Whoo! Chapter seven is up! Sorry about the delay…I've been at conferences and classes and whatnot every week and have had very little time to breathe, much less update this sucker. Here's my attempt at updating regularly again…yeah. As always, I don't own any of the characters, so don't sue. Feedback would very much be appreciated!

It was gray outside, and a wind of less than gentle proportions was unsettling the sand, forcing the broad, sinewy palm tree branches to bend. This was a rather fitting state of the atmosphere, Sora thought beneath the confines of his blanket. He was yet again huddled beneath them, hoping that by some magical power, the world would suddenly reset itself and put everything back to normal…or at least make things bearable.

He shifted in his bed, and peeked from beneath the blanket at the calendar on the wall. He already knew it was something he didn't want to see, but he made himself look anyway, and hoped with all his might that whatever magic was going to reset the world would also turn back the clock.

His throat tightened, when he saw the days marked off. It really had been a week since he had been in human contact.

Since he had seen Kairi.

Since he had talked to his best friend.

His phone had buzzed now and then over the course of the week, and he would have ignored it if he didn't think that a lack of response would send Kairi into a nervous frenzy. She had already lost him once, and he wasn't too keen on making her go through that again. Furthermore, she knew that he was just as much of a people person as Riku wasn't. If she ever found out he was purposefully avoiding contact with people, she would assume something was wrong, and he did not need questioning.

He did decide to message her back and invent some lie that he had come down with a very abrupt, and very serious flu, but he did so through a text message, as he was completely sure he wouldn't be able to lie to her through a vocal exchange. She knew him too well. And he was never very good at hiding his feelings.

She had told him that she was worried for him, asked if he needed her to do anything. She was being perfect, caring and wonderful, just as he knew her to be. He couldn't help but feel as though he had let her down, let Riku down, and ruined something so perfect that all the glue in the world would never restore it back to its former glory.

His bottom lip jutted out, and while he had refused to cry, he couldn't help but wonder if he would spend the rest of his life holed up in his room pretending to be sick.

He looked down at his phone. It was running low on power since he hadn't bothered to charge it in the near sleeping marathon he purposefully pulled himself into.

There was one new message, and it was from Kairi. It had been sitting there for who knew how long. He had been too depressed and had felt too guilty to open it.

Sighing, he opened the message and scanned the text.

Feel better soon. Let me know if you need anything.

He closed his phone and held it over his chest, squeezing his eyes shut. It was so like her to care for him like that. And he did wish that he could feel better soon, that all of this would go away and that he could go back to being a member of the most perfect trio.

He knew that he couldn't though. Not the way things were now. Not as long as he and Riku weren't back to normal. He looked back down at his phone and squeezed it tightly in his hands until his palms turned white and the device threatened to break.

Releasing his fingers with a sigh, he found that the pressure he had put on the phone was still very much so present; however this time it was wrapped around his ribs, his lungs, his heart. It was pressing against the back of his eyes, it was the force of his teeth across his lip.

It wasn't fair that Riku got to just end the two of them like that. He wasn't some toy that could just be cast aside. He was a person with feelings, who loved the Riku that stayed hidden for far too long in the darkness, who was mean, and cold, and just the tiniest bit broken. The Riku who was bitter and pessimistic, who moped and fought and loved like he was punishing himself.

The Riku who wanted so badly to be Sora's Kairi.

The Riku who wasn't her and so perfect despite it.

Sora rolled over, and squeezed his eyes shut. The pressure behind his eyes was nagging at him, and he refused to let it rush over him. He simply refused.

He rolled over again, this time on his side, purposely squeezing his cheeks together between his pillow and mattress. If he allowed himself to become overwhelmed, he would never be able to figure out what to do, and furthermore this hoax of sickness he had created might threaten to become a reality.

A dull groan rolled throughout the room suddenly, and Sora rolled his eyes. In his efforts to stay holed up in the confines of his room while he pondered the complexities of life, further mope about the hopelessness of his romantic relationship, and now the state of his friendship with Riku, he had forgotten more than a few meals.

Frowning, he patted his grumbling stomach. Apparently it was just as upset as he was.

He had bothered to venture from his room only twice the last few days to horde food in his room—and now that the refrigerator was absent of all of his usual no-cook food sources, he knew that he would eventually need to venture out into the public to buy more. He was also in dire need of a shower, and all that time hiding from the world was really starting to make him depressed—not that the abrupt halt in communication with is best friend was particularly joyous. Maybe some time spent not thinking about his current relationship turmoil would be beneficial.

It took three attempts to convince himself that continuing on like this would end up making him starve to death, and at last, he sat up, peeling himself out of the covers. He stepped onto the cold floor, bare foot and tired, and stood. Looking himself over in the mirror, he realized that some fresh air on his skin would probably do something about the dead, zombie-esque image he was currently sporting, and that maybe, just maybe, he could stumble upon some kind of marvelous, magical talisman that could make all of this go away.

Trying to work his furrowed brows into some semblance of a smile, he showered and pulled on a random shirt and pants combination, hoping only faintly that they matched. Plastering on a shadow of a smile, he pulled on his socks and shoes and descend the stairs of his house, ready to greet the world…or something like that.

At the very least, Destiny Islands was doing its best to assuage some of his anxiety. Though there was a blustery wind picking up, the waves were relaxingly rhythmic, the temperature was not too hot. The sun was completely obscured by a thick collection of clouds; his skin thankful for the break. The grey sky had him slightly suspicious of a tropical storm rolling in later that afternoon, but since it wasn't raining yet, he was satisfied. Maybe getting out of the house was exactly what he needed today. Brooding in his room never really was his style, and like always, surrounding himself with people lifted his mood. As long as those people remained distinctly not Riku or Kairi, he might look forward to being out in the world today.

He was actually already starting to feel better as he immersed himself with the hustle and bustle of a morning on the islands, enjoying the smell of the street snacks sold by local vendors and the shouts of merchants selling their wares outside the little shops. If he spent another few hours outside in this atmosphere, maybe he would end up happening across that magic talisman.

Venturing to put a legitimate smile on his face, he began to relax. There was something spicy and sweet in the air, and despite how it was making his stomach rumble, he slowed his pace to the store to really enjoy the walk. So far he had not seen a hint of Kairi or Riku, and the grocery store to which he was headed was already in sight. In fact, as he passed through the glass doors of the store, he had even acquired a bounce in his step. The chilliness of the air conditioned space made his skin prickle delightfully, and the promise of food at the end of his walk rested wonderfully in his mind. He snatched a basket near the door and surveyed the aisles for appropriate foods to store in the bare cupboards—perhaps extra to store underneath his bed. Grinning, he spied the row of calorie-laden chips and cookies and was positively giddy with the thought of filling his basket with them.

It was then that he felt the first strike of the dagger trying to pierce his good mood, which was still very much so still in its embryonic stage.

"Hey! Is that Sora over there?"

Pausing mid reach, Sora grinded his teeth and mentally scrolled through a list of options for escape. Unmistakably, that was the ever loud and energetic voice of Wakka.

"I think it is! Hey, Sora, is that you?"

And, as expected, there was the equally energetic voice of Tidus to follow, a not-so-uncommon accompaniment.

Cringing, he thought faster. Running wouldn't work. That would make his existence even more obvious. He couldn't slay them—Wakka and Tidus not being Heartless after all, and now he couldn't even pretend to be someone else, because he had already been spotted.

Visibly panicking now, he decided to try the latter option anyway, and pulled up the hood of his shirt, thankful that he had bothered to grab a shirt with a hood attached in his dispassionate quest for clothing that morning. Slowly, he slid the hood up over his ears and tugged it down, shuffling to down the aisle. For extra precautions, he pulled his sleeves down to obscure his hands.

"It looks like Sora. Let's go say 'hi!'" Wakka said again, and Sora felt the pit of his stomach drop.

Had managed to summon enough energy to message Kairi a couple of times during his week-long hiatus from humanity, convincing her that he had caught a really bad head cold, and since he doubted Riku wanted to look at him ever again, especially after how he walked out of his house, rejecting him like some cinematic vixen, messaging him was really unnecessary. Wakka and Tidus on the other hand had not seen him in over a week; a very unusual occurrence since his return with Riku five years ago.

Explaining his depression to them was absolutely out of the question.

He really had no one else to blame for his usually very positive attitude. He couldn't help it. He always saw his glasses half full, and preferred to look on the brighter side of situations. It was very helpful in otherwise very stressful times during his conquests across the worlds, but now it was proving to be rather annoying, because if his friends saw any contradiction to his cheeriness, he was undoubtedly going to be subjected to harsh questioning.

"Hey! Wow, you probably didn't hear us calling you with that hood over your head, ya?" Wakka said, slapping him on the back with a heavy hand and grinning. "It almost looks like you were hiding from us!"

Sora peeled the hood off his head reluctantly and fit his face with a smile. "Er…no, not at all! I was just…well…anyway, what are you guys up to?"

Tidus stopped next to Wakka and offered a grin as well. "We were just out getting some ice cream. Wakka wanted to be productive today, but I talked him out of it."

Sora chuckled. "Productive?"

"Yeah," Wakka chimed in. "I was going to map out some drills for that rookie Blitzball team I'm coaching, but ice cream was a pretty convincing argument against it."

"I'd agree with that. I was just doing some junk food shopping myself," Sora gestured to the wall of chips he was ready to put into his basket. "Although I've been anything but productive these last few days, eating junk food is a better alternative to almost anything."

"Speaking of which," Tidus said, "I haven't seen you in a pretty long time. It's not like you to ditch us you know!"

"Yeah, some friend you are!"

"It's not like that at all!" Sora smiled sheepishly. "I really haven't been ditching you guys. I've just been…well…er…"

"Yeah, yeah. We know you have stuff to do with your well-paying job, the family you're raising, and that doctoral degree you've been working on." Wakka grinned. "Oh wait, you aren't doing any of that!"

"Let's face it, Wakka. We've been ditched!" He mock sobbed into Wakka's arm, shoulders heaving up and down.

The rotary wheel of believable lies in Sora's head was apparently jammed up. "Really! I'm not ditching you. I was…I was…I was sick!" It unstuck just in the nick of time. "Headache, sore throat, fever, the works. I'm better now, so that's good."

Tidus nodded. "Sick huh? Well, now that you mention it, you do look a little pale."

"Wait, I can see those dark circles under your eyes, too. They look really bad, ya."

Sora began to feel just a little bit guilty.

Tidus clapped him on the back and grinned. "Fine, you're forgiven this time. But if you let it happen again, I'd start fearing for your life. Wakka's unpredictable."

"Excuse me?"

Tidus waved him away. "Speaking of sick, did you know that the best cure for a sore throat is ice cream? I didn't either until just this very second." He held up the basket he was holding, which was loaded with ice cream bars of varying flavors. "Why don't you join us? My treat!"

"Oh…well…that sounds great guys, really, but—"

"Nonsense," Wakka cut him off grabbing his wrist and pulling. "You've finally joined the land of the living and for once Tidus is being generous. If this isn't an opportunity to celebrate, I don't know what is!" He didn't wait for Sora to protest more and dragged him down the aisle as he and Tidus chatted excitedly. Sora really just wanted to get his groceries and go, but Wakka's vice grip made the decision for him.

"And I've pretty much cleaned out the entire selection, so don't worry about finding a flavor you like," Tidus said as they approached the cash register. "I couldn't decide what ice cream I wanted, so I got all of them. I have no idea how I thought I was going to eat all of them before they melted, but that's what you're here for." He grinned and set the basket on the counter.

"Are you buying mine, too?" Wakka asked, tossing his ice cream on the counter as well.

Tidus made a point of separating them with a large space. "No way. In fact, you still owe me for that time one of your little Blitzball monsters kicked that ball into my head."

Wakka waved his hands defensively. "It wasn't my fault. You should have been watching."

"You told them to aim for me!"

"I told them to aim for the goal behind you!"

The cashier exchanged a look of amused confusion with Sora before putting all of their purchases into a sack and sending them on their way. Chuckling to himself, Sora decided to hope for the best. At the very least, he was getting free ice cream out of the deal, and he did miss seeing Wakka and Tidus.

"Ah, here we are," Tidus sighed, throwing himself down on the edge of the pier and rummaging through the sack for an ice cream bar. "Come on chocolate, come on chocolate!" Satisfied in his selection, he tossed the bag in Sora's direction. "Take whatever you want."

Sora grinned and pulled out banana, thanking Tidus before handing the bag back to him. Wakka unwrapped his own sea-salt flavored ice cream bar and grimaced. "Ya, what is this? I thought this was one of those new mystery flavored ice creams." He inspected the bar distastefully. "Sora, isn't this that sea salt flavor that you, Kairi and Riku always eat? Trade me."

Sora grimaced at the mention of his girlfriend and best friend, remembering times when things were not as complicated.

"Why the sour face, ya? I thought you liked sea-salt."

"It's nothing. I do, you're right." He exchanged his ice cream with Wakka and licked it thoughtfully.

"Your cold coming back?" Tidus inquired leaning back. "Last time I checked, ice cream does anything but produce that expression…unless you get it on your teeth." He grimaced. "What's up?"

"Really, it's nothing."

Waka's eyes narrowed. "Save that for someone who hasn't known you for your entire life, ya? It's not often you look as sour as Tidus."

"I resent that! I don't look sour!"

"I think Selphie and a handful of young children around here would disagree with that."

"Shut up! Besides, this isn't about me. It's about Sora. What's got you so down?"

Sora leaned back as well, unsure about breeching the subject with the two of them. He decided if anything he was going to start with the lighter side of things. "Ugh, let me ask you guys a question."

"Shoot."

"How much do you know about girls?"

Wakka hiccupped into his ice cream, smearing a banana flavored trail down his chin. "What kind of question is that, yah? You and Kairi having issues?"

Sora quickly waved his hands dismissively. "No! Well, not really. It's just a question."

Tidus chuckled. "Well, you're one lucky guy. You just happened to be talking with the resident expert on women and romancing. You couldn't have picked a better person to ask."

"'Cept for maybe Riku," Wakka chimed in, which earned him a swift knock to the back of his head, yet again, pushing his face into his ice cream. "Yah! If this keeps going on I'm not going to have anymore left!"

"Anyway," Tidus continued, fishing around in the plastic bag for another ice cream. "I've dated from here to the end of the ocean, and time and time again, my theory about women has been proven: they're nothing but trouble!"

"Trouble?"

"Yes. They're all trouble. They're always so… 'Tidus, when are you going to take us more seriously?' or 'Tidus, why don't we try to hold hands when we walk together?' And then there's my personal favorite, 'Tidus, what do you mean you were hanging out with her last night. I thought we were exclusive!' Really, they're so petty."

"Yah, I don't think your on-again-off again relationship with Selphie really qualifies you as an expert on dating, Tidus."

"I've dated plenty of women, thank you Wakka. Selphie just happens to be the girl that's lasted the longest. And anyway, I haven't seen you linking up arms with any girls recently."

"Coaching that Blitzball team keeps me too busy for all that stuff!"

"Uh huh."

Sora sighed. He really was far behind in the dating world, and now he didn't even have his own best friend to bicker with about it. He sighed again, which caught Tidus attention.

"You know what I think your problem is, Sora?"

"Er…what?"

"I think you're too nice of a guy. You worry too much. Whatever rough patch you and Kairi are going through will work itself out. You've just got to put it on ice. Let her come to you and ask for forgiveness."

"Tidus," Wakka said with narrowed eyes. "I don't really think you're the best person to give advice on conflict resolution. How many times has Selphie threatened to kill you in your sleep?"

"Seven, which is still in the single digits."

"…Okay, well…take it from me. I'm a coach, and my little brats fight all the time. The best thing to do is talk it out, and the sooner you resolve the problem, the faster you'll be back in the game. Whatever you do, don't punch her or threaten her with a Blitzball."

"…Uh…"

Wakka shook his head. "Besides, this is Kairi and you we're talking about here. I can't even picture you guys even thinking about fighting."

"Yeah," Tidus added. "She's not even really a chick."

It was Sora's turn to glare at him, to which Tidus quickly tried to explain. "Er…what I meant was, she's not like regular chicks. I don't think I've ever seen her angry, and she's pretty forgiving. In fact, I bet you could kick her and threaten with her with a Blitzball and she'd still come hang out with you the next day. She's always been the nice one. Why do I always get stuck with all of the belligerent ones?"

Sora laughed. "Well…we're not really fighting or anything. Actually things are going pretty well. I think. It's just…I don't know. With everything that's happened in the past, I haven't really had time to know how to be around girls so there are times that I just feel uncomfortable."

"Oh?"

Sora blushed, feeling as though he was already giving away too much information. If he was going to walk away with some of his dignity, Wakka and Tidus could not find out about the kissing ordeal.

Wakka grinned at the onset of Sora's blush, and immediately, Sora knew that he was in trouble.

"Ooooh! What's this here, ya? Why are you turning red? Something tells me that this conversation is about to get much more interesting. What's got you so uncomfortable with Kairi? Out with it!"

"It's nothing!" Sora said, feeling his face redden even more. When Tidus nearly jumped over Wakka to get a better look at his face, Sora swiveled around in his seat on the pier and shoved the rest of his ice cream in his mouth.

"Oh this is too good!" Tidus laughed. "Come on Sora, tell us!"

"No! There's nothing to tell!"

"If it was nothing then you wouldn't be blushing like that. Oh!"

The devious chuckle that followed struck Sora to his very core and he very strongly wished that he was back at home under the covers. "Stop laughing like that. You don't know anything."

"Oh hohohoho, I believe I do!" Tidus chuckled, wedging himself between Sora and Wakka. "I think I very much know what is going on here. You and Kairi…you want to…."

"Tidus stop it. That is not it!"

"Yes it is! You want to plant the seed, water the garden, pluck the flower…whatever other nature-themed euphemisms you want to use."

"Tidus! I don't—"

It was Wakka's turn to burst out laughing this time, swinging an arm around Tidus' shoulders as he wiped the corner of his eyes. "Now, now Sora. It's only natural. There comes a time in every man's life when he feels it's time to sow his seed in the mighty garden of the universe. It's just that you've probably picked the purest flower to well…deflower."

Sora was so red now he was surprised that he wasn't on fire. "Cut it out! Something like that is not even in the picture right now. I don't even know how to kiss her the right way yet!"

Tidis and Wakka abruptly stopped laughing, and Sora felt the once very prevalent heated red in his face drain away until he was quite possibly the color of chalk.

"You don't know how to kiss her?"

Sora ran his hand down his face. Wonderful. "Well…"

"Sora, that's possibly the most adorable thing I've ever heard." Tidus chuckled.

"I know," Wakka agreed. "It's so sweet I don't even want my ice cream anymore. What's next, are you going to invite her to prom and have her back before nine?"

"Shut up! It's not funny."

"You're right. It's hilarious!"

"Leave me alone!" Sora hid his hands in his face this time, hoping very much that the ground would just swallow him up. "It's not my fault. I've never really had a lot of time to practice these things!"

"Yeah, that's true." Wakka agreed. "Come to think of it, Kairi is your first girlfriend, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

Tidus waved his empty popsicle stick around, fishing for his third in the bag. "This really isn't a problem you know. All you have to do is get yourself a cheeseburger and—"

"Don't listen to him," Wakka interjected. "I've never been able to look at cheeseburgers the same way."

Sora scratched the back of his head. "I don't intend to, thanks. I've been asking Riku for er…pointers but—"

"Oooh, good call!" Tidus said again, ripping the wrapper off of his strawberry popsicle enthusiastically. "He always was the ladies man, if I'm remembering high school correctly. Well, second to me of course."

Wakka laughed. "He could probably teach you how to be cool, too. Girls like that; the strong brooding type."

"And guys who play guitar."

"Riku doesn't play guitar…"

"Really? Well, whatever. He looks like he could. That's why we were the greatest rivals for women. It was not an easy battle, but I came out victorious. Tell me, what advice has he been giving you?"

"Please, you're just trying to milk information from Sora so that you can fix your own dating issues without having to admit you're not the ladies man you think you are."

"Wakka, surely you're kidding. I had six girls chasing me while I dated Selphie, all of which slipped me their phone numbers under Selphie's nose until she found out about it. That's got to be some kind of world record."

Wakka clapped slowly, and rolled his eyes. He then spared a look over to Sora, who looked as if his dog had just run away. "Hey what's the matter now, ya?"

"It's nothing. It's just that…well, Riku and I are just...we're not really talking right now so—"

"What? You two? You guys are like, inseparable! How can you not be talking?"

"Are you guys fighting now, too?"

"No we aren't fighting." Sora was careful this time as to how to form his words. Perhaps letting the kissing thing slip was embarrassing, but letting the two of them know that he had been practicing on Riku and subsequently dating him would have been unacceptable on a completely different level, furthermore that it had gotten this out of hand. "It's hard to explain, and I don't really want to talk about it."

"Ooh! Secrets don't keep friends!"

"Gossip doesn't either," Wakka elbowed him in the ribs. "If he doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't want to talk about it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was just kidding. Talking to us about it is probably not the best move. You should go to talk to him about it. Fighting with your girlfriend is one thing, but fighting with your best friend? Not cool."

Wakka's mouth hung open and he stared at Tidus, blinking. "What? Something that prolific came out of your mouth?"

"Every once in a while, I can pop out something good."

Wakka stood quickly and shoved the litter from his popsicles into the empty bag. "Sora, you'd better go talk to him now. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to follow good advice given to you by Tidus. This doesn't happen often, so you'd better hurry before the planets go back out of alignment."

This earned him a punch in the arm by Tidus, who also stood. "I resent that."

Sora nodded. "I guess I should. This is just going to be…weird."

"So is Wakka, but I talk to him anyway."

Sora smiled. "Thanks, guys."

"It's no problem, Sora. Just try not to desert us again, ya? You ran away from here once, and we almost thought you were getting ready to do it again!"

"I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while," Sora replied as he stood up. "Things are too out of order here to leave it now."

"That's the spirit!"

The three of them shared grins before parting ways, Sora a bit more reluctantly than Tidus and Wakka. They were right. Despite how he had almost completely failed in his attempt to keep these problems to himself, he had managed to leave with some good advice. He did need to go sort things out with Riku, then subsequently Kairi, no matter how awkward he thought it was going to be. Turning abruptly on his heel, he hurried down the boardwalk to put as little time between the present moment and meeting with Riku as possible. He had no idea what he was going to say. He never did. The important thing, he realized, was that he just needed to say something. Sora frowned, shoving his hands deep in his pockets to keep his hands warm from the steadily increasing wind. Tidus and Wakka were right. This was stupid. He and Riku were best friends.

As he had discovered during his time traveling the worlds, he thought better with his heart and gut better than he did with his brain, and it was proving to be quite true now too.

He turned toward the direction of Riku's house, but stopped short, realizing that he had forgotten his shopping quest. He knew that mending things with Riku was important, but doing so on an empty stomach wouldn't be beneficial to either of them. He decided to make a quick trip back to the grocery store before heading off.

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