some as well. (Frankly I prefer reading over writing.) Hmm, now that I think about it...if there are no fics...that must mean a lot of haters heh heh...please don't flame.

Back to business. This takes place after KH2 (There may be slight spoilers.)

Disclaimer: Come on now. If I owned these people I wouldn't spend my time writing about them. I own nothin'.

It had been two days ago that Sora had left the island...again. Kairi had been relaxing on the docks with Selphie after their long and tiresome journey. She was so glad to finally have Riku and Sora home. For a year she had waited for her best friends to return safely, and now that they had, nothing could go wrong.

The girls' conversation was interrupted by an odd clanging noise.

"What is that?" Selphie asked, annoyed.

"I dunno." Kairi scooted closer to the edge of the dock and peered down. A small glass bottle similar to the one she had sent to sea herself had washed up on shore and the waves were gently connecting it to one of the supports on the dock.

She reached down to pick up the bottle and stared at it. Kairi peered inside through the clear glass and saw a rolled up piece of paper...with the King's seal on it. She gasped and hastily stood up and took off, leaving a very confused Selphie.

"Kairi! Where are you going?"

"Nothing's changed has it?" Riku mumbled as soon as Sora had joined him.

"Nope. And nothing ever will. Say...what do you think it was?"

Riku looked away from the sunset and at his friend.

"The door to the light, I mean."

Riku smirked and pulled away from the tree he was resting on. Normally he wasn't such a mushy sap, anyone could tell you that, but since he was in a particularly good mood...

"This." he poked at Sora, motioning to his heart.

"This?" Sora repeated.

Riku nodded and caught a familiar flash of pink out of the corner of his eye.

"Sora! Riku!" Kairi came running over and stopped in front of them, taking a moment to breathe before she continued.

Sora let out a gasp when she held out the bottle, "From the King!" he grabbed it from her hand, yanked off the cork and pulled the paper out from inside. Kairi and Riku each looked over his shoulders in anticipation as he unrolled it.

Sora had left the next day.

Riku sat on the shore of the island. The sun was beginning to set again. He sighed. No one knew how long Sora would be gone. Riku wasn't worried though. Everything had been taking care of except for a few, very tiny loose ends. He knew his friend wasn't in any situation he couldn't handle.

Riku then found himself wondering if he could handle anything Sora could. They had both claimed to be jealous of one another right? There had to be a reason. He figured they each had their strengths. Sora was accustomed to teamwork. Riku knew if he had wandered the worlds alone like he did that he would have been greatly slowed down. Physically and emotionally. Riku on the other hand was more independent. Sure he had done everything he could to help Sora and Kairi, but he preferred to do it alone.

He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when the tide came in and soaked through his shoes.

"Ah!" he yelped in surprise and scrambled to his feet. A laugh he knew all too well followed from behind him.

"You thinking too much again Riku? You didn't even hear me coming." Kairi teased and approached him.

He didn't answer at first, just stared into the sun. She didn't press him either. Kairi knew he always answered her eventually.

"...Just thinking about everything. You know?" he spoke, looking down at her. Way down. Over the past year and a half Riku had grown considerably taller than the rest of his friends. Sure he was a year older, but anyone who saw him walking around could easily mistake him for someone two or three years older than he really was.

Kairi had taken the most notice of this when she had first met up with him again. After all, no one knew her best friends like she did. And after a year of being separated, the differences she saw in both of them were striking - especially in Riku. Not only had he gotten taller, and his hair longer, but his face was no longer boyish and young looking. He had really become quite handsome, not that he wasn't cute before. Then there was the rest of his body. 'He filled out a little...too nicely...' she had decided. Kairi knew best friends weren't just for gawking over.

Sora on the other hand, was still the same old Sora everyone knew and loved. A bit taller, sounded and looked a bit older, but nothing drastic. '...don't ever change.' She had recalled saying to him. Well he did a good job. But most importantly, all of them knew that through their rough journey, they had each grown up a lot. Riku had always been the mature one of the group. Kairi was surprised to find out that somehow he become even more smart, mature and "wise". She and Sora had changed in that way as well. Their once goofy and juvenile behavior had been almost completely replaced, for the better. But that didn't stop it from resurfacing every once and a while at the right times.

"Are you worried about Sora." she asked.

"Nah. He can handle himself. I don't think he was called for anything to dangerous. Besides, if he was, I'm sure King Mickey would have put it in a bit more detail if it was serious."

"Yeah, you're right." she agreed and faced the sunset with him.

"Has everyone else left already?" Riku questioned.

"Uh huh. They left and I came to get you."

"Thanks."

"Not a big deal. Let's head home." she said, giving his wrist a little tap before turning and heading for the docks.

Riku watched her for a second before beginning to follow. After he assumed that he was never coming home and he forced himself to tell Sora to take care of Kairi, he thought it would be easy to let it go. Not hope for anything from her, and not be disappointed when something did happen between her and Sora. Easier said than done. Well, up until now it had been sufficiently easier. Without having to see or talk to Kairi and focusing on helping Sora, Riku pushed all his feelings to the back of his mind. But now that he was back it was getting harder again.

He watched her walk a few steps ahead of him. It was entirely possible that she had gotten even more gorgeous over the past year. She had also filled out too. It was hard to think of her as just his fun loving best friend. But Riku knew as long as Sora was around, he had no chance. And he wanted Sora around.

"Did you not bring a boat?" Riku questioned, looking to Kairi.

"I came with Selphie."

"Oh. Then hop on in mine." he said, offering his hand to her after he had already climbed in.

She took it and carefully made her way into the small boat and sat down at the back, facing Riku who was seated backwards, facing her at the front.

"Unhook one of the paddles and I'll help." she told him.

"No, its fine, I'll row. I don't mind, just relax." he said, flashing her a grin.

Kairi gave him a small smile and tucked her hair behind her ear, "Thanks Riku."

"Are you coming out tomorrow?" he asked.

She shot him a glance like he should know better to ask that, "Well of course. It is the start of the summer after all. I can't stay inside my house for more than an hour except to sleep. You know that."

He chuckled, "Yeah I know. But, it might not be much of a summer without Sora here."

Kairi frowned, "Hmm, you're right. But then again, look what happened last summer. You never know what might happen right?"

"Right."

After safely making it back home, Riku hopped out of the boat and tied it to the dock, then leant his hand to Kairi again.

"It's dark. I'll walk you home."

"You don't have to."

"Yeah, but I want to." he smirked. "Unless you really wanna get rid of me again?"

"Shut up, that's not funny." she scolded him.

"So," Riku started, as they headed off the dock and into town, "what all have you been up to this past year? None of us have really gotten a chance to talk about it that much."

"Mmm you know, the usual. Mostly school I suppose. I was always so, I dunno, sad I guess, without you guys here."

Riku looked at her thoughtfully, "Are you still sad now? I mean...cause Sora's not here."

Kairi thought for a moment.

"No. Not really. I guess because I know he'll be back for sure. And, well, you're here still."

"That's good." he commented.

The two continued to talk and discuss all the things they never got chances to. Riku had decided to stay away from the topic of when he was "sided" with Maleficent. It really wasn't something he wanted to talk about right at the moment. She didn't really know much about the subject. Perhaps another time, he decided.

"Oh, look. We're here already." Kairi stopped walking when they reached the outside of her house.

"So we are..." Riku mused as he followed her up the steps. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then I guess."

"Stay for a little while." Kairi suggested. "I like talking with you, and besides," she laughed. "My mom hasn't seen you in ages. She'll be happy to see you, and then you know, probably make you food like she always does."

Riku grinned, "Ah yes, I love your mom's food. And god knows how long it's been since we've slept together."

"Riku!" she yelled in outrage and punched him in the arm. "That's disgusting!"

He laughed out loud, "I was kidding, relax."

"Kairi? Is that you out there?"

The two teens looked toward the open window where Kairi's mom was calling out.

"Yeah, it's me mom."

"Is that Riku? You bring him in here right now!"

Riku grinned and leaned forward so his face was close to Kairi's ear, "What did I tell ya?" he taunted.

"Eww! Shut up!" she yelled again, opening the door to let them in.

"Kairi did you just get back? You know I want you back on the mainland before its dark, not when it's dark." her mother said.

Kairi rolled her eyes and kicked off her shoes, "Yeah yeah, I know sorry."

"And you, young man," Riku looked up from taking off his own shoes. "What'd I do?" he whined.

"Haven't been around that's what." Kairi's mom complained, giving him a playful slap upside the head.

"Yeah, well...I had to go away for a while..."

"You've gotten nice and tall too. I can barely reach up there to hit you anymore."

"I suppose that's a good thing for me then."

"Yeah, so, I'm assuming neither of you had any supper. Why don't you go downstairs while I make you some."

"Do you think you should tell your mom you're here?" Kairi wondered as they seated themselves on the couch near the fireplace.

Riku shrugged, "Nah, she doesn't worry about me like that."

They sat in silence for a bit. Kairi was deciding on whether she wanted to voice her question or not. She really did want to know more about it, but she was afraid of something bad.

"...Riku?"

"Yeah."

"You found me when I got my heart taken from me right?"

Uh oh...where was she going with this?

"...Yeah."

She looked at him seriously, "What happened? To both of us?"

Riku cleared his throat awkwardly. How to put all this? "Nothing bad happened to you. You weren't harmed. I was there to make sure of all that. It was found out that you were a princess, and your heart was restored. That's all that matters right?"

"But I was held captive by Maleficent right? So you were there too? What about you? Why were you there?"

He bit his lip and looked away, "Uhh...I think that might be a story for another time..."

Kairi folded her hands in her lap, "But...Riku..."

"Look," he grumbled, "let's just say I didn't have as much fun as Sora okay? We'll leave it at that for now."

She nodded wordlessly and it was back to silence again.

"..Umm...Riku...?" Kairi spoke nervously and quietly, as if he might bite her head off if she said the wrong thing.

"What?"

She found the courage to look at him again, "Whatever happened, or whatever you did; I don't care. I want you to know that you can trust me if you do ever wanna tell me. Cause I would like to know what happened - the good and the bad. And you were right, I was safe. We were safe, so that's all that mattered. Nothing else matters."

His eyes softened and he gave her a small smile, "Sure, Kairi. Thanks. But you're still gonna have to wait."

She grinned pleasantly at him.

"I think I'll be able to wait."

So yeah, there you have it; the first chapter. I hope at least some people like it enough for me to continue. So please, R&R!