Author's Note: First of all, thanks for the reviews! They make my day! I was upset for a day or two, thanks to the KH 358/2 days trailer showing Riku holding an injured Xion, and I was moping on how Tetsuya Nomura could make *that* canon, but thanks to the awesome reviews, I remembered that I couldn't care less, since I am mostly a fanon supporter. Enough of my babbling, on with the prompt!

Disclaimer: I do not own the awesome game named Kingdom Hearts. All goes to Square Enix.


017 - Hero

She could defend herself, but he was her knight.


For Riku, it all started with a day of cleaning up the storeroom at his house. Sure, the last time he had cleaned it was early spring, but his mother suddenly had a vibe of having a yard sale (she owned plenty of knick-knacks that she bore of easily) and there he was, opening closed boxes and peering for things to sell with his mother in a dusty, dim basement.

"Mind the china, Riku, those are expensive," his mother reminded him as he moved over a box labelled 'fragile'. He groaned – he was supposed to be at the Playground Island, teaching Naminé how to swim, but ended up stuck in this dusty place he hated so much as a kid.

He whipped out a small knife from his pocket and cut the taped top flaps of the box, before opening it to see what's inside. Riku felt a nostalgic smile crept up his lips as he reached for the fluffy snowman, used as a bauble for their Christmas tree.

The snowman plush toy took him back to when he was still searching for himself, consumed by darkness just so that he could grasp infinite power. He met so many friends and so many enemies in that journey, and almost lost his two best friends, Sora and Kairi.

But he had met Naminé through that path he took. Riku remembered starting his 'blindfold' regime, to become stronger in a sense, by blocking his eyes to light. At that time, Roxas wasn't DiZ's primary concern, and all he had to do was watch the Organization. That, and babysit the little witch who controlled Sora's broken memories.

"Riku, if it isn't too much, could I ask you for a favour? I'll cook for you in return."

That's what she had said during one of his visits to her stark white room in Twilight Town. He had just finished reporting to DiZ about the Organization XIII activities, and was free for the next few days. 'She must've eavesdropped,' he mused. "What do you want?" he asked in return.

"I'd like to go to Christmas Town," she had said. "I always wanted to see how snow was like."

There was hesitation in his heart, because Naminé wasn't DiZ, who had magic skills, or Mickey, who had a Keyblade of his own. She would require protection. Eventually, even though he didn't know what kind of persuasive technique she used, but they ended up in the said snowing town, with her dressed in a warm cream sweater that he had to buy with his munny. She shuddered upon arriving via dark portal. "Brr, it's cold," she murmured.

"Of course it is. It's snowing," he said. Naminé looked around the cosy little buildings with their chimneys and snow-covered roofs. She was staring at the houses that seemed so inviting with their illuminated windows and snowmen plus Christmas decorations all around that she failed to realise some Heartless approaching them.

"Tch," he spat as he wielded his sword. He began slashing away the weak Heartless with much ease, even though he was blindfolded. His instincts and hearing were so sharp, that even Sora would be flabbergasted at the speed he moved in.

The fighting led him away from Naminé, who still stood there. He thought she was helpless, since she wasn't moving. More Heartless were appearing, and they were targeting her. 'Damn!' his mind screamed, worried for her safety.

He couldn't let her die now. Not when she had messed up Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy's (especially Sora's) memory so badly. Not when she was the only one who could fix them. Definitely not now, when there was a sparkle for her in his tainted black heart. He turned around and subconsciously started running, cold sweat running down his sideburns.

That is, until she screamed, "Fire!"

Riku stopped in his tracks, gobsmacked. The Heartless that had been chasing him leapt and was about to hit him, but he flipped his sword and stabbed the creature without even looking back. He marched to her, and she was looking up at him innocently.

He opened his mouth to say something, but only found the words seconds later. "You can cast magic? Why didn't you tell me?!" he yelled and all sorts of emotions from his voice alone could be deciphered by her – anxiety, fear, relief, worry, and perhaps…affection?

Naminé smiled at him. "Of course! I had to peek through Sora's memories before playing around with them. He had learnt how to use magic, and so did Donald. Frankly, magic is much easier compared to memory handling."

Riku's eyes twitched beneath the black blindfold; angered that she didn't tell him sooner so that he wouldn't have worried so.

He felt her touch the black Organization XIII coat he wore, and it felt warm and comforting despite being separated by a layer of thick black cloth. "Were you worried?" she asked.

Riku didn't answer, but he looked away, not because he was annoyed by the question, but he didn't want her to see him blush.

"I'm sorry. I didn't say anything because even if I could use magic to defend myself, you're still my hero," she said, giggling. "Though you're a rather lousy one to scold the damsel in distress."

Riku frowned. She grabbed hold of his arm and started pulling him towards the houses. "Oh, c'mon, I was just kidding! Let's go see that building there – Santa's Workshop! Ah! I always wanted to meet Santa…" she said, her childish murmurs trailing off.

There was a force she had which made him bid her every command. A force stronger than darkness, he daresay. "Oh, the Christmas baubles!" exclaimed his mother, bringing Riku back to reality. He looked up at his mother in fear that she would think of selling them off. It contained memories of his family and friends during Christmas - there was no way she could!

"It's not going to be Christmas anytime soon, so let's keep that," she said, and Riku breathed a sigh of relief. She walked away from him, and Riku looked back at the snowman in his hand. His stomach lurched at the thought of how much worrying he'd have to go through when teaching the girl how to swim. Hell, he was already worrying of what she was going to wear!

'But that's what heroes do, isn't it? That's why they save people,' his conscious replied to his plentiful woes. He smiled, feeling warm-hearted, and it was not because it was summer. The snowman smiled back at him with its beady eyes, plastic carrot nose and threaded lips.

'I think she'd like an early present,' he thought with a smile, pocketing Mr. Snowman, feeling the sparkle brighten in his heart.


Please give an opinion in your review: Should Namiku have a son or a daughter? (Or you could just vote at my profile.)

Lastly, sorry for not describing Christmas Town very well. It's been some time since I played the game, and I'm not at home right now.

P.S. Merry Christmas!