A/n Here is the next chapter of FJ! Now, not only will you get some Riku/Miho goodness, but there shall be some serious Kairi/Sora fluff here! I'm just that kinda person; to me, Sora and Kairi are destined.

I also have a soft spot for Riku/Namine, but like Kairi/Sora, Roxas and Namine are meant to be together no matter what. How come they didn't put Rinoa in for Squall in the game? I would have been so happy, but alas, they didn't.

Now that I'm done with my little Kingdom Hearts pairings rant, let's just get on with the story, shall we?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Axel still faded away, and Riku hasn't declared his undying love for me. Sora still hasn't kissed Kairi, and Roxas and Namine still aren't their own.

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Chapter 4: The Learning

Riku was astounded.

It was just a span of a few hours, and Miho already learned more words than he would learn in a year of his life. She could name food, everyone's names, basic greetings, names of objects, and even a few swear words (Kairi was not pleased), compliments of Cid.

And Miho still couldn't say Riku's name the right way.

She would say it over and over and over again, her voice echoing on the walls of the house, saying it with a childish emphasis that drove Riku up the wall, making him wonder if she will ever say it normally.

It was either that, or she was very much aware of what she was doing, and was now using her newly acquired hyper nature to her advantage.

"Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku...Riku..." Miho leaned by his ear, parting the silvery strands so she could let her voice carry into his head, something inside snapping.

"Miho..." Riku said very gently, pushing her hand away and turning around, seeing her innocent face blink at his actions.

It wasn't as if she weren't aware of her actions. She was very aware.

And she still couldn't remember anything, much to King Mickey's disappointment. But more on that later.

"Ri...ku...?" A strange quirking of her lips, something that twitched into a small smirk.

"Miho..." Riku kept his voice steady, holding her shoulders gently, trying not to make any sudden movements. "Will you please say my name right?"

"Okay...Ri-KU." Putting a strong emphasis on the last syllable of his name, causing the silver-haired boy to grit his teeth in impatience, standing up and leaving the room.

Honestly, she was a handful.

Riku strode down the hallway to look for Sora, who was sitting on top of his bunk, his feet draped off one end. Riku sighed, and peeked over the edge, looking at Sora.

"What are you thinking?"

"Huh?" The blue-eyed boy looked over to his best friend, leaning his chin on his folded arms.

"I asked, what are you thinking?" Riku repeated, rolling his eyes.

"Nothing." Sora sat back on the bed, sighing tiredly.

"Okay, fine then."

"ARGH!" Sora jumped from the bed and tackled Riku, a feat that would have surely broken his neck. Riku's chin was pressed hard onto the wooden floor, Sora sitting on his back. "You're supposed to try to pry whatever's bothering me outta me!"

"I will if you would...PLEASE GET OFF OF ME!" Riku yelled, bucking Sora off his back, the cinnamon-haired boy slamming into the wall in front of him. Sora sat up, pouting at Riku, who had a hard scowl on his face.

"You're worse than your daughter..." Riku stood up, straightening his back. "No wonder where she gets it from..."

Sora didn't answer, his face set in a sad sort. Riku blinked, wondering what was troubling his friend.

"Sora...what's wrong?"

"..." Sora shifted uncomfortably, trying to look away from Riku. Unfortunately, Riku would have none of that.

"Sora?"

Sora looked at Riku out of the corner of his eye.

"YAH!" In one moment, Riku was upon Sora, pulling the poor boy into a headlock. Sora struggled greatly, letting out a string of un-Sora-like swears from his mouth while Riku smirked.

"I won't let you go until you let me know what's wrong!" Riku yelled, keeping a tight grip on Sora while trying to avoid being hit in the face.

"Quit it Riku! I don't wanna talk about it!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"ALRIGHT!" Sora fell limp, gently prying Riku's arms from around his head. "I'm...thinking about...Kairi..."

"..." Riku sat next to Sora on the bed, looking at his best friend with concern. He was wondering when this was going to happen.

They couldn't put it off any longer. If Miho really is Sora and Kairi's daughter from the future, then that really meant...

"You are going to talk to her, aren't you?" Riku asked.

"What would you say to Kairi if you found out you were going to marry her in the future?" Sora retorted, but obviously it was a bad question to ask. Riku sat awkwardly, not looking directly at the sky-eyed boy. "Sorry Riku."

"I am over her. I don't know why you worry so much."

"But—"

Riku held up a hand. "Let me finish. I was jealous of how close you and Kairi were. I'll admit it; I may have felt something for her. But our past experiences prove who she really cares about...and I couldn't bear to stand in the way of that."

"Riku..."

"Besides Sora, if it were up to me, Kairi would still like you, no matter what." Riku finished, a gentle smile aimed at Sora.

"...thanks." Sora smiled. "So...do you really think I should talk to her?"

"If you don't, she might have already heard you from the hallway..." Riku smirked as Sora snapped his attention to a certain red-head peaking her head in their room, looking guilty for spying. "I'll leave you two alone."

As Riku left the room, he nudged Kairi inside, closing the door behind him. Kairi's eyes met Sora's, both teens looking away, light blushes on their faces.

"You heard?"

Kairi swallowed. "Uh huh..."

"Well..." Sora fidgeted with his fingers, wondering why his heart was thumping so hard. "I guess we can't avoid the subject any longer..."

"Yeah..." Kairi stared at the toes of her pink shoes. There was a scuff mark on the white tip. She'll have to clean that later.

"Kairi..." Said girl looked up, Sora staring intently at her. "Um...it may be our future...but..." Sora looked uneasy. This was much harder than what Riku made it out to be.

"Sora..." Kairi walked over to him, sitting beside Sora. "This is the past—"

"I know." Kairi studied his profile; he no longer looked like a little boy.

Sora's jaw line was more defined, and his face was definitely less childlike. His skin was darker, due to tan, and his eyes; oh, his eyes were still the same, but they seemed dulled with age and experience, like a lost innocence.

Who can really blame him after everything he had gone through?

"I know Kairi...but it's our past. Our future." Sora looked at her, eyes...eyes that seemed too sad, too serious...too...not Sora.

"What does it matter if we end up married in the future? Doesn't that mean it was meant to be?"

There was a hitch in Kairi's voice; tone raised up to an octave. Sora wanted to avoid this in every way possible; it was heading in that direction.

"Then...then..." Sora swallowed. His throat was dry. "Is that what you want? What do you feel about me Kairi?"

There. He said it.

"Sora..." He was surprised when he found her hands wound in his; he was touched when he saw the look on her face. "Sora...back on the island...before you and Riku came back, I waited. Each day I was on that island, waiting for something I couldn't even remember waiting for. Do you know what I felt?"

Sora tried to look away, feeling guilty, but Kairi's gaze locked on him.

"I felt...sad. And I didn't even know why. I waited at our island, and I didn't even know why. Then I eventually stopped waiting, and no longer went there anymore."

"I'm sorry Kairi."

She ignored his apology, still talking. "It was like a voice in the back of my mind; fading and fading away. Everyday I heard you calling me, and even though your voice was fading, it made me happy, happy knowing that those memories were still there, just faintly to the point I never gave them a second thought. But I was happy. That's what I felt."

Kairi scooted closer to Sora, her dark orbs oddly shining, dull but shining. Sora's face was expressionless, but inside his heart, he was a child again, huddling in a corner giggling his little love-sick heart out.

"I guess it wouldn't matter whether we were married in the future or not, and it's not like..." Kairi paused, a light blush spreading across her face. "...it's not like I wouldn't mind if we were married..." The last comment was a whisper, so faint that Sora barely heard it.

"Kairi..." Sora leaned his forehead against Kairi's, the spiky strands tickling her nose. "I just don't want it to be something you don't want..."

"I do want it!" The words stumbled past her clumsy lips before she could even stop them. Sora blinked, but turned away. This wasn't going to be simple, was it?

"I mean..." Kairi looked down at their still clasped hands, light running her fingertips over his lean fingers, rough and calloused from battle. "Sora...everything we've been through, we're connected...all of us in more ways than one...maybe...maybe its destiny."

"But—"

"Sora, you are the most important person in the world—no, the universe—to me. I don't want to worry about the future, because all I know is that in the past and now..." Sora faced her now, and a thin trail of tears slid down her cheek. "I know that in my heart that's all that matters."

Sora was silent, but his heart swelled with joy. He wiped Kairi's tears and pulled her into an embrace, kissing her shyly on the forehead. Kairi smiled against the fabric of his shirt, relieved.

Maybe they should just stick to the present.

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Riku walked towards Kairi and Miho's room, thinking about the earlier conversation.

True, he did have feelings for Kairi, but...it wasn't his place to separate her from Sora. He may have been jealous during their first adventure (okay, that was an understatement; he nearly killed Sora), but he could never be seen in Kairi's eyes like Sora was.

Then there was Namine.

He'll admit it; she was nice, quiet, and gentle, and when he first met her when he met DiZ, their addressed each other with a sort of silent affection. A brush of hands, the warmth of each other's presence were just more reminders of their relationship, whatever it was. Riku had the distinct feeling it could have been something more.

But she was with Roxas, Sora's Nobody. And ever since Riku found out that she was Kairi's Nobody, despair washed over him. Sadness overcame him, and Riku locked his heart away, back behind his defenses of brick and spikes and darkness. Like it was supposed to be.

"RIKU!" The silver-haired boy looked up, Miho running towards him. "Riku...we play?"

Riku smiled gently. "Miho...we will play."

"We will play?"

"Yes." Gah, she was so darn cute!

"Okay!" Miho slid down the hallway in bare feet, Riku rolling his eyes. "Come, come now Ri-KU!"

"For the last time Miho, it's Riku!"

"Ri-KYU!" Miho laughed, sitting in the living room while Riku took his sweet time. She was bouncing up and down on the cushions, eyes alight with laughter.

"Okay...Miho, what is mama's name?" Riku sat across from her, watching her intently as she searched her mind for the answer.

"Kai...Kairi..." Miho's lips struggled with the syllables, Riku gently coaxing her into saying it. "Kairi."

"Yes. That is mama's name. Now what is daddy's name?" Riku taught her this way since it was easier for her to address Sora and Kairi as father and mother. How was that conversation going anyway...?

"Daddy...daddy is Sora." Miho replied without much difficulty. "Riku...?"

"Yeah Miho?"

"What is Riku?" She stared him determinedly in the eye, her cobalt orbs boring into Riku's aquamarine. "What is...Riku...?"

"Hmmm..." Riku scratched his head, thinking. "Riku...I am a friend."

"Riku is...friend?"

"Yeah. A friend."

"Riku..." Miho walked over and sat next to Riku, curious. "What is...a friend?"

"Well...a friend is someone you like to be around...who is nice to you and cares about you. A friend will never leave you behind. A friend will always be there for you." (A/n Okay, even I'm realizing that this sounds OOC for Riku, but he's teaching something important here.)

"Riku...always here for me...?"

Riku's face went from smiling to a sad frown. He couldn't help but realize how much Miho sounded like...

"Yeah...I'm always here for you."

And he felt like he was torn in two.

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A/n WOW! That was a bit angsty, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing this. There was also a hinting at Namiku here, but Namixas should come out in the next chapter, along with some more SoraKai! They don't need any words to profess their love to each other, because they already know it in their hearts...d'awww...I just made myself feel all fluffy inside...