Oh Snap!

10

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Sora immediately jumped on the idea of making a raft. Riku knew he would. Even Kairi seemed enthusiastic. Yuffie was opposed to telling them at first but, after being swept up in Sora's excitement, questioned why she even felt that way in the first place. Riku was just as vigorous, but made an effort to conceal it, unlike Sora who was just short of doing backflips and summersaults off the cliff walls.

Together they collected logs, rope, and a sail. Riku even managed to get his mom's permission to raid his fathers old tool shed for supplies. From time to time Riku would stare at the wooden door hidden inside the small cave, perplexed, but never made a move to get it off, as he had no time for that at the moment.

One day, when he finally tried, he found it tremendously difficult to even find a firm place with which to grip and pull, let alone break the door down itself. He tried kicking it, which was an absolutely horrid idea (or so says his throbbing ankles), and he tried using a few tools, an old sickle and an axe, but nothing seemed to work. In fact, the solid edges of the equipment didn't even make a dent in the thick wood.

"Impossible," Riku muttered to Yuffie one day while they were having lunch together by the paopu tree. "Breaking that door down is impossible. Ah--no," he raised a hand as she was about to say something, "I know exactly what you're going to say and allow me to reiterate that it is IMPOSSIBLE. I don't know what the heck that thing is made of, but whatever it is it's been resistant to sickles, axes, and I'm beginning to think fire wouldn't even effect it in the least. Not saying that I would set the thing on fire...but in case curiosity got the better of me, I could imagine all too well of ineffective it would be."

Yuffie swallowed part of a rice ball and said, "Come on, Riku. It's just a door. Don't tell me that you're so weak as to not be able to break down a meager slab of wood."

"Hey, I don't see you lifting a finger to help. I can't believe you'd say it was possible when you haven't even tried." He sighed dejectedly. "I'm starting to think that whoever put that thing there made it of steel and just painted to look like a door to screw with people."

"If that's true than that's some durable paint."

"Yeah…you're right." Riku placed his bento box aside and leaned against the paopu tree, his hands comfortably tucked behind his head. "But you know, I bet we could do this without that stupid door. I mean, if it's that durable think of how heavy it must be. There's no way we'd be able to slice it up and use it for parts or anything. And even if we did manage to get it down, we might get in trouble. I'm sure someone put it there for a reason anyway, probably for safety measures, in which case it would be better if it just stayed where it was."

"Or maybe the door was always there."

"Pfft, yeah. Because I'm sure doors just grow like that."

"I never said it grew. I said maybe it was always there."

"Look, Yuffie, I'm trying to be serious here. I don't think getting that door down is a possibility. We should just forget about it."

Yuffie finished the contents of her lunch and set the container beside Riku's. She shook her head amusedly and replied, "No, you're wrong. You must get that door down if you plan to ever travel anywhere. Trust me on this."

Riku chuckled and shook his head at his lap, silver locks floating around his eyes. "And would that be your female or ninja intuition."

"Oh, shut up."

Riku laughed, a smile clear on his face. "I still stand by my statement."

Yuffie sprung to her feet then, causing Riku to jerk back in surprise, thinking she might have gotten angry.

"All right, that does it!" she cried.

"Wh-what?"

"You." She viciously jabbed a finger at him. "We're going to do some training right now! I'm sick of all your "I can't do this" and "I can't do that" NONSENSE! It's time you started acting like a man, you silver-haired pansy islander!"

"Oh what are you talking about?" Riku responded exasperatingly, jumping to his feet and settling on the paopu trunk. "I'm the most talented swordsman and or fighter on this whole entire island. Why would I need training?"

"You're not better than me," Yuffie remarked concededly. "By a long shot."

"I beg to differ," Riku smirked.

"You know I let you win last time," Yuffie said, returning the look.

"As if I needed your permission to win a fight. I'd kick your butt."

"Ooh, them's fightin' words!"

"Maybe they are." Riku leaned in toward her face, nose almost touching hers, and grinned devilishly.

"Then grab your weapon, baby-toy-extraordinaire, I'm so ready to shove your face into the dirt."

"Oh no you don't," Riku said lowly, and leaned back on the trunk. He gazed out toward the shore where Sora sat with Kairi and Tidus and called to him. "Sora! Come here for a second!"

Sora jumped to his feet, accidentally kicking up some sand in Tidus's face which he complained about loudly. Sora apologized hurriedly and sprinted over to the paopu plateau.

Sora didn't board the bridge that connected the isle to the shore, but instead moved beneath it, keeping just out of it's shadow cast by the sun, and called up to Riku. "What is it, Riku?"

Riku sprang off the paopu tree and directly onto the bridge where he leaned down and said to Sora, "I need to borrow your sword."

"Why, did something happen to yours?"

"Nah. What I mean to say is, Yuffie would like to borrow it. She says she wants to get her face shoved into the dirt."

"I said your face into the dirt!" Yuffie cried from behind him.

Riku laughed and continued. "We're going to have a match."

"You are?" Sora beamed. "Can I join in?"

"Yeah, you can fight what's left of Yuffie after I rip her to shreds. Now go get your sword."

Sora obeyed, running off somewhere to retrieve it from wherever it is he'd left it, and Riku turned to Yuffie. "Ready?" he asked mischievously.

"Ugh, I can't believe you're making me fight with that thing," she commented, rolling her eyes. "In the extreme likely case I wind up breaking his sword, it's you who has to apologize to Sora."

Both Riku and Yuffie spread their feet apart, ready to spring into action. Sora, Tidus, and Kairi stood on the sidelines, eager for the match to commence. Again Kairi stared only at Sora, but this time Riku didn't pay any attention, neither did he care. All that mattered now was Yuffie.

"You can still surrender," Riku sneered sarcastically.

"As if I'd surrender to someone who can't even open a door," she sneered back.

Riku was first to move. His heels dug far into the sand before he launched himself foreword, sword held firmly in hand. Yuffie copied his vigor, rushing foreword with Sora's sword held just as tightly, but in a different position. Riku slashed his sword to the side, but Yuffie blocked it by tilting her sword down vertically, then reversed the tip, bringing it down at alarming speed toward his shoulder. Riku slid to the side in a circling motion with his feet, not only dodging the attack, but making his way toward an unguarded area on her left.

Yuffie reacted by thrusting her leg out horizontally, jabbing him in the stomach with sharp kick, and sent him flying backwards onto the soft sand. Riku manipulated his aerodynamics and landed on his hands and knees, sliding backwards on all fours, then sprang foreword again with another attack set firmly in mind. A number of slashes, blocks, and counter attacks were exchanged, a wonderfully executed display of swordsmanship and agility. One would almost think they were dancing with how naturally in sync their movements were, each attack reacting to the other as if every move hsd been planned out prior to the match.

After three minutes of this, Riku's body drastically began to tire. The heat from the sun had suddenly intensified, the air surrounding each of Yuffie's blows were centered in a haze, and his breaths were coming out too quickly and unevenly. Yuffie, though tired herself, didn't seem nearly as bothered. Riku, in fact, had lost his grin a minute and a half ago while Yuffie's was still going. She was having fun, of course.

Desperately Riku searched for openings, looking for quick ways to end the match. To test Yuffie's movements he switched to the defensive, only blocking her attacks and not countering. This way he was able to observe her style of attack better, construe her speed and angles of attack.

When he was certain he'd gotten the gist of it, Riku waited for one of Yuffie's jabs to come flying near his stomach. He anticipated the angle and wrenched his sword underneath, thrusting it upward with a loud clack! Though Yuffie did not lose grip on her sword as Riku had hoped, she was still left wide open as her sword was pointed high toward the sky. He reacted immediately, taking advantage of her exposure, and spun around horizontally, gaining the speed he needed to send Yuffie soaring backwards with the impact of his weapon.

And just as Riku's sword as about to connect with her torso, Yuffie jumped nimbly into the air, swinging both legs over his propelling attack, and touched to the ground on one knee and hand, sweeping her legs across the sand as a break dancer would a sidewalk, and took Riku's feet from underneath him. Riku thudded on the ground, losing grip on his weapon which Yuffie snatched on the rebound and leapt to her feet.

She stood over him, victorious, pointing his own weapon at him while holding her own in the other hand.

Riku rose on his knees, leaning over on one hand, panting furiously. He'd lost.

He wiped the sweat from his face and gazed up. Slowly he stood to his feet and took his weapon who's handle Yuffie had offered.

"You did pretty damn well, Riku, but you still lost," Yuffie said, panting lightly herself. But there was a fresh smile on her face that said she was proud and impressed with this efforts.

"Yeah," Riku responded, just short of breath. "I did good, but losing is losing."

Sora and the others ran over to Yuffie and Riku, jumping and shouting cries of excitement.

"That was amazing!" Both Sora and Tidus cried together.

"Man, I never thought I'd see the day when someone would give Riku a run for his money," Tidus continued.

"Heh, well it's a good thing we weren't betting money or else I would be broke," Riku said, shrugging one shoulder.

"Riku, you were fantastic," complimented Kairi, eyes sparkling. "I never knew you were that good."

Normally Riku would have been elated by her comment, but instead he was…unenthusiastic. "Yeah," he mumbled, "but…heh, still lost."

"Yuffie, you were incredible!" Sora cried. "I've never seen anyone fight like you!"

Yuffie, still panting a little, grinned sheepishly and rubbed that back of her head. "Ninja," she replied proudly. "Oh yeah, and thanks for letting me borrow your sword, Sora." She offered him the handle which he reached out to grab.

"No problem! It was so worth it to see you--"

C-c-c-crack!

Without warning Sora's sword splintered and snapped apart, sending small pieces plummeting into the sand.

Everyone, Riku included, stood in wordless disbelief, awestruck.
There was a minute or so of concentrated silence before someone spoke.

"Uh…Sora?" Yuffie mumbled in bewilderment. "Riku says he's sorry."