Hey. Just dropping in with another chapter. I might not update for a while, if anybody's following this at all.

So at the beginning, it was requested that another character be added for part of the plot. Writing it out, I didn't like how it sounded... I couldn't put what I wanted into the character and make her what I had envisioned her as. However, after some brainstorming, I decided to put in a familiar character in her place, with some small changes. Hopefully, this will make you all happy, including the one who wished for me to write this.

So... tell me how it's going. I guess I look forward to it.

Disclaimer: Square Enix/Disney owns KH. End of story. You can't change that, I can't change that.

When he ended it, it was short and to the point. His voice was heavy and tired, like that of someone who had traveled through hell to get to where he was.

He said that she never could understand what he'd been through, what Riku had been through. He said that he came all that way to save her, and at the end of the road lay disappointment. He said he wanted to find her, but now he wished he had paid attention to those "more important things."

"I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore."

He left her slumped against the cool stone of the Secret Place, breathing shallow and hitched, eyes drier than a desert.

And even though she wanted to hate him for being that stupid, she found that her heart hurt too much to even do that.

Riku found her hours later.

She was still against that same wall; it didn't feel as cold as it did when he'd broken her heart.

"What are you doing? You never get her before me."

She only stared dully at the ground, eyes half-closed, arms crossed over her chest as if she were protecting herself.

He only took a second to realize that it was too late to protect her from what had wrought destruction inside her.

He stayed with her all that night, arm on her shoulder. She fell asleep after a while, a few sniffles and cries of pain escaping her dreams.

When his own eyelids finally started to feel heavier and harder to keep from shutting, he scooped her up in his arms and brought her back to her own home, laying her on her bed before leaving, taking one glance to make sure she was going to be okay.

He left even though his instinct told him to stay; she wouldn't be okay.

When she woke the next morning, she was in her room, the bright sunlight filtering in through the drapes on her window. She was still wearing her clothes; how peculiar. She looked into the mirror by her bedside and gasped at the face that stared back at her; the figure reflected her actions, raising its hand to its thin, pale lips, blinking its swollen blue eyes.

It all came back to her, but she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't want Riku to see her like that.

She wouldn't want Sora to see her like that, either.

At the beach, she sat on the dock where he had asked her to be his girlfriend six months earlier.

Almost. Their six month anniversary was in a week and three days.

She ran her fingers over the worn-down wood planks, tracing circles and lines and shapes and words; soon it became names, and then it was just his name. She bit her lip, looking down into the blue water. It was too blue today. It was supposed to be grey and stormy and muddy, just like her.

Her reflection continued to stare at her blankly.

Don't judge me, she thought, standing and turning away from the waves. She didn't want to face anyone.

Riku had been watching her from the shade of a palm tree, a slight scowl on his face. He didn't like seeing her like this. He didn't like seeing Sora and Selphie walking on the other side of the beach, smiling warmly at each other.

Selphie had grown into more mature looks than Kairi; she was slightly taller, her hair just a little longer, her hands thin and unblemished. Her hips were just barely there, the swell of her breasts just a little more noticeable than Kairi's.

She wasn't much of a win to Riku. She was nice and sweet and caring, but she didn't have that essence. She didn't have that genuinely worried look in her eyes that Kairi did when Sora said he would go jump off the cliff to see if he could still fly. Selphie didn't have that look of love and adoration as she looked up at his best friend, who smiled a real smile that he'd never gifted Kairi with. She just had that look of want, like she needed him, but for her own reasons.

When Kairi saw him, she looked away, letting her hair obscure the other side of her face.

He let her be; she would find him when she needed to.

Sora came to find him that evening.

He had watched Kairi slip back to the sanctuary of her home, making sure she didn't do anything drastic along the way.

"Riku?"

He looked over from old tree where the three of them used to watch sunsets together. Sora gave him a little wave as he crossed the bridge. His tone wasn't the same as it had been before they had left to find those other worlds.

He nodded at the spot next to him on the trunk, eyes glued to the sun as it sunk deeper and deeper into the shining ocean. A wave rolled up on the beach, washing up seaweed and shimmering, cracked shells. He heard Sora haul himself up onto the tree and make himself comfortable.

They watched the water reflect the angry reds and the mango-colored yellows and the oranges that blended with the pinks and purples in the sky. Riku sat still, waiting.

"I broke up with Kairi... yesterday."

Sora's hesitant voice cracked the silence. Riku nodded.

"Did she tell you already?"

Riku looked over at the boy who had seen so many more evils than normal teenagers should have. His hair was highlighted from days at the beach, his eyes a little sadder and darker, his hands calloused; he wasn't a child, but he wasn't an adult, either.

"I found her after you left her there."

Sora looked alarmed for a second, swiftly turning to look his best friend in the eye.

"She was okay... right? I thought she had gone home."

"She stayed. I brought her home last night. Relax," he drawled, watching Sora bristle under his gaze, "I didn't stay. I left right afterward."

He looked back out at the water.

"Why do you still care, anyway?"

Sora seemed suddenly fidgety, kicking his feet into the air and biting his lip.

Riku hopped off the tree, looking back at the boy.

"How about the usual? Bet you can beat me this time?"

Sora shook his head.

"Not today, Riku. There's too much to deal with."

Riku's eyes narrowed just slightly; Sora knew better than to look him in the eye.

"We raced maybe twice since you started dating Kairi. Come on. Bet you can't beat me."

Sora sighed and stepped lightly onto the sandy floor, making his way back toward his home.

"Drop it, Riku. We're not kids anymore."

He watched him walk away until he disappeared around the corner of the beach, behind the rocks that separated the residential district from the eastern side of the island.

Sora still had a lot to learn.

Hm. I'm planning on making this between four and six chapters, but nothing's set in stone.

I'm out. 'Til next time.