Hormones
8
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It'd been days since the idea had come up, but still Riku was weighing out the absurdities and the necessities of building a floating vessel by hand. A raft? Riku had never considered building a raft. Sure he'd thought of simply taking a boat to sail off the island, but where would he get one? His own small boat was nowhere near strong enough to sail out on it's own, not to mention it would be cramped with Yuffie there. He needed something bigger. Yes…a raft would do nicely. But it would have to be big.
And Yuffie might have been right about the door. It seemed to be made of strong enough wood. Even after all these years it still hadn't even acquired a chip in it. First thing Riku knew he had to do was learn how to construct a raft, however. Removing the door would have to come later. But surely everybody would figure out what he was up to once he started, so it was unlikely that he'd be able to hide it from Sora and the others.
Who knows, maybe they could come too? That was always the original plan anyway. If he left the island he'd want his friends to come and share the experience. And Yuffie would be there. The four of them would be together, so the raft had to be exceptionally large. Yes…the four of them.
The excitement shot through him, sending him into elation. The last time he'd felt such a spark in his chest was when the night sky had been ablaze with dozens of falling stars nine years ago. Surely the only feeling in existence that could possibly compare is that of freedom. He could feel it, closer than it had ever been in his life, and the possibility of being able to reach his eager hands out to grasp it thrust him into an uncontainable state of euphoria.
"Riku?" a meek and feminine voice addressed from behind. Riku closed his locker and turned to face Kairi. She stood there, arms behind her back, blue eyes staring into his, innocent and focused just as they were when she was six years old. Still so big and beautiful, those eyes…Kind of like Yuffie's, only hers were sharper, always elusive and yet always perceptive. Both an adult and child. Yuffie--
"Riku?" Kairi called again.
"Yeah, Kairi?" Riku said, a serene smile on his face. He couldn't help it. Whenever he said anything to her his face just wound up looking that way.
"Where's Yuffie?" she asked innocently. There was something in her voice that would have otherwise been undetectable to anyone who hadn't know her for years, but Riku couldn't decipher what it was. Nonetheless, it didn't effect his smile.
"Yuffie is at home, I think," he replied.
"Why? Isn't she staying with you? I thought for sure she'd be attending high school while she was here."
Riku nearly shuddered with horror. "Uh, no, I don't think that would be necessary. It remains to be seen how long she'll actually need to stay here, so as of the moment she's just, y'know…on vacation." He almost finished the sentence in a question, but caught himself at the last second.
"Oh," Kairi said. "But where is she now?"
"Home."
"Her home? She left already?"
"No, not…" Di-did I make it sound that way? Riku thought in surprise. When did my home suddenly become her home? Am I really so used to… "She's at my house, I mean. Probably sleeping, lazing about, breaking things--you know, all the things a cat would do. Scratching up the furniture…" With her kunais…
Kairi laughed musically. "That sounds a lot like something she would do, actually," she said beaming. "That and fighting. I've never met a girl who likes to fight as much as she does. Haha, it makes you wonder if she's even a girl at all sometimes, doesn't it? Kind of freakish." Riku's reaction was automatic. Immediately his eyes narrowed into thin slits, boring into Kairi's eyes with a glare so serious it made her cringe back. "U-um, no, I didn't mean…"
"Yuffie's just like the rest of us," Riku said patiently. Stoically. "There's nothing freakish about her."
"Riku, I didn't mean to--I'm sorry. It was…a joke…"
"Ah, no…" Riku caught himself and put a hand over his eyes, thumb and index finger resting on his eyebrows. He gave his head one soft shake, causing some silver hair to fall in his eyes, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry Kairi, I'm just…I don't know--protective of her." Really? Inquired his inner voice. As if someone like her needs protection.
"I-It's okay," stuttered Kairi. "I didn't mean to offend you or Yuffie. It's just something that sort of slipped out."
"Yeah, I guess." Riku gave a one armed shrug as if to brush the remark off, but inside he was clearly on edge. Still, for Kairi, he would be kind. "So where are you going now, English? I'll walk you there." No matter what, a gentleman must be a gentleman.
"Yes, but won't you be late to your class?"
"It's fine. Hey, if I am I'll just take it as punishment for being a jerk. And so," Riku held out his elbow for her, "shall I escort you, madam?"
"Yes, please." Kairi giggled and received his gesture, clinging tightly as he led her down the hall where resided a lineup of hostile and envious classmates.
School dragged on way too long for the rest of the day, thus putting Riku in a dangerous and unusually irritated mood. Each class, especially Trig, was torture, as he could not help but cast frequent glances at the clock on the wall who's second hand was moving far far too slow. Damn thing must be broken, because there is no way time could possibly be moving so slowly.
Trig was the last class of the day, and on this day Riku's class had taken a test. It was too easy for Riku, so he'd finished much earlier than everyone. Every day before a test Riku would study at home, memorizing everything that needed to be memorized, and though it proved to be more of a taxing job than usual since Yuffie was there bothering him the whole time, he still managed to answer every question on the test as if he'd memorized a cheat sheet.
When the bell finally rang, Riku all but catapulted out of his seat, and in doing so jostled his desk, causing his Trigonometry text book to spill off the edge. "Shit…" Riku swore under his breath (something he never did ever) and snatched the book off the ground with a forceful sweeping motion. In doing so a small note flew from inside and sailed across the room onto an empty desk.
What the hell? It wasn't his, he was sure. The piece of paper was folded too girlishly. When had someone put it there? Sure it was more than possible that anyone walking by during class might have slipped it in there when he wasn't paying attention. He'd rarely took his eyes off the clock all class period, but even so he was sure he'd have noticed. Seldom do things like that get by him so easily.
Riku waited impatiently for the remainder of class to empty out onto the other side of the room before making his way to the note. Quickly he seized it from its resting place and joined the rest of the eager students that were swiftly filing out into the hallway. He shoved the folded paper deep inside his pocket so as not to lose it--not that it really mattered since it was probably another childish love note from some insignificant smitten girl--and pushed his way through the crowd of students to toward the exit.
Usually he'd wait for Sora and Kairi to meet him by the exit, but today was different. Today he'd told Yuffie to come and wait for him outside in the courtyard when school had finished so they could elaborate on their situation together. Riku whipped his head around the courtyard the second he stepped foot outside the building. The courtyard was located at a different exit of the school, so there were less kids streaming out of the doors and less kids bound to notice and question Yuffie's appearance. Riku could only lie to so many people…
Riku was sure he'd spot Yuffie amongst the trees where he'd told her to wait, but no one was there. Agitated, he whirled in the opposite direction, thinking maybe Yuffie had mixed up the exits of the school, but noticed Tidus on the far side of the courtyard talking and laughing very animatedly with someone. A girl someone. A someone who wasn't Selphie. Yuffie.
Yuffie swung a slow punch at Tidus's head, which he dodged playfully and countered with an exact movement to her stomach. Yuffie caught him expertly by his fist and swung him around so that his back was to her and his arm was firm in her grip. Tidus looked like he was in pain, but laughed joyously as if he were having fun. Yuffie removed her grip on his arm and jumped up to grab him from behind in a headlock. In return, Tidus gripped Yuffie around her slender waist and started making fruitless jerks to the side in an effort to free himself. Yuffie laughed triumphantly into the air at his weak attempts, and finally released him all together. Tidus stumbled a bit, but looked up to toss Yuffie one of his exuberant smiles.
An uncalled tide of heated fury thrashed Riku like a wave. His eyes burst with uncontrollable rage and he clenched his hands together into tight fists, allowing his text book to slip from underneath his arm and fall noisily against the ground. This caught Yuffie's attention, and she turned in his direction to cast him a bright smile. Then she actually looked at him.
All joy and color drained from her face in half a second, now replaced by a look of confusion and bewilderment. When Riku saw this he drew back, shaking his head to the side, and rubbed his forehead vigorously with his hand. He didn't look up again until the red flash had dulled from his vision and his mind was once again cool. He unclenched his fist and reached down to pick up the book that had dropped to the ground.
When again he looked at Yuffie she was tilting her head to the side as would a curious child, and Tidus was steeling glances at both him and her as if he had no idea what was going on. Riku sighed and shook his head back and forth, walking over to the courtyard. Each step pierced his chest, as he knew each movement brought him closer to Yuffie. Which wouldn't have been so bad, except he knew he had just humiliated himself.
Again he had been overcome with unreasonable and vehement emotion. When had he begun to lose so much control over himself?
"Yuffie," greeted Riku. To Tidus he only gave a mere nod of his head. He dare not trust his own voice at the moment, especially when talking to this boy.
"Whut's up, Riku? Why're you out in the courtyard? I thought for sure you'd be waiting for Kairi and Sora up in the front."
"N--" None of your business. "I came here to meet Yuffie." Riku offered him a fickle smile, grinding the back of his teeth together in the process, but Tidus was well unaware of these irritated gestures.
"Oh, yeah, she did say something about that. Are you hanging out with him today, Yuffie?" Tidus turned to Yuffie and leaned back on his heels, crossing his arms together in a comforting fashion.
"Yeah, I am," Yuffie replied good-naturedly, "so we'd better get going. Right, Riku?" She nodded her head in his direction as if asking for approval. Riku confirmed with another nod, and grabbed Yuffie by her arm, pulling her away.
"Ah--oh, bye, Tidus!" Yuffie called, waving her free arm. "See you lat--" Riku jerked her foreword, almost roughly, causing her to falter a step, and Yuffie spun around to face him, a forceful glare shooting out of her eyes. Riku was unperturbed. He merely tightened his grip and continued walking at a fixed pace, staring ahead of him.
Halfway down the road Riku dropped Yuffie's arm, but he didn't apologize or look in her direction. Yuffie stretched one side of her mouth up in a stern and disapproving manner, waiting for him to say something, but no words surfaced. Yuffie matched step behind him, boring into the back of his skull, and when she was certain he definitely wasn't going to say anything, she stopped dead in her tracks and crossed her arms over her chest.
Riku took two more steps before coming to a stop himself. He didn't turn around, only sighed. He dropped his shoulders and bowed his head toward the ground, giving it a slight shake. "Yeah?" he said.
"You know Riku, I've been willing to chalk whatever it is that's wrong with you up to raging hormones, but lately that excuse has been ceasing to amuse me. I think you'd better tell me what your problem is."
"I don't have a problem," he replied calmly, shifting his trig book under the other arm.
"I think you do. Just tell me what it is that's bothering you. Come on, we can work it out. We're all adults here."
"Or at least one of us is," he said, turning slightly to the side with an amused smile on his lips.
"Bad time for jokes."
"It's never a bad time for jokes."
"Riku!"
"Look," he sighed once more, facing around. "I said I don't have a problem and I don't. Maybe you weren't far off. Maybe it really is…" he snickered, "raging hormones."
"Ugh, you're such a kid, Riku."
"This coming from you? Ouch, that stings."
"Oh, shut up."
Riku laughed softly and walked to her side. He took his arm and draped it over her small shoulders to lead her foreword. "Let's go. We're wasting time," he said smiling. "We have important things to talk about."
"Ah, so you've finally made your decision?" Yuffie asked mischievously.
Riku grinned, returning the expression. "As if there was ever anything to consider."
