Sorry I keep falling behind on these updates, guys. :/ I keep trying to do it every 2 weeks but it's more like 3. If it helps at all, though, I did release a few oneshots recently. You should check them out, and review. And enjoy this new chapter. (:

Chapter Nine: Destiny Islands Life (Part Two)

"Watch your step. The bridge isn't steady here."

"Alright," I said with a nod, looking at Riku standing across the gap of the bridge. He had shown me a little bit of the front of the island already, and now we were on the back side, where we were in a broken bridge. Just moments ago, he had jumped across a small gap to the other side and given me that warning.

Riku stretched out a hand for me to take when I did the jump, but I figured I would be alright without it, so I didn't bother taking it. I took a small step back before I took the jump, landing next to Riku on the other side. There; that wasn't so hard.

"You guys ever try to fix the bridge?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at the gap.

"Yeah, but it always gets broken again," Riku said with a light shrug, starting forward again as he kept talking. "It's been that way as long as I can remember."

"Anyone ever get hurt?"

"Naw, everyone always knew about, so nobody fell. It's just naturally how things are."

"Hm," I hummed, walking off the bridge and staying next to Riku when he stopped, I did too, following where he was pointing and obviously referring to when he spoke.

"Sora and I used to have races back here all the time," Riku was saying, pointing in the direction of the door we had come through. "We always started there, and then we'd run across the bridge…" He trailed off, his gaze going to the tower that they were right next to. He flashed me a grin, a little bit of excitement in his expression. "Follow me," he said, starting up the ladder.

I tilted my head slightly, letting Riku get a head start with the ladder. What was he going to show me? I didn't spend long wondering over it, starting to climb up the tower myself when Riku was high enough up that he wouldn't kick me in the face. When I reached the top, Riku moved as far over as he could, the area obviously not meant for two people.

"We'd run along this beach down here, hop from platform to platform, and then touch that tree," Riku continued, pointing through each of the steps as he explained it to me. "And then we'd race back to where we started."

"Looks like fun," I said with a nod, even though I probably wouldn't have done such a thing as a child. Running wasn't an appealing idea to me, since I really wasn't in great physical shape when I was growing up. I still wasn't that strong until about a year ago when I started learning how to fight. But compared to Sora and Riku, I looked like a fool in a fight.

Riku nodded, his hand finding a handle that dangled from a zip-line. "Sora always used this thing as a shortcut," he said, referring to the zip-line. "I have to give him props; it was a smart idea."

"Hm," I hummed in recognition, recognizing that Riku probably didn't give compliments out on a regular basis. I didn't know why I reached that conclusion…I just did.

"It's a lot of fun, too," Riku said, setting a hand on the zipline. He smiled to me before he pushed off, speeding down the line. I stepped closer and watched, in awe of just how fast he went to the platform. Huh, that's impressive, I thought, seeing Riku let go of the handle and stand in the platform. What he said next, though, had me off guard.

"Your turn!"

I was baffled for a moment, but then I laughed. "No way," I said, shaking my head. I had just seen how fast Riku went down; I wasn't prepared to do that myself. Not only did it look dangerous, but it was also a little scary. I never did like heights in the first place, so the idea of holding myself up above the ground while speeding to a platform didn't appeal to me. At all.

"C'mon! It's not that scary," Riku called.

"Yes it is!"

"Scared of heights?"

Was that a taunt? It sure sounded like one. "Yes, I am!" I shouted matter-of-factly, ignoring the handle that came back up and stopped by my face. I wasn't going down that zipline, end of discussion. And nothing Riku said could change that.

"You won't fall, and even if you do, there's sand beneath you. It doesn't hurt."

"Easy for you to say," I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest. Not only had Riku done this hundreds of times, but he also was more fit. He probably hadn't fallen before, but I wasn't going to challenge him on that.

Riku sighed, shaking his head from his place on the platform. I saw the look on his face; it was meant to get me to soften up to him and let go of my fears. Heh, yeah right. "Not a chance," I told him, not affected by the small pout. Again, Riku sighed dramatically, but he didn't keep his puppy-dog look. Instead he set his hands on the zipline and climbed up it towards me. When he was doing that, I couldn't help but notice the muscles in his arms.

Ugh, what am I thinking?

Riku came onto the tower, releasing the zipline as he looked to me. "Showoff," I said, unfolding my arms and giving him a look.

The boy shrugged at that, though he then smirked a little bit. "That's not the best part," he said then, taking a step closer to me. My eyes grew confused, but when he wrapped an arm around my back and set his free hand on the handle on the zipline, I understood what he had in mind. "Hold on tight!"

I squealed, wrapping my arms around Riku tightly when my feet left the ground of the tower. My eyes squeezed shut for the few seconds of the ride, the wind whipping through my hair before we came to a stop on the other side of the line, my feet touching the platform in front of Riku's. Still, I didn't release him or open my eyes. I did force myself to breathe, though, since I had forgotten a few moments ago.

Riku's arm stayed around me, and for a few moments, he stayed silent. When he did speak, though, his voice was different than it was before. Gentle.

"Was it that bad?" he asked softly.

"I really don't like heights," I whispered into Riku's chest, my eyes actually getting a little teary. I was glad that he couldn't see me; I felt like an idiot for getting so worked up over something so small.

"Sorry," Riku said softly.

I nodded, subconsciously gripping the back of Riku's vest.

"C'mon, let's get down off of here."

At Riku's words, I released the back of his vest with my hands and then brought my hands back to my sides. I glanced up at Riku and saw him looking at me when he released me from his faint embrace. I looked away first, though, not wanting him to read my eyes. He seemed to understand, and so he took a step over to the side and jumped down a few feet onto a nearby path. I followed him with my eyes, seeing him turn around once he was set and offer his hands to help me down.

I sat myself down on the edge of the platform, my legs dangling over the edge by Riku. He didn't flinch at my cowardly position, though I felt stupid that I wouldn't just jump down like he did. Regardless, I reached for his hands and jumped down, my feet landing safely on the ground. I finally looked back up at Riku's face, and I blushed when I saw the way he was studying me.

Riku again seemed to sense what I was feeling, but instead of backing off, he released one of my hands and brought up his own, tucking back some of my hair and asking me a question. "You wanna know why I really forced you to go on the zipline?"

"…Sure?" I said, the word coming out as a question. He didn't do it just to make me experience the "thrill"? I didn't understand, so I waited for him to say his thoughts.

"You looked like you needed a hug," Riku confessed, his hand lowering away from my face when he spoke. "And holding you on the zipline was the best way I could think to do that."

I couldn't help but let a faint smile come across my lips at the thoughtfulness of Riku. "A regular hug would have sufficed," I said softly, though the weak smile stayed on my lips as I met Riku's gaze. He had gone through far too much trouble to make such a simple thing occur; why didn't he just wrap his arms around me? But…how did he know I needed a hug?

"Sorry about that," Riku said with a grimace.

"Don't worry about it," I responded, shaking my head a little bit to support my words. When Riku nodded to that, I took the opportunity to speak my thoughts. "But…what do you mean, about me needing a hug?"

Riku gave me a look, his eyebrow arched in a way as if to say, Are you kidding me? "Steph, you're easy to read," he said simply. "You're like a book."

I bit down on my lip, lowering my gaze to the hand that Riku still held. I had even forgotten about that, but I didn't bother slipping my hand out of his, instead focusing on what he said. I supposed that it was true…I had heard in the past that my emotions were written on my face a lot of the time. It was annoying sometimes because it made me a bad liar, but at the same time, I would have rather have been a bad liar than a good one. "…Right."

Riku nodded, the movement one that I saw out of the corner of my eye. "Now, let's try this again," he said, pulling his hand away from mine and then opening his arms to me as an invitation for an embrace. I silently took a small step forward and wrapped my arms around Riku's lower back, my head finding his shoulder. His arms came around my upper back, and I actually felt my shoulders become less tense when I felt comfortable.

What was this feeling that I had? It wasn't too often that I found myself in this type of situation, where a person read me and flat-out told me that I needed a hug. What was it about Riku that made this seem so…natural? He was so bold, and upfront, and…raw. He wasn't near perfect, which was shown earlier that day and just now with the whole zipline incident. But I didn't hold it against him, because I had shown him my imperfections as well.

My eyes widened slightly at that, realization hitting me. How often did I allow people to see that I wasn't perfect? Not often, that was for sure. I didn't get close enough for anybody to see any of that. I felt like I was putting on a façade much of the time, covering my flaws so that I would be accepted. But Riku clearly saw my flaws: I wasn't fearless. I got upset over things. I wasn't strong. And yet he accepted me anyway, like I accepted him.

Riku, who are you, and why do I feel so comfortable with you?

I didn't bother asking the question aloud, or even answering it myself. I knew that some things just clicked in life; they fit together naturally. That was just the way it was with my friendship with Riku; there was no point in overanalyzing everything.

"Steph?"

"Hm?"

Riku softened his embrace around me, and I pulled back as well as Riku's hands moved to my shoulders. "Are you going to be alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're having a hard time with this," Riku said, staring into my eyes and tightening his grasp on my shoulders a little bit. "You lost everything, and you're trying to take it in stride, but it's not working for you. At all."

I tore my eyes away from Riku's, my face getting a little red when he again read me like a book.

"Just…stop trying to be so strong, Steph," Riku continued, his gaze staying on me despite the fact that I had looked away. "Nobody expects you to be unaffected by this. "

I shook my head softly, my eyes down on the ground at this point. "I'm not trying to hide anything from you guys," I assured him softly. "I…If I act like it didn't happen, then it doesn't hurt so badly."

"It's not healthy to cover things up like that, especially with yourself."

"Maybe not," I agreed quietly. "But it's how I survived the past seventeen years." When Riku was silent, I looked up and saw his arched brow, which told me to continue. "It's how I got through every problem life threw at me growing up," I said, diverting my gaze to the ground again. "I'm not strong enough to face them head on."

"You're stronger than you think," Riku said immediately. I looked up at him, surprised. What? "Any normal person would be an emotional wreck if they were in your shoes. Give yourself some credit; you're strong enough not to collapse under the pressure of everything that happened."

I shyly looked to the ocean to the side, though after a few moments, I nodded once to show that I heard what Riku said. It was really sweet of him to talk like that…I hadn't expected that to leave his lips. Ever.

"You guys ready for lunch?" a voice called from behind me, the source fairly distant. I turned, Riku's hands coming off my shoulders as he too looked to the source. There was Sora, standing a little bit to the side of the tower. He was by himself, and I quickly figured out that Kairi was probably on the other side of the Island.

Riku's gaze landed on me, so I knew he was wondering if I felt alright to go join everyone, since I was a little emotional a few minutes ago. When I silently nodded, he hollered a "yeah" to Sora. The brunet walked out of sight, and Riku turned his attention back to me.

"C'mon."

…..

The rest of the day went by very quickly, at least in my eyes. We did various things through the afternoon and evening, and most of the time, I was with Riku. Honestly, though, I wish I could remember more of the day. At the time things occurred, I was into the activities, but by the end of the day, I felt weighed down with everything. My lack of sleep surely didn't help with anything.

And, of course, neither did the fact that it was now 11 at night and we were all sitting around a campfire like we had last night. Sora and Kairi were having a conversation across the fire, and Sora had his arm around her to keep her warmer. I had gone inside a little while ago and gotten a jacket, since Kairi's house was right next to us. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) Riku had on his usual outfit, which meant that his arms were uncovered. Wasn't he cold at all?

I exhaled a soft breath, my arms loosening around my legs that were brought up to my chest. Why was I trying to distract myself with these thoughts? All day, the fate of my world lingered on my mind, even if I tried hiding it. Every once in a while, Riku would see through the charade and put a hand on my shoulder or something, but it was harder now that he and I were both quiet. Sora and Kairi's talking entered my ears but didn't register in my mind, since I was too exhausted and distracted to pay attention.

Eventually, I scooted a little closer to Riku and set my head on his shoulder, my eyes shutting in both weariness and tiredness. The skin of his shoulder felt warm against my cheek, and I somehow felt better being in contact with another human being. The feeling reminded me of when Riku hugged me earlier, or when he had contact with me in general. It felt good, feeling like I wasn't completely alone.

"Steph."

"Mm?" I hummed softly, hearing Riku's quiet call and feeling his light gaze on me for the first time in a while. He had glanced at me earlier when I first put my head on his shoulder, but then we had been quiet for a while before he finally said something.

"Go to bed." I opened my eyes a crack, biting my lip lightly at that. I didn't feel right doing that; I was supposed to be spending time with everyone right now. "You're not staying awake here, anyway."

He's right, I realized, my gaze shifting to the fire in front of us. If I stayed, then I was just going to fall asleep on the beach and have to be woken up to go inside. "Alright," I murmured with a sigh, bringing my head off Riku's shoulder and rubbing my eyes lightly with my hands. "Goodnight," I said softly.

"Goodnight," Riku said quietly with a faint nod. I heard something…sweet, in his voice, and it drew a weak smile out of me. Regardless, I set my hands on the ground and pushed myself up, giving Sora and Kairi a weak wave in farewell before I headed for Kairi's house.

My steps were heavy, drowsiness taking its toll on me as I worked my way through Kairi's home. I made it to her bedroom and didn't immediately get into my sleeping bag, my clothes scattered over it. I sighed and straightened it up, moving it out of the way and setting the bags on the other side of the room.

When it was done, I lied down inside the sleeping bag only to feel a cool gust of wind from the open window. I shivered for a few moments, but then I decided that it would be smart to get up and close the window. I scooted out of the sleeping bag and picked myself up off the ground before I started over to the window. But I stopped there when I heard voices from down below.

"Riku, what're you thinking?" Sora asked.

"I don't care what trouble this gets me in with the King. Saving one girl won't disrupt world order."

They're talking about me, I realized, my eyes widening slightly at that thought. I slunk down to the floor by the window, my back against the wall as I listened closely to hear what they were saying.

"Hey, I'm with you," Sora said. I imagined him lifting his hands in his own defense at that, the teen fairly readable by his tone. "But what're you going to say if the King forces you to take some kind of action to set this right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno. Don't they have technology out there that could wipe a person's memory?" I gasped softly, alarmed. But then, Sora continued as if Riku had a similar reaction to that. "You have to think it through, Riku. It's bad enough she knows about the Keyblade, and things are only more serious now that she knows about other worlds."

"I trust her," Riku said confidently.

"We know, Riku," Kairi inserted, having heard Riku's defensive tone. "And that's what's so…strange. You hardly ever trust anybody."

When Riku was silent for a few moments, Sora jumped in. "And you act different around her, too. You're…goofy."

"And sensitive," Kairi added.

"And just…You're really you. More than you are even with us sometimes."

"Steph is just…different," Riku said after a few moments of thought. I held my breath, waiting for him to continue. "She's so sincere. She's got her fears and doubts about life, but she's brave enough to face uncertainty. In that respect, she's the bravest person I've ever met."

I felt myself blush at the compliments, and down at the fire, Sora and Kairi exchanged looks of pleasure. They understood better than I did that Riku had found somebody he cared about as more than a friend. I was only beginning to see it now, but it felt as if Sora and Kairi had noticed it from the start.

"Does she have any idea what you're feeling?"

"I…don't know," Riku confessed. "But there's no point pursuing anything right now. She's already heartbroken over everything that happened to her home; I don't want to add any more stress that."

Too late, I thought, biting my lip. Now that I was hearing all of this, I was going to think about it. Did I have a future with Riku? I really, really wanted to be able to focus on that question, but Riku was right when he said I was heartbroken over my loss. Unfortunately, I'd have to ponder our relationship later.

"And besides," Riku continued, "she's from another world. She lives a normal life, and I'm a Keyblade wielder. Nothing can possibly go well with that."

"Why not?" Sora challenged.

"You know as well as I do what dangers the Keyblade brings. Friends get hurt by the trouble and Darkness that it attracts."

"But we protect them from it."

"We do."

"And you're willing to protect her from it."

"No, that's not it," Riku said, shaking his head when he spoke. "I want to protect her. Every time she's ever been in danger, I've just wanted to throw myself in the path of every Heartless that jumped at her. But she can defend herself from them; I don't know why I should be feeling this way."

"Because you love her," Kairi said, the simplicity of her words making me hold my breath as I listened in. Riku loved me?

"How is that even possible?" Riku asked in wonder, taking my thoughts away. "I just met her…"

"You know that time doesn't matter all the time, Riku," Sora said, a weak smile on his face when he faced his best friend's concerns. "Sometimes, things just click naturally."

Riku took that in, somehow accepting it despite some of the cynical attitude he felt towards love in general. Normally he would have argued against Sora for saying something so cheesy, but he was right. That was what sparked Riku's next question. "….What do I do? I've never…"

I've never felt this way before, I thought to myself, finishing Riku's thought and making it my own. Neither of us had felt this way, and that was why my heart was in my throat. Of course I had pictured the possibility of us being something more; all girls did that with their guy friends. But me and Riku…seriously? Like he said before, he was a Keyblader, and I was just a normal girl. A girl from another world. That would create serious problems.

"Keep doing what you've been doing," Kairi said then, breaking through my thoughts. "Obviously she likes you too."

"…Really?"

"Well sure," Kairi said with a soft, reassuring smile. "You two just click; you're both comfortable with each other, and that's what she needs more than anything right now."

"…."

"But I don't think she even knows how much she likes you," the girl continued. "Give it time, and you two will be together soon enough."

"But what if it doesn't work out like that?" Riku asked. A moment later, he spoke again. "Listen to me; I'm starting to become a sap like Sora."

"Hey!"

"It'll all work out fine," Kairi promised him, and secretly, me. "Just have faith."

Just have faith, I repeated to myself, biting on my lip and gazing down at the ground. I didn't even know if I wanted a relationship with Riku! I mean, yeah, he's strong and brave and handsome and…gah, when did I start feeling this way? We were just friends yesterday…weren't we? When did things change? Or had they always been this way?

"We should all get some rest," somebody down at the fire said. "Tomorrow will be another long day."

At that, I hurried back over to my sleeping-bag and crawled inside, forgetting about the open window that was letting in cold air. I was burning hot anyway; the air was the last thing on my mind. But despite my racing thoughts, I felt my eyes close in exhaustion and I managed to pass out before Kairi came into her bedroom and went to bed herself. But before that happened, another thought went through my head.

Tomorrow will be another long day.