"Hey, has anyone seen Riku?"

Four shaking heads answered Sora. Kairi, Selphie, and Wakka hadn't even bothered to look over. Tidus shrugged at him. "He's been avoiding us all week."

Sora frowned. He had noticed that. It wasn't terribly unusual for Riku to get into these isolationist modes, but he'd never gone out of his way to avoid Sora along with the others while in them. Normally, Sora was the only one he stuck around, yet it seemed that Sora was the one he was avoiding the most this time.

"Did you try the play island?" Kairi flicked her eyes over.

"No, I was hoping he was here." If Riku had gone to the play island, it meant something big was troubling him. With Riku's birthday less than a week away, that concern could be anything.

"Well, he isn't." Selphie bit her lip, looking over a paper on the floor critically. "Hey, Sora? Whatcha getting Riku for his birthday?"

"I haven't even thought of that," Sora pouted. "Been too busy trying to keep tabs on him."

"I don't know why you bother," commented Tidus. "He does stuff like this all the time. Give him a few days and he's totally fine again."

Sora sighed. He knew that too, but it didn't stop him from worrying. He knew it was ridiculous that he got panicky whenever he didn't know where the silver-haired boy was. Thankfully, Kairi understood and never gave him a hard time.

"Go look, Sora." She smiled, "But make sure you see me later this afternoon so I can tell you what we need you to do for the party."

He nodded with a smile and raced off.

On the little island where they had spent their childhood playing away, pretending to be the great heroes they never imagined any of them, especially Sora, would ever really become, Sora jogged straight for the smaller side island and its bent-over Papou tree. He didn't see Riku sitting on it and due to Riku's height; he should have seen the top of his head at least if he was leaning against it.

He came the rest of the way and ducked under the end near the large palm leaves.

Riku was sitting on the sandy ground leaning against the trunk, arms folded across his lower chest. His eyes were closed tightly and his breathing sounded like he was consciously trying to control the rate. It almost looked as if he were in pain.

"Riku?"

Aqua eyes snapped open and a fake smile took over that face. "Oh, hey Sora."

The brunette tilted his head in concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Riku chuckled a bit as he slowly stood. It didn't disguise the groan. "I'm fine. Just out here brooding. You know me."

Sora knew him far too well to believe that load of crap. He also knew Riku was not going to talk about it.

"What's up?" Riku rested a shoulder on the rough surface of the tree. "They still insisting on throwing me a party?"

"Well, yeah; Of course. This is Kairi and Selphie we're talking about." Sora laughed.

"Yeah," Riku subtly took a breath. "Go back and help them. I know you want to. You found me; I'm perfectly okay so you can ease your little mind. I'll be back later."

Sora frowned. He could tell Riku was pushing him away again. "What's wrong, Riku?"

"Nothing; why do you always assume something's wrong?" Riku snapped. "Can't I have one minute without you tracking me down in a nervous panic?"

The smaller boy bit his lip. "Of course, Riku. I'm, I'm sorry."

Riku sighed and fell against the tree. "No, I'm sorry. That was completely uncalled for. I know why you do it and I really do appreciate the concern."

Sora nodded once, still clearly upset by the other boy's outburst.

"I promise, Sora, I'm fine. I'll meet up with all of you at juice bar in about an hour, okay?"

"Okay." Sora agreed slowly. He really didn't want to leave but he didn't want Riku to be mad at him either. He hesitantly turned away only to have a hand grip his shoulder.

Riku pulled him to him in a tight embrace. "Thanks, Sora."

"You're welcome." Sora had no idea why his friend was thanking him at this time. He was released and he walked away.

Riku watched after him until he crossed the bridge. Then he let out a pained groan and sank to his knees. He bit his lip and fought not to pass out.

This had to be ending soon. These little spells he'd been having for the past month rarely lasted more than ten minutes… Never the less, the one's that did…

He took a slow deliberate breath, the strange stirring pain in his abdomen finally beginning to ease. It was such a weird feeling, as though something was moving around within him. If this were a sci-fi movie, he'd swear there was an alien inside him waiting to burst forth.

Aliens, heh…

He slowly got to his feet, making sure he would not get dizzy again. He had no idea what was wrong with him. Being who he was, he refused to see a doctor about this. Somehow, he knew that no doctor would have an explanation. He really didn't need to hear 'rest and drink lots of fluids'.

Feeling somewhat normal, he moved to straighten his shirt. He paused in his efforts, however. Carefully, he lifted the fabric and frowned. The large blackish-purple splotch discoloring his skin, which had appeared along with the symptoms, was spreading. He was really getting worse.

He would have to find a longer shirt to wear, as his usual ones would not cover it much longer. He dropped the fabric and sighed. Then he headed for his boat.

Sora was oddly quiet when he returned to the main island. Tidus and Wakka had left for blitzball practice, and Selphie was running some errand. This left Kairi alone with the preparation lists.

She looked up and immediately noted Sora's expression. "He was there, wasn't he?"

"Yeah," Sora sat beside her. Worry was etched across his face. "Something's really wrong with him."

Kairi studied him for a moment. "What did he say?"

"He yelled at me," Sora frowned, "He never does that."

"He yelled?" That was different. Riku almost never so much as raised his voice. He had been off lately but with this piece of information, she knew there was much more to it than his usual mood swings.

Maybe she should try talking to him.

"Yeah, he apologized right after but it was just weird." Sora leaned back, resting his weight on his hands. "You don't think something's wrong at home, do you? I mean, more wrong than usual."

"Doubt it." Since returning home from their journey, Riku had been having frequent arguments with his parents. He'd aged so much over the previous two years that for all intent and purpose he had become completely independent. His parents had tried to give him some space but he was still only sixteen, about to become seventeen, and there were rules to be followed.

Riku had threatened to run away several times but he could never go through with it. He loved his parents but couldn't stand living under them. It made for a rather tense situation.

"Hmm…" Sora pursed his lips. "I wonder what's wrong."

"I'm sure he'll tell us when he's ready," Kairi assured him.

"Yeah," Sora's expression changed. He grinned at her and straightened out. "So what have you guys figured out?"

"Well, Selphie totally wants to go overboard but I managed to keep her reined in." Kairi showed him the paper with the list of ideas. "We can have it at my house, I already got permission. Since it's been so hot, we thought a pool party would be best even though Riku isn't all that fond of water lately. There will be enough other stuff; he won't have to hit the pool if he doesn't want to."

Sora nodded, looking over the paper. "This should be fun. Hopefully, Riku will be feeling better by then."

"Oh, he will." Kairi giggled. It came out sounding a bit forced. She really had no idea what was going on with their friend but she had to believe it would be okay.

"So what do I need to do?"

"You just have to get Riku there." She took the sheet from him and folded it in fourths. "We have everything else covered so you spend the day with Riku and make sure he gets to the house by six."

"Got it." Sora mock saluted at her.

"Hey, guys. Forgetting about me again?" Riku leaned on the wall beside them.

Sora jumped a little. "Man, Riku don't do that! You're like totally silent. It's scary."

He turned to look at his friend. "Did you change your shirt?"

Riku shrugged, "Yeah, so?"

Sora made a face but made a dismissive gesture. "Just wondering."

"So you two wanna get dinner?" Riku looked completely normal again.

Kairi nodded happily. "Sure; there's a noodle shop over on Sixth Street that supposed to be fantastic."

"Uh, I think I'll pass." Sora mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"You're broke again, aren't you?" Riku chuckled. "Don't worry, I've got you covered."

Sora lit up. He jumped to his feet and threw his arms around Riku. "Really? Oh, thank you, thank you!"

The older boy groaned loudly, his face scrunching up in pain. Sora quickly moved away and watched Riku bit his lip and twist his neck. In less than a minute, he had re-schooled his features and straightened out.

"Oh, man… I'm sorry, Riku." Sora rushed out. "I didn't think I was that rough."

"It's, it's alright, Sora," Riku choked a laugh. "Let's get out of here."

The three friends left, none of them noticing the person who had been watching the scene play out from the window opposite them. The observer frowned to himself and quietly walked away. He wandered over to the park and sat beside a palm tree.

It was beginning.

Thanks for all the positive responses to the prologue! Please keep it up, it really motivates me and this one is going to be very different for me. Thank goodness I have a really good co-author.