Riku walked slowly toward The City. He could see it on the horizon already, a bright, busy place. He was going to miss the clam on The Ranch...and the clean air. A small outskirt of a town stretched out in front of him. To his left, the town houses met with woods, though he could hear trees being torn down even now, see the dirt cloud hovering. A huge tree came down just then, shaking the ground violently as it hit. Birds scattered into the sky.
Riku stopped when he heard a gunshot. One of those fleeing birds came to the ground. Then another gunshot erupted, and a second bird fell from the sky.
Closing his eyes, Riku forced himself to walk on, into the town. It was busy. Market Day, he decided. People clamored around stands, shouting bids and announcements. Enticing smells tried to drag him through the crowd, off his path toward the city limits. The smell of fresh bakery bread floating on the air made his mouth water, reminding him of the bread Lucia had made one afternoon.
Colors swirled around him in a flurry. All kinds of bright clothing, rainbow painted stands, walls with children's drawing. The products even were colorful; Riku noted a stand that was selling vegetables. The veggies were such bright colors that he wondered if they were real or ornamental.
He was bumped a couple of times, but not seriously and soon the events had him smiling slightly.
But too soon, the real city loomed around him. He'd walked right out of Market Day festivities into a dirty, grimy street. Water from recent rains gushed along the edge of the sidewalk. Filthy, muddy, grass-filled rain water. The buildings were tall, narrow and cramped, seemingly uncomfortable.
And the people that shoved him as he walked past really shoved him around! That in itself was a good thing, he told himself. People. The one thing The Ranch had lacked—but made up for with its desolate location—was people. Here, he could surely find a job for a couple of weeks without too much problem. Then he'd head out to the woods and rough it.
As he acknowledged his plan in his mind, Riku felt a strange longing for The Ranch...
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Lucia sat on the railing on the front porch, a steaming mug of hot cocoa in her hands. She was tired still after the harvest. Winter was coming; the cool air stated that clearly. They would all sit tight until spring, then the planting would begin again.
"You miss him, don't you?" Mark asked, leaning against the door into the house. It started to rain. Clouds had been covering the sky, threatening all day, and now it began to pour.
"No, of course not," Lucia mumbled.
Mark walked, his footsteps echoing almost loudly, to stand beside her perch. "He'll come back."
"I doubt it. If he really intends to stay away from his friends, he'll need to keep moving."
"Speaking of which... Look over yonder."
Lucia turned to see a boy—slightly younger looking the Riku—and a girl walking out of the woods and into The Ranch. They didn't seem to be affected by the rain.
"We're looking for this guy!" the girl said when they were closer to the house. She held up a long piece of paper with a fuzzy picture of Riku on it. "Have you seen him?"
Lucia stared at the picture like she was getting a good look, but really she was wondering if she should tell them the truth or lie for him. One part of her said to lie and the other said to be honest. There was nothing that said Riku was coming back, no reason for her to be loyal to him other then her strange feelings.
"No, I'm sorry, we haven't seen him," she said at length.
The girl, Kairi, looked upset. She turned to her companion. "Sora...what if he's really in trouble?"
"He was big enough to get in it," Sora said. Kairi turned back to Lucia and Mark.
"Thanks,"
Lucia nodded, then they walked away, back out of The Ranch.
"So..." Mark said, his eyes on the two as they turned to head to The City. "Have you rescued him, or only bought him time?"
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Dejected, miserable, gloomy and depressed, Riku collapsed on a step that led up into some building. An entire day searching the city and he was houseless, hungry and jobless. It was raining on top of that! The crowd was becoming a bit much, too. Sure, there were people and he was unlikely to even be found but he couldn't hear himself think. It was always moving, never stopping. His head was spinning just watching the people and cars and bicycles going by him.
"Hey, you!" Riku jumped up, turning around at the horrible screeching voice. "Get off my steps right now! You're in the way!"
The man came down the steps with a broom, waving it in the air like a sword. Riku ran, though he was caught only a few feet from the steps by the crowd, the rain drenching him.
Riku is walking and staring at his map and says to himself, "Okay, take a left." And he walks right. Maybe he ends up back home.
Riku and Lucia do not fall in love, though Lucia's heart gets broken.
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Black Shizuma and Angel Of Blacksouls, thanks for your reviews! I thought it was sad that they separate too, but Riku has no intention of falling in love—it's why he left in the first place. I don't know how this will turn out. Tell me what you all think, okay? Or I just might not continue for lack of ideas.