R-Tiki: Wow, I am just on a role with updating (for once -_-') usually, it takes me forever, so I'm really loving this faster-than-normal updating streak.
Anyways, thank you all again for liking this :D *more warm fluffy feelings*
And now, unto what I hope will be a decent chapter XD enjoy :3
Chapter 3: Time Flies
"Wow Sora! You're really good at this." Kairi's sweet voice praised.
Sora was just a little pink with embarrassment. This caused Riku to gulp at the sweet, tempting sight.
Sora put the hand to the back of his head in his normal, nervous stance. "Really? I kinda thought it looked, well uh ..." The three of them simply stared at the beginnings of another shack for their island. Last week, Sora announced that the island should have a place to store some extra boats in case one sinks, like his, which was still sunk into the sand by the make-shift dock.
He didn't get quite the enthusiastic response he was hoping for. Wakka apologized and said he was about to go on a trip with his parents, so he was out. At first, Tidus was all for it, but then he got in trouble at school for letting a huge stink bomb off in the cafeteria, so he was stuck being the janitor's 'assistant' for two weeks. Selphie flat out told them she had better things to do, but she probably wouldn't have been much help, anyway.
In the end, the three of them were the only ones left – Sora, Riku, and Kairi.
As you can imagine, Riku got stuck doing most of the work because he was the strongest and he was actually pretty handy, unlike poor Sora, who really, really tried.
This didn't stop Kairi from using this opportunity to get closer to Sora, however. "No, really, I think you're actually getting better." If by better, she meant that the piece was actually staying held together, barely, then yes. He was getting better.
Kairi had leaned in closer to Sora, but the boy didn't seem to notice her getting closer, which was unsurprising. "Hey Riku ... you wanna come help us?" Sora asked happily, but carefully. Ever since Riku had helped him with his science project, Riku had been acting really strange. At first, he didn't say anything about it because he knew Riku would come to him when he was ready. He never did, though. For the past few weeks, Riku seemed like he was avoiding him all together, and he couldn't figure out why, but Sora feared it was because he'd done something stupid. Was it something I did …?
Riku's eyes were filled with longing. Hell yea, he wanted to come over and help him. He wanted to be around him, and to be as close to him as humanly possible. He wanted to be there for him, like he used to be, and even more … but in the place where Riku was supposed to be, Kairi had already moved in. Even as Sora asked the question, Kairi had a disappointed look planted on her face that just screamed: "Oh please don't let him come between me and Sora. Please oh please."
It was so obvious, and that quickly stomped out his momentary lapse of weakness.
Riku put his stoic mask back on, refusing to look at Kairi again. "No thanks, I'm done for today. I'll be at my spot if you need me, Sora."
The thought of standing there and watching the two of them together instantly brought a bitter taste into Riku's mouth, so he quickly left and made his way up to his spot under the popai tree. His hands remained coiled into rock hard fists.
It had been about two weeks since Riku had realized his true feelings for Sora. He'd been hoping that those feelings would calm down by now, but they've all but consumed his thoughts. He thought a lot about how his heart sped up when he got so close behind Sora that day they worked on the brunette's project.
He couldn't get the image of Sora bathed in moonlight out of his head...
Also since then, Kairi had persisted on pilfering all of Sora's attention. At first, she started out shy and nervous, but Sora hadn't taken the bait and Kairi was getting more and more confident with her actions. Very soon, innocent teasing was going to turn into full blown suggestions if Sora doesn't hurry up and get the hint.
Riku clenched his jaws tight at the thought that it would only be a matter of time before Sora finally noticed, or worse, gave in.
Months ago, when Kairi had first washed up on their island, Riku didn't like her, already. Of course, Sora was positively thrilled to have another kid come to play with them on the island, but Riku knew that she was going to be trouble.
But as time progressed, Riku began to warm up to Kairi; she was nice, funny, Sora thought she was ok, and she kept Selphie busy, and that had to be worth something. So, for a while, it was good. The three of them became quite the trio, almost inseparable, though not nearly as close as Riku and Sora were, even after so much time had passed. Now that he thought about it, that was probably the main reason Riku accepted Kairi into their little group; he knew that this new girl couldn't become as close as they were, so he didn't feel threatened.
Now, however, the game had drastically changed. She crossed the line Riku had drawn around Sora, and she kept getting closer and closer to him everyday.
Worst of all, he couldn't do a damn thing about it.
So, in light of Kairi's high treason, Riku didn't bother playing nice anymore. That initial suspicion he had towards Kairi from the very beginning came back with a pissed-off vengeance. Everyone could see it too; the way Riku deliberately refused to talk to Kairi, or even acknowledge her existence, made it blatantly obvious of his sudden revulsion towards her. Not that he cared what they thought, but Sora was upset about it, and that bothered him. He knew he was only stirring up the shit, but he couldn't take this.
Watching Kairi getting closer to Sora everyday … he feared one wrong move, and he'd snap. Riku. The unconcerned, uncaring, emotionless bastard who never snapped feared that he would go ape-shit if he had to be around the two of them together for more time than was absolutely necessary.
It was absolutely ridiculous and senseless, and he knew it!
Huh. It's amazing how far a person can fall after that first step.
Just what the hell am I supposed to do? Sit by with a big smile on my face while that bitch moves in and takes him away from me? Hell no.
He thought about telling Sora his true feelings, sure, but how could he? Riku was Sora's best friend. He was supposed to be the one Sora could always go to, the one to calm him down, and help him out. Telling him something as strong as that … well, it would make things much worse rather than make it all better. They would become even more distant, and he couldn't force that kind of pressure on Sora. That was out of the question. Plus, Kairi wouldn't hesitate to be there and 'sooth' Sora when he heard the shocking news. No matter how Riku looked at it, telling Sora how he really felt now would not end well at all.
He took a deep breath and and let it out slowly to calm himself down. He sat on the popai tree and kept his eyes locked on the distant horizon. The beautiful sunset held no interest to Riku when all he really wanted to look at was Sora, but how could he when she was there helping him now?
He never thought he was capable of harboring so much potent jealousy before, but here he was, sulking and digging his fingers into the tree bark in blind anger. At the tender age of 10, Riku had been properly introduced to jealousy. Selphie was always going after the boys on the island, even at that age, but when she made the mistake of trying to make an simple, naive pass at Sora, Riku was there to take him away and leave her with a very cold chill running down her spine.
That was the first and last time Selphie ever tried to go after Sora, but she instead devoted much of her time trying to flirt with Riku after that; ironically, that chilling death glare was a big turn on for her, but then again, what wasn't?
Of course, just like he had done with everything else involving Sora back then, he justified his feelings. He told himself that he wasn't jealous, but that he just knew that Selphie would get in the way, that's all.
Right.
Still, that flicker of jealousy was almost welcoming compared to the massive wave of anger that Kairi caused just by touching Sora's elbow. Why? Because she had a hell of a better chance of stealing him away from Riku than Selphie ever dreamed to, and it drove Riku crazy.
In the middle of his musing, he didn't hear the quiet footsteps making their way towards him until he heard his name. "Um … Riku?" a quiet, timid voice called.
Riku scowled. Of course. Just what I need.
"Riku … can I talk to you for a minute?" Kairi tries again, getting closer this time.
Damnit, can't you see I want to be alone? He mentally answered, but he didn't say anything else. His eyes were transfixed on the sunset.
She knew he wouldn't answer, so she started again. "Look … I'm sorry for whatever I did to upset you but … you're starting to make Sora upset, too. He thinks that he did something to annoy you and that he caused ... whatever this is."
That tore right through Riku's bitterness in an instant. Of course. He would think that … but that's not it at all, Sora, you idiot, how can I make you understand that …? He pondered. Despite his constant teasing, his thoughts towards Sora were laced with affection, unlike most everything else.
Riku's thoughts were still focused on the guilt of knowing that he's hurting Sora when Kairi went on. "But that's not the case here, and you and I both know it. It's just … I don't want to hurt you Riku, but you're hurting him, so just stop being like this, ok? I don't know what happened, but can't we go back to being friends again?"
That did it for Riku. Too disturbed to stop himself, he turned to face her with a cold, expressionless glare, but the hurt was evident in his teal eyes, though he doubted she would notice. "So that's it? You think you can come up here and tell me you know more about my best friend than I do now, is that right?"
Kairi back petaled. "N-no, it's not like that, it's just --"
But Riku had heard that tone in her voice; she thought she already had Sora around her finger. She thought that they were an item now, and she came up here to tell Riku that, as Sora's 'better half', he had better straighten up. What made Riku's heart drop into his stomach was that it could all be true.
He couldn't handle it. "Do you think I don't see what's going on here? What, did you think you could just seduce Sora and wouldn't have to deal with the consequences?"
Kairi's eyes widened. "It's … it's not like that."
He shook his head, momentarily grinning with dark humor. "Yea, sure it's not. It never is. You think I want to be up here? Away from him? I miss how it was. I miss when everything was simple and all three of us could just hang out."
"I know I fucked things up here, Kairi..." His gaze started to drift down to the sand. Now, he was just saying the words aloud as a reminder of his own mistakes, rather than actually talking with Kairi anymore. "Really bad ..." He said just above a whisper.
She looked at the pale teen with confused eyes. What is he even freaking out about …? I just wanted to talk ...
When he turned his glare back on her, the anger came with it. His face was still perfect mask, save for the betraying eyes. "But we were best friends before you ever showed up. Now, you drive a fucking wedge between us, break us apart, and you think it's just my fault?" He threw his hands up, exasperated. "Well that's just great! Let's just go tell Riku to get the hell out of the way, because that fixes every fucking thing, doesn't it? No. It just fixes things up nice and pretty for you."
He walked up to her. His voice was flat and his eyes radiated an icy-venom. "How about this, Kairi? Stop coming onto Sora like some lovesick puppy, or just stay the hell away from him all together. Maybe then we won't have a problem."
He saw her skin go white, her eyes went wide with shock, and he left her there.
He knew everything he said to her she could just as easily say to him, but he'd snapped. Her words and his feelings clashed together and the only outcome that Riku could process at that moment was that she started all of this.
He couldn't believe he'd yelled at her, but it's done now.
Now … maybe she really will back off. Maybe now she'll leave and I can go back to Sora. At the thought of him, Riku's overcome with a guilty pain. Sora blamed himself for Riku's attitude, and again, Riku could do nothing about it.
"I'm sorry Sora … really … But I just ..." He couldn't finish; he didn't know what to say.
Please … let things go back to normal. For Sora's sake, anyway.
R-Tiki: I know this chapter is pretty short, actually, this whole story is pretty short XD but we're getting close to the end.
Thank everyone who read it this far and didn't give up on it :D you all get cupcakes with Sora and Riku all over them x3 (well not literally, cuz they have things to do and ... well you know what I mean) Anyway, this next update shouldn't take too long, so let's cross our fingers my computer stays as good as it has been.
Thanks again :)
