Disclaimer: I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts, the Kingdom Hearts Franchise, Square Enix, Final Fantasy, or any of their characters.
Authors Note:
Are you surprised!? If you're wondering why I uploaded two chapters this week instead of one, then you can stop wondering. This is not really a chapter, it is, but it isn't. It deals with Sora and Riku in the past, and is actually extremely important for the development in the story (and a great excuse for me to put Soriku fluff). The reason I say it's not a real chapter is because it's not exceptionally lengthy like my other ones (usually covering a good twelve pages, while this one only covers around five) that's why I say it's a half chapter, hence the 0.5. Well I hope you enjoy it! It's lot's of well deserved Soriku fluff for my readers who have been sticking by me all this time!
Sora and Riku are best friends, and they always have been, ever since the day the brunet reached his hand out to him. Because of that, Riku finds it difficult to share Sora with anyone else, and they play alone all the time. He was hoping to keep it this way until the fateful arrival of a certain "New Girl". Can he deter her away from Sora the same way he has done with everyone else in the past?
Chapter 6.5: The New Girl
Riku:
"Of course I like Riku! He's my best friend!"
Sora's words echoed in the young boys mind.
He blushed and stuffed his hands in his pocket, "Tsk, Sora don't say such embarrassing things!" he whispered to himself.
Riku was on his way to the brunet's house; the day was scorching, and the heat made it seem like the sidewalk ahead was blending into its surroundings.
"Ah, it's hot… I hate the heat. Why do I have to be the one to go to his house?" he said, sounding irritated.
He kicked a small stone on the pavement and it bounded forward a few feet. Riku continued to kick the stone as he walked past the houses that lined the sidewalk; the stone seemed to keep his mind off the heat, but he wouldn't need it much longer. Soon he would arrive at Sora's house and they could play on the secret island they had found.
The boy stopped walking and looked up; there was a girl he hadn't seen before standing in front of him.
"H-hi…" she said, her voice soft.
Though Riku was curious about where she came from, he had no intention of having a conversation with the girl.
"Hey." He said coldly, and continued to walk past her.
It's not that he had anything against her, but he wasn't much to socialize, much less play with girls; their idea of fun was to dress up dolls.
Oddly enough the new girl was standing in front of Sora's house; she was walking in the opposite direction of Riku and had stopped when she saw him.
None the less, the silver boy had reached his destination; he turned toward Sora house and walked up to his door. He was aware that the strange girl was watching him even now, is she mad at me or something? Get over yourself.
The silver haired boy knocked on his friend's door. The sound of someone running downstairs was heard from inside; the door flung open and a bright-eyed brunet, with a large grin on his face appeared.
"Riku you're here!" he exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, I'm here, and I would like to get to the beach already because it's really hot." He said in mock anger.
"Ew, Riku you really stink! You're all sweaty!" Sora laughed, holding his nose.
The silver haired boy hit the top of the Sora's head, "and whose fault do you think that is!? Why don't you walk to my house sometimes!?" he fumed.
The brunet covered his head, "ah~ Riku is a big meanie!" he whined.
"Why you—uh, fine, whatever let's just go." Riku sighed, giving up.
"Mom, I'm going with Riku ok!" Sora shouted.
"Ok, be careful!" his mother called from inside.
The brunet closed the door and the two boys turned and started walking, but they stopped when they noticed that the girl was still standing on the sidewalk, looking at them.
Riku shot her a glare, get lost! What are you still doing here!
He squeezed his hands into a fist, "Hey, Riku… who is that girl, I've never seen her before." Sora whispered.
The girl flashed a bright smile at the two boys and continued walking in the direction she was going.
"Hey Ri-chan, that girl was kind of cute huh!" Sora exclaimed.
"Hmph, I think she's just weird, and don't call me Ri-chan!" the silver haired boy said angrily.
"Whatever, let's just go!" Riku grabbed Sora's hand and started pulling him forward.
"Ri-Riku, you don't need to hold my hand!" the brunet said, blushing.
"Yes I do, or else you'll get lost. I'm older so your mom put me in charge of you!" Riku said smirking.
Sora formed a pout, but he didn't complain anymore; he allowed his friend to continue leading him.
The two boys made their way to the secret island that they had found by chance one day while adventuring on their small vessel.
They started pulling their boat onto the sand, "hey Riku…" the brunet said while pulling the boat.
"Yeah?" his friend replied also pulling the craft.
The vessel was a safe distance from the water now, it wouldn't get pulled out to sea again, so the two let go.
"Why don't we ever tell anyone else about this place? Don't you think it'd be fun to play with a lot of people here!" he asked excitedly.
Riku shot him a cold look, "No. This is our secret spot, we found it so we can't tell anyone else about it!" he said angrily.
"I, I just thought it might be fun to have a few more friends to play with…" Sora mumbled sadly.
Riku grabbed the brunet's hand, "But I'm your best friend aren't I? You don't want to hang out with me?" the silver haired boy said sadly.
Sora looked up at him, "no that's not true! I love playing with Ri-chan!" he shouted out.
Riku placed a hand on Sora's head and ruffled his hair, causing the brunet to blush.
"Good, because I love playing with Sora too." He said smiling; a small tint of pink on his cheeks. "Now come on, let's get in the water; the heat is killing me!" he complained.
The two boys took off their shirts and ran into the water.
Sora swam around and dove under the surface to find seashells while Riku floated on his back.
"Hey Riku!" the brunet yelled.
The boy stood up, only to have seawater splashed in his face. He gave Sora a serious look and spit out the salty water that had landed in his mouth.
"Oh yeah?" the silver haired boy grinned.
He plunged both of his arms under the water and brought them up to splash a large amount of it at Sora.
"Hey! No fair I only used one arm!" the brunet whined.
"I didn't know there were rules against that. I'm so very sorry princess." The boy mocked.
"What did you call me!?" the two boys continued to splash each other for quite a while, and the heat of the day was soon forgotten.
The two friends sat on the beach looking at the sun setting into the water.
"Hey Ri-chan." The brunet said.
One of Riku's eyebrows twitch, "When are you going to stop call—"
"I had a lot of fun with you today, and I'm glad you're my best friend Riku. Let's stay best friends forever!" said Sora grinning.
The silver haired boy felt his face flush, "mhm, let's stay best friends forever." He said happily.
Riku extended his pinky, and Sora intertwined it with his own.
The two shook their hands up and down and sang the usual song that children sing when they pinky swear. "Pinky promise, if I lie, I will drink one-thousand needles, and cut my pinky." Sora smiled, "Now, if either of us breaks our promise; we'll have to drink one-thousand needles!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, cause that sounds like fun." Riku said sarcastically.
Both boys laughed loudly and shared jokes under the light of the setting sun.
Night was going to fall soon, so the two boys hurried back to the main island. But when they went to dock the boat, Tidus and his group, along with the new girl, were standing on the dock.
"I knew you guys had some type of secret hiding place! Where did you guys go!? Did you find a pirates island? Why're you holding out on us?!" Tidus exclaimed loudly.
Riku finished tying the small wooden boat to the dock, and shot the loud boy an icy look.
"It's none of your business loud-mouth." Riku said coldly.
"What'd you call me?! I outta'—just where do get off being all high and mighty!?" the blond boy shouted, squeezing his hands into a fist.
"I think I have all the right to act all, 'high and mighty'. After all I'm definitely a hundred times better than a pea-brained dork like you." Riku smirked.
"Why you—" Tidus launched forward to attack the silver haired boy, only to be held back by Selphie and Wakka.
"What good will fighting do, stupid!" shouted Selphie.
"I agree, ya; just leave him alone." said Wakka.
Riku stared at the seething boy in front of him; he then looked at the girl that had been watching all of this unfold.
He shot her a cold look, the same goes for you. You aren't allowed to play with Sora.
The girl looked away from him.
"You're a real jerk you know that! I'm so sick of you, to think I felt bad for you because you always seemed to be by yourself. Why is Sora friends with you!? You're just a big, stupid jerk!" Tidus said bluntly.
Riku stayed quiet, he had nothing to say. He agreed with everything that the boy had said; Riku didn't get along with people, it was just impossible for him. He was cocky and looked down on a lot of people, and he was sarcastic and cruel; he never really took anything or anyone seriously.
Riku chuckled, "you're ri—"
Sora ran between the two boys. "Leave Riku alone!" he yelled out, his eyes watery.
The silver haired boy's eyes widened in shock, "Riku ni-chan may not be the best at making friends, and he has a hard time talking to people, because he always says what he's thinking but… he's a really good person! Riku… always watches out for me, and he laughs even when my jokes aren't funny! He plays with me every day, and always keeps his promises; he defends me from mean people too! I know Riku can act like a big meanie, but that's not the real Riku! The real Riku is a nice and caring friend!" yelled Sora, tears rolling down his cheek.
Riku stood, shocked, Sora… defended me…That's right, from the very start; Sora never looked at me with unkind eyes…
...
"Hey what's your name?" a small brunet asked the small silver haired boy who was lying on the lawn in front of his house.
"What does it matter to you?" said the silver haired boy.
The brunet smiled, "well how am I going to be your friend if I don't know your name?" he said laughing.
"Maybe I don't want to be your friend?" Riku said coldly.
"You don't want friends? Isn't that lonely" the boy pouted.
Riku raised an eyebrow, "it's not like it matters to you right?" he replied.
"It does matter to me! Because well… I know it's lonely, not having any friends…" the brunet said in a sad voice.
The silver haired boy decided to humor him, "ok, but why do you want to be my friend?" he asked.
"Well, I don't have any friends either, and I think you look really cool, so I want you to be my first friend!" the boy stated happily.
The silver haired boy blinked and a smile formed on his face; he started laughing. Not many people could make him laugh; the brunet tilted his head and gave him a questioning look.
"Ha-ha, only because I look cool? You sure are a strange one!" he chuckled, wiping a tear that had formed on his eye from laughing.
"It's Riku, my name is Riku." He said, extending his hand out to the boy.
A grin formed on the small brunet's face, "Nice to meet you Riku! My name is Sora, let's be good friends!" Sora said happily, shaking Riku's hand.
...
He felt his face heat up at the memory.
Tidus gained a guilty expression, and his friends let him go.
The blond boy scratched the back of his head, "I'm sorry, that I said all those things… I don't know you that well but I still said some really mean things, huh?" Tidus apologized, sounding truly sorry.
Riku didn't want to apologize to him, because he had meant every word that he said, but he knew that probably wouldn't be the best course of action.
"… I'm sorry too… I shouldn't have said what I said…" he replied in an apologetic tone.
Even though what I said was true.
"Hey I have an idea! Why don't we make up by playing pirate next time with the new girl, Kairi?" Tidus exclaimed, motioning toward the small red headed girl.
Riku's eyes widened, What!? Wait, no!
"That's a great idea!" exclaimed Sora.
Riku gritted his teeth, "Tsk, fine! Do whatever, like I care." He stormed off, ignoring Sora's calls.
No, no, no! I don't want to share Sora with anyone else, he's my best friend!
Lost in his thoughts he hadn't noticed that someone had been following him. He turned around and the red headed girl with the white dress was behind him.
Kairi!
"What do you want!" he spat.
She smiled at him, "You don't want to share Sora do you?" she asked calmly.
Riku was glad she had noticed, because he wasn't willing to come up with anymore excuses and sound like a nice guy.
"No I don't! He's my best friend, and I don't want him being friends with them! I especially don't want him being friends with you."
He expected the girl to cry, or at least be shocked, but she still had a soft smile on her face.
"Don't you think that's for Sora to choose?" she said chuckling.
The boy squeezed his hands into a fist, "and what, do you think Sora will choose you?" he asked coldly.
The girl chuckled and turned around; looking back, she said "I'd be careful if I were you Riku. Try to hold onto something too tight and all you'll do is drive it away."
The girl walked off, and he glared at her.
I want you to be the farthest away from Sora.
End of Chapter 6.5
Authors Note:
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter(it's another reason for why chapter six is my favorite). I got my inspiration from reading the doujinshi "Innocence" made by the same person who made "Crown". before anyone says anything, I don't hate Kairi, and I don't think she's a bitch, I just feel that her and Riku had a bit of a clash in the beginning. I also do not, under any circumstances think Riku's a jerk. He is my all time favorite character, but the reason I love him so much is because of all the character growth he had. He changed from being selfish and competitive, to a complete sweetheart who truly cares for his friends and would do anything to protect them. (He obviously cares about Sora, but he's going about it the wrong way). I made this chapter because I find it fun to analyze the psychological reasons for Riku acting the way he did in the beginning. I also really like the growth in the relationship between Riku and Kairi; in the later stories, especially "Shadows come forth to light" this mini chapter becomes really significant!
I hope you enjoyed this mini chapter! Please, try not to be upset with any of the characters, there is a reason for everything they do. There are no bitches or jerks, keep reading and you'll be sure to understand!
Review/PM me if you have any questions or comments!
