Author's Note:

Thanks so much for the comments. X3 I wasn't sure if I should keep going with this story, but your comments convinced me it was worthwhile. Riku was intimidating to write… so I switched back to Sora pretty quickly. Sorry. When I figure out exactly what he's doing, I'll do more with Riku. So here's chapter 2, enjoy. :3

And again, I don't own Kingdom hearts. :


Aquamarine eyes scanned the little port as Riku disembarked. It wasn't what he had been expecting, although he didn't really know what he was expecting. Perhaps it would be better to say it was different from the city ports.

Most of the people getting off the boat with him were meeting family members or loved ones. Riku was supposed to be meeting his host family, but he had no idea how to recognize them. He stood holding his duffel bag and backpack and watching the people around him, hoping his hosts would see him and save him the effort of finding them. Sure enough, he spotted a brunette woman standing on her tiptoes and waving frantically trying to catch his eye. He nodded slightly to show he'd seen her then crossed the room to meet her.

As he approached, he noticed the two boys standing next to her: one blond with a look of practiced indifference on his face, the other brunet with an expression of unabashed amazement. Riku couldn't help smirking slightly, he often had that effect on people and he had to admit he enjoyed it. But then he noticed something about this family that disturbed him. They all had clear, ocean blue eyes. Eyes like the ones that still haunted him, eyes like the ones he was trying to forget. Well that ruined this plan. How the hell was he supposed to get over her when everything here would remind him?

Riku frowned, he'd tried to tell his parents this was a bad idea, but they just wanted him out of the house. Maybe they weren't sure how to deal with him right now, but sending him to some little island wasn't going to help anything. It was only delaying the problem, not solving it. Riku hated their refusal to deal with problems, their insisting that nothing was wrong, and their heartlessness. He hadn't even seen them cry at the funeral. He'd decided on the boat that he would hate this trip, if only to spite his parents and have another reason to hate them.

With that negative attitude he greeted his hosts, politely introducing himself and thanking them for letting him stay, and scowling the whole time.

-

Sora knew he was gawking, but he couldn't help himself. He stared in disbelief as his mother collected herself and started waving frantically to catch the boy's attention. He approached, seemingly lost in thought and looking angry, but even the nasty look on his face couldn't hide the fact that he was… well, hot. Sora hated to use that word to describe a guy, but he couldn't think of another word to describe him. He was tall and muscular with long silver hair and amazing eyes that were a shade of turquoise Sora had never seen before.

Roxas finally elbowed him in the ribs to get him to close his mouth, and muttered something about not embarrassing himself. Sora pouted a little at his brother, but found he was blushing.

What is wrong with me? He thought, mentally slapping himself for being so stupid. The boy introduced himself as Riku and Sora mumbled his own name and some kind of greeting. Roxas elbowed him again and Sora glared, but he knew his brother was right. If he embarrassed himself anymore, living with Riku for a month would be awkward as hell.

With some effort, Sora managed to regain his usual grin and attempted to make small talk as they began the walk home. He offered to carry one of the other boy's bags, but got only a shrug in response. Sora persisted, hoping to make up for his staring, but it quickly became evident that Riku didn't want to talk. After several failed attempts at conversation, Sora gave up and settled for watching the new comer, hoping to find some subject of conversation.

Now that he was over the initial shock of having this mysterious boy who happened to be extremely hot (and the first guy Sora had ever described that way) come live with them, his curiosity was returning. Although he couldn't help being intimidated by the older boy's silence and his icy glare, but he was intrigued as well. Something about the way Riku moved showed self-confidence, or even pride, and yet his eyes were cold. Maybe Sora was reading him wrong, but it seemed like something had hurt him and his response was to withdraw.

Maybe he was guessing because he wanted Riku's story to be as interesting as he had imagined, maybe he was just looking for something unusual and interesting, maybe that was why he had been so excited about this whole thing. Maybe he wanted a change, but regardless Sora was dying to know what could hurt someone who seemed so strong.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts to watch Riku again, hoping to find some clue about the mystery he had set up for himself, and he was surprised to see Riku watching him. Sora's eyes widened slightly, and he could feel himself blushing again. Oh crap… not again,he thought, and looked around for some way to escape Riku's gaze. Roxas was walking a few paces ahead of them, and Sora sped up to catch him. Thankfully they were almost home.

-

This brunet boy --was his name Sora? Riku wasn't quite sure, his introduction had been so jumbled…-- was really interesting to watch. Riku almost forgot he was supposed to be sulking as he watched the younger boy walking next to him, completely lost in his thoughts. The funny thing was, he was so easy to read. His face betrayed his every thought as expressions of confusion, excitement, curiosity and embarrassment flickered across his features. And he didn't seem to be aware of it.

He kept shooting glances at Riku, but for some reason he didn't notice Riku watching him for a good five minutes. When he did notice, the other boy turned red again and ran to talk to his brother. Riku allowed himself to smirk now that no one was watching. Maybe this trip had more potential than he'd thought.

Sora had never been so happy to see his house. Walking with Roxas was a huge mistake, the younger boy hadn't hesitated to get revenge for all of Sora's teasing. By the end, Sora wasn't sure whether he'd rather walk in awkward silence and be stared at by Riku, or spend the whole time having Roxas whispering "Ooh, he's hot isn't he? Oops am I embarrassing you? Oh wait! You don't need ME to embarrass you, you were doing fine by yourself!" He had to admit, his brother was better at teasing than he was, or maybe Sora was just more vulnerable.

But once they reached the front door, Sora realized his rejoicing was for nothing. Sure, he was losing Roxas's pestering, but now he was supposed to show Riku around and explain stuff to him and then sleep in the same room as him. Sora bit his lip, thinking of possible ways to get out of it, but his mother quickly squashed those hopes. As soon as they were through the door, she assured Riku that Sora would tell him everything he needed to know, then she and Roxas disappeared leaving Sora alone with the intimidating stranger.

He laughed nervously, looking up at his guest who continued to watch him with those beautiful yet frozen eyes.

"So… uh. I guess… I'll show you the house?" he said, staring pointedly at his feet. When Riku didn't respond, he chanced a hopeful glance at the older boy and wasn't surprised to seem the same blank expression on his face. Sora sighed. He started walking down the hall, and Riku followed silently behind him, leaving a good ten paces between them. Sora opened doors as they went, and announced the name of the room, but Riku didn't look inside any of the rooms so Sora continued up the stairs to the bed rooms.

"My mom's over there." He said, pointing to a closed door down the hall. "Then, Roxas is there, and I'm across from him." He said, gesturing for Riku to enter his room. Sora paused at Roxas's door and heard him on the phone again. Sora laughed quietly before following Riku. "No wonder he ran off as soon as we got home." He muttered, crossing his room to sit on the bed.

"What?"

Sora almost jumped. Had Riku just spoken to him? Voluntarily?

"What?" Sora repeated.

"What did you say? Before."

"Oh, nothing. Just, Roxas was… never mind." Sora didn't feel like explaining. "Uh… anyway. School tomorrow. I usually wake up at seven, oh and we have a uniform… we'll have to see for you, I dunno if they'll make you wear it. So… I guess that's it…"

Riku didn't acknowledge him, but Sora could see he was listening. He pointed Riku to the bathroom and they both changed and got in bed. As Sora had been expecting, Riku lay right against the wall, as far from the other boy as possible.

-

Sora didn't sleep well again. He felt so stupid for getting so embarrassed.

Riku didn't sleep well again. He was drowning in guilt and bright blue nothingness